For no other reason than it may help pass the few remaining hours in the office before the weekend comes, here are six of my favorite examples of storytelling in hip hop:
In just under five minutes, KRS-1 manages to condense the plotline of every great 80's gangster flick into one song: the hard luck origin story, the quick ascent to wealth and power through drugs and violence, and the inevitably tragic conclusion to all of it.
This one may be a bit overrated, given that the song inevitably gets mentioned by Budden stans as the pinnacle of his career whenever his name is mentioned. Yet it's hard to find a better example of storytelling in the post-Y2K era, and Budden manages to wrap the three sides of the story up in a way that you probably won't see coming if this is your first time hearing the song.
Most people, if caught in the act of adultery by a cuckolded husband (who happens to be a New York Knick), would be inclined to grab their pants and jet. Not Biggie, though, who turns an incident of coitus interruptus into an opportunity for grand larceny, as told over one of the best beats of Buckwild's career as a producer.
Eminem goes the extra mile to tell his story of an experience with 'shrooms gone bad, not only rapping from the perspective of three different protagonists but actually switching up his voice each time he assumes a different persona.
Revisionists tend to look back on The Score as merely a showcase for Lauryn Hill, but on The Mask all three emcees came correct on the mic, each sharing their own tale of frontin'. Hill's verse is memorable, but for once Pras steals the spotlight with the best line of his career: "Did you shoot him? Nah kid, I didn't have the balls. That's when I realized I'm bumpin' too much Biggie Smalls."
It wouldn't be right to do a post on storytelling in hip hop and not include a song from rap's greatest storyteller. Mandatory listening for any aspiring rapper.
I count several of the independent artists that get featured on this site as friends of some level or another, but Rhode Island's Charlie Carvalho, better known by his stage name of Chachi, is the one emcee who I've been down with years before he ever started performing. For that reason, it's always been hard to write any sort of objective review of his music, though the man has received several accolades, among them being named the two-time winner of BET's Wild Out Wednesdays, so I'm confident in saying the man always comes correct on the mic. For his latest single, One for Chach, he's teamed up with Providence-based producer Falside. The result, as usual, is dope. Check it out:
Also, if any of you happen to be in Rhode Island next week, Chachi will be performing in Pawtucket the day after Thanksgiving. You can see more details on the Black Friday show at Chachi's website.
As an artform that's seen a number of its most significant contributors pass before their time, hip hop has had more than its fair share of opportunities to master the art of the posthumous tribute album. Yet it is the very rare occasion in which an album featuring the work of a deceased rapper is put together in a manner such that "tasteful" could be used to describe it using even the most lenient definition of the word. That's not too surprising given the leeches, con (wo)men and misers that control mainstream hip hop, and the music industry at large, but it goes further than that. Too often the estates of these deceased artists use their newly inherited access to unreleased material, as well as the copyrights to previously released material, as a way to make a quick buck with little foresight for the long term effects on the value of said artist's catalog (let alone the artist's legacy).
In the case of a prolific rapper, a particularly determined heir can flip the dearly departed into a nearly limitless source of revenue. One need look no further than the Amaru estate to see what can be achieved, an estate that has managed thus far to churn eight albums and countless licensing deals out of Tupac Shakur despite the fact that he died (or at least moved to Cuba) over thirteen years ago. Afeni Shakur's tireless efforts to monetize every last outtake from the booth, every last random mixtape freestyle, and every last image of her son serve as a shining example of how to maintain a rapper's artistic legacy long past his expiration date.
I'm being sarcastic of course, but for the heir unfortunate enough to have been related to a less industrious rapper, things can get even messier. As we saw with Big Pun, whose family is now homeless after his wife apparently burned through millions of dollars in the nine years since her husband's passing, the cash cow can only be milked for so long before it runs dry. If a hastily compiled posthumous album doesn't generate the type of sales figures that previous albums had - and it most likely won't - an heir's last resort is to hire a lawyer and start suing anyone and everyone who was ever associated with the deceased. As with most lawsuits, however, the only people who cake off of that are the lawyers themselves.
I mention all of this to properly prepare you for the announcement that Ol Dirty Bastard's family recently signed off on a new album, Message to the Other Side - Osiris Part 1, featuring a rather random sampling of Russell Jones' back catalog of material. Distributed and marketed by Money Maker Entertainment, the promotional push for this album so far has been something of a trainwreck.
