Del The Funky Homosapien - Future Development 2xLP +7" - Black & White Splatter Vinyl (/500)

Rhymesayers (2026, Reissue)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for thirty plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

Future Development is Del's third album and it was originally meant to be his third for Elektra before he was dropped.  There's a lot of lore about how much of the eventually released album would have been the Elektra version, but that's not anything I can speak to with certainty.  All I can say is that the first version of Future Development that was released was on cassette only in 1997.  I mail ordered that from the Hiero website in those early internet days and found it to be solid, but I din't like it as much as his prior two.  

The next time this album crossed my path was when I found a copy of the 2002 reissue of it on CD at a random NYC record store that I don't remember the name of and I think that was the only time I was ever in there, killing time before a show at Arlene's Grocery or Luna Lounge or whatever pop up venue in that area of the city had bands playing.  It made me reevaluate the album and I liked it a lot more having let some time pass.  Eventually, I picked up the double LP a few years ago and for whatever reason, that's when it really clicked for me.

I'll still say this is an album with highs and lows.  I don't love every song on it as there are some where the production is just a little too slow and dreamy for my personal taste.  But as a whole it's a very strong record and has many highlights where Del reconfirms why he is my favorite MC of all time.  His flow is unlike anyone's and his ability to weave complex rhyme patterns, internal rhymes, external rhymes (sometimes no rhymes) and still all make it work in a way that seems so effortless is nothing short of remarkable.  Even on the tracks that might not have my favorite beats, Del still shines on the mic.

I'll have to be honest, the main reason I bought this LP again was the art of the deluxe version.  It harkens back to the original cassette artwork and I have a fondness for that.  Including a bonus 7" with some extra songs doesn't hurt either.  While they weren't part of the original release of this album, they're of the era and fit in pretty seamlessly.  Makes me wonder if they were slated to be part of whatever version would have ended up on Elektra.

Del The Funky Homosapien - Future Development:

https://delthefunkyhomosapien.bandcamp.com/album/future-development

Gang Starr - One of the Best Yet 2xLP

Gang Starr Enteprises / TTT / INgrooves (2019)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for thirty plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

When I started to type up the label name and release date, I was kind of shocked that this record is seven years old already.  It's been sitting in my 'to write about' pile for almost as long.  As I've mentioned before, I'm trying desperately to get through a backlog, particularly of hip hop records, so I'm doing my best to focus on the ones that have been sitting around for a while.  I'm not sure that anything in my pile has been sitting as long as this.

Part of the reason is not really knowing what to say about it.  This was released in 2019.   Guru from Gang Starr passed in 2010.  There's this whole drama where Premier didn't have access to Guru's archive for a while and it's kind of a convoluted mess that I don't feel like trying to explain right now., in part because I'm not even positive that I understand it completely.  He did eventually get access and pieced together this album using the vocal material available to him.  He paired his production to the vocals that were available and brought in guest appearances to flesh out everything until there was enough for an album.

As a technical marvel and a final tribute to the legacy of Guru, I don't want to disparage what everyone was able to accomplish.  I'm glad they did it.  For me, just judging it as an album and forgetting the extra emotional baggage, it's only OK.  The production is solid, but not remarkable.  As much as I love Gang Starr and Premier's production, I have always preferred the sounds he was crafting in the early 90s.  The later we get, the less it connects with me.  It's not like I'm saying Moment of Truth wasn't a well produced record, but I don't think it holds a candle to Daily Operation or Hard To Earn.

The rhymes that they were able to get from Guru's archive are strong.  I've always found him to be underrated as an MC with Premier's production getting so much of the group's attention.  Guru has always been a master at a laid back, confident conversational flow and this material is no different.  The problem is there's probably not enough for a full album, thus the many, many guest appearances.

It's tough to not be the old man saying "back in my day, hip hop albums only had one or two guest appearances and the main MCs did the rest of the heavy lifting," but I have to say it.  I don't buy a Gang Starr record to hear someone else rapping.  Sure, it's cool if Jeru shows up for a song, but when that is one of a dozen features, it turns into a compilation and that's too much for me.  Not to mention that many of the MCs brought in don't really have much to do with Gang Starr and it's a little jarring having them pop in on a verse or drop down a bizarre hook that doesn't have much to do with what Guru was rhyming about.

Still, the fact that it exists at all is a great thing, as a tribute to Guru and Gang Starr and as a bit of hopeful closure for DJ Premier.  Not to mention that there are moments on here that are truly great.  They are unfortunately only just moments though.  Worth a listen if you are a fan if nothing else.

