Is It Live?

This is one of those posts where I'm going to bring up something that I always wonder, and instead of my ideas provoking thought in the reader, it will most likely make you think I'm on some crazy nerd shit.  Here is "the question at hand..."

Are all Marley Marl and/or Cold Chillin' tracks that are said to be live actually 100% live? 

Stupid question to ask, and I don't care either way if they are, because they're all incredible, but I suppose when you listen to something so much, you start to dig deep for added entertainment value.  The first example that comes to mind is a straight up legen-DAIRY track. 

LL Cool J- Murdergram (Live at Rapmania)

I've never really had a conversation with anybody regarding how great I actually think "Murdergram" is.  I don't hear it talked about a lot, but I doubt I'm alone on this one, and it's not really a topic I feel would make for good conversation at any semi-normal get together anyways.  Honestly, I will probably enjoy any song using that special 1 bar loop from Earth Wind & Fire's "Moment of Truth," so that explains why I'm basically all for this too:

Anybody who listened to Commercial Rap knows I have no shame in thoroughly enjoying the good Kid 'N' Play songs.  But I'm kind of getting on a tangent here.  Was "Murdergram" even performed at "Rapmania?"  I mean, I obviously don't know the answer to that, but I do know that I have a 2 VHS set of the concert and the only LL Cool J performance on it is "Jinglin' Baby."  I promise next time I'm at my mom's house I'll grab the VHS and post Kurtis Blow's "Medley" performance, because it is something that needs to be seen, if only for the outfit (but also for the "Basketball" segment).  

So, anyways, I've established that there is no footage of Cool J performing "Murdergam" on my VHS.  Who gives a shit, right?  I simply like thinking about these things sometimes.  The crowd noise on the track also sounds like it's a loop too, which always creates a great sound (that is  absolutely NOT sarcasm, it's dope!).  Also, the beginning where Marley says "Yo, don't go near the speaker" just sounds too perfect to be an actual flawed live recording.  You know what, the more I type out my thoughts, the more I realize that this track was probably never actually meant to fool anybody into thinking it's a genuine live recording, so I'm feeling like a real geek fanboy right now.  Nice detective work, dickhead.

Anyways, aside from my rant about how it's probably not actually live, the song from front to back is just a complete banger. And I don't normally use the word banger, so you know I dug deep for that.  LL destroys it with the vocals, the beat is probably higher up on my list of personal favorite Marley productions than I even realize, and it's even got the classic Marley Marl vocal cameos ("Nah man just kick a litttttle more!").  Poi-fect!

Now, onto a couple Marley and/or Cold Chillin' tracks that are definitely live.  "Wrath Of Kane" on Big Daddy's second album is incredible.  The crowd gets LOUD when Kane comes out to perform the track at the Apollo. 

Big Daddy Kane- Wrath Of Kane (Live at the Apollo)

I also was always kind of taken aback on MC Shan's "Cocaine (Live)" when the crowd is attentive enough as a whole to go "OoOOOOOhhhhhHHH" at the end when Shan says "Don't you know by now that her name was cocaine?"  They get loud too.  

MC Shan- Cocaine (Live 12" Version- I believe performed at the Red Parrot...?)

I want to believe that none of this was ever any amount of added after-effect studio trickery, and there probably wasn't any, but it's not so much that I'm a skeptic as it is the fact that I spend way too much time in C's Section (studio) tinkering with ideas and things like this.  Here, I'll show you.

Somehow I weaseled my way into knowing the whereabout of this:

Since certain parts of the theatre/stage were mic'd separately, you can use the multi track tape to boost certain levels of things.

Biz Live @ Apollo (Clip)- Normal

Think about that, then think about this (key moment to compare is 23 seconds in on each) ...

Biz Live @ Apollo (Clip)- Crowd Boost

This paragraph here has come to an end.

aka... this rant is over

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Will C. - aka... Money Dog... ?? Bwhaaat?

I'm not gonna front.  This looks like EXACTLY my type of flick.  Anyone know if this ever actually came out? More Michael Holman, this time with a perplexing trailer from 1988.

Okay, so 1988.  You got that right?  You can tell it's old by the quality of the footage anyways.  I know it's 1988 because the VHS I got it from is marked with that year.  That's why I find this so flabbergasting.  Gotta love it.

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Hold On World, World Hold On... It's Gonna Be Alright

So, the Celtics are done and the Bruins let the die hard Boston fans down in the playoffs.  Shitty city... but I know a lot of other people who are way more into our teams than I am, so I'll save it.  The truth is I haven't followed the Bruins religiously since I was in 5th grade.  They let me down in the first round of the playoffs against the Capitals back when Joe Thornton was a rookie rocking my number... and once I realized how much time I had wasted at the tender age of 11 only to see my boys get stomped, I began to shy away from taking any team overly seriously.  Case and point: I tend to be a fair weather fan around these parts, and I gots no quarrels with that.

 Anyways, what I gotta do is focus on giving an apology for not having updated this thing since the Celtics / Bulls series.  Can't be letting this place turn into a ghost town like that again.  Weak... as... water.  I'll take the blame on that one.  I've been having many late nights finishing up the new project, and it's going to be a great summer putting some new stuff out there.  I've said this before, and it's really annoying I know, but further details to follow shortly.  This time those details are right around the corner, however.  Official debut album style.   In the mean time, I'll shut my trap and upload a little exclusive content right here (exclusive... I think... questionable?).  Here's a video for the dope Grandmixer D.St. track, "Grandmixer Cuts it Up."  I youtube searched and couldn't find it anywhere, so maybe I'm actually contributing something unique to the page, even if it still involves me uploading somebody else's content.  * Heyyyyyyyy * (Fonzie [in Family Guy] style). This footage was shot by Michael Holman, of Graffiti Rock fame.  I'll be back soon... no more long awkward silences!

(above:  I'm a fan of how the song is called "Grandmixer Cuts It Up" and there is an "Un-Cut side."  The video below is from the un-cut side, I believe)

Grandmixer D.St.- Grandmixer Cuts It Up! (Video)

 

One highlight is at 2:47 in where I'm pretty sure the record skips right as one of the Infinity Rappers is going into a b-boy stance.  Grandmixer, you son of a bitch.

Oh, one more thing... it was my mom's birthday Monday!  So, once again, happy birthday to the madre!  It was great to see you!

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