Righty right, this part III of our ongoing Strictly Gems series.
Some incredibly good stuff once again, you only get the dopest of the dope here.
In fact, fuck that, Strictly Gems are some of the finest compilations that you're gonna find anywhere !
They are the shit !
This time around tracks include -
Did I hear you say you wanted more James Brown samples over heavy drum machines, oh good ! Well, you get plenty of that with 'Classical' by the Busy Boys, yes it's dope, yes the rhymes are def, yes he does say "Suckers who diss, when I get pissed I start nobbing 'em", yes I am aware that it doesn't mean the same thing here in the UK, yes I still think it's funny.
Next up is the incredibly heavy 'Go G. Whiz', by Captain G. Whiz (obviously), the intro is some of the hardest shit i've ever heard. The drums bang like buggery & the rhymes are awesome, "To make it sound even liver turn the bass up louder".
Bit of a strange one next, it's Charlie Brown & The CB Girls with 'You Can Make It', now i'm not gonna say that Charlie is the nicest MC i've ever heard, but he sounds like he's enjoying himself. The reason this is here is really the drums, although it does seem to have plenty of charm.
Our man Charlie reckons that he's a millionaire so I doubt he gives a shit what i think anyway, although this was the mid 80s, so hopefully he invested well. Rock on Charlie (& your mum).
Then it's Divine Sounds with 'Me & My Posse', another one of those mid 80s crews from the 'only recorded a few tracks but were bloody dope' genre. Representing Bedford Stuyvesant , these dudes had a bit of success, but they should have been bigger. This, & (almost) all of their tracks are top notch, and one of them is called Disco Richie ! Mad props.
The legendary Marley Marl & the Juice Crew make an appearance here
with the absolute classic 'Juice Crew All Stars', You really should know
this joint already, featuring Kool G Rap, Craig G, Glamorous, MC Shan,
Tragedy & Roxanne Shante ! The precursor to 'The Symphony', this
track is very good indeed, the beats are fat & all the rhymes are on
point. Oh my goodness !
James is back again (like the Kule MC) on the Legion Of Doom's 'Live
Bait', a proper treater of a tune, samples popping off all over the
place. The intro reminds me of hours spent smoking & pressing MPC
buttons, which brings me to my man EveR. Homeboy, you really need to be
reading that instruction manual. Anyway, 'Live Bait', wicked stuff.
With some of Flair's favourite shits it's MC Shan with the phenomenal 'Juice Crew Law'. Shan sets it straight over a beat that's more ridiculous than Boris Johnson, this whole ish is crazy hard & Shan is as his best. Shout to Skar on this one, I know you love it.
Next it's MC Tony Rone with 'I'm Just Rappin', well, Tony claims that he's just rappin', but he also appears to sing on the chorus, I presume it's him because I would be shocked to find that they got someone in to do that. Singing aside, this is a groovy number & anyone familiar with 'Look Around You' will probably find it amusing.
Now we all know that the 'Funky Worm' has been caned, but a quarter of a century ago heads were new to that particular joint. I'm not sure who rocked it first, but the Ministers Of Black must have been fairly early on with their dope 'Step In My Office. It's a chunky beat rocking over that classic Ohio Players sample and best believe that it's a winner.
Next up we have the comeback king Phill Most Chill with the booming 'That Girl', the classic EP that this joint comes from is absolutely some of my all time best, all the tracks are the shit but I went for this track as it may be slightly overlooked due to the crazy goodness of his other joints.
Phill (a.k.a. The Soulman) is back on the scene & is dope as ever, but Strictly gems is all about the 80s, so check out the man back in the day doing his thing, honestly people, this track is realllllllly fucking good.
Then we have one of the greatest of all time, the legendary Kool G Rap with another Strictly Business fave Roxanne Shante on 'Deadly Rhymes'. Now, I haven't bothered to look this up but it sound to me as if G Rap wrote Shante's rhymes on this one because it's probably the best shit she ever kicked. This is on some heavy ish, wicked funky beat & ferocious rhymes.
The next gem joint is the vinyl debut of Ice Cube & is also produced by Dre. It's 1986's 'She's A Skag' by the Stereo Crew. Some fairly early west coast ign'ance, it's not the finest track you'll ever hear, but I wanted to throw a few curve balls into the mix with this edition of Strictly Gems, and it's not a particularly well known tune so I chucked it it, hope y'all dig.
