Charity Shoppin' #1: The Recap

So that's it, all done for our break-dancin', hip hoppin' outing this time. Here's the recap, and a couple of classic songs which didn't make the CD.

The Message - The Roots Of Rap

Sugar Hill Gang - Rapper's Delight
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - The Message
Trouble Funk - Pump Me Up
West Street Mob - Break Dance - Electric Boogie
Crash Crew - Breaking Bells (Take Me To The Mardi Gras)
Funky Four Plus One - That's The Joint
The Furious Five - Step Off
Treacherous Three & Kool Moe Dee - Turn It Up
Grandmaster Flash - White Lines
Spoonie G - Spoonie Is Back

Bonus joy!

Anthrax & Public Enemy - Bring The Noise
Eric B & Rakim - Microphone Fiend

For a really ace track, head over to Contrast Podcast for FiL's choice, Afrika Bambaataa with John Lydon doing World Destruction.
Bringing it more up to date...

MF Doom - Rhymes Like Dimes

Buy the CD/Public Enemy/Eric B & Rakim/MF Doom/Anthrax

Tags: hip hop; rap; The Message; Public Enemy; Eric B; Rakim; MF Doom; Anthrax

Charity Shoppin' #1: Spoonie Is Back

Photo from The Foundation

Hip hop names are great. Mine is Royal Joint. Gabriel Jacskon has a pretty cool name already, but he becomes Spoonie G. I'd kind of rather he didn't have a real name, I like Spoonie G. As a way to finish off a record of Grandmaster Flash's, Kool Moe Dee's and Duke Bootee's, this isn't a bad finale. Pleasingly, it's also a decent song, and funky as.

Aka Spoonie Gee, this guy was one of the founders of the Treacherous Three and featured on New Rap Language. He was known as the 'Love Rapper', a fairly unexciting name based on the fact that he employed far more traditional pop themes of love and romance than his party styling, pimp-daddying peers. Like all the artists, he graduated through Sugar Hill Records, albeit after releasing his earlier material on his uncle's Enjoy label. Spoonie Is Back was released in 1981 on Sugar Hill and is genuinely regarded as a classic, just as Gee is regarded as a Godfather and a survivor these days. However, he didn't go without his hard times, and between quitting Sugar Hill and signing with Tuff City, he went through some really tough times.
The track itself is irresistably funky, with the percussive, wah-ed electric guitar prominent in the sparse mix. Also a favourite of mine is the excellent drum machine arrangements, with their rolls and rat-at-ats. The rapping's great too. Well worth a listen.

Spoonie G - Spoonie Is Back

Buy Spoonie G/Treacherous Three

Tags: hip hop; rap; Spoonie G; Treacherous Three; Sugar Hill; Love Rap; Spoonie Is Back

Charity Shoppin' #1: Turn It Up

(Photo by G Kcin)

Said turn it up. This is misleadingly credited to the Treacherous Three on the album sleeve, but in reality Turn It Up was the first solo release (on Sugar Hill, natch) for a certain Mohandas Dewese, aka Kool Moe Dee. Although potentially named after Gandhi, Mr Dee was recognised, in his early days at least, as much for anything as his confrontation and feuding.

Kool Moe Dee came to prominence on the back of a now legendary live recording of a battle rap/roasting of Busy Bee Starski which kickstarted his career and, he'd like you to believe, a whole new era of hip hop. He's also infamous for his ongoing feud with the equally-if-not-even-more-hilariously-named LL Cool J, who KMD accuses of having stolen his rap style. The cover of his 1987 album, How Ya Like Me Now features a red Kangol hat being squished under the wheels of a jeep or something, the hat being LLCJ's trademark. Which all goes to show, I suppose, that some people just don't ever grow up. It's almost fitting that Bart Simpson wanted to name a kid brother after him.

