NOLA Tapes: Mo Mobo

Surrender Gangsta Gangsta
(1999, Mobo) cassette -> 320 kbps

Found an efforted though incomplete Mobo timeline on the Amoeba records blog. This guy has done a bunch of posts about bounce rap, and he probably lives here in Los Angeles. Another Californian scrambling to document New Orleans rap history from across the world. Anyways, I'll be upping a lot of the shit he mentions and hopefully a couple he missed this week as T&G's insane NOLA tape free-for-all continues.

The label does have this split personality with Bounce and Thug sides. What's strange is that its on the Thug side where shit gets the weirdest.

A short tape, considering 2/3 of the tape reappears in radio-friendly form. My favorite track on here: the Oomp Camp Bass styled "Get Da Club Start It"

It goes on!

Lethal T and the Outcast
Death by Lethal's Injection
(1994, Lethal Records)
cassette -> 320 mp3

Look's like this cover was designed by whoever did "I'm Back! I'm Back", same font and photo grade. And I think this is the first and last release on Lethal Records, which is too bad because their handgun logo deserved more printing. This may also be the first and last rip on this site to hail from San Antonio, Tx. Make that one more pin on the Triggaman cork board, except actually the "Triggaman" track on this cassette and the Showboys classic are mutually exclusive. Different Outcast, different Triggaman. This one is all funk-drums in the hallway and the Young & Restless theme stuck on one chord.

The great thing about LPs and cassettes is the splitting of identity into two sides, hinting at the ambiguity of everything. I have a strong preference for the B-Side of this one - more energy, less reliant on G-Funk squiggle. The "outro" music track reminds me of "pick a box its contents will help you on your way".

Shouts are shouted-out both inside and on this tape to Wink-D, I wonder if its the same one.

Marriage of Dope Sheep

West Bank Coalition "??"

(Nine Tre, Psychopathic Records)

Early 90s New Orleans supergroup (of sorts) feat. J'Ro J, Ice Mike (formerly Cold Ice?), Tim Smooth & MC P (later Tre-8). I gave it a question mark title because its a single with no clear single or an EP with no clear title. Maybe it once had a spine, maybe it once had a name. My guess is that this is really the "Something Ain't Right" single (loose take on "Mind Playin Tricks"), but "Chriz Walk" is such a stronger effort that I can't quite accept this unproven truth. This is not the cover label of the record I've ripped, but (I think) the cover of their 93 self-titled full-length cassette. I thought yall'd appreciate an image of the actual group and I try to steal as many image from Dober The G as possible. 

This whole package has a uniquely unquantized feel, like the drumpads played live by real fingers, the lowrider trumpets and second line bass tapped on some yamaha keyboard's trumpet and tuba presets. Someone ID the chorus sample on "Pass Me the Nine" for me....

More WBC, fresh ups on youtube, courtesy of 1825Tulane (once again):

Dope In The Back

Til Dope Do Us Part (featuring a "dope" marriage ceremony)

Down With the Coalition (probably the strangest partwriting of any of these)

Freestyle (order: J-Ro J, MC P, Tim Smooth, Ice Mike) falling off, having a good time

youtube txt comment: 

man when seen u put WBC on here i call t-smooth and he dont even have a copy of this

Bounce Dat Azz

Down South Hustlers:
Bouncin' and Swingin'
Tha Value Pack Compilation
Various Artists
[1995, No Limit]
(2 Discs, 4 Parts) @ 320

One of the most essential (or at least extensive) documents of a nascent southern style, even if most tracks wear west coast flavor like an older cousin's clothes and I guess Flint's Dayton Family are honorary Down South Ballers. This is often referenced as the First Rap Double Album, a kind of irrelevant milestone.

Another great cover from NL's Phunky Phat era and you can find an archive of PP graphic design nostalgia here, tucked in the ass of KillaHoE's strange french geography MP3 blog and despite this being pre-beats by the pound days at Camp No Limit, you can find early production from KLC, Mo B Dick, and Carlos Stephens scattered about. This record is consistent and focused in a way No Limit rarely was. If P was only in it for the money, he must have known he couldn't make much without some early fire.

Third Coast, the Rough Coast, the Gulf Coast, come fuck with it.

Years Later....

Magnolia Slim aka Soulja Slim
Soulja Fa Lyfe
(Parkway Pumpin,1994) &
Dark Side (Hype, 1995) @ 224 kbps.

5 years since Slim passed and its still nearly impossible to check his early work, with the exception of "You Got It" which slipped through the cracks onto No Limit's Bouncin'& Swingin double-disc. How much time must pass before some boutique European label with an endless cash supply starts reissuing long lost NOLA bounce classics on 180 gram double vinyl?

I have no idea what the cover to Soulja Fa Lyfe looks like, though if its as good as 39 Posse's 39 Automatic (also on KLC's label) then you aren't missing much. Rest In Peace.

Minds on the Prize

Trap Boiz Mind on the Prize & Never Again Family Death Before Dishonor: 2 top notch clearance bin full-lengths from 21st Century Atlanta connected by their style (low-budget Gangsta), their proximity to dance-craze rap (D4L & Trap Squad foreshadowing, respectively) and dubious font choices (I’m trying to imagine the guys at Pen & Pixel contemplating the use of Comic Sans for P’s Ice Cream Man). Try an imagine a better spent 99 cent.

Bossman and Hotrod of the Trap Boiz take the more artful approach - ergonomic beatmaking, calculated vocal delivery. Production credits go to the man Big Cheezy, who I'd like to hear more from but has slipped thru the cracks without the slightest internet data trail. Never Again is more like Strength in Numbers, but I'm not holding that against them. Besides, they have name you can't fuck with (despite their explanation:"I Chose The Name Because We Are Never Again Records And We Are a Family So It Was That Simple!"). Members: Young Shone, Gold Mouth, Thuggio, JG, Collar & Dolley.

Trap Boiz - Click of G's
Never Again Family - Everything on Me


As a bonus - a slice of Tight 2 Def era Fabo.
Fabo - Hell That Pulled the Trigger