Sunday 18 January 2009

Dodgy Bootlegs Number 6-RA the Rugged Man Stanley Kubrick and What the with Akinyele


Although I have listed this as a bootleg my friend, Mr Lawson tells me that its actually a legitimate release albeit probably just a promo. Either way its in my bootleg box so I'm listing it as a bootleg for the sake of my ongoing series.
"I thought I was the illest," Biggie was quoted as saying in Ego Trip Magazine Vol. 1, Issue 3 when referring to R.A. the Rugged Man. Biggie and R.A. had recorded the notorious "C*nt renaissance" together early in both their careers. R.A. the Rugged Man (real name R.A. Thorburn) is a sick emcee from Suffolk County, New York on Long Island. R.A. signed with Jive Records as part of the group Crustified Dibbs, a vehicle for R.A. and producer Marc Niles (Nigga Niles) in 1993. They were due to release an album in 1994 called "Night of the Bloody Apes" but after numerous altercations with his record Label they decided to shelve the album. In all honesty by that time R.A. pretty much hated his label (he even had a song on the album called "every record label sucks dick) and it is said was bootlegging his own material too.
Throughout his career he's worked with the Notorious B.I.G., Mobb Deep, Sadat X, Akinyele, Chuck D, Jedi Mind Tricks, Kool G Rap, Wu-Tang Clan, Killah Priest, and producers Erick Sermon, DJ Quik, Buckwild, Alchemist, Ayatollah and Havoc.
This 12" was released in 1999 and features two tracks; "What the ?" and "Stanley Kubrick". "Stanley Kubrick" appeared on Rawkus's Soundbombing 2 compilation (R.A. was also featured on Soundbombing 1 as well). I am unsure if "What The?" appeared anywhere else other than this bootleg.

'Stanley Kubrick" is the B Side but is my favorite of the two tracks and is produced by Capital The Crimelord who had worked with R.A. before as a DJ. The A Side is called "What the (fuck)" and features that other foul mouthed NY rapper Akinyele. The beats not bad but the kids singing the chorus is a little grating. If I remember rightly this was purchased at the long gone Mr Bongos', which probably means I paid a little over the odds for this but when I heard "Stanley Kubrick" back on Soundbombing 2 I had to have an unmixed copy of it. Check the link below for the vinyl rip and also something a little notorious.

Thats some Stanley Kubrick type shit

1 comment:

Mr Lawson said...

I was given copies of this when I passed thru the offices of Priority Records in NY one time, so it's not actually a boot!

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