Nas "Nastradamus" (November 23, 1999)

Nas is arguably the most philosophical product of hip-hop's masses. So it was fitting that his fourth album, "Nastradamus," is opened and closed by hip-hop poet Jessica Care Moore, who wowed audiences with her own powerful prose on "Showtime at the Apollo" just a few years ago. "Nastradamus" is Nas' second album of 1999, the last of the millenium -- and maybe the best. It's far better than "I Am...," the "Nastradamus" predecessor, that's for sure. Nas is the urban prophet, and his slices of ghetto life are compelling, but more important, they're spoken from a firsthand view, without the boasts of large living and narrow-mindedness of small dreams. Words of wisdom are shared on "Life We Chose" and "Some of Us Have Angels," which address the repercussions of life on the dark path. In "Big Girl," Esco abandons the female-bashing of late, instead paying tribute to the sisters in the 'hood who are doing their thing. "Do anything to please her/My ghetto Queen of Sheba," Nas proclaims. He also does some preaching on "God Love Us," which assures that The Man Upstairs stands by even America's Most Wanted. Nas joins forces with Mobb Deep on "Family," an homage to his fellow Queensbridge dwellers. "Quiet N!ggas" serves as a forum for Nas' posse, The Bravehearts, and Ginuwine and Ron Isley add vocal support on "You Owe Me" and "Project Windows," respectively. Nas has made the transformation from boy to man with an insight and storytelling prowess that puts him in a class of few. Every track on the album is a potential hit, although the NC-17 lyrics on some will prohibit airplay; you can only bleep so much." - Hartford Courant (December 9, 1999). Was it easy finding a review giving so much praise to this album? Yes, it sure was! I think even Nas would say this album was mostly a miss and he's probably never performed more than a couple of these tracks out of his whole catalog. That said, I haven't revisited it in some years, maybe it does have redeeming qualities? I remember "Come Get Me" with Premo and the bootlegged version of "Project Windows" being solid cuts. I first heard the title track as a single at an ice skating rink in Central Park, my stomach turned lol. But, it's Nas... and he is still one of the greatest lyricists/storytellers of all time, so revisit the album and see how it's aged. I will do it, too...

Full review and the VHS promo with the special glasses are below...

Chris Rock "CB4" (March 12, 1993)

The blurb for 1993's CB4 says: "Saturday Night Live's Chris Rock stars in this hilarious spoof of rap stars and life in the hip-hop fast lane. Albert (Rock) starts off as nothing more than your basic L.A. middle-class kid dreaming of rap stardom, until a run-in with a real ghetto hood gives him an idea. Reborn as tough, gangsta-rapper MC Gusto -- along with his homeboys Dead Mike and Stab Master Arson -- Albert creates rap's hottest new act, CB4. Soon the trio is rocketing up the charts, partying in limos, collecting groupies and gaining notoriety for their macho, street-wise tunes. Unfortunately, the real hoods are hot on their trail -- and they're not looking for autographs! This outrageous comedy features a chart-topping soundtrack, surprise appearances by rap superstars ( Ice-T, Flavor Flav, and Easy E), and an outstanding cast including Chris Elliott, Phil Hartman, Allen Payne and Deezer D." While I felt like Chris Rock might've missed the mark with this film at the time, it does have its comedic moments and certainly feels like a wink-wink-moment looking at the posturing in music in recent years. That said, if you haven't seen Fear Of A Black Hat, it's a significantly more entertaining, albeit more low-budget, comedy! The CB4 soundtrack featured music from Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions, Fu-Schnickens, Daddy-O, DJ Hurricane, and more, but the standout (to me) was always MC Ren's "Mayday on the Front Line," which would later appear on his album, Shock Of The Hour, in November 1993. Revisit the official trailer for CB4 below...

Some publicity photos from CB4's Press Kit in 1993...

