Additional Chronic

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Call 9-7-6 For The 2 Live Crew's Ex Dancers

This is the kind of record you stumble across and have to buy, assuming it's super cheap of course. This is the one and only single by 9-7-6 (for you youngsters, a reference to 976 numbers that, like 1-900 numbers, were premium pay phone numbers you could call for adult chats). And what's so "must buy" about it? Because it says right on the sticker there, 9-7-6 are Luke & The 2 Live Crew's ex dancers. In 1996, they released their own 12" on Hurricane Records.

The song's called "Wha'sup?! - The Female Version." You'd probably expect it to be a diss at Luke and/ or the Crew, but nope. Disappointingly, they never even mention them. So what's this song a "female version" of? A little trend that was going on down South at the time.

In 1995, Atlanta's Diamond & D-Roc had a bit of a hit with "The Bankhead Bounce." Even if you're not into Southern rap stuff, you've probably heard of it. Well, a bit part of that song is a "what's up, what's up?" chorus. And shortly after that started blowing up, a group called The A-Town Players released a song called "Wassup Wassup" with basically the same chorus (including the "do the bankhead bounce" part) a very similar instrumental. Then Playa Poncho and LA Sno released "Whatz Up, Whatz Up," and I don't think I need to tell you what that song was like.

So by 1996, 9-7-6 were a little late to the party. But that's what their song is, another "Wha'sup." It's produced by Stylz and the J.I.Z., a name you may not be familiar with, but Stylz is one of many of many aliases of Jan C Styles or Marvelous JC, a big time bass producer who'd been making records since the 80s. They also guest rap on here.

So this one's kinda fun. JC's a good producer, so it's one of the better bankhead bounce rip-off's, with a lot of "Planet Rock" mixed into this version. This is definitely more of a Florida-style version than all those Atlanta versions. They don't even mention the bankhead bounce dance; they've just latched onto the "what's up, what's up" part. Unfortunately, they're kind of boring as MCs. They not only neglect to mention their 2 Live origins, they don't say much of anything. They mention they're "sipping on cognac" in both verses and spend half the song just listing cities they want their record to play in. Honestly, Stylz and J.I.Z. probably should've made this record on their own and created another song for 9-7-6 to cash in on the former dancers angle.

They never made another record, so we don't really learn anything about 9-7-6. Their name implies a sexual edge, but they never go there on this song. It's not even clear how many of them there are (guessing: three?) or what their names are. The label mentions they're "comin' from da burg not from the bottom," so we know they're from St. Petersburg, Florida, not Miami. That's about it. Oh well, kind of a missed opportunity, but not a bad bankhead bounce record if you're in the mood for dancing like it's the mid 90s again.

As If MC Shan Wasn't Hip-Hop Enough...

It's been a while, I think it's time we come back to another one of those subtle, but slightly improved Marley Marl 12" remixes. You know, not the kind of thing where a song's given a whole new instrumental, but just where all the same elements are tweaked and arranged slightly differently, and wind up making the version on the 12" single sound just a little iller than the album version. This was becoming a regular Marley M.O. with examples like "Ain't No Half Steppin'," "Arrest the President" and "Juice Crew Law."   This is MC Shan's "I Pioneered This" from 1988.

Like "Juice Crew Law," this is another single off Shan's second album, Born To Be Wild. But unlike "Juice Crew Law," this isn't a case where you have a main, commercial single without a remix, and then a second, promo version with it. In this case the remix is right there on the main, picture covered 12" single. It starts off with the regular Vocal version, which is the same as what's on the album. And there's a Dub and A Cappella mix on the B-side. But the stand-out track on this single is the one marked Hip Hop Vocal. Now, the vocals are the same on both versions... I guess they just mean to say this is the vocal version of the Hip-Hop Mix. And even the beat is kinda the same. A casual listener who didn't hear both versions back to back might not even realize he'd heard to different versions of the same song. But when you pay attention, the differences might be subtle, but they're still substantial.

One of the reasons it can be hard to catch, too, is that on the original version, the beat isn't constantly doing the same thing. It's not one simple loop repeated from the beginning to the end of the song, it's shifting and going through variations. So at any point when you're listening to the remix, it's easy to think "oh, I'm just not listening to that part of the song right now." But the remix is definitely different. I'd describe it as more "broken down," more fucked with than the original, which often lets the bassline repeat a full refrain.

