BLACK MUSIC MONTH: A Salute To Hip-Hop In 1994, Part 1 [EXCLUSIVE]

Somewhere on the outskirts of New York a hip-hop moment twenty years in the making is about to commence. It’s the kind of frosty, January night that inspired the uncompromising verses and beats that defined an era: “Escuchela La ciudad respirando….”

In one part of town a leader of hip-hop’s new school, 9th Wonder is holding a release party for his Jamla label at S.O.Bs. Despite being from North Carolina the producer and (and sometimes MC)has been an apostle for the gritty, asphalt-flavored brand of hip-hop that was born on nights like this in the city that never sleeps. His friend and collaborator Young Guru holds court in the belly of the venue along with Dres from Black Sheep, Statik Selektah and others.

However, a few clicks south fans have gathered at SRB in Brooklyn for another communion. Separated by one letter, a bridge and two decades of history the energy is the same.  Pharoahe Monch and Prince Po, the duo known as Organized Konfusion, will perform their sophomore album, “Stress: The Extinction Agenda” in its entirety.   Released three years after their self-titled debut, “Stress” found the Queens duo in complicated space personally and professionally and they captured their very relatable struggle in every bar. It’s why the same people who were performing at SOBs a few hours ago will find themselves here to witness and celebrate history. Like so many other albums that came out in 1994 “Stress” was special and the ensuing celebration would eventually bring out everyone from Large Professor and O.C to Royal Flush to pay homage.

“See, the reason why the ’90s was the golden era–and I compare it to the 70s in a way–it was a time we were experiencing things as young kids like Howard Beach, absorbing different politics and war, coming of age,” says Pharoahe Monch a few days later. He’s parked on a side street in Queens previewing tracks from his upcoming album, “P.T.S.D.” “The ability to express those things in music is what made the sh*t relatable in the Golden Era. From Tribe to Souls of Mischief to EPMD to NWA. It’s f*ckin phenomenal.”

“It felt just like it was a young movement. It was something new and fresh. It was alive, especially in NY,” adds producer Ski Beatz, whose group Original Flavor released their second and final album in 1994. “It was a scene. NY was the place to be to do the music. There was just so many different types of groups out. So many different styles. You had conscious rap, gangster rap, lyrical rap all on the radio at the same time. It was a melting pot of music. It was new. It was our time. For the moment we had it felt fresh, new and young. When you’re young and involved in something so new it’s dope.”

Now imagine that there are no blogs, no iTunes, no Soundcloud, no Youtube. The only place you can see these artists is on TV(during certain times), in a magazine, at a show or to hear them on the radio (again only during certain times). And when the album dropped you had to actually walk to a store to buy their tape or CD.

But the single most important reason to give 1994 its due is the impact and continued influence that these albums and artists have had two decades later. But don’t take our word for it. Take a moment and read what the people who were there making the music and promoting it have to say. In the first part of our tribute we speak with Bad Boy’s Derrick “D-Dot” Angelettie, Pete Rock, Big Daddy Kane, Young Guru, Pharoahe Monch, Dres of Black Sheep and Ski Beatz.

Big Daddy Kane

Release: “Daddy’s Home,” September 1994

What I remember about “Daddy’s Home” is I think that’s when I started realizing the mistakes I was making. Because during the Warner Brothers days I did “Taste Of Chocolate” and “Prince Of Darkness” and those were just throwout albums that I was doing to hurry up and get off the label. But after “POD” I started realizing people ain’t really into [me] anymore. Cats is moving on, they saying “you fell off. You need to put some real gutter stuff together.” So we did “Looks Like a Job For” in 1993. I thought that bringing in Large Professor, Easy Mo Bee and Trackmasters and everybody [would be enough]. I thought we did something. But after listening to the project and comparing it to some other artists at the time like Wu-Tang I said ok, the production is right but I’M not right. Lyrically I’m doing my thing but flow wise I sounded DATED. I sound like an ’80s Kane. I sound old school. So I stepped my flow game up. I think with “Daddy’s Home” I tried  a lot of different flows and brought something innovative to the whole Kane thing.

I remember Nas and Biggie and the impact they had on the scene. I just had an ill big smile on my face because of my love for hip-hop I always wanna see it grow. When people like myself, Rakim and KRS came in the game I think KRS took what Melle Mel was doing to another level, Rakim took what Kool Mo Dee was doing to another level and I think I took what Grandmaster Caz did to another level. When these cats came in the game I saw Biggie taking what I do to another level. I saw Nas taking what  Rakim does to another level. I felt like the game was elevating with great lyricists and I just thought that it was dope.

