Mark has been making these for awhile, but I only just caught on. This may be the 14 most awkward minutes of video I’ve ever seen, which is all the more amusing for the fact that 45 King and Diamond have known each other for a long time. I’m not sure if they both smoked some killer weed or are really hung-over from a night of drinking hard booze. Or maybe it’s just the ‘zany’ sound effects…

Get over to 45 King’s YouTube channel for more episodes with Premier, Biz Markie, Prince Paul, Double J, Kid Capri and more.

Let’s be honest – it’s all about the ‘Best Kept Secret’ remix. That shit is a monster! That being said, I’ve always had a lot of time for the ‘Knock ‘Em Out Sugar Ray’ remix as well. The ‘Posse Is Large’ remix is included simply as a reminder of the lost art of conga loops…

Diamond D - ‘Best Kept Secret’ [Remix]

Digital Underground - ‘Packet Man’ [The 45 King Extended Mix]

Eric B. & Rakim - ‘Let The Rhythm Hit ‘Em’ [Remix]

The Flavor Unit - ‘The Flavor Unit Assassination Squad’ [Remix]

Lakim Shabazz - ‘The Posse Is Large’ [Remix]

MC Sugar Ray and Stranger D - ‘Knock ‘Em Out Sugar Ray’ [The 45 King Remix]

Rasco - ‘Run The Line’ [45 King Remix]

Eric B. & Rakim - Microphone Fiend [Remix]

Previously:

Searching For The Perfect Remix: Marley Marl

Searching For The Perfect Remix: The Stimulated Dummies

Searching For The Perfect Remix: Pete Rock

Searching For The Perfect Remix: DJ Premier

Searching For The Perfect Remix: Buckwild

Searching For The Perfect Remix: Large Professor

Searching For The Perfect Remix: Da Beatminerz
s

From his independent heater ‘Cannibal Town’, through to his The Hitman album and his work as a member of the Maniac Mob on The D&D Project, founding Flavor Unit soldier Double J has been doing his thing to rep Jersey City over the years without getting caught out by the music game.

Robbie: When did you start working with 45 King?

Double J: Meeting with Mark in ‘86, I hear everybody speaking of ‘the basement’, but when I started out we were in the attic in East Orange. Everybody talking about the basement – they should know about the attic. Mark had the microphones screwed into the wall, like four mics lined up, and everybody used to come up there, rhymin’. We started to make so much noise he had to leave there. Then we went down to the basement where we continued making the noise. Before all of that, I was more into the street life rather than the music at that time. I wasn’t really into writing rhymes and this and that, ‘cos I had just had a kid, and I’m trying to raise a kid real early. When the music wasn’t giving me no checks, I’ve still got to put milk on the table and pampers. So I had to keep living the street life and rhyme every chance I could. So when I met up with Mark and ‘em we go and make tapes and everything – we just had a lot of fun and just rocked. We made a lotta video tapes of us passing the mic too. Me, Apache and Latee – we went to school together. Me and Latee was in the same 3rd grade class. At the beginning of the Flavor Unit, we’d be all in the basement and we was wondering what should we call it. Should we call it the ‘Flavor Posse’ because it was already the Juice Crew so we couldn’t use the Flavor Crew. I think it was Lakim Shabazz that said, ‘Let’s call it the Flavor Unit’, and ever since then that’s what we rolled with. The word ‘Flavor’ was Latee from ‘This Cut’s Got Flavor’, ‘cos that was the first record outta the crew that was poppin’ on the radio.

Coming from Jersey, was it tough to get respect from Brooklyn and the Bronx?

It wasn’t like because they heard the records on the Red Alert show. That kinda let us in, and being that Mark was with us and he was originally from the Bronx and he knew Fab 5 Freddy and everybody, it was like, ‘Yo, these are my kids and this is my family’, and they embraced us. It was all love. We went to KRS-One ‘My Philosphy’ video, I’ll never forget that. All of us was in there.

Did there used to be any problems between Ali Ba-Ski and Markey Fresh back then?

I’m shocked, ‘cos we all got along. Markey Fresh come down and it’s mad love. He’d come down – but he’d be doin’ his own thing too. Markey Fresh was strange, but he was on his job! He was doin’ his records and representing like he’s supposed to, but he’d have things to do as well as me. So I guess he was doin’ what I was doin’ as well…

What can you tell me about ‘Cannibal Town’? That was a great record.

That was around 1988. We did the record, came up with a couple of dollars and we went and paid for that record ourself – label and everything. Mark took me over to the pressing plant, showed me how to get the record pressed, how to make the labels up – ‘cos he was already smart with all of that.

That was your own label?

Yes, Chanpen Records. That ‘s my aunt’s name actually, ‘cos she had put up the money for it. We pressed-up only 3,000 copies of that. Mark used to always be big on club records, he knew what club records ‘sposed to sound like when they hittin’ in the club. He had a hook-up with Abbey from Movin’ Records in East Orange, and she used to sell a lot of club records to all the DJ’s. Mark knew that was automatic sales for us, so he put a club record on there called ‘Club Trax’. So even if they didn’t like the record or whatever, here’s a club joint just to see if it could grab a different side – and it worked, ‘cos people still play the club record. I’m shocked.

So there was a big club scene in Jersey at the time?

Right. It wasn’t no vocals on that track, ‘cos we wasn’t big on rhyming on it, but hey…we wanted to move the records at the same time. Mark understood all of us before we understood our self. Mark used to put on music and be like, ‘Rhyme to it’. ‘But I don’t like that beat…’ ‘Nah, just rhyme to it’. He knew that that beat was hot and it’s gonna you sound good! I didn’t understand that ‘till later, and I always used to wonder why he wanted me to rhyme to stuff I didn’t wanna rhyme to. But he knew – and he didn’t bother telling you either! If you didn’t wanna rhyme on it? ‘Fine’. [laughs] That’s the bugged-out thing, he don’t stress.

Did you get a good response to the record?

Yeah, it did so well that nowadays somebody white-labeled it! I remember whern Mark took me over to London with him and we did some shows, and somebody was like, ‘Double J! I got your record!’ My man went down in his crate and pulled out that record! I was trippin’. Out of those 3,000 copies, he had one of them over there in the UK!

What was the story with your record deal?

Fab 5 Freddy used to come over to the basement and video us sometime, and Fab 5 Freddy showed the video tape to Chris Blackwell from Island/4th & Broadway, and he said anybody on that tape that wasn’t signed, he wanted to sign them. I was one on there that wasn’t signed at the time, ‘cos like I said I wasn’t in there, rhymin’ 100 everyday, trying to make it happen or nothing like that. So I got signed to 4th & Broadway and we did a single. We came out with ‘Bless The Funk’, and Mark had did that. Once again, he said, ‘J, let’s make something that can hit in the clubs’. I’m like, ‘Aight. Being that you know this music thing better than me, let’s go with it.’ At the time, Mark was real busy doing tracks for everybody – Madonna, David Bowie and all these big artists, getting big money. It was time for me to submit some records and to my album, and Mark was kinda tied-up with what he was doing, and I was like, ‘I don’t want to step on your toes and stop you from your money, ‘cos you gotta get that money’.

Craigaski had came to me, and I was just trippin’ ‘cos how I met him, he just put a cassette tape on my car. I guess he was scared to speak to me in person or whatever – he put a cassette on my car and said, ‘If you like these beats, come to my house or whatever and check me out’. I just wanted to know ‘Who’s this crazy dude that left his tape on my car?’ [laughs] So I went to his house and he came to the door with some glasses like Bootsy Collins and everything, and he’s got these Christmas lights blingin’ in the basement, and these beats banging’. So I go in there and I’m like, ‘Yo, he kinda crazy! He interesting’. So me and Craigaski, we kinda hooked-up, being that he lived around the corner from me. From then on, we just clicked and we were hangin’ out all the time. We just was doin’ joints, and I wind-up going to Island Records and meeting Cookie Gonzales. He got other people at Island Records to listen to it and they said, ‘Ay, you can rhyme’, so they gave me an album deal. So we had to put these records together and give ‘em an album. At the meantime, Mark was still doin’ his thing. We was still in contact everyday, but we were doin’ different things. Me and Mark still talk, I just got off the phone to him. That’s my best friend.

