Even More Underground Hip Hop Compilations AKA Ohio State Caught A Bad One!!

I dug back into my crates (no...for real, I have my CD’s in milkcrates and my records are in mailcrates) and found some more comps to put up today starting with 1997’s Bomb Worlwide made by Bomb Hip Hop Records. Bomb Hip Hop is best known for their Return Of The DJ compilation released back in 1995 (and re-released in 1997, when people finally caught on) that featured nothing but turntablists with not a rapper in sight (gasp!). They helped resurrect the the idea of the DJ being THE SHOW...which is a hard thing to believe you need to convince people of if you’ve ever seen the X Men (X Ecutioners), Invisible Scratch Picklz, 5th Platoon, 1200 Hobos, Bomb Shelter DJ’s, Third World Citizenz, Stratch Perverts, or The Allies on tape or live. Then they released the Return Of The B-Boy series full of breaks and joints for B Boys and B Girls to go off to, it soon became apparent that Bomb Hip Hop took hip hop seriously (go figure).

This compilation is a collection of some of the biggest hits and most notable international joints (Tommy Boy tried this years before with the 12 song frisbee “Planet Rap”..it was ass) released in recent times such as Canada’s Swollen Members single “Sunburn”, “Ruggedness” by Dilated Peoples, “Open Your Eyes” by 10 Bass T, J-Live’s classic song about when the audience ISN’T listening “Hush The Crowd” and Defari’s “Just Business”. Bomb Hip Hop Records did a good job in picking international joints that an American listener would appreciate such as the UK’s Funky DL & Versatile E’s classic “20-20-8-8”, “Hip Hop Und Rap”, a posse joint featuring mad German emcees, “F.A.B Am Mikrofon” featuring the German crew F.A.B, “Hazardous Journey” by the UK’s Mindbomb, “Payin’ The Price” by UK legend Mr. Pink of Hijack, Japan’s Muro and Gore Tex on “Sansyabontai” and the pride of Australian hip hop, Def Wish Cast’s classic “Hear My Raw” (I found myself repeating random lines from this one 10 years ago when I first heard it “Rappers! Back to bedrooms, practice skills...” stuck in my head for some reason).

Bomb Hip Hop signed a few artists who appeared on this compilation and released their projects, in particular, the UK’s Krispy (“Raised In Rhythm”) and Canada’s Cipher (“Dues”). They also signed Boston’s Kreators and released their “No Contest” LP along with Third World Citizenz members (and husband & wife DJ team) DJ Faust & DJ Shortee. The only wack track on this CD is Suspekt’s “The Lost City Of Rap” which is damn near unlistenable. Download it, and dump that ONE track after grimacing to it (or any other ones that the language/accent make you cringe as you listen...hey, it happens)

The next compilation up is 1998’s Big Dada/Ninja Tune’s Black Whole Styles. I bought this compilation for two reasons, it had two hard to find Abstract Rude & A Tribe Unique joints (Fat Jack is a beast on the boards) and three Saul Williams joints on it (at the time has was signed to Ozone Management along with Mike Ladd and Company Flow). This compilation overall sounds like soundtrack music to Blade Runner 2 and it features a bunch of cats whose names I’ve seen in print in HHC (Hiip Hop Connecection, the UK’s version of The Source), but I’d never heard their music like New Flesh For Old, Roots Manuva, Alpha Prhyme, Part 2 & Juice Aleem, Toastie Taylor & Drunken Immortals. The Abstract Rude & ATU cuts “My Experience Is..” and “Something About This Music” and Saul Williams’ “Twice The First Time” and the two versions of “Elohim (1972)” were his first two recorded tracks, even before his appearance in “Slam”, his joint with Roni Size “Coded Language” and before his deal and subsequent “Amethyst Rock Star” LP. Download it.

The next joint is 1998’s Connected distributed by short lived label 3-2-1/Zero Hour Records. The big deal with this label was that they had just formed and they had managed to sign the underground group Rubberoom from Chicago and their Indus Records label along with the legendary Ultramagnetic MC’s who were working on a new album together that was supposed to be replayed music/interpolations (by the members themselves) rather than the regular sampling that Ced G. and Keith did. This compilation had the first Ultramagnetic joint anyone had heard since the “Four Horsemen” LP dropped back in 1994 (“All The Way Live”).

It was a collection of reggae, hip hop and turntablism that includes Blackalicious, Channel Live, Lateef The Truth Speaker and Ultramagnetic MC’s. Underground crews Labtekwon and Datbu also make appearances along with reggae artists Spida, Templeroy, and Dubmarine. Turntablists Ayce International, Badawi, Ticklah, and The Angel f/Cokni O’ Dire also contribute tracks. There’s even a joint from Ced G., Special K & Doug E. Fresh called “The Impossible” where he goes back to his regular beatmaking style. This is a pretty interesting compilation but it’s pretty hit or miss, though.

To balance this selection out, I decided to add the 2002 Audio Research compilation Who’s Your Daddy Vol. One Mixed by Canadian DJ Simahlak and assisted by the brother DJ team of Dave 1 and DJ A Trak (Bullfrog). These tracks were selected by Sim and Dave 1 and A Trak (who’s now Kanye West’s DJ) engineered and mixed down the entire set, a collection of underground indie hip hop joints from 1995-1997.

Included on these 28 tracks are the following hard to find classics: Adagio’s “Obvious II”, Fierce’s “Crab”, Rawcotics f/Juju “Magic Chef”, Godfather Don’s “Burn”, Ill Bill’s “Dope Fiend”, I.G. Off & Hazardous’ “Hip Hop Til I Die”, The SupaFriendz “Vowel Movement”, Mr. Complex’s “Feel Me”, Third Sight’s “Rhymes Like A Scientist” and Brooklyn Academy’s “Blind Fury (The Tempest)”. The highlight of this compilation for me personally are from Boston’s 7L & Esoteric’s “Be Alert” over the Transformers music complete with the transforming sound effects and the classic jam “One, Two” from Rhode Island’s Ground Floor. They were signed to the short lived Bandoola Records along with the legendary Lord Finesse who was set to release an EP with them. Ground Floor’s “One, Two” video got mad burn on BET’s Video Vibrations and Rap City. Unfortunately, the label folded before they could finish an LP or Lord Finesse could even release his EP with them.

In conclusion, there are too many gems that got burn on college radio back in the day to not download this joint.

For full tracklistings, album covers and other info try http://www.discogs.com or do a Google search. Here are the links, all Zip files. Enjoy ‘em:

Bomb Worldwide (1997)
http://www.sendspace.com/file/qukxrj

Black Whole Styles (1998)
http://www.sendspace.com/file/2scdgh

Connected (1998)
http://www.sendspace.com/file/weihxk

Who’s Your Daddy Vol. One (Mixed by DJ Simahlak) (2002)
http://www.sendspace.com/file/ch00zo

One.