Here today, gone tomorrow. 15 minutes of fame or at least something that closely resembles fame. A quick, sizzling, greasy hot flash in the pan. At the time there is no way of knowing it, but throughout all facets of life and music especially, in this in particular case Hip-Hop is full of flashes.

Who knew that Chino XL played a role in the East coast-West coast rivalry, be it a small and trivial one, but a role none the less. Well I did, but I’m a junkie.  In 1996 New Jersey’s own Chino dropped a monster album entitled “Here To Say You All”, that I still bump to this day. The album was fronted by the single “No Complex” in which Chino commences to rip and shred apart rappers, celebrities and any other public figure worth mentioning. The line “I’m trying not to get F**ked, like Tupac in jail” is the quote that got Chino involved in the bi-coastal beef. Music was in the family, Chino is the nephew of Parliament Funkadelic’s Bernie Worrell. Best know for his MC battles, freestyling on the Sway & Tech radio show and extreme egotism. Chino moved to Hollywood, got buff, released a couple more albums, nothing to hot and pursued acting. These pursuits led to some cameos in Reno 911. Pooooooooof.

Pink: Chino XL – No Complex (download)

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The west coast Project Blown clique that included all the Freestyle Fellowship crew is how The Nonce first came to my attention. Also, the single “Mix Tapes” video on Yo MTV Raps was in rotation enough to catch my ear. In 1995 they released “World Ultimate” which had a laid back, jazzy old school vibe. It was OK, nothing special but “Mix Tapes” has always been classic to me. I think they released something else, but honestly I just don’t think they had enough talent to hang around. One of the members was found dead on the side of a freeway, cause of death unknown, but investigators say it could have been career related. Pooooooooooooooof.

Pink: The Nonce – Mix Tapes (download)

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The SD50 (Simulated Dummies) production crew led by Dante Ross backed the Long Island group Hard 2 Obtain, which put out “Ism & Blues” back in 1994. The whole album is solid as hell and is a summertime staple in my rotation. A ton of talent, banging beats, raw vocals and POOOOOOF!!!

Stink: Hard 2 Obtain – Joker’s World (download)

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Until next time,
Love, Peace & Chicken Grease.
PoppaDop.

In the early 90’s Gansta rap was exploding on the west coast. Young Zito got caught up in it, even with having a heavy east coast bias at the time. A long list of groups came and went along the way, while some were versatile enough to stick around longer than others. I mean crap, Ice-T is on Law & Order and Ice Cube is doing family films! If you woulda told me that back in the day, I woulda had to pull out the gat and start pistol whippin’.

My group was Comptons Most Wanted. Fronted by MC Eiht, with MC Chill and DJ Ant Capone for the 1st album, production by DJ Slip and at times The DJ Unknown would contribute. DJ Mike T would replace Ant after the debut release in 1990 “It’s a Compton Thang” and MC Chill would be unavailable, due to incarceration. The overall style was unique and fresh coming from that era, Eiht’s voice and flow was unmistakable and most importantly it was Gangsta as all hell!

Comptons Most Wanted – One Time Gafflem Em Up (download) -It’s a Compton Thang 1990

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The group gained popularity with the song “Going Up In The Hood” which was featured on the “Boyz in the Hood” movie and soundtrack. Even with the roster trimmed down, the formula stayed the same, gangsta beats and gangsta rhymes.

Comptons Most Wanted – Raised in Compton (download) -Straight Checkn ‘Em 1991

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C.M.W.’s 3rd effort “Music To Drive By” is probably my favorite. It has a rebuttal to Bronx artist Tim Dog’s “Fuck Compton” called “Who’s Xxxxing Who?” A second installment of “Def Wish” which is directed towards an ongoing feud with fellow Compton artist DJ Quik. The project included “N 2 Deep” featuring Scarface and slew of other G’d out tracks. Maybe the most famous of them, “Hood Took Me Under” was featured on Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas in 2004.

Comptons Most Wanted – Hood Took Me Under (download) – Music To Drive By 1992

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After the 3rd C.M.W. album the group split and MC Eiht went solo. Eiht’s solo efforts came off very conventional and predictable, something was missing. In 2000 the group reformed and released “Represent” and way later in 2006 “Music To Gang Bang” neither selling well, nor ever reaching my ears. At the time, from 1990-1992 Compton’s Most Wanted flew a little under the radar during the Gangsta rap boom, but if you didn’t already know, now ya do. Geah!

