PICKS POSSE - Week #34

The IP'S PICKS community shares what they're listening to.

Yo! The PICKS POSSE returns for yet another week of fresh selections. Let’s get right to it.

Robbie Ettelson: EPMD “Crossover (Test Pressing Remix)”

The “Trunk Mix” of “Crossover” is a great, what with its new and improved Ice Cube hook and beat, but this version by DJ Shok goes in a different direction. Sticking closer to the original groove and hook, the loud new drums, guitar loop and horn stabs provide a refreshing take on this well-worn staple of L.I. rap, while some tastefully-placed sample drops add just the right amount of extra panache to the proceedings.

I can’t remember the story behind why this was only released as a promo (Color Me Badd threatened to sue?), as the story has been long lost to the sands of time that are the comment sections of deleted Blogspot pages. But I did at one point ring up a bunch of recording studios trying to get an interview with Shok in the mid-‘00s as a favour to a pal who was mad for the Hi-Tech (nah, different dudes) records from the ‘90s. All I can find on the guy is this Q&A discussing the making of DMX’s “Slippin’,” which he explains was a beat he originally made in 1994.

Why is this called the “Test Pressing Remix” though? There are at least a hundred copies of this floating around—were Rush Associated Labels so flush with cash in 1992 that they could afford to press up hundreds of effin’ test pressings just for shits ‘n giggles? Maybe this was just a limited promo that was sent out to radio before Lyor decided to dump the remaining copies in the river out in Dumbo and ride off into the sunset with the “Trunk Mix.”

Related: my 2017 bootleg compilation of EPMD remixes is still live and direct on the mean streets of these here internets.

$5,000 Loveseat: Peanut Butter Wolf ft. Rasco “Run the Line (Lord Finesse Remix)”

Harmonic vocal samples and saying “Woooooooo” as an adlib (Godfather Don was great at this) are two things that will never not work for me. Finesse really laced this one (feels like the end of his more classic style right before his beats started to get more polished) and Rasco’s rugged vocals end up meshing nicely with the smoothness of the track.

Max Makes Music: Tonto’s Expanding Head Band “Tama”

What’s the connection between Andy Warhol and Stevie Wonder?

Jeff Margouleff.

Margouleff, when not busy with a career in advertising, was involved with various projects at Warhol’s Factory. He was also on a peyote-fueled mission to design a super synth. Using multiple Moog components, other modules and three keyboards, Margouleff and amateur engineer/bassist Malcolm Cecil rigged up the most powerful synth in world of 1971: TONTO, The Original New Timbral Orchestra.

When Stevie Wonder heard Margouleff and Cecil’s TONTO produced album Zero Time, he was flabbergasted. “I don’t believe all this was done on one instrument,” said Wonder, “show me the instrument.”

By the Monday of that 1971 Memorial Day weekend, Wonder, Margouleff and Cecil had recorded seventeen tracks using TONTO. These tracks became Music of My Mind.

Hello I’m Bobby: Stove God Cooks “Melo Chip and a Brick“

While we wait for Stove God Cooks to release a new album that he’s been teasing for approximately three years, I revisited his modern classic debut, Reasonable Drought. The Syracuse, NY-born rapper and brick-breaker recounts his drug tales over Roc Marciano beats. It’s one of my favorite albums from the recent underground rap renaissance. He also gives a nod to his hometown with a song named after long-time Syracuse men’s basketball head coach, Jim Boeheim.

Even with all of his label drama, Stove has stayed busy, dropping fire choruses and guest verses. Plus, he’s dropped a few loosies on Babygrande that might’ve slipped through some cracks. Those included the dope Stoupe-produced “Carbone“ and this week’s pick, “Melo Chip and a Brick,”which has a very enjoyable Conductor Williams beat. The stove clicking is a nice touch, too. “Hang my stove from the rafters...”

I’m not even a Syracuse fan like that, though I did fully embrace the John Wallace era. “When the ‘CUSE is in the house, oh my God” was a dope unofficial theme inspired by Blahzay Blahzay’s “Danger.” Also, check out this old news segment on John Wallace’s signature Karl Kani shoe, which I do admit to copping when they came out.

The other great Syracuse team I remember fondly following was Carmelo Anthony’s 2003 NCAA National Championship run. Speaking of that squad, congrats to Melo’s former co-star, Gerry McNamara, for being named Syracuse’s new head coach. G-Mac jumps from nearby Siena College, where he just led them into big dance and gave 1-seeded Duke a tough game in the first round. On some full circle shit, he’ll now have a chance to mentor Melo and LaLa’s highly touted son, Kiyan Anthony, who just finished up his freshman year for the Orange.

Scro: R. Kelly ft. Cam’ron, N.OR.E., Vegas Cats, and Jay-Z “We Ride”

I know this group is here for the B-sides and obscure hip-hop tracks so here you go—an often overlooked posse cut from R’s 1998 self-titled album, with a smoothed-out Deniece Williams sample, and verses from some of the best in the biz.

DJ Rhude: Down South “Southern Comfort”

Back in the day, you would rarely catch me outside without my Sony Walkman loaded with a cassette bumping the latest bangers I had just recorded from the various mix shows that used to rock on the weekends. On numerous occasions, I would record songs I would be hearing for the first time. Exclusive shit. That’s exactly how I heard the feel-good song “Southern Comfort,” from a group named Down South.

Now, I was unfamiliar with these dudes at first, so as it was customary for me to do, I would walk into Beat Street Records and ask my homie, DJ Goldfinger, if he was familiar with the group. When asked, Goldie replied, “Oh yeah, that’s Down South, they’re on Big Beat Records.” I’m telling you, it was rare anything got past Goldfinger; not only was he an incredible DJ, but he was a walking music encyclopedia when it came to this hip-hop thing. He put me on to Wu-Tang Clan waaayyy before anyone else heard of them, but that’s a story for another day.

