Smack My Bitch Up!

Over the years people have blamed Hip Hop for just about everything, If a cop gets killed the offender must have been listening to Pac, If someone shoots up a school they must have a Mars CD at home and of course if a women gets dissed, bashed or raped it's due to the way rappers talk about and treat women in their music..... but like Trinity Garden said "Don't Blame It On The Music".

One of the funniest things I remember about hip hop in the early '90's is the amount of reporters asking rappers "why do you call women bitches?", answers like "because they are", "i'm not talking about all women" and the funny metaphoric bullshit answers always made me laugh. Personally the way I look at it is, if you don't like what your hearing turn the shit off and stop bitching about it. A lot of the reason why rap gets a bad name is because of the amount of rappers that have physically assaulted females.

One of the front runners in the campaign against disrespecting women in hip hop was female MC Queen Latifah who dropped the 'U.N.I.T.Y.' (Who You Calling A Bitch) single in about '93 and had a lot to do with Naughty By Nature's career in the early '90's. Naughty dropped the O.P.P. track about respecting women and in interviews was always talking about not calling women biches and hoes. I went to a Naughty concert in '96......... I wonder if Vinnie and Treach cut the article out of the newspaper the next morning for Latifah's scrap book?

(Click To Enlarge)

Everyone remembers 2 Pac punching a women for asking for an autograph and the bullshit case in the Manhattan hotel room in November '93 where Pac was charged with sodomizing a 20 year old girl with two other guys that Pac claims he didn't really know. He was sentenced to 1 and a half to 4 and a half years for sexual assault. Public Enemy's hype man, Flavor Flav got into trouble over hitting his girlfriend and there is the Dr Dre incident when he pushed 'Pump It Up' host Dee Barnes through a door at a club in 1991 for playing a sample of an Ice Cube line on the show while N.W.A. were guests. This made Dee Barnes hire Boo Yaa Tribes, Rook for protection (see article).

There are a countless amount of tracks that have offended womens groups over the years, I'm not even gonna get into the 2 Live Crew shit. Rappers like Too Short, Ice T and N.W.A. have always been targeted and questioned over their lyrics even though they're tame compared to some of the more underground artists like Q Strange who has tracks like 'Ain't No Bitch' (you don't wanna know what that tracks about) and countless others. On the other hand there are plenty of rappers that take the opposite approach and spend half an album singing wack love tracks like LL Cool James.

Even though there are a lot of female MC's sick of being called bitches and hoes there are also a heap that don't give a fuck and call themselves one on every second line or so, like Boss who dropped a track called 'My Sister Is A Bitch' - a duet with AMG that was released both on her 'Born Gangstaz' album and his 'Bitch Better Have My Money' album. Former Rap-A-Lot female rapper Choice (who was spotted by R.A.L. C.E.O. James Smith in a talent show where she was just playing around and ended up getting signed released the album 'Stick-N-Move') had no problem being referred to as a bitch, just as well too, because after she dropped the album with a diss to label mate Willie D Rap-A-Lot dropped her and Geto Boy dissed her back real good.



Without going into too much detail about what female rappers hate being called bitches and what ones don't care, here is an interview between Sister Souljah, Dee Barnes and The Poetess from a 'Women Of Rap' special edition of Rap Pages from October '92.




I couldn't leave this post without giving you a taste of what has made womens groups around the world grit their teeth ever since the 2 Live Crew dancers hit the stages all fish netted out back in the late '80's.... Enjoy!



MP3's:
Penthouse Players Clique ft DJ Quik, Eazy E & AMG - Trust No Bitch
Poison Clan - The Bitch That I Hate
Q Strange - Happy Home (Remix)
AMG - Bitch Betta Have My Money
Esham - Jackie
>> DOWNLOAD ALL <<

Staen1, Kansel, Bets - Mixtape Series Volume 1

Intro (Staen1)
NWA - Real Niggaz
Tim Dog - Penicillin Intro
NERD - Lapdance
King Tee - Bass (Staen1 Remix)
The Defenders - Hisstory
Mass MC - OP Rum
Run DMC - Hit It Run
Notorious BIG - Gimmie The Loot
7L and Esoteric - Brain In Gear
Cool C - Pump It Up Now
Big L - Flamboyant (Staen1 Remix)
EPMD - Crossover
3rd Bass - Wordz Of Wizdom
Kamanchi Sly - The Catalyst
Sir Mix A Lot - My Hooptie (Remix)
Lil Flip and Jim Jones - Ya'll Don't Want It
Eyedea And Abilities - Now
Bun B and Eightball - Rep Yo City
Hilltop Hoods - Dumb Enough
Lil Flip - Game Over
Slim Thug - Like A Boss (Kansel Remix)
Scarface - My Block