"Juice" (January 17, 1992)

"For the unknown stars of this $5 million film, getting ”juice,” a street term for respect and power, is as much a real-life obsession as it is for the characters they play. ”It’s about time there’s work for us,” says Shakur’s costar Khalil Kain, who just a few weeks ago was a bartender at a local nightclub. The timing certainly is right: Hollywood is coming off a year in which a record number of black films were released, and movie companies are looking to repeat the success of Boyz N the Hood and New Jack City, which grossed $56 million and $47 million respectively. ”Studios finally realize the dollar potential of making black films,” says Heyman, who is coproducing Juice with Neal Moritz. ”They cost so little to make and they don’t have to bring in $150 million to be considered a hit.” ”It’s a good thing, too,” says the 40-year-old Dickerson, ”because there’s an untapped wealth of black stories, and now some of them will finally get told.” ... Juice is about four Harlem homeboys who, says co-screenwriter Brown, ”have watched one Chuck Norris movie too many.” And while the message is anti-violence, the film has its share of guns and bloodshed. The movie’s theme and marketing campaign have already sparked concern over a possible replay of the violence that marred the debuts of New Jack and Boyz. Paramount, the film’s distributor, did revise Juice‘s poster — airbrushing out a large gun — though for creative reasons, not out of fear that it would incite violence, the studio says. Paramount also offered to pick up the cost of increased security in some theaters. But Dickerson believes that the film’s moderate bloodshed is an accurate reflection of life in the streets. His operative word is authenticity. ”This is about the perils of growing up black in the ghetto,” says the director, who hails from Newark. 'If I can accurately show that without the Hollywood wrappings, then I’ve done what I set out to do.'" - Entertainment Weekly, 1992. Below is a great (perhaps rare?) interview with the cast, and if you dig into the archives on this site, you can see 2Pac's original testing contract for the film in 1991, a review of the movie's soundtrack, and more! Juice is a cult-classic film that should continue to be celebrated. Rest In Peace, Tupac Shakur!

More publicity photos from the film and the VHS copy...

Capone-N-Noreaga "Blood Money" (VHS, 2000)

Blood Money is a promotional VHS tape released by Capone-N-Noreaga in 2000 ahead of their sophomore release, The Reunion, on Tommy Boy. The 30-minute street reel features music videos for "Blood Money Part 3," "T.O.N.Y.," "L.A. L.A.," and "Closer," as well as behind the scenes interviews with Capone in jail, on video sets, MTV, and more. 20 years later, it's now more of a companion piece to their classic debut album, The War Report, from 1997. Dig into the tags/archives below for other promo materials, album samplers, reviews and more from the legendary Queens crew, Capone-N-Noreaga. Props, ReelBlack, for the video - watch it below. Respect to Capone, Nore, and DJ EFN.

Gravediggaz "Six Feet Deep" (August 9, 1994)

"At first there was no concept at all," Paul recalls. "I was just in it for the beats and rhymes. But once we sat down and talked, we realized that the name would be most important. So we came up with Gravediggaz and built the concept around it. The guys' personas had to come right after the group name, of course. Rakeem said, 'Yo, I'm gonna call myself the RZArector,' and then that became RZA for short. So that's the first time he used that name.... Then Poetic said he'd be the Grym Reaper because he had the The Brothers Grimm group," Paul continues. "And at first I was like, I'll be the Pall Bearer (laughs), but then I chose The Undertaker, because I was the dude who prepped everything. [Author's note: Frukwan was The Gatekeeper.] After all that, we knew we'd be coming from a dark place. And my tracks at the time were already there." Importantly, and potentially unwittingly, Paul and the crew were creating a sub-genre within hip-hop at the time, which would come to be known as "Horrorcore." Paul explains the marketing, "Gangsta rap had already been so exploited at the time, so we went with horror. And then the guys would drop some non-horror hip-hop jewels in there from time to time. Basically, all three guys were in full character at recording sessions, starting from the earliest days. I didn't have to keep reminding them." Speaking on the recording process, Paul says, "Every verse we did and liked was always accepted, there was never any argument about whether we should re-do anything. We just knew." A death-defying demo was done by late 1992, with approximately six tracks on it. "I thought that what we had come up with was amazing, and I shopped that demo for a year," Paul explains. "But nobody would bite. Jive was interested at one point but someone there said, 'Why would you want to sign them? They're old and played out.' That was pretty depressing." Despite the industry's apathy to the Gravediggaz album, all was not lost. He remembers, "It was literally a week before the time we agreed that we were going to give up, in late '93, that Jon Baker at Gee Street came through." Click play, cont'd below...

