Eric ‘Vietnam’ Sadler was the Bomb Squad‘s secret weapon. It was his programming expertise that kept their ‘wall of noise’ production style in the pocket, assigned to translate Hank Shocklee and Chuck D‘s musical chaos into sharply welder tools of war. You can pick the tracks which have Eric’s heavy fingerprints in the way that…
It could be said that the world doesn’t need another DOOM compilation, but considering that most of them are amateurish fan mash-ups I’d argue that a definite collection of the Metal Faced Villain‘s post-Zev Love X period is long overdue. These are the seventeen best examples of DOOM, as officially sanctioned by the CRC Advisory…
There’s nothing like pretending to rap like it’s 1985 (or better yet, 1977) well after the fact, or recruiting some veteran MC’s to kick some old styles. While some of these attempts have fallen flat (Ugly Duckling and People Under The Stairs being two examples that spring to mind), others have made an entire career…
To complete the theme that I’ve running with these past few weeks, here are fifteen rap songs which were either scrapped altogether, released as promo only or re-recorded for the album. It’s limited to one pick per artist, otherwise this would have ended up as yet another compilation of Ghostface and Nas songs that couldn’t…
Following on from last week’s Demo Versions comp, this is a collection of original versions of rap songs which had their beat completely changed for the album. Unlike tracks which have to get redone because of sample clearance problems, these tracks all seem to have been decided not to be musically strong enough and were…
As much as it’s always a treat to hear the early, unreleased demo efforts of great rappers, it’s also intriguing to be able to experience the early, rough takes of songs that would be polished-up, adjusted or paired back. Some of these demo versions feature different lyrics, alternative loops or sometimes simply looser deliveries, and…
Photo: richdirection Remember that time that A.G. fired shots at Arrested Development in The Source for not mentioning Show when they won the Grammy for ‘Tennesee’? Here’s the remix in question, alongside fifteen other examples of Show’s production magic, ranging from his early big band horn-stab style through to his incredibly sparse, stripped down period…
Some of my favorite rap sprung from Houston’s Rap-A-Lot Records, as the label incorporated organs, harmonicas and funk guitar with traditional breakbeats, creating a unique blend of east coast and southern hip-hop before everyone jumped on The Chronic bandwagon and started playing everything from scratch. Here’s a selection of my favorite moments from the early…
The qualification to make it onto this compilation requires that two or more of the rappers were never heard from again1. Let us sit back and bask in the fleeting glory that is getting to rap on your pal’s album on account of being a faithful weed carrier or always ensuring that the studio fridge…
To compliment the Flavor Unit Oral History I did for RBMA, here are my sixteen favorite tracks from the first generation of Flavor Unit MC’s through to passing the torch to Naughty By Nature for the second installment. Before anyone asks, no that 900 Number album never actually got released but apparently featured new verses…
Hitman Howie Tee got his start as part of CD III, before laying down the demo version of ‘Roxanne Roxanne’ for UTFO and helping out Full Force with some material, before lending his talents to Whistle, Chubb Rock, Special Ed, the Real Roxanne and Little Shawn. Later in his career he branched out into reggae…
Hurby ‘Lug Bug’ Azor played a big part in exposing a different style of Queens rap to the world as his Idol Makers crew concentrated on dressing fly, club hopping and bagging the opposite sex, largely favoring story-telling over the classic brag and boast technique. Hurby’s appreciation of go-go beats, DMX shakers and classic breakbeats…