>> DOWNLOAD <<

R.I.P. Professor X

Rest In Peace:
Professor X (X Clan)



Real Name: Lumumba Robert Carson
Hailing From: Brooklyn, New York
Born: Unknown
Died: March 2006
Cause of Death: Died After Contracting Meningitis

Albums:
X Clan - To The East Blackwards (1990)
Professor X - Years Of The 9, On The Blackhand Side (1991)
X Clan - Xodus (1992)
Professor X - Puss 'N Boots (The Struggle Continues...) (1993)


MP3:
Thirstin Howl III ft Professor X, Big Boo, Rack Lo, Shillz Da Realz - The Streets Don't Listen

Battle On Wax: Random Disses 2

Awesome Dre - This track is off of legendary Detroit rapper Awesome Dre's first of two albums, 'You Can't Hold Me Back' and to be honest this diss is a complete mystery to me. Dre disses the legendary Kool Moe Dee with a parody hook of Moe Dee's 'How Ya Like Me Now'. I'd love to know the reason for this track, but regardless of that the track is mad and has some pretty funny lines in it. Off the topic, but I heard an interview with Violent J off I.C.P. where he says that Dre was his idol and one day took him to a I.C.P. show where all the crowd dissed Dre. Fuck knows why, Awesome Dre is the shit.

Gangsta Dre'sta - Gangsta Dre'sta took a huge offense to the fact that they tried reforming N.W.A. with Snoop taking Eazy's spot in the notorious group. Dre'sta disses all the members of the the group and he even goes at Tomica Wright for allowing it to happen. This is a sick track with lyrics that had to be said. I just hope he doesn't turn around and record a track with them, like he did with Nate Dogg after dissing him and chasing him around a golf course. For anyone who doesn't know who Dre'sta is just check out one of the smoothest gangsta albums ever recorded, B.G. Knocc out and Dre'sta''s 'Real Brothers' album on Def Jam/Outburst records.

Gangsta Pat - This is one of those straight to the point disses I love, not one of those undercover disses alotta rappers do so they can act hard to their crew for dissin' someone without the repercussions of a reply track or some out of the studio confrontations. In this track the legendary Memphis rapper disses Three 6 Mafia for dissing him in a Murder Dog interview. He also mentions how they came up by dissing Bone Thugs 'n' Harmony on the 'Live By Yo Rep' E.P. and then has Krazy Bone featuring on their album, anyway it's all spelt out in the track. By the way, you gotta love the diss on the cover, kind of like Big Mike's 'Hard To Hit' with the chopper blowing up Master P's tank.

Shorty - Lench Mob member, Shorty, dished out this diss to his former C.E.O. on Street Knowledge, Ice Cube. Various reasons on why he disses the serial ganker (like how fake he is) but the main reason is because Cube still owes Da Lench Mob some funds for their previous albums (according to Shorty). This track could have been so much better given the skills Shorty has shown on other tracks but, overall it's still alright. Here's a link to a previous post we did that included a Shorty interview for Bomb magazine dissing Cube.


Benzino - Former member of The Almighty R.S.O. and Made Men, Ray Benzino (Source Magazine) got in a battle with Eminem over numerous shit. It got even more heated when Benzino got his hands on those old Eminem tracks dissing black women and released excerpts from the 'mixtape' tracks with their magazine. Eminem tried suing Benzino and Dave Mays (The Source) for releasing it. It went to trial and I think they settled out of court? Anyway I was never really that interested in what happened between them however I have a handfull of tracks Benzino did dissing Eminem and this is one of them. It's from a mixtape rapped over Eminem's 'Lose Yourself' beat with a similar hook.

MP3's:
Awesome Dre - I Don't Like You
Gangsta Dre'sta - Fuck NWA
Gangsta Pat - Tear Yo Club Down
Shorty of Da Lench Mob - O'Sheas Great Adventures
Benzino - Lose Yourself

Review: Rodney O & Joe Cooley - Get Ready To Roll

Artist: Rodney O & Joe Cooley
Album: Get Ready To Roll
Year: 1991
Label: Nastymix Records

If I could listen to one album again for the first time I think this may be the one. This album was released on the classic and one of the most under rated independent labels ever, Nastymix Records that was started by Nasty Nes and Mix-A-Lot back in '85 in Seattle. Before it's demise at the end of '92 this label dropped some of underground hip hops dopest gems.