Paul says that songs from the demo that Gee Street signed were the same as they appeared on the final album. "We didn't redo any of the demo songs," he explains. "They were on the album the same way. Tascam 8-Track cassette and [Akai] S900 samplers, straight up." ... Paul explains a producer technique he used, to get the most out of his motley crew of MCs: "I used to play those guys against each other, to push them. Poetic would rhyme in a normal way, and I'd be like, 'C'mon, man, you can't let RZA outdo you!' Or I'd tell RZA, 'Yo, Poetic ate you up on his verse.' Then they'd come back with something closer to what I wanted. I'd tell each of them that the other one was better - especially with RZA and Poetic - and they'd battle right there on the spot." ... Although the group was two years old by the time their album came out in late summer of '94, a bit of serendipity - or was it karma? - helped these misfits attract more ears to their sound. Paul says, "A lot of Wu-Tang fans were checking the Gravediggaz out because we were kind of an affiliate, so that wasn't a bad thing." RZA also brought in guest MCs from his orbit who contributed to Gravediggaz songs with which they were involved, including Scientific Shabazz (Shabazz The Disciple) and Killah Priest.... The album had two different titles, depending on where it was purchased. For most of the world, including Gee Street's birthplace in the UK, it was Niggamortis. In the US, it was changed to 6 Feet Deep. Paul says, "I think they figured the title Niggamortis wouldn't fly at places like Target or Wal-Mart. But it was always Niggamortis to us." Released in 8/94, the album reached #36 on the Billboard "Top 200" album charts and sold quite respectably, driven almost exclusively through its push at retail by the single and Hype Williams-directed video for "Diary Of A Madman." 

Paul concludes, "That's probably the most fulfilling record I have ever made in my career. It stands right next to 3 Feet High And Rising and Psychoanalysis. For me, Gravediggaz was done to show the world that I wasn't wack. And to prove the same thing about the rest of the guys, too. People weren't looking out for me, Poetic, Frukwan or RZA in late '92.... It was all about achieving something collectively and gaining common ground. It was creative and it was harmonious." - Check The Technique Vol. 2 by Brian Coleman. If you don't own his books, please pick up a copy because there's some amazing content in there about 6 Feet Deep and many other classic albums. "Yo, I got one last question / Who killed Tommy's Boy?" Revisit the LP above, and some promo below... art by Cros2.

The VHS (Vibe, April 2005)