– Zito

Days are getting shorter, well they’re really still all 24 hours long but they seem to be getting shorter with less and less daylight. Where the hell did summer go? It seems like just yesterday I was getting excited about my favorite season being on the horizon and just like that, the door is slowing closing. A summer past, means we are all that much older when the next comes around, no matter how much we stay young at heart. Summer as kid was sooooo friggin awesome. Cruising on the Huffy, late nights and no school but that flew by too. What is summer’s deal?

Pink: Supersci featuring Remedeeh – Get! (download)

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I truly believe there is a correlation between our cold ass winters and the Midwest work ethic title. If you have to get up an hour early to shovel, scrape off the car and fight those elements, you probably can handle more than most 24-7 fish taco and sandal lovers can. Don’t get me wrong, I wish I didn’t have to… I’m just saying that I think it gives us a little edge on most. Plus we have to truly show appreciation for what we do get, because it doesn’t take very long to remind us that we are in fact in Wisconsin.

Pink: The Grouch – Favorite Folks (download)

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Did you get to do everything you wanted to do this summer? Take that one last trip you wanted to. Visit those friends you thought for sure you would. Pick up that hobby, get a ton of sun or spend time with friends & family. Don’t worry, nobody ever checks off everything on his or her list… plus there is always next summer.

Stink: O.C. Smith – Little Green Apples (download)

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Next week is getting’ Gangsta.

Zito-

The year is 1989.
George Bush the 1st takes over in the white house from Reagan as the 41st President, 11 million gallons of oil spill out of the Exxon Valdez and Tienanmen Square happens. The first of 24 Global Positioning System satellites are placed into orbit, South Carolina gets hit by Hurricane Hugo causing $7 billion in damages and the Berlin Wall comes down.  The self proclaimed greatest of all time, Ladies Love Cool James hits us with this.

Pink: LL Cool J – Why do you think they call it dope? (download)

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The Sega Genesis is released in North America, The Simpsons first full length episode is showed on FOX and Seinfeld premieres. Pete Rose agrees to a lifetime ban from baseball and scientist announce 1989 the warmest year on record and so global warming and the greenhouse effect is born. Also that year the pokadotted boy genius gave us this.

Pink: Kwame – (The Rhythm) (download)

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A postage stamp is 25 cents, a gallon of gas is 97 CENTS!!!!!!! Chris Brown and Feddy Adu are born, while Ted Bundy was executed. Hollywood brought us Ghost Busters II, Uncle Buck and the very first Batman. Big Daddy Kane brought us this.

Stink: Big Daddy Kane – (Lean on me Remix) (download)

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89 the number, another summer (get down) sound of the funky drummer!!
-Chuck D

– Zito.

Artist Profile: Masta Ace

Brooklyn born Masta Ace has long been an underrated, under appreciated and one of my all time favorite artists. In 1988 Marley Marl’s “Juice Crew” which also included Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane and Craig G debuted Ace in “The Symphony” a hip-hop classic. Ace’s 1990 “Take A Look Around” album featured tracks like “Music Man” and “Me & The Biz” but it was until 1993 that I began to really take notice. “Slaughter House” brilliantly mocked gangsta rap, which at the time was booming out of control and it also matched up Ace with his new crew “The INC” The new crew mainly featured female MC Paula Perry and rapper/porn star Lord Digga. Front to back, beginning to end, a solid album that did not leave my boombox for a long time and still gets play.

Pink: Masta Ace – Boom Bashin

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1995’s “Sittin’ on Chrome” was Ace’s most commercially successful album, powered by the title track, which was remix from the previous album.

After some time off, “The INC” split and bouncing a handful of singles around a bunch of different labels Ace dropped “Disposable Arts” in 2001. It’s a story-based album that places the Masta in a Hip-Hop college scenario and is done very well. The last track “No Regrets” hints towards his possible retirement.

Pink: Masta Ace – No Regrets

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In 2004 those rumors where put to rest with another story-based effort, which was a prelude to “Disposable Arts” called “A Long Hot Summer”. This album stayed in my car stereo for a not so long mild Wisconsin summer and the track “Beautiful” is just that.

