Casual's one of my favorite Oakland rappers. He hasn't put out an album since 2005, but lately he's stayed busy with YouTube videos.
His recent clips are all lo-fi flip-cam things. In some, he raps. In some, he studies Egyptology. In a couple, he does both.
Although my eyes and ears kinda glaze over when he gets into a lot of the Kemetic stuff, I find it charming somehow-- I guess I'm interested in the fact that he's interested in the stuff. It's cool to see a gifted rapper who's on some totally different shit from every other rapper out.
Here's a sampling of some of my favorites.
Rapping over Three 6 Mafia's "Ridin' Spinners":
With weights, guns and subtitled commentary:
Nothing but a song, but I really like the song, "N.A.G.A.S.":
Rocking kufis, rapping about the Town, filming the cops filming him:
Rapping over crazy 8-bit beats:
Driving, punchlines:
Ancient Egyptian vocab:
Favorite line: "But I don't really know how to say that, though."
Watching all the clips inspired me to rip Casual's cassette-only Meanwhile... album. This is one of my favorite songs from that. I'm guessing on the title.
The Conscious Daughters: "Gamers" (Priority, 1996)
I think people mostly remember Conscious Daughters for "Fonky Expedition", but I always liked this one better. Mike Mosley was killing it in those days and this is one of my favorite beats that he did. This song and the Gamers album are in print, so I won't post a file of the regular version. This remix is not, so I will:
The Conscious Daughters: "Gamers" [Rick Rock Eerie Attic Mix] (Priority, 1996)
I'm pretty sure "Gamers" is the only Bay Area rap single ever to come out on double vinyl. It also had remixes from C-Funk and T-Mor, but Rick Rock's remix was a stand-out for me. He's enormously versatile, but this still trips me out because its so NYC jazz-rap-ish.
Bonus: The electronic press kit for the Gamers album:
This video feels like a total time capsule of my life in the mid-90s: Telegraph Ave. record stores (Leopold's R.I.P.!), Ya Mama's Cafe, Lake Merritt, etc. Other highlights: Mike Mosley on camera and the Conscious Daughters' rap purchase recommendations (Group Home! Goodie M.O.B!).
This week I pay tribute to my city, playing an hour of the best new rap music out of Oakland and talking with Oakland representer DJ Fresh.
DJ Fresh was recently named West Coast Mixtape DJ of the Year on the strength of his excellent Tonite Show series of artist-themed albums. We talk about his incredible work ethic, his background as a top-ranked turntablist and DJ for Nas and upcoming projects including installments of the Tonite Show with Messy Marv, San Quinn and Raekwon. Also, we play songs from the brand-new Tonite Show album and PTB label boss J-Moe offers some thoughts on why Bay rappers can't separate the streets from business and describes D-Lo performing "No Hoe" at an Oakland middle school (!).
The show kicks off with a mix of some of the best of current Oakland rap from all styles: turf raps, political raps, cupcake raps, undie raps, you name it:
1. Philthy Rich: Straight from Oakland feat. Ros, J-Stalin, Stevie Joe, Kaz Kyzah, Shady Nate, Lil Blood, Eddie Projex, Beeda Weeda, Keak Da Sneak & Mistah F.A.B.
2. Lyrics Born: Block Bots feat. Trackademicks & Clyde Carson
3. Shady Nate: Head Doctor
4. Sleepy D: Sleepy Fuckin’ D
5. Stevie Joe: 80s Baby
6. D-Lo: You Played Me feat. Rico
7. Clyde Carson: Take It to the Hotel feat. R. Kelly
8. J-Stalin: Millionaire Status
9. Kaz Kyzah: Freeway
10. Beeda Weeda: You Don’t Hear My Tummy
11. Shady Nate: Jug feat. J-Stalin, X.O. & Gary Hawkins
12. Jern Eye: Blowin’ Up feat. Roc C
13. Brwn Bflo: Powerful People
14. Bicasso: Warz Over feat. Saafir
15. Crown City Rockers: Forever Song
16. Vell4Short: Shirts & Baggy Pants
17. The Grouch & Eligh: Say G&E!
18. StreetMedia: Push
19. Mayne Mannish: Flight to Boston
20. Casual: Town Bound
21. Guce & J-Stalin: Another Quelo
22. League510: To the Beat [Trackademicks RMX]
I know I messed up by leaving out some Oakland rappers that belong in there (Zion I, Mistah F.A.B., etc.) and including a Berkeley rapper that doesn't (Lyrics Born), but it's due to my general unfocused-ness, not hate. I tried to make the mix as comprehensive as I could but I'm sure there's a lot of great stuff I don't know or just spaced on.