Rodney O and Joe Cooley got signed after previously dropping "Me & Joe", "Days Of Way Back" which is 6 tracks off of their debut mixed together by Joe Cooley and the Egyptian Lover, and their third release "Three The Hard Way". In my opinion this burns all their previous material as it's more uptempo, funkier and way harder than anything they did previous to this. Maybe thats due to more influence by Insane Poetry?? Although they were always down with I.P. from the start back when they went under the name of "His Majesti" so maybe that had nothing to do with it, either way this is one fuckin' dope album.

It starts off with "Hit List" that has Rodney O jumping straight into it as soon as the track starts (always a good way to start off an album). The backbone of this trio, General Jeff goes next in this short 2min & 13 second snippet. The title track "Get Ready To Roll" is next on the line up with mad raps by Rodney O, Psycho from Insane Poetry who demands 100% attention from when he clears his throat to the end of his lyrical onslaught and then the General finishes off with a sick verse, both the beat and the funky hook are nice. This track was also a 12" release from the LP. I have mixed feeling about the next one "You Don't Wanna Run Up", the track itself is mad but after hearing the remix on the 12" that features Psycho in and out of the track it's kind of hard putting this one on. This is also the first time you will hear Joe Cooley get from behind the tables and grab the mic on the album, and it's a real hard verse, It ends with a flawless General Jeff verse.

"Oldie But Goodie" is the albums laid back track with a funky as fuck beat, it's not a bad track but usually finds my needle jumping over it. Next is "Nutty Block" that has Psycho speaking at the beginning, middle and end about crazy hoods. It only has two verses to it, the first by Rodney O and the second by the General. This is another short 2 min 52 second track but the beat is nutty. "Fo Funky Stories" is about exactly that, four unrelated funky stories over the Malcolm McClaren beat with an added beat through it.



"Lets Do It Like This" is more of a uptempo party beat that has mad cuts by Joe Cooley, it features Rodney O then General Jeff on the mic, not the best track on the album but it is quality. It goes to another funky track "Miss Crenshaw" before getting to "Dose Of Dope" and after the initial "check this out" sample a dope beat starts as the sample gets repeated before Rodney O jumps in with a verse, General's next on the mic as Joe adds some cuts and scratches to the track before the next verbal assault. "My Hood" starts off with "This is for the homies in my hood" with the "my" being a sample from Run DMC's "my Adidas" Rodney goes first as Joe gets busy on the turntables.

The next two tracks could be the best two on the album, "DJ Nightmare" which is about dissing all the groups who don't use real DJ's or wack DJ's that don't scratch, it ,starts with a crazy verse by Joe then Rodney and Jeff have a verse each with Joe going nuts on the decks at the end scratching up LL's "Battle anybody" sample. "Roll Call" is the albums last track, It's a Hip Hop Mafia posse track featuring Insane Poetry members - Cyco, Shakespeare and then Emdee "The Lyrical Pimp". It's not quite at the same quality as "Stalking With The Nightbreed" which is the posse track they did for I.P.'s Grim Reality the year later, but it's still crazy.

The one thing that has always shocked me is why it's "Rodney O & Joe Cooley", what about General Jeff he raps as much as Rodney O does on the albums, even their debut, "Me And Joe" must have pissed him off a little. Maybe thats why he left them after this album and forcing them to hook up with Pookie Duke for their next album "Here Come Tha Hitmen" (under the name "Tha Hitmen"). They then released "Fuck New York" as a two man show. Anyway overall if your one of those hip hop critics that goes strictly by some non existant book of what makes a good hip hop album you probably wouldn't rate this too highly, however if your like me and rate an album strictly on the stregnth of how much you listen to it or how mad it all sounds in your own head this is a hip hop classic. Infact, I would even go as far to say that no three other mc's have ever bounced off each others styles better than the way Rodney O, Joe Cooley and of coarse General Jeff do on Get Ready To Roll. It only loses half a dayton because of the fact it has too many short tracks. It's gonna be a hard task choosing the mp3's.



MP3's:
Rodney O & Joe Cooley - You Don't Wanna Run Up
Rodney O & Joe Cooley - DJ Nightmare
Rodney O & Joe Cooley ft Insane Poetry- Roll Call (Hip Hop Mafia)

Rating: 4 and a half Daytons out of 5

DJ Kansel & DJ Snair - B Sharp Mixtape 2: Double Or Nothin

..:: DJ Kansel (Battlehoggs) ::..
&
..:: DJ Snair (Certified Wise) ::..
..:: B Sharp Mixtape 2: Double Or Nothin ::..



