3 Dope Songs from Public Enemy: The Hard Rhymer Never Lets Up

public Enemy ptAs we celebrate Public Enemy being inducted into the Hall of Fame tonight.. We wanted to remind people of some of their work.. What they have on deck is impressive.. These were some of the songs I really dug.. Enjoy..

So Whatcha Gonna Do Now This is one of my favorite songs from Public Enemy.. It was off the Muse Sick in Our Message album and sadly was overlooked by a lot of folks..  This song spawned one of  the first videos to show a Black President…15 years before Obama takes office..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhKqsIe283c

You can’t really talk about Public Enemy without making mention of this classic song ‘By the Time I get to Arizona‘. The video to this song sent shock waves throughout the country as the group depicted themselves killing two Senators and Governor  who opposed the Martin Luther King Holiday in Arizona.. The resulting controversy had critics calling rap and Public Enemy violent and a bad influence on kids.. Others said Dr King wouldn’t have like the video.. Those of us who tired of Arizona’s out right racism cheered the group on…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrFOb_f7ubw

Burn Hollywood Burn brought together 3 legends, Big Daddy Kane, Ice Cube and Chuck D who killed in both subject matter (Black stereotypical images in Hollywood and their performance.. This is a must for anyone who is a student of Hip Hop… It’s what made the so called Golden Era so powerful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhQGH6CbKhw

I know I said 3 Dope Songs, but I’m gonna toss this bonus cut in from Terminator X‘s album called Buck Whyling. Although known throughout New York for her activism.. Lisa Williamson became known to us as Sister Souljah and is the star of this video..She later went on to do her own album with production from the Bomb Squad … I wish PE and Souljah had done more songs together.. She was and still is a force to be reckoned with and her voice was able to cut through the noise like Chucks.. I don’t think America and maybe even the group itself was ready for that pairing..

On another note Terminator X’s album was butter.. he had a number of dope songs and was the first to pay tribute to Hip Hop pioneer Kool herc by actually having him do a song for the album.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHBwwdegvSc

Lastly what y’all know about this song and rarely seen video? I’ll let it speak for itself.. I remember when the group performed this outside the GOP convention..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGFj7ypDfXQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am9BqZ6eA5c

A must see is this documentary about Public Enemy Prophets of Rage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fM_VXPZqBg

Greatest Posse Cut of All-time: Juice Crew’s Symphony vs Wu-Tang’s Triumph-Who wins?

Juice-Crew-vs-Wu-TangBeen having a heated debate about the greatest pose track of all time… There’s been lots of landmark cuts to choose from like Main Source‘s Live at the BBQ which featured a young Nas among others..

You had Craig Mack‘s Flava in Ya Ear which featured notables like Notorious BIG, Busta Rhymes and LL to name a few..

Of course we had Tribe Called Quest‘s  Scenario which featured Leaders of the New School and the late Kid Hood.  But at the end of the day you gotta narrow it down to two tracks..

One of my favorites is Heavy D‘s slept on track .. A Buncha Ni— which featured among others Guru and a young Notorious BIG who made his debut

Juice Crew.. The Symphony which features Big Daddy Kane, Kool G Rap, Craig G and Master Ace. When that song dropped in ’88 Hip Hop changed for the better. Everyone had to step up their lyrical game. The careers of all those featured took off and almost all featured on that song were immortalized within the Hip Hop annals …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbsPTkwqWCI

It would be almost 10 years before another quintessential posse cut would come along on par with the Juice Crew. In ’97 the Wu Tang Clan dropped Triumph where all 9 members of Wu-Tang including Capaddona came along and like the Juice Crew before them changed the game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isumZjs3dKA

its always been a Hip Hop fantasy to speculate as to what would happen if the Juice Crew squared off w/ Wu-Tnag in a lyrical battle.. Who would match up with who? How would things go down? Juice Crew’s Symphony vs Wu-Tang’s Triumph.. Which is the Greatest of all-time?

Diggin in the Crates… 3 Songs by MC Hammer that Folks Slept On that are Nice

MC-HammerBeen digging in crates and listening to a lot of jams that were either forgotten about or totally overlooked..Here’s a few from the one and only MC Hammer who is now an official spokesperson for the City of Oakland.. This is one of my favorite songs from MC Hammer… He teamed up with Tha Dogg Pound and they delivered this banger and many slept on it. It was the Head Hunters album.. which had songs like Pumps in the Bump.. and It’s All Good..

