People Under the Stairs - Acid Raindrops

This one goes out to the Coop Dogg... nice mellow track with some smooth harmony and fresh lyrics getting you ready for the weekend.

Another westcoast underground classic comin off PUTS' 2002 Album O.S.T.



People Under the Stairs is made up of two MC's: Thes One and Double K, they've been recording and performing together since 1997 banging out an average of a record almost every 2 years to a growing and devoted underground fanbase. Kick back to this one.

"When the stress burns my brain just like acid raindrops,
Mary Jane is the only thing that makes the pain stop.
I let the music take over my soul, body and mind
To kick back relax one time and you goin find..."

Ras Kass - John Is Real

Hailing from Carson, California, John Austin IV a.k.a. Ras Kass, tells a summarised version of his autobiography in the third person in this track off his 2008 album released this month entitled "Institutionalized Volume 2" the name gaining inspiration from his real-life incarceration for running from the law.



"John is Real" is based on an individual whose real life occurences range from disputes with Record Labels, to being locked up, to industry beefs, and finally, with his success as an independent artist and his collaboration with Killah Priest, Kurupt, and Canibus, in the supergroup HRSMN.

"John put on his pants one leg at a time,
John get on his own to get on his grind,
John get in the zone and spit out a rhyme,
but John will get it poppin if you get out of line..."

Mos Def Biography

Did you know his first collaboration (UBD) was with his brother and sister? Have you heard of "Urban Thermo Dynamics", "Medina Green" which comprised Mos Def and his younger brother DCQ... You've heard of "Blackstar" though right - which saw Mos Def Team up with Talib Kweli? I was reading through this article online thought others might appreciate checking it out.



I've copied a segment of the article below, but the full article can be found at the link at the end.

Mos Def began rhyming at age nine; formed his first group, Urban Thermo Dynamics (UTD), with his brother and sister; appeared as Richard in God Bless the Child on television, 1988; played Raymond Kirkland on TV's You Take the Kids, 1990; appeared in NYPD Blue and The Cosby Mysteries, 1994; released UTD single, "My King Fu," 1994; joined the Native Tongues collective founded by Afrika Bambaataa, which included A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul; made cameo appearances on De La Soul's "Big Brother Beat" and the Bush Babees' "Love Song"; appeared on television's Spin City, 1996; released debut single "The Universal Magnetic," on Rawkus Records, 1996; released "Body Rock," featuring Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest, 1998; with Talib Kweli, released debut album, Black Star, 1998;



released Black on Both Sides, 1999; played Julius in Spike Lee's Bamboozled, 2000; headlined the Lyricist Lounge Tour, 2000; made guest appearances on MTV's spin-off show, Lyricist Lounge, 2000; appeared in Carmen: A Hip Hopera, on television, 2001; made Broadway debut in Topdog/Underdog, 2002; appeared in film Brown Sugar, 2002.

Source: http://www.musicianguide.com/biographies/1608003588/Mos-Def.html

Zion I - Bird's Eye View

The best word to describe Zion I is "diverse".

Zion I is an underground hip hop duo from Oakland, California, comprised of AmpLive on beats and production and Zumbi on lyrics.

Zion I is most recognisable for AmpLive's electro influenced production techniques and Zumbi's poetical and knowledgeable flow.



Today's track comes off their 2005 album True and Livin' and follows on from Shabaam Sahdeeq's "I Still Love Her (Hip Hop)" in the tradition of Common's "I Used To Love H.E.R." using the Hip Hop/woman metaphor to describe Hip Hop as a way of life.

But in order to really get a feel for this you need to check out tracks like "Fingerpaint" about graffiti featuring live guitar, "Soo Tall" which I'll embed (below) cuz it has possibly the most tripped out video I've seen, and basically anything else they've ever done, cuz every song's a different style and it's all goooooooood.

Planet Asia - Havin Thangs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJw5qWOfJ3M&feature=related

Just for a challenge, thought I would stick around in the West Coast underground scene for a while... From half thug, half conscious rapper Planet Asia comes this track off the 2007 album "The Jewelry Box Sessions: The Album"...



For those interested you might also want to check out the following tracks: "Niggarachi" "Right or Wrong"
and his collaboration with Dilated Peoples on "Dilated Agents" to get a good idea of what Planet Asia has to offer.

