The Old Style

I consider myself a pretty big early-era Beastie Boys fan so I was surprised as shit to stumble upon this bootleg claiming to feature demo tracks from the trio's watershed 1986 LP Licensed To Ill. Jaded from decades of shitty boots I didn't expect much but once "Rhymin' & Stealin'" hit the speakers it was like welcoming an old friend back home. Sure the mixes are rough and the CD quality is marginal but man it is fun hearing semi-alternate versions of the record's time-tested classics. Featuring two so-so deleted songs "I'm Down" (a Beatles cover, 'natch) and "Scenario" - the real treat are the demos. While most of the songs are basically the same they are clearly mixed differently and, how can I say, heavier (especially "No Sleep Till Brooklyn"). "Rhymin' & Stealin" now ends with a since-censored "I smoke my crack and I'm rhymin' & stealin'..." "Fight For Your Right" has a whole additional verse (!) tacked on at the end, "Hold It Now, Hit It" wraps up differently. While it would be great if this was an actual leaked demo of what Licensed was originally intended to be, I've since read that Blue Moon Records (or whoever really cut this together) compiled some demos of tracks that were altered after the fact, added some deleted songs and filled in the gaps with slightly modified album cuts to approximate an "almost was" record. Regardless of the history it's still a cool listen. And I hear there's a Paul's Boutique demo bootleg floating around out there as well. Stay tuned.

Time To Get Ill

South Central Samples

Well, with the upcoming Straight Outta Compton hitting theaters in a fortnight or two I thought I'd wrap up my sample compilations with the record that started it all. Pulling the material for this one was a real beast; the first thing I learned is that Dr. Dre had a lot of records in his archives and secondly, he produced in a significantly different way then DJ Ready Red of the Geto Boys did. While Ready Red tended to use pretty big chunks of his sample songs, Dre (and I guess Yella to an extent) used only the tiniest snippets from records. Of course there are a few exceptions ("Parental Discretion Iz Advised", "Express Yourself" and "I Ain't Tha 1") but for the most part only a quick drum loop, sound effect or guitar lick was lifted from source songs. And Dre also wasn't against modifying some of the material, case in point the classic drum beat to "Straight Outta Compton" is a significantly slowed down bridge riff from the Winstons' "Amen, Brother." With that being said I don't know if I would have been able to figure a lot of these out (or track them down) without a plethora of assistance from various sample libraries on internet.

Still, it was a little iffy adding some of the songs to the compilation. Including Beastie Boys' "The New Style" simply because Adrock's solitary one-second "Puttin' it on wax!" lyric is used in "8-Ball" was a bit of a game-time decision. Unlike the Geto Boys who culled most of their spoken word from Scarface, Dre used a ton of different records for quick vocal clips. Hell, I probably could have included the entire Eazy-Duz-It and N.W.A. And The Posse LPs as source material as well. Interestingly, a choice few of the sample tunes I included I am not actually sure when they are used in the respective song but I figure someone out there does. There are also a couple that I question their legitimacy - Fishbone's "Lyin' Ass Bitch' for one. Yeah, there's a loud "Biiiitch" yelled in both "A Bitch Iz A Bitch" and at the close of Fishbone's track but is it the same one....?

Once again, here's the song-by-song breakdown, and yes I added "A Bitch Iz A Bitch" simply because it is such a classic fucking song:

1. Straight Outta Compton
        • "Amen, Brother" by The Winstons
        • "You'll Like It Too" by Funkadelic
        • "Engine Number 9" by Wilson Pickett
        • "West Coast Poplock" by Ronnie Hudson And The Street People
        • "Burn Rubber On Me (Why You Wanna Hurt Me)" by The Gap Band
        • "Take Me To The Mardi Gras" by Bob James
2. Fuck Tha Police
        • "It's My Thing" by Marva Whitney
        • "The Boogie Back" by Roy Ayers Ubiquity
        • "Funky Drummer" by James Brown
        • "Funky President (People It's Bad)" by James Brown
        • "Feel Good" by Fancy
        • "Engine Number 9" by Wilson Pickett
3. Gangsta Gangsta
        • "Weak At The Knees" by Steve Arrington’s Hall Of Fame
        • "Be Thankful For What You Got" by William DeVaughn
        • "N.T." by Kool And The Gang
        • "Funky Worm" by Ohio Players
        • "Troglodyte (Cave Man)" by The Jimmy Castor Bunch
        • "Impeach The President" by The Honey Drippers
4. If It Ain't Ruff
        • "A Star In The Ghetto" by Average White Band & Ben E. King
        • "Don't Believe The Hype" by Public Enemy
        • "Ain't We Funkin' Now" by The Brothers Johnson
5. Parental Discretion Iz Advised
        • "I Turned You On" by The Isley Brothers
6. 8-Ball (Remix)
        • "Let's Get It On" by Marvin Gaye
        • "Paul Revere" by Beastie Boys
        • "Fight For Your Right" by Beastie Boys
        • "Girls" by Beastie Boys
        • "Be Thankful For What You Got" by William DeVaughn
        • "Yes, We Can Can" by The Pointer Sisters
        • "It's My Beat" by Sweet Tee And Jazzy Joyce
        • "My Melody" by Eric B. & Rakim
        • "West Coast Poplock" by Ronnie Hudson And The Street People
        • "Too Much Posse" by Public Enemy
7. Something Like That
        • "Take The Money And Run" by Steve Miller Band
        • "I Think I'd Do It" by Z.Z. Hill
        • "Down On The Avenue" by Fat Larry's Band
8. Express Yourself
        • "Express Yourself" by Charles Wright & The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band
9. Compton's N The House (Remix)
        • "Take Me To The Mardi Gras" by Bob James
        • "Funky Beat" by Whodini
        • "It's My Turn" by Dezo Daz (featuring D.J. Slip)
        • "Cinderfella Dana Dane" by Dana Dane
10. I Ain't Tha 1
        • "The Message (Inspiration)" by Brass Construction
11. Dopeman (Remix)
        • "Funky Worm" by Ohio Players
        • "Dance To The Drummer's Beat" by Herman Kelly & Life
        • "My Posse" by C.I.A.
        • "Freestyle Live (Edit Version)" by Roxanne (Fly) Shanté (featuring Biz Markie)
        • "I'm Bad" by L.L. Cool J
12. Quiet On Tha Set
        • "Rock Creek Park" by The Blackbyrds
        • "I Get Lifted" by KC And The Sunshine Band
        • "The Unsafe Bridge" by Laura Olsher
        • "Funky Drummer" by James Brown
        • "Take The Money And Run" by Steve Miller Band
13. Something 2 Dance 2
        • "You're The One For Me" by "D" Train
        • "Dance To The Music" by Sly & the Family Stone
        • "'Mighty Mouse' Theme" by The Sandpipers
        • "Change the Beat (French Rap)" by Beside
        • "ORCH5" by David Vorhaus
14. A Bitch Iz A Bitch (bonus)
        • "Papa Was Too" by Joe Tex
        • "Lyin' Ass Bitch" by Fishbone

