Classic Material: Run DMC - Tougher Than Leather (Full Movie)

Every Saturday night I gather up the kids, make a fresh batch of popcorn (with hot butter on it), and sit in front of the laptop and head over to EgoTrip for movie night. Then, I usually jack their movie night post for NationOfMillions because it's always dope as fuck. This weeks is the dopest.

When it came time for Run DMC to follow up THE GREATEST HIP-HOP ALBUM EVER MADE, Raising Hell, they decided to not only drop an album but also a movie to go with it. Chuck D often refers to Run DMC the "Beatles of Hip-Hop" and this movie was a page right out of the Fab 4's play book. Tougher Than Leather came out in 1988 to a lot of criticism and not much else. Rain Man it was not, but to me it didn't matter because my heroes were on the big screen. Not even bad acting, a bad plot, and a low budget was able to ruin this movie for me. On top of that, there are cameos by Slick Rick (performing "Treat Em Like A Prostitute"), and the Beastie Boys (performing "Desperado") which set off my 25 year quest to get my hands on a good copy of that record (still haven't found one). Check the video below to see what I am talking about. That cameo alone makes this film classic as fuck in my books. In fact, fuck Rain Man, Tougher Than Leather had my vote back in '88 for the Academy Award's Movie of the Year!

I suggest poppin' that popcorn (with the hot butter), sitting back, and just taking the movie in as it comes, but if you want a quick breakdown of what the flick is about this comes straight of the YouTube page...

"Legendary hip-hop group Run-D.M.C. stars in this cross between a blaxploitation film and a spaghetti western. They must find and punish the evil drug lord-record company executive who murdered their friend. Along the way, they encounter racist bikers, blonde bimbos, and the

Beastie Boys!"

Demos: Artifacts Demo Tape (1993)

Another demo tape from the archives. This one isn't hard to get your hands on, in fact it has been floating around blogland for some time now but since I'm on a quest to post every rap demo in existence it is time for this one to go up.

The Source's Unsigned Hype alumni first started buzzing in 1993. Fresh off their appearance on the Nubian Crackers record "Do You Wanna Hear It", Artifacts dropped their debut album Between A Rock and a Hard Place the following year. This is the demo tape that got them that deal. Everything on this tape are original versions of songs that made the album. The only record on this tape that didn't make the cut is the Lord Jamar produced "Check Da Fine Print" that features Brand Nubian. He also produced the original version of "Wrong Side Of The Tracks" which features a different beat (a James Brown loop), a different flow (same lyrics though), and Jamar on the hook (saying the same shit). As usual, the sound quality isn't the best but it is "Demo Tape Hi-Fi" which means it's about as good as music ripped off a cassette tape from the early '90's is going to get.

Artifacts

Demo Tape (1993)

1. "Attack Of New Jerusalem"

2. "Check Da Fine Print" feat. Brand Nubian

3. "Flexi Wit Da Technique"

4. "Wrong Side Of The Tracks"

Ice-T's Art Of Rap - Official Movie Trailer

The Original Gangster Ice-T has been deep in the rap game since the mid 80's. With classic after classic under his belt, he is one of the most respected rappers in the game by both fans and peers. With that said, not many people could pull off a film like Art Of Rap. It's full of all our heroes speaking on, well, the art of rapping. Chuck D, KRS One, Mos Def, Q-Tip, Common, Kanye West, Nas, Doug E Fresh, B-Real, Eminem, Dr. Dre, Snoop, Ice Cube, Xzibit, Treach, Redman, Bun B, Afrika Bambaataa, Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Marley Marl, Kool Keith, Melle Mel, Run DMC (and more) all make an appearance. On June 15th the Art Of Rap is coming to a theatre near you. This is is a first day, first screening appointment for me!

For bonus Art Of Rap, here is Smooth Da Hustler's title track to the film where he takes name dropping rappers to a whole new level. The song is no "Broken Language" but I get the concept.

Smooth Da Hustler

"The Art Of Rap"

Classic Material: N.W.A. - Live in Concert (Video)

N.W.A. is on my list of artists that I'd give anything to have seen live, but due to all kinds of reasons that will never happen. A few years back we posted the audio of this show as Rap Treat #54, but this is a dvd rip of the Houston, Texas concert which means the audio came straight from the mixing board and is professionally shot and edited (at least to 1989 standards anyways). Unlike many artists from the late '80's N.W.A. was not known for their live show, but this concert does not disappoint. They have a dope stage set, their show is put together tight, they have mad hits to rock, and they have a couple dancers! I didn't really see that coming but then again having a couple of fly girls dancing on stage works for them. This is easily worth 25 minutes of your life, especially if you were never lucky enough to witness The World's Most Dangerous Band in concert before Ice Cube left and Eazy passed away.

You are now about to witness the strength of street knowledge.

Nardwuar vs. Currency Pt 3

This is the 3rd time these two hook up, and the third time hilarity ensues.