Did you have a limited window to submit your album?

Yeah, my pockets said I had to do it right away! [laughs]

What can you tell me about ‘If It Ain’t A Caddy, It Ain’t A Car’?

My father used to always say that. When Dukes of Hazzard was on, I used to be like, ‘I wanna get a car like that! A Camaro!’ I’m 6’4”, and he’s like, ‘Boy, you don’t want no shit like that! If it ain’t a Caddy, it ain’t a car!’ He used to tell me, ‘Nine times out of ten, your last ride on this earth gonna be in a Cadillac!’ I was like, ‘Damn!’ He was gettin’ deep on me. When you go to the cemetery, you don’t see no Porsches or Benz’s – they got you in the back of a Caddy!’ I was growin’ up, lovin’ Caddy’s. That’s all I ever drove. I just did that song just to be a colorful with it I guess. The music was a little wildness, but it was Craigaski, so I went with it. Our styles were a little crazy, but it blended together.

What was the story with the album cover?

At the record company, they knew I had the Caddy and was always with my hat to the side and all of that, so they tried to make it marketable. By me not really knowing what’s what and coming new to the game, I’m like, ‘Alright, let’s try it. We can do the hitman thing’. But I was thinking the hitman that’s the sniper – not Al Capone with the tommy gun, I’m talking about the dude in the cut! And at the same making hit records in the studio, so that’s how we get in the studio with the Al Capone thing mixed together. The hitman, in both ways. We had a video for ‘Gangster Hit’, which played on the local cable station they had here. You could call a video in for $2 and it plays in your area, and they used to burn the video out all day long on that thing.

Did 4th & Broadway want you do another record?

Island got bought out by Polygram at that time, and that was right when they were supposed to start doin’ marketing for my project, but people got their jobs switched around and this one didn’t know what this one left off doin’, and this, that and the other. So now the person that was handling my project is not there anymore, ‘cos Polygram got their people there. After a while, the lawyer said, ‘Well, you can wait around for them to sort things out or you can move on and be released’. I was like, ‘I gotta go’, because the record was already late comin’ out, and after a while the music starts to sound a little dated. It was time to put out another record to show some update or move on, and I moved on. After I moved on, I just never really started hunting in the music, ‘cos I didn’t have a manager or anything. I just went to business then. Now I’m just workin’, raising kids. Now my son that was a baby then – he’s 21 now. It would have been nice to go diamond – triple platinum or whatever – but I think sometime it’s a blessing, man, to see how certain things turned out. I think sometimes you do just as good by almost making it. I’m doing fine now – I run my own business and I’ve got my own peace-of-mind. I see other people that ‘made it’, they have a lot of things but they don’t have that real, genuine peace-of-mind. Sometimes you need that.

Double J - ‘Cannibal Town’

Double J - ‘If It Ain’t A Caddy, It Ain’t A Car’

Maniac Mob – ‘Get Up’

Loud drums, Treach on point and…Vinnie doing his best Onyx impersonation? Two out of three ain’t bad, word to Meatloaf. Thanks to D-BO for pointing this out to me.

Just spotted this at 45 King‘s YouTube channel. I’m guessing this is from the same sessions that appeared on The Cat Jams LP from a couple of years back. Chill Rob G stays slept on.

You might remember Markey Fresh from the classic 45 King joint ‘The King Is Here’, or his solo single on Jive called ‘The Mack of Rap’. As it turns out, he was technically the first MC to ever work with The 45 King in his famous basement in New Jersey…

Robbie: How did you meet The 45 King?

Markey Fresh: I was born and raised in The Bronx. I used to live in the Bronxdale projects, and Afrika Bambatta used to come through there all the time, playing his music outside on the basketball court, and I just got consumed by that. I just started at a young age – say fourteen – writing rhymes. We moved to New Jersey when I was about sixteen. When we came to New Jersey it was just straight House music until I went to school one day and this guy brung a tape in. I was like, ‘Man, where’d you get that from?’ And he said, ‘From this guy named Mark. He lives around the corner from the school’. I went straight over there into the basement, and I was there every day after that, because he was the only one in New Jersey playing hip-hop – everyone else was into House. I was the first one down in that basement, and after three years that’s when everybody else came along, out of the woodwork, because Mark started becoming known. So all of these people I’d never heard of – or seen – just popped-up, all at once. A lot of the times they do these interviews with the so-called original members, and my name is not on there? Wow.

Would Mark just break-beat records for you back then?

He would have all the break-beat parts and I would just rhyme over it. I used to kill ‘Impeach The President’.

Did he have that train turnstile in the basement when you first started going?

Nah, that came later. I hated that turnstile! When I first went down there, it was just a bunch of crates filled with records, two turntables and a microphone. That’s all I needed to see.

Was Latee the first one to start coming to the basement after you?

After me, that’s when I met Latee, then he brought in Apache. Then Latifah came down, and everybody looked at her as the girl that wanted to be on the baseball team, but didn’t think she could hit any home runs. But then we let her try out, and she killed it! Since then, she became a member. Latee got his single deal first, then Latifah got her album deal, and then Lakim got his album deal and then that’s when I got my single deal. So all those people were before me, even though I was the first one down in that basement.

When did it become the Flavor Unit?

No, that was somebody else idea. When Latifah got her deal, that’s when it became the Flavor Unit. Before that, everybody was just doin’ their own thing. We were still down in the basement together, but as they got their deals and went on tour, they seemed to not remember who I was for some reason. To be honest with you Robbie, I don’t feel like I was ever a part of the Flavor Unit, because when they did things they didn’t call me, like, ‘C’mon Mark, let’s go!’ They just left without me. I was like that black sheep of the family. The whole group would go, and I would stay. But I wouldn’t stay and sit – I was doin’ my own thing.

I was just a solo artist, going down to the basement, making demo tapes. I gave one to Red Alert and he played it for a whole year! I was like, ‘Wow, that’s like having a record deal!’ That’s all I really wanted, was to get my stuff on the radio. So every year I would give him a promo and he would play it, until it got the attention of Jive Records and they signed me to a single deal. After that, they said, ‘Go in there and do another single’. I was like, ‘Do I get a video with it?’ And they was like, ‘Nah, we can’t give you a video with the single’. I said, ‘Everyone else has one – that’s how you promote and market’, and they was like, ‘We can’t give it you’. I was like, ‘Well, if I can’t get the video to this song then I don’t want t be a part of this deal anymore’. They took about 6-8 weeks going back and forth, then they decided, ‘OK, we will let you go’ and that was the end of that. I was happy. Red Alert was playing my promos on the radio as if they was records. I knew people that had record deals that wasn’t getting as much play as my promos, so I was satisfied. I really didn’t care about the money at that time, I was just happy to hear my songs on the radio. This went on from ’86 to ’92. Every year I’d give him a new song and he would just play it.

What was the story behind ‘The King Is Here’?

I don’t know what was going on over there at Tuff City, ‘cos I wasn’t actually signed to them. I just did that record for Mark – he was the one hooking me up, so I said, ‘Let me hook him up’. So I gave him that song…’Go ahead, do what you wanna do with it’.

What can you tell me about ‘The Mack of Rap’?

Originally I gave that song to Mark, and he gave it to Aaron Fuchs at Tuff City. Aaron Fuchs paid – I think – $700, but that’s when Jive stepped in and said, ‘Oh no, we getting’ him of that label and he’s comin’ over here’. So Jive had to pay $5,000 to get me out of that situation.