The Treacherous Three (also comprising Special K, LA Sunshine and DJ Easy Lee) were definitely among hip hop's pioneers, qualifying them for a place on the album: quite aside from Kool Moe Dee's exploits, their first single, The New Rap Language, was a landmark in itself.

Kool Moe Dee and the Treacherous Three - Turn It Up

Buy Treacherous Three/Kool Moe Dee

Tags: hip hop; rap; Treacherous Three; Kool Moe Dee; LL Cool J; Sugar Hill; roast; battle

Charity Shoppin' #1: Step Off

The Furious Five are big names in hip hop. The group are most famous for the Grandmaster Flash canon but featuring none of his trademark scratching, it's performed solely by the Furious Five, aka Cowboy, Melle Mel, Kid Creolo, Rahiem (from the Funky Four) and Scorpio. This track is post-1984, so after Flash had left the Five (after suing Sugar Hill Records for unpaid royalties). Melle Mel then upgraded himself to Grandmaster, and provides the main vocals here along with Cowboy and Scorpio.

It's more sparse really than most of the tracks on this CD; the rapping is of a slightly harsher style (more reminiscent of Chuck D), and the backing vocals are kept very minimal. There's the standard synth breaks still though, and the handclap-based beat is pretty familiar.



Furious Five - Step Off

Buy Furious Five

Tags: hip hop; rap; Furious Five; Grandmaster Flash; Melle Mel; Scorpio; Cowboy; Sugar Hill

Charity Shoppin' #1: That's The Joint

(Photo by strangefruit.pitas .com)

This is a great track - they were not kidding calling themselves Funky. If you're looking for one of those lolloping, acrobatic basslines that Bootsy Collins can pull out, then here's what you're looking for, and the rapping is great, the beat is great, it's all great. Which makes it all the more surprising that the Funky Four Plus One never released a full-length album.

That's not to say that the group are not without their significance. For example, who do you think were the first hip hop act to appear on national TV in America? You guessed it, the Funky 4 + 1 were on there in 1981. Who was the first major hip hop act to feature a female MC? That would be Sha Rock (Sharon Green) of the Funky Four Plus One. The group, once they went their separate ways, also provided a bunch of fairly prominent players in the nascent hip hop scene: first to leave was Raheim (Guy Todd Williams), who left to join the Furious Five. He was replaced by Rodney Stone, aka Lil' Rodney Cee who teamed up with Kevin Smith (no, not that one, this one was known as KK Rockwell) to form Double Trouble. Sha Rock formed Us Girls and Jazzy Jeff (again - no, not that one) went on to a solo career. The only one that I can't find went on to more things was Keith Keith (the name of whom baffles me - why not use your cool real surname, Caesar, and why concentrate on Keith?).

So there you have the Funky Four Plus One, with their little longevity but large importance, and their excellent hit, That's The Joint - sampling from A Taste Of Honey's Rescue Me, and sampled by De La Soul and Beastie Boys, amongst many others.

A Taste Of Honey - Rescue Me
Funky Four Plus One - That's The Joint
Beastie Boys - Shake Your Rump

Buy: Funky 4 + 1/Beastie Boys/A Taste Of Honey

Tags: hip hop; rap; Funky 4 + 1; That's The Joint; Sha Rock; Jazzy Jeff; Sugar Hill; Saturday Night Live

PS - check out the ever-whacky Contrast Podcast, this week with added interest, in that the entries are introduced by singing. Yes. You can hear me styling here.

Charity Shoppin' #1: Breaking Bells

Reginald is not, I'd contend, a particularly 'street' name, not one that will get you much 'rep' in the 'hood'. Check my accent out there, I'm down with the kids me, intit. Anyway, the thing I like about today's track is that one of the artists is called nothing less than Reggie Reg. It's a supreme show of confidence in one's ability that enables an MC to carry off a moniker like that. As part of the Crash Crew, Reggie Reg was one of a democratic collective that produced today's track, the ridiculously catchy Breaking Bells.

