It's The Sound of the Drum That Makes You Come (...?)

When Rhino released the 5-Disc Sugar Hill Records Story box set years back (well, 1999), the Treacherous Three's Action was nowhere to be found on it. I will never understand how it didn't make the cut. Also left off was Crash Crew's On The Radio and Mean Machine's Disco Dream, but they were included on the one-cassette Best of Sugar Hill Records release that Rhino put out around the same time (and yes, that's how they suckered me into buying the cassette too).

Treacherous Three- Action (12" Vocal Version) -

Treacherous Three- Action (12" Instrumental Version) -

The thing with Sugar Hill Records is I always seem to find alternate mixes of their tracks that I never knew existed. When I searched for Action on youtube, the first result was this version, with a totally different mix. I can hear more ad libs by Kool Moe Dee, Special K and LA Sunshine towards the beginning, but overall it seems to be a sparser mix. I prefer the 12" version over this one, but that's usually how it works... you go with what you heard initially.

I find it interesting that as the vocal mix fades out (in the 12" version), you hear Kool Moe Dee (?) say "Furious 5 emcees!" That never made sense to me, especially since around this time there was tension between the two crews, and even talks of a potential battle. It doesn't sound like Moe Dee is calling them out in the fade out, it just sounds more like he's shouting them out or something. Whatever, this label has always been mysterious to me. Maybe I should stop listening that close to the fade outs of songs. Jokes on me!

Furious 5 Fade Out (Boosted) -

Here's audio from Treacherous Three's 2nd Anniversary, with Moe Dee calling out the Furious Five to battle:

(Special thanks to Big Dan for giving me the Treacherous Three cassette!)

Off-topic from this post, but...

I realize in my last post I didn't say much about GURU. I think most people feel the same way I do, deeply saddened and at a loss for how to put his influence and legacy into words. He is responsible for some of the best music ever created in this genre, and nobody was debating that when he was alive either... it's legit. It is heartbreaking that such an irreplaceable talent left us at such a young age. I'm going to bump Statik Selektah's Shade 45 Tribute right now!

Tweet

Station W-O-L-F

Who knew there was a video for Super-Wolf's Super-Wolf Can Do It (Sugar Hill Records, 1980)? Apparently 17,300 people, as this already has a ton of views. This is news to me! Good news.... good, good, even amazing news.

Okay I'm already over it.

I respect how he chose the 10 minute long version for the video instead of the 6:30 "short" version.

Tweet

I'm More Feared Than A Sugar Hill Contract ... ?

Can we please, PLEASE get a proper expanded re-release of Beat Street on DVD / Blu Ray?? I, like many other movie watchers, frequent IMDB almost anytime I see a flick. The amount of tidbits in the trivia section for a movie is always a direct correlation of how many bonus materials / extras come with an expanded edition of a given title. How many times have you read the trivia on a movie and then seen a DVD featurette, only to realize all of the interesting facts in the extra were things you already read for free on IMDB? (End nerd-out paragraph here)

Beat Street re-releases have unfortunately never come with any notable bonus material, so there's not much to read on its IMDB page (although my boy Nick Sinista did point out that the dude who played Spit has been a stuntman for over 130 movies, including American Gangster, The Bourne Ultimatum, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Meet Joe Black, 8MM, Meet the Parents, Juice, King of New York, and No Country for Old Men. Crazy). Awhile back I noticed in the trivia section there was a paragraph that read:

About 80% of the footage in the original theatrical trailer is not included in the final cut. Examples include Ramón getting his bag ripped off while walking with Kenny and Charlie, several battle outtakes including the classroom up-rocking scene, Ramón on a set of drums, and one dancer flipping off against a wall at the Burning Spear nightclub. Several other pieces of footage were included as well but were in freeze frame in the opening credits of the film. The trailer also includes an alternate version of title song performed by Kool Moe Dee, (who appears in the film in the "Christmas Rappin'" sequence with the rest of the Treacherous Three), which also did not appear in the movie nor on the original soundtrack albums.

Out of control! A quick youtube search yielded the original theatrical trailer for the movie, and sure enough my mind was blown. An alternate title cut by Kool Moe Dee set to tons of scenes left out of the movie. Check it out below:

This gives new meaning to the term "teaser trailer." It appears that there is a PLETHORA of extra footage from this flick. I know that to the big wigs a movie like this isn't worth assembling an expanded special edition of, but hopefully, down the road, somebody will be in a position of power to swing something like that.

I wonder if that Kool Moe Dee title track had to be replaced by Jazzy Jay's Son of Beat Street because of some Sugar Hill contract issues? Wouldn't surprise me. As Treach (Naughty by Nature, not Treacherous Three) said,

"...I'm more feared than a Sugar Hill Contract..."

Tweet

You Think We'll Ever Meet Stevie?

This is for anybody who is a Beastie Boys fan but not an intense Grandmaster Flash & The Furious 5 fan.

3:25 in (above)...

"You think we'll ever meet Stevie? One of these days, D!"

The origins of this line lie in the Grandmaster Flash & The Furious 5 track, Dreamin', found on The Message album. A passionate ballad for the boy Stevie Wonder, Dreamin' is certainly the track that withstood the test of time better than any Furious tune. Certainly much more than the title cut off the album. Dreamin' is as poignant today as when it was first released in 1982.

"Taking walks in the park, getting closer to your heart, is all we want to do"

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five- Dreamin' (Isolated Part)-

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five- Dreamin' (Full)-

Alright, so I'm being a dick. I LOVE the Furious 5, and Raheem can sing his ass off. You can find me rapping along to most of their records when they're cued up. Hell, I'll even try to keep up with the open party track.

Hey Sal!

Yeah, we party allll the time!

...etc., etc....

Actually, I think Cowboy's sister, Neicy, was on a lot of those party tracks that Sugar Hill liked to put on their 12"s. Jayquan from the Tha Foundation, who has put in many years documenting stories from the pioneers of hip hop, has an article remembering Cowboy, where Neicy shines some light on this:

J: Did you ever go to the studio while they were recording?

N: Yes. We met Joey & Sylvia Robinson.

J: It always sounded like a party in the background of those records , and I wondered if that was family members or what.

N: Yeah , my mother and I

I also am a dick for not posting the real Pass The Mic video above. Here it is:

And here's an unrelated Bad Brains track. Or is it? You tell me.

Tweet