Did you really own a Gucci suit with your name on the back?

[laughs] I was gonna get one of those if I would’ve got my video for my next single, that’s what I was gonna wear.

Did you do many shows off of that single?

Yeah. I would do two songs – I would do one they never heard of and then I would go into ‘The Mack of Rap’. They would pay me between five and seven…thousand. A lot of times it was Red Alert who was deejaying for me. He would be the DJ at those shows I would go to, and he would have everything I ever did in his crate. I never really knew who else was on the bill – I was either the opening or the second act of that night. Mostly when Brand Nubian did shows I was the opening act in New York. They had me in they video too – that was cool.

Which one?

‘Punks Jump Up To Get Beat Down’. I had a blue and white striped shirt, coming out the train station, I thought that was cool they asked me to be in that.

It was wack how everyone in the Unit had a Hip-House song on their album.

I hated that, man! They tried to make me do that at least 2,000 times they asked me to do that! I was like, ‘No way! No way!’ That’s a whole different thing over there. Hip-hop beats are much harder.

You also released that hard-to-get EP on Mark’s label. When was that recorded?

We recorded that around that time, ’92-’93. We just did that to be doin’ it. We said, ‘We gonna throw it out there. If it sticks to the wall, then cool – we’ll go and do some more stuff’.

Did Mark’s drug problem affect your relationship with him?

I was upset that he allowed himself to do that. That happened when Warner Bros. gave him a recording deal and a budget for $250,000, and he acted like he had 7 million – because he got three apartments in one building, only lived in one. One was supposed to be for the office and one for the studio. That was a waste of money – he could have bought a house and put everything in there. Once again, when he got that deal with Warner Bros., more people started coming out of the woodwork! I’d never seen them in my life, and he’s just giving them money…I’m like, ‘Wow, man’. I’d say within a year all of that was gone and he had to move back into his mom’s house – back in the basement. You know how some people win the lottery? They get all that money and just go crazy? That’s what happened to him. It was so much money I guess he thought it was gonna last for ever. I didn’t wanna say nothin’ and tell him how to spend his money – I was juts observing from afar. Like, ‘Wow, man. I know what not to do if I get a $250, 000 budget!’ The guy that gave him the deal dropped him like a hot potato. ‘Oh man – angel dust?’ They let him go immediately.

Apache passing recently was sad news…

Yeah man. Yo, he smoked too many cigarettes, man. That’s what it was. His weight just went so high. All that hard, fast living just caught-up with him. He was young, too. I feel bad for him…I don’t wish death on nobody, man.

The 45 King feat. Markey Fresh - ‘The King Is Here’

Markey Fresh - ‘The Mack of Rap’

The 45 King feat. Markey Fresh - ‘Freestyle’

Markey Fresh – ‘Ain’t No Thang’

Video cameos:

Apache, a founding member of the original Flavor Unit and cousin of Latee has passed away after years of poor health. Lord Ali Ba-Ski discussed his unfortunate condition a couple of years ago:

‘Apache is on permanent disability now. He has a bruised heart. He got his bruised heart from when he was with that label [Tommy Boy] and making all that good money, ‘cos Apache got the biggest shine – not including Naughty By Nature and Latifah and all the rest of ‘em – but as far as the original Flavor Unit cats? He got the biggest shine outta all of us, as far as money. I mean he had a $250,000 budget with his label, see. And Apache did show after show after show. He was getting triple what Chill Rob was getting for a show. He used to get anywhere from 7 G’s to 20 G’s a show! He went through some money. This guy used to get so high and drunk – his whole thing was a big ‘ol party. Then he bloated all the way up to 300 and something pounds, and mind you he’s like only 5′9″, 5′10″. He blew up to 300 pounds and the guys almost bed-ridden from getting so big, and then he went up and down.’

Another sad loss for the hip-hop community…

The Flavor Unit - ‘Flavor Unit Assassination Squad (Remix)’

Maybe the best posse cut of all time that isn’t called ‘The Symphony’, and a reminder of how dope Latifah was back when she was rapping full-time. This is the remix that Tim Westwood premiered on his radio show way back when.

Apache - ‘I Feel Like Flowing’

One of Apache’s first tracks (which he called a ‘demo’ in an interview) that appeared on The 45 King Presents…The Flavor Unit album.

Apache & Lakim Shabazz - ‘Smooth Yet Hard’

A classic remix of ‘Passing The Mic’ from 45 King‘s Rhythmical Madness LP.

Apache - ‘Tonto’

Some good old fashioned rapping about your junk.

Naughty By Nature feat. Apache & Lakim Shabazz - ’1,2,3′

Treach and them were late additions to the Flavor Unit crew, but they didn’t forget to let two of the founding members get some shine on their break-out Tommy Boy debut.

This reminded me of a couple of important points:

1. All Hail The Queen is the greatest chick-rap album ever.

2. Blazers and sports jackets were running shit in 1990.

3. I’ve never heard that 45 King remix of Madonna.

4. TV presenters are retarded.

5. Footage of the original Flavor Unit = priceless.

One of the unsung heroes of the original Flavor Unit was Lord Ali Ba-Ski (aka The Human Body Chart), who wrecked shit something terrible on the 45 King Presents…The Flavor Unit album. I always wondered why he didn’t drop any other records after that album, and after I did a post about him as part of 2006′s Flavor Unit Special, the big man himself blessed the comment section. It goes without saying that I followed-up with an interview request, and as is often the case it took over a year before we finally got a chance to build – but it was well worth the wait.

What better way to mark the 350th post on Unkut Dot Com than an exclusive with this Flavor Unit originator?

Robbie: So you’re 6’8″ and you used to play ball?

Ali Ba-Ski: I went to junior school in Kentucky, then I transferred to a four-year in Alabama – Sanford University. I left there after the first year. We used to run them bleaches around the whole stadium, and then I got diagnosed with something called Osgood’s Slaughter. That’s when you real tall and the bone beneath your knee-cap slips from under there – you get mad tendonitis. After that happened, I was still able to play but I just lost my drive for it. They had me projected to play overseas professionally and everything! I was the number two player in the State of Kentucky as a freshman, and then I was the number one player in my sophomore year, before I got all the offers and everything. I was out there handling my business. While all that was going on, I wasn’t even thinking of rap.

Apache and Latee, they my first cousins. They pretty much pulled me in the game. They was goin’ over to East Orange, New Jersey – to Mark house – and they asked me did I want to go one day, so I went over there with ‘em. They used to be over there – Apache, Latee, Chill Rob, Lakim Shabazz – they used to be in there freestyling, and Taheed used to be there too. He used to be down with Apache, they used to have their little group, there was two of ‘em. I used to be in there, sipping on my 40’s while they was doin’ their thing, and then just outta the blue one day I shocked all of ‘em and just said something that I had written, and they was all on the ground rollin’ and laughin’ and cracking up! After that it was one verse after the other, it never stopped. All it did was get better.

Then you had four solo tracks on the Flavor Unit album. Was that an album that was put together from start to finish, or was that just a collection of songs?

No. When I signed with Tuff City and Aaron Fuchs, the idea was for me to complete a whole album. I was in the process of doing that – me and my DJ, Grand Wizard BK. After he left me he started deejaying for Sugar Ray.

BK The Bootsmoker? From Double XX Posse?