After doing more digging, I discovered that Down South hailed from Richmond, VA, and the ‘90s hip-hop trio was comprised of Soda Pop, DJ Myorr, and Shawn J. Period. Yes, that Shawn J. Period, who would go on to become one of the key architects of the Rawkus sound. I should also note that Stretch Armstrong was also listed as co-producer on the record.

Shawn and Soda Pop were blood cousins, so the group had great chemistry off the rip. I always dug “Southern Comfort,” as it gave me Arrested Development vibes and Shawn, who was doing more rapping at the time, then kicked things off on the track:

“It’s time for me to go just below the Mason-Dixon

I heard through the grapevine my grandmother’s fixin’

some vittles, for me to come down for a little

if I take up some of these sweet candied yams

Damn, remember how the grass starts itchin’

and itchin’, you fall into your grandma’s kitchen

Had to wash your hands before you ate some

Stove Top stuffing and collard greens on your plate

Oh what about the buttered cornbread?

She wouldn’t sit down to eat till the whole

neighborhood was fed

The hospitality that I savour

Wanna make some Kool-Aid? Kid, get a cup of sugar from your neighbor

No quibbles and qualms, ring the alarm

In the evening relaxin’ in my grandma’s arms

Just a boy, but now I’m a man on the run

Step off bro, I’m baskin’ in the sun

of the southern comfort”

Ah man, I miss these days. Such a feel-good song with the jazzy horn riff on the hook, it just made you want to venture out of New York to check out what the rest of the rap world was getting into. Ironically, their debut album was titled Lost In Brooklyn.

But here’s the wild part—as big as the borough of Brooklyn is, they could’ve moved anywhere, but they happened to move on my block when I lived on Cambridge and Fulton. The trio moved right across the street from me and we would all go on to become tight. I learned later that DJ Myorr’s family owned that house, and the VA transplants all moved in for a while with him.

I spent a lot of hours at their crib vibing on some music shit and playing Madden ‘95. Myorr and I have a few DJ stories, like the time Onyx’s DJ tried to punk us off our set, but we weren’t haven’t that shit! We were ready for whatever, but cooler heads stepped in and he backed down.

The Notorious B.I.G. lived around the corner from me and I knew him as well, but again, stories for another day. I also have an interesting tale to share detailing when I met Mos Def for the first time that I will drop at a later date. Although Down South’s album title may have implied they were out of place in New York, it didn’t take long for them to make themselves at home.

Krisch: Prodigy “My World Is Empty Without You”

“My World Is Empty Without You” is one of my favorite Prodigy solo records. The Alchemist–produced track samples Margie Joseph’s great cover version of “My World Is Empty Without You” by The Supremes. It was leaked in 2007 in advance of Prodigy’s H.N.I.C. Pt. 2 album, but was not included on the final release.

The song seems to be Prodigy’s reaction to the backlash he was getting for his infamous, blasphemous—and therefore edited—rhymes (“Now homie if I go to hell and you make it to the pearly gates tell the boss man we got beef, and tell his only son I’mma see him when I see him”) on “Pearly Gates,” one of the stand-out tracks on Mobb Deep’s G-Unit album Blood Money from 2006.

On “My World Is Empty,” he states “I acknowledge the Most High, I’m not an atheist” and uses the track as a dedication to God (“This my song for the Almighty, the first and the last”). Further, P addresses racism, slavery, and rewritten history (“fuck Christopher Columbus, the Indians was here first and fuck the Vatican, the pyramids is older”).

Remember when he wrote about a UFO encounter in his My Infamous Life book? On this song, Prodigy’s interest in esoteric beliefs and conspiracy theories comes through as well when he raps, “We even built pyramids on Mars, they won’t tell us about that ‘cause then we’d realize who we are.” But that doesn’t take anything away from how much I love this song.

As a bonus, here’s another song I’ve always loved that also samples “My World Is Empty Without You”—this time using the cover version by The Smith Connection. “My Life” features L.O.D. and female rapper Deja Vu and is the final track on Keith Murray’s third album It’s A Beautiful Thing (1999) and probably my favorite.

Unlike typical posse tracks featuring braggadocious raps, “My Life” finds Keith Murray and his guests going back and forth, reflecting on hardships, life struggles, and their trials and tribulations.

Jason Heiserman: Souls of Mischief ft. Casual and Del The Funky Homosapien “Limitations”

I had the opportunity to see the Hieroglyphics Crew live this past week in DC. Agallah the Don opened up for Souls, Casual, Del, Pep Love, Domino and DJ Toure. That same evening, they were also inducted into the National Hip-Hop Museum—with the induction speech coming from the one and only Master G from Sugar Hill Gang. He had a gold jacket and all, lookin’ like Barry Sanders on stage. After a bunch of acceptance speeches, they rocked out for the next 90 minutes or so. They all sounded great, like they hadn’t missed a beat since the early ‘90s.

In Casual’s acceptance speech, he talked about hip-hop not being a contact sport, so nobody should ever say that an emcee “fell off.” He talked about how the music just evolves over time.

They performed a bunch of new songs as well, including Casual’s “Hard Drive Music” which is my favorite track of his new Black Magic LP. But the song I chose for this week is Souls of Mischief’s “Limitations.” This track has so much energy and definitely comes to life in a cavernous, basement venue filled with hundreds of OG hip hop heads. For a crew that really has no limitations, congratulations on their induction!

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Yes, yes, yes. That was super dope. Thanks to everyone above for representing to the fullest.

Peace!