Here, we never hear more than half at best, it's more choppy. Like a lot of these remixes, it's like Marley just went back in and played with it some more, making it more original and "hip-hop sounding." Hence the name of the mix, I suppose. I could see a lot of fans, especially more mainstream audiences, actually preferring the original because it stays truer to the original sample, sounding a little more "musical." The remix also changes, well, the mix (i.e. the traditional definition of a remix), so the drums and horn stabs are a little harsher, adding to the harder feel of this remix, which is a definite plus in my book.

"I Pioneered This" is a pretty cool song either way, though. It's kind of the sweet spot between Shan's more awkward, younger records (the extreme example being "Feed the World") and his more out-there, genre switching stuff when he stopped working with Marley. This is MC Shan in full Juice Crew soldier mode, that ideal end of the 80s era.

It's pretty 80s lyrically, too, with him declaring, "Puma's the brand cause the klan makes Troops" and "I transform just like a Decepti-gone." Yeah, that spelling's right, that's how he pronounces it. I don't think he was being clever, there; I think he just wasn't that into Transformers.  ha ha  Plus, he says "write a will for your family's conveniency. Rappers I serve without mercy or leniency," which is one of my favorite contrived hip-hop rhymes of all time. Conveniency!

But seriously, Shan sounds great over a hard but smooth Marley Marl production. The main sample is the same one Big Daddy Kane would later use for his killer remix of "Uncut Pure." It's great, especially the Hip Hop Mix. And because it's right there on the main, commercial 12", it's not rare or expensive to get a copy, like some of those others are. Crate staple.

80s Jersey Trilogy

(Google is having problems accepting uploads today, apparently.
So Youtube's our only option for the moment.)

It's Dre Day and Everybody's Extending

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The D.O.C., Even Without a Voice

So, if you missed it, The D.O.C. just - finally - got his voice back! Or, actually, he apparently got it back a year ago, while he was locked up, which we won't ask about. But, still, the moment we fans have been waiting with baited breath for literally decades has come... I remember when this heads kept talking about when he'd return.  And when we pretty much gave up.  But before he makes whatever kind of comeback he winds up making, I thought I'd take a look back at when he returned without even needing his voice, in 1996 on Giant Records. This is "Return Of da Livin' Dead."

One cool thing about this 12", definitely, is that it harkens back to his earlier singles, where his album was amazing, but his singles still replaced them with even hyper, sicker remixes. In one sense, the two songs on this single were the best parts of his second album. But on the other hand, they were a little derivative, playing it safe, and needed a little kick in the butt, which this 12" mostly provided.

Let's start with the B-side first, 'cause that's the track that probably sold a lot of these copies. Like its title implies, "From Ruthless 2 Death Row" was going to dish all the dirt and answer all the questions fans had about his career and the whole Dr. Dre story up to that point. The album version and first version of the single sample the very often used "For the Love of Her" by The Isley Brothers, which has only been used a thousand million times before and since. A lot of people in '96 associated it with 2Pac's (technically Thug Life's) "Bury Me a G," but I think he might've used it because Slick Rick had recently used it on his last single. D.O.C. is really channeling Rick's style here, and even quotes his lyrics from "Children's Story" in the third verse, so it's a deliberate reference. But the point is, it sounded good, but it was pretty played out by this point. In a vacuum, the original version sounds better, especially complimenting D.O.C.'s Slick Rick homages, but during a time when we were getting pretty sick of hearing the same g-funky riffs on record after record, the fact that this 12" is an exclusive remix was a real plus.

Everything on this post, the original versions and the remixes, are produced by Erotic D. He was probably a new name to most heads at the time, but he actually came from The D.O.C.'s original group, The Fela Fresh Crew, although he didn't really get on board there until the D.O.C. had already left. He's kept producing over the years, even doing tracks for the Insane Clown Posse of all people; but he's still primarily associated with The D.O.C.

Anyway, the remix is still pretty unoriginal, too, basically just adding some gangsta rap sound effects over "Eric B Is President." I don't know if Erotic D's thing has ever really been digging and discovering breaks, but he makes it sound good and at least it wasn't a tune we'd heard a dozen times that year this time. So this was probably more exciting in 1996, but it still sounds pretty dope today. So back then the remix was easily my favorite, but now in 2015, I probably like both versions equally - they're both old school beats we've heard tons of times before, and they both sound cool as soundbeds for these Slick Rick-style one man dialogue exchanges. The scratch breakdown at the end of both mixes is really fresh.