Yep. We went over to New York and we brought Aaron some tracks that BK made, and they was hot. So he came to the conclusion “OK, yeah” – we got in the studio. Mark was a part of it too. He still had tracks. But the only thing about Mark is – he never gave me tracks to write to. I had so many flows that my verses could go to any tempo – slow, fast, medium or what-have-you. It wasn’t until we got to the studio he would ask me “You like this? You like this? You like this?” as opposed to giving me something to write to. I never had that luxury like the rest of ‘em. So me and my man BK, after Aaron got us up in the studio, we started working on our album. He hadn’t done any of the tracks – every track that was done was with Mark. “The Flavor Unit Assassination Squad” wasn’t slated for my album or nothin’ but it was something we did and it was fun. The original songs was the ones that were slated to go on the album, that was on the so-called compilation album. When I was in the studio working on mine, he [Aaron] just popped-up one day all of a sudden and said “We need another Lakim Shabazz album tomorrow”. I’m looking at him like “Yo, what that got to do with me?”

What happened was, he put Lakim back in the studio and then there wasn’t no time set up for us! So I said to myself: “You know what, man? This is a bullshit label, because this guy can’t even afford to have two artists in the studio at the same time?” And after that happened, I was like “Well if that’s the case, then money-wise this is gonna be a bullshit deal”. Plus, unlike the rest of ‘em that waited so late in the Flavor Unit, I wasn’t at the point where rap was gonna feed me anyway, because I always worked hard. All of ‘em will tell you – I always kept a good job. So I wasn’t really beefin’ with Aaron or beefin’ with any of ‘em. When he put Lakim in the studio, I just left. I just cut off all ties with him. He was calling me, telling me he wanted to get me back in there, this, that and the third.

One day I’m on my way to work and I hear “Crunch Time” on the radio and I’m like “Wow” [chuckles], then I hear “Lyrics In Motion” another time and I’m like “Whoa!”. But it was enough bait for me, you know what I’m sayin? I used to literally bodyguard for Monie Love and Queen Latifah, when we used to do the college tour up on 95. Used to go to Delaware State and all the places where they had shows at. My job was to make sure they get to the bathroom and back! [laughs] Monie Love used to tell me shit like: “Ali Ba-Ski, I gotta wee-wee!” and I used to clear the way and let ‘em know “Back up! Back up! We coming through!” She’s back on the radio now, she’s with Ed Lover again.

She’s still in good shape from what I’ve seen.

Mmm, yeah.

So basically there were records that you’d made, and Aaron Fuchs just started putting them out after you severed ties?

Exactly! When he saw that I wasn’t gonna come back…then him and Mark always did work together, and that’s what they did. They put all of those songs together on that compilation album. I had mad other material to follow-up with that, but…It’s funny, I was looking at the [Unkut] site, with the comments that people was giving me, and I was like “Wow, I didn’t know I had any fans!”

A lot of the Flavor Unit had a deep-voiced style, like Lakim had a deep baritone…

His voice definitely don’t go with his body at all!

I remember when I saw his album cover, I was like “Is that the same guy?”

[laughs] He’s a little midget, he’s got the whole big voice. But none of us never had no problems. All of us made the decisions we made. Actually, me, Latee, Chill Rob and Lakim – I think everybody just learned from our mistakes, and Apache just waited everything out to see how this game was gonna go. Latifah had the first, best deal, and then Double J had a chance with 4th & Broadway, and then Apache got the next deal when he brought the “Gangsta Bitch” out. Then came all the new Flavor Unit people – Naughty By Nature, Black Sheep and all them cats. They learned from our mistakes not to jump in the fire like that. I don’t know what that garbage was Latifah put out in California. The Unit? Oh, that was a wack-ass album. Those guys are trippin’, that whole name was created by Latee. That whole idea and everything was his from the beginning. They just fired him recently from Flavor Unit Management.

He was still working for them until recently?

Yeah, after all these years! He was the head A&R! Maybe they stopped signing people to the management aspect and then they just let him go, out of the blue, saying there wasn’t no work – but they still kept all those non-discript people that wasn’t there from the beginning. Sha-Kim – that guy is a straight-up snake. For him to do that to Latee like that? The originator? I was like “Oh, this guy…”

Chill Rob told me how they just copyrighted the name without speaking to any of you guys.

Yeah. After the episode with Aaron Fuchs at Tuff City…even when we would go on the road, we had meetings. I remember one time I didn’t make a show, and they called me on the phone and they had me on speaker, and they asked me what was I going to do – as far as my music and everything goes – and I told them I didn’t even care. It didn’t make me no difference. I had a small-time goal – that’s to hear a song on the radio – and I heard it! They was all cracking-up in the background, they was like “He buggin’, man. He need to ghost-write for somebody or somethin!” All these years I just basically worked. I was back in the studio five years ago though. Me and my man Grandwizard Gary T – god bless his soul – he passed away while I was trying to make another album. We got five or six songs done. They was never mastered, they was demos – but they good demos. He passed away while we were in the process of doing that, coz he was so big. He was ten pounds bigger than Mark! He was damn-near at the point of being bed-ridden. But boy did he have Mark’s style and everything. This guy was good, so I was working with him and a couple of local cats from around here. I had my brother on one of the songs, and Latee and Lakim Shabazz was gonna do a song with me too. I gave them the concept and they was gonna get back with me on it, but when he passed away all that stuff was stopped. I still had a bunch of material, this album was gonna consist of at least nineteen songs, and all of ‘em was bangers.

So what have you done with all of that material?

Nah, I’m done now. I’m done. It’s a wrap now. I still be having cats that want me to get down with ‘em, get on a song, every now and then. I might go to the old neighborhood, see people in the little ciphers, in the circle, freestyling or whatnot. They’ll flag me down, “Come over!” – think I still don’t have it, then I end-up chippin’ them up real fast, jump back in the van and go. [chuckles]

What do you think sets New Jersey apart in terms of style?

When rap first came out man, everybody was real intrigued with it and I think cats over in New Jersey, we did so much listening to the New York rappers when it first dropped, and they started having they little crews out here that used more different style and jingles to go with they music. Taken from the early Force MC’s, before they was the Force MD’s, some of Doug Fresh earliest shit, coz Doug Fresh used to come over here and rhyme with these cats called Sweet, Slick and Slide that was from Jersey City – Albee Al and them, god bless his soul, he passed away – we used to have all of ‘em come over here, and in regards to Jersey City, that’s who pulled us cats in the game. People like the Devastating Tito from Fearless Four used to come over here, everyone used to come over here, mixtapes of him on there, freestyling. Kool Moe Dee used to come over here, and this guy from Jersey City named Chief Chuckaluck – he knew all of ‘em, so he was the one that used to bring them over this way. We played the outside early on, but I think we did a lot more listening than anybody, coz we right next to New York.

You were saying that Kool Moe Dee was a big influence on you. Who else were you checking for?

KRS and Rakim, and LL with his earlier stuff. Not the lover-boy LL though. The hardcore LL – the very first album, with “Dangerous” and all that hard stuff on there.

Did you used to get into many battles around the schoolyard?

Aw man, plenty of times. You ask anybody about the little ciphers we used to have around here, man? Shhh, I used to chip cats up on a regular basis. We might be in a bar drinking and go outside and be like “Oh what’s up? You still got it? I’ll bust your ass” and just let ‘em know there’s still some work in there that I could go upside you head with. [chuckles] Me and Chill Rob used to be out there, eating them cats alive. Going over Mark’s house – we couldn’t wait! He used to be fuckin’ around all the time, blazing his trees and we used to all be in there blazing trees and everything, waiting for this guy to throw some tracks on so we could get busy! He used to be in there bullshittin’ and we’re like “Damn, man! Are we going to get down or what?” Chill Rob or Latee used to have to be the ones that asked him to throw some music on so we could freestyle. If me, Apache or Double J was like “Come on, we wanna rip, yo. Put some shit on!” He was like “I don’t feel like doin’ it”, this or that. And when he did, we used to be down there for hours, like a golf round. Be down for three or fours straight, freestylin’. Everybody with mad material. I don’t think anybody had more verse than me, Chill Rob and Lakim. When they said all they could say, we was still goin’ back to back

Did you guys used to record all of that?