“SHOW And PROVE” (featuring Scoob Lover, Sauce Money, Jay Z, ODB and Shyheim The Rugged Child)

With “Show and Prove” I wanted to do one of those posse cuts again like with “The Symphony” but I also wanted to showcase new talent. The video was filmed at Lafayette Gardens where Mr. Cee lived in Brooklyn. Everyone was excited being on a DJ Premier track. It was a family affair. It wasn’t like when we did “The Symphony.” Me and G Rap were the only ones that hung together.  But that was the first time I’d met Masta Ace.

The thing no one knows is that Biggie was supposed to be on the song as well. Mr Cee asked me about it and he was like “You really need to put Big on this song.” This was before he was big. After I looked at it the song was already six minutes and this is when we recorded on reel, so there’s not enough room. We already went over. To put him on DJ Premier would have to re-track the beat.  I don’t think anyone knew about that.  I think that would have really made it even more historic.

Derrick “D-Dot” Angelettie

Captain Of The Hitmen, A&R, Producer, Manager, Bad Boy Records

[In 1994] I was Director of Merchandising and Management for Bad Boy. I was making all the T-shirts and scullies you saw back then. Today I posted a picture of my business card on Instagram and it said “Director of Merchandising and Management.” 810 West 19th St. That was the original Bad Boy office. After Puff left Scarsdale and got office space that’s the office we were on between 5th and 6th. It was a couple blocks from where he ended up opening up Justin’s.

The crazy part is Puffy didn’t have a position for me. He said “make something up and figure something out and you can rock.”

I said “You got nobody selling yourself sh*t for you so I’mma do that.” Biggie and Craig Mack were new artists but I’d already been in 2 Kings In A Cipher (with Ron “Amen Ra” Lawrence) and I’d been around the country building with the promoters. So I said if “I can get them some shows can I be Director of Management?” Puff said yeah. So I got Big and Craig Mack some shows around the country messing with all the guys that had booked me when I was on the road as a rapper. I had to make my own way. I was still considered an intern but I wasn’t treated like one. Puff said you can run with me but I can’t pay you. So figure out something, blow yourself up and we’ll go from there. So when he started managing MJB he needed somebody else to co-manage with her and be on the road with her. So I was her road manager at the time.

I was always involved with the music. After we got dropped from our label Ron Lawrence got discouraged and he moved to L.A. I moved back to NY from D.C. cuz our record career was over. But I made enough money to buy my own drum machine. So that’s when I reached out to all my old hip-hop heads like Kedar Massenburg, Big Daddy Kane, Mr Cee, Q-Tip and Busta. I went and sat with Kedar one day and Rakim was in there and I played them some beats. And I played them some Ron Lawrence beats and actually sold two beats to Rakim in ’94. Mary will tell you that whenever we had breaks on tour I’d be sitting on the back of the bus with a drum machine. Ron would send me disks with some drums on it and I was learning how to make beats.

CONTINUED>>>>

Dres of Black Sheep, Artist

“Non-Fiction” released December 1994

That was the first project that I was doing a lot of production myself as well as Mr Lawnge. And just the climate of the music at the time was heavy East vs West. It wasn’t really one of the things I spoke to at the time. I saw the simple divide and conquer technique, which is still going on today where they pit the old vs young etc. Ultimately, we ain’t got no choice in where you’re born, so it was kind of audacious for us to look at each other like we have a real issue whether we were born on East or West coast. But a lot of good music came out. Maybe we were a little spoiled. The politics are different now. The support system and artist development, none of that exists now. Back then there was a chance you got played because you were dope. As opposed to today where it’s obvious that it’s paid for. I don’t think the DJs are allowed to introduce new music outside of what is paid for–across the country. Back then DJs were in love with introducing the people to new music. It doesn’t really exist today. But that has everything to do with the politics of the music, unfortunately.

For me [what stood out] was the decline of Polygram Records. Between the first and second album there was an entire staff change. So the people who helped us to be successful were all gone. So to see the demise of a big business and realization that Mercury is owned by Polygram and Polygram is owned by Philips Light and Philips doesn’t give a f*ck about hip-hop…It was all about numbers. That was the realization of the business aspect for me. It was me about to step away. I’m the first hip-hop artist to have an imprint on the low. I had One Love before anybody had anything. I was dealing with the artist aspect and the business. So when Polygram was broken down it directly affected me and it was eye-opening for me to see how little music plays in the music industry. How little music is relevant. That was the year I came to that realization. Though it was a good year in music the support system was changing. I think the support system that is out now is because of those years. People always ask me what happened to your second album, the support system is what happened. The structure folded.