Gang Starr - One of the Best Yet:

https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mfOxmtWGvvX7ehOGD9IlGqOPgZqSk5P8U

Diamond D And The Psychotic Neurotics – Stunts, Blunts, & Hip Hop 2xLP

Get On Down (2014, Reissue)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for thirty plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

Diamond D (Or Diamond as he's billed on this particular album cover for whatever reason) is part of the Diggin' In The Crates (DITC) crew and has hand on the production side of classics throughout the 90s.  He also can step up to the mic with the best of them as he proves on his debut album from 1992: Stunts, Blunts, & Hip Hop.  I've written before about my never ending love for 1992 as far as being one of the most under appreciated years in hip hop, but I haven't written about this album before.

Part of the reason is that for whatever reason, l I didn't hear this album back when it was released.  I was neck deep in hip hop at the time, but whether it was from lack of funds or lack of awareness I didn't check this album out until quite a few years later.  I've also had this on vinyl for absolute AGES, but kept passing it over to write about something different over and over.  The funny thing is it's because I love this record and don't want to inadvertently give the impression that I don't.

How could that happen? It's mostly because of one track, "Sally Got A One Track Mind."  I just don't like this song.  It's slow, it's kind of a downer and it's sitting there at track three, just grinding the album to a halt before it even begins.  I know it's a song that people point to as being one of the great cuts here, and I will never try to convince someone not to like anything, but this is one of those songs that has never clicked for me personally.  Once I get past that, this is a record that just dishes out classic after classic, but "Sally" is a buzz kill for me every time.  Now that that's out of the way, let's talk about Diamond D as the double threat that he is.  

Diamond D produced almost every track on this in addition to handling the vocal duties.  On the production side, you can almost hear Stunts, Blunts, & Hip Hop forcing its way out of the 80s sound and laying the blueprint for what the 90s would become.  The sound is perhaps a little more sparse than what was to follow, but you can hear the progressing as new ideas and samples take hold as you move through the track list.  When it comes to rhyming, Diamond can hold his own there as well.  He has a smoother flow that I find similarities with Lord Finesse in.  When you combine the vocals and the beats, it's just another bonafide 1992 classic.  I have no idea why it took me so long to write about it, but it's essential, both as a standalone album and a crucial building block on 1990s golden era hip hop.

Diamond D And The Psychotic Neurotics – Stunts, Blunts, & Hip Hop:

https://music.youtube.com/channel/UCymQzV2rUMuXj7jd3Dnww2g

Rough House Survivers – Straight From The Soul 2xLP +7"

90s Tapes (2025, Reissue)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for thirty plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

I wrote about the original pressing of this Rough House Survivers record a couple of years ago and looking back on it, I spend more time writing about what a great year 1992 was in hip hop than I did the actual record.  To be fair, I still don't think 92 gets the credit it deserves, but in some ways I didn't give Rough House Survivers the credit they deserved while trying to make that point.

Luckily I get another swing at it because hip hop's best reissue label has reissued this classic as a double LP (with a bonus 7"),  As usual, the pressing g sounds incredible and really highlights what I love most about this album, the incredible production work.  This is an album full of jazz based loops, be, fat drum beats and the sort of accompanying horn accents that set off the whole package.  There's a good, solid tempo throughout the album.  It never gets super fast or frantic, but it also never drags or becomes too slow to keep things interesting.

In addition to their DJ Swinn, Rough House Survivers have 3 different MCs taking turns on the mic,  As is the case with a lot of multi-MC crews that don't spend a lot of time identifying themselves, I won't pretend that I always know exactly who is providing the rhymes at every turn but whether it's Dread One, Kev or Roberto, all three rise to the occasion that the production provides.  You're never going to get a subpar bar.  That fact is even more impressive when you see the rogue's gallery of guest appearances with microphone killers like Grand Puba, CL Smooth and Sadat X dropping by to further light up a few tracks.  That the main 3 MCs are never overshadowed is nothing shot of remarkable.

Once again, I cannot say enough great things about the amazing work that 90s Tapes puts into their release.  I wish they were allowed to handle every hip hop reissue, though that sort of workload might be a tad overwhelming.  I can only be grateful for the classics that we do get to have and their Rough House Survivers reissue is a perfect example of how to treat an album.  While the group may not have gotten the attention and accolades that they deserved at the time, at least they have a incredible version of their album to put on the shelf.

Rough House Survivers – Straight From The Soul:

https://90stapes.bandcamp.com/album/straight-from-the-soul

Lord Finesse - Return of the Funky Man 2xLP - Tan & Black Splatter Vinyl

Get On Down / Giant (2025, Reissue)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for thirty plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

For me, 1992 is the miracle year of hip hop.  While it's not the year that most of my favorite records came out, I think it's the best and most consistent year of hip hop before the golden era started showing signs of cracking.  It built off of 1991 and took things, particularly from a production standpoint, to higher levels.  Innovation was careening forward weekly with new releases that explored new ground in a genre that was making sure the world knew was here to stay.

