I'll be honest, I have no idea where the inspiration for this week's OSM comes from. Well that isn't entirely true: somehow last week I came across the Easy Mo Bee interview below, but I don't exactly know how or why I came across it. It matters little though, as I've always enjoyed Mo Bee's work, and this is gave me a chance to dig into some of his earlier work. As you might've guessed by the title, I'm expecting to do a second Mo Bee OSM at some point, so go ahead and bate that breath in anticipation of that.

But who exactly is Easy Mo Bee? I hear some of you asking. I'm disappointed in those of you asking that question, but the Coles notes version reads something like "producer from Brooklyn, started his career as a member of hip hop & doo wop group Rappin' Is Fundamental, got his break as a producer on BDK's It's A Big Daddy Thing, won a Grammy producing Miles Davis' final album, and got hooked up with Bad Boy to do important early records for Craig Mack & Biggie." That's the general gist, but Wiki and the interview below have more info for you. I'm not sure exactly what it is I like about Mo Bee's work, but I've always found it to be really soulful - always with plenty of thump for the trunk, but at the same time retaining a really melodic feel.

So, a rundown of the songs amassed for part one of our OSM Easy Mo Bee retrospective:

Rappin Is Fundamental' - Rappin Is Fundamental - As mentioned, Mo Bee's original group, and he was not only the producer, but one of the MC's. This is lead track from their one and only LP, breaking down what RIF is all about - which happens to be a mixture of hip hop and doo wop backing vocals. Despite how semi-ridiculous that concept sounds, this album has aged better than one would guess. The beats are tight, and Mo Bee actually has some MC-ing chops.

Big Daddy Kane - Calling Mr. Welfare - This was always one of my favorite BDK tracks, it's not one of his most well-known jams, but anyone who loves It's A Big Daddy Thing likely loves this song too. The legendary Red Alert makes an appearance, and I had no idea Mo Bee produced this, but the killer bassline & horns combo always had me hyped. BDK was feeling it to, as he's in fantastic form here "Talking about 'Whaddup', can't even pro-nounce your words correct, now in retro-spect that's a shame." Great stuff.

GZA/Genius - The Genius Is Slammin' - I talked about Words From The Genius late last year, so I'm not going to go into any detail about it here, but it's the Genius and Easy Mo Bee, you can do the math.

3rd Bass - The Gladiator (Easy Mo Bee Remix) - Pete & Serch's last recording effort as a group, kind of sad, but an Easy Mo Bee remix is a good sadness antidote I'd say. The youngsters amongst our readers likely have no idea that this was from the soundtrack for Gladiator, a hip hop-flavoured boxing flick that featured Cuba Gooding Jr. I know what you're thinking, "that sounds awesome!" You would think, but sadly, no.

Prince Rakeem - Sexcapades (DMD Mix) - This song appeared on the EP with Ooh We Love Your Rakim, so unfortunately it played second fiddle to that awesome RZA/Rakeem jam, but it's pretty excellent in it's own semi-raunchy for '91 way. Mo Bee's Pete Rock-esque organ-laced track is also a winner.

J. Rock - Let Me Introduce Myself - I had no idea who this dude is, but he's become blog-famous (so, in reality, not famous at all) due mainly to the DJ Premiere and MO Bee production on the album this comes from, Streetwize. It's kind of old school, NY gangster stuff, but this one has a solid Humpty Hump sample, but no I won't do the Humpty dance for you, so stop asking.

Biggie Smalls - Party and Bullshit - Biggie, from the classic hip hop flick Who's The Man? Need I say more about this one? Likely one of Mo Bee's crown jewels.



Easy Mo Bee Interview


Rappin' Is Fundamental

Labels: Hip Hop, Music, OSM Hip Hop

It's been a few months since we've done an all-Canadian edition of our semi-regular rap song round up here at the hill, and really that's too long. I'm calling it all-Canadian, but really, it's all-Toronto, as all of these jams originate from the screwface capital. Usually I can sneak at least one track from Alberta or something in there, but not this time, it's all T-dot, all the time. I don't mind, I did live there for nearly seven years after all, but we always like to rep for all of Canada here at the hill. So come on other provinces, send us your hip hop songs so they can get the BOX treatment they so rightfully deserve.

Right then, on with the show. We've got a pretty strong group of Canadian/Toronto songs here, so let's get to them.


Tona calls Scarborough home, but hails originally from Ghana. He's not a new jack, as it seems he's been in the game since his teens. That's pretty much the extent of my Tona knowledge, but I can say it seems it approaches his music in an honest way, trying to steer clear of the flossy nonsense in vogue right now. This track right here has a big cinematic beat and features Tona proclaiming himself to be a major talent, with or without label assistance. Lyrically Tona doesn't blow me away, but he has a confident, no-nonsense style that I like. This is a pretty good jam.


