Metal Lungies

I picked this little gem up yesterday at Unique Thrift.

We all remember the classic film; but what about the album it inspired? This late 90’s comp included the likes of Will Smith, Jermaine Dupri, Snoop Dogg, Ginuwine, a young Alicia Keys, The Roots, D’Angelo, Trey Lorenz (his name will be the answer to a jeopardy question one day), Nas, Emoja, ATCQ, an early Destiny’s Child, 3T, De La Soul, Buckshot LeFonque, and the legendary Danny Elfman.

Read the track by track review, after the jump.

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Some of you folks may have seen this already on the WaxPoetics site. It’s an old Toyota commercial from the mid 90’s and it features Lootpack. Usually these things don’t really stick with me, but I have been watching this video on loop since yesterday. It’s taken my life, and it might take yours…

This may be the last Fun Facts! post for a little while. On December 1st, I’ll be knee-deep in finals (and fuck whatever you’re going through, law school finals are on some other other shit), and on January 1st, I’ll be somewhere, hopefully relaxing, hopefully not (but more than likely) hung-over.

If I still have some sort of sense of humor left after all of that (which depends on whether or not you think I had one in the first place), maybe there’ll be more to come. Enjoy for now…

1. The main girl in Nelly’s “Hot In Herre” video used to date New Orleans Hornets’ shooting guard Morris Peterson.

2. Daz Dillinger once walked into Death Row Records’ offices armed with a screwdriver, high on mushrooms, to demand a royalty check from Suge Knight.

3. Chino XL is a member of MENSA.

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Unlike the last two, there’s no theme for this month’s Fun Facts, just good ol’ random shenanigans. With school picking up steam once again, nowadays the creative juices are flowing more like Jim Jones than Rakim.

1. Inspectah Deck had a cold when he recorded his verse for “Stick Me For My Riches” off 8 Diagrams — one of his beefs with the final product was that he wasn’t able to re-record his verse before the album’s release. (This fun fact is dedicated to everyone that made it through the first minute of singing on that song.)

2. Former Wu-Tang affiliate and current Aphilliates Music Group president La The Darkman made several guest appearances on good friend Vanilla Ice’s ’01 album Bi-Polar.

3. The Neptunes’ beat for The Clipse’s “Wamp Wamp” — complete with Slim Thug’s hook — was originally sold to Foxy Brown prior to her hearing problems.

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(Image courtesy of The Smoking Gun and the other sites emphatically tagged over the pic)

So, has this whole ordeal about Rick Ross being a C.O. in his former life — you know, back when he was mere mortal William Roberts and not “the biggest bawse that you’ve thus far” — boiled over yet? Yes? No? Either way, before most major label rappers sign their multi-million dollar contracts, chances are that there were less glamorous times that forced said rapper to work for (**gasp**) minimum wage!!

If a popular MC decided to dedicate his next album to rhyming at length about his first job, chances are that that popular MC wouldn’t be all that popular afterward. To save them the trouble — and, what with today being “Labor Day” and all — this month’s Fun Facts will reveal what a number of hip hop stars did before they became famous. Hopefully, it won’t cause you to look at any of these artists as being less “real” (not that all of ’em were “real” to begin with).

1. Snoop Dogg’s first job was as a grocery bagger at Lucky, a now-defunct Los Angeles supermarket chain.

2. Just as Outkast member Andre 3000 claimed to have done after dropping out of high school (in “Git Up Git Out” off Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik), Organized Noize’s Rico Wade worked at an Atlanta loading dock at age 9.

3. Jay-Z claims to have never held an actual job prior to getting into the drug game, thus dispelling an internet rumor that he worked at Kentucky Fried Chicken as a teenager. This rumor started years after it was mentioned in a “What if…” article in Rap Pages Blaze.

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To celebrate this feature making a fifth installment, I thought I’d base this month’s Fun Facts! around a theme. With rap beefs being the subliminal-laden wars-of-words that they are, I figured I’d be doing a service to solve some of the mysteries behind one of hip hop’s most legendary feuds…

Since Jay-Z and Nas have put their differences aside, there are plenty of questions that remain unanswered as to certain lyrics spit in “Takeover” and “Ether”, their respective diss records. So, each of the 10 facts below will revolve around a lyric — 5 from “Takeover”, 5 from “Ether” — and provide a context of what these New York legends really meant, and make clarifications as necessary.

(The same Fun Facts! rules as always apply — in other words, everything beyond #3 is utter bullshit. Enjoy!)

1. Jay: “I showed you your first tec on tour with Large Professor…” — Jay and Nas were doing a show together at some small New York venue early in their respective careers, back when Jay was running with Jaz, and Nas (then primarily known for his “Live At The BBQ” verse) was running with Extra P. The crowd was apparently getting rowdy, so Jay came out on stage with a burner to quiet things down.

2. Nas: “Smilin’ in my face, love to break bread with the God…” — Nas was supposed to be in Jay’s video for “Dead Presidents” in the “playing Monopoly with real money” closing scene, along with AZ and Notorious B.I.G., but apparently no-showed. Check the video at 3:22 –- that empty seat across the table from Jay was meant for Nas.

3. Jay: “And you ain’t get a coin, n***a, you was getting fucked then/ I know who I paid, god, Serchlite Publishing…” — Contrary to what Jay may have thought, former 3rd Bass frontman and current sell-out MC Serch, the namesake of Serchlite Publishing, has claimed that Nas was compensated for every time that a sample of his voice was cleared (including the few samples used by Jay).

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Time for more Fun Facts, and, remember, the offer from last month’s installment still stands.

1. Madlib conceived and recorded Quasimoto’s The Unseen during a week-long psilocybin binge.*

2. 2Pac began his career as a roadie and back-up dancer for Digital Underground.

3. While a member of Cash Money Records, Young Buck helped secure cars for Juvenile’s “Ha” video.

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Wake up, wake up, wake up, it’s the first of the month! So get up, get up, get up, read Fun Facts and crack up!

If you didn’t think that introduction was funny, I can’t say I blame you… but keep reading, it gets better.

1. Cypress Hill was banned from performing on Saturday Night Live after DJ Muggs lit up some marijuana on stage and the group smashed their equipment.

2. Ab-Liva, of Re-Up Gang Records (The Clipse) fame, ghostwrote Dr. Dre’s verse on Jay-Z’s “The Watcher, Pt. 2”.

3. Outkast’s 4th LP, Stankonia, was originally titled Sandbox.

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To celebrate a month’s passing since our introductory Fun Facts post, here’s a second installment. Pat yourself on the back if you’ve noticed a trend here.

1. On “Stick 2 The Script” (off The Dynasty Roc La Familia), Jay-Z’s line “We gon’ run the streets/’til we reach Malik” is in reference to former NBA player Malik Sealy, who was killed by a drunk driver in 2000.

2. MF Grimm was arrested en route to a studio where he would have recorded a verse for Main Source’s “Live At The BBQ”.

3. T.I. shortened his rap name from “T.I.P.” out of respect for his at-the-time Arista Records labelmate, Q-Tip.

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Welcome to the first installment of a new feature here on ML, where we hit you off with 10 random factoids about some of your favorite (and, likely also some of your least favorite) artists. They’re fun. They’re facts. You do the math.

1. Before the RZA brought together the Wu-Tang Clan, Raekwon and Ghostface were enemies.

2. Christopher Wallace took on the rap name “The Notorious B.I.G.” after the rap name “Biggie Smalls” was already taken… by a white dude.

3. Likwit Crew member Defari has a master’s degree from Columbia University.

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