https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8w-kBed5RY

I bought this for $1 a few months ago at Book Off in Midtown Manhattan. This is actually my favorite D12 song and I still remember when it dropped back in 2000, before Devil’s Night came out. The CD contains explicit, clean, instrumental and a capella versions of the song. The cover artwork was designed by Skam2, a rapper/artist from Old World Disorder, who had collaborated with Eminem before in terms of music (the song “3hree6ix5ive”) as well as art (he did artwork on the Slim Shady LP). Each character on the cover represents a different D12 member. The fat guy with the beer mug is Bizarre. Eminem is the mummy, Swifty is holding the money bag, Proof is the cyborg, Mr. Porter/Kon Artis is in the mask and red hoodie and Kuniva is wearing the spiked helmet and holding the broken beer bottle.

1994 re-issue

I think I bought the 1994 re-issue from Amazon. Horrible cover and according to GZA, this was Cold Chillin’s attempt to profit off of Wu-Tang Clan somehow, since it came out the year after Enter The Wu-Tang dropped. This particular re-issue did include “Pass The Bone” (featuring RZA as Prince Rakeem) but it was a replacement for “Come Do Me” from the original album.

2006 re-issue

The 2006 re-issue I found at Book Off in Midtown Manhattan. I believe I paid $8 for it. Despite owning the 1994 version, for collection purposes, I wanted to own this version as well. It was re-released by Traffic Entertainment (who own the Cold Chillin' catalog) and not only contained the original tracks from the original 1991 version of the album but also contained “Pass The Bone”, “Words From A Genius (Prince Rakeem Remix)” and “Come Do Me (Dub)”.

I didn’t care for this album too much but I did enjoy the deluxe edition packaging. It was designed by Riccardo Tisci, creative director at Givenchy. The gold, embossed outer packaging was incredible. The creepy images inside sparked more tinfoil conspiracy theories about Jay and Kanye’s Illuminati affiliations. Whatever the reason, I could care less because it worked. The foldout, floral pattern poster, while out of place, added some color to the CD insert itself. On the opposite side of that foldout poster are the lyrics to all of the songs on the album. As a person who has been collecting CD’s for so long, I admire any attention that is paid to CD artwork and packaging. The album might be a 6 but the deluxe edition design is a 10.

Prior to this album dropping, I had never heard of Cymarshall Law. On Thursday, 8/26/10, Cy had an instore event at Fat Beats NYC for his Freedom Express Line album. I probably would not have gone if it wasn’t for the fact that this instore happened a week after Fat Beats officially announced they were going to close down in September of that year. I vowed to attend as many instore events as I possibly could until the store’s closing. Cy had the distinction of being one of the final artists to do a regular instore before the end. He performed live and I recorded his whole set on video. As a result of Fat Beats closing and the fact that I was there recording his set, I decided to buy a copy of his album to show support to both Cy and Fat Beats. We actually had a pretty good conversation about the future of music, his deal with Sony (at that time) and what losing Fat Beats signified for the underground Rap scene in NYC. He was cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6Uus3VpHZI

I think I first heard of DJ Spinna from his work with Thirstin Howl The 3rd and Eminem (the song “Watch Dees”). He was also part of the Rap group, the Polyrhythmaddicts. In 2001, he and Kriminul (Jigmastas) released Infectious. This was their 2nd project together (Grass Roots EP was their first) but this was the first project that I bought from Jigmastas. I bought it mostly because I was a fan of Landspeed Records (a former distributor for underground Rap albums) and I followed most of their releases.

Since I bought a first edition copy of the album, it came with a bonus disc from Beyond Real Recordings (Jigmastas were signed to Beyond Real). It features a few tracks from other Beyond Real artists but most importantly, it contains the song “3hree6ix5ive” by Old World Disorder and featuring Eminem and produced by Spinna. Old World Disorder was a group that included rapper/artist Skam2. A lot of people know of Skam2 because he did a lot of early artwork for Eminem and D12 and also because Eminem referenced him in the song “Stan”:

I met Spinna on the last day of Fat Beats NYC on Saturday, 9/4/10. He did a brief DJ set and served as Caron Wheeler’s (Soul II Soul) DJ during her set. When I showed him the CD insert for Infectious he genuinely seemed appreciative that I bought the album. It was an underground album and they probably didn’t press too many copies of it, so I guess he appreciated anybody who bought a copy of it. I also had the Grass Roots EP but I couldn’t find the CD insert for it in time for the event.