The first single that "leaked" was Say NO, which was billed as a sort of anti-drug PSA. The email blast described the song with the line, "ODB tells kids to just 'Say NO' to drugs on this new track from Message To The Other Side." As anyone who has heard the song - which was originally released on a Deadly Venoms album that came out in the 90's - can attest to, or really anyone with a basic knowledge of ODB's life and a modicum of common sense, Say NO is far from an endorsement of sobriety. That didn't stop most blogs and other music outlets from running with the description, though. It makes you question whether bloggers even bother to listen to the songs they're sent by p.r. firms before posting them. In any event, have a listen:
The ominous addendum to the album's title, "Part 1," suggests this is just the first in a series of planned releases, but I question how likely that is. If this turns out to be ODB's final release, I can't help but think that a horribly mastered album whose lead single is built around a throwaway guest verse on a song featuring someone named "Shorty Shit Stain Pa" is a poor note to end on for the man's career. But hey, his relatives gotta eat, right?
Last year Zilla and Nico put me up on this dude named Haj who was producing under the name Dumhi and who, coincidentally, went to college about a block and half from where I grew up. Anyway, Zilla hooked me up with a copy of Dumhi's concept album Yoga At Home (which we discussed back in January), an album that turned out to be one of the best to come out in 2008. As I said at the time, the highlight of Yoga At Home came from Philly emcee Reef the Lost Cauze, who put in an amazing verse for the song Squeeze.
A year and a half later, Jimmy Giambrone, the photographer behind much of Beat Garden's artwork including the tremendous cover for Bring Me the REMIX of Zilla Rocca, has just released a video for the song. As with all things Dumhi- and Reef-related, it's dope. Check it out, then go cop Dumhi's Yoga at Home.
Also, be sure to check out Jimmy Giambrone's flickr page. He's got some great photos of artists like Raekwon and Sean Price.
Ever since the first time I heard Kid Capri's classic 52 Beats mixtape, an event that immediately inspired me to go on the first of what would become numerous vinyl-purchasing binges, I've always had a soft spot for break beat mixes. I recently even went so far as to vote DJ Semantik's100 Breaks tape as one of the 10 best albums of the decade on Weiss' survey from this past summer. It was with some excitement, then, that I received word of a new break mixtape from Russel Fong and DJ Matt Cali, Sample Junkies No. 2.
Half of the fun of a break tape is the process of identifying and tracking down the various songs that are on the tape, so I didn't think there was much point in doing a real review of the tape and giving away all of the tracks that are included. Instead, I reached out to Russel Fong, the man who compiled the various songs for DJ Matt Cali to put in the mix, and asked him to briefly discuss a few of his favorite samples from Sample Junkies. Here are his top five picks, along with a brief word from Russel on each of them:
The Charmels - As Long as I've Got You
I was in elementary school when I first heard "C.R.E.A.M." and ever since, Wu-Tang has been tops in hip-hop for me. Although not so much as a whole anymore - Ghost, Rae & GZA are still putting out solid solo albums.
Tom Scott - Today
I don't think Matt included this in the mix, but this track was sampled by Pete Rock in "T.R.O.Y" - one of my most favorite tracks of all time. C.L.A.S.S.I.C.
So there you have it, shoutout to my man Russel for taking some time out for us and shout out to Matt Cali for putting together the mix. Once again, here's the download link for the mix:
Not content with simply representing for the most talented duo in independent hip hop (as if you don't know), Beat Garden Entertainment recently expanded its roster to include Brooklyn-born emcee Curly Castro. His new mixtape with DJ Ambush, Phatman and Likklebwoy, which Castro had been working on for two and a half years, serves as his introduction as a Beat Garden artist and the precursor to his upcoming official album Winston's Appeal.
As with most of the artists that B.G.E.'s point man Zilla Rocca has put me onto, Castro might best be categorized as a "lyrical" emcee, though without having to resort to the golden age mimicry that typically comes along with such a categorization. That's not to say that Castro doesn't acknowledge his (and hip hop's) roots; quite the opposite in fact and, as a fellow product of the late 70's growing up in the shadow of NYC, I seem to share a lot of the culture reference points that Curly Castro does. That shared background is perhaps why I found myself so consistently entertained with the various metaphors and name drops that he scatters throughout his lyrics - from historical events (the '77 blackout) to pop culture (a full song devoted to the Simpsons) to the brief appropriation of classic De La (like they used to say...), each verse is loaded with references of all sorts.
