NOW PLAYING

July 1998

It has been a lot of oldies on Tricky Mickeyīs decks this summer. There havenīt really been any new music worth writing about. Needless to say, Gangstarrīs Moment Of Truth is of course very good, and has been humming on the playlist since itīs release late spring. I always groove on Gangstarr when Moment of Truth is on the decks, and I do spin the album frequently, but something is lacking... Itīs so flawless in production, music and lyrics, that it almost becomes boring. No surprises - you know what you get - 74 minutes of very good music!

I did find some hip-hop 12"īs in mid July which has a musical vitality I havenīt heard in a long time. Well, not since the release of Ozomatliīs debut album, anyway!!

DEFARI:
Never Loose Touch
(Tommy Boy Records)
Defari returns with another hit single. His earlier four solo tracks have achieved massive underground acclaim. After signing to Tommy Boy Records, Defari is set for a larger audience as a major act, but on this track he shows that he still can come up with good music. Defari definitely generates the West Coast Buzz.

Defari (born Duane A. Johnson Jr.) is a Los Angeles native who first started diggin' in the crates back in 1982. In 1988, while a freshman at UC Berkeley, Defari met Beni B, who was then doing a late-night hip-hop show on UC's KALX radio. Defari was invited to the show for some freestyling and the rest is, as they say, history.

Defari first appeared on wax in 1995 with "Big Up", a song produced by E-Swift and featured on Immortal's Next Chapter Compilation. In March 1997, Defari linked with Beni B to release Defaris's first single Bionic on Beni's ABB Records. It was produced by Evidence from LA's Dilated Peoples'. This underground classic has currently moved more than 10,000 units on its own merit, without the aid of radio promotion, and on vinyl!!!

ALL CITY
The Actual/Pricele$$
(MCA/Geffen)
All City is a two man crew that is produced by Pete Rock and DJ Premier. On the A-side Primo comes up with a sparse beat that has funky rolling drums on it. They are probably looped from the congas solo on Curtis Mayfieldīs Move On Up. Nice Hammond chords from an old reggae track I recognise but canīt identify. Good stuff! The beat has an irresistable dance groove. Flipside Pricele$$ is rougher with a simple hard beat and funky guitar licks - A Pete Rock state of the art production.

PUMPKINHEAD & THE MAKIN RECORDS FAMILY
Dynamic Remix/Wack Emcees
(Makin)
Pumpkinhead released Dynamic a while back. This time around he got the Makin Records Family to collaborate on his single. Nice jazzy loop and oustanding rhymes. The remix takes the backward loop of the original and puts it forward. Definitely one of the best 12"īs on the market.

LOOTPACK
The Anthem/Lost Art/Likwit Fusion feat Alkaholiks & Defari
(Stonesthrow Records)
This is the latest crew from Peanut Butter Wolf's label StonesThrow Records. The Anthem expresses the "wackness" in hip hop music by addressing the fact that if an emcee isn't coming on hard on their record, they arenīt hip-hop. Lost Art builds on a strange and dark loop. Liwkit Fusion is a good track with Tash of The Alkaholiks and the extended Likwit member Defari. The Alkaholics have been trying to put Lootpack out since the days of Make Room, but they havenīt really come solo with anything until now. Very good music!

DILATED PEOPLES
Work The Angels/The Man Event/Triple Optics
(ABB Records)
Evidence, Iriscience, and the rest of the crew are back together for another three song single. It's probably one of the hottest indie tracks right now.

Check out The Man Event with a rather whimsical flute loop and heavy brass stabs. Laid back beat. Real nice scratch too. Scratching is an art that seem to be lost and forgotten among too many acts nowdays. I always listen carefully when those rare acts appears that has a dj who useīs the decks for both scratching and crossfading and not only for making a loop of some old song. Work the Angels opens with skillful turntable tricks and funky guitar licks, and goes on with a nice piano loop.

