Happy Born Day to O.C. of D.I.T.C. + Time's Up

Another Happy Born Day shout-out, this one goes out to Bushwick, Brooklyn's own O.C.; the Starchild, from the Diggin' In The Crates crew. With raw energy and sophisticated rhymes, O.C. has been a dominant presence in Hip-Hop for over 25 years! On his classic single, 'Time's Up,' O.C. told us "My album will manifest many things that I saw, did, or heard about / All told first hand / Never word of mouth" and he delivered a classic with 'Word...Life;' in a year with some of the fiercest competition in Hip-Hop history. What's better, you could argue that his sophomore album, 'Jewelz,' was an even better album than his debut. Further along in his catalog is the slept-on gem, 'Starchild,' which (I think) was released in Japan, and of course, the collaborative album with Apollo Brown, 'Trophies,' which seemed like an unlikely pairing ... until you clicked play. Add to it 'Fudge Pudge,' 'Back To The Grill,' 'Return of the Crooklyn Dodgers,' the work with D.I.T.C. and you'll see his footprints are all over some of the best music to come from Hip-Hop's storied history. With an album coming with Apathy as the group Perestroika + more, his legacy has more chapters to come. Now ... Do not adjust your screen ... It's about to be on! ... "Their time's limited, hard rocks too!"

Happy Born Day to Eternia + 'Broken Language Remix'

A Happy Born Day shout-out to Canadian Hip-Hop veteran, Eternia! If you're not familiar, do your Googles!! Before Kool G Rap did his new album with producer MoSS, there was an Eternia & MoSS album called "At Last" on Fat Beats Records that featured Joel Ortiz, Reef The Lost Cauze, Rah Digga, Lady of Rage, Termanology, Ras Kass, Jean Grae and more. It was nominated for every music award Canada has, and was ranked on DJ Premier's Top 25 albums of 2010 at #17. That just scratches the surface, visit Bandcamp for more! Below is the latest offering from Eternia, going in over a classic Brooklyn banger from Smoothe The Hustler, 'Broken Language,' for the 90s-inspired Canadian MC mixtape, M.I.C. Series. Full disclosure: If you're not already aware, I've toured the world with Eternia as her manager and business partner, and she's 1 of my favorite people in the whole world! In other words, I'm bias ... but that doesn't change the fact that she's a beast! Listen...

And, as always, it's nice to get support from the OGs...

A Tribe Called Quest Interview (The Source, Nov. 1991)

I know I don't have to sell anybody on reasons to read an interview with A Tribe Called Quest, but for the sake of clarity, this is an interview from The Source in November 1991 (Issue #26). In a somewhat rushed interview, some takeaways are Q-Tip speaking to the direction they took from 'Paths' to 'Low End Theory,' where he says: “Hip-hop is moving farther and farther away from its true starting point. And what we’re trying to do with this album is bring it back a little bit closer to home.” Ali Shaheed adds “We’re not trying to change. There’s so many sides to us and so many personalities that we could go all kinds of ways and different directions.” Speaking to decisions made by A&Rs and echoing the sentiments of Rule #4080, Q-Tip says “We gotta wake up and realize what they’re doing. They’re trying to destroy hip-hop the same way they destroyed rock & roll. And we don’t want rock & roll no more cause you fucked it up.” To wrap it up, Ali summarizes, “Kids, beware of the f#cking record company motherf#ckers.” Rest in Peace, Phife Dawg. 

Ahmad Jamal "The Awakening Mix" (Mixed by Chris Read)

Ahmad Jamal's 1970 piano trio opus 'The Awakening' is a sought after digger's classic and among the most heavily sampled Jazz records of all time. Familiar samples from the LP form the backbone of countless 90s Hip-Hop anthems, most famous among them Nas' Pete Rock-produced 1994 single, 'The World Is Yours'. Others to have borrowed passages from the LP include the likes of Common, O.C, Jeru the Damaja, DJ Krush and many more. This mixtape is produced in collaboration with Wax Poetics and Be With Records, mixed by Chris Read, and explores the connection between the album and the many Hip-Hop classics it has inspired. Full sample listing for the album can be found HERE.

