--- Dave 'n' Val <davenval@springmail.com> wrote:
> Care to provide a description of these folks?
>
> On Fri, 27 Apr 2001 19:20:10 +0100 Dave Haynes
> <gvcontact@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> Also do check out the following
> The Nextmen
> Primeridian (on Guidance Records)
> Unsung Heroes
> Ty (on Big Dada records)
>
I haven't heard the Primeridian yet, nor the Ty, but I
heard Big Dada labelmates Gamma, and I thought they were
horrid. Nextmen and Unsung Heroes are pretty damn good,
though. I think Nextmen have been around longer, but
they're both duos of UK hip hop producers. Generally they
team up with well-respected members of the US's (and
sometimes Europe's) hip hop underground. The beats are
always thumpin', and generally fall towards the jazzier
side. I really like Unsung Heroes' album opener,
"Magnificent", but the album's got other great tracks as
well. As for the Nextmen, their collaboration with Grap
Luva for Break the Mold is one of my favourites, especially
the 12" remix.
In the same vein, but from across the pond, da Grassroots
are a production duo out of Toronto, and their 1999 release
'Passage through time' was probably one of my favourite hip
hop releases of that year.
It seems to me that a lot of american rap artists are
concerned with their rep, and since they get seen as 'soft'
when they put out jazzier stuff, they tend to shy away from
it (of course, this is a huge, gross over-generalization,
but i'm saying it anyways). Artists outside the US seem a
little less concerned with this, so sometimes their
releases are unabashedly funky (i'm thinking of France's
Alliance Ethnik's first record) or jazzy (MC Solaar - I
loved 'Prose Combat', but that's going back a few years)
--- Beau Young <bjy07@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> Further more, on a hip hop note, some other cool shit
> thats out (for my
> taste) is the Mike Ladd 10" on Ozone (real, experimental
> shit), a Rae &
> Christian 12" with Pharcyde on one side and probably my
> favorite cut right
> now on the otherside... At jazz Remix of Not Just Anybody
> (not hip hop
> though). Hmm... Yah Supreme - Alone; Street Smartz -
> Problemz; Sound
> Providers on Quaternote; Common/Macy Grey - Geto Heaven
> Remix; Jay Dee's
> 1st 12 from the Beat Generation Series... Just a few
> tings to check if ya
> like hip hop... and damn, what's up with all the UK
> reissues of dope ass hip
> hop tracks from years back. All sorts of Pete Rock & CL
> Smooth, Brand
> Nubian, De La. "Love me or leave me Alone"...
> memories... would pick it up
> in a second if it wasnt like 13 bucks. Anybody heard
> Moka Only's LP yet?
>
> Beau
I'm totally feeling the Jay Dee album right now as well.
And i'm also drooling over all the reissues. Don't forget
EPMD. When this stuff first came out, I was clueless, poor,
and living in an area which lacked good hip hop service.
Luckily now that my old school tapes are pretty mangled,
I've got a bit more coin and I've pretty much managed to
fill out my De La back catalogue, and I've got some Pete
Rock & CL stuff, too. I noticed some old geto boys (a
guilty pleasure, i'll admit) just got re-released, but
ultimately, I'm still waiting for the early Gang Starr and
Roots stuff to get proper 12" reissue. Speaking of
re-issues, anyone got any word on Keb Darge/Pete Rock's
Funk Spectrum 3?
Anyways, about the Moka Only - For those who don't know he
started out as being part of Vancouver's Swollen Members
but stepped out on his own quite a ways back. Calling
himself the West Coast's Most Prolific, he spits out more
cd's than a broken jukebox. I picked up "Road Life", which
I believe is the release just before "Lime Green". When
he's on, he's fantastic, with a lyrical flow that could be
mistaken for Common. All the beats on that albums 21
tracks (!) were created by Moka on a Korg keyboard, and
they come off sounding like some crazy funky stuff from the
eighties. I think he album could have been better had a
few tracks been left on the cutting room floor, but some of
the tracks are stellar (Good Times Stack, Major Gap).
Check our mokaonly.com for more info.
--- adario <adario@thingsburnup.com> wrote:
> that was the most talented Pharcyde on the Rae &
> Christian, check out their
> early works, "Bizarred Ride II" (an absolute classic!)
> and
> "Labcabincalifornia".
>
I bought Bizarre ride at the same time as the Souls of
Mischief's '93 'til infinity', so for me the two albums go
hand in hand. Excellent blunted, jazzy beats from the left
coast. Maybe add in some Hieroglyphics for good measure.
> keepin things on a similar vibe, this is just the tip of
> the iceberg of
> artists/collectives well worth your money:
>
> Common
> Mos Def, Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek
> De La Soul
> A Tribe Called Quest
> The Roots
> Digable Planets
> Outkast
> Slum Village
> Quannum
> ...
Just to add to the tip of that iceberg, because I can't
seem to shut up about hip hop right now... Definately some
Blackalicious, DJ Spinna, J-Live's phenomenal "The Best
Part" album, Gang Starr and most DJ Premier produced stuff.
And I heard MF Doom's Doomsday track the other day and I
can't get it out of my head. Keep in mind that for De La
and Tribe, earlier is better.
Phew.
=====
Marco Pringle, host of
the Fat Beat Diet - Thursday evenings, 10:30-Midnight
CJSW 90.9FM (Calgary) - in real audio at:
http://www.cjsw.com
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