The members of De La Soul clearly have respect and reverence for hip hop pioneers. If you pay close attention to their lyrics, you'll hear reference, and homages to artists and songs of yesteryear.
Hobo Scratch came up on the shuffle recently, and when the 'world tour...' line dropped, I thought about De La Soul and wondered to myself:
"Did they come up with the idea for using this line on A Tribe Called Quest's Award Tour?"
"I mean, Dave did do the hook, so it wouldn't surprise me."
Do they not appear to be similar in structure, or am I just reachin'? (bad pun)
Was this intentional? An homage or sorts? Black Eyed Peas also did something similar on their debut album -- the game show skits, recalling those appearing on 3 Feet High and Rising. It's something I've thought about since I first listened to the debut album by Digable Planets.
I shared my thoughts with Doodlebug, and he offered this:
"naw if it sounds similar to you it definitely wasn't intentional fam"
"...but don't get it twisted because we were and are big fans of ATCQ ya'meen"
There you have it. It appears it was just coincidence. I hope he didn't think I was accusing him of biting.
My laptop is still in for repairs, but when I get it back, I hope to have Matt join me again for more Native Tongues chatter, and I've managed to lock down my first artist interview. Exciting times...
Van Full of Pakistans from ATL based group Y'all So Stupid always ranked high on my list of One and Done albums released in the 90s.
The album title always seemed strange to me. Even stranger, the title track was released as a second single. I never heard it announced on the radio, but I'm sure DJs had fun reading the title "Van Full of Pakistans by Y'all So Stupid".
The chorus and lyrics speak to various problems the emcees may have been going through, so I sort of figured the title was a metaphor of sorts. Today (through the magic of Twitter), I got an answer from group member, H2O:
"yes, a complete metaphor. A Van Full Of Pakistans = A Song Full Of Problems: the van = the song & the Pakistans = the problems."
There you have it. I would have asked him to expound, but then it wouldn't be a (very) brief conversation.
Y'all So Stupid - Van Full of Pakistans
Y'all So Stupid - Van Full of Pakistans (Spearhead X Remix)
Album version is a nice little track, but the remix wins for me.
John Barnes III aka L.A. Jay recently joined Philaflava's message board, where he answered some questions regarding production credits on tracks by The Pharcyde. Shameless fan that I am, I decided to hit up Mr. Barnes on twitter with a few questions of my own.
When discussing the track Otha Fish, Slim Kid Tre mentions that the version included on the album (produced by L.A. Jay & Tre) was not the original version recorded. The original version was produced by M-Love; a friend of the group. I asked Jay if he could recall the original track. He sent me a link to this track...
The Pharcyde - Otha Fish (The Heavy-Head O.G. Mix)
I have this version!
I've had it for years as an owner of the Otha Fish CDS. I guess the "O.G." in the title was referring to recording history, and not, errr...original gangsters. Was a little disappointed as I hoping to unearth a gem. Of the mixes included on the single, this was always my least favorite. What Jay and Tre did with the Herbie Mann sample was perfect, and I believe we all can agree that the sentiment in the lyrics was better conveyed on the final album version.
L.A. Jay - "yeah, he went into the zone over my beat. the tempo change let his verse breathe more, accentuating the emotion in the lyrics."
Another track discussed in Brian Coleman's book was "My Man". Described as "Funny, daffy, and just amazing", deadlines and infighting prevented this track from being completed and included on the album. I asked Jay about it, but he didn't seem to remember it. Not all that surprising since it was recorded almost 20 years ago.
"I'm sure I heard it way back then...I'll ask Tre about it."
And there you have it. Wasn't able to turn up anything (yet) as far as demos are concerned, but the Otha Fish trivia was great as I'm very appreciative of any information concerning the recording of this album.
Shout out to L.A. Jay for responding to my tweets, and for producing some great tracks for The Pharcyde. Follow him on twitter @john_the_third
@Smashrockwell speaking of extra prolific, does a song titled "menace to society" (w/ Snupe) ring a bell? Saw the title in the BMI database
@wboothe you work for BMI? Was there an audio file? Thats was a song we recorded for the Movie Menace 2 Society.. Bellrung.
@Smashrockwell nope, just being a diehard hiero fan doing research. no audio file on the site. dont suppose you have a copy, do you?
@wboothe Domino does i'm sure.
@Smashrockwell you know that's some holy grail shit right there? hope it surfaces some day.
From a historical standpoint, this is a pretty significant track. The proposed title track to one of the seminal Hood Films of the 90s, I'm really surprised Jive didn't include this track when the album was released. Casual and Snupe - both perhaps a little more "G" than their peers - were signed to Jive and inclusion on this soundtrack may have increased their exposure, possibly growing their audience beyond those in New York and LA who have a high appreciation of freestyles, complex flows and lyrical stylings.
Cash Money (featuring Casual) - Extra Prolific
"even if our demo tapes add to the myth of Hiero's gifts..." - Del
The conversation brought me back to a time before swapping MP3's was the norm. When I first started finding music on the internet (97ish), we used to trade cassette tapes through the mail. Most of this was done on the Hoopla - the official message board of Hieroglyphics. All of these unreleased gems were gold to me. I tried sharing them with friends, but they couldn't get past the really shitty sound quality. Never bothered by these hiss filled recordings, I was instead highly appreciative of the fact that I had music that no one outside of the artist and their crew was supposed to hear. The demo experience has always been a mind blowing one for me.
As you can see, I didn't directly ask Cas to put the track out there, but if you have no compunction in doing so, add him to your twitter and ask him to do so on some "hey, i saw your tweet mentioning the menace to society track. could you please...".
