After doing the original 'High Drama' last week it only seemed logical to put up the remix this week. The remix came out a couple of months after the original also on Guesswhyld (GW 201) in late 1997. This was a pretty big hit on the Indie scene and was featured on a lot of mixtapes at the time, my favourite being the Eddie Ill and DL tapes which featured so much dope indie music at the time.
This was another Mr Bongo's( a long since closed down Hip Hop record shop in London's West End) purchase and probably cost about £6.50, around this time I was spending at least £30 a week on vinyl and mixtapes, the good old days when buying music still held some excitement.
The 12" features the 'High Drama remix', 'Service remix' and the original 'Service' with instrumentals too. The best joint on the 12" is easily the 'High Drama remix' which is remixed by Shaun J Period. Shaun J Period always struck me as a bouncier version of Hi-Tek who had some seriously dope beats. He had produced for a number of well respected underground and indie artists up to this point (Heltah Skeltah, Mad Skillz & Mos Def had used him for his solo debut Universal Magnetic easily one of Mos's best songs ever)and would go onto produce Blackstar's Respiration & the fantastic Body Rock with Q-Tip, Mos Def and Tash from the Lyricist Lounge compilation on Rawkus (RWK 1129-2 released in1998). He also laced Coocoa Brovas's with a joint on the Rude Awakening album. But then Shawn just seemed to retire from the scene, but a couple of years ago I remember seeing a new project with his name on a few blogs and message boards although I never heard too much about it. Back to the 'High Drama remix' its a bouncy joint as you would expect laced with some nice piano stabs of a mid tempo drum break and some intermittent horns somewhere in the background. Its the same lyrics as the first so no need to comment on those.
The 'Service remix' is produced by Mr Mayhem, who only seems to have produced a few other joints the most notable being for Big Kwam back in 1996 on his track 'I don't give a whut' indeed I can't remember that either. However the beat he provides Mike with isn't too bad; nice strings, some horns and a Tribe vocal sample I think taken from the beginning of 'Check the Rhyme'. Theres no change on the lyrics like the 'High Drama remix' its only the beat which is remixed.
The B side contains the original version of 'Service' the clean and dirty versions and the instrumental. Seeing as they were on the 12" I upped last week I'm not gonna bother to up them now. I have always thought that the 'High Drama remix' was part 2 of the series and then part 3 was the joint with Consequence that had new lyrics and beat but someone mentioned to me that the real part 2 was never released. If anyone has any info on this or even a rip of part 2 I'd love to hear form you. Meanwhile check the link for the rip and next week its part 3's turn.
High Drama Remix
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