Yeah! I know Mark’s still got all of that stuff around the house. He’s still got all them old freestyles, he used video some of them and everything! He don’t throw nothing away. I actually used to write for Mark, I wrote some verses for Mark. Did he tell you that?

Nah, I forgot to ask him about that.

If you look at Latifah’s first album, I wrote a song on there for her too, and I wrote his verses.

“A King and Queen Creation”?

Yeah. That shit was hot, for a duo. They shoulda gave that song a chance, it used to ring in my ears all the time. It had the vicious horns on there!

Did you write any of his other rhymes?

Anything you hear with 45 King where he’s rhyming on a song? Either I wrote it or Lakim Shabazz wrote it. I didn’t get no royalties or nothing for it – I just did it for him coz that’s my man, you know?

How come there were never any pictures of you in magazines or anything?

All you had to do to catch me back in the days – any time there was something going on with regards to the Flavor Unit, I was there. All you had to do was look for the biggest motherfucker in the crowd! [laughs]

Did you used to perform in Jersey a lot?

I did some local stuff around here, like at The Boys Club and stuff like that. That used to be on the humbug, it wasn’t nothing that I anticipated doin’. Like Apache and Taheed did a show at the Boys Club in Jersey City and they called me up to get down with ‘em, so I got up there and was ripping with ‘em, had the crowd in a frenzy and everything, like “Yo! I ain’t even know this motherfucker rap, yo!” I’ll tell you boy, when we was in the Apollo though, I was hoping so bad he’d let me get up there and rip with him. Apache went against the grain though, man. Everybody that rolled with him, with the Flavor Unit, once he got on – you know how you’re supposed to bring your crew on and everything else? He just ended up with a whole different bunch of people, man! We was all of a sudden not in the mix with him, and he had a whole new crew and everything! I was like “Whoa!” And it’s family! What’s the science behind that? Apache is on permanent disability now. He has a bruised heart.

[laughing]

He has a bruised heart – really.

Sorry, I though you were kidding.

No, that’s real. He’s in the ministry now. He’s in the church like you wouldn’t believe, Robbie. He’s trying to be a minister and everything. He’s saved, sanctified, baptized and all of that stuff!

How do you get a bruised heart though?

He got his bruised heart from when he was with that label and making all that good money, coz Apache got the biggest shine – not including Naughty By Nature and Latifah and all the rest of ‘em – but as far as the original Flavor Unit cats? He got the biggest shine outta all of us, as far as money. I mean he had a $250,000 budget with his label, see. And Apache did show after show after show. He was getting triple what Chill Rob was getting for a show. He used to get anywhere from 7 G’s to 20 G’s a show! He went through some money. This guy used to get so high and drunk – his whole thing was a big ‘ol party. Then he bloated all the way up to 300 and something pounds, and mind you he’s like only 5’9″, 5’10″. He blew up to 300 pounds and the guys almost bed-ridden from getting so big, and then he went up and down. He had a couple of serious episodes, and then, you know how African-American people do – when shit go bad for them, they turn to the lord! [laughs] That’s what happened. Our family always was in the church. His mother, my father – we grew up in the church, prior to rapping and smoking weed and doing all that stuff, man. I ain’t gonna sit on this phone and tell you “I did five years down Borden Town!” or nothing like that shit. It seems like that has to be part of your M.O. to be successful – to have been locked-up before to be accepted into the rap game. I’ll tell somebody in a heart-beat – I went to church three times a week, and on the weekends, and still get in somebody ass! Without being locked-up!

Or being shot! That’s the new one.

Getting shot is a bonus!

Was “Top Gun” your favorite song from that compilation?

Nah. My favorite song was “Lyrics In Motion”, I liked that slow tempo.

Ali Ba-Ski - “Lyrics In Motion”

Unreleased tracks from Ali’s 2002 recordings:

Ali Ba-Ski - “Go Head Old Head”

Ali Ba-Ski - “Here It Is”

Ali Ba-Ski - “Sunny Days, Gloomy Nights”

What’s worse? Rap made for chicks, or broads rapping? It’s been so long since a skirt has made a decent rap song, it’s not even funny. What’s even less amusing is hip-hop made specifically for dames. It was bad enough when Heavy D was dancing around in transparent rain-coats and Ja Rule was making like Stewart Little with his shirt off. Now we’ve got douche-bags like the Gym Class Heroes churning-out Wuss Rap that make Snow Patrol and Maroon 5 sound hardcore.

Ladies licking lyrical buck-shots? I doubt it. Considering that Nelly Fertardo and Fergie are rhyming now, the “femcee” (*vomits*) movement is dead in the water. Lauryn Hill is cracked-out, crazy and basically just crap these days, while Foxy Brown is as deaf as your granny and Lil’ Kim looks more and more like a Bangkok Ladyboy every week. Latifah has gone Hollywood (literally!) and MC Lyte isn’t returning my calls. Who’s left? Remy Ma? That Shesus Kryst is basically a retarded attempt to get some “Hate Me Now” Nas and Diddy free promotion, plus messing with Fat Joe is bad for your health. Shante was good value, but her less talented but far more attractive “rival” The Real Roxanne was easily the flyest of the bunch.

Token girl rappers were once a “must-have” feature of any crew, but given the underwhelming reactions to the likes of G-Unit’s Olivia, The Roc’s Amil and whoever Ludacris’ gal-pal was, that shit’s a dead issue. Oh yeah, remember Eve? The Ruff Ryder has done one too many lame pop cameo for her own good and now seems to have as much buzz as Lloyd “Brianna” Banks. Even that home porn tape leak didn’t help. Speaking of smut, it could be argued that only women making any noise in the hip-hop world are the likes of Superhead and Buffy The Body. Still, sure beats watching Missy “Not Actually A Rapper” Elliot dance around in hot-pants.

Is it wrong to fondly recall a time when good rap was loud, abrasive and hated by your girlfriend? Not that I want hip-hop events to be sausage-fests by any means, but nor should they resemble the crowd of a Kylie Minogue concert. Here’s a good rule of thumb – if your mum, sister or current “better half” likes the majority of music on your iPod, you may as well go and train-surf into a tunnel right away.

Originally published in Acclaim #9

Queen Latifah - “Wrath of My Madness” (DJ Premier Remix)

The Real Roxanne feat. DJ Howie Tee – “Bang, Zoom (Let’s Go Go)” (Live In The UK)

[Poll=18]

As one of the most influential beat-makers of the late 80′s, The 45 King brought horns up front like no one had thought to do before him, setting the stage for Pete Rock to flip them for his own signature style during his ’93-’94 takeover. But where he really made his mark was on full-length projects, as Mark constructed masterful albums with Lakim Shabazz and Chill Rob G, as well as being the dominant force behind Queen Latifah‘s first step into showbiz. But his reach didn’t end there, as he’s provided some more recent hits for Jay-Z (“Hard Knock Life”) and Eminem (“Stan”), and is currently recording new material with Chill Rob and Lakim.

When I spoke to Mark early one morning, he excused himself to go take a nap or something so I never got the chance to ask him about his superior rhyme skills and a bunch of other shit. I was meant to call him the next day but it never happened. Hopefully I’ll do a part two eventually but this will have to do for now. All I need now is a Latifah post and the Flavor Unit Special is just about a wrap!

The 45 King: My question…what do you think my stage name is?

Robbie: Your stage name? Umm…I guess on the early records it was DJ Mark The 45 King…but nowadays you call yourself The 45 King.

Thank-you…thank-you. Thank-you very much.

A lotta people get that mixed up?

Yeah. Then they cut it Mark 45 King. That’s incorrect. It’s not like I’m Jazzy Jeff or anybody – so me correcting myself – “he got some nerve!”

I got this bootleg a while ago – the Put The Funk Out There album. What was the story behind that?