Pharoahe Monch, MC/Producer

“Stress: The Extinction Agenda,” released August 16, 1994

It was hard. My pops had passed away. We were stressed out and just learning about life and death in that instant.  We were still dealing with the Paul C (murder). We finished the last album basically by ourselves. The label sh*t. We were just trying to find our way and yet knowing that we had got so much critical acclaim on the first album, we were like worst case scenario we better make sure this shit is good lyrically.

It’s crazy man. You forge so forward sometimes so much that you don’t take the time to stop and reflect and look back at some of the sh*t. That album, from the artwork, to the schemes, the gymnastics and topics is one of my favorite albums. Some sh*t on there I’m like..the song “Extinction Agenda.” I get blown away like ‘What the f*ck was THAT dude on?’ It’s great to grow old and have the catalogue. I was talking to Nas one time when I was on my second solo album. He said you gonna see when your catalogue get crazy, the way you do your shows is just crazy. I see that now just going back into the Organized chamber. I think that album set the precedent for a lot of artists. Even new artists tell me their producer said “listen to this and come back in a few weeks.”

I thought it was so dope that we came with the “Stress” sh*t first. It was such an unusual f*ckin first single. That’s us saying aging “We’re probably gonna f*ck ourselves but it’s so dope to do and underground…” Obviously there were friendlier records on that album but we said let’s come with the maniacal manic shit. Large Professor remixed it. We watched him go through eight different tracks and deleted them all–on the fly.

As a writer I was trying to reach for timeless groove and pocket. I liken it to goosebumps where something makes your hair stand up and there aren’t even lyrics on the song. In the writing back then especially I was trying…half tones or aggression…say things in a space in the beat that would make you want to listen to it again. I think that’s what pocket and funk is about. On newer stuff I’ve gotten into a real funk pocket and I wanna continue on with that but a lot of times I drift. That’s my jazz side. People don’t think I do that purposefully but it’s on purpose.

Young Guru, DJ/Engineer

I was at Howard DJing a bunch of parties and I remember getting a cassettes tape of “Illmatic” before it came out. We must have dubbed that tape 100 times. There was so much hiss on that tape. Back then was the promo days when people were running up on you with free records to break on College Radio. I was happy to break some of those records.

Looking at that list of albums from 1994,  it’s like people was just hitting their strides in this. If we look at where it was historically in the ’80s and what Marley did from that ’86 to ’88 era and then how it developed in ’89 to ’92 where the sophistication came in with the chopping of the samples. Not having to chop on the one and loop sh*t up. I think people hit their stride with a new way of making hip-hop. If you look at “The Main Ingredient” and the way Pete flipped his organization verses the first album. If you look at Redman’s “Dare Iz a Darkside” and how perfect Redman was in describing his personality. “I traveled the milky ways in the stars of the Gods and return to 6 billion feet beneath to get cigars.” That’s him. That’s all one verse. You look at the O.C. album and Artifacts. Everybody was poppin in their own way and all them albums was different.

Pete Rock, producer/MC

“The Main Ingredient” released November 1994

I think a year and half after “Mecca And The Soul Brother” we started working on “The Main Ingredient.” MATSB dropped in November of ’92. We were promoting and touring in ’93. Probably in last month on ’93 we started working on The Main Ingredient.  I think the difference was we had a more mature sound with the jazz and R&B. Heav was involved with the writing. It was more mature than Mecca and The Soul Brother to me and we wanted to show maturity with this one.

“In The Flesh” is my favorite because Biggie was right there when I made that beat from scratch.Biggie was coming over to get beats from me, I tell this story a lot. We were in my basement and he said “I just want to see how you make a beat.”

“World Wide” is another favorite. “I Get Physical.” We were in love with that whole album. That was the great opportunity to be on a major label. Having label mates and having studio sessions with people and not even knowing people were there. Bumping into Busta or Tip. Green Street had a lot of celebrities coming through there. From Wu-tang to Ice Cube. Public Enemy. So that became my home.

CONTINUED>>

SKI BEATZ  Producer/MC of Original Flavor

“Beyond Flavor” released February 1994

“Beyond Flavor,” it was cool. That album was recorded a little at Chung King and a little at Quad. The new guy T-Strong that I’d put on in the group was a solo artist that I was producing. When me and Suave, the first member, went our separate ways I asked Tone if he wanted to be in the group and he wanted to do it. He introduced me to Chubby Chub, our DJ at the time. Tone was a crazy influence to me as far as lyrics and writing.