The incredible TDS Mob make another Strictly Gems appearance with the ultrafresh 'Crushing 'Em', One of my top crews of the 80s, just wish they recorded more tracks. 'Crushing 'Em' crushes all competition, everything about it is hard, so many classic lines, TDS Mob in effect.
Known to my crew as the 'Frankenstein' break, 'Misdemeanor' by Foster Sylvers is an awesome track and the next joint is based around it, it's the amazing D.O.C. with 'It's Funky Enough', you can't go wrong with any of the tracks on his incredible 'No One Can Do It Better' LP, but right here you're getting the one I play the most when i'm DJing, again produced by Dr Dre a few years later than his exploits with the Stereo Crew (& the brilliant but freaky World Class Wrecking Crew for that matter). The D.O. to the C. was a tremendous MC & wrote some dope rhymes for others, but here he is at his best, and yes. It is funky enough.
Next up, from Boston it's the Top Choice Clique with the top quality 'Peace Of Mind', this jam is damn funky people, MC Jawn P is well on the ball with the rhymes on this one, plus the beat & cuts are dope, proper essential track, Top choice no doubt.
Then it's "Philly's first Rap Supergroup" - Tuff Crew with the obese 'Let It Rip', from their first superb LP 'Danger Zone'. Now, everything this crew recorded way crazy hype, the MCs were all ultra skilled & the beats are heavy & chunky. 'Let It Rip' is just a li'l taster of the amazing Tuff Crew, so hunt down those LPs, plus the top notch EP 'Phanjam' with the Krown Rulers.
We all know Diamond D from his amazing debut LP, but before that he was Master Rob's DJ in Ultimate Force. You probably know the crew from the classic 'I'm Not Playing', but they recorded a dope (unreleased) LP including the joint we have here - 'I'm In Effect'. It's a nice joint, and I do believe that at 3:50 Rob says 'Kiss me on the nob'. Maybe that's why Diamond dipped to go solo.
Continuing the trend with Strictly Gems & the 'Songs with rum old keyboard bits' genre we have Versatile Sounds with 'Like This', it takes a while for the MCs to kick in, but when they do we get some nice 80s rhymes over (I think) a Linn drum machine while the DJ gets fresh in the background.
And the last joint for this volume of Strictly Gems is the amazing Witchdoctor & The Dominating 3 MCs with 'Rock The House', another wonderfully heavy track with super rough drums & fly as fuck rhymes. "The power of the microphone is mastered by few" & these boys certainly mastered it dunny. Another time i'm gonna say..... Peep the album, dig it out, the sleeve is amazing.
Strictly Business presents -
Strictly Gems pt III
Aaron Dee & C-Nice - Dissasemble The Beat
Busy Boys - Classical
Captain G. Whiz - Go G. Whiz
Charlie Brown & The CB Girls - You Can Make It
Cobra MCees - The M Go
D.Moet & X-Calibur - Dance to X-Calibur
Deuces Wild - Hard Is Hard
Divine Sounds - Me & My Posse
Fat Boys - Fat Boys Scratch (Remix)
Gangstarr - Movin' On
His Majesti - Armed & Dangerous
Juice Crew All Stars - Juice Crew All Stars
Kay Gee The All - My Record Is Hot
Legion Of Doom - Live Bait
MC EZ & Troup - Get Retarded
MC Shan - Juice Crew Law
MC Tony Rone - I'm Just Rappin
Ministers Of Black - Step Into My Office
Phill Most Chill - That Girl
Roxanne Shante & Kool G Rap - Deadly Rhymes
Stereo Crew - She's A Skag
Supreme Force - Handling Things
TDS Mob - Crushin' Em
The DOC - It's Funky Enough
Top Choice Clique - Peace Of Mind
Tuff Crew - Let it Rip
Ultimate Force - I'm in Effect
Versatile Sounds - Like This
Witchdoctor & The Dominating 3 MCs - Rock The House
Password - defandstupid
So, that's it for this volume, hope y'all dig.
Sorry 'bout the host Repo, gotta sort that shit out.
What do you recommend thun ?
New dopeness coming soon, keep it locked right here.
"Let's Groove On, Cause It's Time To Move On"