I've had this song since I think right after I did the last all-Canadian edition last year, so my apologies to the Tru-Paz for not getting this up earlier, but I was saving it. I'm a bit more familiar with the Tru-Paz from my time in TO, but I have to say I had some picture of them as super hardcore dudes in army fatigues, but I think I'm confusing their name with someone else. Anyway, this earnest, reggae-tinged anthem is not what I was expecting, but I like it. This song here is the remix featuring TO reggae master Blessed and it's hard to deny the urgency the combo creates. This is the kind of song old grumpy Juno types that complain about negative hip hop should hear. Well they wouldn't understand any of it, but still.


Empire is a big-ass crew from TO, also known as the Fifth Letter Fam. I hadn't heard of them, but we've been sent about 3 different songs from them over the last couple months, so I finally got around to checking them out. I like Impossible a lot, the beat is solid, and the MC's do fine work telling their stories of going for theirs in the rap biz. No Where is also pretty solid (is it just me, or does it sound a lot like this one here from Spesh K?) with some similar, introspective subject matter. The other songs on their myspace are a little bit on the "I will do you physical harm up in the club" tip, and I don't go in as much for those these days, but I like these songs, for what that's worth.


I've talked about Louwop a couple times on the hill, so I'm going to let you check out those posts if you want more detail on what he's about. I'll just say that I think he's a great MC who rhymes with the kind of hunger, and with the kind of subject matter, that any golden age aficionado would appreciate. This song is a remix of a track from his last release, The Great Escape, and it features fellow Torontonians Roach Uno and Theo 3. Good stuff.


I've also written about D-Sisive a number of times, just in the last year alone, as I'm a big fan of his, so even though I was surprised by the direction he's taken with this new, I shouldn't have been. After all, considering some of his most recent work found him sampling Iggy Pop and Tom Waits, I shouldn't be shocked to hear him crooning the chorus of his new track over a guitar-heavy beat. It's different, but it's good, so I'm intrigued to hear what his full length, Let The Children Die, is going to sound like.

Bonus Time:

I needed some non-TO content on here, and so, although he currently lives in Toronto, Wordburglar is Halifax through and through. This is some kind of alternative Canadian anthem he did for CBC radio show GO, and like most of the WB's work, it's enjoyable. After all, any song that features cuts by DJ Moose Donair and a shoutout to Roch Voisine, is pretty excellent by default. Plus he keeps it Riel, and that's always a plus.

Labels: Canada, HipHop, Music, OSM Hip Hop

Well last week's OSM blew the doors off this joint, resulting in traffic numbers that are un-heard of around these parts. It gave us a taste of how the blogging other-half lives, and if I had known that many people were dying to hear songs from Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, I would've posted them a long time ago (although I think we lured a bunch of people who thought we had new Outkast jams).

We knew it would be impossible to generate that kind of traffic again this week, no matter what we posted (unless we posted some songs from, oh I don't know, Outkast maybe? Who's up for that!). But the Ack and I talked about finding a way to keep the OSM party going. There's no better way to do that than with one of the absolute best party songs of the golden age: DJ Quik's Tonite. The Ack asked if we'd ever used this gem before, and when I realized we hadn't, it was a no-brainer. Honestly, who doesn't love Quik? Rapper/producer David Blake has always possessed one of the best perms in hip hop, and his melodic production has resulted in some standout tracks.

There are none more standout than Tonite though, which uses the near-unbeatable premise of a party song about a party. Quik has always been an unabashed user of synth-based production, but he makes he work like few others ever have. Tonite is a prime example of that, as it has a drum track that sounds like handclaps and someone banging on a small glass bottle with a stick, but it's also tremendous. Lyrically Quik is no slouch either, as he's charismatic and has a very smooth flow that's easy on the ears. He's a good storyteller too, as Tonite proves, and as the Ack pointed out, he's man enough to let you know he's taking a tub before the partying-down commences.

Tonite also contains this line, which, in the humble of your friends here at the hill, should be enshrined in the hip hop lyrics hall of fame:

And now I'm out of the tub, I'm feelin' fancy free
Spray on some Serious and put on my Givenchy
Sweatsuit, the gray one with the burgundy trim
And it's a medium, fit me proper cause I'm nice and slim

The video is also a Golden Age masterpiece, with the "see-through fridge full of 40's in an empty meadow" shot being one of my favorites. So, have a taste of Tonite, especially if you've never heard it. We also have a live version of that song that we're including, for a couple reason: Quik freaks the drum machine crazy at the start, and in the middle of it he says "Big bucks, no whammies". Which is, you know, awesome (he also keeps shouting out Chingy, which might've been awesome in 2006, but is now, uhhh, less so). But we can't leave it there, we also have one of the other singles from the album Born & Raised In Compton, which is a pretty addition to the pantheon of Compton odes, and the hyper-speed title track, which likely has the best Techmo Bowl interpolation ever in the middle of it. Enjoy!

Labels: OSM Hip Hop