But as much as everyone (including myself; I'm not gonna front) was into hearing the drama at the time - getting excited over lyrics like, "Eazy-E said, 'yeah oh yeah,' so I took it. Forgot the paperwork; the money made me overlook it." - we want to hear our favorite MCs make masterpieces, not dish dirt. And that brings us to our A-side. "Return Of da Livin' Dead." It takes its title from the Dan O'Bannon classic film Return Of the Living Dead, but otherwise there's no connection. And I don't just mean because there's no zombies in the song (lol), but the film is a classic blend of dark and light tones, horror and humor while this song is just very straight forward. It's a remake of his classic, pre-vocal damage "Funky Enough."

This was a bad idea. The idea was to show that he could rock as hard post-accident as he could pre-, but it's nigh impossible to make a knock off that's as compelling or better than an original masterpiece. So while this song is good, there was no way it wasn't going to pale in comparison. I guess it got him a little extra free publicity/ attention that he wasn't just coming back, but remaking this classic; but I don't think it really netted him that much more than just his comeback in general did. And it certainly wasn't worth the cost of an unflattering comparison being your first new impression.

Which is why this 12" is so good for having another exclusive remix. And this time there isn't any old school instrumental at all. It's more g-funky, and there's no question that Dre's original "Funky Enough" beat is better than this new Erotic D beat. But this new track allows "Return Of da Livin' Dead" to be a new, original song and stand on its own legs instead of remake that should never have happened.

And The D.O.C. sounds pretty good on the mic. His voice is super ripped, of course, and anyone looking for him to sound anywhere near his first album are going to be disappointed. But he showed he could still make a solid record; he just sounded like somebody completely different. It was a little strange, and you wouldn't want a lot of MCs rapping like that, but as the only guy with that sound, he made his own little niche. He could still work a mic better than most of the weed carriers these guys surrounded themselves with.

So I was surprised when Deuce came around and he barely rapped on it at all, using it as more of a compilation than a genuine D.O.C. album (especially considering how it was titled and marketed like the one, true follow-up to No One Can Do It Better. I guess that's largely because the Giant album stumbled, and people chalked up what sales it did get to the Death Row drama. But I think he showed he had the potential to make good, if not as good, records with his damaged voice. If anything, the switch from Dre's production to Erotic D's has held him back more than anything from the accident. So hopefully whenever D.O.C. does whatever he's going to do next with his fresh, old voice, he'll get Dre behind at least a couple of tracks. With all of that, and rhymes and delivery just as good as he's already doing on this record, it'll be a lock.

Chubb Rock & The G-Man

I hate to be cynical, but laying out the money to buy a guest verse from a better known rapper works. When I first saw G-Man's debut single in stores, I had no idea who he was. I didn't even realize he was a singer, not a rapper. But I saw "feat. Chubb Rock" written on the label, and I bought it, without even any idea of what it sounded like. It was a good time to have Rock, since it came out in 1996, when Chubb when the buzz was just amping up for his fifth album, which was then going to be called Clear the Decks. So heads were aching to hear some Chubb Rock, and boom here was this in the store. Who was G-Man, who cares? Doesn't matter. And I doubt G-Man actually had to pay for this cameo, since they were labelmates on Select Records, and this was surely an early step in marketing his Chubb Rock's return.

So yeah, I was a little disappointed to learn G-Man was a singer, and so this song was R&B with a guest verse rather than a full-out hip-hop song. But what the hell, I would've bought it anyway had I known. It's Chubb Rock. The song was called "Treat Me Right," and it's probably meant to reference Chubb Rock's biggest hit, "Treat 'Em Right," but they don't mention it at all in the actual content of the song. It starts out with the "Corsa Ave. Mix," a cool, moody hip-hop track produced by Chubb himself, and the vocals open with Chubb rapping. He comes pretty nice, definitely putting in the effort to be creative and original, though it veers dangerously close to corniness a couple of times. After his verse, things get kind of dull, with a long repetitive hook and neither G-Man nor the instrumental bothering to do anything to separate it from his verses. It's all alright, but G-Man doesn't have a powerful voice either, opting instead for kind of a hip, low-key delivery with a kind of nasally voice. As cool as the track is, it really drags, until Chubb Rock finally comes back for one more short verse at the end of the song. And as good as Rock sounds, it's not really his top shelf stuff lyrically. Still, if you were to edit out the sleepy middle of the song, this could be a pretty neat, very short Chubb Rock song with a sung hook.

Then there's a couple remixes, mostly also produced by Chubb and using the same basic beat. The Hip Piano Vocal version is almost identical, except it has an extra sample loop over the top of it that sounds more like a guitar than a piano. It was better without it. Then there's the G-Man Vocal mix, which is the same as the Corsa Ave. Mix minus Chubb Rock's vocals. And finally, besides a couple instrumentals, there's the Uptempo Vocal Mix, produced by somebody named James Dowe. Not bad, it is genuinely more uptempo which helps G-Man's performance, and features some extra instrumentation like a piano loop that actually sounds like a piano and multiple samples from "Treat 'Em Right." Chubb Rock also has a new verse on this one, where he very definitely does reference his own record. It's kinda cool, but still drags with G-Man's flat singing left to carry 90% of the song.

