Check the Technique: Liner Notes for Hip-Hop Junkies

523 Pages·2007·6.66 MB·English

by  Brian Coleman

2007 Villard Books Trade Paperback Edition
Copyright © 2005, 2007 by Brian Coleman
Foreword copyright © 2007 by Ahmir Thompson
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Villard Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of
Random House, Inc., New York.
VILLARD and “V” CIRCLED Design are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Originally published in different form in the United States by Wax Facts Press, Somerville, Mass., in 2005.
All of the photographs in the work, except as noted, are by Brian Cross and are copyright © by B+.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Coleman, Brian.
Check the technique: liner notes for the hip-hop junkie / Brian Coleman.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-0-30749442-9
1. Rap (Music)—History and criticism. 2. Rap musicians—United States. I. Title.
ML3531.C65 2007
782.42164909—dc22 2006100800
www.villard.com
Designed by Stephanie Huntwork
v3.1
To every hip-hop pioneer in this book,
for never raising your hand and
asking for permission.
FOREWORD
S
ince I got a record deal in ’93, my peers have always chided me
with the “Ahmir, you need to get out more often” talk. But I stay inside
too much. I can’t help it. I’m a stickler for all the information I can get
out of music.
Ever since I absorbed all twenty-four pages of the liner notes to Stevie
Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life, I realized—even as a five-year-old—
that the information about how a record got made was just as important
as (and in some cases more important than) the product itself. Those
details always got me closer to that fly-on-the-wall experience, watching
the creation of music.
And that’s why the packaging of most hip-hop records was frustrating
to me. Aside from a wacky De La project or your amazement at the
amount of text Chuck D was able to hold in his head for his thank-yous
(by the way, Chuck—can the Roots get Extra Strength Posse status
now?), there wasn’t much in the way of information for the music that I
was supporting. With no Internet and only the obligatory Rap
Pages/Right On! feature, I was left to my own devices. So I asked my own
questions whenever I could.
Some cats couldn’t wait to spill the goods. (Yeah right, Pete … you
wanna convince us that you fit all those loops in the thirteen-second,
handicapped SP-1200 for “Number One Soul Brother” with one pass?!?!)
Some engineers are still in therapy over their experiences. (Brian, make
sure you and Dave Tompkins do an engineer tell-all book so Tom Coyne
can give you his well-executed tale of mastering and sequencing (in four
days at that!!!!!!!!!) Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx.…) And some
cats, I just plain scared them off (my bad, Tip … a “Hello, I’m Ahmir”
woulda done fine).
When Brian Coleman’s Rakim Told Me came out, I was elated and
jealous at the same time, more the former than anything. Finally,
someone had put in perspective the stuff I had been dying to know about:
the method of Paul C’s madness, or Ced Gee’s undervalued work on
many a classic recording, or even the rat-infested environment the
Jungle Brothers had to endure to make their debut LP. (My jealousy
arose only because I was having a lot of “Why didn’t I think of that!?!?!”
moments as I kept reading.)
In pop and rock music, you are often given a thorough view of the
landscape, and you are the wiser for it. Rock critics are constantly
dissecting and breaking down the champions (Sgt. Pepper’s and Rumours)
and the underdogs (Pet Sounds and Shoot Out the Lights). But it’s not so
easy for hiphop fans with the music we love.
Back in the day, hip-hop barely got a recording budget, let alone
decent packaging. On top of that, with the marketplace being what it is,
if the monetary rewards on an album weren’t reaped, it was forgotten.
Well, not in the hearts of those who still care.
Check the Technique is a book that’s been a long time coming. Better
late than never!
And Brian, hurry up with the next installment … we’re waiting.
Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson
October 2006
Illadelph
AHMIR “?UESTLOVE” THOMPSON is a Philadelphia-born-and-bred drummer, producer, DJ, and all-
around music junkie. He cofounded the influential live hip-hop band the Roots and has produced
and performed on eight Roots albums since 1993. In his spare time, he has also found time to
collaborate with artists ranging from John Mayer and Fiona Apple to Al Green and Dave
Chappelle. For more information on Ahmir and the Roots crew, visit www.okayplayer.com.
PREFACE
“One time, in probably 1983, I was in the park in Brooklyn. I
was getting beat up by about eight kids, I don’t even
remember why. But as it was happening, this dude was
walkin’ by with one of those big boom boxes. And as he’s
walking by, we hear [imitates the unmistakable intro drum
pattern from Run-DMC’s ‘Sucker MCs,’ loudly]. They all
stopped beating me, and we all just stood there, listening to
this phenomenon. I could have run, but I didn’t, I was just so
entranced by what I heard. Then the dude with the box
