Track #2

Bahamadia "Kollage" album

(Chrysalis, 1996)

JOE KORAN: In my mind Bahamdia is one of the few consistent female hip-hop artists. It is rare to find a weak Bahamadia album. I think she kind of paved the way for many female hip-hop artists. Bahamdia is sick lyrically. Her flow is so simple yet so complex, making her a unique MC.

HAPP G: Bahamadia is one of my favorite emcees, period. This album is a straight up classic and represents philly hip hop so thoroughly. "UKNOWHOWWEDO" is an ode to all things Philly hip hop, with Bahamadia namedropping almost every major figure in this city's hip hop scene. I love that she has such a laid back, relaxing sounding voice but is also able to sound so powerful with her flow and lyrics. She came out in the era of female emcees really beginning to have to show some skin to sell records, and I respect that she had the integrity to just do what she did and not focus so much on some manufactured image in order to sell records. I love the cover photo and the fonts they used, it's just so clean and powerful. "3 The Hard Way" is a classic and one of my all time favorite DJ Premier beats. "Da Jawn" has amazing appearances by Black Thought and Malik B of The Roots and is a celebration of the best slang word Philly has ever produced. The version of this wax I have is pretty rare I believe, because its double vinyl and all radio edited versions, and the back cover track listing only shows it as having an A Side and B Side. 

Richard Pryor "...Is It Something I Said?" album 

(Reprise, 1975) 

JOE KORAN: I see Richard Pryor as the Dave Chappelle of the late 70’s. He did not hold back from talking about race or sexuality, and most of his routines were based around drugs. This record is pretty damn funny and it shows why Pryor is one of the top comics of all time. A weird tid-bit about this record is that it was recorded live in front of an audience in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.

HAPP G: Richard Pryor was the man! He was so willing to talk about his innermost demons publicly and make fun of himself. Growing up in the 80s I mostly knew him from movies like Superman 3, Brewster's Millions, Harlem Nights, and See No Evil, Hear No Evil, but once I dug deeper into his stand up I really gained respect for him. 

Corpse Bride "Orignal Motion Picture Soundtrack" album (Warner Bros, 2005)

JOE KORAN: I do not think Danny Elfman knows how to make any music besides music for Tim Burton films. If I had to take a guess I would say that he has done the soundtracks for over 90% of Burton’s films. This soundtrack is similar to other Elfman/Burton film soundtracks. It is very dark and eerie sounding. It sounds exactly like “The Nightmare Before Christmas” soundtrack, which of course was directed by Burton and composed by Elfman.

HAPP G: I've definitely hit this record up a few times for samples, but I never saw the movie. Danny Elfman is definitely an integral part of the Tim Burton audio landscape, but don't forget that he also did The Simpsons theme music, from which alone, he is probably paid for life!

"Television's Greatest Hits Vol. 2" album

(Tee Vee Toons, 1986)

JOE KORAN: This one instantly brought me back about 18 years, to the days when I would actually wake-up before noon on a Saturday morning. I was always a big fan of cartoons, and I still am today. Cartoons always had the best theme songs. They instantly get stuck in your head and the next thing you know you are humming “The Smurfs” theme song at work in front of your more mature co-workers. I guess that is the whole point of theme songs. The top cartoon theme song of all time has to be “Peanuts”. You really cannot argue against that.

HAPP G: There's a lot of cool theme songs on here, as well as a bunch of pretty old school/obscure ones that I wasn't too familiar with. I sampled the "Time Tunnel" theme music for the 40th Dimension song "Scaaand". I think it's pretty cool that they have the chart on the inside with the visual aid of when these shows aired.

Anne Murray "Sings For The Sesame Street Generation" album

(Children's Television Workshop, 1979)

JOE KORAN: If I were a parent I would stay away from playing this record for my kids before they go to bed. Most of the songs on this record are pretty boring kids songs. I was expecting more up-beat and jolly songs, yet we found dark and dreary sounding tracks. Not only are the songs weird, but so is the artwork on the middle and back covers. Definitely not a children’s record by any means.

HAPP G: I remember some of these songs from when I was a kid, but I don't remember the "Inchworm" being as sad as he appears on the inside cover. Maybe he's just sad and overwhelmed by the difficult math problem he's facing.

Pacheco Y Su Charanga "Con Elliot Romero" album

(Alegre Recording Corp, 1963?)

HAPP G: This cover is pretty dope! This guy reminds me of a latin american version of Herbie Mann, but less engaging and dope. My favorite song on here is "Sabrosa Como El Guarapo", which is pretty chill and funky. We had some trouble locating a release year for this one.

JOE KORAN: Well I have absolutely no idea what is being said in any of the songs on this album. I might have taken eight years of Spanish throughout high school and college but I could not make out much of what was being sung.  This most likely explains why I could not listen to more than a few minutes of each song. Most of the songs are pretty repetitive and sound similar. The album does have some sick flute solos, reminiscent of Ron Burgundy’s.

Roger Whittaker "ALL TIME Heart-Touching FAVORITES" album

(Suffolk Marketing, 1982)

JOE KORAN: The record title should read “All Terrible Heart-Aching Flops”. Word of advice: Don’t play this on a first date!

HAPP G: This guy looks like your grandpa's poker buddy. He actually sounds a lot like Leonard Cohen, only without the edge. Or the good songs.

