As promised...Back To 1992...

One of my favourite years for Hip Hop ever!. I truly believe it was on such a unique path of creativity (as close to 1988 as you could get) that lulled a little in 1993 and then picked back up in 1994 (another all time fave year) here is a smallish break down of the classic year.

In 1992 it was all about, style, beats, loops, flows and catching wreck, having mad skills, digging in the crates, creativity and talent, but it was also a disappointing year when one of the greatest ever rap groups, EPMD and their disciples (Redman, Das EFX, and K-Solo) had a massive fallout and went their separate ways after much success with the Hit Squad crew and Das's debut album, Dead Serious








Redman's debut, Whut Thee Album








and K-Solo's 2nd album Times Up








and of course the very dope EPMD-Business Never Personal (an ironic title if ever there was one.)








Brand Nubian, gave us the solid and timeless One For All album in 1990 and Grand Puba left the group and released the good (but could have been a lot better) Reel To Reel album, while Sadat-X, Lord Jammar and DJ Alamo continued the Brand Nubian album and released the very ill In God We Trust, proving that they didn't need Puba.

So many artists and groups released one album or a single/ep and then vanished or either went solo or joined other groups...ie

Rough House Survivers







The A.T.E.E.M.







Chi Ali







Zhigge







Brothers Uv Da Blakmarket







Crusaders for Real Hip Hop







Positive K







The Future Sound (TFS)







Hard Knocks







On the East Coast the almighty production skills of DJ Premier, Pete Rock,DJ Muggs, Diamond D, Showbiz, Lord Finesse, Erick Sermon,PMD, Solid Scheme, J-Swift, Trackmasterz, Howie Tee, Ski, Marley Marl, LG, The Beatnuts, Large Professor, Kenny Dope, Salaam Remi, Tony Dofat, Tony D and many others.


On the West Coast it was the almighty production skills of Dr Dre,DJ Muggs, T-Ray, DJ Quik, Boogiemen,Ea-Ski, Ant Banks,Kahyree, Rashad, Mr Woody, DJ Pooh, Cold 187um and many others, with 2 tracks released with very strong messages about the gang culture and the Bloods and Crips Peace Treaty, Get The Fist Movement-Get The Fist and Kam's-Peace Treaty respectively.

and on the other southern side...Rap-A-Lot records enjoyed great success with Ganksta Nip,Too Much Trouble (aka The Baby Geto Boys), Big Mello (R.I.P.), Bushwick Bill's first solo LP, Little Big Man and Willie D's second solo album, I'm Goin Out Like A Solider and Raheem's -The Invincible and a few other 12"inch and releases from other artists on the esteemed label.

Magazines included The Source, Rap Pages and Rap Sheet, The Bomb Hip Hop magazine, Vibe and Beatdown (briefly), Hip Hop Connection (UK) and I'm not too sure if Australian magazine Vapours was still going this year.

Without a doubt and this is pretty much the same for a lot of other rap fanatics, the 2 best albums in 1992 were, Pete Rock & CL Smooth-Mecca & The Soul Brother

and Dr Dre-The Chronic







but for me it was
Mecca & The Soul Brother







Gangstarr-Daily Operation.







MC Ren broke from NWA and released the dope and hard as fuck, Kizz My Black Azz, MC Serch and Pete Nice broke up 3rd Bass & Serch released the good (but could have been a lot better) Return of The Product album, while Chicago's Common Sense released his first ever album Can I Borrow A Dollar, which had great beats, and good rhymes but would be somewhat distracting listening to Comm's voice break up and that little squeal thing he did (ha ha).

Gangster Rap was doing it's thing and Texas kingpins UGK, Above The Law,Spice 1,CMW,Ice Cube,Too Short,E-40, Rap-A-Lot records, Mac Dre (R.I.P.), RBL Posse,Mobstyle,MC Pooh, Eazy-E (R.I.P.), Chunk,Insane Poetry and a whole host of others released albums of varying quality,the same with sex Rap, AMG for example, we all knew Jiggable Pie was not the type of you pie eat (well some do)..ha ha and Rated X amongst others.

... it was also sadly the year we were introduced to and just as quickly lost, Kid Hood (from A Tribe Called Quest's-Scenario remix)
http://pressrewind.wordpress.com/2007/01/28/hood

and when you look on 1992, it would be impossible not to mention the LA Riots after the Rodney King verdict as Hip Hop was greatly influenced by the outcome and displayed the rage through power house rhymes and albums that spoke volumes.

http://www.emergency.com/la-riots.htm

The U.S. introduced us to

Big L (R.I.P.)
Snoop Doggy Dogg
RBX
Fat Joe
Jeru The Damaja
Group Home
The Pharcyde
A.D.O.R
Black Moon
Art of Origin
Da Lench Mob
Kam
House of Pain
Da King & I
Neek The Exotic
Home Team
The Goats
Y'all So Stupid
Onyx
Digable Planets
Heather B
Finsta Bundy
Mysterme & DJ 20/20
Original Flavor
The Future Sound
Lords of The Underground
Arrested Development

some dude named Nas with his debut single (after blowing up on Main Source's-Live At The BBQ (1991),Double XX Posse (even though MC Sugar ray was an MC in the late 80's, this was his first album) and Boogie Down Productions, X-Clan, Kool G Rap & Polo, Ultramagnetic MC's, Paris and Lord Finesse all released superb albums and proved they were still very relevant amongst the new comers, however we did expect better from Eric B & Rakim and Busy Bee...neither of theses albums were wack...but we expected more.