The group burst onto the scene in the late seventies with their hit Hi Powered Rap, gaining some extra column inches due to their feud with the Furious Five - there's two sides of the argument as to who copied who, but eventually the problem must have been resolved, as the Crew signed to Sugar Hill records (there's some sort of recurring theme here...) and went on to release a strong of hits, not least this Bob James-sampling classic.

What's particularly pleasing today is that I've been able to find out a little more about the current location of the members: whereas the Sugar Hill Gang, Trouble Funk and others just vanished, the Crash Crew went on to great things. EK Mike C now lives in New York and drives a bus. Barry Bistro is a security guard at the Capitol, Washington, and La ShuBee is Assistant Director of NYU Food Services.

The main thrust of the song comes from the Bob James sample, from Take Me To The Mardi Gras. Although James' most well-known musical moment is probably Angela, the theme to Taxi, this is the piece that will cement him in history, having been sampled by a whole host of hip hop greats. Crash Crew look to be the first (at least the first to make a hit from it), but others include Run DMC (Peter Piper), Eric B & Rakim (Don't Sweat The Technique), Beastie Boys (Hold It Now, Hit It) and Timbaland (Missy Elliot's Work It). The sample is the driving force behind Breaking Bells, and provides a ready-made beat for the Crew to work with, albeit beefed up with a tasty early drum machine sound.

And just like the Bob James track was sampled by others, Breaking Bells has featured in other songs, cf. this DJ Yoda track, the intro to How to Cut and Paste Mix Tape Vol.2 also featuring the Star Wars theme... As he quotes in his own track, if you like the Avalanches, you'll love this guy.

Crash Crew - Breaking Bells (Take Me To The Mardi Gras)
DJ Yoda - Intro (feat. Crash Crew and Star Wars)
Bob James - Take Me To The Mardi Gras

Buy Crash Crew/Bob James/DJ Yoda

Tags: hip hop; rap; sample Crash Crew; Breaking Bells; Bob James; Mardi Gras; DJ Yoda; Star Wars; Reggie Reg; Sugar Hill

Charity Shoppin' #1: Break Dance - Electric Boogie

The West Street Mob are another one of these which have just vanished. It's pretty much only Grandmaster Flash off this album that's had any lasting significance, which is strange really; I guess these acts were just a snapshot of their time and place which seemed to sum a zeitgeist up. This couldn't be more true in the case of Break Dance/Electric Boogie. If you're under a certain age (I'm close), you could be forgiven for thinking breakdancing has always been a major deal, and in some ways it has. But until Jason Nevins' remix of Run DMC's It's Like That of just a few years ago, the scene had largely gone underground.

Now, of course, there's b-boy contests in student unions, and Westwood bigging it up large, or some such, and the dance has never been bigger. This track is pretty much the epitome, the anthem of what a good dancing tune was back in '83. It's got everything: a rapped intro, vocoded vocals, a sparse beat (a predecessor of today's heavily compressed loops) and self-referential lyrics. I guess (there's little to no information out there) that the piece was written in this vain, almost to summarise the sound (the clue's in the title, I suppose...), so, for your perusal: Break Dance 101, West Street Mob and the video for Run DMC's It's Like That.

West Street Mob - Break Dance - Electric Boogie
Grandmaster Flash/West Street Mob - Wheels Of Steel/Electric Boogie (from Hexstatic: Pick'n'Mix)



Buy West Street Mob/Grandmaster Flash/Hexstatic

Tags: hip hop; rap; break dance; B-Boy; West Street Mob; Grandmaster Flash; Hexstatic; Sugar Hill; Electric Boogie

Charity Shoppin' #1: Pump Me Up

(Photo by praschl)

Today we're talking go-go. Boiled down to it's essence, it's an extrapolation and extension of the funk jams of the 70's, and none were better at it than Trouble Funk. Also, for the record, great name. Trouble... funk. Troublefunk. Ace. Anyway, today's track is one of Trouble Funk's better hits, Pump Me Up, released at the height of go-go on Sugar Hill Records, then obviously famous for the proto-hip hop of Sugar Hill Gang and Grandmaster Flash.