You don't have to be a grizzled old rap fan like me to appreciate Castro's talents however, as his skills on the mic should be evident to hip hop heads of any generation. Of course, a good mixtape is more than just a platform for lyricism, and Phatman and Likklebwoy's beat selection doesn't disappoint. Put together by DJ Ambush, who also drops an occasional verse on the mixtape, the tracklisting features beats from, among others, Outkast, Cage and Black Milk. The production's highlight, though, is a reworking of The Clipse's Keys Open Doors. I don't have a full tracklisting for the mixtape so I must confess that I don't know if it's an original beat or if Ambush jacked it from someone, but props to him if he put that one together on his own.
In any event, here are two of my favorite tracks from Phatman and Likklebwoy, including the Simpsons tribute that would do Bartman proud:
About a year ago, I put up a video from Louisiana rapper Bilal Abdul-Hakeem, A Playstation Cost More than a Choppa. As I said at the time, I was caught off guard by the idea of hearing some legitimately conscious lyrics from a New Orleans rapper. Most independent artists from the area were (and still are) doing their best to emulate Lil Wayne's sizzurp-soaked non sequitur style of rhyming, devoid of anything that might provoke any sort of thought or analysis out of the listener. Bilal's song was in an entirely different lane, and the only thing holding it back was the video which was little more than a slideshow of images taken off of the internet. Recently he put together an official video for Playstation..., and although it's unlikely to make it into MtV's rotation any time soon, I think it's a real good look for Bilal and his song.
(Shoutout also goes to Mia, who confirmed that a $299 PS3 does indeed cost more than an AK-47, which can be had for as low as $200 in certain parts of the country.)
Not a whole lot needs to be said to intro this video: DMC Champ DJ Izoh, a Japanese turtablist/b-boy/black-belt-in-training, cuts up a record while traveling through various scenic locales in Japan. It's dope, it's short, go watch it.
When I was in grade school, I used to listen to Boogie Down Productions on a constant basis. At such a young age, however, the meaning behind much of KRS-1's lyrics flew right over my head. It was good enough that the beats were dope, so I didn't really bother to catch all of the knowledge that the Blastmaster was kicking in his rhymes. One song that did stand out for me even then, though, was You Must Learn. Whenever one of my parents, or one of my teachers at the time, criticized me for listening to hip hop I could always recite a few of the lines from the song. I didn't necessarily know who Lewis Latimer was - and my fourth grade history lessons certainly didn't enlighten me - but the mere fact that I could namedrop him was enough to get the elder critics off my back for listening to the music.
Some twenty (plus) years later, I once again heard the song while flipping through my iPod and I had to stop and reconsider the various names that KRS shouted out in the second verse:
I believe that if you're teaching history
Filled with straight up facts no mystery
Teach the student what needs to be taught
'Cause Black and White kids both take shorts
When one doesn't know about the other ones' culture
Ignorance swoops down like a vulture
'Cause you don't know that you ain't just a janitor
No one told you about Benjamin Banneker
A brilliant Black man that invented the almanac
Can't you see where KRS is coming at
With Eli Whitney, Haile Selassie
Granville Woods made the walkie-talkie
Lewis Latimer improved on Edison
Charles Drew did a lot for medicine
Garrett Morgan made the traffic lights
Harriet Tubman freed the slaves at night
Madame CJ Walker made a straightenin comb
But you won't know this is you weren't shown
The point I'm gettin' at it it might be harsh
'Cause we're just walkin' around brainwashed
So what I'm sayin' is not to diss a man
we need the '89 school system
One that caters to a Black return
because you must learn...
Perhaps I've just grown more cynical in my old age, but I was curious to see just how many of the facts KRS got right so I headed to the greatest library on Earth, google, to find out. What follows is an admittedly rudimentary overview of the various figures that he mentions and, though it won't cover much more than what you can find in Wikipedia, it should at least give you some starting points if you're interested in more information. Of course, if you're not looking for a history lesson just nod along to the above video and keep it moving.