Here is the new promotional B Sharp Records Mixtape brought to you by Adelaide DJ's Kansel and Snair. The mixtape features both local talent as well as overseas artists. This mixtape can be downloaded from the link below, covers have also been included (click them to enlarge to full-size). If you are in Adelaide then for a FREE hard copy of this mixtape head to B Sharp Records @ 240 Rundle Street.

..:: Tracklisting::..

01. Intro
02. Patti - Effusive Exclusive
03. Mnemonic Ascent - In Here
04. Kanye West - Jesus Walks
05. Jimblah (EXCLUSIVE)
06. Swollen Members - Bless and Destroy
07. L.C.O.B. - Who Speaks 4 Us
08. Counterparts (EXCLUSIVE)
09. Layla and Dazastah - Multiple Choise
10. Drapht - What Hav I Got
11. Defenders (EXCLUSIVE)
12. C Rayz Wallz - Walk Through
13. 50 Cent - Stunt (101 REMIX)
14. Hyjak and Torcha - Sneak
15. Robby Balboa (EXCLUSIVE)
16. Rick Pyrmid (EXCLUSIVE)
17. Esoteric - Speak Real Words (REMIX)
18. Miss Cheek (EXCLUSIVE)
19. Chamillionaire - Turn It Up
20. Bornski, Motion - Effusive Exclusive
21. Conseps - Brain Dump (REMIX)
22. Slim Thug - Like A Boss (REMIX)
23. Pumpkinhead, Archrival - Swordfish
24. Muskrat (EXCLUSIVE)
25. Vinnie Paz - Gengis Khan (REMIX)
26. Batel (EXCLUSIVE)
27. Nas - The Message
28. Mr Trials - Bottleshop (EXCLUSIVE)
29. 2 Biz - Return Of The Red Eye (REMIX)



|>> DOWNLOAD <<|

R.I.P. Sugar Shaft

Rest In Peace:
Sugar Shaft (X Clan)



Real Name: Anthony Hardin
Hailing From: New York
Born: Unknown
Died: September 1 1995
Cause of Death: Died due to AIDS complications

Albums:
X Clan - To The East Blackwards (4th & B'Way 1990)
X Clan - Xodus (Polydor 1992)

MP3:
X Clan - A Day Of Outrage, Opperation Snatchback (3rd Bass Diss)

DJ Kansel's - Secret Scratch Mix

Battlehoggs Presents:
DJ Kansel's Secret Scratch Mix
Featuring Snair & Staen 1

This is the first of several Battlehogg mixes that will be put on here for FREE download.
This one is DJ Kansel's Secret Scratch Mix that also features DJ Snair and DJ Staen 1, all from Adelaide, South Australia. More Battlehogg Mixtapes will be added over the next few days!!!

..:: Track Listing ::..
Tracks On Wax/ Like This Like That/ The Knockout
Grills Get Peeled
Say What?
Don't Front (Break It Down)
>> DOWNLOAD MIX <<

The $yndicate

As much as I love hip hop today nothing will ever be as good as the way it was for me back in the early '90's. I remember the more popular artists were rappers like Tone Loc, Young MC and MC Hammer and I was never really a fan of any although Loc wasn't too bad, but if you compare them to the commercial rappers of today like 50, Nelly, Ja Rule and all that other wack shit that gets me angry just writing their names on the blog, those old school chart toppers were pretty dope and at least were 'hip hop'. If you asked someone on the street what rappers they knew of back then they could run off MC's like 2 Live Crew, Public Enemy, NWA, Run DMC and Ice T who were and always will be dope rappers that helped set the table for alot of todays artists, Today the chances of them running off r&b pop music instead of real hip hop is higher than the chances of a granny switching shoulders of her hand bag as a youth with a baseball cap approaches.



Hip hop was at it's greatest when Eric B and Rakim were still together and when Eazy E was still alive and when the LA based posse 'The Rhyme Syndicate' were on top of their game. Alot of my favourite artists were in this crew like King Tee, Hijack, Donald D and of course Ice T.