Happy Born Day, eLZhi! + Scattered Pictures

A Happy Born Day shout-out to the good homie, eLZhi; one of the greatest lyricists and storytellers in all of Hip-Hop! In a career that dates back to the 90s, the Detroit spitter recorded tracks with DJ Houseshoes in '98 that would become the 'Out Of Focus' EP. (It was re-issued on CD in 2011, you should own it.) 'Scattered Pictures' is one of my favorite tracks, as well as 'S.A.R.A.H.,' and the storytelling on 'Boomerang Slang' is impeccable! It was long-rumored that Houseshoes had given the DATs to J Dilla to remix before his passing, and ultimately, it was Dilla who asked eLZhi to step in and become part of Slum Village and gave him his international debut on 'Welcome To Detroit' in 2001. As part of Slum Village, eL's verse on 'Keep Holdin On' always stood out to me as one of their most slept-on joints: "And deep inside my bones I'm believing that my poems that I'm reading is the songs to my freedom." From his 'Witness My Growth' double-disc mixtape, the 'Euro Pass' Tour CD, 'The Preface' and 'The Leftovers (Unmixedtape),' these releases along with his work with Slum further cemented his place among the very best of the industry. In 2011, eLZhi released 'Elmatic;' a critically-acclaimed homage to Nas & his hometown in Detroit that was flawless from start to finish. After some controversy involving his 2013 KickStarter campaign, he returned last year with 'Lead Poison,' which answered many questions surrounding his mindstate and some of the inner battles he was facing during its recording. The quality of the final product was enough to silence any detractors. A little perspective to close this out: "Words are powerful things. If very real emotions are behind the words, I think they can manifest things. So, if there's something I won't rap about or don't address, it's only because I don't underestimate the power of those words." (MetroTimes). 

Pete Rock 'Soul Survivor II' (May 11, 2004)

On this day in 2004, Pete Rock released 'Soul Survivor II' through BBE Records. The album is the sequel to his '98 solo debut but the 3rd production album by Pete Rock, which also includes 'PeteStrumentals' in 2001, unless you also include 'Lost & Found' in '03. Unlike 'Soul Survivor,' we hear a lot less from Pete Rock in the booth and focussing more on the production, but he does enlist a heavy cast of lyricists to come through with the bars: Pharoahe Monch, Little Brother, Dead Prez, CL Smooth, Kardinal Offishall, Skillz, RZA & GZA, Talib Kweli, Slum Village and J Dilla. I agree with the overall review by Aqua in Vibe Magazine (May, 2004), who says "Soul Survivor is a true album experience rather than another compilation." It's still hard to digest that Pharoahe Monch was considered below the radar then ... and now ... meanwhile he raps better than 99.9% of Hip-Hop, but I shall digress because y'all already know how I feel. Enjoy the Soul Survivor II LP, streaming below...

Binary Star "PreMOTU" (Double-Cassette Album Stream)

PreMOTU tells the legendary story surrounding the genesis of Binary Star’s ‘Masters of the Universe’ with Interviews, Samples, Drums & much more bonus content. Over 150 minutes of playing time build a great foretaste for the re-issue of the classic, MOTU, on Vinyl-Digital. One Be Lo and Decompoze are currently working on WaterWorld 3, as well as solo material and follow-up releases from the Subterraneous crew. Double-Cassettes for PreMOTU are still available at Fat Beats, and some copies (including exclusive SIGNED copies) of the black Masters of the Universe vinyl are available at Vinyl-Digital while supplies last. You can support all of the music digitally via Bandcamp.

Decompoze's solo album 'Maintain Composure' Coming July 4th.

Black Sheep "Similak Child" (Homogenized Remix, Video)

I was at my boy's crib back in '92 when I heard Dres' voice coming from the television; I recognized the lyrics to 'Similak Child,' but the beat in the video was totally different from the album version. Pre-Internet, I had to go to the record store and dig up the 12" ... labeled the 'Homogenized Remix,' the production was credited to Andres Titus (Dres) and William McLean (Mista Lawnge); another self-produced hit! The bassline was so heavy and the background sample of 'Louie' by Allen Toussaint was so ill; it was later used by Gravediggaz on 'Constant Elevation' and the Troubleneck Brothers came back and sampled from Black Sheep on their super underground smash 'Troubleneck Wreck.' People argue over which is better: the remix or the original with the Jefferson Airplane 'Today' sample, but all these years later, I still come back to the remix over the album cut. I'm not mad whichever version people like most because the video and concept of the record are A+ either way, lol. At the time, I believe this was the 4th single from their debut album 'A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing,' which I absolutely think is a classic and it's another example of how ahead of their time the whole Native Tongues collective was back in the late 80s, early 90s. Peep the video below.