Stink: Masta Ace – Beautiful

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Now a days Ace has given up the solo artist life and has partnered with Punchline, Wordsworth and Milwaukee’s own Strick as eMC. He’s still around and still making bangin’ tunes, if you haven’t before check it out, if you have… then you already know.

– Benzito

My apologize for getting a little heavy last week but I needed to vent, all done. Thanks.

Many conversations I have include the following question? “So, do all you do is listen to hip-hop?” I do in fact listen to a lot of hip-hop, most of which I think is good, at least to this ear. However, don’t sell this guy short, I can’t be painted into a corner so easily… maybe into a room at best. Cultured, no. A bit more diverse than most give me credit for, you bet your ass.

In the morning sometimes it’s Motown.

Pink: Edwin Starr – 25 Miles (download)

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The new Portishead is hot.

Pink: Portishead – The Rip (download)

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Death Proof the movie O.K., Death Proof soundtrack BANGIN’

Stink: April March – Chick Habit (download)

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Short and Sweet.
Peace-
The Village President Benzito

People are bitter…well lets just say a lot people are bitter a lot of the time. Not the bitter like sour to the taste buds, but the bitter like I’m extremely jealous of what you possess and the happiness you have. “Give me that!!” Naaaaaaa sorry you can’t have it. You can’t take it, buy it and/or inherit it… you earn it, it takes some work and a little common sense. We all know and see those people, we try not to associate with them but sometimes nature deems that we must endure… we must be tested. We do our best to limit these encounters, but there are times when patience is pushed and feelings can quickly lead towards…

Pink: Apathy – Fuck You

Believe you me, this cat right here has been bitter has hell on more then a few occasions, I’ve been jealous, I’ve been spiteful…but it passes. You put that shit in check. (fist punching open hand “checkem” Charlie Murphy style)  Some people can’t hit the breaks, there is no stop valve… all day raw fucking sewage. Rich people that are pissed confuses me, in the same way that there is over weight poor people… its mind boggling to me, I know it really isn’t. But I digress. There are times that call for flotation devices (I recommend noodles) breeze over the nonsense, let that negative garbage slide, laugh it off… its tough sometimes cause these a-holes can be persistent.

Pink: The Cool Kids – A Little Bit Cooler

Its learned, I get it. Its environment, conditions and upbringing…OK. Fine, I still don’t want to deal with your shit. Bitter adults are like younger bullies, except they don’t take your lunch money. They guilt trip, manipulate & power play. They try to control others and what they have, cause they can’t manage themselves and their own suck hole surroundings. I’m done buying in. The more you wiggle, the more the spider laughs. Time to step back and say friggin forget it I’m…

Stink: Moe Pope & Headnodic – Magnificent

Thanks for letting me vent, you really didn’t have a choice…but thanks anyway.
The Village President BENZITO-

I’m really not friends with people who don’t like sandwiches. It’s not something that can be easily hidden. It is kinda one of those that you notice right away in someone’s face, look into their eyes and you can tell…”This MutherFucker don’t like sandwiches!?!”
Even if John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich never got hungry sitting at that card game(which was cribbage), I still woulda found myself noonish, in front of a whole wheat homemade turkey club, chasing it down with some cold milk.  They are good.

Pink: Beatnuts – Sandwiches (download)

I like to think that great people did and do great things while eating sandwiches. It’s a national secret that the Declaration of Independence has a brown mustard stain on it.  I like to think Bob Ross is in heaven right now painting pictures of happy little sandwiches, maybe a tuna salad with tomato and lettuce in a pita…who knows. A friend IIII’s hipped me to Pastrami and Swiss on rye from Schlotzsky’s Deli…I’m forever in debt. Another friend Clay hipped me to this…

Pink: Detroit Grand Pubahs – Sandwiches (download)
Roast Beef, Honey Ham, Smoked Turkey, Chicken or Tuna Salad, Salami…
Put it on wheat, wonder, english muffin, bagel, wrap that bitch for all I care!
Top it which lettuce, tomato, mayo, bacon, pickles, mustard, black olives & red onion…
Don’t over complicate things. You are not cool cuz you made a mango salsa for a veal loaf falafel, I might kick you in the pills and so would the Grouch…

Stink: Oscar the Grouch – B Sandwich Song (download)

– Benzito

[ Don’t Forget to check out Team Sandwich… www.teamsandwich.com – Ed.]

