Business Is Boomin’

First things first: Pharoahe Monch & Slaughterhouse are at Fortune Sound Club TONIGHT!!! Unless you hate amazing MCs and unforgettable live performances, I expect to see you there, and I expect you to see me and the winners of the ticket giveaway wildin’ the fuck out! Details here.

Now, let’s get down to Business…

Erick & Parrish Making Dollars [EPMD: Tuesday May 25 @ Fortune Sound Club]

In the long tradition of rad rap acronyms (N***** With Attitude, Big Daddy King Asiatic Nobody’s Equal, Ladies Love Cool James, Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone, We Usually Take All N***** Garments…I’ll stop there) EPMD has one of the best. I was hooked from the first time I saw them. Watching Rap City, I perked up at the sight of N.W.A. in a video for a song that wasn’t theirs. Who were these mumbling motherfuckers wearing fisherman hats and thieve-thick rope chains, calling their peens ‘bozacks’? They had to be good if N.W.A. was giving them this silent endorsement. I assumed from the sample in the chorus that the song was called The Big Payback, but I had to wait until the end credits to catch their name. And until I heard the song For My People, to be wowed by what the letters stood for.

Erick Sermon (aka E-Double aka The Green-Eyed Bandit) and Parrish Smith (aka PMD – Parrish, Microphone Doctor aka The Slow Flow-er) are responsible for introducing us to the likes of Redman, Keith Murray, Jamal, K-Solo and Das EFX. They are also, however, responsible for the Pinto of rappers, MF Doom, whose whole style, delivery and flow could not have existed without an Erick Sermon to take them from. Nor could such lyrical gems as “you can’t see me, even with a microscope” (Ummm… ’cause you’re…tiny?Ooookaayy…) or “and I fuck your shit, suck my dick for explicit” (????) Though the majority of their rhymes were carried more by swagger, boasts and threats in equal measure, rather than by heady lyrics, they’d bust out the occasional ‘high’ concept. Like Mr. Bozack, where Parrish has a conversation with his dick (voiced by Erick) about last night’s skanks. Not only did they bring us one of hip hop’s first recurring characters (Jane) but they also proved they meant Business by sticking the word in every one of their album titles over the past two decades and change.Their trademark became using recognizable old funk and soul samples, chopping them up and crafting one of the greatest ratios and longest runs of booming beats ever.

On top of all that: they’re coming to Vancouver! On top of all that: I have four free tickets for you mooks! All you gotta do is be one of the first four to leave the name of any EPMD song in the Comments section below. (I’ll also need your first and last name for the guestlist. And so I can stalk you.) Slow and steady will not win this race. Make haste or get the bozack. After that, your only option will be to help Erick & Parrish make mo’ dollars by buying tickets here. Do it. Hey: if this show’s wack, I’ll eat a fisherman hat!! [Editors Note: Contest closed. Winners listed in Comments.]

I’m Housin’ • You Gots To Chill • So What Cha Sayin’ • Get The Bozack • The Big Payback • I’m Mad • Hardcore Rampage • Manslaughter • For My People • Gold Digger • Boon Dox • Chill • Headbanger • It’s Going Down Richter Scale • Da Joint • Never Seen Before

Ain’t A Damn Thing Changed [Nice & Smooth: Tuesday May 4 @ Fortune Sound Club]

T-Minus 12 days until Fortune Sound Club welcomes hip hop legends Mean & Rough. No, wait. That’s not right. I mean Nice & Smooth! Shee-it. I’m confusin’ my own shee-it! I was like, gettin’ ‘em all in before you showed up!

Smooth Bee came exactly as advertised, spreading butter on every word out of his mouth. Greg Nice is one of the most energetic, distinct and sampled voices, and mimicked flows of the old school. I guess cliches are cliche for a reason - these exact opposites came together to form The Odd Couple of hip hop’s golden age, perfectly complimenting each other with simple (but never stupid), humourous, light-hearted rhymes over breezy beats.

Lemme just cut to the chase: Don’t you wanna see the dudes that had the balls to sample Tracy Chapman’s suicide-inducing crap-fest Fast Car and, not just survive the experience, but craft their biggest and best song? If the answer is yes, click here for tickets. If the answer is no, FUCK OFF TRACY CHAPMAN!

Hip Hop Junkies • Early To Rise • We Are No. 1 • Funky For You • Dwyck (Gang Starr feat. Nice & Smooth) Sometimes I Rhyme Slow

Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal
July 17 1966 – April 20 2010

Keith Elam, aka Guru of Gang Starr fame, passed away this past Tuesday.
Rather than a moment of silence listen to the Gang Starr songs up in the right sidebar. Go here and here.
“Lemonade was a popular drink and it still is.”
And it always will be.
RIP Guru.

– Nuv