Beastie Boys "So What'Cha Want" single 

(Capitol, 1992)

HAPP G: This record brings back some really good memories for me! The original version of this song is one of my favorite all time Beasties songs. On this record, I love the uncredited B-Real appearance on the Soul Assasins Remix of "So What'Cha Want", but the real gem on this for me is "The Skills To Pay The Bills", which is unreleased on any of their albums.

JOE KORAN: Wow the Beastie Boys actually look like boys rather than grandfathers on this cover. What a classic song this one is. It is probably one of my favorite Beastie Boys songs. It is a great hip-hop song with some great hip-hop lyrics. “You Can’t Front on That”.

The Monkees "Self Titled" album 

(RCA, 1966)

JOE KORAN: I never knew the Monkees, a.k.a the wanna-be Beatles, had a TV show, and after listening to this record I’m kind of glad I never knew this.

HAPP G: Dang, Joe's hatin on The Monkees! I actually think The Monkees have a few really good songs, but the TV show just instantly took away any potential for them to have any edge to their image. "Last Train To Clarksville" is pretty good, but the rest of this album is just OK.

Jeru The Damaja "Me Or The Papes" single 

(Payday, 1997)

JOE KORAN: I am not really that familiar with Jeru the Damaja.  He is very strong lyrically and has a pure hip-hop feel. Not a great single, but it is a solid and consistent one. The hottest track on this record is “Tha Bullshit”, which was produced by DJ Premier.

HAPP G: I'm a big fan of Jeru's 2nd album "Wrath Of The Math", which this single is from. But for me by far the best track of this record is the remix version "Me, Not The Papes", which has such a slow and brooding feel to it, and with the Mad Skillz vocal sample added in the mix, it's a wrap. I do find it a bit odd that they chose to release the song "Tha Bullshit" as a clean version, especially because I think there are a lot of stronger songs from the album that could have been chosen. This single and the album feature some amazing DJ Premier production. 

Lou Christie "Lightning Strikes" album

(MGM Records, 1965?)

JOE KORAN: I would rate this record with one word, MEH! This was a pretty boring record from start to finish. Lou Christie comes off as a pretty corny dude. I mean just look at the album cover. The album does have an early version of “(There's) Always Something There To Remind Me...”, a song which I’ve heard on countless commercials and film montages.

HAPP G: Lou Christie does have an impressive vocal range, which he showcases well on the song "Lighting Strikes". I do like that song, and it is interesting to hear early versions of "(There's) Always Something There To Remind Me...", made famous in the 80s by Naked Eyes, and "Going Out Of My Head" made famous by Little Anthony & The Imperials. Lou Christie strikes me as trying to flow in a similar vein as Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, but also attempting to have more of a James Dean edge to him,and not really succeeding with either attempt. I do still like the song "Lightning Strikes", and "You've Got Your Troubles" is also a pretty dope song, but I don't see myself coming back to this record again and again. We had trouble solidifying the actual release year for this one as well.

Robin Williams "A Night At The Met" album 

(CBS, 1986)

JOE KORAN: It is quite obvious by Williams’ crazy fast-paced non-coherent rambling that this record was recorded during his cocaine days. Williams’ stand-up sets on this record are titled “Alcohol”, “Cocaine” and “Marijuana”. That pretty much sums up where his mind was at the time of this recording. What I found interesting and relevant to current events was Williams’ jokes about Khadafi. Its crazy to see that the same topics are still being talked and joked about 25 years later.

HAPP G: My brother and I used to listen to this record almost every night, which, thinking back on it, was kind of edgy material for a young kid to be soaking in. Definitely a lot of drug fueled topics, and there's some pretty hilarious stuff on here. I find myself still being able to recount some of these routines line for line. For folks who don't think that Robin Williams is funny anymore, I would definitely refer them to this record, which really has him in his top form. I think this may have been released as an early HBO special, but I'm not sure about that. Williams won a grammy for this in 1988 for best comedy album.

Steady B "Self Titled" album

(Pop Art, 1986) 

 

JOE KORAN: I find it quite humorous when we come across a record that is as old as I am. 1986 was a good year! This record however is not so great. The record has that classic “old skool” hip-hop sound to it. The beats are pretty generic and boring sounding. I was expecting much more from this record. Overall it is pretty dull.

 

HAPP G: Most Philly hip hop fans know about Steady B and Cool C for their roles in a botched bank robbery attempt that claimed the life of the first Philadelphia female police officer to be killed in the line of duty. Even though their lives and careers were capped off on such a cautionary and infamous note, there is no denying that Steady B and Cool C were influential to this city's early hip hop scene. If you look at the back of this record there are a lot of names that ended up playing a major role in this city's later hip hop scene, from Lawrence Goodman, Pop Art, to Hilltop Hustlers, to Joe Nicolo and Studio 4. As far as the music itself on here, "Bring The Beat Back" is an old school classic, "Yo Mutha" hints as his future more-edgy tracks to come later in his career and is also an early mom-dissing record, and "Surprise" sort of reminds me of a Fresh Prince storytelling jam, but a less engaging and funny version over more sparse and primitive production. In fact his whole flow and presence on here kind of reminds me of The Fresh Prince, but definitely no where near as effective. This record features Marley Marl production on the song "Get Physical". This is a very rare version of this album, which was later rereleased as "Bring The Beat Back" on Jive Records, but this is the original Pop Art version, signed by Steady B himself. When I look at the back cover I wonder where Kelly and Shaenae are today and if they miss this record.