Return of the Funky Man is Lord Finesse's 2nd full length, though he's lost DJ Mike Smooth since his 1990 release.  Also by this time the Diggin' In The Crates crew (or DITC, for short) saw their notoriety rising as Diamond D and Showbiz & AG were making noise.  Despite all of that, Lord Finesse flew under my radar when I was buying records in 1992.  I don't remember seeing Finesse on Yo! and I guess what The Source had written about him wasn't enough to make me hunt down anything by him at the time.  Part of that is tragic, because this is exactly the sort of thing I was listening to at the time and I should have had decades to grow with this record.  But on the plus side, I was able to discover a true classic many years later and hear the exact kind of hip hop production I love in the mid 2010s.

And it is the production that really makes this record soar for me.  There's enough of that late 80s and early 90s fast tempo drums, with those eclectic samples and bass lines that were starting to assert themselves by this point.  There isn't a stinker in the bunch as every song is funkier than the one before.  On the mic, Finesse has a voice that did take me a little time to get used to.  It's a little higher pitched and nasally, but not in an over the top B-Real sort of way.  Just in a way that didn't grab me immediately and required a few listens to have his lyrics sink in. Once they did sink in, it became easy to see why he's so respected all these years later.

While I cannot say that this splatter colored vinyl is aesthetically the most pleasing record I have ever seen, I am gratefully to have a nice double LP reissue of this as even the 2005 and 2014 reissues had become quite scarce over the years,  If he originally flew under your radar like he did mine, it's probably time to give Lord Finesse a listen, and this is a great place to start.

Lord Finesse - Return of the Funky Man:

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=e9kJNgcTmCM

Del The Funky Homosapien + AMP Live - Gate 13 2xLP

IOT (2018)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for thirty plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

This is another one of those records that I bought ages ago and still haven't written anything about it.  I will buy pretty much anything that has Del The Funky Homosapien's name on it.  He's been my favorite since No Need For Alarm rearranged by brain back in 1993 and as far as golden era rappers go, he has had way more successes in the intervening than most in my book.  

Del always, and I mean always, brings in on the mic.  I'm not sure there has ever been anyone that has ever rapped in a way that connects with me more than him.  There's something really unique about the way he weaves his rhymes in super intricate ways, but makes them so they can still be understood and digested.  He has a cadence that has been part of my life for over 30 years and it's always familiar, but surprising, if that makes any sense.  This album is no exception, every song has piles of lyrics to dissect and enjoy.  And unlike a lot of folks, del has not abandoned the concept of having a hook.

What separates good Del albums from great Del albums is usually the production.  I'm not familiar with AMP Live and I wasn't really sure what to expect as far as beats go.  And honestly, they're somewhere in the middle.  I don't think they're incredible, but they're good enough.  I wish they were a little louder and faster, a bit more rugged perhaps.  There's something that feels a little clinical about their sound.  Even the ones that I really dig, like "Gravy Train," seem to be missing a little bit of fuzz or analog hiss that would make everything feel a bit more grounded.  

So as far as Del's catalog goes, I'd put this in somewhere in middle.  Gate 13 is not the same thing as his 90s releases (which it's not going to be, that was ages ago). but it's a solid record and gives Del an easy to listen to playground to spout off his unmatched lyrics.

Del The Funky Homosapien + AMP Live - Gate 13:

https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kMin2n6cIQxGtL8j56vZX-LMRZU1uq11U

Brothers Of The Same Mind – Gotta Have Style 2xLP

 
Dust & Dope / Hip-Hop Enterprise (2021)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for thirty plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

Brothers of the Same Mind were active in the late 80s and early 90s.  Hailing from Sir Mix-A-Lot's backyard in Seattle, they had a few indie singles and EPs during that time, but the full length album that they were working had never been released until Dust & Dope and Hip Hop Enterprise stepped up to finally unleash their shelved album into the world in 2021 - 30 years after it should have originally come out.  This is another one of those records that I've had in my to-write-about piles for way, way too long.  But better late than never.

The first thing that jumps out at me is the production.  For material recorded between 1989 and 1991, it has that early hip hop sound.  I always feel like Low End Theory is the key marking point in hip hop production in that year.  Before its release there was a sound and after its release the sound moved forward very quickly.  Low End Theory isn't the only album in 1991 that ushered in that next stage of golden era production, but it's always the one that stands out to me as I noticed it in real time as it happened when I was 14.

So there are times where the production on this album sounds a little dated, with one foot still in that late 1980s sound.  Which, don't get me wrong, I like that sound, but it's one that I need to be in the right mood to listen to.  When I am in the mood, Brothers of the Same Mind do that sound as good as anyone else of that era.  The beats are upbeat, the samples are not subtle and there's lots of hooks built on scratching key vocal parts of contemporaries.  If you think for a second KRS-One's "Gotta Have Style" lyric isn't the foundation of the title track, you've been asleep at the wheel.  And it's not the only time we hear KRS on a sample.