Murs - Better Than The Best

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aC8XjnIwlog&feature=user

Having spent a couple of days in the mainstream of the West Coast, and a couple more days too sick with the flu to post, I thought I might challenge the stereotypes with a bit of underground LA Hip Hop from MURS - which stands for Making Underground Raw Shit - with a song called "Better Than the Best" where he addresses the preconceptions about West Coast hip hop:

"I mean we got Dogg and we got Cube
Everybody with this blue and the red feud
Man these dudes always trying to kill something
I'm putting words together hoping that you feel something"



While not quite a diss track to his predecessors he puts the wheels in motion with some tight lyrics coming out of LA minus the gangster rap stigma, over a loop sampled from The Four Tops "I Can't Help Myself".

This is a recurrent theme in MURS' style and if you want to check it out more see also "L.A.".

"Better Than the Best" comes off MURS' 2008 album MURS For President.

Snoop Dogg - Ghetto Symphony (feat. Mia X, Fiend, C-Murder, Mystikal, Silkk the Shocker, Goldie Loc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S77torRTKmw

Keep the West Coast theme going with this track off the 1999 Snoop Dogg release No Limit Top Dogg, with production coming from Master P's No Limit Records.

Mack 10 - Foe Life

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfjNnGnTslM

A bit of that West Coast with Mack 10... Not much to say about this one that you wouldn't already know, just a smooth track for a rough day...



Alright I'll say this... released in 1995, Foe Life, featuring Ice Cube, is arguably Mack 10's most recognisable single, and has become a West Coast Gangster anthem. Mack 10 is best known for his part in the Westside Connection alongside Ice Cube and WC.

Common - Testify

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WebILJKDms8

Common's "Testify", off his 2005 release "Be" samples the soulful Honey Cone track "Innocent 'Til Proven Guilty" and tells a courtroom tale of murder and deception with a twist.



Known for his exceptional lyrical and storytelling ability, "Testify" showcases Common as the wordsmith, street poet, and conscious rapper he is known to be, with a flow that is anything but common.

I don't want to give too much away for those in the dark about this track, but for those who've heard it before I'm sure you'll be happy to hear it again: a smooth track to kick off the week.

The nine minute short film version of "Testify" which was released to further illustrate the story can be found below...

Public Enemy - Public Enemy No. 1

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=VN4zb4LBNqk

Old School Friday!!! Dope ass Public Enemy track, don't even think about mentioning that bitch ass remix by Sean P Puffy Poofta Coombs cuz you can get a smack for that.

Just kick back, relax and enjoy.

"All you (pause) Suckas, Lyers your cheap amplifiers
You crossed up wires are always starting fires
You grown up criers - now here's a pair of pliers
Get a job like your mother - I heard she fixes old dryers
You have no desires - your father fixes tires
You try to sell ya equipment - but you get no buyers
It's you they never hire - you're never on flyers
Cause you and your crew - is only known as good triers
Known as the poetic political lyrical son
I'm Public Enemy number one"



Chuck D and Flava Flav cold lampin on this track dating back to 1987 believe it or not, off their first major album "Yo! Bum Rush the Show" and if you ask me still sounds good and stays relevant to this day... complete with yo mama disses...

Mr. Lif - Because They Made It That Way

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=d0hEDSApPvs&feature=related

Also known for his collaborative work with Akrobatik and DJ Fakts One in the hip hop group The Perceptionists, Boston, Massachusetts native Mr. Lif is recognisable for his conscious and street smart lyrics.

Coming off his 2003 album "Sleepyheads", "Because They Made it That Way" is a wake up call for all the sleeping hip hop heads out there to fight back against the influences of pop culture and to try to make a difference.

Samples KRS ONE "Criminal Minded" lyrics "Make it better"

Production: Akrobatik

Nas - The Message

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sly1zhsfUe8&feature=related

One of New York's finest, Nas released this track in 1996 on his multi-platinum album "It Was Written".

Characteristic of Nas' lyrical imagery and street fables, this track contains the description of the grimey life of a thug hooligan who learns the errors of his ways through one of two outcomes... "a thug changes, and love changes, and best friends become strangers..."

Nas doing what he does best, laying out the story and giving people the message...

He's released a new album this year officially called "Untitled", but the real title is supposed to be called "N.I.G.G.E.R.", but i'll let you check that out for yourself, cuz it's a whole other story...

Sample beat for "The Message" Sting's "Shape of My Heart"

Scratching: Kid Capri, Production: Trackmasters

Jemini and Dangermouse - The Only One

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=ge4-Kb3J-Eg&feature=related

Jemini, as in Jemini the Gifted One, most slept on lyracist of all time. Listen to some of his stuff, probably some of the tightest lyrical flow you'll witness, rough, rugged and raw.

Dangermouse on Production definitely has his hands full trying to contain Jemini but the end result is one dope ass track.