This cut here is called Sleeping on a Master Plan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGxqOnZcF5o&feature=plcp

This next song is off the hard to find Family Affair album.. Hammer came at things on a Gospel tip.. I recall when Hammer brought this to the radio station..and he had just started doing a Gospel show at KMEL.. He had some unreleased tracks from Death Row he remade and gave a gospel spin..This cut is called Never Without You..

This next song has an interesting history.. Its one of those unreleased tracks that was remade to a gospel song.. The original cut featured him with Big Daddy Kane and 2Pac..It was called Too Late Playa.. We had copies of that original track but was asked not to play them because Hammer felt the message wasn’t right..he eventually remade the track and did this song called Big Man, a song that talks about domestic violence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYZnwEG9b_0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEsZjaMG7kk

Niggery: When Will The Buffoonery & Coonery End? by Global Hip Hop Battles

Think Hip HopGlobal Hip Hop Battles, is committed to raising people’s consciousness, by sharing information through our post. Our goal is to empower and challenge the youth, to think far beyond their borders; that are often surrounded with an influx of negative images and messages.

We’ve made it no secret in the past, that we believe hip hop culture and the media, has become one-sided; with respect to messages and images being portrayed.

If you take a look at hip hop and the media twenty-years-ago, you can see there was more balance, in regards to the images and messages being displayed.

Music of this era included artist such as Queen Latifah, and Public Enemy, and Big Daddy Kane, just to name a few.

While, television at the time included shows like The Cosby Show, A Different World, Living Single, and BET’s Teen Summit to name a few.

And while these artist and television shows, were different with respect to their music and programs, they seemed to always be dedicated to making sure they worked to raise peoples consciousness; especially young people.

Fast forward to 2012, and we’re living in a time where the messages and images don’t seem as positive. Instead, the majority of the images and messages seem to be anything, but empowering.

It seems as though we’re living in an era, where mass media floods the market, with a barrage of negative stereotypical images; that work against helping to build and repair urban society.

For example, television shows like Love and Hip Hop Atlanta,as well as several websites, seem to fuel this stereotype, by portraying Black men and women in a very negative light. They seem to perpetuate the pimp and ho’s mentality, by glorifying these images.

Now we’re not saying that television shows and websites  shouldn’t have the right to promote what they desire, we’re simply saying there needs to be more balance, with respect to the images we see. Often times, those negative images have the potential to cloud people’s judgement.

For example, when speaking with a friend, who’s a Black woman, and a business owner, she explained that people expect her to behave like the woman on these reality shows, when brokering business deals. She also indicated that she has to spend time reaffirming herself to potential clients, in order to be taken seriously,during business transactions.

The current cultural climate seems to have accepted this behavior as being normal, which seems to have caused  the respect level for Black men and women, to depreciate greatly.

In addition, many of the current hip hop artist, aren’t helping the matter, using the term bitches and ho’s loosely, and glorifying the pimp culture; to the degree that it’s become apart of the everyday vernacular.

20 years ago, it wasn’t culturally accepted to be a “bitch,”  “pimp,” or a “ho” In fact, many of the artist made the choice to stay away from those stereotypes, to offer an alternative in hopes of empowering Black men and women.

big-Daddy-Kane-ponder-300A prime example is from hip hop legend Big Daddy Kane. During TV One’s Unsung series, Big Daddy Kane said that he wasn’t raised to call women bitches and ho’s, “that’s not the way I was raised, my moms didn’t raise me that way” said Kane.

Therefore, his music encompassed his morals and he refused to waiver. He took responsibility and seemed to approach his position, as an artist with a sense of purpose.

Queen Latifah also made it clear in her 1993 song “Unity” where she spoke out against being disrespected. This seems to have worked to make women demand respect, during times where they felt disrespected.

Somewhere over the past 20 years, however these messages of empowerment, and respect were exchanged for disrespect, and degradation of the Black community.

The portrayal of men and women in hip hop and the media, is just one facet of the issues, another problem seems to be with lack of uplifting and informative messages; both on television and in the music.

While there are a handful of artist, who do concentrate on bringing empowering messages to people. They seem to often be over-shadowed by the negative messages and images.

The iconic hip hop group Public Enemy, spoke out against the injustices plaguing urban communities in songs like “Fight the Power;” which served to raise awareness about these issues.

In 2012, most of these issues remain to be the same, yet few seem bold enough to speak up. Instead, the culture seems to be saturated with messages that only further work to dis-empower people.

