Atban and The Peas: The Fall, The Route Back

Black Eyed Peas

BEP Empire
Empire Strikes Black (feat. Esthero)
from Bridging The Gap (2000, Interscope)

Like That (feat. Q-Tip, Talib Kweli, Cee-Lo and John Legend)
from Monkey Business (2005, Interscope)

After digesting the raw stylings of the Atbann Klann and an early BEP joint, you must be expecting a slump in the quality of the upcoming tracks. That’s understandable. “Bridging The Gap”, played host to a number of enticing guest spots, including a guest production spot for Preemo on “BEP Empire”. It also staged the formal emergence of Toronto vocalist Esthero, who was apparently supposed to join the Black Eyed Peas, but, for whatever reason didn’t. I’ve included the “Empire Strikes Black”, which was a hidden track on this BEP release and It shows what could have been of BEP with Esthero.

Fast-forward to 2003/04 and Fergie has become an uneasy addition. Prior to this, Interscope release the Black Eyed Peas over their humble record sales. The group sign to A&M records. They released the musically/lyrically terrible song “Where’s The Luv” and it became an anthem for the pop kids.. BEP had seemingly turned their backs on everything the art form entailed…OK, the message was a positive one but the song was the personification of bubblegum. Wack single after wack single stormed the charts and in 2005 they released their second A&M record “Monkey Business” which played host to some horrendous tracks “My Humps” & “Don’t Phunk With My Heart” recieving enormous media acclaim.

Discard all of that for a moment though, discard Fergie and listen to “Like That”, a b-boy posse cut sounding joint, overshadowed by dreary club bangers, and hip pop cross over tracks. “Like That” will make you wonder… Q Tip & Talib Kweli drop lyrics and Cee-Lo & John Legend perform the hook… and it’s actually fire!! The Peas hold it down here, without the inclusion of Fergie… You might not think this track is the dopest, but compare, if you will, with their recent singles, and try and deny that “Like That” is a gem.

Enjoy!

-Matt B (Its cold as fuck in Londontown)

Atban and The Peas: The Rise, The Level

Atban Klann / Black Eyed Peas

Atban Klann
Mountain Top
Open Your Mind
from Grassroots (1992, Ruthless Records / Unreleased)

Black Eyed Peas
Fallin’ Up
from Behind The Front (1998, Interscope)

Put aside the terrible mental image Black Eyed Peas conjurs in this day and age and cast yourself back to the mid 90s, when Apl.De.Ap & Will.1.X formed the group Atban Klann (Atban meaning A Tribe Beyond a Nation), the duo had been close since the 8th grade when they were performing with L.A. BBoy crew Tribal Nation. Eazy E surprisingly signed them up for Ruthless Records and they recorded an album which was never released. It featured a fair mix of computer programming and input from a live band. It became even more bleak for the Klann when in ‘95 label owner Eazy E tragically died.

Will & Apl.de.ap decided to form the Black Eyed Peas, including dancer and singer Jaime Gomez, otherwise known as Taboo. In ‘98 they released their debut album “Behind The Front” which only really recieved critical acclaim. When their second album “Bridging The Gap” dropped, It failed to impress a wide spread audience… Interscope needed answers. This is the first of a 2 post series, and here we have two unreleased Atban Klann tracks “Mountain Top” & “Open Your Mind”, as well as the primary track from “Behind The Front” – “Falling Up”.

Enjoy.

-Matt B (How Is Life In London?)

Straight Outta AFRICA

(Akim, Dave Funkenklein (RIP), Dumi Right)

Straight from the Mothership
More Damage
Shadow’s Legitimate Mix
from Brothers from the Mother (2005, Glow in the Dark re-release)

Zimbabwe Legit’s story is one for Hiphop history. Around the golden age, two b-boys, Dumi Right and Akim Ndlovu, in Zimbabwe would be getting down with Hiphop through a weekly half hour radio show. They corresponded with the late great Dave Funkenklein of Hollywood BASIC records to be put on. Afterall, during Hiphop’s Afrocentric moves, how fitting would it be for two brothers from Africa to actually drop a record?

