Metal Lungies

“Searching” is a 1995 single by Pete Rock & CL Smooth, released just prior to the duo’s breakup . It was remixed and re-released in ’96 as a promotional 12′.

The original version can be found on the group’s second album, The Main Ingredient, but the remix was only made available in CD format on the import-only Rare Tracks compilation.

Both versions are produced by Pete Rock. The lyrics are the same in both versions, with the exception of a new chorus added to the remix.  Pete does a call-and-response, reciting the following lyrics with CL’s sampled vocals  answering the first two lines. After that, a female vocalist answers Pete’s lines.

Let me break the chorus down, just so I have an excuse to type the word “sextafied.”

PR: Searching to find the one and have fun

CL: I’m thirsty for your love, sugar can I get a sip?

PR: Sextafied women who rank from 10 to 1, honey

CL: You know what it takes and you know how I want it

PR: Do you like it? (Yeah…)

Do you want it? (Yeah…)

Well, if you got it, why not flaunt it? (Hell yeah!)

Searching…

The original instrumental is butter smooth, with sultry female backing vocals and warm vibes. Sample vocals chant “searching” on the chorus and the backing vocalist plays off the samples. Pete adlibs all over the track, as he is wont to do.

The remix will please hard-rocks who thought the original was too soft, flipping the summery feel of the original into a much darker sounding instrumental. Pete employs an eerie string loop that should sound familiar to any 90s rap scholar and dark sounding vibes. He utilizes crisper, harder drums than he did on the OG and brings in muted horns every few bars. Pete drops the sampled “searching” vocals at the end as the beat fades out.

I respect that Pete & CL could pull off a credible ballad in such a hardcore-minded period of hip hop, and both versions of “Searching” are gems.

Download:

Pete Rock & CL Smooth – “Searching” (The Main Ingredient, 1994)

Pete Rock & CL Smooth – “Searching (Remix)” (Rare Tracks, 1999)

Special thanks goes to Buhizzle who held down Remix Tuesdays last week with an exemplary post about Cormega.

How long has it been since Cormega’s last new album, ’02’s The True Meaning? “6 years” is the easy answer, but consider this: the original title to its follow-up — Urban Legend — was swiped by T.I., which led Mega to change the title to The Inevitable. This happened in 2004.

In the meantime, though, Mega’s still been putting in work. He put out The Testament, the shelved LP from his failed mid-’90s Def Jam tenure. It served as a nice treat, but not much more — Mega certainly didn’t have the ear for quality production back then that he has now. Mega also put out Legal Hustle and Who Am I? (the soundtrack to his home-made DVD), but some of the tracks on these guest-heavy compilations didn’t even feature Mega. It’s commendable that someone like Mega, a one-time victim of industry blackballing who had to rebuild his career from scratch, has since established working relationships with the likes of Ghostface, Kurupt, and Keak Da Sneak to name a few, but his ability to make friends doesn’t prove that rap music needs Cormega.

Rather, the fact that it’s been 6 years since Mega’s put out a new album, and fans are still patiently waiting, proves that rap music needs Cormega.

“Fallen Soldiers” was a track off Cormega’s first official release, The Realness. Unlike many of our past Remix Tuesdays features, the remix also appeared on the album, not just as a 12″ B-side… which is a good thing, because, in my opinion, it’s better than the original. The Alchemist beat on the remix, though not one of my personal favorites (insert shameless plug here), is low-key enough for Mega to get more emotional than he does on the original version (which works around the same sample as Jay-Z’s “It’s Like That”).

On each version of the song, Mega uses each of his 3 verses to discuss someone close to him that he’s lost. But, on the remix, he dedicates the last verse to his mother, and the second-to-last to a friend who apparently died leaving a 1-year-old daughter. “Little Ariel, at daddy burial/ Unaware of how much daddy cared for you/ And I don’t gotta talk about the things I’ll do/ Son I got you, be easy/ Your little girl will never need and never see the treachery this world has to offer”.

Lots of rappers use the word “real” with no “real” sense of what it means. But, with his ability to make songs like these, you’d be hard-pressed to question Mega’s “realness”.

Download: Cormega – “Fallen Soldiers”

Download: Cormega – “Fallen Soliders (Remix)”

“The Light” was a second single released by Common in support of his 4th album, Like Water for Chocolate. It’s produced by Jay Dee, before he took on the J Dilla alias. Jay employs an oft used drum break by the Detroit Emeralds and tweaks the snares and hi hats to make them sound extra crisp. The beat is centered around samples from from Bobby Caldwell’s “Open Your Eyes”, in particular airy keyboards from the original’s prechorus. Stuttered piano keys sampled open the song and enter occasionally on the verses. The piano keys sound on the chorus where Jay scratches Caldwell’s vocals:

There are times, when you need someone/I will be by your side
There is a light that shines/Special for you and me

At the end of the song, Jay scratches other parts of Caldwell’s vocals as the song fades out.