Classic Material: Breakin' N Enterin' Documentary (1983)

I've yet to watch this, but just the subject matter was enough for it to find its way on to the pages of Nation Of Millions. This is a 1983 film about the early L.A. breakdancing and Hip-Hop scene. Get your popcorn (with hot butter), sit back and enjoy!

Co-Sign: Camp Lo & Ski Beats - Fort Apache EP (2012)

Camp Lo's Uptown Saturday Night album is one of my all time favourites. There is something about Camp Lo rappin' on Ski beats that just fits. It's a Snoop rappin' on Dr. Dre beats thing. A Guru on Primo beats... The Clipse on Pharrell's beats... Chuck D on Bomb Squad production... or anybody from Wu-Tang rappin' on a RZA beat thing. So this comes as a nice surprise... a new Camp Lo EP produced entirely by Ski Beats. Perfect.

Camp Lo & Ski Beats

Fort Apache EP

Demos: D-Nice - "They Call Me D-Nice" (Demo)

"Takin' out you suckas and you don't know how I did it!"

Original material from former BDP/Flavor Unit member turned photographer/Roc Nation DJ D-Nice. This is the demo version of the ultra classic "Thery Call me D-Nice". That's right. Enjoy!

D-Nice

"They Call Me D-Nice" (Demo)

Beastie Boys' Rolling Stone Interviews On MCA

It's been almost 2 weeks since MCA's passing and Mike D and Ad Rock have broken their silence regarding their friend and bandmate. Both of them spoke to Rolling Stone about MCA, his role with the band, the Beastie Boys last recording session, and what kind of a person Adam Yauch was.

Ad Rock - "Yauch was in charge. He was smarter, more organized. In a group of friends, you all come up with stupid shit to do. But you never do it. With Yauch, it got done. He had that extra drive to see things through. We each had our roles. One of his was the make-it-happen person."

Read the whole Ad Rock interview HERE

Mike D - "We were playing around with this 808 drum machine. We had this beat, and Yauch said, "I'd like to hear what it would sound like backwards." Run from Run-D.M.C. was there, and he was like, "Man, this is crazy." But Yauch recorded this beat, bounced it to another tape, flipped it around – this is pre-digital sampling – and bounced it back to the multi-track tape. The reversed beat basically became "Paul Revere." Yauch saw this thing we couldn't see – and he killed it."

Read the whole Mike D interview HERE

KRS One's Boogie Down Production Stories

Boogie Down Production is one of my all time favourite groups. Vibe sat down with KRS One and had him break down his catalogue. These are basically BDP stories from the '80's. Rap nerd shit all day. Below is KRS' breakdown of how Criminal Minded came to be. You can check his stories about By All Means Necessary HERE, Ghetto Music HERE and Self Destruction HERE.

“Me and Scott La Rock (DJ and co-founder of Boogie Down Productions) started B Boy Records, which was a small little record company, with some other guys—Ray Wilson, Jack Allen and Bill Kamarra. That’s where we put out ‘South Bronx.’ Before all this, Scott Sterling (Scott La Rock) was my social worker and I was a homeless dude in the shelter. Me, Just-Ice, and ICU…we were all homeless b-boys who rapped and did graffiti. We were living in the streets day-to-day…all we had was hip-hop. We’d hang out at hip-hop spots, go to the train yards and tag, go to the park jams, battle each other…we were living it out completely. This was about 1985, and somehow, by the order of the universe, Scott becomes my social worker. He would ask me, ‘What is it that you want to do with your life?’ I would tell him I’m a MC and a philosopher [laughs]. But Scott really took that seriously and stayed on me. I did some rhymes for him about nuclear war and the world coming to an end and he loved it. But we didn’t always see eye-to-eye. We got into a lot of arguments.

But what’s crazy is Scott would invite me to a place called Broadway RT where he DJ’d every Friday and Saturday. That’s where my eyes opened up. I was on the guest list, had a drink ticket, walked in and the place was jammed. People were dancing and it was hip-hop to the maximum degree with the Adidas, bubble goose jackets, bamboo earrings, Cazal glasses and Kangols. And my corny, nerd social worker was the absolute coolest dude on Friday and Saturday nights! That blew my mind. Me and Scott formed the group Boogie Down Productions because with the way I rhymed we knew that nobody was going to sign us. We went around to everybody…RCA, Sony, Columbia…no one wanted to hear our records. So we became our own producers because we didn’t think we wasn’t going to make it as MC and DJ’s. That’s where the name Boogie Down Productions came from.

