There’s been a lot of talk about a post on this site from about a year ago. It was about the Kemetic Suns crew and the Fundamentals who put out the record “Stop the World: Science Must Progress”. The Fundamentals were KarmaChi and King Koncepts. I reupped that post for all of your enjoyment and I’m gonna try to get more active with this blog. Being in school takes me away from my love for hip-hop more and more but the fact that you all have tuned in, even if it’s just to call each other names, has inspired me. The beef is dumb. We grew up loving hip-hop and if you are younger then us you are doing the same thing right now. Whether or not you like particular individuals or not, the fact is, hip-hop is the best f#@!ing music out there and has touched every aspect of our culture and American music since its inception. I believe you think your better than the next emcee, but don’t stop practicing or you’ll slip and don’t come with dumb beef or don’t lose respect for the people who have been listening to hip-hop for longer than you have. If you’re an older cat and you’re acting like a child on the internet, just stop. Hip hop is dope. Don’t ruin it.

As for Fundamentals, I’ll look for more of their $#!t whether it’s at Amoeba, my favorite underground digging spot (you know it if you’ve been there), or in the trash. You may think you’re better than KarmaChi, and that’s all well and good, but last I checked the record I copped that track off is fairly sought after—regardless of where I found it.

Moving right along, here are a few new (old) tracks. The first is perhaps the biggest posse cut I’ve ever found on wax that features artists from the area and era in question. The next two are artists who I aspire to and respect for their craft and their style—Z-Man and Edan are hardcore b-boys. Edan is on Lewis Recordings and Z-Man is in the group One Block Radius. Edan is from Boston. So am I.

Fanatik- Hella Emcees (Fanatik’s 12″ Murder Mix) feat. Bas-1, Mic-T, Shake, 427, Persevere, Planet Asia, Asop, Friz-B, Rashenal, Ricochet, Fli, Dave Dub, EB F, The Grouch and Grandthevil (Heratik Productions, 2000)

Z-Man- Z-Mutiny (refill records, 2003)

Edan- I’ll Come Running Back To You (Lewis Recordings, 2002)

I’m not much of a T La Rock buff and I probably know about half as much about Kool Keith as your local indie rocker but their rhyme patterning is inconceivably similar at times.

Russell Simmons on T La Rock:
“It ["It's Yours"] was big, big in the underground. T (T La Rock) started the trend and a new direction in hip-hop. He used 40-letter words. He created a special poetry.”

Hmmmm…..(art rockers be warned)

T La Rock & Louie Lou- Scratch Monopoly (Fresh, 1987)

Ultramagnetic MC’s- Break North 97 RMX (Next Plateau, 1997)

Initally, the MC’s role was just to exhort the crowd through simple chanted slogans and
catchphrases. Eventually this evolved into full on MCing, with groups like So Solid and
Pay as U Go, though the lyrical content was not really up to par with US rap.

There’s defintely some Wu Tang influence in that So Solid video. This was the peak period
for UK Garage. So Solid had big video budgets, Top of the Pops appearences and a high
gloss, big money, bling bling image. However, in the trend hungary UK, things change
quickly. And the core urban audience had moved on.

At some point, in 2003, two records changed up UK garage culture:

Suddenly, things were stripped down and without as much emphesis on a house 4/4 beat with
the kick on the 1 and 3 and the snares on the 2 and 4. Suddenly accents were all over the
place and there was alot more space for MC’s. And there were ALOT of MC’s. I attribute
some of this to the worldwide expolsian in popularity of US hip hop in the late 90′s. Biggie,
Puffy, 2Pac, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre were famous among urban youth worldwide. It was not
neccesary to be a hardcore hop fan to hear this stuff in London, it was pop music. But, when
these London kids picked up the mic, they rapped over UK garage. Here is a great clip
from when garage had started to cross over to grime.

