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At the urging of Smooth Triumph, I've vowed to only post 12" rips till 2010. Let's go back to 1997 with one of my all time favorite MC's: the God, Percy Chapman aka Tragedy Khadafi. The Iron Sheiks 12" served both as vehicle to get some Noreaga disses into the hands of mixtape djs as well as an introduction to Trag's next QB protege, Imam T.H.U.G. "Allumaniti" is pure grimey 90's perfection, just listen to that fucking snare! Could it get anymore desparate? Imam comes nice with his on what I believe is his vinyl debut. But it's a pissed off and mad hungry Foul Mahdi who devours the beat, giving a diamond encrusted, J.G. Ballard style glimpse into the future as only Khadafi could. "True Confessions" brightens things up about .2% with it's r&b hook, but it's still winter 365 as far as the Iron Sheiks are concerned. Imam disses the shit out of Noreaga while Tragedy kicks more of his illuminati hologram shit with a fiery helping of religious imagery. I'm gonna guess Tragedy produced both of these. The flipside has a bunch of mixtape stuff: Tony Touch, 25 and Bad Boy on a DJ Clue freestyle, but the real winner is the gutter as fuck 914 freestyle that sounds like it was recorded on a 4 track that had been left out in the snow for a week straight. I think MC Stinkweed put this track on every mix he made at my house for a couple years straight. "That track with all the barking, kid!"
>>>>
M-O-B-B D-E-E-P, A.C.D. burn somethin
Let's get lifted, Queens is you wit me?
Prodigy's first 2 lines from "Street Life" left my brain scarred back in 1996. The Mobb Deep, L.E.S. and A.C.D. team up track from the AIDS benefit album "America is Dying Slowly" has always been one of my favorite Mobb collabos. L.E.S.'s production sounds like he was using the same William Cooper schematic Havoc referenced for "Hell on Earth". Another eerie, paranoia inducing street banger from The Bridge. But just who were A.C.D. and what did it stand for? I wouldn't come across anything else by them for quite a few years.
Fast forward to 2000something: While digging around on th'bay I discovered a sealed copy of an A.C.D. 12" from 1998. I won the record and when I finally got a chance to listen to it I was amazed I'd never heard the 2 tracks before. Vintage late 90's QB material that, while not as dark as "Street Life", contains enough grimy record scrape to send 41st side addicts scrambling out into the cold night, ceremoniously gutting dutches. A-Dog and C. Sonfiorenzo (What is his real MC name? Dude is so gully you can only lift his publishing credit!) bring that real QB house science. This was the first release on the short lived Hit List Records label out of Corona, NY. The only other Hit List release I could find is another A.C.D. single titled "Kings of New York" which features fellow QB resident, Nature (hit me if you got one to trade).
The Rick Rude and Megabucks co-produced A side, "In the City", lifts the breakdown from The Lovin' Spoonful's "Summer In The City", which you can find on "Hums of The Lovin' Spoonful" (Kama Sutra, 1966) as well as various 45 issues. This grim piano loop sets the tone for ACD's grim portrayal of inner city street life.
The B side is the A-Dog produced "Mos Niggaz" which is based on 2 bars from Henry Mancini's version of "Theme from 'Love Story'" (RCA Victor, 1970). If it sounds familiar to you, Immortal Technique recently used the same loop (although lifting 4 bars instead of 2) for his track "Dance With The Devil". A-Dog's use of only 2 bars creates a tense, snowballing effect that really keeps the track moving along and leaves IT's endeavor sounding a bit like he's rapping over his grandma's favorite soap opera theme.
TRACKS
This has always been one of my favorite Tragedy verses since I first heard it on Stretch Armstrong and DJ EV's classic "Back 2 Back" mixtape. You can't really go wrong when the Foul Mahdi teams up with the soul brother Pete Rock to give a state of the union address on the hip hop industry in the late 90's. There was a slightly different version on "Soul Survivor" with additional verses by Cappadonna and Sticky Fingaz, but I've always preferred this one (who's the last MC on this version?). Fucking Pete Rock, man. Dude takes the very last couple of seconds of David Axelrod's "Smile" (as it's fading out, no less) and comes up with this. "Awake to harps and flutes and eat strange fruits."
Tragedy Khadafi, Pete Rock & ??? - Strange Fruit (white label version)
FREE TRAG!
At the urging of Smooth Triumph, I've vowed to only post 12" rips till 2010. Let's go back to 1997 with one of my all time favorite MC's: the God, Percy Chapman aka Tragedy Khadafi. The Iron Sheiks 12" served both as vehicle to get some Noreaga disses into the hands of mixtape djs as well as an introduction to Trag's next QB protege, Imam T.H.U.G. "Allumaniti" is pure grimey 90's perfection, just listen to that fucking snare! Could it get anymore desparate? Imam comes nice with his on what I believe is his vinyl debut. But it's a pissed off and mad hungry Foul Mahdi who devours the beat, giving a diamond encrusted, J.G. Ballard style glimpse into the future as only Khadafi could. "True Confessions" brightens things up about .2% with it's r&b hook, but it's still winter 365 as far as the Iron Sheiks are concerned. Imam disses the shit out of Noreaga while Tragedy kicks more of his illuminati hologram shit with a fiery helping of religious imagery. I'm gonna guess Tragedy produced both of these. The flipside has a bunch of mixtape stuff: Tony Touch, 25 and Bad Boy on a DJ Clue freestyle, but the real winner is the gutter as fuck 914 freestyle that sounds like it was recorded on a 4 track that had been left out in the snow for a week straight. I think MC Stinkweed put this track on every mix he made at my house for a couple years straight. "That track with all the barking, kid!"