Lyrically, the MCs all do a great job.  There's at least four of them, assuming DJ Swift doesn't end up on the microphone, but this is another example of me not really knowing who is rapping when as they don't identify themselves all that frequently.  But again, for late 80s, super early 90s, they hold their own with any of that pre-Low End Theory crew.  Not that everything is perfect.  I do not like the R&B sung hook of "Cool Drink (In The Springtime)" at all.  I never liked that crossover appeal sort of thing and when ever you get someone singing the hook like that it's an immediate turn off for me.  But a song like that is the exception, not the rule on this album.

I love finding these unreleased gems getting another chance 30 years later.  It makes me wonder what could have been had they been released as planned.  It makes me bummed that I had to wait so long to hear them.  But it mostly makes me feel relieved that albums like this are not just out there in someone's closet rotting away.  Stuff like this deserves to be heard.

Brothers Of The Same Mind – Gotta Have Style:

https://soundcloud.com/dustdope/brothers-of-the-same-mind-gotta-have-style-snippets

Gravediggaz - 6 Feet Deep 2xLP - Black & Silver Splatter Vinyl

Vinyl Me Please (2022, Reissue)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for thirty plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

The idea of horrorcore rap isn't anything I've ever been interested in.  Violence for the sake of violence in the lyrics, murder fantasy, Geto Boys style storytelling - none of that has ever been anything I've been that interested in listening to.  I wasn't aware of Gravedigger as a thing back in 1994, or if I was I ignored and forgot them because of the whole horrorcore thing.  When I decided to give Wu Tang another chance a few years back, I came across Gravediggaz. I was a little intrigued because of RZA being in the group, but I was way more interested in the fact that Prince Paul was part of it.

6 Feet Deep is the Gravediggaz debut and it definitely has that Wu Tang style of production, which again, is interesting because Prince Paul is the producer on the bulk of it.  He puts his spin on the lo fi aesthetic with deep cut samples and a dark vibe over all.  Lyrically, there's nothing mind blowing here.  Nothing jumps out at me as being so deep into the horrorcore gimmick that the lyrics are offensive or over the top in anything more than a mostly cartoony sort of way.  It's more braggadocios than anything else, I think.

It's the production that keeps engaged, even though I did buy this record knew when it came out and it has taken me nearly four years to get around to writing about it.  It's one of those record that has good beats and I always enjoy it when it's on.  It's just not something I find myself going to super frequently.

Gravediggaz - 6 Feet Deep:

https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lIrV3RtOOxnKT13XsZjYCAorwyQHf2hZ0

Ugly Duckling – Down The Road 2xLP

Back 2 Da Source (2025, Reissue)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for thirty plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

Other than the Hieroglyphics crew, there wasn't a lot of hip hop that I was paying attention to after 1994.  I had mostly moved on to punk and indie rock and when I would occasionally dip my toe back in to see what was happening, inevitably I would be disappointed.  But in the year 2000, two albums came out that made me reevaluate my relationship with rap.  The first of these records was Jurassic 5's Quality Control.  And the second was Journey to Anywhere by Ugly Duckling.  Both of these albums alerted me that there were still people doing interesting things in hip hop. 

Ugly Duckling seemed the more unabashed of the two when it came to harkening back to the style of hip hop I liked best.  Their production could have slid right in to 1993 and you'd hardly notice.  The rapping also connected with me, mixing the Das EFX pop culture references (but no diggitys) with the non sequitur these-words-just-sound-nice-together feeling of early Beck.  Name drop The Great Space Coaster and I'm paying attention.  What I didn't know at the time was that Ugly Duckling had been around for a while and had even self released an album on cassette back in 1995.  30 years later, Back 2 Da Source stepped up to the plate and reissued that long lost album on vinyl for the first time.

It's every bit as good as Journey to Anywhere.  Quite literally in some cases as six of the songs from that album also appear on Down The Road in some capacity.  For some, like "Pick Up Lines" and "Journey to Anywhere," are quite similar; demos of what was to come.  But for others, "If You Want To Know" and "Down The Road" being big examples, the production is wildly different making them feel like completely unique songs.  And sure, six songs repeating sounds like a lot, but there are ten other songs on here that aren't on Journey to Anywhere, and that's not even including the skits.

It's an incredible collection of songs and is just the sort of thing I really needed to hear in 1995, but never did.  This is the sort of hip hop I love, particularly in the way the beats are structured.  I feel like this kind of production is a completely lost art.  I'll never understand why no one can make records that sound like this anymore, but at least there is a seemingly unneeded number of 30+ year old records that I can go back to and cherish.

