Someone New To Bite

Today we have something new by someone new.  "Edible MC's" is the debut cassingle by an Ohio MC named Pseudonym on Vestibular Records.  If you've never heard of them, that's because this is apparently the label's first venture into the Hip-Hop genre, while generally specializing in... rock, I guess?  A lot of new music and a few vintage reissues from what I've gathered through a quick perusal.

But that fits, because Pseudo definitely seems like the kind of artist who could impress an outsider label to add them to their non-genre roster.  You know, like when Warner Bros mainstream reissued all of Buck 65's catalog, Madonna signed Dana Dane and had him do a west coast album, or whenever Luke Sick syncs up with those random little punk outfits.  Or, for a less glamorous example, when Load Records picked up The Hawd Gankstuh Rappuhs Emsees Wid Ghatz' second album long after the joke was played out for us heads.  You know, those certain, rare instances where an artist who comes with a spin far enough out of left field that they attract the "ordinarily, I hate rap, buttt..." types.  That can be promising, a huge red flag, or just about anywhere in between.

Vocally, he lists Del as an influence, and you can definitely hear the commonality in the way he thoughtfully executes his heavily-enunciated delivery to nail keywords.  Still, he's got a voice and a style that will surely prove divisive, split right along the point where he does/ doesn't remind you too much of MC Paul Barman.  His register playfully rises and falls from phrase to phrase, placing perhaps an overemphasis on his own cleverness.  But when he's flowing at his most aggressive, he rides the rhythm more like Edan or Breeze.  A little less nerdcore would go a long way, but even nay-sayers will have to begrudgingly give it up for his carefully crafted bars.

And anyway, he never really descends into that Catskills punchline schtick.  There are a couple on-the-nose similes on the A-side ("I'm comin' outta left field like YAGGFU Front," "punks get slapped like hockey pucks"), but it's mostly just fun wordplay.  Like here you see him handily illustrate his "Edible MC's" concept with a tight rhyme scheme:

"I'm irate!
You cut-rate fakes get sliced to pieces,
At least this kid will make a neat dish
Of your brain matter and shatter your name and fame.
You regain consciousness in the afterlife.
Pass me my carving knife, so I can cut 'em slower.
The body roaster makin' human skin loafers;
I got meats for weeks from these MCs left over."

And the possibly even tighter B-side, "Super Ego," drops the similes entirely.  Like its title suggests, it's pure braggadocio over a killer, fast-paced beat, heavy on the snare and rolling piano samples.  Except they're not even samples.  His bio mentions the music is created from all live instruments, which you wouldn't even guess from listening to it; it certainly doesn't have that messier, live band feel.  I've been deliberating over the pros and cons of his vocals, but it's his production, done by himself and Nathan Peters, that's especially impressive and what straight-up grab you as soon as you hit play (and yes, the instrumental versions of both songs are also on the tape).  Also, they're used fairly subtly, but there's also some nice cuts on "Edible MC's" by a DJ named Fatty Lumpkin.


Of course there's a digital option, but if you've found yourself here, hopefully that suggests you still care about physical media.  The cassingle is a blue tape in a full color J-card.  The download card includes a bonus track where Pseudo freestyles over Ultramagnetics' "Chorus Line."  It seems to already be sold out on Vestibular's site, or they just never listed it in the first place(?  They do things a little strangely; I can't really figure 'em out), but they're still selling it direct on discogs for just five bucks.  So if reading some of the artists I referenced has you saying, "I know I'm gonna hate this," you're probably right and Pseudo won't be for you.  But if you're open at all, give the kid a chance.  I think you'll be impressed.

Slick Rick's "The Ruler's Back" ...The Forgotten Demo Version?

(You all remember Slick Rick's crazy cut "The Ruler's Back," but here's a rare, older version you probably don't remember.  Youtube version is here.)

Learn Along With Werner, part 10: The Last Thing Whistle Ever Recorded?

Guys, this is why I let the internet live.  Yeah, sure, corporations invade your privacy, hackers collapse governments, and people started DJing with mp3s instead of records.  It's been pretty awful, but then a thing like this happens.  I'm just poking around discogs and stumble upon a record I've never heard of by a group I've been a fan of since I was a kid.  And in this case, though it may be just a guest spot, it turns out to be a final chapter in their career.  I'm talking about Whistle, and this record from 1993 (their last album was in 1991, with one last single coming out in 1992) would appear to be the last thing they ever recorded, at least that actually got released.

