Diggin' In The Cassingles Crate Part Tre

Nice & Smooth: Hip Hop Junkies (Spanish Fly Mix)
from Hip Hop Junkies cassette single (RAL/Columbia 1991)

King Tee: Can This Be Real
from Act A Fool cassette single (Capitol 1989)


One of my guilty pleasures in life is bumping Ain't A Damn Thing Changed whenever I come home drunk and depressed. There's something about the stripped down beats, odd harmonizing, questionable lyrics and the vocal wordplay between Greg Nice and Smooth B that is so unique it's almost ameliorating, and I know I'm not the only one as De La did a spot-on homage (or parody depending on how you view the content of their lyrics) in their song Simply and of course there's the classic Dwyck that is arguably the best Hip Hop song ever. While the simplicity of their songs can be thought of as a weakness, it's probably the best thing they have going for them and Greg Nice as a producer is mildly impressive flipping The Partridge Family's I Think I Love You to open the song posted here, and more impressively taking the Tracy Chapman song Fast Car and sampling it for Sometimes I Rhyme Slow. The Spanish Fly Mix of Hip Hop Junkies is the song on that big ole spanish booty tip with a funky flute sample that adds the right amount of energy to a song that in it's original form was a little more downtempo. Despite the awkward spanish delivery of their lyrics this song is still a banger. Do like me and bump it when you start to get tipsy and it's guaranteed to get your head nodding.

King Tee's Can This Be Real is a classic DJ Pooh production from it's banging drums courtesy of The Meters to the heavy bassline, it's like these two were meant to be together. King Tee during the late 80's-early 90's was definitely holding it down with that LA Posse sound and his articulate delivery, it's a shame that he was overlooked later on and even signed and dropped by Dre's label but that seems to be the fate of all the former greats. Funny thing is, back in the days I used to constantly listen to the b-side of this single because it had the classic Act A Fool and I almost never got past that song, so I didn't rediscover Can This Be Real till I dusted off the tape and put it in the walkman (you all remember those, right?) and was surprised at how well the song held up, especially considering it was the b-side of a damn good song. And if you're interested Can I Bring My Gat has a couple of Pooh selections up as of this writing.