Eventually, Akim moved to the States for college, I think it was VA, and Dumi later joined him in the summer of 1990. Funkenklein kept his word on hearin them and eventually laced a demo tape with production from Mr. Lawnge of Black Sheep. The group suffered from bad PR moves as the major label didn’t know how to sell them. Zimbabwe Legit would never break out as Funkenklein passed away along with his vision–Funkenklein put on groups like Organized Konfusion, Charizma and Peanut Butter Wolf, The Lifer’s Group (real life in-mates), BooYAA TRIBE, and Raw Fusion before passing away from cancer in 1994.

Fast forward to 2005, Zimbabwe Legit gets a reissue with Glow in the Dark. As of now, Dumi Right has been makin some news as Of Unknown Origin and dropped an album recently. So here’s some tracks from that re-issue. It’s a slice of golden boom-bap, fast-rap, and African pride. Most of their tracks deal with the same issues from that era–racism and rhymin fresh. They flip it with their own flava rappin and translatin their native tongues on “More Damage”. Some of the tracks even sample Fela elements. Don’t sleep on the Dj Shadow track too, I think that was his first production put on wax.

As always, the Japanese get the premium bonus shit. So if anyone is kind enough to offer “Siyabong” and “Create the State” that would be dope!

-BoogaLeo

Happy Birthday BrokeBBoys / JVC Force

JVC FORCE

Puppy Love Stream / Download
Strong Island Stream / Download
from Doin’ Damage (1988, B-Boy Records)

A Musical Sample Stream / Download
from Force Field (1990, Idlers/Warlock)

One year ago Today, We started the BrokeBBoys with this post. We managed to survive one year… Amongst the many lil blog beefs, internet shit talkers and the ever growing competition, We managed to hold a small but dedicated audience of hiphop heads who continued to look out for our posts and musical choice. Added one more regular poster to our team and even got ourselves in a dope article on SF Weekly… So here we are, As BrokeBBoys celebrates its 1st year on the intraweb and we give some shine to JVC Force once again… They need no introduction. If you dont know, Get yourself acquainted right now… Curt Cazal is still doing his thing and AJ ROK, The hardest working man in hiphop next to Rap Attack’s Nasty Nes. Here’s to another year of The BrokeBBoys.

-Audio1

High Skool Classiks v5.0 by Audio1

Download | 160kbps MP3 | 90MB | 78:52

Tracklisting
Intro
Fat Joe feat. Big Pun, Jadakiss, Nas and Raekwon-John Blaze (Atlantic)
Keith Murray-The Most Beautifullest Thing In This World (Jive)
Mad Skillz-The Nod Factor (Remix) (Big Beat)
Outkast-Jazzy Belle (LaFace)
Eminem-97 Bonnie & Clyde (Jazzy Jeff Remix) (Shady)
Mobb Deep-Hell On Earth (Front Lines) (Loud)
Group Home-Livin’ Proof (PayDay/FFRR)
Vakill feat. JUICE-Out The Speakers (Bronx Science)
The Beatnuts-Reign Of The Tec (Relativity)
Consequence feat. Q-Tip-The Consequence (Lone Ranger)
Mark Ronson feat. Saigon-DiduntDidunt (Elektra)
Gang Starr feat. Total-Discipline (Virgin)
OC-King Of New York (OC Records)
Sonja Blade-Look 4 The Name (Jive)
The Fugees-Ready or Not (Salaam’s Remix) (Columbia)
Da Youngstas-Mad Props (East/West)
The Notorious B.I.G.-One More Chance (Bad Boy)
Chi Ali-No Surrender, No Retreat (White Label)
Organized Konfusion-Stress (Extra P Remix) (Hollywood Basic)
House Of Pain-Who’s The Man? (Tommy Boy)
Crooklyn Dodgers-Crooklyn (MCA)
De La Soul-Breakadawn (Tommy Boy)
Gang Starr-Mass Appeal (Chrysalis)
Fat Joe and Big Punisher-Twinz (Deep Cover 98) (Loud)
Akineyle-Ak Ha Ha, Ak Hoo Hoo (Interscope)
Heather Hunter-Freak Like Me (Rykodisc)
Sadat X-The Lump Lump (Nubian Mix) (Loud)
The Beatnuts feat. Magic Juan and Method Man-Se Acabo (Loud)
Slick Rick feat. Doug E. Fresh-Sittin’ In My Car (Def Jam)
Biz Markie-Nobody Beats The Biz (Cold Chillin’)
Nas-It Aint Hard To Tell (Nick Fury Remix) (White Label)
A Tribe Called Quest feat. Consequence-The Chase (White Label)
Common feat. Chantay Savage-Reminding Me (of Sef) (Relativity)
Big L-The Big Picture (Rawkus)
Outro