Ugly Duckling – Down The Road:

https://uglyduckling.bandcamp.com/album/down-the-road

Sons Of Sam - You Oughta Know 2xLP

90s Tapes (2023)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for thirty plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

You Oughta Know is another one of those albums that has been sitting in my to-write-about piles for way too long.  This came out in September of 2023.  That's almost two and a half years ago and it seems crazy that I still haven't gotten to it.  Better late than never I suppose, but this write up is not what I would call prompt.

Sons of Sam existed in the early 90s and were recording tracks during the peak of the golden era of 1993 to 1994.  They released one 12" single and that was pretty much all that was heard of them until some reissues later on.  You Oughta Know is the ultimate of this reissues as it puts out what should have been the groups debut album.  Recorded during the timeframe mentioned earlier (aside from bonus track recorded in 1996) this feels like the sort of record that would have slid nicely into a late 1994 release.

The beats are good and many of the tracks lean towards the more laid back side of the equation.  We're not yet at a full on 1995 and later snoozefest, there's enough ruggedness that propels the tracks forward with hard hitting drums.  If anything these songs are more like the jazzy mellower moments of Tribe with lots of upright bass, but with very different vocalists.  And it's not every song, you get to something like "Get It On" and the BPMs ratchet up while hitting the soul section of the crate digging and we're in the midst of a song that would have definitely been a favorite of mine if it had been released back then.

Lyrically PA-Kid and Xav both bring their A game and the result is two MCs that have that deep voiced gravitas that make their rhymes seem even more important.  Admittedly, I don't always know which one is which as they are not the type of MCs that say their own names all the time, but they are equally skilled and whoever is rapping gets the job done.  

The album recieves the usual lavish 90s Tapes treatment saving this album from the dustbins of history.  When they pull something like this out of obscurity and make it available, that's when they often do their best work.  And Sons of Sam is right up there with their best releases.

Sons Of Sam - You Oughta Know:

https://90stapes.bandcamp.com/album/ya-oughta-know

Mad Skillz - From Where??? 2xLp + 7" (/750)

90s Tapes (2023, Reissue)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for thirty plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

This is another one of those albums that's been in my backlog to write about for ages.  90s Tapes rereleased this back in 2023.  Even though that doesn't necessarily make this the most timely time to write about From Where???, it has given me a good amount of time to sit with a record I had never heard before picking up.

The story goes is that Mad Skillz debut album, packed with top tier producers and guest appearances, was dropped in 1996 the same day as a 2 Pac record and The Fugees.  This led to it being drastically overshadowed and resulted in Mad Skillz being dropped.  Which led to him changing his name to just Skillz and taking another swing at things in the early 2000s.  By 1996, I wasn't paying attention to hip hop at all really, so I wasn't aware of this album.  I'm not sure how I would have felt about it if I had heard it at the time.  I think that if From Where??? had dropped in 1993, I would have been into it.

We've got a rogues gallery of producers on here including Large Professor, The Beatnuts, Buckwild and J Dilla.  They've put together an album that's full of cool and interesting beats that are way better than the bulk of production that was happening in 1996.  That said, it does still suffer from slow-tempo-itis for the bulk of the album.  Don't get me wrong, it's good.  It's very good, in fact, if you think about the year it came out.  But I'm always going to be more interested in an album that has some higher bpm numbers.

Lyrically, Mad Skillz can really hold it down.  He reminds me a lot of Maestro Fresh Wes in his voice, cadence and subject matter.  He spends a lot of time talking about how good he is in relation to his geography.  Just as Maestro Fresh Wes liked to spit about how good he was despite being from Canada, Mad Skillz treads similar territory, but swapping Canada for Virginia.  This isn't a dig.  I love Maestro Fresh Wes, so if you have something in common with him, I'm going to be OK with that.  Guest verses by the aforementioned Large Pro and Q-Tip don't hurt either.

This is a fun record.  I wish it was a little faster and had it come out a few years earlier it probably would have been.  Considering the desert that 1996 hip hop was, Mad Skillz and From Where??? stand out as being among the top tier of that year.

Mad Skillz - From Where???:

https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_n5AE8o7T2ysIpYQmlSf5PRrVRRVORV35M

Fig Dish – That’s What Love Songs Often Do 2xLp - Blue Vinyl (/500)

Forge Again (2025, Reissue)

This is one of those records that I was worried would never come out on vinyl.  Despite how much I love Fig Dish, along with a cadre of friends whose taste in music I trust very much, I was worried they were being forgotten.  Then came last year's release of the 'lost' fourth Fig Dish album, Feels Like The Very First Two Times.  That got my hopes up that we might actually see the release of the band's two major label albums from the 90s.  And Forge Again followed through with the first of those two, That's What Love Songs Often Do.

