Saturday, 4 June 2011

Strictly Beatbox - Volume 1

"As we go a little something like this"



Greetings once again people, you appear to have caught us at a pretty good time here at Strictly Business. Have we got a treat for all you B-boys & B-girls ?
No !!
We've got 3 actually !!!
Plus an extra bonus !!!!
Without wanting to brag too much and shit, in my opinion this has got to be one of the finest hip hop compilations ever put together, 85 (so far) ridiculously fat joints from the '84 to '89 era all containing the artform we know as the holy human beatbox.
The golden rules here are no live recordings and nothing from radio shows, these volumes of Strictly Beatbox only contain joints released either on vinyl 12" or LP. All that other stuff is going to appear in later volumes of this ongoing series.

This is a rejiggled post from a while back, as soon as I originally put it up I started to remember joint after joint that I didn't think to include, so what you have here are all the tracks from the original post, plus a whole load more for all you lucky beatbox freaks.


This being Strictly Business, you should already know that we gorn like ta kick dis arf wid sum o'dat ol' ignunt sheet up in heyre, so Just Ice with DMX (not the shouty wack one) gets romantic with the impressively titled "That Girl Is A Slut", classic misogynistic material full of memorably offensive rhymes, plus the all important beatboxing from the boy DMX.
KRS & D-Nice give lonely men some handy advice on the original "The P Is Free", which probably embarresses Kris these days, but Scott La Rock would probably be cool with it, he was a 'Super Hoe' you see.
Mikey D & Rahzel (on his debut recording) add another statement to the 'ladies + beatbox = good' equation with the classic "Dawn", Mikey was always lovely on the mic and Rahzel was already spitting out massive beats, they both kill it on this classic joint.
MC Mitchski & M.B. are getting freaky with the fishy "Freeda", Mitchski says that Freeda smells like doo-doo so he wouldn't even have it off with her if she paid him, even though she's just gobbled him off. Hmmmmm, whatever you reckon Mitch, nice song anyways, with the all important man known as 'The Human Radio' rocking the beatbox.
Then we have the Bad Boys with K Love & the Glamour Girls with Craig G who are apparently catching dick tumours & aids from "Veronica" (who unfortunately turns out to be a geezer as well as a skeezer). Two classic joints about the alleged ladyboy Veronica and her\his fruity adventures, neither of which have a happy ending unfortunately, nevermind, at least we all learned a valuable lesson, sort of. Top shelf stuff.


The DBL Crew's J-Fresh absolutely busts it On "Bust It", this joint is the bollocks brah, DBL are just one of so many incredible groups that only ever released one or two 12"s, I can listen to this shit 20 times in a row and not get bored with it, but then I am a hip hop nerd, and that's what hip hop nerds do, Whut ! Seriously though, it really is extra excellent.
The "Only Twelve Years Old And That's No Lie" O'Lori Rock-Ski busts a beat on Witchdoctor's top quality "Bust The Beat O Lori", using the tried & tested formula of 'beatbox + rhymes + a bit of scratching + that'll probably do actually', the crew kick some def rhymes over the aforementioned O'Lori Rock's beats, nice work.
Strictly Business favourite Funkmaster Wizard Wiz & his boy Nubox drop an absolute killer on us with the super dope "The Amazing Nubox", which has got everything you could ever require from a beatbox joint, and Wiz says really stupid shit like he always does, proper classic track.
Then the great Cutmaster DC let's his crew rock the rhymes, while he rocks the box on the superduper dope "We Came To Rock", which is as proper as proper gets. Absolutely top quality stuff, plus you gotsta respect the whole Deejaying\Rhyming\Beatboxing\Washing up\e.t.c thing, Three turntables, what next D.C.? two microphones\three lips\six sinks\e.t.c.?
Sorry. What a tune though, absolutely another Strictly Beatbox classic.



As far as the generally regarded holy trinity of beatboxers goes, we got Biz kicking chunky bass beats on the R.O.X.A.N.N.E's "Freestyle Live", which is easily as good as the pair's similar sounding but far more well known "Def Fresh Crew".
The Fat Boys' late great (big) Buffy kicking some gigantic beats on the self titled "Human Beatbox" (parts 1, 2 & 3), all of which are just totally fucking awesome, the hypest of rhymes combined with fridges full of beatboxing, that's three of the greatest beatbox joints of all time in one fat package, eat 'em up.
The legendary Sir Douglas of Freshshire makes two appearances here, rocking all kinds of niceness with the crowd hyping "Nuthin'", then with "The Original Human Beatbox", which has been a longtime favourite of mine and always will be. And no - You can't buy my 12" !, piss orf !!
Oh yeah - "Crowd Around Everybody, & Everybody Crowd Around". That's the shit right there people, tough beats with Doug doing his stuff at full pelt, a beatbox hall of famer.