I was in a group before Original Flavor based out of NC called The Bizzie Boys. We used to open shows for acts from NY and at the time Clark Kent was DJing for Dana Dane and we’d open with them. He told me when you’re in NY look me up and we’ll hang out. So when I got to NY and looked him up the timing couldn’t be better because he was A&Ring at Atlantic Records. I told him I got a new group Original Flavor and I wanted to drop a CD off at his office. I dropped it off, he heard it and a few weeks later he called me back when I was in NC visiting my mom. My mom said “There is some dude on the phone named Clark Kent that wants to talk to you” and she starts laughing cuz she thought that was funny. He said I need to come back to NY because Atlantic wants to sign me. They flew us back and as soon as we landed we went to Atlantic and signed the paperwork.  Lawyers and everybody was there. That’s how I connected with Dame Dash because he was there and wanted to manage us. We were the first group he ever managed.

“Can I get Open” Featuring Jay Z

Clark met Jay through Fresh Gordon. Look up Fresh Gordon. He used to be a rapper back in the ’80s and he started producing Jay Z. But at the time he was hustling cellphones with the cracked numbers and sh*t. But he got caught up and got locked down and Clark started messing with Jay Z then. Clark introduced Jay to Dame at the “Here We Go” video shoot. Jay came with Jaz-O and Sauce Money. Clark was like “This is my man Jay and he’s dope and he’s looking for management.” Clark was like “J, spit something for him…” and when J rhymed I knew I wasn’t gonna rap anymore. I’m a rapper but I always wanted to rap like THAT. So I said let’s get ready to start producing (laughs). But before that we had another obligation to Atlantic to fulfill so I told him I had this song and I wanted you him get on it. He was down cuz he was part of the crew. He was with us out on tour. Then when we got off the road we started recording all these songs that eventually turned into “Reasonable Doubt.”

D-Dot

Back then we didn’t have Daddy’s House so every studio we went to was The Hit Factory, Sony or Calliope. Hip-Hop was still fairly new so you’d walk in and see Led Zeppelin plaques or Blondie and these type of things going on. It was usually some white engineer who wasn’t familiar with hip-hop. You were lucky to find the few black and white engineers like Tony Maserati and Prince Charles Alexander. Those guys were in tune. So we snatched them up and used them for damn near everything we did. There was a lot of smoke, a lot of drinking and a lot of women but there was a respect there for everybody’s position. Biggie would write his rhymes and he left. He didn’t worry about how a kick sounded or who was on the chorus. He allowed us to go in and do what we do, work our magic after he left. He came in ready to lay down his stuff. Then me, or Chucky (Thompson) or Nashiem Myrick would do overdubs or Poke and Tone would play bass lines over or replay samples. Do all this stuff when the artist wasn’t there. We were renting keyboards, vocoders, and drum machines. It wasn’t our studio so you had to make sure you were respectful. You couldn’t  stand on chairs and sleep over like we used to do at Daddy’s House. Every minute of that session counted. You spend eight hours and end up spending $1500 or something crazy and if you got nothing done, that was a problem. It was really goal oriented. There was no unlimited studio time. You had to pay for DATS, CDs cassettes and half inch reel. A half inch reel back then was $150, $200 a pop! Studios would charge you $10 or $20 a pop for a DAT when you could walk to the store and get it for $3. And you’d use 10 or 15 DATS by the time you walked out of that studio. $5 per cassette. So we’d stop at the pharmacy and pick up our own cassettes and dats. Cuz when you saw the bill at the end of the day for $900…

COMPETITION BETWEEN JAY Z and BIGGIE…

D-DOT: They definitely competed. I can tell you actual factuals that they both wanted to crush each other on some Michael Jordan vs. Dominique Wilkins or Magic Johnson vs Isaiah. Jay was a little older than Big, but Big had the benefit of a Puff Daddy in his corner. Puffy’s vision for his records were much more grandios at the time for the average rapper. We were trying to go for radio and 3,000 spins back then, which was consider taboo. We knew we could knock out the street sh*t but we wanted to take it to the next level. So I think Jay had something to prove, he was nice and Big was his biggest fan. He couldn’t let his young’n down so he delivered every time he came.

SKI: I just remember being in D&D and Biggie Smalls was in Studio A and Jay was in studio B. J and Big were friends, both from Brooklyn, they hang out and sh*t. It’s funny cuz they had this little competitive thing going on. It was definitely friendly competition. But anytime Biggie would make something crazy he would call Jay into the studio to check it out. And you know Jay would go to Preemo’s room and Jay would give Biggie that look like ‘That’s crazy.’ I remember doing “Streets Is Watching” and Jay said ‘Go play that beat for Big.’ and I’d go to the studio and say ‘Check this out.’ Big was like ‘That’s for J?’ and look at me like ‘Man, come on.’ Going back and forth with them was crazy.

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