Originally released in 1995 on Atlas/Polygram, this was Fig Dish's first foray into the major league feeding frenzy on 1990s rock and roll.  I can't say that I have a lot of perspective on how it was received upon release.  I was 18 at the time, and I don't think I actually stumbled across them until sometime in 1996.  And that stumbling occurred in the used/cut out bin of my favorite record store.  Though Fig Dish's appearance in that sort of bin was not limited to that one store, as I did see them there kind of frequently.  

Assured that the record was more than worth the dollar or two price tag on the CD, I picked it up and for the next 30 years never understood why they weren't more lauded and appreciated.  I love this record and always have.  It's got that perfect, huge 90s guitar sound that cranks through song after song of earworm-ridden hooks.  This is a band that really got how to put a song together for maximum catchiness, while keeping the tempo of the album varied and interesting.

This has been one of my most wanted albums on vinyl for ages.  The fact that I'm finally holding it, along with some pretty heavy hints that we're also going to get their subsequent album, When Shove Goes Back To Push, is cause for immediate celebration.  Thank you to Forge Again for releasing this classic and to Fig Dish for creating it.

Fig Dish – That’s What Love Songs Often Do:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kdHZsWRzBRvu89c0Zdn8CXu8hJCmf1NO0

Casual - Meanwhile... 2xLP (/200)

Trumindz (2025, Reissue)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for thirty plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

Casual's debut, Fear Itself, is one of my favorite records in the history of hip hop.  Easy top five, probably top three.  Jive dropped him before he had a chance to release a follow up and it wasn't until 1997 that Casual released Meanwhile.  It was independantly released via Hieroglyphics own label, Hiero Imperium, and only came out on cassette.  I picked that up off the Hiero website in 97 while I was in college.  I liked it well enough, but I remember being a little disappointed with it considering how much I loved his first album.

Truth be told, I wasn't really in a space to appreciate a good hip hop album in 1997.  I wouldn't go so far to say I was against hip hop or anything like that, but I was really sour about how much the sound had changed and the type of music that I had identified with in formative high school years had kind of left me behind to seek fame and riches.  When Dope Folks released a barebones vinyl version of Meanwhile a few years ago, I reevaluated it and found that it had aged so much better than I had remembered it.  Are the beats on par with Fear Itself? Not exactly, but they're still really good.  Especially in comparison to what was being shoveled out by most rappers in 1997.

Up to that point we had a self released tape and a single LP with a generic sleeve for Meanwhile's official releases.  But finally, nearly 30 years later, Trumindz stepped up to the plate of put out a double LP version with full artwork, remastered and with a bonus track.  This is absolutely the definitive version of this album.  It looks great and sounds great, finally elevating this release to something that can stand shoulder to shoulder with the other incredible Hieroglyphics releases of this era.  

I'm so thrilled we finally have this version and can only hope that Trumindz decides to give the same sort of love and attention to The Shamen record that got a barebones CD release on Hiero Imperium in the early 2000s.  To me, that's the last crown jewel of the Hiero catalog that needs the deluxe reissue (though I certainly wouldn't turn down more Hiero Oldies and Hiero B Sides reissues).

Casual - Meanwhile...

https://casual1.bandcamp.com/album/meanwhile

Godzilla Minus One Soundtrack 2xLP

Rambling Records (2023)

While this isn't the last kaiju soundtrack I have on deck, this is the last Godzilla one.  Shin Godzilla hasn't had a vinyl release, but since that's a standalone movie and not part of a series of soundtracks, I don't feel the need to call out any record labels for not releasing it.  It would be nice to have at some point, and I assume that a label will get to it eventually.

But to the matter at hand, we have the soundtrack to Godzilla Minus One, with the bulk of the score composed by Naoki Sato, with a little bit of Akira Ifukube as all good Godzilla soundtracks should have.  The movie was spectacular and I cannot possibly recommend it highly enough.  Stop whatever you are doing right now and go watch it.  Even my wife loved it and she doesn't really care for Godzilla movies.  It's everything you want in a Godzilla film and I'm so excited to see where they go with these characters next.

The soundtrack doesn't get me quite as excited as the movie does.  And that isn't because it's bad or anything.  The score is just very somber and low key for the non-Godzilla scenes.  They work perfectly in the context of the movie, but as standalone music, it becomes a bit atmospheric and lost into the background for me.  But when the music hits for Godzilla appearances, it's as loud, chaotic and frantic as you want it to be.

I ended up getting the Japanese version on Rambling as opposed to the US version that Waxwork put out.  I didn't specifically avoid the US version or go after the Japanese version, this one just ended up being the one I could get first.  The Waxwork one looks great though and were it not for the fact that I'm very consciously trying to cut down on variant collecting, I'd want that in the collection as well.  

