Tracks That U Would Lose Ur Mind To #2: Rampage ft. Busta Rhymes- Wild For Da Night

Its 1997 late night and im watchin a late taping of Rap City on BET (remember Rap City came on 2wice back then), and a new vid is being shown. Now i knew Rampage was ok since i heard him on the Craig Mack remix, but i never thought he could make a classic timeless banger like this and it helps to have ur cousin Busta's assistance on the hook. Its needless to say the impact this track made back in '97, in clubs worldwide people really got wild for da night when this was played.
I heard stories about when this came on in the Tunnel NYC that u had to watch out cause anything could jumpoff when this was played. I mean there are certain tracks in hip-hop history that is when its played people seem to forget where they at and just act crazy!
Now back in 10th-11th grade when this came out, only the people that was deep into hip-hop knew about this track. Not everybody knew this track was even out!! I remember i was goin crazy for this song, i had to have it. Then one day on a weekend i was chillin at the basketball court and a friend of mine came thru with a walkman jammin his butt off. I was sittin there wonderin what the hell he jammin to? So as i moved closer to him i could hear Busta singin the hook thru the headphones, and i tapped him and said u have to let me borrow this! He asked me, what u know about this? Dont nobody know about this! I had to look at him crazy and said u know who u talkin to? Im deep into this game man, please let me borrow this!!! And thats how i was able to get the song. I never seen the single for it at that time and i wasnt buying LPs at that time. That just shows u how real it was back then, u had ur hip-hopper backpack niggas and just regular rap cats...a major difference back then and kinda stays true today. I seen live performances back then of Busta & Rampage doin this track when it came out and the crowd went crazy when they did it, it just shows u how the power of music moves u .

Tracks That U Would Lose Ur Mind To #1: Tracey Lee- The Theme

Why not start a new series? Just trying to keep thing fresh around here to keep u guys interested. And i figure there were many hip-hop tracks that came out back in the days that people like myself would lose my mind to. Its like gettin lost within the music and u just let go!! Gettin crunk and rowdy wit ur niggas in da club and goin wild. To me there a lot of songs that fit the bill, and lookin back on those days when these songs were released it sad that this wont be recreated again.

Lets go to 1996 when a new artist called Tracey Lee dropped the party anthem of the year wit "The Theme". Now at the time when this was 1st released i didnt like this song, for some reason i just wasnt feelin it. And til this day im tryin to figure out why i didnt like it back then at that time. But as the days came by this track became a banger to me. I just remember back in 10th grade people losin their minds when this came out. Now i didnt buy this LP until like '01 or '02, cause back then i wasnt buyin LP's i was buyin singles. And the LP didnt dissapoint it was pretty solid. Now mad props goes out to D-Dot for producing this classic. Its crazy how he flipped this sample, if any of u actually heard the actual sample u know what i mean. Also props is due to Mark Pitts for acting like he was a orchestrator directing the people in the vid, very creative! I still lose my mind to this track, i just have flashbacks to '96 when it came out and how fresh it sounded back then. Man i miss those days......

Who Had A Chance To Be A Dynasty?

Who as in which click had a chance to be a dynasty? As u see in hip-hop there were many clicks/ labels that had a chance to be great. Some actually achieved greatness, but as soon as it happened things started to crumble or they just fell off. There havent been a click/ label yet to go all the way thru without somethin happening to ruin it in my opinion (Wutang only exception). Im about to run thru some that i think had potential to be great, if i forget to mention any please feel to offer ur opinion!


D.I.T.C
Bad Boy
Ruff Ryders
No Limit
Cash Money
G-Unit
Rocafella
The Firm
Murder Inc.
Shady/ Aftermath
Terror Squad
Boot Camp Click
Native Tongues
Juice Crew All-Stars
Dungeon Family
Children Of The Corn

Thats all i can think of right now. All these clicks/ labels had chances to be great, but somethin whether it was minor or small hindered its success somehow or another. So please let ur feelings be known out of these selections, which of these had greatness written all over it but it never happened all the way thru?

B.I.G 14 Years Later......

I still remember the day he passed. I was actually listenin to Ready to Die when i got the news and saw it on TV. I remember hittin my bed real hard and was just angry. I was thinkin that i would never hear him again, i will never see him again, the anticipation of what he was gonna do next was now gone.