Remember your first VCR? Now you could watch Purple Rain on a snow day or study Bruce Lee over breakfast, fast-forwarding to the good parts, slo-mo-ing the better ones, and, crucially, pausing for bathroom breaks.... Although TV stations began using magnetic tape back in 1956, the first home video system wasn't launched until 1975. That model, the LV-1901, supported Sony's ill-fated Betamax format, cost over $2,000 (TV included), and demanded another $20 for each one-hour tape. But in 1984, shortly after the Supreme Court ruled against Hollywood's claim that home-movie technology would destroy their livelihood (Napster, anyone?), RCA's alternative Video Home System, or VHS, took off. And while the first VHS VCRs were massive, top-loading slabs straight outta Star Trek, they were convenient and, at $300, much more affordable. Time magazine's December 24, 1984, cover heralded "a magic box that revolutionizes home viewing," and in 1985 alone, more than 11 million units were sold worldwide. Over the next 10-plus years, the VHS tape would reshape the way we saw the world. So long to worrying about "missing a show" or waiting for a movie to air on cable, and say good-bye to virtually every porn theater in the country.... Meet the video rental industry, wedding videos, and the "entertainment" center as furniture. And of course, you can't go straight-to-video - think Streets Is Watching and Baller Blockin, not to mention Girls Gone Wild - if the video doesn't exist. And yet, videocassettes are now the wave of the past. Since the introduction of the digital videodisc in 1997, DVDs have gone on to sell more than twice as much as VHS tapes ever did, and ironically, Hollywood couldn't be happier. Like the turntables before it, the VCR has been shoved aside as newer technology - DVD, DirecTV, and soon, Internet-streamed movies - swoops in. But as long as everything, from your school plays to your favorite celebrity sexcapades, is captured on tape, videocassettes will haunt us for decades to come. - Vibe, April 2005. Most content eventually ends up on YouTube these days, but every one in my generation has a box somewhere with memories captured on VHS, and to us, they are priceless pieces of our past. Yo! MTV Raps, Lyricist Lounge, Rad, Gleaming The Cube, The Box, Rap City; I could go on for days!

Rawkus Presents "Soundbombing II" (Snippet Tape, 1999)

Soundbombing II was reviewed in the August, 1999 issue of Vibe Magazine - Noah said: "Three years ago, the brains behind Rawkus devised a plan to nurture a crop of MCs just starting to blossom in New York City's underground hip hop scene. And now that the climate of hip hop is slowly beginning to shift away from the Puff-driven "ice" age, Rawkus prepares to reap the benefits of their harvest with the release of Soundbombing II. Unlike its predecessor, and especially the languid Lyricist Lounge Vol.1 (Rawkus, 1998), SBII illustrates the evolution of Rawkus's MCs from raw and unpolished to solid, skilled artists poised to give chart-topping rappers a serious run for their money. This newfound confidence and maturity is typified by the High & Mighty's "B-Boy Document 99" as well as Pharoahe Monch and Shabaam Sahdeeq's slamming collaboration, "WWIII." Both cuts bang with the up-tempo, high-octane power of Black Star's 1998 "Definition," the label's biggest hit so far. Even slower tracks, like Eminem's understated "Any Man" and the soulful title track by Dilated Peoples & Tash, maintain a high level of intensity. Rawkus has weathered the storm of R&B-infused, radio-friendly hip hop that has dominated for so long, and now the sun shines on more rugged styles. So pump up Soundbombing II and bask in the glow." In the Spin Magazine review (July, 1999), Neil Drumming adds "Rawkus's resident preacherman, Talib Kweli, strives to "turn jams into revolutionary parties," adding conscious-rap protein to the Reflection Eternal crew and on a duet with Bahamadia. The showstopper, however, is "Patriotism," by constant complainers Company flow, a clever, cacophonous slam of all things American... The cheerfully undanceable track and antiestablishment lyrics both reinforce Rawkus's rep as a label of originators and anchor Soundbombing II firmly at street level." Soundbombing II was released by Rawkus Records on this day in 1999, so revisit the original cassette snippet tape - mixed by J. Rocc and DJ Babu - below. 

Original promo sticker for Soundbombing II, colors have faded from storage.

Group Home "Livin' Proof" (The Source, 12/95)

"We first heard Dap back in '92, when he represented on "I'm The Man" off Gang Starr's Daily Operation. Then Group Home itself emerged with the banging "Supa Star." Much like that first single, their full-length debut, Livin' Proof, is a throwback to the days when MCs actually had something to say. "Inna Citi Life," the album's first cut, does exhibit some of the generic gun talk that has run rampant in the industry. But Livin' Proof has a distinct theme: revealing the nuances of East New York ghetto life. "Serious Rap Shit," "Sacrifice" and "Suspended In Time" display Group Home's love for hip-hop and their desire to use it as a vehicle for elevation. On tracks like "2 Thousand" and "4 Give My Sins," they actually show remorse for the dirt done to survive. The former's chorus -- "95 is yours but 2000 is mine" -- paints an optimistic vision of the future. One of the brighter spots on the album comes from Jeru The Damaja on an interlude: "When you have the voice to say something, say something / 'Cause this is for the seeds / The seeds are what grow into the flowers / So shine light and water seeds." This is advice every MC should heed." Cont'd after the video below...