Godzilla Minus One Soundtrack:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mhw_lbL2k89bu3WU1uT_J47dBTvWUMOTQ

Ase Man - Step Into The A.M. 3xLP

90s Tapes (2025, Reissue)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for thirty plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

I can't say that I was familiar with Ase Man when I got his record along with the two Southpaw releases that 90s Tapes put out a few months ago.  Step Into The A.M. originally came out in 1997, which puts it deeper into the 90s than I typically prefer, though indie releases tend to age better for me than what was happening on the majors during that time.  

It's typically the production that lets me down in the late 90s, but Ase Man avoids this pitfall and has an album with robust production with those loud drums that I think is so important to hip hop.  As a whole the album is slower tempo than a lot of my favorites, and that's another part of the latter half of the 1990s that bugs me - slower songs, but Ase Man doesnt sacrifice enthusiasm and energy on these lower bpm tracks.

Lyrically, Ase Man carries this record just fine.  He's not top tier or the sort of MC that will reveal himself to be a forgotten revelation or anything like that.  But he's very good, has a strong voice and can keep track of rhymes that serve the stories he's telling.  His cadence reminds me a bit of Akinyele, but without that strange guttural noise that Akinyele randomly throws into his verses, which is a massive improvement.  All in all, a very good record by a new-to-me rapper that I'm happy to add into the collection.  90s Tapes strikes again.

Ase Man - Step Into The A.M.:
https://90stapes.bandcamp.com/album/step-into-the-a-m

Godzilla: Tokyo SOS Soundtrack LP - White w/ Red Splatter Vinyl & Red Vinyl (/2000)

 

Death Waltz / Mondo

Tokyo SOS is a direct follow-up to 2002's Godzilla x Mechagodzilla, making these two movies the only ones in the millennium series that aren't standalones.  Both benefit from that and I wish there had been more continuity from movie to movie in the 2000s.  Like its predecessor, this film is a high water mark for the millennium series with a great story, excellent monster fighting action and pretty much everything I'm looking for in a Godzilla movie.

The soundtrack is once again turned in by Michiru Oshima and she does her usual serviceable job.  Of the shoundtracks she's done, none of them really soar to the heights of anything Ifukube composed, but when you compare them to some other soundtracks, particularly the dreck that is Giant Monsters All Out Attack, her stuff is looking pretty good.

At this point the critiques and compliments for the vinyl release of this soundtrack are pretty much the same as they are for all of the other Death Waltz / Mondo versions.  Nice artwork that I wish had more in common with the other releases in the series, an obi, an interesting D side screen print and nothing major you can really complain about.  It's always quality work, but when you line everything up next to each other it's all so weirdly disparate that you'd never know they were all part of the same series.  Also, when you compare them to the Showa box set that Waxworks did, they tend to not seem quite as great in comparison.

This is also the last Godzilla movie soundtrack that Mondo released as they have neglected Godzilla: Final Wars the same way they neglected Godzilla vs Biollante.  It's extraordinarily frustrating to have those massive holes in the collection, especially since Mondo thought it was more important to make sure that they got soundtracks out for the three 90s Mothra movies.  That's a choice I'll never understand.  And I bought those ones too, so more on those in future weeks.

Godzilla: Tokyo SOS Soundtrack ("Mothra Suite"):
https://youtu.be/0lg5dHNWUgA?si=YRkYUZKVG5ubB74L

Souls Of Mischief - No Man's Land 2xLP - Clear w/ Blue & Orange Splatter

Get On Down / Jive (2024, Reissue)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for thirty plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

This long overdue reissue of the second Souls Of Mischief album came out as part of last year's Record Store Day Black Friday.  It has taken me a moment to write about it.  This is in large part because I've already written about this album when I picked up the original pressing of it a few years ago. I'm not as motivated to tackle an album just because it's a slightly fancier reissue.

That said, it's a slightly fancier reissue worth picking up.  It's a nice gatefold sleeve with thick card stock that is miles better than the original pressing.  My original has a pretty gnarly seam split as well, so that just makes this one even better.  The colored vinyl is sharp looking, though that means less and less to me as the years go buy.  You can usually trust Get On Down reissues to sound good, and I've heard no issues with this release.

The album itself is so much better than I gave it credit for in 1995.  I was really down on it when it was originally released, primarily because I thought the production was a step down from 93 Til Infinity.  I still think that it's a step down, but over the years I have heard so much boring, abysmal hip hop production that in comparison, No Man's Land is much better.  

As far as post-1994 hip hop goes, it's pretty elite production if we're being honest.  It's just that in 1995 I was coming right out of the golden era and was watching so much hip hop turn into something I wasn't interested in, so I had turned my attention to punk and indie rock.  But today, 30 years later in 2025. I can see this album for what it is, an unappreciated album from one of hip hop's best groups.