I knew that it wasnt gonna sink in quickly that he was gone, and here we are 14 years later and it still hasnt sunk in. Its just hard to figure out why things happened the way they did. Me and my friends wish we can go back in time to where BIG was and alert him on what was goin on. Wish we can somehow appear in thin air behind the shooter and ram his car. Wish we can pull up aside BIG with a bulletproof car and block him from the bullets. Wish we could do anything to divert what was gonna happen.

I know BIG squashed his beef with Raekwon before he passed. I remember reading that Nas was supposed to meet up with BIG at that next party he was goin to. I saw on Sportscenter that Shaq was supposed to go with BIG to both parties. Alot of things was happenin and was gonna happen, so many twists and turns. We never got to see the Commission happen. We never got to hear his verse on "TONY" RMX that BIG told NORE that he was gonna spit on. We never got to see his version of the Black Album that he was gonna do next after Life After Death (where do u think Jay got the idea from). All u can do is think and imagine what could have.

U know to me the holy trinity of rap is BIG, Jay, Nas & Pac. Pac was nice but never to me was that #1 nigga. Nas moves in his own way and carved out his own niche, he sat on that throne brifely in '96 when his 2nd LP went double plat. but still one of the best. Jay to many is on that throne now, and trust me he did everything u could accomplish at that level. But to me, the Jay i know is from '96-'04, that Jay was the #1 nigga. Now......he just doin what he wants cause he already done it all. BIG to me will always be on the throne, nobody had to go through what he went through. He held down a entire coast with no hatred from anybody on same coast (except Jeru, and thats another story). Everybody on the east coast knew BIG was #1, it wasnt even no argument. When u got respect like that, that when u know u got it on lock. I dont think u will ever see a rapper most respected by all like BIG. Respected like if u go on the east coast right now and say bad things about him people would fuck u up seriously. Thats staying power right there, and BIG will always have that. I miss u BIG.

Is Mase Underrated?

I just got done reading a old issue of Vibe Magazine from '99, and Mase was on the cover and it had a article about him. As i was reading that i was thinking to myself, does Mase get enough credit for the artist he was? Why people only focus on the shiny suits and all that? This is my blog so i get to talk about certain subjects that i feel free to, and this was one that was on my mind.

Lets go back to Murder Mase when he was on Children of the Corn. When Mase was Murder, he was Murder on the mic! If u heard any of his rhymes and the things he spit was incredible! His whole flow was dope. He wasnt on that pretty stuff just yet, he was still hard. To me thats the real Mase right there. Thats how he orig. was...hard.

But then like Mase said "I was Murder, Puff Daddy made me pretty, did it for the money now can u get wit me." Hey it is what it is, Puff saw the potential and switched some things up and Mase went from hard to flossy. Which it isnt so bad, cause Jay was already on it and Mase added his own flava to it. U cant sit here and say his 1st LP was wack, it sold 4 mil!! To me its a classic. Then Mase was rhymin on everybody shit, that nigga was everywhere droppin hot 16's!! Then we all know him & Camron as a duo was one of the all-time best in my opinion.

Now lets get into the swag Mase had! Mase was Fabolous before Fabolous for all u new heads. Mase whole swag on point man! He had the ill waves (one of the 1st niggas to rock a caesar haircut), his ice game was crazy (one of the few niggas early on to rock a jesus piece) and his dress game was crazy. Whatever what was hot at that time he was rockin it. So his style was new to the game that other than Jay Z, everybody was biting it!

Mase was a nigga that could switch it up lyrically, he could go hard like he did on X's "Niggas Done Started Somethin" or smooth like he did on 112's "Only U". Whatever style u want, Mase had it. Now as u can see im only focusing on Mase's early career all the way up to right before the release of Double Up. Im not even gonna front and try to big up that LP cause we all know it wasnt up to par that we expected from Mase. And that lil comeback he made in '04 & '05 dont count either.

Mase in his prime was one the illest niggas on the mic and i will stand by that. Dont get it twisted with that shiny suit shit. Like in that Vibe article, Nas told Mase " dont trip on the haters, cause niggas be quick to put on that shiny suit if they can have ur success too." So that says it all right there. So go back analyze Mase early career and u will see that he didnt receive enough credit for the artist he was. And to me for the record, he is Underrated. Let ur feelings be known.