Farewell Fondle ‘Em Fossils!

Bobbito & Fondle ‘Em

The Cenobites (Nomad 10-7 And X-74) feat. Bobbito-Kick A Dope Verse
Scienz Of Life-Powers Of Nine Ether (Distorted Views Of Life)
DJ Eli, Breeze, Q-Unique, Godfather Don, J Treds, M.F. Doom-Fondle ‘Em Fossils

from Farewell Fondle ‘Em (2001, Def Jux)

I’ve slept on my blog duty for a minute now, so here’s my latest belated contribution. In 1995 Bobbito Garcia founded the independent hiphop label, and up to 2001, he owned and operated it’s progression. It’s an infamous name of the underground, that never really got widespread shine. Bobbito and his label were responsible for introducing artists such as MF DOOM & Grimm, Scienz Of Life, Cage, The Arsonists among others.

This was obviously a label, or a collection of artists who would never get mass media attention, or heavy corporate radio rotation. And this mix marks the life and death of this weird, edgy label. There’s nothing commercial about a single facet of this mixtape from the curious freestyle from Kool Keith, or Bobbito featuring himself on the Cenobites track “Kick A Dope Verse”. Freestyles and weird interludes complete this mix, and the list of obscure artists carries on through the CD. A clear highlight is the freestyle cipher between El-P and J Treds, one half of Indelible MC’s. MHz, Juggaknots, Jakki The Mota Mouth & Y@K Ballz all also feature.

There’s no way to really describe this mix, without hearing the whole thing front to back, so I’m going to include “Kick A Dope Verse” by the Cenobites, “The Powers Of Nine Ether” by Scienz Of Life and the final track on the album “Fondle ‘Em Fossils” which features DJ Eli, Breeze, Q Unique, Godfather Don, J Treds & MF Doom!! Something to note is, none of these tracks carry a similar sound, signifying the dynamic sound of this label, no signature sound, and I think that’s dope!

Bobbito is currently launching a new label; Fruitmeat Records, and that’s destined to be the next chapter.

-Matthew Benson

A tribute to Paul C. part 1

Black Rock & Ron

Stop The World
Gettin’ Large
My Hometown
(from Stop the World, RCA 1989)

Alright, if you don’t know about the legendary Paul C by now, you probably need a late pass. I got one when I read this beautiful Dave Thompkins
piece courtesy of The Crunkster.
In a nutshell, Paul McKasty aka Paul C. aka Paul McNasty has helped to lay down the blueprint for sampling hiphop today, being Large Professor’s mentor, and would set the standards of “chopping” and “panning” drums as Premier and Pete Rock were still schoolin. His discography ranges from Ultramagnetic, Organized Konfusion, Latifah, to Rakim- talk about serious. On a personal aesthetic note, Paul C was straight bboy flava.
His approach to make cohesive and to combine different samples to create a new sound is unparalleled. On the opening tribute I feature one of the more off-the-radar groups he laced with, Black Rock & Ron. Whom the trio had made some charts in the U.K. Not so much info off hand. Enjoy.

Jamal Fades Em All

Jamal

Fades Em All
Keep It Real
Genetic For Terror (feat. Erick Sermon, Redman, Keith Murray and L.O.D.)
from Last Chance, No Breaks (1995, Rowdy)

“Who the fuck wanna see JAMAL, I Fades em all!!” That set the tone for a cat who grew from a juvenile mic thug to hardcore rhymer in less than 2 years. He used to share the mic as part of Illegal alongside Lil’ Malik. Yall might remember them from such standout tracks as “Head or Gut” and “We Getz Busy”. These were the 2 cats who used to diss Kriss Kross and Quo upon command. Around 94, Jamal joined Def Squad and began work on the “Last Chance, No Breaks” effort. Jamal comes thru with a lot of energy and roughneck lyricism. The album has some stand out guests like Erick Sermon, Keith Murray, Redman and L.O.D. Even George Clinton (!) made an appearance on an album cut. The production is straight platinum underground funk with the green eyed bandit, Easy Mo Bee, Rockwilder and the funk doctor spock Redman behind the boards. Here is 4 of the dopest cuts on the album. Bump this loud while you mob down the boulevard!

