Hold up... I need your help. From the same tape that's labeled January 23rd, 1985 comes a portion of a show where there is a guest filling in for Mr. Magic. The question is, who is it? Anybody know? Could be obvious to some, but sometimes I just don't know these things. I hear Starchild on the mic, but he's not the main personality hosting the show. I dig how he has his own sign off, over New Edition's Is This The End -
We want you to keep the faith, keep the juice, and never judge a man until you've walked a mile in his shoes, okay? Peace, love and happiness, and may the juice be with you. Ciao.
Mr. Magic: I can't wait to see that battle. I guess The Real Roxanne is not even included in this battle. I guess as they say, that's show biz. Meanwhile, that about raps things up for yours truly, Super Rockin' Mr. Magic, until I return to burn this coming Saturday night... starts at 2 o'clock in the AM. Anyone driving in their car please proceed with a little extra safety and care. Super listeners, whenever you do your homework, always do it as Fly Girl Shante does it, do it to the best of your ability and also remember that persistence ALWAYS overcomes resistance, and any fool can learn from his own mistakes, but it takes a wise man... a wise guy like you to learn from the mistakes made by others. Quick reminder, be yourself or you might find yourself by yourself, and... that's what happened to the Real Roxanne... so sorry.
(laughter in the studio)
For the entire Juice Crew, I am of course Mr. Magic. Special thank you to my engineer all star Marley Marl and Fly Ty Will on the vibe line.
Poetry right there.
Mr. Magic 01.23.1985 Sign Off with Real Roxanne dis -
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 -
Here's a great clip from the August 11th, 1984 edition of the Rap Attack on WBLS. An energetic and on-point Mr. Magic rocks off his chemistry with DJ Marley Marl on the wheels of steel. All this takes place over a Mr. Magic's own production, Jeckyll and Hyde's AM PM. Check it out -
Magic and Marley "Rockin' on the Radio" -
Magic: Tell 'em whatcha want them to do Marley Marl!
Marley: (cuts "AM PM") "Turn your radio up!"
Magic: WBLS FM 107.5 in a class by itself, Mr. Magic maxin' and relaxin', Marley Marl doing the waxing, and just to prove to you, juice, that it's all the way live, tell 'em Marley Marl what we're doing right now...
Marley: (cuts Crash Crew "On The Radio") "rockin' on your radio!"
Magic: Lemme hear ya cut up the "rock ... rock... rockin'!"
Magic: Often imitataded but never quite duplicated, as I said we are in a class by iteself... I hate to brag but it is definitely the TRUTH! Turn the boxes up, 30 minutes of non stop music continues...
(Above: A WBLS ad from the New York Subway System IRT line, circa 1978)
(Above: MC Shan performing at Lee School, Boston, 1987)
As mentioned yesterday, here's a classic Mr. Magic moment. On a tape labeled March 28, 1986, we find the Rap Attack debuting MC Shan's Beat Biter! I absolutely consider this to be a legendary night in rap radio. It begins with Marley Marl going back and forth on the turntables between LL Cool J's original Rock The Bells and Marley / MC Shan's Marley Marl Scratch, drawing attention to the all too similar drum programming... Marley Marl Scratch having predated Rock The Bells. While Marley Marl speaks with his hands, Mr. Magic speaks with his booming voice in his infamously outspoken manner.
Mr. Magic: "LL Cool J is doing the wild thing, but uh, MC Shan has something to say about the Marley Scratch if you know what I mean."
(8:40 in) "Let the battle begin!!! It's brand new, it's called Beat Biter! Dedication to LL Cool J from MC Shan."
I love the way Magic announces the title of the brand new MC Shan track. "BEAT BITER!" I gotta dedicate this post to Jawn P of Top Choice Clique. I know Beat Biter is one of his all time favorite rap songs.
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:
Just a reminder about the Mr. Magic Tribute organized by Russell Simmons, Fly Ty and Marley Marl that's going down this friday at The Lab Banquet Hall in Brooklyn. I'll see you there!
Yesterday morning I was surprised to see there was a copy of the Winter Warnerland compilation CD on my chair. This is the holiday disc that contains the elusive Cold Chillin' Christmas posse cut featuring Big Daddy Kane, Roxanne Shante, M.C. Shan and Fly Ty. I think I read somewhere that this is the only posse cut that features M.C. Shan and Big Daddy Kane together.
Cold Chillin Christmas-
Here's a paragraph from the CD liner notes:
"The rappers from Cold Chillin' got together at Marley's house to lay down this dope number featuring Big Daddy Kane, whose debut album Long Live the Kane has been Top Ten for months; M.C. Shan, who's back with I Pioneered This from his Born To Be Wild LP; and Roxanne Shante, 'Loosey' of Rick James' Loosey's Rap track. Cold Chillin' Christmas also includes the rappin' debut of Fly Ty (a.k.a. Tyrone Williams, chairman of Cold Chillin' Records."
On some real nerd stuff, I'm thinking Fly Ty's rapping debut was on Pumpkin's Here Comes that Beat! as part of the Profile All-Stars.