According to Wikipedia, "Go-go is defined by continuous, complex, heavy rhythm arrangements focused through two motifs performed on multiple congas, tumbadoras, and rototoms, interspersed with timbale and cowbell parts, driven by heavy-footed drumming and punctuated by crowd call-and-response. A swing rhythm is often implied (if not explicitly stated)." So, we're talking synth drums people. On Pump Me Up, there's a discernably denser sound than what we've looked at so far, with a dead funky, and very active, bass-line, and all sorts of percussion. The vocals are pretty much consistent with the label's rap style, although there's a more vintage-funk flavour in parts.

Go-go was at it's best in the live arena, and Trouble Funk were known for stringing out a single song into an entire two-hour live show. The genre's pioneer, Chuck Brown (of Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers) was both an instigator and proponent of this, and still continues today. It was very much a Washington DC-based phenomenon, which is where Brown still is, although Trouble Funk are no longer a going concern (as far as I can tell).

Trouble Funk - Pump Me Up

Buy Trouble Funk

Tags: hip hop; rap; go-go; Trouble Funk; Pump Me Up; Chuck Brown; Washington DC

Charity Shoppin' #1: The Message

(Photo by Dangershrew)

Its like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder/How I keep from going under

The old school hip hop continues apace with maybe the most respected track on the album. The Message was probably as big a deal as White Lines, but even more culturally significant when looking into hip hop's nascent years. It was one of the first rap songs to veer away from the posturing into describing the struggles of ghetto life; like White Lines, it's a cautionary tale of Noo Yawk life - whereas in modern day rap the gangster life is glorified, the drugs, guns and women are the shizzle, The Message describes a life where these people are looked up to, but feared; a kitchen-sink take on the glamourised and stylised ghetto.

Youll admire all the number book takers

Thugs, pimps, pushers and the big money makers

Driving big cars, spending twenties and tens

And you wanna grow up to be just like them

Smugglers, scramblers, burglars, gamblers

Pickpockets, peddlers and even pan-handlers

You say "I'm cool, I'm no fool"

But then you wind up dropping out of high school

Don't push 'cos I'm close to the edge

It's gritty and bleak, in many ways, but musically speaking it's one of the greats of early hip hop - it's synth break alone is infamous and has been copied and sampled many, many times. It's another one of those where what is now looked at as retro or passé was cutting edge at the time, and paved the way for the whole of the 80's. It's parent album, of the same title, is maybe one of the most important in understanding the roots of hip hop, so that would be your advised purchase.

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five feat. Melle Mel and Duke Bootee - The Message

Buy Grandmaster Flash/Melle Mel/Duke Bootee

Tags: hip hop; rap; Grandmaster Flash; Furious Five; Melle Mel; Duke Bootee; The Message

PS. You would be exceeding remiss in not checking out Tim's most wonderful Contrast Podcast, this with the theme of 'who'. Anyone hoping for an hour of the Who will be disappointed, but anyone else will be mightily overjoyed, with some fine contributions, and mine (see here for reference).

Charity Shoppin' #1: Rapper's Delight

(Photo by tofutti break)

Ya see: I am Wonder Mike and I like to say hello/To the black, to the white, the red, and the brown, the purple and yellow

If White Lines was legendary, then Rapper's Delight is in yet another league of hip hop heritage. Although technically speaking, probably not the first ever hip hop single (Fatback Band's King Tim III probably lays claim to that) but it was the first big hit - the second could possibly be Blondie's Rapture, bizarrely enough. Anyway, Rapper's Delight has taken the plaudits, and fair enough.