"From a production standpoint, Livin' Proof comes tighter than Adina Howard's spandex. DJ Premier brings the steelo heads have been in love with for years -- butter loops over hard hittin' drums. It's the same flava the group brought on "Supa Star" and it's the same style that has made Premier one of the best producers in hip-hop. The only downside to the album are the at-times simplistic verbals of Lil Dap and Melachi The Nutcracker. Lyrical enthusiasts will not be blown away. Nevertheless, Livin' Proof packs enough punch and flava to keep a party live. All true heads should give this one a listen." - The Source, 12/95. Is this DJ Premier's best produced album? Listen HERE.

Eternia & MoSS "To The Future" (Video)

It took me a year to listen to “To The Future.” It was the one song I was going to listen to just as the fans would experience it on the day of the “At Last” LP release. Those plans changed when the test presses arrived and I was tasked with clearing them for final pressing. I sat - alone - in a back office at Fat Beats warehouse with tears in my eyes; sad ... angry ... but mostly humbled by E’s strength to put her life on the page so openly/vulnerably for the world to see. I have no words to express how that impacted/impacts me. When we decided almost a year after the release of At Last to make To The Future the 3rd and final video, we knew we needed to attach it to an organization that would help us raise awareness and offer an outlet for those with similar experiences to get help. Kids Help Phone in Canada stepped up and agreed to partner with us. MTV News gave it a nice push, then we took to the red carpet at the Juno Awards and continued to raise awareness with many established outlets who felt the messages of sexual assault, domestic violence, gun violence, and more in the song/video. Eternia 1st performed the track at Southpaw in Brooklyn with her live band to an applause that felt... more gratifying than almost any other show.

A shout out to MoSS, who crafted the perfect gut wrenching beat and knowing that perhaps only Eternia could touch it, then stood proudly by her knowing the content would be hard for some to hear. It’s his favorite song and it was MoSS who said we needed a video. Salute that man, he wasn’t always easy to work with but he had a vision and he saw it through. Erica Shallow who directed the video and brought visuals to life. Amazing! Julia who did E’s make up; she brought E’s natural beauty out and the clothes were by Married to the Mob. I have to accept that maybe in my role I failed a bit because I’m sure many of you never heard this song - as much as we did and as much as we tried to get it out there, there was a glass ceiling & I never quite got thru it. It’s not too late tho! The message is as strong today as it was when E wrote, recorded, and made the video. Every 90 seconds...! The official video was released on this day in 2011 via Fat Beats Records, watch it below...

Kool Keith / Dan The Automator "Dr. Octagon" (May 7, 1996)

Please read the above press release for Kool Keith's 'Dr. Octagon' ... I'll wait... Kinda wacky, right? That kinda explains my relationship with Kool Keith's music and his Dr. Octagon persona, an extraterrestrial time traveling gynecologist and surgeon from the planet Jupiter. That's also why this album is widely considered an underground cult-classic ... a secret handshake of sorts, those who follow the storyline and are hip to the plot-twists recognize its greatness and consider it one of the most creative, forward-thinking projects of the 90s. Originally sent out as an advance on Bulk Recordings in '95, it was released in limited (30k) pressing on this day in 1996 and even without much retail or radio promotion, it received critical acclaim. With demand from fans, the album was reissued in '97 on Dreamwork Records. Dan The Automator's production on the album was left of everything else that was out at the time and "provides a breath of fresh air with his style that's just two steps beyond the grasp of most of the hip-hop currently hitting the charts." The album has standout guests in DJ Q-Bert on the scratches, Kutmasta Kurt assisting on production, as well as DJ Shadow, and vocals from Sir Menelik. A press release from Dan The Automator went out announcing there's now a deluxe box set available; it included the following message: "Dr. Octagonecologyst is a classic record for what it is, but it’s not a classic hip-hop record. I’m not actually sure if it’s considered a hip-hop record at all. We had to do a lot just to get that record out there. That in itself was a bit of a monumental achievement. I mean, we made a record that, ostensibly, there was no market for. A lot of weird people came out of the woodwork and loved it."