More importantly, Winter Warnerland contains various Pee-Wee Herman interludes:
Pee-Wee Herman- Christmas Medley-
Pee-Wee Herman- Don't Drink and Drive, Duh!-
Pee-Wee Herman- Pee-Wee Willbury ID-
It took me all day to finally find out that it was Papa D who left the CD on my chair. I should have known... he is the king of holiday hip hop. A week back he got me listening to his Profile Christmas Rap compilation cassette, something he breaks out every year in December and plays in his car all month. In the words of Main Flow on Street Pay, "What up, Papa Diesel?!"
I figured a lot of blogs will throw up the Cold Chillin' Christmas track if they haven't already, as a lot of people have been discovering it lately. So here's a little bonus audio of DJ Red Alert and Mr. Magic together on Hot 97 during a Christmas 1993 broadcast. Here, the two former radio rivals are giving each other much props:
Red: Y'all better tape this... this goes down in history!
Magic: Absolutely!
Red: Mr. Magic and Red Alert, together.
Magic: On the same radio station!
Red: At the same time!
Hot 97- Christmas 1993- Mr. Magic and Red Alert-
Red Alert also explains to Magic how they first met, which is a little fuzzy at first for Sir Juice. Awkarrrrd..? You be the judge!
Here's an Incredible video that I just recently caught on youtube. Looks like it was recently added, too. Thanks to Skratchworx for uploading this!
My personal highlight is the interview piece where Marley Marl is mentioning how Shante's Mom was making her do laundry during their attempts to record "Roxanne's Revenge."
Also we get some footage of a young Queen Latifah who is about to drop her debut record, "Princess of the Posse." What's up with 45 King's awkward hand gesture at 4:05? I can picture the people filming saying "act natural, like we're not even here."
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) ...
I might just be a knucklehead, but this is something I never picked up on until I heard it from Magic directly: He used to produce under the alias M². I had seen that credit on Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde's "A.M. / P.M." single, but for some reason had always just assumed it was Marley Marl.
So Magic was messing with the Linn Drum huh? Oh... word?
Check out "A.M. / P.M." below
Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde- "A.M. / P.M."
Also, for no particular reason, I decided to put Magic's "A.M. / P.M." Linn Drum beat to Mandrill's "Love Song" on my "Commercial Rap" CD from last year. I called it "M Squared," probably because I didn't know how to make the ² symbol at the time (tricky, tricky). Peep it
"M Squared"
I'd just like to say that the photo shoot for "Commercial Rap" was quite fun. It was more like an elaborate scheme to justify playing with toys again. That's really all "Commercial Rap" was.
Am I just kidding? Check this 'outtake' photo
If you wanna cop "Commercial Rap," you can pick it up at Underground Hip Hop
Anyways, after I found this out, I started noticing the M² production credit, or simply Mr. Magic production credits, on some other records (aka, I looked on discogs).
Force M.D.'s- "Let Me Love You (Vocal)"
Force M.D.'s- "Love Beats"
Magic (appearing straight up as Mr. Magic) was co producer with Tom Silverman on this classic Force M.D.'s 12". You can't front on it.
One of my favorite joints to play at random times, "All Night Long (Waterbed)" by Kevie Kev is another keeper that Magic produced on Sugar Hill Records for Kevie Kev (Waterbed Kev). It's actually pretty funny, when I played this for Magic he made the funniest face. He hadn't heard it in ages, and forgot that he actually appears on the record trying win over a girl. I mean, he closes out the record saying that he's just "maxing and relaxing, getting ready to do the wild thing". Of course he made a funny face... caught him off guard like a prick
I just need to stress this- "All Night Long" is an INCREDIBLE record. Any song that begins with a rapper saying he "touches self to prove that he's a freak... I can't hold it back the paint flowing over... touch it why don't cha??" is a winner in my book. A lot of people call that poor taste. Meh. I also love how it's a song about getting girls, but the first rap gets political
"Candidates cut each others throats / Just to get poor people out there to vote!"
Who would guess that one of the adjacent lines is...
"If you look at the sky at the stars above / It reads 'Waterbed Kev, he was made for love!"
Forgive me if my quotes are a little bit off, I'm doing this by memory. Yeah, I've listened to it that many times.
Kevie Kev (Waterbed Kev)- "All Night Long (Waterbed)"
Sorry, I'm trailing off a bit here and there in this post. "Fast Food Nation" is on the IFC. I've seen it before, but sometimes the damn television sucks me in. Mr. "Duck Rock" himself, Malcolm McLaren, produced the film. Or at least some guy named Malcolm McLaren did... I put two and two together.
Getting sidetracked here, but Jeckyll and Hyde's "A.M. / P.M." 12" is paired with Kurtis Blow's classic "Fast Life" production.
Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde- "Fast Life"
Best use of the Jeckyll and Hyde "Fast Life" 12" ? The Vinyl Reanimators remix of Kool G Rap's "Fast Life"
Kool G Rap Feat. Nas- "Fast Life (Vinyl Reanmators Remix)"