-Audio1

The Natural

Mic Geronimo

Masta I.C. (feat. Royal Flush)
Shit’s Real
Men Vs. Many (feat. OC and Royal Flush)
Time To Build (feat. DMX, Ja Rule and Jay-Z)
from The Natural (1995, Blunt Recordings)

Whenever I think of Mic Geronimo, I think back to Kevvy Kev on The Drum and skipping school for free rides on BART to SF. Mic Geronimo struck down hard with this first effort “The Natural”, where he weaves tales of the day to day hustle on the blocks of Queens. He spits with a clean and thorough rhyming approach and is backed by some incredible production from the likes of Buckwild (Masta IC), The Beatminerz (Men Vs. Many) and Irv Gotti (Shit’s Real / Time To Build) amongst others. O.C. and Royal Flush appear on several tracks and you also get DMX, Jay-Z and Ja Rule before they blew up. That’s the Irv Gotti connection going on there. Ja was kinda aight when he was in Cash Money Clik. Some good times when this album dropped and its always good to go back and reminisce on some ol’ grimey boombap. Enjoy.

-Audio1

Taste The Secret… with a Meatshake

Ugly Duckling

Abigail Silk
La Revolucion
Rio De Janeiro

from Taste The Secret (2003, Emperor Norton)

Its good to know that throughout the thug mentalists and extreme braggadocio that is rampant in hiphop, There is at least a group that could sit back and laugh their ass of at everyone else. We are speaking of Ugly Duckling, who’s retro style mashes up funny 60’s parodies, 80’s old skool hiphop and fuses it with a fresh soundtrack for today’s standards. They made the playlist on many occasions on the now defunct Skratchlab Radio. Andy and Dizzy trade off funky fresh rhyme styles as Young Einstein cuts up the choiciest beats. He takes cue from many genres and backgrounds as these 3 tracks I post prove his versatility in production. They seem to be happy go lucky types who spit it the way it should be, as it happens. They worked at a fast-food spot named Meatshake and If any of you have ever worked Food Service, You’d probably have hella funny stories to rhyme about. Taste The Secret… I dunno about Meat in my Milkshake… It might be better than yours!

-Audio1

Fresno State Of Mind

Planet Asia

Medicine
Stick & Move (feat. Prodigy)
from Medicine/Stick&Move 12″ (2005, Battle Axe)

Golden Age
from Golden Age 12″ (2003, Threshold)

Bringin’ It Back (Remix) (feat. 427)
from Bringin’ It Back 12″ (1999, Blackberry)

Someone hit me recently to do a post on Planet Asia, so here ya go homie. You all know him well… The phenom to put Central Cali on the map with his wicked rhyme flow and metaphors galore. I got his latest singles and 2 of his earlier joints. The Cali Agent music speaks for itself.

-Audio1

Mario Dones (Mixed by Audio1)

Mario Dones
Accidents Happen (Mixed By Audio1)
Download

[Tracklist]
Intro (Nick Tha 1nda sings)
Mario Dones-Accidents Happen (Produced by Keelay for The Sole Vibe)
Mario Dones-Sweet 16 (Produced by Shortaay)
Mario Dones-Too Many (Produced by Classik)
Metah feat. Mario Dones-Above The Clouds (Produced by Spen for Wax Academics)
Mario Dones feat. Nxt Lvl & Eye M Woman-Rise To The Occasion (Produced by Keelay for The Sole Vibe)
Mario Dones-Tell Me (Produced by Nick Tha 1da for Eth Nick Productions)
Mario Dones-Sole Vibe Drop (Produced by Keelay for The Sole Vibe)
Slo-Mo featuring Mario Dones-Get Her (Produced by mo0 for Beat Fanatic Productions)
Brian’s Lament (Interlude) (Performed by Brian Francis)
AV featuring J Fish & Mario Dones-My City (Produced by Keelay for The Sole Vibe)
Mario Dones feat. EMS-Touch Down (produced by Keelay for The Sole Vibe)
Mario Dones-Get Loose (Produced by Zaire)
Dante Jenkins (Interlude) (Performed and Produced by Zaire)
Mario Dones-Too Many (Midnight NeMix) (Produced by NeMo for Strangaz Productions)
Chapter 13 featuring Mario Dones-Microphone Hands On Experience (Neblina Records Contest Entry)
Laif featuring Lexicon & Mario Dones-Obstacles (Produced by A Minor)
Mario Dones-Listen (Produced by Origimoz)
Mario Dones-Feels Good (Bonus Track)

So 3 weeks ago (recap), I hit yall off with an exclusive joint from my folks Mario Dones from the Soul Vibe Family, The Accidents Happen mixtape. I finally got my ass up and put together a mixed version of the Accidents Happen release. I rearranged the order of the tracks (somewhat) and came up with some smooth/clean mixes and clever blends of Mario’s instrumentals and acapellas. The interludes are straight comedy. While many albums out there are boring, Mario breaks the monotony of others by bringin’ a comedic element in with fresh rhymes and ill beats to the tables. I got to end it with yet another unreleased exclusive from Mr. Dones. Grab the Original here and check out the mixed version by yours truly. Don’t sleep on Soul Vibe family. They got some great efforts from all their members including Slo-Mo (check out his mixtape too), the awesome production styles of Keelay, Zaire, J Fish, The Whooligan and of course, The Dones MC. Visit their site for more details.