Souls Of Mischief - No Man's Land:
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=CdRNZZPU5mI

Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla Soundtrack - 2xLP - Silver w/ Splatter Vinyl (/2000)

Death Waltz / Mondo (2023)

Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla and its sequel are definitely the high point in the Millennium Godzilla series for me.  With Godzilla's return in this 2002 movie, we've got a Godzilla design that I like (eyes that have pupils!), a compelling human story and a new version of my all-time favorite Godzilla Opponent, Mechagodzilla, or as it is known in this film, Kiryu.

I love the design of this Mechagodzilla.  It takes the sharp edges and menacing vibe of the 1974 design (still my favorite robot of all time) and modernizes it.  But they don't go as far with the rounded aerodynamics of the 1993 design.  This 2002 model sides in the middle, pulling in the right choices of both approaches for an excellent looking robot who has some great fight scenes with Godzilla.

For the soundtrack, we've thankfully moved away from the dreary synth of the GMK score and have a triumphant orchestral soundtrack courtesy of Michiru Oshima.  It's exactly what I want and might be the best non-Ifukube score in the Godzilla canon.  Soaring highs, menacing lows and an energetic pace that matches up with the action on the screen.  

Death Walt and Mondo do their typically nice work on this soundtrack.  I like the art, the colored vinyl is the right choice and the fourth side screen printing looks good.  As usual, I wish there was more uniformity from record to record in this series, but as a standalone, this one definitely looks the business.

Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla:
https://youtu.be/gk-aZCm-PKI?si=iYw_9_C6MNehvKlI

Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack Soundtrack 2xLP - Red, Purple & Orange Vinyl (/2000)

Death Waltz / Mondo (2023)

Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack is an excellent Godzilla movie.  There is a lot to like about the storyline, the overall presentation of the main monsters, tha kaiju battling and general satisfaction I have watching this film.  There are, however, two big things I do not like about this movie.

The first is that I hate that Godzilla's eyes do not have pupils.  I get it that it's part of the overall storyline with Godzilla having the spirits of fallen Japanese soldiers lashing out against Japan.  It's meant to be a more ghostly, menacing vibe.  For me, it looks like forgot to finish that part of the suit and it really irks me.  Shin Godzilla is probably the only Godzilla design I dislike more.

The other part of this movie that I don't like is this soundtrack.  Gone are the lush orchestral passages and intense marching motifs.  Nope, this soundtrack is a synth-heavy, ambient snooze fest.  You can barely hear it most of the time and the times that you do hear it I tend to wish I wasn't hearing it.  Luckily it's not ultra intrusive and you can kind of tune it out while watching the actual movie, but listening to it as a standalone soundtrack really drives home how insufferable I think it is.  It just doesn't feel like Godzilla to me.

The vinyl presentation is nice as always.  I did the art, the colored vinyl and the side D screen print.  But this is very much just a shelf filler for me.  I need it for completist purposes, but I assure you I will never listen to it unless in 20 years I just forgot how much I don't like it and need a refresher.

Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack:
https://youtu.be/_2-oMGeVXO4?si=XeaEbkAdqc10lQ8q

Juggaknots - Re:Release 2xLP (/500)

90s Tapes (2022, Reissue)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for thirty plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

This is another one of those albums that I've had in my to-write-about pile for a few years now.  Why have I not written about it yet?  I couldn't really tell you.  I've listened to it and I like it, but it's one of those albums that I have a hard time articulating my thoughts about.  It's not exactly in the pocket of my favorite sounds of hip hop, yet I still find it very engaging.

The first, first version of this album was an eight song version that came out on Fondle 'Em records back in 1996.  Over the years, it's be reissued several times, with more tracks being added over the years until we get to this 23 track behemoth on 90s Tapes.  The Juggaknots are heralded as being one of those early indie rap acts that separated themselves from the direction that hip hop was moving in the mid 90s.  While I find that admirable, I wish that had happened a few years prior so that the production sound that I like had an offshoot I could have followed.

While I do like the beats on this record, they are a lot slower than what I typically enjoy.  There's interesting sounds here and the deliberate, borderline sludgy vibe of songs like "Jivetalk" really work with the lyrical delivery, but I tend to still find myself wishing things were just a little faster.  That aforementioned lyrical delivery is the highlight of this entire album.  

The MCs involved spin convoluted tales with no shortage of adjectives and rhyme structures.  There's an early Kool Keith vibe as far as how the lyrics are constructed, before he went off into outer space.  Though the delivery isn't that nasal, choppy flow that Keith was known for.  This is a slower, smoother and more deliberate flow, but sacrificing none of the complexity and wittiness.  Again, it's an album that sits a little outside of my usual wheelhouse, but the quality is so staggeringly high that it overcomes the style choices that would typically make me look elsewhere for my hip hop.

Juggaknots - Re:Release:
https://juggaknots.bandcamp.com/album/re-release