The Dr. Octagon 'Blue Followers' music vcideo...

Prince Paul "A Prince Among Thieves" (Trailer)

February 22nd, 1999: Prince Paul released one of the most cohesive concept albums, 'A Prince Among Thieves.' The album plays out like the movie, each track tells the story of Tariq (Breeze Brewin of the Juggaknots), who hustles to put together the scrap to fund studio time for his demo. The album features Xzibit, Kool Keith, Big Daddy Kane, Chubb Rock, Biz Markie, De La Soul, RZA, and more. Chris Rock had bought the rights to the movie, but never made a proper move with it. I've heard there was also a Kickstarter, is that true? Either way, sit with this classic concept album today. The VHS trailer is below, which sets up the project perfectly & damn, that's a big flyer, lol.

GZA "Liquid Swords" (VHS, 1995)

A total of four singles were released for GZA's Liquid Swords. The second single was the title track "Liquid Swords," which was released over one year after "I Gotcha Back," and twenty years ago today on October 10, 1995. GZA later commented, "Usually I take a beat home and write to it for a few days, but it wasn’t like that with this track. I think RZA played the beat for me and I just spit to it right there. The hook was actually a routine from around 1984 that me, RZA, and Ol' Dirty would do: "When the emcees came, to live out the name..." Just like that." - Wax Poetics. To this day, the clock scenes still bug me out. GZA's sword was sharp with "Energy is felt once the cards are dealt / With the impact of roundhouse kicks from black belts / That attack, the mic-fones like cyclones or typhoon / I represent from midnight to high noon / I don't waste ink, n!gga, I think..."

Open Transport Documentary (1998, VHS)

The "Open Transport" documentary was originally released in 1998 on VHS. It unearths footage from live shows and interviews with various artists that were coming up in the underground scene in the mid-late 90s. Specifically, the hour-long doc features Pharoahe Monch, Mr. Lif, Apani B, DJ Babu & Rhettmatic, The Last Emperor, Cali Agents (Planet Asia & Rasco), Mass Influence, Non Phixion, Reflection Eternal, Unspoken Heard, J-Live and so much more. Someone was kind enough to rip a copy already to YouTube, so with that, definitely clear an hour in your schedule and hit play below.

Zoo York Mixtape (1997, VHS)

"The funny thing about New York City skateboard company Zoo York is that it almost never happened at all. Rodney Smith, Eli Gesner and Adam Schatz started the business in 1993 after Smith's original company, SHUT, underwent a costly legal battle over trademark infringement and was forced to close down. Four years later? Zoo York had established itself as the first major East Coast skateboard company, thanks to the successful incorporation of graffiti and hip hop culture in their designs. Released in 1997, The Zoo York Mixtape represents the crew at its finest. One of the most important documents from that period, it’s an hour-long video containing skate footage from team members like Harold Hunter, Peter Bici and Jeff Pang and freestyle footage of Busta Rhymes, Fat Joe, Ghostface Killah and Method Man." - Red Bull Music Academy. Watch the video below...

