Rap Traxx 3: Redhead was a Kingpin

Redhead Kingpin & The FBI Pump It Hottie

Probably the single most important tape that I ever owned in grade school, outside of a Fats Domino greatest hits cassette, was the third installment of the Rap Traxx compilations, put out by Polytel. There was a desperate bid to buy a 2 Live Crew cassette from the older brother of some girl in my class when he found an unspooled copy of it in a trashcan below the playground that never worked out (probably for the best), so about as nasty as I got to be was Redhead Kingpin and the FBI's Pump It Hottie, the final song on the cassette. While significantly less conscious-expanding than Do The Right Thing (with its sample of George McCrae's I Get Lifted, the titular song also samples the Tom Tom Club years before Mariah Carey), I could never really get into songs with siren samples in it (sorry, KRS-One and Public Enemy). I never really understood how Redhead was a Kingpin, presumably a mythical criminal of sorts, and also at once, the leader of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

I think I probably played played Kid n' Play's House Party soundtrack just as much, but didn't enjoy it as thoroughly. And then I bought the first soundtrack to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie for an exorbitant amount on CD.

On a similar tip for all Montreal readers, I'll announce further details when we get them set in stone, but there's going to be a pool party called New Jack Swim sometime later this summer.

Rap Traxx 3 (52:35)
1. Maestro Fresh Wes - "Let Your Backbone Slide" (5:01)
2. Young MC - "Principal's Office" (4:18)
3. MC Hammer - "Let's Get It Started" (4:12)
4. Queen Latifah f/ Monie Love - "Ladies First" (3:58)
5. Sir-Mix-A-Lot - "Beepers" (4:19)
6. DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - "I Think I Can Beat Mike Tyson" (4:52)
7. De La Soul - "Buddy" (4:58)
8. Heavy D & The Boyz - "Somebody for Me" (5:03)
9. Rebel MC and Double Trouble - "Street Tuff" [Radio Mix] (3:31)
10. Beastie Boys - "Hey Ladies" (3:51)
11. Digital Underground - "Doowutchyalike" [Radio Mix] (4:07)
12. Redhead Kingpin and the FBI - "Pump It Hottie" (4:25)

Joseph Smith Hustled, Brigham Young Was a Baller

Sports jackets, dookie chains, ball caps, and acid-washed jeans
2 Live Crew in the basics.

Young Black Teenagers First True Love Affair
Jimmy Ross First True Love Affair
Tag Team Whoomp! (There It Is)
Kano I'm Ready (Spank Rock Edit, Fabriclive 33)
2 Live Crew Pop That Pussy
Billy Stewart Summertime
Eazy E Gimme That Nut

Wrongly maligned by history for their poor name choice and remembered (if at all) for Tap The Bottle, the Young Black Teenagers deserve another look, especially considering production duties were handled by Hank Shocklee of the Bomb Squad. Good enough for Public Enemy, good enough for me. Time To Make The Dough Nutz, which samples Rush's Tom Sawyer is not the place to start, but listen to First True Love Affair above, which samples, you guessed, Jimmy Ross' First True Love Affair, which was produced by the friendliest face of Italo-Disco, Kano. Kano's back-catalogue has been cherry-picked for samples, (and recently nickied by Spank Rock for their Fabriclive mix), from way back in my grade 8 days by Tag Team (Miami Bass from Atlanta?) for Whoomp! (There It Is). I always found it a bit strange that, because of the Jock Jams compilation or whatever else, there was a substantial and ready-made fan-base for Miami Bass amongst the Mormon basketball players in my high school.

One song not so easily adopted by the Mormon ball-palmers in Miami's greatest contribution to music would have to be Pop That Pussy, by genre-definers 2 Live Crew, which features a spectacular re-working of the Billy Stewart's Summertime. DJs, follow that up with Eazy E's Gimme That Nut for maximal libidinal labial dance-floor expression. By the way, does anyone know where the hell that songs from? I found it on a CD five years ago and have no idea where it came from.

Slinging Summer Sounds

Roy Ayers Everybody Loves the Sunshine (1976)
Brand Nubian Wake Up (Reprise in the Sunshine) (1990)
Mary J. Blige My Life (1995)
Naughty by Nature Sunshine (1995)
Lucy Pearl Don't Mess With My Man (2000)
A.Skillz vs. Beat Vandals Sunshine (2007)

I remember playing the hell out of the A. Skillz vs. Beat Vandals mashup a couple of years ago, and only being vaguely conscious of the sample. Didn't give it much thought. It took the fine aural instincts of my friend Mauricio to tie it back to Lucy Pearl at first, and Roy Ayers later. As you can see, the song's been many things to many people in the 30 plus years since it was first released: popping up to nod heads with Brand Nubian; providing credentials for Mary J. Blige's snoozeworthy My Life, with production reminscient of Gospel-pop; with the creases ironed out in Naughty by Nature's libidinal labial lyric, and done the best way, I believe, by Lucy Pearl, that oft-missed super-group comprised of the ever-dapper Raphael Saadiq*, Dawn Robinson of En Vogue, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad of A Tribe Called Quest.

Souls of Mischief '93 'Til Infinity

2 Live Crew Hoochie Mama

First, here's the classic title track from the debut album by Oakland's Souls of Mischief, which includes a sample from the song Stratus from fusion drummer Billy Cobham, who kept musical company with Mr. Ayers.

Who knew the Friday soundtrack would be so popular and strike such a chord well into the 21st century? Ice Cube? I still get at least a couple of search referrals every day from people looking for an mp3 of 2 Live Crew's Hoochie Mama that I posted years ago, so I figured I'd satisfy at least 100 of them until the Yousendit link runs out. Probably familiar with the song, but if not, listen & sing along "Hood Rat, Hood Rat, Hoochie Mama!"

* He just released a fun video for "Let's Take A Walk" last month.