Originali-D

Mr. D Original
-U Da Man
-Five Feet Deep

1995 Jihad Records

Another mystery record bought in a time when I would take a chance on indies based on looks alone, and now can't seem to find its way out of my top couple of crates. Mr. D Original dropped this one before he made a little name for himself courtesy of our boys DMX, Swizz Beats, and the NYPD that even earned him some airtime on Howard Stern's radio show... strange, yes, but true. In case you don't remember him, plenty of info is out there, including a fascinating interview printed in The Miami Hurricane. After hearing some of his more recent stuff, including an extremely unfortunate cover of REM's Losing My Religion, I figured I'd remind people that this platter is out there, and certainly worth a listen or two.

U Da Man is not to be taken seriously, especially in light of lyrics like "I'm flyer, than Jeff Goldblum, I got more booms, my guns go bang" and "I clip that, save it for later, for more flavor, like 31" but the production and entertainment values are high, the beat is plenty nice, and few could deny that there's a certain unique charizma about Mr. D on the m.i.c.

Five Feet Deep is a sort of manifesto or day-in-the-life-of track about life on the edge, crime, violence, and alienation. Yes, the piano loop can become achingly repetitive at times, but it can also be haunting and hypnotizing to the point of good old involuntary head-bobbing before you even know what's going on. Plus, to freestyle to, it's an all-time favorite of my boy Sean Kennedy from Ill Trendz Productions. Truly, what more could you want than that?