Underground Gems

[rjx]

Frankenstein, an Italian Canadian MC / producer out of Toronto dropped a few bombs on the underground scene back in 1995 with the release of the 12" Frankenstein's Pain b/w/ Peace And Quiet (featuring AZ ... NOT THE SUGAR HILL AZ!).

Frankenstein aka Frank Fallico, has released other underground tracks and produced / remixed many tracks, but nothing imo compared to Frankenstein's Pain and Peace & Quiet. Two rare underground gems from the same 12 inch!

Frankenstein - "Frankenstein’s Pain"
Frankenstein - “Peace & Quiet" featuring A.Z.

[Raggedy]

Not sure this is the right forum for topics like this, but my favorite 12" of his was easily "The Rain Is Gone" with the borrowed Guru line as a hook and a crazy nice piano loop.

Lots of good stuff came out of Toronto in that era...

[rjx]

Originally Posted by Raggedy

my favorite 12" of his was easily "The Rain Is Gone"

In 1996 Frankenstein released "The Rain Is Gone" b/w "All Hands"

Frankenstein - "The Rain Is Gone"3

[rjx]

Who remembers the dope late 80's MC by the name of Latee? Better yet, who is familiar with the legendary DJ / Producer 45 King? In 1993 the 45 King released an EP that blessed us with one of my favorite underground joints of all time, "Brainstorm".

Produced by 45 himself and Latee lends his skill to spit fire over an instrumental that by todays standards is HOT!!! Good luck finding finding the original as this is one ULTRA hard to find piece of vinyl.

Latee - "Brainstorm"

A re-issue is better than nothing imo. This track is just to blazing for vinyl heads to be without it.
http://www.dustygroove.com/cgi-sys/c...p&issearch=yes

[rjx]

Wake Da Fuk Up!!!

Do you you like to sleep on classics? Well how many of you in 92 slept on the first and only release of the group Hard Knocks on the Wild Pitch label? Hell, how many of you even listened to underground hip hop back in 92?

The album "School of Hard Knocks" is an album that imo is as real as they come. No freestyles. No unimpressive tongue twisting. No glorification of guns, alcohol, hos, etc. What you will get however, is an in-your-face journey through the hard knocks of the Bronx by your tour guides, MC Hardhead & DJ Stoneface.



Conscious lyrics with a slow yet steady nonchalant delivery (on most tracks) blended with dope samples and ok beats.
The theme of the content is crooked cops, rape, out of control juveniles, race, being young and African American, doin crimes and paying the price plus so much more is all touched on in this semi unknown classic.

Hard Knocks - "Dirty Cop Named Harry"

Hard Knocks - "Blow To The Head"

Hard Knocks - "Hands Of A Stranger"

Hard Knocks - "Ghetto Love"

[Raggedy]

Originally Posted by rjx

Who remembers the dope late 80's MC by the name of Latee?

It's hard for me to think of the stuff on Wild Pitch as underground, but you're right, these guys were definitely slept-on. 45 King is one of the great hip-hop producers when it comes to raw, stripped-down funk. Plus, he was fairly nice on the mic. In case ya missed it, he dropped a verse on Latifah's "All Hail the Queen," along with some beats. And he kicked the same verse on one of my all-time favorite tracks of his, on his "Test Press" platter.

Mark is one of the nicest I've seen on the Serato, too...

[GL Respect Due]

Bas Blasta - Ain't Whatcha Do
Mobb Deep - Cop Hell
Sunz of Man - Love without Hate
MC Hi Tech - Techs Technique
Vakill - Amen (OG 95 remix release)

[con?one]

Freddie Foxxx - Industry Shakedown lp
J-Zone - A Job Ain't Nuthin But Work
Tanya Morgan - Moonlighting

[DrunkenDrums]

[QUOTE=rjx]Wake Da Fuk Up!!!

What you will get however, is an in-your-face journey through the hard knocks of the Bronx by your tour guides, MC Hardhead & DJ Stoneface.


{/QUOTE]

Damn, I always wondered what happened to them, never again hearded anything of one of them.
They were far ahead of their time, and the whole record sounded dope.
Some of the samples they used popped up again years later like on Ghostface's "Camay" or on a Cormega joint, I think.

As it came out, I got it copied on tape from one of the few guys who listened to rap back in the days of the early 90s on our school.

Times changing!
With the rise of Rap in German the last years, if you ask a class nowadays, I bet that 50-80% like rap shit.

I was glad when I copped an orignal copy for 25 Euros (50 Deutschmarks back then) in a record store in Berlin in the mid 90s. A year or two ago, I saw some UK booties with a sticker on the cover whoweren't cheap as well.

The Wildpitch label had a lot of Golden Age classics like Main Source's "Breaking Atoms", the first O.C. record or the first UMCs.

Another not so known classic from that time is the "2 Kings in a Cipher" LP from '91, that was also dope, and another lost record is the Live Squad "Heartless" 12" from '92 that was hyped with their video on Yo! MTV.

[blakeq]

Loved the Goats first album called "Tricks of the Shade". Live Philly hip hop with some funny skits (when was the last time you heard funny skits on a Rap album?)