Big shout to my dude XJ, who figured out how to get me mp3s for two of the highlights of the mix, Mayne Mannish's "Flight to Boston" and Casual's "Town Bound".
Last man standing b/w What the hell happened to Rich Harrison?
Busta Rhymes's Back On My B.S. comes out today. I've never really seen him as an album artist but I find him intriguing because (1) I can't think of any other rapper who has been releasing records since 1991* who is still scoring national radio or club hits and (2) technically he remains a beast of a rapper.
It's been about three years since his last album, a year-and-a-half since they started pushing this one back and a year since he was tossed off of Interscope. In that time, plenty of songs were released or leaked but didn't make the album, some of them pretty surprising ("Don't Touch Me", "I Got Bass"). This was my favorite of them:
This song leaked last fall and I spent months looking for a version without annoying drops. Ultimately I had to make my own. The beat is by the Aphilliates' Don Cannon but to me sounds uncannily like the style Rich Harrison was working a few years ago on tracks like this:
Hearing this again got me wondering, what the hell happened to Rich Harrison anyway? He was never terribly prolific but between 2003 and 2005 his pop hits were both ubiquitous and great: Beyoncé's "Crazy in Love", Destiny's Child's "Soldier", J-Lo's "Get It Right" and Amerie's "One Thing".**
Since then, what has he released? Looking at his production discography, not much. I knew he had some songs on B-Day, had forgotten he did Mos Def's pretty tolerable "Undeniable" and had no idea he produced Usher's (unreleased) "Dat Girl Right There", but aside from those, he's released virtually nothing. He didn't fall off so much as just disappear. Such a waste-- I really hope to hear more from him.
EDIT: Light sleeper Sake One pointed out to me that Rich Harrison actually did release something in the last few months, this song, which sounds like Danity Kane trying to cross "Like a Pimp" with "Soldier" and inviting Bun B along for the ride.
* Aside from maybe Jay-Z, and that's only if you count High Potent or hypeman duties for Jaz. None of which is to take away from Too $hort, De La Soul, Scarface, E-40, Q-Tip, DJ Quik or Bun B, all of whom still make interesting music but are at least a couple years removed from any real mainstream presence.
** Speaking of "One Thing", my man Joe Quixx got there first:
Joe drops the Meters' "Oh, Calcutta" for Sway's verse (at about the 2:10 mark). The other rappers on the track are Wake Up Show regulars Mysterme, the B.U.M.S., Motion Man and perhaps one other I don't recognize (Cool Caz?).
Last year The Meaning of Dope posted a mind-blowing clip featuring Too $hort in his 1990 heyday-- walking around Lake Merritt, talking on a brick phone and coming off as being as smart and sensible as he is.
I recognized the clip as coming from Rap City Rhapsody, a 1990 PBS documentary by Akili Buchanan. Buchanan was a Bay Area-based guy and Rap City Rhapsody featured a ton of footage of local performers. The film has never been released on video or DVD and I don't think it's been aired or screened anywhere in years.
I saw it when it aired on KQED back in the day and I dimly remembered that it featured footage of one of my favorite local groups of that era, Oakland's A.P.G. Crew. I put a request in the comments and, lo and behold, yesterday that dude House posted this at The Meaning of Dope:
The A.P.G. Crew doesn't come off as good as they were in this clip. Mello Mar's rhymes seem a little clunky, I think because they were trying to present some conscious material they hadn't really worked out. J-Cutt kinda plays himself when he refers to Wilson Pickett's "Engine No. 9" as being by Kenny Gamble, the name that appears on the UBB pressing of the song. Still, it's awesome to see footage of them in the studio and performing at the I-Beam.
For a taste of APG at their finest, here's the lead-off track from their first album, On the Rise:
Lately DJ Anonymous has been posting a ton of stuff on his blog that I had been meaning to rip, largely 90s rap and reggae classics that are just slightly too old and/or forgotten for me to play out much but which I nonetheless had really been wanting. Him posting my favorite Kurious song prompted me to rip a few more.