passed by and the kids continued to beat me up. But it didn’t
matter. I felt good. I knew right then that I had to get into
this hip-hop shit.”
—Pras of the Fugees, 2003
I
love that Pras story, which he recounted to me a couple years back as
we were discussing the Fugees’ own phenomenon, The Score. I know that
feeling he’s talking about. Maybe not the feeling of getting beat up by
eight kids in a park in Brooklyn … but I do know the sensation of being
frozen with delight after hearing a hip-hop track. It’s a feeling that
everyone should experience in their lives, with any kind of music, and as
often as possible. It’s the kind of thing that reminds you that you’re
really alive.
There are so many frostbite-inducing moments in this book for me.
And I know I’m not the only one who has been messed up by geniuses
like Public Enemy, De La Soul, Pete Rock & CL Smooth, A Tribe Called
Quest, Black Moon, and the Roots, to name just a few. The hip-hop that
runs through my veins and does laps around my 1200s has two traits
that never waver: originality and innovation.
When I put out Rakim Told Me in 2005, I had one goal: to let people
eavesdrop on some amazing conversations I’ve had with hip-hop legends
over the years. This book you hold in your hands continues my
exhibitionism and vastly expands it, featuring more than seventy-five
interviews with many of the most important innovators in hip-hop. If
you have a copy of Rakim Told Me, a couple of the chapters will be
familiar to you. Others, like Ice-T’s Power and De La Soul’s 3 Feet High
and Rising, have been greatly expanded since the last edition. But beyond
that, there are a crateload of new chapters, many of them focusing on
classic albums from the nineties.
The format is the same as the last time around, something I call
Invisible Liner Notes. (I still haven’t figured out why hip-hop albums
never had them!) One chapter, one artist, one album. Each chapter starts
with background on the creators of these masterworks to let readers
know where they were in their careers when the classic album in
question was made. Then we get their own thoughts and memories
about as many album tracks as I could squeeze out of them. Whenever
possible, I stay out of the way and let the legends speak.
I have done everything I could to verify the accuracy of claims made
by interviewees, double-checking information and attempting to get
corroboration for important incidents or anecdotes. You will also see my
“Author’s Notes” sprinkled throughout the text. Overall, my hope is that
Check the Technique will serve as a fact-driven and still entertaining hip-
hop reference book—a literary category that still needs a great deal
more expansion. This is a guidebook of sorts, but it is meant to be more
fun than absolutely definitive. In my opinion, the most important thing
about Check the Technique is that these facts and stories and opinions
come from the pioneering artists themselves.
If I have one regret it is that this book isn’t two or three times longer,
although that might have required some kind of back-support device to
carry it around. There are dozens more artists that I would have liked to
have included but simply could not, for reasons including: I had to cut
the chapter because I was already thousands over my word count for the
book; the interview scheduling didn’t work out because of timing or
publicist ineptitude; or the artist has sadly passed away.
In short, if you know and love true-school hip-hop and you wonder
where the chapter on Artist X is: Believe me, I wanted it as much as you
did. But if I’m not mistaken, this is precisely the reason sequels were
invented.
I am setting this book in front of you for the only reason someone
should ever produce a book, an album, a movie, or anything else that
can be considered an artistic “product”—because I myself would be first
in line to buy it. I hope that I have helped to capture these amazing
artists’ voices and conveyed them in a way that engages readers as much
as the original conversations engaged me.
It is an honor for me to present their words here and to remind hip-
hop fans of all stripes that the subjects of these interviews are not just
entertainers. They are artists and visionaries. And while they may have a
certain image on video screens and in press-junket interviews, Check the
Technique strips all of that away and talks to them as people, with respect
and authentic fan-fueled curiosity. This is my way of giving something
back to hip-hop, even if it’s just a fraction of what it has given to me in
the past twenty-five years.
Still frozen, and loving it,
Brian Coleman
October 2006
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
www.waxfacts.com
CONTENTS
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
FOREWORD BY AHMIR “?UESTLOVE” THOMPSON
PREFACE
2 LIVE CREW As Nasty as They Wanna Be
BEASTIE BOYS Check Your Head
BIG DADDY KANE Long Live the Kane
BIZ MARKIE Goin’ Off
BLACK MOON Enta Da Stage
BOOGIE DOWN PRODUCTIONS Criminal Minded
BRAND NUBIAN One for All
COMMON (SENSE) Resurrection
CYPRESS HILL Cypress Hill
DAS EFX Dead Serious
DE LA SOUL 3 Feet High and Rising
DIGABLE PLANETS Reachin’ (A New Refutation of Time and Space)