As I promised… This week is the East Coast Edition. Just a small collection of some favorites of mine that dont get much play. I hope you all enjoy. Happy Holidays.

-Audio1

Self-Reflection with Edo G and Pete Rock

Edo G feat. Pete Rock

Boston
Just Call My Name (feat. Jayshaun)
Right Now (feat. Pete Rock)
from My Own Worst Enemy (2004, )

Legendary beat maker Pete Rock combined in 2004 with fellow hiphop legend Edo G to create the collaborative “My Own Worst Enemy”… On paper you really can’t touch that pairing. In true back-to-front review fashion; the album as a whole is very simple and is a mixed bag of bangers and luke warm attempts such as the pre-school production on ‘Streets Is Callin’.. Despite these low points… The high points do overshadow ‘em.. When ‘Boston’ kicks in and Ed says “I’m looking for more than street props from Pete Rock…” it sets the scene proper. ‘Call My Name’ is a very well crafted track too with a lyrical contribution from Jaysaun, the initial punch in is perfect; “Dogg, I’m too menacin’”, and if you don’t nod your head to that you might as well not have one. It’s not just Edo G on the mic, Pete holds it down on “Right Now” with the cuts provided by J Zone. The topic of the album is consistently about the wack state of hiphop affairs, like the older cats seem to be dropping more and more. Despite the marginal ego trip this is a pretty solid effort, with clear high points for you to enjoy!!

-Matt B

Duval gots Dynamite SOUL pt. 2: MC Intellekt and Dirty Digits

Livin the Life
Phenom Mental (ft. his mom)
A Take of Two Cities
from Intellektual Property (self-released, 2004)

Second installment of the hometown feature. On the last post I didn’t clarify, Duval is the all encompassing county that Jacksonville occupies. If you’re in a concert or congregation around the area you might hear a very proud, annoyin shout “DUUUUUUUUVAL”.

I first ran into Intellekt back in ‘99 freestylin at a party. This kid just kept on runnin the cypher and never stopped. I’m glad he never did, since then, he moved to Gainesville, continued to write, hooked up with a dope DJ (Dirty Digits) and dropped this sleeper album in 2004.

This album is a collection of his past work rangin back from 2001. All of the songs are produced by some of Florida’s dopest underground producers like Speck of CYNE, Capitul, and DaVinci of Solillaquists of Sound. Both Intellekt and DJ Dirty Digits have relocated to Atlanta to pursue their careers, best of luck homies. Check here for more info and a stream of the rest of the album.

-BoogaLeo

Duval gots Dynamite SOUL pt. 1: Asamov

postin’

Bad News
Supa Dynamite (ft. Mr. Lif)
Seven
from And Now… (6 Hole, 2005)

For the next couple days while I’m home I’m going to be featurin the hometown Hiphop that has been strugglin to find ground but are nonetheless breakin new heights. I, like many other artists, have a love/hate relationship with Jacksonville, FL. Lots of people, lots of community, good beaches, but really nothin to do. I think the whole city suffers from this “big town” Southern mentality: life bein too slow to get stuff done, but just gettin enough done to sustain.

First up to bat is the crew with the recent well-deserved attention, Asamov. They are a crew that was once made up of separate solo artists–J.Oneda, Therapy, Basic and Willie Ev– that have been holdin down the underground scene since I can remember. Within the past three years, they’ve hooked up on Desi Relaford’s 6 Hole label and started combinin their respective MC, DJ, and Producing skills releasing the previous EP I featured, throwing down mixtapes, rockin concerts ..AND NOW, they have a hot album out.

