Category Archives: retro review

You Must Learn: Word From The Doc

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Courtsey of my fellow old head..via http://mephstaddox.tumblr.com

Me, Mecca and the Soul brother

EDIT: I posted the wrong video..my bad..it’s the original Stephen is refering to…

and heres the video rmx…enjoy

Back in 1991 on the strength of the cut “The Creator”, and the fact that I listened to Pete Rock every friday night cutting it up on the Marley Marl In Control Show, I bought All Souled Out- by Pete Rock and CL Smooth. This was the first “EP” I had ever bought/ heard of. It had six (really 5 plus a remix) songs on it, of which three were dope to me. The title track, The Creator, and …..Mecca and the Soul Brother…..A track which in my mind remains one of the most underrated hip hop songs ever made. Ironically this title what they chose to name their Debut LP without the song.(A great disappointment to me when I bought the LP) . I never understood why it was not included in the LP, or why they did a much simpler ‘remix’ version for a video. If I ever meet Pete I will have to ask him. Let me explain why this track is so dope to me.

Pete and CL were quite young at this time. Early 20s I believe, yet the production in this track is so complex its ridiculous. This is the first time we catch a whiff of those infamous “Pete Rock Horns”, and they come in and out and get intermittently chopped up and layered throughout the track, almost like they are being orchestrated. The bass lines throughout the song are equally ridiculous and complex. Overall, the only Pete Rock track in my mind which comes close in terms of its arrangement is T.R.O.Y. I would listen to this track 10 15 times a day, totally mystified and in awe of the sonic static filled pleasure. In retrospect i appreciate that Mecca aand the Soul Brother is a legal nightmare and this still of production had to transform, but my goodness, for that time, this track is unparalleled in dopeness some come close but none top it.

Then there are the lyrics. AAAAH the lyrics. CL Smooth remains a very unique emcee in NYC history, he sounds like noone before him and noone could emulate his laid back smooth calm flow. Granted, his content often seemed nonsensical it all still made sense or he spit it so well you swore he had some deeper meaning to some of those lines. All you want to do is rhyme along with him. That’s when you realize you are facing an uphill battle. The rhyme starts simply “OK you wanna act trife and flip the script/ with your wonderama…:”then you lose it. you try to keep up but you can’t and then towards the end of the 1st verse he says …”when I turn your brain into moo goo gai pan….” you then fall on the floor grab your ears in disbelief and go WHO DOES THAT!?!?!?!?!?! THAT IS SO ILLL!!!!! he just turned my brain into a chinese pancake. The songs goes on another five minutes chock full of metaphors similes and references you wish you could have come up with. FInally after a couple weeks you get the lyrics down and realize you will never have the breath control to spit them as calm and cooly as corey lover smooth can. I count this song as one of my greatest influences in hip hop. It help set the standard for the sound which I love, and CL challenged me to increase my skills on the mic. I can still feel my head bobbing listening as Pete scratches his way thru the outro at the end. Thank you Pete Rock and CL smooth for your contributions to hip hop.

Retro Review: DeepSpace5 “Unique Just Like Everyone Else”

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DeepSpace5 could possibly be the biggest hip hop group of all-time, DeepSpace5 contains seven emcees (Fred B, Sivion, Listener, ManChild, Sintaxtheterrific, Playdough and SevStatik) and three producers (Dust, Manwell and Beat Rabbi). Bring all ten of these guys together only means one thing: Greatness. Their debut album A Night We Called It Day is considered a classic in the underground hip hop, in other words if DeepSpace5 was accepted into the mainstream they would be stars. DeepSpace5 comes with more firepower in their sophomore album Unique Just Like Everyone Else adding Fred B. and Sivion to the group. Does Unique Just Like Everyone Else as good as their debut album or does the extra firepower take away from the core guys the group started with?

Now I can’t lie, this album was extremely hard to review because so many people’s heart and soul is encompassed in this album each bring something different to the people. So I apologize if this review is kind of confusing. DeepSpace5 blasts out of the gate with “Talk Music” which if I read correctly is the Listener gives to the type of music DS5 makes. The track is very energetic, “Talk Music” is one of the few tracks that have all seven emcees rap a verse in it which makes the song even better. The beat is hard to explain but it does have a western type theme with obviously the hip hop mixed in. Definitely one of the best tracks on the album.

“If I Don’t Make It” is in my opinion the most meaningful song on the album and it deals with death. Don’t worry DS5 isn’t an emo rap group they just rap about the facts and it’s only inevitable that some day all of us will die and DS5 covers the stresses of dealing with death. I’m sure most of us has had someone important die in our lives and we have to deal with it. ManChild and Listener’s verse scream the loudest (figuratively speaking), ManChild references a DJ Ox in his song who was dealing with cancer and the strongest line in his verse is “God if you see fit leave him here with me,”. The song should help people realize that God is in control of everything including death. Listener handles the mic next in the song he also brings a strong quote: “If she don’t make it God I won’t blame it on you…” which is what a lot people do. Listener’s verse should teach people that God has a purpose for that person dying whether we know it or not.

“Axe to Grind” is an interesting song mostly because I don’t really know what it’s about. The term “Axe to Grind” is metaphorical for something I just don’t know what it is. The beat to the song is interesting because I imagine gears turning when I hear “Axe to Grind”. Believe it or not the term Axe to Grind means something different to the three emcees featured on the track (SevStatik, Listener and Sintax). Though I’m still trying to figure out what the song means I still find myself drawn to the song.

If you read my “Introducing DeepSpace5” article you know Listener is my favorite group member and the track “They Say” is the track that showcases Listener with Sivion and Sintax on it. The track just shows the creative juices that Listener has, he takes everyday sayings and turns them into rap verses. With the acoustic guitar in the background along with the hip hop beat it makes yet another DeepSpace5 classic. The tracks basically says while some things “they” (they being everyone else) say are correct a lot of ideas, theories etc. are wrong and it’s up to you to decide what you want to believe in.

All in all Unique Just Like Everyone Else is another classic album that DeepSpace5 can add to their figurative belt. The album covers serious issues plus it’s evident that the crew is having a good time while making the album. Now some people ask if they have seven emcees how in the world do they share the mic evenly. My answer is this: I don’t know how they share the mic evenly, but they somehow do it. You don’t hear one emcee more than you hear the others and even though the new guys Sivion and Fred B. are new they still get their time on the record. DeepSpace5 is making a good name for themselves and will continue to do so as they make more records. Lastly check out every emcee’s solo projects!

Rating: 9/10