The actual guy whose record this is, though, is M.C. Boo.  I'm fairly certain this is not the same M.C. Boo who was down with Magic Mike and the Royal Posse, or the junior member of BDP.  This is yet another MC Boo who just put out this one single record on Studio Records, a Maryland label best known for putting out novelty records like "Are the Redskins #1? Hail Yeah!!" and "Karate Man."  Not a good sign, but happily this is not a joke song but a sincere musical endeavor.

As you can probably guess by the title, it's a essentially a rap version of Stevie Wonder(who also gets a writing credit on the label)'s "I Can't Help It."  You could do a lot worse than chunky Stevie Wonder sample, and MC Boo's maybe not going to blow anybody's mind, but he's certainly a capable rapper, sort of in the category of Little Shawn.  He's kicking somewhat simplistic love raps, but with an ear towards more respectable lyricism and wordplay.  You know, by very early 90s standards, "I'm shakin' and breakin' and movin' and makin' the heart that you made me. I'm movin' and groovin' and soothin' the tempo you gave me.  The bass is kinda light and your eyes are kind, too; I guess that's why I can't help but to love you.  Yea, that's it.  I think I'm goin' crazy bein' round your sexy ways.  Your love is like a puzzle, but better yet a maze."

The only disappointing, but totally predictable, aspect is that Whistle are just here to sing the hook, not actually contribute to the MCing.  It's predictable, of course, because that's the direction they were always going in, away from rap and towards R&B, so of course they ended with a sung chorus instead of a verse.  And they sound good, although there's no moment where Terk comes in to really belt some more impressive notes or cuts by Silver Spinner.  It's a calm, laid back track with a mellow groove they just lay into.

There are a couple tracks on this 12", but they're all just variations on the one song.  There's the aptly titled Regular Version, the Instrumental, a mix with some extra (live) piano called the Piano Mix, and two shorter dub mixes called Doo Boo and Boo Beats.  By the way, it might be interesting to note that the label still says "Whistle appears courtesy of Select Records," so even though they didn't release anything further, Select was still hanging onto Whistle on their roster.  And not only is this Whistle's last record, it's seemingly M.C. Boo's first and last, which I'm... pretty ambivalent about.

He was decent enough, but not somebody I got excited about and would need to track down more of his discography.  I just bought this for Whistle, and honestly, unless you're a completist, it's not worth buying for them either.  They sound fine, the production's fine, Boo's rapping is fine, the concept is fine.  It's all just fine.  Not mad at it, but you're not gonna run out and slap it on a mixtape.  Once I put this away, I probably won't go back to it until I've completely forgotten what it sounds like and I see it on my crates and go, "what's this M.C. Boo record?"

Father MC and the Broadway Star

It's a brand new year and it's well past time for another deep dive into the extensive career of Father MC.  So here's one I don't remember reading about in The Source: 1991's "Everyotherday" by Or-N-More on EMI Records, featuring, of course, Father MC.  1991's an interesting year for Father, because it's really his break out year, when his earliest hit singles broke and he came out with his first album.  The only guest appearances he had out by this time was the work he did on that one Ray Parker Jr. album.  So you could really describe him as a rising star at this point.

So who the heck are Or-N-More?  Well, as you can see in the picture above, it's that blonde lady and her boyfriend(?) standing behind her.  She's Or and he's More.  Or more specifically, she's Orfeh Or and he's Mike More.  She sings and he does the music, basically. They originally had a music video that used to get play on MTV under the name Genevha, because it had the gimmick of using old public domain movie footage.  Then in 1991, they became Or-N-More and put out one self-titled album, and this one single.  Father's the only guest rapper they seemed to've worked with, and Or-N-More kinda disappeared in a flash.  But what's more interesting is that Orfeh went on to become a pretty substantial contender on Broadway, getting nominated for a Tony in 2007.  You can check out her website here.  Meanwhile, More doesn't seem to have done as much, most notably producing Freedom Williams' C+Cless solo album in 1993.  But he also has music and writing credits on Orfeh's solo album almost twenty years later, so I guess they've held onto their connection, which is nice.