Phew, what a list. Almost 4 hours of stuff. Y'know when I started writing this blog I was sure it was my swansong compilation but I gotta tell ya, after typing this all out I'm now sort of itching to do Eazy-Duz-It. But until then, sit back, crack a 40 or two of Old E and enjoy.

Part I                                        Part II                                        Part III

Suicidal Ad-Rock

Digging deep into the mid-90's Grand Royal archives comes a vinyl-only oddity featuring Beastie Boy Adam "Adrock" Horovitz and original Suicidal Tendencies drummer Amery Smith. Between the many B-movie/TV show samples are a bunch of two-minute tracks of Horovitz tinkering with his vintage synthesizer while Smith gets some exercise with a slew of repetitive breakbeats. There are no real vocals per se, just a bunch of silly samples here and there - usually repeating the song title. BS 2000 is best described as a proto version of what Crystal Method and the electronic genre were priming to develop over the next few years. While a good number of the songs are instantly forgettable, there are some real diamonds in the rough. "Baby" is a cool-ass fucking track and deserves to be sampled somewhere by someone. "Copsucker" (which could have easily fit in on the Beastie's Mix-Up instrumental LP) and the weirdly dark "Thrift King" are personal faves. Smith proficiently showcases the jazzy versatility he brought to the best hardcore album of all time and Adrock seems to be having a blast figuring out what his Casio SA-35 keyboard can do. Of course the record has a tough time standing up to the current electronic stuff out there today and most of this could be mimicked today by a 10-year old on his iPad but what can ya do. Enjoy.

Nobody Beats BS 2000

Garlic And Oil

For guys who were pushing 30 at the time there's a lot to respect about releasing a snotty hardcore EP right when the world was hoping for another Ill Communication. With a 11-minute running time the songs are in the NYHC style of "Heart Attack Man from the aforementioned Communication - it's too hard to dislike any of 'em since they're all so fucking fast. What I really dig about this album are the fucking solid breakdowns at the end of a couple of the tracks - "Brand New," "Deal With It" and especially "I Can't Stand It" - that song alone is worth the download. In case anyone cares I included "Soba Violence" from the Japanese release and "Light My Fire" (absolutely awful - for completists only) from a poorly-ripped Australian 2x7" vinyl. Enjoy.

Sabrosa

What'd you say your name was?

Way back when, when music was cool and Mike D had his own record label (Grand Royal for all the freshmen), the Beastie Boys added a buncha cool bands to their entourage including DFL, the Moistboyz and Ween(!). Also among this eclectic cartel was an all-girl funk quartet named Luscious Jackson. Featuring an ex-Beastie (circa the 1982 hardcore years) named Kate Schellenbach on drums, Luscious made phonophile history by claiming the auspicious spot as Grand Royal's inaugural release. The band spans a mix of styles on their debut 7-song ep, from cool Digable Planets-ish hip-hop to more folkish Indigo Girls-esque rock 'n' roll. You can probably guess I'm a fan of the former. The trip-hop flows real tight and sultry vocalist Jill Cunniff is pretty hot in that geekish sort of way even all these years later. Enjoy.

Let Yourself Get Down

White People Only For The Next Five Minutes Please....

The Beastie Boys dropped a bunch of singles off of their seminal Check Your Head (1992) album; all released on maxi-CD singles with great bonus track, remixes and the like. "Gratitude" was the last single to be released and came with a few live tunes ("Gratitude" and "Stand Together") as well as a remix of "Finger Lickin' Good". But the real treat is the unreleased Zamboni anthem "Honky Rink". Nice synthesizer funk, phat bass and humorous skating-rink-PA vocals make this a real treat.

Thank You