Ya see: I go by the code of the doctor of the mix/And these reasons I'll tell ya why

The track was performed by the Sugar Hill Gang, who quickly faded into obscurity, although not before leaving a legacy of this classic song, and Sugar Hill Records, responsible for yesterday's Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel, among many others. The Gang were Wondermike, Big Bank Hank and Master Gee (as they'll insist on telling you), no doubt their christened names - together they left this 14 minute hit to posterity, in the process becoming the first hit to only be available on 12" extended version.

Well, my name is known all over the world/By all the foxy ladies and the pretty girls

Facts, facts, facts. To be honest, there's loads more I could spout about the song (thanks wikipedia), but it's all a bit unneccessary. If you don't know the song, perhaps it will seem charmingly naive, its braggadocio less based on the number of bullet holes in the chest than today, but if you recall it as coming before literally every hip hop cliché that's evolved, it's significance starts to make itself known.If you do know the song, you'll forget all this and just revel in the awesome bassline and Chic backing (Nile Rodgers is still the greatest funk/disco guitarist there's ever been, bar none). You'll hear the cop-show intro and a nod of appreciation will emerge, you'll find yourself singing "say what?! " along with the track, and you'll throw some serious old-skool shapes.

The Sugar Hill Gang - Rapper's Delight
Grandmaster Flash & The West St. Mob - Wheels Of Steel/Electric Boogie

Buy Sugar Hill Gang/Hexstatic/Grandmaster Flash/West St. Mob

Tags: hip hop; rap; Sugar Hill Gang; West St. Mob; Rapper's Delight; Hexstatic;

Charity Shoppin' #1: White Lines

Vision dreams of passion and all the while I think of you

I have a list as long as my arm of stuff I've been listening to that just hasn't had a look in during the world cup series, but I've promised myself I'm only going to be posting things stuck in my head, or things relevant or particularly interesting to me that day. Hence, Grandmaster Flash. I really enjoyed the whole 'research project' premise of the Festivale De Football, so I'm starting a new series today. Taking a leaf out of this guy's book, I can exclusively reveal that charity shops are the way forward. Yesterday's visit to the Wood Green Oxfam threw up a couple of CD's (the other of which is bound to feature soon enough) - amongst them was The Message: The Roots Of Rap, a (fairly budget-looking) compilation of some of the classics of old-school rap - Sugarhill Gang, Kool Moe Dee, Funky Four...

Connected to the mind...

The one that's lodged itself in my head is - unsurprisingly if you know me - White Lines (Don't Do It). It's not hip hop: it's electro.

Ah, Shaun Of The Dead. Such good times. One can identify with Shaun and Ed all the more when listening to this track, heard in the film as they leave the Winchester after Shaun is dumped. Dooby-dooby-dooby-do-dooby-do-duh aaaaaargh... I actually didn't know the full track all that well until listening to this album, but hearing it along with a bunch of other ace tracks really helps.

For those who aren't familiar, Grandmaster Flash actually doesn't appear on this song, or on his other big hit, The Message. According to Wikipedia, if you don't hear scratching, Flash ain't on it, yeah boyee. I may have paraphrased. The track is delivered then, by Melle Mel and the rest of the Furious Five with that inimitable Sugarhill house band bassline and those sweetly-sung backing vocals. For its anti-coke message, it shows a surprising familiarity with the coke culture, not least in the video: directed by a still-studying Spike Lee and starring a young Larry Fishburne, it features a bunch of fairly graphic drug-taking scenes juxtaposed alongside a sort of homeboy Pan's People dance troupe. Weird.

But of course: great song, legendary, and for its serious subject matter, great fun.



Grandmaster Flash & The Funky Five feat. Melle Mel - White Lines (Don't Do It)
Grandmaster Flash/Dillinger - White Lines/Cocaine (from the Hexstatic "Pick'n'Mix" album on Sanctuary Records)

Buy Grandmaster Flash/Hexstatic

Tags: Hip hop; rap; Grandmaster Flash; Furious Five; Melle Mel; Dillinger; Hexstatic; White Lines;