(The Thursday Shocker is a new series by none other than Tunawax’s own Benzito. By now everyone should be familliar with “the shocker“and know that sometimes the third is good… sometimes it’s not, it’s always a surprise. -Ed.)

How did that blood pumping fist of an organ in the center of our chest called a heart get all mixed up with the concept of love? Maybe I love you with all of my Amygdale in my Limbic system (the part of the brain that controls a lot of emotions, mood & pleasure) didn’t have that jazzy ring to it. Truth is there is no 1 part of our gray matter that controls love. There are a lot of studies & theories on the topic, but the only thing I know for sure is that it’s in there somewhere.

One more thing for sure is that love songs and Hip-Hop is normally a prescription for mud butt & upset stomach. L.L.’s “I need love” makes me gag more then a 17-year-old supermodel, and not in the good way. Some have done it well in the past, Gangstarr’s “Love Sick” & Pharcyde’s “Passing Me By” are staples in the area. Is it the macho bravado in Hip-Hop that makes it so difficult? I don’t know. Hip-Hop is emotional, but trust me it’s a hard topic to wanna make public and then to execute it well is a whole other storey.

Scarub (of Living Legends) does it well…

Pink: Scarub – Wishful Thinking

Speaking of love, I have always loved Aceyalone’s “All Balls Don’t Bounce” album. It’s solid as a boner in petrified concrete. Plus the times, people, and occasions when I first started to bump it where good times and make me smile. The track selected is not the obvious “Annalillia?” a track for some reason EVERYONE was stuck on, I was not, this was my joint…

Pink: Aceyalone – Makeba

Thumb down, the 1st & 2nd are extended, the 3rd digit has its finger print on the palm, the next one is ready whether you are or not.

Stink: El-P – T.O.J.

– Benzito

(Stay tuned for Fingerbanger Friday: Love vs. Love)

(The Thursday Shocker is a new series by none other than Tunawax’s own Benzito. By now everyone should be familliar with “the shocker“and know that sometimes the third is good… sometimes it’s not, it’s always a surprise. -Ed.)

Its the dawning of an age and for a plethora of reasons I missed the boat. At the point my lunch $$$ had to pay bills not new albums, my ears never stopped listening, my collection of music just ceased growing. Alas!!! Welcome to this century caveman. Needless to say I’ve been playing a bit of catch up these days. Old school jimmies thought to be forgotten, some new dopeness and all the slippages threw the preverbal crackages…

L.A.’s Styles of Beyond, MC’s Ryu & Tak, DJ Cheapshot & Producer VinScully make up the crew. First heard’em on the last House of Pain album, which is actually really good. More recently they worked on the Fort Minor (of Linkin Park) album, before that an album entitled “Razor Tag” was a DJ Green Lantern mixtape. In 2003 “MegaDef” was a metal sample filled release, but way back in 2000 they dropped “2000 Fold” & its filled with hot lava…

Pink: Styles Of Beyond – Skullyanamayshun

The Brooklyn super group Boot Cam Clik is still doing work and doing good work.
Buckshot, Smif-N-Wessun’s Tek & Steele & Heltah Skeltah’s Ruk & Rock hold down the majority of the framework now a days. Some good, some alright stuff, but it might be just me (which it’s not) I’ve always dug this camp. Rok, who has one of the sickest voices in all of Hip-Hop isn’t on this track but I’ve been bumpin to this beat for a couple days now…

Pink: Boot Camp Clik – The Hustle

Back in 05 when I was wasted at a bar watching the Brewers, when they really sucked!! The GZA & Muggs put out Grandmasters. I’ll be honest, I was disappointed when I stole this whole album from the Ole Glory Hole a.k.a. the World Wide Web for free. I had to delete most of the tracks cuz they weren’t up to snuff for my little hard drive and my expectations. I dig this shit…

Stink: Dj Muggs Vs Gza – Smothered Mate (remix)

2 in the pink, 1 in the stink… PoppaDop