There have been alot of different rappers in the Syndicate over it's time, some more known artists like Lord Finesse and other lesser know rappers like the Rhyme Poetic Mafia. It all started off back in around '86, '87 as the west coast version of the Zulu Nation. I have a compilation called 'Posse Records' that has a track by 'The Rangers' which is Kid Jazz and a couple of tracks that feature Melle Mel, Bronx Style Bob, Afrika Islam and Ice T ('The Beach' and 'Cars'). I can't help but think that it was on these tracks on 'Posse Records' that Ice hooked up with these guys and then made the 'Rhyme Syndicate'?

No need to get into Ice T's discography but after his 'Rhyme Pays' debut Warner gave Ice some cash for a compilation called 'Rhyme Syndicate - Comin' Through' that came out in '88 with most of the early Syndicate artists on it like Nat The Cat, Everlast, Toddy Tee, TDF, Bronx Style Bob, Spin Masters, Low Profile back when Zero was a member and Donald Dee from the B Boys.

In these early Syndicate years there were some pretty mad albums being released like Low Profile's 'We're In This Together' that was the now famous W.C. with the incredible DJ Alladin. After this album the two split up and went their seperate ways. Alladin stayed in the Syndicate and dropped an album as well as some work with Ice, while W.C. hooked up with his brother DJ Crazy Tunes and Coolio and made 'The MAAD Circle' and then hooked up with Cube and Mack 10 for 'Westside Connection' and some solo stuff.

King Tee that was always down with Ice and the Syndicate since his dope debut 'Act A Fool' and even had the logo on the back of 'Triflin Album' cover sort of forgot about the Syndicate when he hooked up with Tha Alkaholiks. For one of the west coast pioneers both his music and his fame are nothing on the way it was 15 years ago.

The Syndicate Sniper Donald D who was responsible for one of the madest albums of all time 'Notorious' hasn't released much since the 'Let The Horns Blow' album. He was living in Italy for a while and released the B.R.O.N.X. EP. Everlast that released the very average 'Forever Everlasting' moved on to bigger things from House Of Pain to a successful blues career.

Bronx Style Bob who is capable of ripping the mic on other Syndicate members albums has a diverse taste in music and it showed in his solo album. The only problem is if you bought his album your probably into hip hop which means, keep your receipt!! Toddy Tee dropped a couple of albums on different labels like 'Pump' and 'Thump' and arn't bad albums but ain't shit on the 'I Need A Rolex' days.

Ice T signed a hard core UK group called Hijack (The Terrorist Group) from Brixton who released the incredible 'Horns Of Jerricho' album but because of the Cop Killer shit Ice left Warner and Hijack got fucked over, with their album only getting released in Europe. Hijack split up shortly after with DJ Supreme going on to produce other artists and Kamanchi Sly going wack for a while before getting back to his best recently with a dope 3 track EP.

I don't know what happened between Ice and Lord Finesse who released 'Funky Technician' with DJ Smooth before joining the crew and releasing 'Return Of The Funky Man' on Syndicate and then joined D.I.T.C. There have been many rappers in the Syndicate that never actually released their own albums and also plenty of rappers that you wouldn't know were in the Rhyme Syndicate but either in a track or in their 'thanks' claim it like C.O.D. (not K Rino and Dope E), Raw Breed (Marc Live) and female rapper Nikki D, or in the case of U.K. rapper 'Merlin' has the Syndicate logo on the back of the cover.



When Ice left Warner he started off Rhyme Syndicate Records and for some reason a few of the old school syndicate artists like Donald D had disappeared and the Rhyme Syndicate were never the same again. Ice did hook up with Mexican rappers Rhyme Poetic Mafia who released a couple of dope 12"s and JEL appeared on a couple of tracks on the 'Return Of The Real' album as well as DJ Ace producing some of it. There are plenty of other Rhyme Syndicate artists that I didn't mention like Body Count, Divine Styler, Bango and of course the Syndicate queen Darlene (I know your thinking of the cover right now).

Ice was still slangin' Rhyme Syndicate badges at his show last year but was also promoting his new label 'Tony Montana Records' and has a new album coming out soon called 'Gangsta Rap' which is his first solo album since '7th Deadly Sin' but has still been dropping gems like the SMG album he did with Smoothe The Hustler and brother Trigger.

Either way, whether the Rhyme Syndicate is dead or alive today the memories of shit like the 'What You Wanna Do' video or listening to all the old Syndicate posse tracks will live in the minds of those likeminded forever. Posse of the clever.......... SYNDICATE FOREVER!!!

MP3's:
Ice T - Rhyme Syndicate Comin' Through
Donald D - F.B.I.
Hijack - The Terrorist Group
Low Profile - Think You Can Hang?
King Tee - At Your Own Risk (Budha Mix)