The clip was filmed in a pirate radio station, an illegal radio station run out of empty
room in a high rise building. With no clubs (or “raves” in UK parlance) wanting to book
this stuff, pirate radio was the only outlet.

The first commercial sucess in grime was Dizzee Rascal, who was signed to XL, after his white
label of “I LUv U” was a big underground hit. The classic grime sound was UK garage mixed
with the US hip hop of Timbaland (a BIG influence), the Neptunes, Swizz Beatz as well as the
downsouth style of Mannie Fresh and Beats by the Pound. And of course, there is heavy
influence from Jamaican dancehall, with it’s use of off kilter rhythms.

After that, there was a spate of signings, with Wiley, Kano, and Lethal B all getting
signed to major labels. Interestingly, many of these grime artists had also been
garage artists, Wiley in Pay as U Go and Lethal B in More Fire Crew. However, none of
new signees duplicated Dizzee’s success. On a small level, there were a lot of white
labels, DVD’s, and mix tapes released, but still not alot of grime based club nights.

Fast forward a few years to 2008, grime is basically dead as vinyl format, mix CD’s are
the format of choice. There are still no grime MC’s besides Dizzee signed to major labels.
The return of speed garage (now called “niche” or “bassline”) has pushed grime off many
of the pirate radio stations that supported it in the first place.

Without the possibilties of a pop outlet, grime is starting to go back underground to a world of hardcore fans and endless spitting, some brilliant, some monotonous as hell. Though with mainstream rap clown Tim Westwood (drop the bomb on the big dawg, yawn yawn ) finally paying attention, there may be light at the end of the tunnel.

ABOVE THE LAW- Untouchable (Ruthless Records, 1990)

(and to think that I aspired to dress like these young men as a junior highschooler in the Boston suburbs…that’s culture!)

Apparently, Fundamentals were a short lived Bay Area group and members of the crew Kemetic Sons. They probably smoked blunts with The Grouch! Making mostly underground cassettes, their 2 members (KarmaChi and King Koncepts), went on to do other projects including the respected Konceptual Dominance (Kirby Dominant & King Koncepts). I enjoy this track. I think its on par with other underground West Coast psychadelic ventures on wax of the same era. I found it in the trash this weekend in The Mission. Big up to Oakland and Pudgy Weston.

FUNDAMENTALS- Love… (Kemetic Suns Records, 1998)

Produced by King Koncepts

I don’t know what is more ill than this press photo. Probably the fact that Peter Gunn and Reaganomics fit all these egos on one track. Roll a blizzy and kick back for 42 minutes of funk:

Shit’s Gonna Hit The Fan- Beatnuts
Straight Jacket- Kool G. Rap
I’m Not Playing- Ultimate Force
Spoiled Rotten- Poison Clan
Get the F.I.S.T.- Get the F.I.S.T. Movement
(DJ Pooh ft. King Tee, Yo Yo, MC Eiht, B Real, J-Dee, Kam, Threat & Ice Cube)
Jeep Ass Niguh- Masta Ace
Jeeps, Lex Coups, Bimaz & Benz- Lost Boyz / Ya Playin’ Yaself- Jeru Da Damaja
Fat Pockets (radio remix)- Showbiz and A.G.
The Phunky Feel One (extended mix)- Cypress Hills
Search 4 The Lyte- MC Lyte
Duck Down- Boogie Down Productions
Mr. Scarface- Scarface

Reign of the Tec- Beatnut Watch the Sound- Fat Joe
Bass N the Truck- DJ Kool
They Want Efx (remix)- Das Fx
Rock the Ruff Rapps- 3,2,1
Live at MSG- Biggie Smalls, Tupac, Shyheim, and Big Daddy Kane
Show and Prove- Big Daddy Kane feat. Big Scoob, Sauce, Shyheim, Jay Z and ODB Spell it With a “J”- Kurious
85 South- Y’all So Stupid
Ooh the Doo Dew Man- Resident Alien
Sounds of Fattness- Bigga Sistas
It’s Hard Being the Kane- Big Daddy Kane
It’s Hard Being the Kane (Marley Marl extended remix)- Big Daddy Kane
100 Miles and Runnin’ N.W.A.
The Band Gets Swivey On the Wheels- Son of Bazerk