There is not a weak moment on this 12". Good music for everyone! It is one of the thickest 12"īs in recent times. It is a must have for any consumer and every DJ.

The platform that would be known as Dilated Peoples began to take form in 1992. It started as a series of freestyle sessions at Los Angeles Hip Hop Shop. Iriscience and Evidence has since expandanded beyond just being freestyle rapper/graffiti artists.

The Los Angeles native Iriscience made his way into the Hip Hop scene in 1984 via graffiti art. He has been involved in poetry since childhood and church music since birth. It was a obvious step for him to combine those two forms of artistic expressions. He claims that music is communication and fellowship. Itīs an expression were music works with each word and each color.

Iriscience has been involved with the Zulu Nation and was Council for West Coast Rocksteady Crew. Today as a member of Dilated Peoples he is a master of the art of party rocking. He is rocking the complete culture of Hip Hop and sure is lifting some fog off the hazy minded.

During the making of the unreleased LP Imagery, Battlehymns, and Political Poetry (Immortal/Epic), Dilated Peoples worked with the likes of Xzibit, E-Swift, DJ Lethal, Joey Chavez, T-Love, Redman, and a host of others. Though planned for a 1995 release, it is still not yet released. In the last year the album has become a bootleg favorite on mix tapes.

Iriscience worked on the upcoming Funkdoobiest Troubleshooters LP, as well as putting out the Old World Chaos EP. He is also working on a new project called Cornerstoners.

Evidence has been busy producing tracks for Defari, Ultramagnetic (Industry if Wack- remix), Visionaries, and Vancouver's Swollen Members. He collaborates with Jizzm on Bassīd on Priciple from the debut 12" Trials and Tribes Pt II. Jizzm is the kid who has been blowing it up on freestyle sessions on the radio in Los Angeles.

This has turned a bitter situation with their record company into a worldwide underground buzz for Dilated Peoples, and into the inspiration to continue.

Sometimes I wonder why the major companys ever bother to sign artists for an album. The story mostly goes something like this: the big companys A&R man sign an act. He hopefully like and believe in the artist. The Record company let them go into a studio to record an album. Then they never release it. Whatīs the point of freezing an artists creativy like that?

The Detroit hip-hop artist Eminem seems to be in a similar situation. His excellent Slim Shady EP got withdrawn from the market after Eminem signed for Dre's Aftermath label this spring. Now Eminem is in the studio, but there is no music out.

Of course, itīs all about the money... Aftermath doesnīt see eye to eye with an independent label making a profit out of their new sign up. No one seem to care about the music anymore.

NATUREL feat SHABAZZ THE DISCIPLE, WICKED WILL, MR EON, & L-FUDGE
The Big Daddy Anthem
(Bi-Coastal Records)
This is definitely one of the hottest singles for this summer. How could you go wrong with a line up like this one? Mr Eon from the High & Mighty crew, Shabazz (ex Sunz of Man member), L-Fudge, Naturel, and Wicked Will. The track shines when you hear it for the first time. Don't even think about sleeping on this. It might be difficult to find though, but itīs worth the effort.

COMPANY FLOW
End To End Burner
(Rawkus)
It is almost tiresome with all these excellent releases from Rawkus. First out was Shadaam Shadeeqīs oustanding Soundclash and team up with Eminem on 5 Star General. Then comes the white label combo consisting of Mos Def and Talib Kweli as Blackstar in the red hot track Definition, which finally will be officially released. Now itīs time for Company Flowīs new single End To End Burner which is more than excellent - It is almost impossible to grasp how good this crew really are...

End To End Burner has a very dense production, with multilayered cuts, loops and sounds. Fast irresistible beat, a huge bass loop merges with wah-wah guitars, frenetic keys and scratching - itīs funky as a Funkadelic. El-P and Jus drops rhyme after rhyme in their casual laid back manner. Company Flow is one of the best acts on the scene and their new single proves their status beyond any doubts.