Late 90s 12"s Part 2:The Giant Hidden Crate / Hold Mines

This one here is for my old mate Ricardinio, I hope I got the right 12". This 12" was on constant rotation in mid 1998 and even now it is still a heavy 12". So this was released under the pseudonym The Giant which anyone can easily tell is AG (Andre The Giant)from Show & AG fame. The reason for the use of the pseudonym is because these two track aren't produced by Showbiz but produced by DJ Greyboy. Greyboy is often described as an Acid Jazz producer although he did produce tracks for OGC (Originoo Gun Clappaz)and Main Flow of the group Mood he was more on the Acid Jazz side of things. Originally hailing from California he has released a number of compilations most recently 15 years of West Coast Cool in 2008.

The A side is Hidden Crate and starts of with a De Niro Taxi Driver sample before moving into a deep guitar loop laden beat over a jaded drum with some flutes in there. AG demonstrates his usual skills in his trademarked laid back flow. He drops dope verses with some choice lines Certified Gold Medalist,you could play fly I'm the Most high like Everest and my favoriteYou can't see me I'm camouflage besides I'm God. Just in case you were thinking of testing him not only is he camouflage but he is also God so don't bother. The B side is even better than the A with a sick guitar loop, some keys and crisp drums. Its slightly more upbeat and AG is not so laid back but still dropping gems like Master Chemist, jewels flooded like the streets of Venice. Its only two verses but that gives you almost a minute of the instrumental to enjoy which is perfect anyway. Its kinda strange how often you get these essentially non hip hop producers who create such a banging hip hop joint and then seem to just fade away. Check the link below for the rip and enjoy. Check back soon for another late 90s gem. I'm Like Einstein a Genius or the Gza but my clan be Bronx Ni**as

Late 90s 12"s Part 1: Colored Section Bomb M.C.

This is the first in a series of Random Late 90s 12"s that I thought I'd up for you guys to enjoy, I'll try and keep it regular but I can't make any promises. This is a 12" that I bought from HipHopsite.com in 1997. I remember playing it a lot during '97 and dug it out again recently and still enjoyed the piano laden beat and the funny hip hop lyrics.

Colored Section are a tight 2 man project from this left coast act. Smooth beats combined with the the mellow rhyme style of Coke (formally of Madcap) and Che'ski equals a solid album. This is a fun 12" with incredibly clever lyrics which pays tribute to the pioneers of the game. The group itself did drop an album however I never managed to get hold of it at the time but did grab it a few years back from some download site or the other. I found it to be a fun and enjoyable album with no social commentary or deep lyrics but just an enjoyable fun album. It also includes a West Voast remix of this track. Grab it if you can find a copy of it anywhere. The 12" was on green vinyl and included the track, an instrumental and acapella.

Follow the link below to check out the 12" rip. Bomb M.C.

The Re Up - Lord Have Mercy Paint Ya face

As requested by reader Dredwerkz here is a re-up of an earlier article with a new download link


I was never a big Lord Have Mercy fan, to me he was always a hype man for a rapper who didn't need a hype man. But when this bootleg 12" came out in 1998/99 I was a major M.O.P. and I still am to this day so I had to pick this because of the fact that it co stars lil' Fame and Billy Danzene. This bootleg was picked up in Uptown records in London's west end for about £8. It is produced by Nottz and it was originally recorded for Lord Have Mercy solo album 'Thee ungoldy hour', but that album never came out. However a track as dope as this rarely gets left on the cutting room floor and finally made it onto M.O.P.'s 2000 classic 'Warriorz'. Home Sweet Home could almost be a Premier, joint like the majority of the 'Warriorz' album was, but its Nottz who created this funky joint. Its made up of some nice horns as well as an off kilter piano loop with some humorous lines from Lord Have Mercy and those Brownsville boys. Of course Billy and Lil' Fame drop some of those signature gun sounds effects that we all love. I really like this joint its got a dope beat from a producer who almost always drops heat and three hyped up emcees.
The B side is a funky track called 'Paint ya Face' and is produced by Nottz again. The beat is a solid beat with some nice bongos and what sounds like a native american chant running through it with a nice bassline underneath it. Lord Have Mercy tells us all to paint our faces for some reason that I am unsure off. He also tells us that he dances like Indians, maybe he thinks that if he does the correct dance Busta will allow him to release his album although this strategy clearly didn't work back in 1999. As far as I know 'Thee Ungodly hour'r was scrapped when Lord left Flipmode. Also set for the album was Havoc. 
Lord left Flipmode stating that he did not like the mainstream direction Flipmode was taking and also stating that Busta Rhymes had promised that Flipmode would be a launching pad for all of the members solo careers, which for Lord Have Mercy did not happen. He also blamed Busta for holding his record release back and relegating him to being a "backup singer. Fellow former Flipmode member Rah Digga, indirectly corroborated this when mentioning in an interview that Busta shelved Lord's album release (which was completed) for Digga's (which hadn't even started although it did end up containing tracks by both Premier and Pete Rock).
After leaving Flipmode, Lord recorded a three song single called The Come On Down EP which included songs "Charge", "We Will", and "Come On Down". Lord disappeared from the scene for a while before forming his own record label Sword and Shield and releasing the mixtape The Runaway Slave. The mixtape had many strong hits like "Until the Wheelz Fall Off", which is still available on iTunes in the US at least.
Lord has revealed that he is releasing another mixtape of old unreleased songs and has asked people on his myspace for the songs they would like to appear on the mixtape. I for one would like to get hold of a copy of 'Thee Ungodly hour' Heres the link