You might also want to check out "Omega Supreme" especially the last minute where Jemini busts a mad freestyle, "Copy Cats" and "Don't Do Drugs" also off the 2003 release "Ghetto Pop Life" for an idea of the variations in style this team comprises.

Still one of my favourites check out this track by Jemini as the Gifted One "50 MCs in a Cypher" off his 1997 EP Scars and Pain:

"whenever i sit down to write, i manifest on the mic and carress it as i strike, and i bless it as i leave a nigga permanently pressed so, what you wanna do now that i'm all up in your sh!t flickin spit as i hit you with apocalyptic lyrics"

Slick Rick - Frozen (feat Raekwon)

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=duavLCkt1_E

Off his 1999 Gold album "The Art of Storytelling" comes this Slick Rick track featuring Raekwon of Wu Tang, sampling Portishead's "Seven Months" in the chorus "How can I forget you".

3 parts gangster and 2 parts pirate (see photo), Slick Rick's British background and New York upbringing combine to give him a unique almost put-on sounding rhyme accent, which you either like or hate.

Hate him or love him if you've listened to anything he's done, then you'll know him as the master storyteller of the rapgame; listen to this storytale track from the archive if you need more convincing.

The eye patch is also authentic, he's blind in one eye from a childhood injury. His aliases other than Slick Rick include Rick the Ruler and Ricky D. He's served 5 years in prison for 2 counts of attempted murder and other charges, and in case you didn't notice he likes jewels.

The Roots - Respond React

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=7m7BvEeFnlM

This track with its solid beat, raw emceeing, and technical layered loops, represents The Roots at their best. Black Thought - one of the best to ever pick up the mic - rips some mad intelligent, abstract flow alongside Malik B. on this track off their 1996 release Illadelph Halflife. As reflected in the album name, The Roots are a Philadelphia group who are known for the incorporation of live instruments in their sound ranging from bass guitars and sausophones to (former member) Rahzel on Beatbox. If you lovin hip hop say yes.

"The attractive assassin, blastin the devil trespassin
Master gettin cash in an orderly fashion
Message to the fake nigga flashin
Slow up Ock, before you get dropped and closed like a caption"

Wu Tang - Wolves

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=i9vk3JXyd7Q

Had a bit of trouble choosing the track today, it was between 4 but I eventually narrowed it down to this 2007 Wu Tang track off the album 8 Diagrams featuring U-God, Method Man, and Masta Killa on rhymes and George Clinton on vocals.

De La Soul - Oooh (featuring Redman)

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=_5wsBg9b2G0

This track guaranteed to have you bouncing through the day... De La Soul... Redman... some tight lyrics in there worth a listen... this one really needs no introduction... I put the album edit of AOI above.. listen to the ghostweed section at the end featuring Pharoahe Monch... below is the full Wizard of Oz inspired Video Clip worth a watch some psychedelic sh!t... better leave it there I could go on all day about this one: De La For Life, undoubtedly one of the most influential, talented and consistent groups of all time.

Non Phixion - Say Goodbye To Yesterday

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeQeB1Gg8io&feature=related

Reminiscent of If I Ruled the World by Nas Featuring Lauren Hill, with the same dark undertones and anguished melody. This track came off Non Phixion's 2002release The Future is Now. Hailing from Brooklyn, NY, Non Phixion - now disbanded -was made up of members: Sabac Red, Ill Bill, Goretex, and DJ Eclipse, with production on this track coming from Necro.

Hieroglyphics - At the Helm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vG5La6k6eTI&feature=related

Keeping the West Coast theme going... here's some signature Del tha Funky Homosapien melodic, rythmic lyrics, with his group Hieroglyphics out of Oakland, California. Nice beat, characteristic flow, built around an anti-gangster rap sentiment.

NWA - Express Yourself

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zitbExMdlvY

As promised kickin off Oldschool Fridays with this one from NWA - never would have expected this off an album entitled "Straight Outta Compton" which saw the release of Thug Anthems like "Fuck the Police", "Gangsta Gangsta" and "Dopeman".

"Express Yourself" is similar in style to tracks like "Lovesick" by Gangstar, and Arrested Development's "People Every Day", both released after this album by NWA - which has been sited as the most influential album in "Gangster Rap" and Westcoast Hip Hop - managed to reach double platinum status after its original release by Ruthless Records in 1988.

Hearing it by itself, "Express Yourself" is an uplifting and conscious track about Radio Censorship, and freedom of expression. A consciousness and a sound which has been absent from NWA - and Gangster Rap ever since. It makes you wonder what could have happened had the group chosen to go in a different direction rather than the one they chose, as in my opinion, this is the best track by NWA - or any of its members in solo or collabarative efforts - of all time.