Flash forward. Boogie Down Productions’ career starts with a battle. A lot of people were saying we were going after Run-DMC. But let’s get this out of the way: Run-DMC was king during the time we were about to drop Criminal Minded! That needs to be said at the top of this interview. At that time Run and them weren’t king just because they were selling platinum records. They were king because of the way they presented hip-hop to hip-hop fans. It was the way that they dressed from the Adidas to the Godfather hats. It was the way that they rhymed. Everyone knew that Run-DMC with the great DJ Jam Master Jay were the ultimate hip-hop group from 1983 to 1987. In hip-hop you had to beat the guy on top. If you claimed you were the king, you had to be stomping crews out every week. And Run-DMC was killing them! Every week something was coming off those Run-DMC albums. And that’s when I came around in 1985. BDP wanted to prove we could be on top.

Now right around 1985 the crack cocaine scene was coming in. The West Coast had already had their share of it since ’82-’83, but it started getting into the East Coast on the street level. There was a group of people that felt like something should be said about the escalating violence; about how crack dealers were killing the weed dealers in the neighborhood. They were getting killed so that the crack dealers could move in. In a lot of cases, it was actually the cops that were working with the crack cocaine dealers killing off the Rastafarian dreads who would sell the herb in the ‘hood. Crack started destroying everything. At this time the MC was the person who spoke on behalf of our community. That was your job as a rapper. You didn’t think about making records. There were whole MC crews that never made records that influenced hip-hop greatly. Ask DMC who will tell you stories about sitting at the foot of Grandmaster Caz learning every cadence and move he made. This was a crazy time. You had Run-DMC, you had LL Cool J and Def Jam; and then you had another powerful clique on the rise—the Juice Crew. This was all happening as Boogie Down Productions was about to release Criminal Minded.

BDP wasn’t trying to be hard in a street sense. We were just taking our cue from the Black Panthers. Remember, they used to walk around with their guns out because it was legal before the Patriot Act. So on the cover of Criminal Minded you see me and Scott posing on the cover with guns. I even put the shotgun belt over my shoulder, which was a longtime symbol of revolution for the Mexicans, Native Americans, and for the Africans. The streets were bubbling. MC Shan from the Juice Crew disses LL and tells him that he bit his style and challenges him to a battle. This was huge! The Juice Crew was doing it big. Roxanne Shante just came off of battling UTFO. I finally had my demo of ‘Criminal Minded’ with Scott cutting up Trouble Funk. We also had ‘Elementary’ on there. Somehow we heard Mr. Magic (influential host of the legendary New York hip-hop radio show Rap Attack)—who was down with Marley and the Juice Crew—said we were wack. And we were like, ‘Wack???!!! Mr. Magic is wack! Shan is wack. Marley is wack!’ That’s when I picked a battle with Shan on ‘South Bronx.’ I mimicked his song the same way Roxanne did on ‘Roxanne, Roxanne.’ He answers me with ‘(South Bronx) Kill That Noise,’ which was a huge regional record as well. I then answered with ‘The Bridge Is Over.’ And I shut it down [laughs].

I was so happy to be making records. I’m still appreciative to MC Shan to this day. If it wasn’t for Shan there would be no KRS-One. BDP came out victorious, but we didn’t come out all the way victorious because the critics kept saying, ‘Well, all you guys are is a battle group…you’re not a real group like Run-DMC, the Fat Boys or like Whodini.’ And they were right. So I ran back and wrote songs that showed that we were here to stay…that we were capable of making an entire album. We did the [rock sound] like Run and them on ‘Dope Beat.’ We started making songs like ‘The P Is Free’ and ‘9mm Goes Bang,’ which talked about how the crack dealers were moving out the herb dealer. And we were breaking new ground by using dancehall reggae. Hip-hop had never heard anything like that before. Even Schoolly D was like, ‘Yo, that shit was cold.’ Even though he rhymed about street life, he was still a conscious street rapper like how NWA did it with ‘Express Yourself.’ Basically, BDP was all about realism. But on a conscious level.”

Rap Treats #99: Big Pun - "Still Not A Player" (Reference Track)

This has been floating around as the "Still Not A Player" demo, but what it really is is the reference track Pun sent Joe before they recorded their smash. Pun "sings" Joe's part and Cuban Link does Pun's verses while the explain to Joe how they want the record to be put together. Also, this came courtesy of DJ Soul as the loud and poorly placed tag indicates.

Bug Pun w/ Cuban Link

"Still Not A Player" (Reference Track)

Classic Material: BIGGIE & Jay-Z Performing "Get Money" (1996)

This is basically why we have a section called Classic Material. BIGGIE performing "Get Money" with Jay-Z as his hype man back in '96. This all happened at Ralph McDaniels birthday party. Peep his run down below.

“I wanted to get B.I.G. to host [it], but really I wanted him to perform. Jay-Z came with the whole Roc-A-Fella crew and they got on stage. I told the DJ, ‘If Biggie gets on stage, play a Biggie song and we’ll get him to perform.’ DJ Ace threw on ‘Get Money’ and the whole crowd went crazy. B.I.G. looks at me like, ‘I guess I’m supposed to perform now, right?’ Jay-Z plays hypeman to B.I.G. on ‘Get Money.’ That just rang through the hood forever.”