Alright, so a couple early demos of Marley Marl Scratch dropped in recent years. That was something I had a hand in. To broaden the canvas and illustrate the context in which the first early version dropped, I wanted to share this excellent segment from early '85 on the Rap Attack. This demo has been noted as airing January 23rd, 1985, but upon closer examination, I'd have to say this was either that date or in the vicinity. The tape I have labeled January 23rd actually has audio from at least three Rap Attack shows, so sometimes it's impossible to decipher. This clip begins with Magic and Marley shifting out of Grandmaster Flash's Larry's Dance Theme and into the Shan demo. Immediately afterward, Roxanne Shante stops by the studio and lets the world know where she's been, where she's headed, and shares her thoughts on the up-and-coming rappers out there.
I hope they're good.
Magic and Roxanne rap about her newfound fame, her upcoming Soul Train appearance, and more, as the clock ticks toward four in the morning. Below is the full segment together, as well as the Roxanne segment by itself. Enjoy it...
Marley Marl Scratch - Early Demo Expanded - Roxanne Shante Rap Attack Interview - Jan or Feb '85 -
Roxanne Shante Rap Attack Interview - Jan or Feb '85 -
Been going through this tape of the Rap Attack show from March 21st 1987, and I've found some great stuff. To kick it off, here's two exceptional world premiere's from the broadcast, The Classical Two's popular record New Generation, and the Dub remix of MC Shan's Down By Law. Check back soon for more highlights from the March 21st show... you won't be disappointed.
The Classical Two (World Premiere) -
MC Shan - Down By Law Dub Remix (World Premiere) -
As for the B-side to the Stretch and Bobbito tape I posted the other day, there wasn't much going on on it, so I decided to move on to more exciting material!
I'm happy to announce that the coming months will see the release of two more Cold Chillin' deluxe reissues. First up, Roxanne Shante's Bad Sister, followed by MC Shan's sophomore release, Born To Be Wild. As always, each disc will include bonus audio, never-before-seen artwork, and more.
There's so many incredible tracks between these two expanded releases... I Pioneered This, Have A Nice Day, Juice Crew Law, Brothers Ain't Shit, Words of a Freestyle, both title tracks, Skeezer, Live On Stage, and the list goes on. I've had a great time talking with both Shante and MC Shan about their respective releases. Here's an excerpt from the Bad Sister liner notes:
Today, Shante recalls her time as a Cold Chillin’ artist with honesty and clarity. “Overall, my recording career with Cold Chillin’ was definitely a prerequisite for life in general. I was able to deal with so many different personalities. With the fellas who sometimes wrote lyrics for me, like Kane and Biz and Shan, I love the fact that we kept it very close-knit to the extent that they could actually write songs for me, and it would sound like something Shante would say. We actually came up with the phrase, ‘Now that sounds Shante-ish,’ meaning it was sassy enough, contained enough profanity, was quick-witted, and had a very fast delivery to match Shante’s personality. So with Bad Sister, I would say that I was very happy with the outcome of the album. Just the fact that I was able to sit back, hear it and say ‘Wow, I’m really feeling like that today.’ I would say the title track describes the type of life I wanted to have, or the type of life we felt the public thought I had. They thought I had this big bed and this bath that you step into with men washing you up. They didn’t know that I was still in the hood barely surviving, but it gave me a chance to mentally go to a whole different place and I think it even reflected what my Cold Chillin’ brothers wanted me to have. They would rhyme about all of these elaborate things and I’d be like, ‘*Pshh*, wouldn’t it be good if I had all that!’ I know that when Cold Chillin’ decided to band with Warner Brothers, we thought we were
going to get Bugs Bunny money. I was lucky if I got a carrot.”
And here's a clip of DJ Pete Rock having a little fun with the Juice Crew Law 12" on the In Control Show:
MC Shan- Juice Crew Law (12" Version) on In Control Show, 107.5 WBLS - April 29, 1989 -
Werner Von Wallenrod recently had a thorough post on Shan's Juice Crew Law 12". Hands down the 12" version is much heavier, from bass line to drums. You can bet it will be on the reissue.
Be sure to keep an eye out for both of these this summer! Speaking of summer, we just had a beautiful weekend up here in Boston. Pretty soon I'll be dressing like this dude:
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) ...