Another Strictly Business favourite joint, the brilliantly named Kings Of Rapp with their human beatbox Jim and his "precious lips" give us the beast-tastic "Animal", which begins with the immortal words.... "This Is Fresh!" - and you best believe it is. This is noisy and very dope indeed, hilarious but hard back & forth rhyming about our furry friends, with heavy scratching and plenty o' beatboxing this track is as good as anything else on this whole compilation, it's true - it's true, I love that shit.
The Ultimate Choice's Finesse & The Bass Box get cold physical on the short but sweet "How I'm Livin'", well, this is also very dope, again nothing but good stuff to say about this tune, my only criticism would be that it ends too soon.
The Great Disco P gives us actual boom baps, as well as Public Enemy & Art Of Noise beats on Orangeman's definitely def "The Orange Is Back", as pure as it gets, nothing but rhymes and beatboxing on this one, Orange & Disco rock it lovely while a poor quality 'live crowd sound' loops away in the background.
Then we have The Brothers a.k.a. Akeim & Narkim making their first appearance here with their gigantic "Memories". Damn this tune is good, stupidly catchy with hard beatboxing and smooth rhymes - nothing else needed. Much loved by those that know, and very highly rated indeed.


London Posse's greatly missed Sipho destroys it on the massive "My Beatbox Reggae Style", Maybe best appreciated live in the back of Westwood's ride in 'Bad Meaning Good' (a few posts down - watch it !). All the beats and rhymes roll along lovely together, and we get Sipho's contribution to the TV theme tunes section with his rendition of 'Dallas', i'm guessing that Eastenders probably wasn't on yet, and Coronation Street's time signiture must be a tricky fucker to beatbox, so what was the boy to do, anyway, Sipho was well wicked and is fondly remembered as a dope beatbox and a nice bloke, and the tune is double def, believe that.
'The Human Linn Drum' Ready Rock C is here on DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince's "My Buddy", nothing but good stuff to say about it, the trio definitely knew how to rock a party. Ready Rock is a beatbox king and this joint is a proper gem.



The 'Really Great' Incredible Sound Machine Greg Nice does 3 minutes of dope routines on T La Rock's "Three Minutes of Beatboxing". Superb stuff from the round headed wonder, all kinds of beats rocked for our listening pleasure that still sound fresher than 99 percent of everything else a quarter of a century later.
Then it's one of my top 5 favourite beatboxers of all time - Jockbox from the terriffic Skinny Boys, being dope as dope can be on the appropriately titled "Jockbox". Jock kicks fat beat after fat beat while the boys tell us how def he is, absolute classic from start to finish - "Is he nuts ? No ! He's Insane !!"


And the final track from this first volume of Strictly Beatbox is the incredible "RMG featuring Beat Box Squeaky G"
This jam is pretty much a showcase for Squeaky's amazing beatbox routines, but if any beatboxer ever deserved a showcase it had to be the phenomenal Squeaky G. Sheeeeeeet, Squeak pulls out obese beat after obese beat, versions of Just Buggin & Bite It, An uncanny Biz impression and even brings Popeye & Donald Duck into the mix !! Everything is crisp, clear & loud, the rhymes are dope, and Squeaky's performance is absolutely fucking incredible.
You may have noticed that i'm not being particularly critical of any of the tunes on this compilation, but the reason that they are all here is because they are all dope, so I really haven't got anything bad to say about any of them. However "RMG featuring Beat Box Squeaky G" is pretty much the most perfect human beatbox joint that I have ever heard, and it is one of my favourite pieces of music ever, regardless of genre. Word.

Right-O, that's volume one finished, but we've only just begun......
Keep it locked right here for part two of Strictly Beatbox.

Strictly Business presents
Strictly Beat Box - volume 1


Bad Boys featuring K Love - Veronica
Boogie Down Productions - The P Is Free
Cutmaster DC - We Came To Rock
DBL Crew - Bust It (Long Version)
DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - My Buddy
Doug E Fresh - The Original Human Beatbox
Doug E Fresh & The Get Fresh Crew - Nuthin'
Fat Boys - Human Beat Box
Fat Boys - Human Beat Box pt 2
Fat Boys - Human Beat Box pt 3
Funkmaster Wizard Wiz - The Amazing Nubox
Glamour Girls featuring MC Craig 'G' - Oh Veronica (Beat Box)
Just Ice - That Girl Is A Slut
Kings Of Rapp - Animal
London Posse - My Beatbox Reggae Style
MC Mitchski 'The Rappin' Comedian' & M.B. 'The Human Radio' - Freeda
Mikey D & The LA Posse - Dawn
Orangeman - The Orange Is Back
R.M.G. - R.M.G. featuring Beat Box Squeaky 'G'
Roxanne (Fly) Shanté - Freestyle Live
Skinny Boys - Jockbox
T La Rock - Three Minutes of Beat Box
The Brothers - Memories
The Ultimate Choice featuring Finesse & T.L.C - How I'm Livin'
Witchdoctor & The Dominating 3 MCs - Bust The Beat O'Lori

Password - defandstupid

2 comments:

  1. crikey, pretty comprehensive posts i hace to say. a good read mate, cheers.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nicely Moyinka,
    Glad you enjoyed it.
    Any ideas for future volumes ???

    Thanks for the hip hop love from your blogs too, longtime fan of Bust the Facts & To The Break.

    Bless up !

    ReplyDelete

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