Benjamin Banneker - Born in 1731 in Maryland, Banneker began studying astronomy at the age of 57. He collected his astronomical calculations and observations, along with various essays and a full calendar, in a series of journals that eventually evolved into the first Almanac.
Granville Woods - Known as "The Black Thomas Edison," the prolific inventor Woods' most productive years came during the late 19th century in Columbus, Ohio. He spent the majority of his time devising ways to improve the performance and reliability of electric railways, and invented the Synchronous Multiplex Railway Telegraph, which allowed engineers to communicate between the train station and moving trains. Alexander Graham Bell purchased the rights to Woods' invention, though he was later sued by Thomas Edison. Edison claimed that he invented the multiplex telegraph first, though Granville Woods eventually won the lawsuit and turned down Edison's subsequent offer of employment.
Woods' multiplex telegraph was a major breakthrough in communications, but KRS-1's claim that he invented the Walkie-Talkie isn't quite accurate. Though Woods' invention was certainly the precursor to it, the first modern "Walkie-Talkie", which was so heavy it had to be carried in a large backpack, was developed in 1940 by a team of engineers at Galvin Manufacturing Company, the predecessor of Motorola.
Eli Whitney - Whitney's invention of the cotton gin, a device that removed the seeds from cotton and revolutionized the cotton industry, and the larger concept of manufacturing were two of the most important developments in early U.S. history. The cotton gin led to a dramatic increase in slavery in the South, while manufacturing, and the idea of interchangeable parts that came with it, played a large role in the North's eventual victory in the Civil War. There is some debate, however, as to whether Whitney was the true inventor of the gin or if he, in a time when women were not allowed to hold patents, merely filed the paperwork on behalf of Catherine Littlefield Greene.
This all avoids the larger issue, however, that should become immediately apparent after seeing the above picture of Mr. Whitney: he's white! A brief scan of google seems to point to the fact that many people were taught that Eli Whitney was black - I seem to recall being told that by one of my teachers at some point during grade school - so we'll have to give KRS a pass on this one.
Haile Selassie - Breaking the theme of the verse, Selassie was not American nor did he invent anything of note that I'm aware of. He was, nonetheless, an important historical figure, leading Ethiopia in its war against Mussolini's Italy during the lead up to World War II (Ethiopia itself is notable for being, prior to Selassie's reign, the only African nation to resist European colonialism through force). As any fan of Bob Marley is no doubt aware, Selassie has since become an icon among Rastafarians and is believed by them to be a Messiah who will one day lead the people of Africa to a sort of heaven on Earth.
Lewis Latimer - As revolutionary as the invention of the lightbulb was - an invention credited to Thomas Edison and Joseph Swan - it's usefulness was initially limited due to the fact that the bulbs tended to burn out rather quickly. Enter Lewis Latimer, who, after working for Edison himself, "devised a way of encasing the filament within a cardboard envelope which prevented the carbon from breaking and thereby provided a much longer life to the bulb and hence made the bulbs less expensive and more efficient. This enabled electric lighting to be installed within homes and throughout streets." (source) KRS-1 most definitely got this one right when he said, "Lewis Latimer improved on Edison."
Charles Drew - Drew, a physician whose relatively brief life spanned from 1904 to 1950, certainly "did a lot for medicine," as the Blastmaster said. Serving as the director for the Blood for Britain project, he pioneered the use of several techniques for storing, handling and preserving blood plasma, techniques that were used extensively during World War II to save the lives of thousands of injured Allied soldiers.
Drew's death in an auto accident at the age of forty-five eventually became fodder for an urban myth, in which it was told that he, one of the founding fathers of blood transfusion, was denied that very treatment due to the fact that he was black. The Straight Dope ran an article disproving that story:
'
In 1950, while driving three other black doctors to a conference in Alabama, Drew fell asleep at the wheel. The car swerved and rolled over, breaking his neck and crushing his chest. According to legend, he desperately needed a blood transfusion, but doctors at a hospital in Burlington, North Carolina, refused to admit him, and he died.
This story is told in several black history books and has been repeated by Dick Gregory, among others. But it isn't true. Morris spoke with Dr. John Ford, one of the passengers in Drew's car. "We all received the very best of care," Ford said. "The doctors started treating us immediately."