I have my ideas who put that out, but I had nothing to do with that. It’s funny that people like to bootleg me but they don’t wanna put the record out. So I dunno how that goes.

Was that actually how you planned the album or was that just a collection of tracks that someone just put together?

Considering what the tracks were, that’s why I have a feeling who did it. It was an album that was supposed to come out that never came out.

You started putting out beat records before the stuff with Latee, right?

Yeah, breaks. All because it was easier, because the MC’s used to be a problem.

So you weren’t feeling the MC’s in your area?

No, I was feeling the guys in the area, but you had to have a finished song instead of just a freestyle. There’d have to be a way that you’d end the song – with a hook or whatever – and we wasn’t really comin’ up with that. That’s why I said “You know what? I’m gonna do it without the MC’s and see what happens”, and it did well. So I just kept the MC’s off and I really didn’t have too many problems. Now it’s different – now they can come-up with the hook and all this and that, but back then….

Is it true that in the mid-80s, if you weren’t from the Bronx or Brooklyn, no one was trying to hear you?

Ahh, I don’t know. If you had money to put out a record, and it was a decent record…back then I guess.

You used to have a basement studio with a train turnstile people had to go through?

Yeah, at one time.

How’d you get that?

The turnstile? It was in front of somebody’s house that lived down the block from me, on Styvesant Avenue. It was out the front of his house – it wasn’t in the garbage, but it was in the front of somebody’s house. It was on his property, and it was there every night when I used to come home from work, I’d walk by. One day I caught him outside and I said “Ay, why don’t you sell that to me?” And then he gave me some crazy-ass price, and I said “Man, I coulda took it! I coulda stole the shit!” He knew. “The shit’s been out here for weeks – I coulda came up and took it, and you gonna sell it to me for some crazy-ass price? How ’bout this? I give ya twenty dollars and you help me carry it down the block!”

[I almost piss myself laughing]

Puffy been through that…Biggie, Tupac – actually I don’t remember Tupac actually goin’ through there, but if he’s seen my equipment, more than likely I showed him all my studio, so more than likely he’s been there. Who else…Busta, probably. Jay-Z been through this turnstile – a lotta people, man. Latifah. Q-Tip used to sit on the turnstile. The Jungle Brothers.

And you used to have a lotta graffiti in there?

Nah, not really. That’s when I was a lot younger. The turnstyle was just something to divide the two rooms. For them to get to the studio, they had to go through the turnstyle.

So the Latee record was the beginning of the Flavor Unit?

Yeah, I would say so. But Markey Fresh had a record out – a demo – before that.

“The King Is Here”?

Even before that. Like a little demo that I made with Markey Fresh, and Red start to play that. Red Alert put me on – he was the first person on the radio that took interest – and then I knew Chuck Chillout also. I grew-up with Chuck Chillout up in the Bronx. Even though Red was playing more stuff than Chuck, Chuck was playing stuff too. I can’t forget him.

So those promos were before you were doing all the records?

Yeah, because it was easier. I wasn’t pressing up any rap records, because nobody was finishing ‘em. “This Cut’s Got Flavor” don’t really have a hook. When he stop rhyming – here’s comes the horn! That got over.

A lotta people talk about Pete Rock’s horns, but you were the first guy to really bring them out in your beats.

I had a whole bunch of Kool & The Gang albums – I had all but one and shit. And “Too Hot” didn’t have horns on it [chuckles]…and we cleared most of ‘em, I believe.

Was the whole Flavor Unit recording with you when you did the Latee record, or did it build from there?

Yep. First it’s Latee and then Lakim Shabazz and then Chill Rob G, then Double J, Latifah…I think that’s basically it – and Apache.

What about Lord Alibaski and Ron Delite?

Alibaski, yup. Ron Delite wasn’t really. He was with Tuff City I believe, but I don’t think Ron Delite was part of the Flavor Unit. He’s cool though.

What about Jamose?

Nah, he wasn’t down.

How come Double J did all the beats on his own album? Was he trying to save money?

At that time, my credibility…I was fuckin’ up my career by smokin’ angel dust, and the word got out that I was doing all types of drugs. So people didn’t want my beats as bad as they did at the beginning. I think if I was real hot I would’ve been doing tracks…and I think he did a pretty good job.

I read that you said that the 45 King Presents…The Flavor Unit album was just a bunch a demos. Was that something that Tuff City just put out?

That was one record that we all was on, and then a whole bunch of other records, bits and pieces, put together. A bunch demos – yeah, I guess you could say a bunch of side records. Apache did a song…I don’t think Chill Rob G was on it.

Fab Five Freddy said that you made the “Microphone Fiend” beat for him originally.

Yeah, I gave that to him and then I turned around and gave it to somebody else. He eventually found out – I don’t think he was mad. I think it’s because it was Eric B. and shit – Eric B. is intimidating. Haa! “There you go Eric. You can have it too!” And then I did the remix for it, so that was cool.

I guess that used to happen a lot during that period.

Did Freddy pay me for the beat? I dunno, he might’ve gave me some money. He might’ve gave me something. Who knows?

He never did anymore records anyway.

Right. But he did a big one though! Okay? Freddy had a big fuckin’ record.

That’s a classic.

Freddy has a classic. “Change The Beat”, ha ha. Prolly still rock a party.

Did you supply any other beats for that Eric B. album?

I did “The R” I think. The drum beats or the bassline…yep. Eric B. was the first person to give me some real money.

Do you still do business with Tuff City?

Yeah.

Was the Cat Jams album recorded recently?

That’s something that Tuff City put out that I really didn’t care for. It was my idea turned around. It was a series turned into one LP. So I handed in a whole bunch of songs, thinking that a whole bunch of albums were gonna come out, and what they did was pick their best ten out of it, and put out one album, and let’s call it Cat Jams. That’s not my idea. My idea was just to have a series where one album would be called “Puma”, one album would be called “Tiger”. I wasn’t gonna say nothin’ about no Cat James. A lot of things Tuff City do with my music – they come up with the hook, and name the album, and sometimes they name the song…use my logo without my permission a lot of times. We have to talk about that – it’s my logo. I’m just letting people know – what labels do sometimes, you have no control over it, so don’t think “Oh, that’s his idea”. I actually think have better ideas than “Cat Jams”. I like the Quiet Storm idea they came up with – but I didn’t like the album cover. And they don’t have to get permission! It would be nice if they got permission, but that’s showbiz. I ain’t large enough.

I noticed on that album you sampled off old things like “Love Rap” and stuff…

Oh! That’s because he [Aaron] owns that shit. All the songs that you heard before – Tuff City owns. So it makes sense for him to do it, so that’s a kinda smart move on both our parts. We don’t got to pay for nothing, we just gotta sell his stuff all over again. It’s stuff that I basically looped. I looped the best parts of his shit.

So now you use Logic on the Mac?

Yes sir.

Is that the easiest way to go now?

I wouldn’t say it’s the easiest way, ’cause you’ve gotta program a computer to make it real easy for you. It takes time to load a computer up before it’s the way you want it. So you’ve gotta set Logic to do what you want, and put stuff in it that you want. After you put all the stuff in it that you want, it becomes a lot easier to work with.

It must be a nice change after all those years with the tiny Akai sampler screens.

It has a sampler in it. Considering that I have all of my drums and all of my basslines and all of my special sounds that I use in it already, it opens up where I can get to it. It’s good, but it has to be set-up that way, and that takes time. And some people don’t set-it up that way – each time they make-up a beat they start it from scratch and they sample the drums over and over again – I just use the same sounds.

Just rearrange it each time…

I don’t really have to rearrange it too much. I don’t sample drums again and then sample them again for this record. Maybe a few other producers do that – I don’t know how they do their stuff.

What’s your favorite album that you’ve done?

I like Latifah’s album. Chill Rob G was cool…Lakim Shabazz! All the albums that I do have a lotta good stuff on ‘em, I think.

Originally published in Peak Street magazine

Vinyl and tape rips:

The 45 King - Untitled

Queen Latifah feat. The 45 King - A King And Queen Creation

Diamond D - Best Kept Secret (Remix)

The Flavor Unit - The Flavor Unit Assassination Squad (LP version)

The Flavor Unit - The Flavor Unit Assassination Squad (Remix)

Eric B. & Rakim - I Know You Got Soul (Remix)

Eric B. & Rakim - Microphone Fiend (Remix)

The 45 King cutting up breaks:

The 45 King @ MySpace

Jaz’ 45 King discography

If, for some ungodly reason, you’re not familiar with the work of Chill Rob G then you might want to check this before you read this interview I did with Rob a couple of months ago.

Robbie: In the early days of the Flavor Unit, was it tough for you guys to get accepted in New York, being that you’re from New Jersey?

Chill Rob G: In the very beginning I think we did have a bit of a problem, because at that time just about every MC who had a deal was from New York. I was one of the later members to come along, from the original Flavor Unit members, it was like Latifah, Apache and Latee – it was just those three. Then when I came along, Red Alert would play Mark’s beats but he wouldn’t play the MC’s – he wouldn’t play anything with the rappers on it. So I think one of my records, something that me and Mark did, was one of the first things he played with somebody rhyming on it. Then after that the door was kinda open.

So he’d only play stuff like “The 900 Number” before that?

“900 Number” came along later. Mark used to give Red Alert just beats for maybe a year before I even met him, and Red Alert would just play the beat on the show when he would interview people, or just talk over the beat, stuff like that. He had a little drop in the radio station, and it would go “45 King special-special!” and he would play the beat – but nobody would rhyme to it!

Were you friends with Latee and everyone or did you just meet them through music?

I was friends with Apache and Latee. We went to high school together out here in Jersey city, and then they moved to Irvington, and that’s where they met Mark. Mark had just moved to Irvington from Queens – he was living in Hollis – so everyone just sorta met up. I met Latee at a party, he told me he knew this guy who did beats and I should come by the crib and blase-blah. So I went down there one night, and Mark put a beat on and everybody started rhyming and they just passed the mic to me and I said a couple of rhymes that I had written – I always just wrote rhymes just for the hell of it. I always thought maybe one day I’ll get that break…I didn’t really think it would happen though! I happened to be in Mark’s basement and I did the rhymes, and he called me up. He asked Latee for me phone number and called me up like a day later, and was like “Yo Rob, what you were sayin’ in the basement was kinda dope. I think you ready to make a record. I wanna make the record with you.” I was like “Cool”.

So you started making demos from that point?

You know what? We didn’t really make too many demos. We did like two songs. We went into this little bootleg studio, a guy named Vaughn Mason had a studio. Mark had moved from his mother’s house to an apartment, and the apartment that he was living in, the guy who owned the house had a studio in the basement. So he was charging Mark like $30 an hour to go down there and use the studio, so we was like “Cool”. I came up with $30, Mark came up with $30, we went down there and Mark was like “Yo, you’ve gotta have your stuff ready ’cause we don’t got a lotta time!” I’m like “Cool, don’t worry about it”. So we went in there and – bang! We knocked out two songs. We gave ‘em to Red Alert, he played ‘em and Red Alert got a call from this guy called Stu Fine, who owned Wild Pitch records. Stu Fine didn’t really have anybody on his label at the time. He had some kid named LeMonier – and the song was wack. Anyway, Stu Fine called Red Alert and asked him “I heard a demo that you played” – ’cause I think Red Alert, when he played the record, he mentioned that it was on a white label and that I wasn’t signed – so Stu Fine called him and asked him who I was. Red Alert called Mark and asked him if he could give my number out and all that kind of foolishness, and the next thing you know I was having a cheeseburger with Stu Fine and he asked me if I wanted to sign a deal with him or something. I was like “Aight, yeah sure”.

So was the song he played the “Red Alert Intro” from his “We Can Do This” album?

That actually came along later. ‘Cause Red Alert was cool to me, man. He let me come up to the studio and hang out with him at the radio station, he was introducing me to a lot of different people, I went up to his house in the Bronx. He was lookin’ out for me, so I said “You know what Red? I’mma hit you off with a little intro for your radio show.” He was like “Aight, whatever”. He didn’t ask me to do it, I just decided to do it. I did it and I gave it to him, and he played it.

Did those first two songs you cut make the album?

The first two songs were “Chillin’” and “Dope Rhymes”.

When you actually put the album together, were you involved in picking any of the records, like when you rhymed over that Police record?

You know what? Actually, I didn’t even want to use that Police record. Mark suggested it to me, and it was different from what everyone else was doing at the time so I was like “Err, I don’t know. I don’t think I want to use that song”. So he kept telling me “Yo look, you’ve gotta use this beat, this is hot! Use it, use it, use it”. And when he first played it he was playing it a little faster than what we actually ended up using, he was playing it like a hundred and something beats a minute. He only slowed it down a little bit but it was goin’ real fast and I didn’t want to use it. But then he slowed it down and I decided “OK, let me give it a shot”, and when I rhymed to it everybody was like “Yo! That’s the song!” Everybody was real hype. I thought it was OK, I didn’t know how good it was, but everybody else seemed to think it was one of the best things I did.

And those were some of the rhymes that those German producers stole for that “Power” song.

Exactly. These two guys in Germany working in a basement got a hold of my record…see, I told Mark we shouldn’t keep putting accapellas! I said it, and it happened! “If we keep putting accapellas on these records, somebody’s gonna snatch the accapella and make a whole ‘nother record of it”. That’s exactly what they did!

After that happened, you guys recorded your own version. What was the story with that?

I think Stu Fine probably had a deal under the table with Arista records out in Germany, and he actually licensed the record to them – but they didn’t have a deal for the US. So since the record was doing so big out there, Stu came to me as if he had no idea what was going on and he said “Yo Rob, let’s put the song out. I mean it’s doing really well in Germany, we might as well make some money out this”. I mean it was me, it was my stuff, so I said “Cool, let’s do it”. So we put the song out and then the next thing you know Arista Records decided that they wanted to put it out over here too, but since they couldn’t use me – they couldn’t just put out the same record – that’s when they got Turbo B to go in the studio and make the version that became Snap. He didn’t have a contract, he didn’t have anything, this guy – he really got used!

He was in the Air Force over in Germany! They just found him and said “Hey buddy, you wanna make a record?”

Yeah. He was running around out there in Germany telling everybody “Yeah, I used to play the drums for Big Daddy Kane and I used to rap” and whatever else he was tellin’ ‘em, and I guess word got back to somebody and they thought they got a rapper that they could use, so they got this guy to go in the studio and try and record some vocals under the same format as this song. So they played my song for him, told him to “stick to this and give us what you can give us”.

Did the version you and Mark did end up being popular?

It was real big for hip-hop heads who know. If you go to a hip-hop club in New York, that was the version that was playing more often than not, at the height of the controversy. But it was Arista records versus Wild Pitch Records, you know what I’m sayin’? So Wild Pitch lost – big time. ‘Cause Arista was global and Wild Pitch was like “Who’s Wild Pitch?” I was still running around, doing what I could do to help our cause, but we just couldn’t beat that money, man.

What happened after the Ride The Rhythm album? Did that whole “Power” thing leave a bad taste in your mouth, or were there other issues?

The “Power” thing was like a mixed blessing because I did get more notoriety, but the problem became – now I was really looking at my contract with Wild Pitch. I was like “You know, this is not good. I don’t have a real tight deal here, I’m not making no real money”. The fact is, I was goin’ out on tour with Public Enemy and Heavy D, and I had a hard time getting Wild Pitch to give me some money to go out on this tour! So my deal was really starting to look funky to me. I started feelin’ like a step-child. Plus Naughty By Nature was just comin’ on the scene, so Tommy Boy gave them a nice little budget to do their first album. I mean it was well over $100,000. So that was a lotta money for back then. And when I went to negotiate with Stu Fine to do my second album, we’re sittin’ in the restaurant and my record is playing on the radio or whatever, and this guy tried to low-ball me man, and it really turned me off. I mean he offered my something like under $50,000 to do an album with him, and I was pissed! I wanted to hit him in the face! But I thought better of it, I just got up and I left. I said “You know what? We can’t deal. I’ve gotta do something different”. Sha-Kim, my manager at the time, was really trying to talk me into doing it. He was like “Rob, you know…maybe we should” – I didn’t want to mess with them!

Did you continue to work on music after that?

Well, for a while I left it alone, or I didn’t go back to the studio because the clock was ticking, people was listening to different stuff – different music, like other artists were coming out – so the popularity was starting to dwindle…and that was really fine for me. I was having some personal issues, like my brother died of AIDS, my cousin died – she had AIDS also, and a real close friend of mine – he died, OD’ on some drugs. Things was just going so crazy in my life at that point man, I was like “Wow”, you know? And then people were still coming up to me…I was standing on the corner…I was just standing, minding my business, and somebody came up to me…I was thinking about my brother, you know? And I hadn’t really cried yet, but this is my brother, man! And I hadn’t cried about it, I hadn’t really felt any emotion about it, and then somebody came up to me and started talking to me about some music, like “When are you going back in the studio, Rob? We’re waiting for some new stuff!” And I didn’t fuckin’ wanna talk about that! I was pissed! I was even mad at the dude, and so I got into a big argument with this dude over that – I’ll never forget that. Then I went in the house after that, slammed the door and I don’t think I came outside for the rest of that week! [chuckles] It was a crazy time, man.

Very emotional…

Yeah. Plus the girlfriend I was seein’ at the time – broke up with her. I was pissed off at the deal that I was having with Wild Pitch. I was pissed off at my manager ’cause I felt like they wasn’t doing enough. I just wasn’t happy – I was not a happy camper.

Eventually you put out the Black Gold album.

The Black Gold is kind of a compilation of stuff from ’93 up until 2001, 2002. I got like five different guys, at different times, gave me tracks and I just recorded here, recorded there, recorded over there. One of the songs I did in somebody’s bathroom. Maybe two or three of them I actually did in a studio. When people say it’s not a good album, I agree. There’s no continuity to it. I was in a different mind-state at different times – that’s no way to make a record. In the most ideal conditions – you take about a year, you collect all your thoughts and whatever you wanna do, you get all your beats, whatever your process – but you just move forward from song to song over the course of no more than a year. This way the whole album sounds like one complete thing. But I did that album over eight, nine years of making this one album! It wasn’t an intention to make an album, I was just recording songs.

Did someone just say “Let’s put it out”?

That’s exactly what happened. A guy named Jeff Collins over at…I don’t even think he still has a label.

Was that Echo International?

Yeah. I was living in Brooklyn at the time, and Jeff hooked me up with these guys out in Brooklyn and you know they really inspired me, ’cause these cats was really hungry! They was hungry like I used to be. I was like “Yo, let’s get at it” and they had me feeling like I wanted to do that again. I wanted to get in the studio and do some things. So I did about three songs with this guy named Rell, those are like some of my favorite songs on the record.

On to Part 2 of the interview….

Chill Rob G - Let Me Know Something (45 King Remix) [Black Gold, Echo International, 2000]

In terms of being low profile, Lord Alibaski would have to be the most elusive Flavor Unit member/affiliate. I’ve never read so much as a paragraph about him in a magazine, seen a picture of him – nothing! All I can tell you is that he featured heavily on original issue of The 45 King Presents The Flavor Unit LP, contributing four solo shots and a verse on the posse cut. When the album was repackaged as Queen Latifah and the Original Flavor Unit in 1996, three of Alibaski’s songs were removed for some reason. 45 King has previously stated that most of the songs off this album were old demos – and it’s that raw, basement flavor sound that makes these songs so great. No over-produced dramatics here, just dope loops and drum breaks. Alibaski flexes the trademark Flavor U style – combining a dominant, deep-voiced delivery with a variety of flow patterns and an accomplished braggadocio technique.

Lord Alibaski - Top Gun [The 45 King Presents The Flavor Unit, Tuff City, 1990]

Lord Alibaski - Crunch Time [The 45 King Presents The Flavor Unit, Tuff City, 1990]¹

Lord Alibaski - What It Takes To Be A Rapper [The 45 King Presents The Flavor Unit, Tuff City, 1990]

1. 1. Produced by The Mighty Maestro.

In terms of vocab, concepts, flow and style, Chill Rob G was the top dog in the Flavor Unit wolf pack. His first record remains as one of the finest selections in the impressive Wild Pitch catalog, as all three songs hit equally hard. “Chillin” didn’t end up making the album, but provides a perfect example of Rob’s technique, as he informs us that “it’s hard to find a rapper with my dedication/intelect, sense of humor – plus imagination” while “jumping from one subject to the next” in a superb display of lyrical prowess that manages to combine a stream-of-consciousness feel while still keeping it in the pocket over a rolling break.

Five things I learnt about Chill Rob G from “Chillin”:

1. He has no time for scabs, crabs or crustations.
2. Back in the days Pumas used to be in, nowdays they throw ‘em together like they really don’t give a shit.
3. Television sucks! (too many commericals)
4. He enjoys summer (girls wear less), but is also rather partial to winter (his gear is fresh).
5. A wise man once told him that if he ever bites or bit, may he drop dead.

The follow-up platter was no less potent, as “Court Is Now In Session”¹ and “Let The Words Flow” delivered another Chilltown smash, and Rob and DJ Mark proceeded to drop one of the stongest arguments for the “one DJ one MC” theory ever with the Ride The Rhythm LP. With both of them at the top of their game, they delivered a well-balanced, state-of-the-art collection of unused breaks and sophisticated verses that caught the attention of street-level rap fanatics everywhere. Chill Rob brought a commanding tone to the booth without giving you a headache, fine-tuning his bars with Swiss precision and a healthy dose of nonchalance.

But it wasn’t long before Rob was getting far more attention than the Wild Pitch marketng department could have ever dreamed of, as explained in this news item from an old Vapours² magazine:

Although this whole situation resulted in nation-wide exposure for the Chill one, his third single (Prince Paul and Pasemaster Mase’s cartoon-crazy remix of “Let Me Show You”) was to be his last for a long time, as retired from the rap game a few years later before landing a spot as a council member in his hometown of New Jersey. By 1992, fellow NJ residents Double XX Posse made comment that Rob hadn’t really represented Jersey to the fullest, and suggested that he had given up on the rap game too easily. It wasn’t until 1996 that he would return with a single called “Let Me Know Something”/”Know Ya Place”, which was musically bland without any input from the 45 King but was not without it’s moments vocally. He’s also popped-up on the Put The Funk Out There bootleg and the King’s Cat Jams in recent times, sounding a little raspy but still bringing it regardless.

Chill Rob G - Chillin [Wild Pitch, 1988]

Chill Rob G - Let The Words Flow [Wild Pitch, 1989]

Chill Rob G - DJ Red Alert Intro [DJ Red Alert's We Can Do This, Next Plateau, 1988]

Videos:

“Court Is Now In Session”:

“Let Me Show You (Remix)”:

1. 1. There was a also a promo-only remix for this song by Cutfather & Soulshock.
2. 2. The original one from Sydney, Australia.

Adding on the Louie Louie article from the other day, here’s an old interview from The Source.

I should also mention my post on Funkmaster Wizard Wiz over at Oh Word for their Crack Week.