A music video was made, costarring Erykah Badu and filled with shots of all sorts of tokens of affection.

Pictured at the top of the post is the 12′ cover. A remix was recorded for the soundtrack to Bamboozled and released as a single. Pictured below is the CD single cover:

Like the original, the remix is produced by Jay Dee. The remix features Erykah Badu singing the original chorus and adding backing vocals during the verses. The song begins with Badu singing the chorus to just handclaps for a few seconds before the beat drops. Jay switches up the drums, utilizing shakers and claps. The piano has been removed in favour of Kraftwerk sounding keyboards and a churning, jazzy guitar loop. The remix also adds a thick, live-sounding bass line and some ghostly sounding vocals that join in randomly on the choruses. Com re-recorded his vocals for the remix, reciting slightly different lyrics more slowly and solemnly.

I do prefer the original, but the remix is interesting for actually featuring the person the song is written about on it. It shows Jay Dee’s knack for completely re-imagining songs through remixing.

Common – The Light

Common – The Light (Remix For U ft.Erykah Badu)

(Love that single cover)

“Strobelite Honey” is a 1992 single released by Queens-based duo Black Sheep. The song was the second single released of the group’s debut, A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing.

The song received an incredible number of remixes on 12’s, most of them dance/house remixes, so I’m only tackling the album version and one of the remixes.

The album version, credited to the group, uses house-sounding claps and hi-hats, a guitar loop and a thick, bouncy bass line. The cut starts with some keys and percussion before breaking into the main beat. Dres tells a tale of spotting a honey in the club who looks good under the strobe light, and not so great outside of it. A very literal video depicts exactly what he’s rapping about. It uses a slightly faster, more danceable beat with horns.

The remix, entitled the “No We Didn’t Mix”, starts with wailing trumpets that loop a few times before the drums kick in. These horns reappear on the chorus; the verses employ a funky organ sample and a raw drum break. There’s a less raucous horn loop that blows occasionally. The lyrics are unchanged with a few minor exceptions (for some reason, Dres switches around a few lines in the first verse.) About 1:30, the beat strips down to just drums and some understated keyboards. The trumpet loops come in again in on the chorus and briefly at the start of the verses. An interesting remix that gives me a headache after a while – I think it’s the trumpets.

Listen to both versions:

Black Sheep – Strobelite Honey (Album version)

Black Sheep – Strobelite Honey (No We Didn’t Mix)

“93 ‘Til Infinity” was the debut single of Hieroglyphics-affiliated group Souls of Mischief. It’s produced by group member A-Plus, who uses a lovely Billy Cobham sample, with laidback keys complimented by a wailing sax and rugged drums. The song also has an instantly memorable chorus:

This is how we chill/ from 93 ’til

The song got an iconic video of the Souls rapping on the beaches, cliffs and rooftops of Oakland, CA, featuring cameos from the whole Hiero crew:

A-Plus’ remix uses an Ad-Rock vocal sample (just like the last remix I covered) over stripped down beat with loopy keyboards which smooth out every few bars and a busy bass loop. A-Plus uses a raw, knocking drum break, not terribly different from the original’s percussion. It keeps the verses from the original but adds a new chorus:

From now on/we got it goin’ on

The group also uses the original’s chorus a few times in the remix.This version omits Tajai’s intro and has a different outro that lets the beat ride out for a few seconds.

Pretty hard to improve on the original but it’s always nice to have another version of a classic when the OG starts to feel a bit played out.

As always, compare the merits of each in the comments:

Souls Of Mischief – 93 Til Infinity

Souls Of Mischief – 93 Til Infinity (A-Plus Remix)

“Drop” was a single released by the Pharcyde, in support of their second album, Labcabincalifornia. It was produced by J Dilla, still going by Jay Dee at the time. Dilla employs his soon-to-be signature crisp, neck-snapping snares and claps. He uses a haunting, spacey backwards sample and a scratched chorus of Ad-Rock from “The New Style”: “Feel the beat….mmmmm…DROP!” I’ll be honest, most of the lyrics to this song don’t really make a lot of sense to me. Nevertheless Bootie Brown kills it, and just reading the lyrics doesn’t do his verse justice:

My name is Bootie Brown and I’m proceeding, leading,
they try to follow but they’re shallow and hollow
I can see right through them like an empty 40 bottle, of O.E.
they have no key, or no clue
to the game at all, now they washed up
hung out to dry
standing looking stupid, wondering why
(why man?)
it was the fame (fame!), that they tried to get
now they walking around talkin’ about represent
and keep it real, but I got to appeal
cause they existing in a fantasy when holding the steel

The song also got a fantastic video courtesy of one of my favourite directors, Spike Jonze. If you haven’t seen it before, see if you can figure out what’s going on before the video finishes:

You can read Jonze’s one-page treatment for the video at Delicious Vinyl’s blog, it’s really interesting.