Much props to these homies, this album is just a start of their versatility and love for this game. Most press will front on this “oh true hiphop isn’t dead if you heard these guys” or whatever savior rhetoric but in truth Hiphop is never dyin for this crew. I can say what separates Asamov from a lot of the artists comin out is integrity and longevity with their music. Songs like “Bad News” resonate a level of maturity goin through the motions of bein artists. “Supa Dynamite” is the essential feel-good and shoutout record switchin up to the hype “Seven” track. All featured tracks produced by Willie Ev. Enjoy, click here for tour dates and future releases.

-BoogaLeo

Van Hunt: Get your snuggle on

Van Hunt

Down Here in Hell (With You)
Who’s Gonna Love Me in Winter?
Out of the Sky
from Van Hunt (Capitol, 2004)

This is for the folks that stopped listenin to good ol’ R&B after the advent of the R&B Thug. Van Hunt was a sleeper album that dropped last year. One thing I can say is this dood is bi-seasonal: his beats heats up with some cold ass lyrics. He flips this bitter love angle, in the song “Down Here in Hell” he sings “Where would I go for dissapointment?” Who says that? Interestin scope on love. Count Bass D also contributes on the keys.

The next two joints summarize his catchy, introspective, and funky sound. Sing along and spread the troubled love. Lots of uptempo joints on the album I didn’t include but when shit hits like “Out of the Sky” u know I’m gettin down. This song’s gonna be in my head for my Graduation, you know, crashin and shit sounds depressin but Van Hunt makes it complexingly beautiful.

BoogaLeo

High Skool Classiks v4.0 by Audio1

Download | 160kbps MP3 | 91MB | 79:29

Tracklisting
Next Level (Intro)
Various Blends-Krazee Madeo Stylez (Baraka Foundation)
Planet Asia feat. 427-Bringin’ It Back (Remix) (Blackberry)
Charizma-My World Premiere (Stones Throw)
Souls Of Mischief-Live and Let Live (Jive)
Ahmad, Ras Kass and Saafir-Come Widdit (Profile)
Peanut Butter Wolf feat. Planet Asia-Definition Of Ill (Stones Throw)
The Pharcyde-Ya Mama (Delicious Vinyl)
Casual-That’s How It Is (Jive)
Ugly Duckling-I Did It Like This (Bad Magic)
Kazi-Average (Stones Throw)
DJ Vadim feat. Motion Man-Til Suns In Your Eye (Ninja Tune)
The Gift Of Gab-Ride On (Quannum)
Quasimoto-Microphone Mathematics (Stones Throw)
Mannish-Tasha’s Room (Correct)
Zion I feat. Planet Asia-Critical (Ground Control)
Motion Man-Duck Duck Duck (All City)
Peanut Butter Wolf feat. Persevere-Mobbin (Stones Throw)
Rasco feat. Planet Asia-Blood Brothers (Copasetik)
Hieroglyphics-You Never Knew (Hiero Imperium)
Evasive-Fasting Is For Winners (Indie)
Aloe Blacc feat. Oh No-Been There Done That (Ipo Wax)
Del feat. Pep Love and Q-Tip-The Undisputed Champs (Jive/Zomba)
Casual-I Didnt Mean To (Jive)
Xzibit-Paparazzi (Loud)
Rasco-This Is It Y’all (Pockets Linted)
Masters Of Illusion-Partnas Confused (Threshold)
Iriscience and DJ Babu-On Deadly Ground (Blackberry)
People Under The Stairs-O.S.T. (OM)
Sach-Joy (Afflatus)
>Richard Pryor-White and Black People
Black Eyed Peas-Fallin’ Up (Interscope)
The Pharcyde-4 Better Or 4 Worse (Delicious Vinyl)
Souls of Mischief-Never No More (Jive)

I’ve been slackin’ on putting together mixes recently so I got around to it this weekend and finished this one. 34 tracks deep (1992-2004) with dope lil intro, drops and even a great Richard Pryor Interlude about Black/White people. BrokeBBoys always gets first dibs for the holidays… HSCv5.0 will be out within 1-2 weeks so stay tuned.

-Audio1