For those who don't remember Kurious, he was a likable, funny and low-key NYC rapper who was part of an extended crew that included KMD, Lord Sear and others. He cut one LP for Columbia, 1994's A Constipated Monkey. Although he got three singles, his record never did much and, aside from a few appearances on MF Doom projects, he's mostly been M.I.A. for the past 15 years.
The first is Kurious's second single. Although the production is credited to the Beatnuts, the songwriting credit tells me that it was probably really done by their boy, V.I.C., who produced a ton of slept-on stuff from Renaissance's "Tap the Bottle" to the Artifacts' short-lived foray as the Brick City Kids. Regardless, it's a great track-- there's so much warmth in it.
The second is a freestyle over Nasty Nas's "Halftime" from Stretch & Bobbito's WKCR radio show. Although it's all but impossible for me to enjoy freestyle rapping these days, he and the Souls of Mischief kind of kill it here. SOM's performance opened a lot of doors for them at a time when New York was not at all receptive to Cali rap.
Kurious & Souls of Mischief: "WKCR Freestyle" (Liberty Grooves, 1994)
After a long hiatus, Kurious put out a new single earlier this year. It would have been pretty good but for one of the Dipset guys doing a really lame 50 Cent imitation all over the chorus.
Last night I played records with my homie Cosmo Baker at Sake One's party, Pacific Standard Time.
Cosmo has a new mix CD that's a tribute to probably my favorite soul artist of the past 20 years, Raphael Saadiq. You can get it here or here. The CD features many of Saadiq's biggest songs-- solo, with Tony! Toni! Toné! and with Lucy Pearl-- as well as a lot of songs he wrote and produced for others (the Roots, Erykah Badu, Amp Fiddler, Joss Stone, etc.).
It's a great mix CD and a really cool overview of Saadiq's work, but at 72 minutes there's no way he could include even half of the great stuff Saadiq has been involved in. So, without throwing any shade on Cos's selections, here's a completely subjective group of Saadiq-related songs that aren't on there but which I love:
The best song ever about getting the fuck up out of Oakland. I had to look at the credits to figure out that the second vocal is by Leslie Wilson of New Birth, who destroys it from the 3-minute mark on. Honorable mention to every other song where Saadiq breaks out the sitar.
Tony! Toni! Toné!: "(Lay Your Head on My) Pillow" (Mercury, 1993)
Basically a Baltimore version of Lucy Pearl's "Dance Tonight". I first heard it a few weeks ago when DJ mOma played it at his Monday party on Rivington. I was kinda faded, so it took a moment to register exactly what I was listening to, but it made me happy the second the vocal hit. It's from this EP.
I have no idea who reads this blog or if people who do actually buy records, but if you do and you went out and bought the new Saadiq album on the strength of this, I'd feel a little bit better about my place in the world.
Gospel week, day 5: he's coming (RUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
9th Creation were from Stockton, about an hour and a half east of Oakland. They never had any hits, but they were around for a decade and released some really good records, from jazzy funk to a mid-80s modern soul EP people pay insane amounts of money for. Aside from a couple gospel songs on their Reaching for the Top album, I think their whole output was secular.
The combination of the 9th Creation cover and lyric make me think of this place, which has maybe my favorite facade of any business in Oakland:
I think the wall with the third picture was painted over recently (black, natch), but the thong-wearing body builder with green laser hands is still in full effect. The photos came from here.
Next week, the super-homie DJ Eleven will be off touring the Midwest with Too $hort. (ARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHH, jealous!) Full details and RSVPage for the free shows in Minneapolis, Chicago, Columbus and St. Louis are here.
The Too $hort/Scion combination is a head-scratcher-- putting aside the whole lyrics about pimping and getting head thing, $hort's a Cadillac or Benz guy. On the other hand, it's not like he's out promoting Mini Coopers; to paraphrase Robin Harris, you probably can fit all that ass in a Scion.
I really hope $hort performs this:
Too $hort: "Fuck My Car" (Jive, 1996)
Oh, btw, you need this. Get it here or holler at me.
I went to Amoeba the other day and was happy as hell to see their Kill My Landlord album back in print. If I'd been keeping up with Noz's blog, I would've known that this and almost all of the rest of Wild Pitch label catalog is back in print as of this week, with Genocide & Juice due out in another week or so. Noz conducted a poll about which Wild Pitch album was the best; I like Main Source's Breaking Atoms, but I'd take Genocide & Juice or Word... Life any day.