Da Beatminerz did a remix for the song that appears on the  12′ for “Drop”/”Y?”, as pictured at the top of post. The Ad-rock sample remains but it’s placed low in the mix, and there’s a new chorus:

Believe it or not/it’s all divine/I got the super phat shit that will blow your mind

The backwards electronic-sounding sample is gone; instead the remix compliments a filtered bass line with thudding drum hits.  Lyrics are unchanged but the song’s intro and outro is different: Bootie Brown introduces the track as a Beatminerz remix and Tre adlibs a bit at the end.

It’s an interesting take on the track, and in lieu of new Pharcyde material from the original quartet, any material from that era is welcome. Though the original lineup is reuniting for Rock The Bells, maybe new material will come from it. This interview with the group seems to indicate so.

So, you guys gonna make a record?
Slimkid3: We’re gonna go to the lab and work it out. We don’t want to jump the gun, we just want to let it happen.
Is there a lab to go back to?
Slimkid3: Hmm. Uh, I guess we need a lab. Just got back together, uh, yesterday, so… If a lab just so happens to pop up, that would be great.
Fatlip: Yeah. I mean of course it’s hard to say, but the way things have been for the last day, I have to say yes. Things are good.

Listen to both and tell me which version you like better:

The Pharcyde – Drop

The Pharcyde – Drop (Da Beatminerz Remix)

“Born 2 Live” was the debut single of rapper Omar Creadle, best known by his initials. It was the first single for Word…Life, his 1994 debut released on the unstable Wild Pitch Records.

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Sorry for the absence, I’ve been crazy busy with exams coming up in a week or so. But I’ve had Busta Rhymes on the brain lately and I wanted to cover him for my weekly Remix Tuesdays feature. Today I’m covering the World Wide Remix of Busta’s classic “Woo-Hah!! Got You All In Check”, featuring Ol’ Dirty Bastard.

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I’m back from my hiatus to resume writing again and of course I needed to write a new instalment of the weekly Remix Tuesday. I had to take some time off from blogging. I had a huge amount of school work and just didn’t have the time. Shouts to Buhizzle for keeping this feature going while I was gone, along with the rest of the ML crew for holding down the fort.

Today I’m covering a classic by Camp Lo, the Bronx-based duo of Sonny Cheeba & Geechi Suede. “Black Nostaljack (AKA Come On)” was the third and final single released off their still-great debut Uptown Saturday Night.

The original rocks an smooth loop of Curtis Mayfield’s “Tripping Out”, and is produced by Camp Lo’s primary producer Ski and Ill Will Fulton. I can’t tell you too much about Fulton as a producer; I think he was an in-house Roc-A-Fella Records producer at some point, judging by his Discogs entry.

You can listen to the original sample below:

Ski and Fulton slightly sped up the intro of the Mayfield song and looped it for that amazing bassline and stuttered guitar. The horns from about the 30 second mark are interspersed at intervals into the main loop. Some nice strings pop occasionally as well. The backing track provides the perfect instrumental for Geechie and Cheeba to floss their blaxploitation-era slang steez over.

Of course, the song becomes even better once you hear it in the context of the music video:

The video sees the group joining an episode of Good Times, (a la Weezer’s video for Buddy Holly), complete with a cameo from JJ Walker! I really want one of those leather caps. Look for the cover of Uptown Saturday Night appearing as a painting in the Evans’ house.

Geechie Suede’s opening verse is one of my favourite Camp Lo verses, simply in terms of enjoyably surreal imagery (is there any other kind of Camp Lo verse?) :

Now here we are star apport a sarsparilla
I’m the Don Ezetti on the Veric Express
We got the Imperio and vino just for the keeper
And yes he be the Cheeba
And yes I be the Sueda
So gimme zigga zigga
And we can get with Kiki
The seventh heaven cloud is for my kufi and dashiki
So you see me on the upper
But it’s always the Lowa
We make it Hollywood cuz diamond crooks is takin’ over

Now, here’s where the remix comes in. The chorus of the album version of the song goes like this:

If you from the BX connects nigga
Nigga come on
If you from the BKs souffle nigga
Nigga come on
If you from the cherry QBs nigga
Nigga come on
If you from the NY you fly nigga
Nigga come on
Nigga come on

In the radio edit (used for the music video), the title of Nas’s next album in the chorus is replaced by “sugah”, which actually works pretty well without seeming forced. And a melanin-deficient individual such as myself can participate in the chorus!

But the radio edit evidently wasn’t enough for Ski and Ill Will Fulton, because they remixed the radio version for it’s own 12′, the one pictured at the top of this post. The remix is amusingly titled the “Xenobia Mix” , presumably for the removal of the n-word in the chorus.

The Xenoboia remix takes most of the original beat, but seemingly beefs up the bass and drums. It replaces the funky guitar line from the original with some ill layered strings. Rather than immediately starting with the beat, the song begins with only the aforementioned strings. Geechi and Sonny go through the modified chorus once, backed solely by the string sample. Just as the chorus finishes, the beat kicks in with that thick bassline and the strings drop out. The strings are integrated into the beat for each chorus and appear again in the outro.

I like them both equally, but it’s amazing how much of a difference the strings make in the remix. Ski deserves more credit for skills behind the boards.

The original “Black Nostaljack” 12” featured a remix produced by Kid Capri on the b-side, that beatjacks Run-D.M.C.’s “Beats To The Rhyme”. The remix features new verses from Camp Lo, Reverend Run and Kid Capri. It might considered a bit of a stretch to call it a remix; the only thing that remains from the original is the chorus, which is shouted by Rev. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Capri remix without him adlibbing over it.

The Lo actually sound pretty good over the Bob James’ sample. “Nautilus” never gets old, does it? You can listen to it on YouTube for comparison’s sake.

Listen to all the versions and let me know which is your favourite in the comments.

Black Nostaljack (AKA Come On)

Black Nostaljack (Xenobia Mix)

Black Nostaljack (Kid Capri Mix Tape Remix ft.Kid Capri & Rev Run)

BONUS BEATS: I would be remiss to not mention Dan Love’s excellent 2-part interview with Camp Lo producer Ski. Read the first part of the interview here at From Da Bricks, where Ski talks about making Camp Lo’s first album, among other things.

Props to Twelve Inchers for the hookup on the Xenobia remix, along with the image at the top.

Aaron M is the midst of a short blogging hiatus (so necessary, sometimes), hence the lack of a Remix Tuesday last week. So, I figured I’d assume the role, if only to maintain some continuity, and to hit y’all off with some dope shit. And, as you can see in the title, I’ve already acknowledged that this is a day late… but, at least it’s still Tuesday here on the West Coast! Which is fitting, considering that the subject of this post is local L.A. legend Ras Kass.

Plenty has stood in the way of Rassy being the hip hop star that he could’ve (should’ve?) been. You can’t blame him for the way Priority Records treated him over the years, and how they helped fumble the Alchemist/”Home Sweet Home” beat fiasco, among other things. But, you CAN blame him for his multiple DUI arrests that led to his incarceration — no amount of books read or 7-minute songs about the origins of Western civilization can excuse that. There seemed to be major label interest in Ras in recent years, but nothing has (yet) materialized out of all of the name-popping. For those that have followed the ups and downs of Ras’s career, it felt like a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t”-type situation, where Ras could’ve latched on to a major that would’ve stopped showing interest in him as soon as he signed (see: M.O.P.), or just let all the offers pile up and do nothing about ’em (see: Copywrite).

All of that aside, though, Ras Kass remains a sort of best kept secret among those willing to peep out his catalog (see: NOT The Game). Sadly, for all the talent that he possesses, it just felt like he could never get a break. Case in point, Ras has collaborated with the likes of DJ Premier, Dr. Dre, Alchemist, Neptunes, the RZA… yet, the most critiqued aspect of his 2 commercially-released albums is the lack of quality production.

Soul On Ice is by far one of the greatest lyrical displays by a then-largely-unknown MC (granted, it’s no Illmatic, but it’s pretty damn close), but the production was very dull in comparison. In the mean time, Diamond D sells Ras one of his greatest beats — and one of the most haunting hip hop productions you’ll ever hear — and it ends up as a non-album remix, with a video no less… it bottles boggles the mind. Compare, and I think you’ll be hard pressed to argue against the remix being the better of the two.

Download: Ras Kass – “Soul On Ice”

Download: Ras Kass – “Soul On Ice (Diamond D Remix)”

Bonus (Unreleased) Download: Ras Kass – “Fuck U Up”