Download the mix HERE

Learn more about Peter Gunn HERE

Learn more about Reaganomics HERE

Mix Master Spade- It’s the Mix Master (L.A. Posse Records, LAP1111)

Related Links:
Interview at RapIndusty.Com
Spade on Discogs

Despite being a HUGE fan of female soul singers like Aretha, Lyn Collins, and various Betty’s (Adams, Harris, Wright, Davis , etc.), I have never listened to much female rap. I own a few MC Lyte and Queen Latifah 12”s, but in general female MC’s are not my thing.

This once led to some little publicist trust fund twat (uh, pardon my French) to call me “gay” and to “feel sorry for me”, because I stated that Dizzee Rascal was much more talented than hipster cover girl/grime fakir supreme, Lady Sovereign…

Now, to redeem my credentials among my post-feminist sistren, I present “Respect” by The Get Fresh Girls, from their album “Trickin’ ( I Seen Your Boyfriend ), and “Respect” by Anquette.

“Respect”, the title track off the LP “Trickin’”, is one of those Miami booty club classics that you probably know the main refrain of, (“I seen your boyfriend, I- I seen your man”) even if you’ve never heard it. Oddly, or not odd at all depending on your knowledge of Miami Bass, most of the LP is not bass at all, but NY style hip hop, albeit with an emphasis on the low end. The album came out in 1991, near the end of the “Second Wave” of Miami Bass, which looked towards New York hip hop just as much as it looked towards internal Miami influences. Records like “I Wanna Rock” by Luke and “Shake Watcha Mama Gave Ya” by Poison Clan also came out in 1991 and signaled the rise of a more high BPM style that was cut off from the traditional New York hip hop tree. This song comes at the end of an era; where 808 kicks and chanted vocal choruses could share album space with James Brown samples and drum breaks.

The track samples “Respect”by Aretha Franklin, something fellow Floridians and Luke Skywalker protégés Anquette had done 3 years earlier on the title track of their “Respect” LP. While the Anquette song was more or less a straight loop of Aretha with programmed 808 drums on top, the production on the Get Fresh Girls track sounds influenced by the Bomb Squad’s “Wall of Noise” production for Public Enemy, with prominent usage of the dissonant guitar intro from ESG’s “UFO” and multiple tracks of abrasive scratches.

Also, while the tone on the Anquette song is a “Ladies First” type pro-female stance, the Get Fresh Girls track is positively castrating in comparison. Fast and furious from the opening intro, Get Fresh Girl Regina grabs her boyfriend by the nuts for wanting to watch the game instead of spending time with her. Ladies, I ask you, what is wrong with wanting to watch some football with boys? It’s not as if you want to watch football with us… Regardless, the tone she takes will make any man’s balls retreat into his stomach, I promise… The male character can barely get a word in edgewise. For all those who point at the 2 Live Crew as evidence of the sexism of Miami bass, this track is a great rejoinder that the women do indeed get their digs in…

Anquette- Respect (1988)
The Get Fresh Girls- Respect (1991)

No we can’t. A fruitless search on Google reveals little about the roots of the MC’s of Rap. Hailing from Miami they have 3 releases on Discogs. This one is kind of a Fast Rap/Ragga split, which I appreciate more than the Bass Music. You can download whole albums here if you have a computer the size of a Cadillac with the brain of Albert Einstein. Otherwise, dig these tracks.

MC’s of Rap- We Can Do This (Rap Records, 1989)

MC’s of Rap- Come and Get It (Rap Records, 1989)

By the way, there is a great Shinehead track out there to the same beat as Come and Get It.

Anyways, “This Is England”+1AM YouTube Surfing= A Dancing Mood