I recorded footage of Spinna rocking the crowd and backing up Caron Wheeler.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fF-umHc730

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1uVzkCaqK8

This was the 2nd album that Ghostface Killah released in 2006. The first being Fishscale. While this album doesn’t compare to Fishscale, it is relevant to me for one reason- it was my introduction to Amy Winehouse. On More Fish, Ghost has a remix of Amy Winehouse’s “You Know I’m No Good”. The first time that I heard the song, I didn’t think much of it but after a few listens, it became one of my favorite tracks. I thought Amy was a random, Black female singer until one day I was channel surfing and heard the song playing on MTV. To my surprise, I saw a skinny, tatted up White chick in a bathtub instead of a soulful Black girl.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-I2s5zRbHg

That voice and gothic-like image really captured my attention and I went on to download her albums, Back To Black and Frank. I loved the albums so much that I eventually bought them. Unfortunately, her life was marred by controversy and drugs and she died in 2011 but there’s no question that she had a tremendous amount talent.

I’m not going to lie, I slept on this album at first. I didn’t get what all of the hype was about. I listened to it a couple of times and felt that I was missing something. But sometimes you need that “gateway” song. It’s the song that will make you a fan, that will decipher the code that is needed in order to appreciate the album. The “gateway” song for me was “Pop”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oPTHGwATNU

That vivid imagery of a drug lord destroying and taking over his rival’s property reminded me of The Wire. That chilling beat with those hard hitting drums. That song made me understand why so many people loved this project. It made me appreciate songs like “Snow,” “Don Shit”, “Jungle Fever” and “Thug’s Prayer”. The fact that Marciano produced this album by himself was insane. These are some of the grimiest beats that I’ve heard since the 90’s.

On 5/19/10, Murs had an instore signing at Fat Beats NYC. Later that evening, he performed live with Sick Jacken (of Psycho Realm) at Highline Ballroom in Manhattan. I had no plans of attending the show, I was just hoping that Murs would sign the albums and perhaps spit some bars so I could record it on video. Fat Beats used to have a turntable and microphone ready for rappers and DJ’s to do their thing on the spot. The bug to record concert footage was fresh and I was eager to get more footage after Record Store Day 2010 and the Little Brother show at Hiro Ballroom.

Murs arrived about an hour late and profusely apologized for his tardiness. I asked him if he was getting on the mic but he said he wasn’t but that he had a show later on that night. I’m known for having a serious demeanor and I think he thought I was upset about the fact that he was late and wasn’t going to perform any material, but that wasn’t the case. I just have a serious look at times, I was actually excited to meet him. Murs is one of the most nicest people I’ve ever met, not just for a rapper.

The End of the Beginning is his first album on Def Jux, El-P’s former record label. It was also my introduction to Murs. 3:16 is the first collaboration project with 9th Wonder (of Little Brother fame). It’s my favorite Murs project. This was 9th in his prime as a producer and Murs killed it on this record.

The other thing I respect about Murs is his autograph. I didn’t ask him but it donned on me that he must have done graffiti at some point in his life. His handstyle bears the mark of a graffiti artist.

I actually purchased the CD a couple of years after it came out, when I was in high school. However, I purchased the cassette the day that the album dropped (4/28/98). It came in that classic cigarette carton packaging:

My introduction to Big Pun was the single, “I’m Not A Player”, which dropped before the more popular, “Still Not A Player” single:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA1UqfMBrKg

Around early 1998, I visited Loud Records (Pun’s label) and I received a Capital Punishment sampler tape. It contained “Twinz”, “You Not A Killer”, “Toe To Toe”, “Firewater”, “Wishful Thinking” and “Off The Books”.

That tape got me very hyped for Pun’s debut. So hyped that I went to Coconuts (on Main Street in Flushing, Queens) the day before the album was scheduled to drop, hoping to snag an early copy. The employees at Coconuts told me that the album dropped the next day. I needed some new music to hold me over so I copped Cocoa Brovaz’s The Rude Awakening on cassette.

I first heard of Eternia on “Struggle” featuring Wordsworth and Kenn Starr.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WlQ_xB2k38

It didn’t really make me a fan but I kept an eye out for her work nonetheless. In 2010, she released At Last with producer, MoSS. That same year, during Fat Beats NYC’s final week, she performed a brief set at the store and I had the chance to meet her and record her live:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqUlxzST_TI

I met Eternia a second time at the Fat Beats warehouse in Brooklyn. She performed there as well, and at one point, she even utilized Seattle rapper, Gabriel Teodros, for beatboxing while Mista Sinista (formerly of X-Ecutioners) was on the 1’s & 2’s (errr, 1 & 1’s, the turntables were a bit fucked up):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoUGmT0vqz4

It was at the warehouse that I told her that I was a huge fan of the album to which she asked me if I actually bought a copy of it. At the time I didn’t but I lied to her and told her I did. Jokingly, she asked me if I was telling the truth and I said that I was. I felt bad about lying, especially over something like that so I made sure to order a copy of the album online after that event.