So let's get to the song already.  Well, "Everyotherday"'s a pretty straight-forward pop song.  The hook tells you directly what it's about, "every other day, you steal my kisses, boy, and then you just throw them away."  And the verses are basically all about how she's leaving this guy because he won't commit.  It's a very high energy, R&B/ dance hybrid.  Like a Madonna song that leans even a little further into the club vibe.  Or has a pretty deep and powerful voice, but this song doesn't exactly push her to challenge herself.  There's a few "dayyy-ee-ayy-ee-ayyy"s, but not exactly hitting any notes to make you say wow.  And the music's okay, with an upbeat hip-hop tone, but it never marries itself to the chorus in a catchy enough way to really resonate.  It sounds well made enough when you're listening to it, but it's immediately forgettable.

The fact that the song is structured so the vocalist is singing to a generic "you" boyfriend is the perfect set-up, though, to drop in a rapper to speak as the other half, "I never filled your head up, so now you wanna gas, and talk about Father like trash."  It definitely adds a more interesting battle of the sexes dynamic with conflict, where listeners can choose and relate to one side or the other.  In fact, it would be a much more interesting song if Father and Or traded verses back and forth, accusation followed by counter-accusation, like an authentic arguing couple.  Think of some really successful R&B/ rap hybrids like Grand Puba and Mary J's "What's the 411" or even Kwame and T Bone's "Ownless Eue."  But unfortunately they relegate him to the traditional, single quick in and out on an R&B song guest rap.

Oh, and there was even a music video for it with a bunch of dancers and Father doing his best Pete Nice impression in a spinning barber's chair.  Interestingly, Father has an extra vocal part, where he introduces himself mid-song, "yeah baby, this is the man women hate to love, Father MC.  I never told you I love you."  That extra bit isn't on the album version or any of the 12" remixes.

Remixes?  Oh yeah, I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't get into the stuff on the 12".  The 12" has a slightly extended Power Mix, a tighter Radio Edit, a Dub and all of that.  But the most important mix here is the Hip Hop Mix by Dallas Austin, a major R&B producer in the 90s.  I mean, he still is, but the 90s is when he was making huge hits for groups like TLC and Boyz II Men.  Like, if you don't know, just look him up; he's a major player.  So, anyway, this version toughens up the instrumental a bit, making a lot of use of The Fat Boys' famous "Brr, Stick 'Em" vocal sample and some fun little horns.  Most significantly, this version features an all new, completely different and actually much better verse from Father, too.  "Ya see, girl you told me that you'd be there to support my needs, but now I look in the window.  I thought I'd found love, 'cause I didn't dream of me and you forever.  I never thought of the ups and downs, the excuses you gave me."  It's more thoughtful and less cliche, reminiscent of his best lines in "Treat Them Like They Want To Be Treated."  Unfortunately, this new verse is instead of, not in addition to, his original one, so it doesn't really fatten out Father's role like you'd hope for.  But it still adds up to an overall superior version of the song.

There's also a Club Mix and a House Mix that add extra piano riffs, sounds and a proper house beat.  They go a bit too far in my opinion, though I have to say the Club Mix is funkier and more dance-able than the original album version.  Orfeh sounded like she was going for that house diva kinda tone in her vocals anyway.  And finally there's an Underground Mix, which at first sounds like it's going to be more of a stripped-down Hip-Hop version, with Father's verse coming right at the start; but then it just basically turns into a slightly altered Club Mix with a few extra vocal samples and stuff dropped in.

I mean, it's still what discogs describes as electronic electro synth-pop with RnB/swing and house elements added to the remixes, so I'm not actually recommending this record to any of you Hip-Hop enthusiasts.  And it's not a catchy enough pop record that I'd recommend it to kids or anything either.  But it's definitely an interesting little nook in Father MC's career that's at least worth knowing about.  Any day I can find a hidden Father MC verse tucked away on an obscure 12" single is a good day in Wernerville.  😎

My B. Boys' Christmas Bells

(Happy holidays, all you B Boys and B Girls!  🎄  Youtube version is here.)

Guess Who's Made a Comeback? You'll Never Guess, So I'll Just Tell You!

