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?

Ill Anonymity

Ill Brothers Project
-Mescaline - The Funky Dope Maneuver
-lawd - Valley of the Broken Necks
-Knowin' Bout the Ill

1994

I'd never claim to be an expert on the records and/or artists that I post here. In fact, I know shamefully little about many of them. I just post stuff that I like, that hip-hop heads have probably heard at least once in their life, and that I think people should hear if they haven't. If any of that made grammatical sense, it'd be a pretty simple idea.

There are, however, some records that next to nobody knows much of anything about. There are certainly times when people choose to forget, or bury the info on purpose as some kind of face-saving measure (Kevvy Kev, I see you sweating). Sometimes, though, there just isn't much info out there, or it was a quiet once-off release.

In the case of the Ill Brothers Project, there were two quiet releases, this being the first. The second appeared several years later on a different "label" and with all new info, further adding to the decidedly mysterious air about them. I do know that they're from the Los Angeles area, and they make funky noise. Other than that, all I could dig up using admittedly hasty web research was a guest appearance by Snizake the MC on an OMD album, over an Ill Brothers beat.

And, like so many others from the era, this record leaves the listener itching for more. IBP seems to be barely tapping some nice potential what with the gritty, low-budget sound and presentation, but man, they do work well with what they've got. The lyrics, though kinda goofy at times and far from groundbreaking, are simply effective and can be enjoyable to listen to. Plus, happily, DJ's are well represented (as they should be on most every hip-hop record, really). Mescaline lends a jazzy vibe to the proceedings with a prominent open hi-hat and nice horns in the hook, while lawd is about about as raw as it gets with some hard-hitting, neck-snapping drums and a broken trumpet sound sneaking in and out of the 'scape. Knowin Bout The Ill, the C-side, brings a more upbeat jazz to the table.

Nice stuff. And if anyone knows of any more IBP material out there... please do let me know.

A to Zee

Young Zee
-Milk (People Call Me)
-Juice

1995 Perspective Records

Young Zee is (was?) a charter member of the New Jersey collective known as The Outsidaz, who, back in 1995, had yet to turn heads with their appearance on the Fugees single Cowboys from that little multi-platinum album called The Score (you may remember it).

One of the far too many promising MC's from the era who seemed destined for bigger and better things but instead just kinda faded away quietly, Zee never made much noise beyond a couple of singles (including this one), a couple of guest shots (including Cowboys), and a relatively quiet Outsidaz album.

None of that takes anything away from these tracks, though. Both pack enough neck-snapping funk and fearless flow to sound fresh even ten years on. True, Milk "features" KRS-One and Busta Rhymes, but one shouldn't pay too much attention to that. The appearances amount to little more than a recorded endorsement of Zee in the song's intro. Instead, check for a young Rah Digga lending a hand to Juice, then listen to how Zee commands attention on the mic with an effortless charizma over some classic boom-bap chops by KRS himself and the far under-appreciated Ski.