MTV did play the edited F Compton video and actually had Tim Dog come on YO! MTV Raps. Ed and Dre were really big instigators early in the East/West beef. Back when it was all fun and kept on records. Going back to DJ Quik. I was in Tower Records going through the 12" singles when I saw his first single, "Born and Raised In Compton. I had never heard of him before. But, seeing he was on Profile and almost every rapper coming out of Compton at the time was worth a listen. I made the blind purchase. The B-side, which I won't mention here, also had this 14 year old intrigued. I got home and played that record over and over. Quik sounded a lot like Eazy E and the production was fresh. Within a few weeks the video for "Born and Raised" started getting airplay. The "Tonite" single was released and the rest is history. I still got the 12" in my crates. Might have to pull it out and see how it sounds 27 years later.
Good info on Tim Dog I never knew! I was about the same age when I bought a copy of Quik Is The Name, and I was really hoping my parents wouldn't discover it. Was the B-side, by chance, "Sweet Black Puddy Tat?"
Although it's not my favorite Cube album, The Predator is pretty solid. I think I would've liked the album a whole lot more if "The Message Remix" of "Check Yo Self" was in place of the original.
Bay Area rapper Paris was dropped from Tommy Boy before the release of his second album. Because of this little ditty. It also had a track, "Coffee, Donuts and Death", which was in the same vein as "Cop Killa". Tommy Boy was owned by Warner Bros. which had just gone through the controversy with the Body Count record. Paris would release the album on his own label. The album was one of the first to feature production from DJ Shadow. At the time he had a show on the UC Davis radio station. Both he and Paris went to school there. I was in Sacramento and could barely get the signal from the station. But, remember getting introduced to a lot of music that wasn't be played on commercial radio and MTV.
It's not too often that hip hop albums get deluxe reissues, but I was thrilled to get a copy of the Traffic deluxe Mecca And The Soul Brother. The original album is one of my all-time favorites, and the bonus disc has several hard to find mixes and B-sides from the master tapes. Mecca and the Soul Brother [Deluxe Edition] - Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth | Release Info | AllMusic
I bought this cassette when it first came out, and I played it quite a bit. I wasn't exposed to too much indy rap, but I took a chance on buying it (having never heard any of the tracks). Quite a few good tracks on it.
I may not have mentioned this during the 1991 discussion, but there is also an expanded version of Pete Rock & CL Smooth's All Souled Out. Again, from the master tapes, are several very hard to find remixes. Essential for anyone who likes Pete Rock! Pete Rock & CL Smooth : All Souled Out (Deluxe CD) | GetOnDown.com
Let me just express my sheer disappointment when I bought Wreckx-N-Effect's Hard Or Smooth. I was expecting to hear the same mix of "Rump Shaker" as was featured in the music video, and what a letdown it was hearing the album version. Over the years, the album and Radio Mix have grown on me, but there's still no topping the Teddy 2 remix.
Great album. Although similar to the jazzy production Premier was doing with Gangstarr, it had more of soulful tinge to it. Also one of those albums where the cassette had bonus tracks not on the CD.
I'm not sure why there was a trend of videos having non-album (in a lot of cases superior) versions of the song. Here's another one.
Yes, that was another bummer when I "upgraded" my cassette to CD years later. But the two missing tracks were merely remixes of songs from All Souled Out, and I believe those have now been restored to CD on the expanded/deluxe edition of Souled.
It wasn't just the videos; it was the singles and the videos (usually containing the same mixes). The Yo-Yo edit of "You Can't Play With My Yo-Yo" does have a unique beginning (Cube's intro acapella), but I think the remainder of the song is nearly identical to what appears on the album, no?
The video version is more stripped down. Less horn, vocals and piano. I like it more than the album version I don't know if the video version was ever released as a remix.
Two more of my "what the heck" moments after purchasing 1992 hip-hop albums: 1. Buying 3 Years, 5 Months And 2 Days In The Life Of... and finding out that it had a crummy version of "People Everyday." WTH? (They did finally add it as a hidden bonus track.) 2. Buying Daily Operation and discovering it doesn't contain "DWYCK." WTH? (This was remedied two years later with the release of Hard To Earn.) Yes, it's on the promo CD single listed as the "Radio Edit" (track 1), and it's also on the cassette single. I didn't realize that the album mix was that much different until you just mentioned it. The promo CD single calls it the "Real Remix."
What hip hop albums came out in 1992 that you expected would be good based on hearing one song, but they ended up being average or not good?
To me, this one sticks out: Sir Mix-A-Lot Mack Daddy When "Baby Got Back" came out, it was the song. There wasn't one other song on the album, though, that I thought was even half decent.
I have a feeling @Mikey679 might want to further discuss Juice. @garrincha @PhantomStranger @Bobby Boogaloo @fatwad666 @Kadink @ModernDayWarrior @inaptitude @Munros1969 Tagging a few people in case the notifications stopped.
Here was another one-hit letdown album from '92: Spice 1 I heard "Welcome To The Ghetto" and was really looking forward to checking out the album. There really wasn't anything else on it that sounded like the single, though, and ultimately I ended up letting this tape collect dust.
You didn't like "187 Proof" or "In My Neighborhood"? For the trainspotters there is a young 2 Pac in the above video. Also a rapper by the name of MC Pooh. I'll talk about him in my next post since we're limited to only one video per post on this forum.
The song I posted from Spice 1 was produced by Ant Banks. His first big album was "Life Of A Criminal" by MC Pooh. I bought the cassette when it came out in 1990. Fast forward 10 years and I meet my future wife who is from Oakland. She tells me about her sister's husband Bruce who had passed away. He put up the money for the MC Pooh album and had a song dedicated to him on it. Sounds like a early version of "In My Neighborhood". Big Bruce aka Lex wasn't really living the honest life and he paid for that by losing his. But, he did introduce us to Ant Banks. He would go on to produce for Too Short and others. I still have my cassette of "Life Of A Criminal" and plan on giving it to one of Bruce's children when the time is right.
Cool story! I definitely have respect for Spice 1 and Ant Banks. I really like the Too Short albums from this time period, especially Short Dog's In The House and Shorty The Pimp.
'92! Let's see… favorite albums currently are: Showbiz & A.G. - Runaway Slave Beastie Boys - Check Your Head UGK - Too Hard to Swallow Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth - Mecca and the Soul Brother Too Short - Shorty the Pimp Grand Puba - Reel to Reel Willie D - I'm Goin Out Lika Soldier Apparently DJ Paul and Juicy J started releasing tapes this year, but I don't feel like Memphis rap really hits the map (as far as releases I'm aware of) until 1993. Can I also add Miles Davis - Doo-Bop? I feel like this album is too rap-influenced for jazz fans, too smooth for rap fans. I have found it to be engaging and unique. Love the production from Easy Mo Bee, who I feel is an underrated producer (and I don't like using the word "underrated" often).
This collage seems to have everything that I mentioned — yes! Tons of great album art this year as well.