You probably would never have heard so many samples or uses from infamous breaks like the Skull Snaps (discovered by Dooley-O), Ode To Bille Joe's, Blind Alley's, Get Out of My Life Woman's Don't Change Your Love's in one year, but no one was complaining because breaks made the joints fat.

It was also the year when Loud records first started and gave us the debut album, Runnin Off At Da Mouth from the super speed MC, Tung Twista


Freestyles, beatbox, b-boys and b-girls and scratch and mix DJ's were still in effect as were fresh pieces on walls and trains,mixtapes were solid and easy to catch, Stretch & Bobbito were running the airwaves in NYC, while Wellington's The Weds Nite Jam hosted/ran regularly by Jaz,Rhys B,DJ Glide, Don Lachito,Lo-Key (Rainman) Mikki-D, DJ Pop Up & a bunch of others was going off and introduced a lot of what you hear on this comp (at the time, The Weds Nite Jam was the only Hip Hop radio show in New Zealand) plus there were Hip Hop gigs all over Wellington city that were crazy fun to play and rhyme at (i made demos that year as well, some of them still sound okay but no one is ever hearing them ha ha oh and yes Wrecks N Effect 'Rump Shaker' and Kris Kross's- Jump were huge down this way as well), there was also a strong ragga hip hop following.

There wasn't a great deal of recorded music in New Zealand at this time, but a lot of groups were still playing and touring, mainly Rough Opinion (Kos 163 & Khas aka Feelstyle),Gifted and Brown (Bran Muffin aka King Kapisi, DJ Raw, A.T & G.Tahu),12th Gauge & Kaos & Mayhem and The Upper Hutt Posse (D-Word aka Te Kupu, Acid Dread, Wya, Teremoana) had footage of their time in the US aired on TV One's Marae.

Edit:

The Native Bass collective forms including Danny Haimona (Dam Native) and DJ DLT (Upper Hutt Posse) in it's line up.

Public Enemy, Ice-T and Del all played here and Zane Lowe's first group Leaders of Style (Urban Disturbance) played the local support, Chuck D mentions the 1992 in the book Race, Rap & Reality


In ‘Rap, Race and Reality’ Chuck D considers the Public Enemy and Ice-T tour of New Zealand in 1992. “We would bug out on the intensity of the rap audience in New Zealand. The Maori were hard-core.” On the same page he suggests the rock community respected Public Enemy because they demonstrated that rap music was “bigger than graffiti,” PE rap was “exciting because…the lyrics meant something.”

www.craccum.com/2005/11bblacklash.htm

The Rocksteady DJ's took out the 1992 DMC World Championships

MixMaster Mike, Q-Bert, and DJ Apollo take the other DMC World Finalists by surprise with a never-seen-anything-like-it team routine that wins them the World Title!

http://www.dmcworld.com



and finally in the U.K. acts such as Caveman, Brothers Like Outlaw,Cash Crew, Blade, The Brotherhood, Demon Boyz, Dominant Force, Fixed Penalty,Force and K-Zee, Katch 22, Marxmen, Stereo MC's and others were doing good things to show that UK rap could hold its own against it's US counterparts.

In Australia, Def Wish Cast released their debut album and Oz's first ever real rap album in 1992, titled Knights of the Underground Table as did the Sound Unlimited Posse with their album Postcards From the Edge of the Undersound, like New Zealand Hip Hop, Aussie Hip Hop was still in it's early stages at this time.

So, here is a compilation of some timeless Hip Hop recordings, if you haven't heard these then my mission is done, if you have and haven't for a whole...it's memory lane time.

peace and enjoy

Jaz Presents-Back To 1992 Volume 1:

Please send me an e-mail for the link:

1. gang starr - now your mine (prod dj premier)
2. grand puba - reel to reel (prod grand puba)
3. nas - halftime (prod large professor)
4. chi ali - roadrunner (puberty mix)(prod a tribe called quest)
5. chubb rock - the big man (clark kent remix)
6. showbiz & ag - fat pockets (off beat dance mix)
7-ultramagnetic mc's- pluckin' cards (prod kool kieth & moe love)
8-finsta bundy - finsta baby (prod finsta)
9-g.t.f.m (ft. king tee, yo yo, mc eiht, b-real, j-dee, kam, threat & ice cube)-get the fist
10-redman - rated r (prod erick sermon)
11-atcq ft kid hood & lons-scenario (a tribe called quest remix)
12-original flavor-gumdrops (prod ski)
13-the future sound- pixie groove (prod clark kent)
14-main source-fakin the funk (prod large professor)
15-zhigge- rakin' in the dough (prod salaam remi)
16-b.d.p.-say gal (prod krs one)
17-a t.e.e.m all of that (prod trackmasterz)
18-louie rankin ft red hot lover tone - typewriter (trackmasterz remix)
19-hard knocks-n----a for hire (remix)
20-das efx-straight out the sewer (solid scheme remix- #2)

Awesome Oh Word, 2005 write up about 1992

http://www.ohword.com/features/58/damage-ya-whole-era-1992