The Kill My Landlord reissue is okay, a little stingy (certainly no Steal This Double Album). They didn't add any bonus tracks and the liner looks like it was made at Kinko's, but I'm glad to see the album available.
Last night I caught a freebie and went to see the drummer Billy Cobham. His chops are ridiculous and he had the great Kenny Barron on piano, but there was a lil too much Randy Brecker-with-awful-effects on top of a few too many Cobham compositions with crazy time signatures. So I didn't enjoy the show much, except for when he played this:
Billy Cobham: "Heather" (Atlantic, 1974)
If you're from the Bay, you'll recognize it as the sample to Souls of Mischief's "93 Til Infinity", which long ago became an Oakland anthem. The rightness of hearing him play the song live in Oakland made me happy and got me wondering-- does he bust out "Red Baron" when he plays Compton? "Crosswinds" in Brooklyn? "Almustafa the Beloved" in the Bronx? I hope so.
Dirty Filthy Mud: "The Forest of Black" (Worex, 1968)
According to my homeboy Vernon, Dirty Filthy Mud were from Oakland and only had one release, the single pictured above. I've never seen a copy of it, but "Forest of Black" has been bootlegged a bunch of times; the bootleg I have features both sides of the single. The other side, "Morning Sun Flower", is folk-rockish but on this track they really knock the psych + electronics steez of Fifty Foot Hose and United States of America out of the box.
Last year, Luv n' Haight put out a reissue of music by Bay Area legend Eugene Blacknell. Blacknell was an Oakland/Richmond-based guitarist who led one of the most prominent soul and funk bands in the Bay throughout the 1960s and '70s. Although his recorded output was pretty limited-- less than a dozen singles, no LPs-- just about everything he released was great.
Luv n' Haight did a fantastic job with the reissue. I'd been wishing out loud for a Blacknell compilation for years (no lie-- back in 1996, I did so in a review I wrote about this comp for Vinyl Exchange (what up, Stef!)) and probably would've been happy with any set collecting his singles, but they went all-out, delivering quality unreleased material, great liner notes, photos, etc.
My favorite part of the compilation was the inclusion of a couple of radio spots for live appearances by Blacknell's band, this one in particular:
Eugene Blacknell: "I'm So Thankful Lucky 13 Radio Spot" (Luv n' Haight, 2007)
Dope, home-made production values aside, it's the local history angle that kills me. The Lucky 13 was located in Albany at the intersection of Solano and San Pablo, where this club is currently. The spot is also kitty-corner from the Ivy Room, which my friend Bill owned for many years, and across the street from where my favorite-ever record store, Bay Town Records, was. Growing up in the 1980s, Albany always struck me as a very square town, so it's hard for me to picture a club there circa 1974 playing host to Oakland's most popular funk band.
Even harder to imagine is any local club hosting live music from 2 to 6 a.m. Not only are police and the ABC super-hard on clubs, the Bay these days is a very much an early-to-bed place-- it's difficult enough to find anything decent to eat after 10 p.m., but finding anything to do after 2 a.m. is just about impossible. Maybe things were different back then.
I'm not sure what's best about Too $hort's "I Ain't Trippin'"-- the insidious bassline, the way $hort pretty much mumbles/whispers all of the lyrics or Mark Curry's adlibs. Probably the adlibs, which perfectly capture the feel of Oakland at the time.
A few years later, Berkeley rapper Mac Mill came out with another single featuring a pre-"Hangin with Mr. Cooper" Curry riffing on street life and, in particular, danglers.
Mac Mill: "Straight Dangler" (No Question, 1990)
Danglers are still with us, but sadly, the word "dangler" has pretty much passed from the lexicon, although E-40 did drag it out of the mothballs for the Federation's "Hyphy" in 2003. Hopefully he'll include it in the slang dictionary he's been promising to publish since about that time.
As for Mill, I don't think he has put out anything since like 1995, when he released the EP with "Arabian Hump" on it. [I have a vague recollection of that song making the local news and Mac Mill explaining that he was shocked, shocked I tell you, at the controversy, because he was just imitating dudes who owned the local liquor stores-- anybody else remember that?] A couple years ago, I was surprised to read that my man Lyrics Born was in a crew with Mill in the dangler era, but when I asked Tom about Mill, but he said they lost touch years ago.