So, overall, it was just okay. Not mad at it, but mostly just happy for a little Chubb Rock fix, especially since his album was taking forever to come out. Release dates were announced and not met; there still wasn't even a single. Eventually, in 1997, I spotted G-Man's second single in stores and I thought, nah, I'm done with that guy. Unless you've got Chubb Rock on your record again, I don't even wanna know about it. Then I flipped it over, and oh, look who's on the B-side. Chubb Rock, and also guest verses by AG and some protege of Chubb's named Freeze A. Luv. Alright, fine; I bought it.

This single's called "Runnin' 2 U," and again, there are a couple versions. The main version just features AG, but is again produced by Chubb Rock. I kinda thought hey, maybe we'd already have Clear the Decks by now if he'd stop fooling around with these side projects. But whatever, let's hear what we've got. It's a little more traditional, in terms of R&B, with G-Man on more of a Jodeci tip. The beat has a lot of instrumental flourish, but it's backed by the beat for Mobb Deep's "Shook Ones pt II," which is quite cool. When we finally get to AG's part, hearing him over "Shook Ones" is dope; but his verse is too short, just there really to support G-Man, who admittedly sounds more engaging this second time around.

Like the last single, there's another mix, called Original Sauce, which is the same as the main vocal version but minus the guest rapper, and there's an instrumental. There's also a remix, simply called the Street Mix, which replaces the "Shook Ones" for the "DWYCK" beat. AG's verse is back on it, so it's kinda cool. Still basically an unexciting R&B song for the most part, though.

But finally there's the Secret Recipe Remix. This features all three of the MCs over a new instrumental with faux horns and some phat snare. AG switches his verse for harder hip-hop subject matter, and G-Man is relegated to the hook. Unfortunately, he doesn't change what he's singing, and his "Runnin' 2 U" chorus doesn't really fit this song. But still, it's a pretty tight song that's really a hip-hop track this time, with some good MCs, and Chubb Rock takes a pretty random shot at DJ Clue. I'd like it better without the hook, but it's still a dope track that's worth having overall if you're a fan of Chubb or AG.

And eventually, later that year, Rock's album, now titled The Mind, limped out to stores, with all of its marketing and promotion finished a year prior. Most people I talked to who had been fans of Chubb Rock and were waiting for the album didn't even know it had dropped. I had to bring in my copy to work one day to prove to one of the guys at The Source that it actually existed and I had it.

Ultimately, it wasn't his best but still pretty good and enough to keep me happy as a fan. I remember him giving an interview early on that he was going back to high energy dance tracks and hard vocals (like his biggest hits "Ya Bad Chubbs" and "Treat 'Em Right") for his new album, and ultimately there was really only one song like that on The Mind, which makes me think Select Records' vaults are full of Chubb Rock songs from 1995-1996 that we never got to hear. Oh well. I'm not mad at what we did get; it was dope, just to bad it wound up being his final album.

And guess who sang a hook on that album? Of course, G-Man, on a song called "The Man." It's good but very R&Bish, and not just because of the hook. The instrumental by Elliot Ness is pure late night BET R&B. Chubb Rock's voice and flow sounds great on it, but he's clearly not on the same page as G-Man. He's rapping about adulthood and serious social issues ("I heard black men, I mean boys, saying they beat their queens. That type rush can't paint the scene, dissipates the dream of black kings"), but G-Man's singing about romance ("whenever you need good lovin', you gotta understand, it takes a man, a man, to keep you satisfied"). Though I guess they're both on the general theme of men and women coming together and what-not. It's more a mismatch of tone than concept.

Our G-Man.

And that seems to be the end of G-Man's story. Chubb Rock came back with another single post-Select Records, and eventually did stuff online and for the Wet Hot American Summer soundtrack. But I haven't heard G-Man on any more of his stuff. discogs links another guy named G-Man*, a member of a South Central crew The Mobsters, to this G-Man's page like they're the same person, but they're not. The 1997 single "What Kinda Nigga Is U?" is by the one from The Mobsters, not our guy. But if Chubb Rock ever comes back for a sixth album, and I still hope he will, I wouldn't be mad at another hook by G-Man. He could sound good if utilized properly.


*In fact, there are over fifty artists named G-Man listed on discogs(!).