Even as another year fades away, it marks one last interesting development in Hip-Hop.  You guys'll never guess which old school MC just made a comeback with a brand new record.  Well, except those of you who looked at the picture on the right.  That's right, it's Sugar Bear, the Strong Island MC who only put out one, exciting and highly regarded 12" single back in 1988 on, well... it originally came out on an indie label called Coslit Records, but it's far better known for the more broadly distributed second pressing by Next Plateau Records.  Red Alert blew it up on his classic We Can Do This album.  I wrote about it a bit here, in a post on KC Flightt, as Sugar Bear was the one who actually beat both him and Chuck Chillout to the popular "Once In a Lifetime" break, but at some point, I should give that record its own post, because it has an equally great, "Once In a Lifetime"-less B-side.

But anyway, yeah.  That was a great record, but that's all he ever put out.  He did a couple guest spots, most notably on producer Richie Rich's I Can Make You Dance album, "Coming From London" ("can't you tell, from the way I walk and talk, I'm coming from New York? But what brought me to London: a homeboy that was really somethin'").  Apparently in the 90's he also did some token rap verses on R&B songs, none of which I'd ever heard of before until I checked out Sugar Bear's discogs page.  So I guess he did keep his hand in it for a while.  But even so, it's been a very a long time, and he has to be one of the last guys I was expecting to see jump dramatically back on the record with a brand new single.

And you bet your ass it's on vinyl.  "It's Hot" is the latest release from Hip Hop Be Bop Records, the guys that delivered Silver Fox's comeback last year.  If this becomes their regular schtick, mounting hot comebacks by the genre's most neglected legends, I will remain permanently enthralled.  I am 1000% on board.  Oh, and by the way, you may remember me mentioning in my post about their last record, that their catalog numbers curiously jumped from HHBB-7-001 to HHBB-7-003, which raised the question, what happened to the elusive HHBB-7-002?  Well, this is it - the single that was evidently originally planned to come out between the two Silver Fox 7"s.

Now, getting down to business, The Powerful Powerlord sounds as good as ever.  His distinctive voice sounds just the same, energetic as ever, and he's kicking a style very faithful to his '88 debut.  He hasn't missed a beat in all these twenty years.  "Stop sweatin' me; you're runnin' out of towels.  Who?  Look at you; now you're an owl.  This is the new kind of style, comin' from Strong Isle, so let's get biz.  You think it's a game and I bet that you're havin' fun; but there will only be one Powerful Powerlord Sugar Bear in the atmosphere, so you can't tear up nothin' but a piece of paper. There's no excuse for catchin' the vapors.  Gonna rip up the contract, do my contact and you best believe that I had to come back."

Production is once again provided by Clandestine, who knows just the kind of track to lay down for Sugar Bear's vocals: hardcore, but with a focus on high energy rather than street gruff.  Fresh drums, a heavy classical music-type loop and a deep horn tone reminiscent of The UBC Crew's ominous sounding "UB Style."  There's also a remix which is pretty cool when you focus on it, but overall feels a little flat.  The one thing that keeps this single from quite hitting the heights of the 1988 record is the samples.  This feels more made up of studio-created elements than raw, chunky samples; so it doesn't really have the soul of the original songs.  But the fact that it's still the original Sugar Bear holds it all together.  And of course, one element that really sold Sugar Bear's old school stuff was the tight scratching sequences he included on both songs.  And thankfully, that's just as present here, thanks to DJ Credit One, the same guy who also did Silver Fox's joints.  His cuts are really slick to the point where I don't understand why I'm not coming across him on more records; he should be getting a lot more work.

So this record's a 33 1/3 7" and comes in a colorful picture cover that recalls the logo and artwork from the original Coslit cover (even more rewarding for those of us who only have the Next Plateau version that came in a generic label cover, which is most of us).  I definitely recommend this for anyone everyone who's been bummed for decades that Sugar Bear only ever had the one single.  And Hip Hop Be Bop's got me on the edge of my seat for what they're going to come out with next.

Labels and Other Bits and Bobs

(Ready for something new? Check out the latest "EP" by Whirlwind D. Youtube version is here. And the "Labels" music video mentioned in my vid is here.)