An example on television, is BET’s Teen Summit; which was on the air during the 1990′s. Teen Summit, took real Black teenagers, and gave them a forum to address issues including sex, violence in communities, applying to college, and money matters to name a few.

Cosby showIn addition, sitcoms like “The Cosby Show,”  ” A Different World,”  “Living Single,” worked to empower people. For example, many of us who grew up watching “A Different World,” were inspired to attend colleges and universities, as a result. That’s the power great programing can have on people, if  it’s offered.

In 2012, BET does not offer a program that’s dedicated to addressing issues young people face, and giving them information aimed at empowering them. In addition, there are few sitcoms on television, due to the influx of often reckless reality shows.

Now as we stated earlier, we understand that there’s a time and place for everyone and everything, what we are simply saying is, there needs to be better balance with respect to images and messages; if we want to properly move into the future.

Young people are impressionable, and if they are only exposed to poor images, then that’s what they’ll become. We owe it to our communities and ourselves to bring more balanced images to the forefront, and help to empower the youth.

Let’s all make a conscious choice to bring balance to our culture. If you know better, then do better!

Google is gearing up for a debate on hip hop titled versus debate. It’s scheduled to air live online, and will feature the legendary KRS-One, ?uestlove, and Rev. Jesse Jackson, to name a few. In the debate/discussion they will ask the following questions:

Is hip-hop the authentic voice of the oppressed that turns anger into poetry and political action? Or is it a glorification of all that holds back oppressed minorities and hinders them from mainstream assimilation?

source: http://www.globalhiphopbattles.com/news/niggery-when-will-the-buffoonery-coonery-end/

Big Daddy Kane.. Setting It Off & Still Getting the Job Done (Breakdown FM Intv)

Got a chance to build with Hip Hop legend Big Daddy Kane who is on his way to San Francisco this weekend to perform at Yoshi’s Jazz Club.You have to marvel at a guy who’s been putting in work since 1986, when Kane first hit the scene as a member of the Juice Crew and still manages to keep himself and his music relevant 26 years later…

In our interview we talked about his longevity in Hip Hop.. Kane explained it was always his intention to stand the test of time. He noted he never approached his music or any of his performances in a lackluster way. It was always about leaving a lasting impression and having folks one day wanting to mimic everything from his rhyme flow to his overall steeze.

I asked Kane why he never took his music career into acting the same way many of his peers had. Kane was often dubbed the leading man of rap aka Dark Gable, a play upon the famed actor Clark Gable. He also was dubbed Blackanova a play upon Casanova. Kane said he was open to doing more acting, he just hadn’t been offered good roles. At the same time he noted he hadn’t pursued things as hard as he could. Nowadays he’s open and wants to step into the acting arena and really give things a try..Thus far kane has appeared in movies like; Posse, Meteor Man, Dead Heist, Brown Sugar and Gunmen.

In terms of music, Kane explained, that he’s been working with singer Showtyme, who we know for the work he does w/ Pharoah Monch.. They have assembled alive band are currently working on an album. Kane didn’t say when it would drop, but noted they were putting down the finishing touches.

We also talked about the art of freestyling vs writing a good song. Kane explained that a true emcee takes time to create pictures and those pictures get perfected when you write. There’s no getting around it. He noted that the term freestyling initially meant to rap without form, meaning that you may touch upon a variety of subjects in song. he explained that song like Raw was him freestyling. The term ‘coming off the dome’ meant spitting rhymes on the spot. He said its a good when doing a show and you forget a lyric and have to change up for a few bars, but ultimately an emcee takes time to craft vivid pictures. Coming off the dome doesn’t allow that with any sort of regularity

We concluded our interview by talking about Kane’s favorite song.. He went into detail explaining why Set It Off was his best work. He noted he was trying to mimic James Brown‘s sex machine..

Kane will be appearing at Yoshi’s in SF this Saturday August 11th … for more info click this link

http://www.yoshis.com/sanfrancisco/jazzclub/artist/show/2771

Listen to the Breakdown FM Intv w/ Big Daddy Kane

 

Hip Hop History w/ Big Daddy Kane-This is Why He is One of the Best

daveydbanner

Share/Save/Bookmark//

Glad to see D-Nice put this episode of his excellent series True Hip Hop stories.. You listen to Big Daddy Kane after all these years and realize he was not only truly one of the best, but also someone who never really got his full props both as a writer and emcee..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a3nu7ew6_M

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBNe5LsRpDs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfjF4yr8GVA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPQvgPwvTNA

Return to Davey D’s Hip Hop Corner

Big daddyKane