Finishing up ‘Demo Week’ with the tail-end of the alphabet. In retrospect, half of these shits aren’t really ‘demos’ but however you want to describe them – ‘roughs’, ‘rehearsals’ or just ‘unreleased’ – it’s fair to say that a lot of great music never makes it to retail. Thank fuck for mix-tapes and underground radio.
Two new joints from the Freestyle Professors. ‘Who Am I’ is from the forthcoming Gryme Tyme project. Assisting Branesparker on production is an impressive line-up of Bronx heavyweights, including Lord Finesse, Diamond D, Showbiz, Minnesota, Buckwild, and Ahmed.
Continuing on, more vaulted material for your steering pleasure. Hiss added free of charge.
Ed OG - ‘I’m Different’ (demo)
Taken from the recently released Life Of A Kid In The Ghetto – Demos & Rarities 2CD, this version used Eddie Bo’s ‘Hook ‘N Sling’. I always liked that ‘S’ themed style second verse.
Gotta love demo tapes. Once sought-after trophies of music critics and studio interns, you can now find all sorts of demo tape gold all over the shop. This week I’ll be looking at some of my favorite demo moments, as we catch some future greats in their formative years. Since I couldn’t pick which to rock with first, this shit is running down in alphabetical order.1
The Artifacts feat. Brand Nubian - “Check Da Fine Print”
Readers of The Source may recall the songs reviewed for Tame and El’s ‘Unsigned Hype’ appearance. Lord Jamar handled the beats and contributes a verse with an ill-advised shot at Rakim.