Public Enemy "The Enemy Strikes Live" (VHS, 1992)

This is a VHS rip of Public Enemy's The Enemy Strikes Live from 1992, Live at the historical Apollo Theatre on 125th Street in Harlem, New York. The video includes tracks like "Bring The Noise," "Fight The Power," "Don't Believe The Hype," "911 Is A Joke," "Can't Truss It," and lots more! Chuck D rappin' over the "Deep Cover" instrumental, Flavor Flav bringing out his kids, and when they hang a KKK are must-see moments of this VHS. They pushed the envelope every time and Chuck D is easily one of the most important voices in Hip-Hop. "Unless we realize we are family, we ain't never gonna get shit... We gotta find a way for us to stick together as family." Watch the VHS performance below...

De La Soul "3 Feet High and Rising" (Spin Magazine, 2005)

"Hip-Hop never had a lawn. Despite a multitude of late-80s voices - from the gangland range of N.W.A. to the political theory of Public Enemy to the mystical modernism of Rakim to the booty mania of 2 Live Crew - it was a given that almost every MC was grounded in the tough-nut rituals of street life. "It's just a ghetto thang," echoed the enigmatic chorus on De La Soul's debut album, "3 Feet High and Rising." But not only did De La talk about having a lawn - the group's three teenage members grew up in the Long Island suburb of Amityville after their parents moved from the Bronx and Brooklyn - they were concerned about the potholes in it, which, in fact, was a metaphor for rival MCs stealing their rhyme style, which was the basis for a song ("Potholes In My Lawn") that featured a Jew's harp and a guy yodeling." Watch the visuals to the track, cont'd below...

"With its flowery Day-Glo graphics, game-show skits, lyrical anagrams, and oddball samples (Steely Dan, Hall and Oates), 3 Feet High and Rising was a vision of the unhinged fun that hip-hop could have if it got the fuck out of the city.... "It was more relaxed (on Long Island)," says Prince Paul, an Amityville DJ who had gained some local fame as a member of Brooklyn vets Stetsasonic but had never produced a record before 3 Feet High. "You had tensions, but it was more average, universal things. Rather than being focused on what was going down in the 'hood or with whatever gang, our thing was more like, 'Hey, we don't like popcorn.' De La Soul's MCs, Posdnous and David "Trugoy" Jolicoeur (along with DJ Vincent "Mase" Mason), didn't boast to boost their self-image; they teased and tweaked. Messages were delivered in twisty syntax (as on the anti drug song "Say No Go")."

"On "The Magic Number," Mercer rapped: "Difficult preaching is Posdnous' pleasure." Recalls Jolicoeur: "We wanted to have people desperate to figure things out, and listen over and over to try and understand." That in mind, he borrowed a Johnny Cash record ("Five Feet High and Rising") from his father, inspiring the album's cryptic title. Aided by the single "Me Myself and I" - with a brightly lit sample of P-Funk's "Knee Deep" - the album was an instant hit, crossing over to college and European audiences. Digs that the group were "hip-hop hippies" (occasioned by their playful "D.A.I.S.Y. Age" ethos) hurt, but now they look back fondly on those days of childlike abandon. "The beauty of that record was that we were so naive," says Prince Paul. "Unfortunately, you can't go back to being stupid, unless you take some bad mind-altering drugs." - Spin Magazine, 7/05 // 5/10. Today is not the anniversary of 3 Feet High and Rising's release, but revisit it nonetheless! A classic!

DJ Woody "Big Phat 90's Mixtape" (Mix, 2013)

Originally released last year, this is DJ Woody's 90s video-mix, which he titled, Big Phat 90's Mixtape. This is a nostalgic chronological musical ride through some of the decades dopest moments, reworking some classics with DJ Woody's unique blend of custom graphics, video sound bites, and renowned turntable technique to rock a 90′s mix unlike any other. In true 90′s style, here is a cassette-friendly 45 minute ‘mixtape’ version of the set... check it out below! Props to DJ Woody for the creativity and labor of love... imagine how much time and effort went into this mix!? Update: Video is dead, you'll have to enjoy the audio version of DJ Woody's Big Phat 90's Mixtape instead...