-Audio1

Between the blends.

Rob Swift vs. Rhazel
from Soulful Fruit (1997, Stones Throw)

Whenever I listen to an old cd it’s like slicing a quick snapshot to where you were at in life.

It was your soundtrack per say to what you were doin, who you were, reminds of why you listened to THAT ONE album.

my early hiphop mixtapes/cds are all like that. Granted, 1 out of 3 times I would be scratching my head to what I was listening to– downtempo original jazz and funk samples blended when I wanted intensive uptempo scratching, breakbeats of obscure bongo bombarded/ horn flooded rhythms when all i wanted was electro.

I was a freshman in HS when I got my hands on Rob Swift’s “Soulful Fruit.” Amongst the current dj-related releases of the day, “Return of the DJ II“, Q-bert’s “Preskool Breakmix,” Rob’s Swift’s “Soulful Fruit” was wayyyy more downtempo and more soulfully organic than what was comin out. And I honestly thought it was a little borin. But now, at least for me, it represents the strong NYC tradition of the complete mixtape blueprint—blending original samples with acapellas, full of cohesive skits, conceptual intros, and classic routines with premium selection of course. Yah, you could say this mix was oldschool, but not the oldschool I was lookin for at the time. About a couple of years later, I could say this is some truly dope shit. Here is a classic battle between Rob Swift and Rahzel.

So it’s been a journey for me, although challenging to find, I truly enjoy having these cd’s like mirrors of my old naive familiar self–obscure, outcasted from the mainstream to dig for somethin that felt way more deeper. I think my life finally caught on to the b-side.

-BoogaLeo

Ever consider therapy?

Romanowski & Doze Green
aka Aromadozeski Therapy
“Strudel Strut”
from Romanowski’s Party In My Pants LP (2004, Future Primitive)

Quick late night drop for you folks. And this DROPS, one of my all-time fav b-boy joints, “Strudel Strut” was a sleeper single comin from one half of the eclectic funky DJ Romanowski and the other half legendary bboy and visual graff artist Doze Green aka Devious Doze. This was featured both on Romanowski’s LP and the earlier Future Primitive Sound compilation. Peace.

-BoogaLeo

1st of Tha Month

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony

1st Of Tha Month (DJ Premier Remix)
from East 1999 12″ (1995, Ruthless)

Thuggish Ruggish Bone
Foe Tha Love Of $
from Creepin On Ah Come Up (1994, Ruthless)

We were pretty hyped on the homies from Cleveland known as Bone Thugs-N-Harmony back in 1994. Krayzie, Wish, Layzie and Bizzy struck hard with some ultra dark, fast lyrical delivery and harmonies like a street choir. With so many classics to choose from nowadays, It was hard to narrow it down to these 3 choices. Of course, today is August 1st 2005, so 1st of The Month was an obvious one. Wish I had my rent money together… Luckily the manager aint sweatin’ it til Payday.. The DJ Premier remix is a definite banger that rarely gets the play or time of day for the exception of the DJ who plays rare/B-Side cuts. I also included Thuggish Ruggish Bone and Foe Tha Love Of $, featuring the late Eazy-E. Both of these were some of their biggest hits and were released on their 2nd Album…. “Creepin On A Come Up” was their first commercially available album. Their first album was entitled “Faces Of Death” and was available at swap meets and Ma&Pa shops that stocked indie releases.

It’s crazy that they are still around, even though Mr. Bizzy Bone went off the deep end on the religious tip several months back, but that’s another story. Their music withstands the test of time and even though its thug related, You cant front on how dope it is. It was something about Eazy-E that made him bring out some incredible talent. Let’s not forget, NWA, Bone, Above The Law, The DOC, JJ Fad, Blood of Abraham, Penthouse Players Clique, Blood of Abraham and Atban Klann (now known as the Black Eyed Peas)…. Enjoy these joints and Pay your rent.

-Audio1