Drew didn't receive a transfusion because his injuries wouldn't permit it. "He had a superior vena caval syndrome--blood was blocked getting back to his heart from his brain and upper extremities," Ford said. "To give him a transfusion would have killed him sooner. Even the most heroic efforts couldn't have saved him. I can truthfully say that no efforts were spared in the treatment of Dr. Drew, and, contrary to popular myth, the fact that he was a Negro did not in any way limit the care that was given to him."'
Garrett Morgan - The son of former slaves, Garrett Morgan is often credited as the inventor of traffic lights. By the time Morgan invented his version of the traffic light system, in 1923, there were already several other versions in place (the first traffic signal of any sort appeared in London in 1868). Like the other traffic lights of the time, Morgan's were operated by hand, though his system was something of an improvement in that it allowed the traffic light operator to change the lights from a distance rather than having to stand directly next to the light pole. However, the idea that Morgan was the inventor of the modern traffic light - an idea espoused by many historians, not just KRS-1 - has been called into question (or debunked outright, depending on who you believe) due to the fact that numerous patents for very similar systems existed years before Morgan's patent was filed.
Though Morgan's work with traffic lights has garnered him the most attention, he was at the time more highly regarded for his rescue of several tunnel workers, who were trapped after an explosion at Lake Erie in 1916, using another one of his inventions, the Safety Hood. As with his traffic lights, there has been some debate over the Safety Hood's legacy, though it has been argued that this served, in part, as an inspiration for modern day gas masks.
Morgan, as with many other black inventors of the time, often had to give credit to his white business partners in order to generate any sales and, on the rare occasion that he went out on a sales trip himself, presented himself as a Native American to potential investors and buyers.
(As an aside, I should note that during virtually any discussion of an invention by a black man, someone inevitably comes along to argue that a white inventor came up with the idea first. Many of the debates are undoubtedly motivated by an interest in unearthing the true historical facts, but the racial undertones are hard to overlook and make the search for the true origins of any given invention on the internet an effort in futility.)
Harriet Tubman - I can only hope that our school systems haven't failed so badly that whoever is reading this isn't at least vaguely familiar with the name Harriet Tubman. A former slave who gained her freedom by escaping to Philadelphia, Tubman eventually returned to her home state of Maryland to help other slaves, including her family, flee to the north under the cover of darkness. Later, she joined the Union Army and became the first woman in U.S. history to lead an armed expedition, the Raid at Combahee Ferry, which freed over seven hundred slaves.
As with many black soldiers, Tubman received very little compensation for her service and it took the government several years to even acknowledge her role in the war.
Madame C.J. Walker - Born in 1867, Walker made her name in women's hair care products. After her hair began to fall out as a result of the various products she was using, she began to develop her own hair care line, including the straightening comb that KRS mentions. I'll leave it up to Chris Rock to debate the merits of hair straightening, but it's worth noting that Madame Walker is listed in the Guiness Book of World Records as the first female to ever become a self-made millionaire.
Bonus lesson:
The video for You Must Learn opens up with KRS-1 reciting one of the lines from Why Is That? to a high school class:
"
Genesis Chapter 11, Verse 10 explains the genealogy of Shem. Shem was a black man in Africa. If you repeat this fact, they can't laugh at ya."
Here are verses 11 and 12 from Genesis, Chapter 11:
"These are the generations of Shem: Shem was a hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood: And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters."
The Bible, as well as various Islamic texts, make reference to God dividing the Earth among Shem and his two brothers, Ham and Japheth, with the genealogical line of Shem eventually leading down to Jesus. Further, tradition holds that each brother had a different skin color, but unfortunately KRS doesn't get it quite right with Shem. Shem is usually considered to be a descendent of the Adamic line, which is Hebrew for "reddish" or "swarthy," while Ham is referred to as being black and Japheth as white. The larger point, that the image of Jesus in mainstream culture is unlikely to be an accurate representation of reality, is nevertheless worthy of consideration.
If I haven't bored you all with this, perhaps at some point in the near future we'll investigate the history behind the third verse, starring JF Blumenbach and the origins of racism.
I generally try to avoid jacking material wholesale from other sites, but I'll make an exception for my man Mally. As part of DJBooth's ongoing Freestyle Series, Mally contributed his song By Any Means, which uses Blu's Thank U instrumental. Peep:
