My Crew Is Doper Than Your Crew...

*SUPER MARK DUPER COLLECTION OF HITS FOR TODAY!*

’93 Til Infinity – Souls Of Mischief
Chance – Pep Love
Family & Friends – Pep Love
Mr. Dobalina – Del
Make Your Move – Hieroglyphics
Make Your Move (9^th Wonder Remix) – Hieroglyphics
That’s How It Is Pt. 2 – Casual feat. A-Plus
Same O.G. – Casual
Mind, Body, Soul – Opio
Soweto – Hieroglyphics
Don’t Forget The Bass - Del
You Never Knew - Hieroglyphics

It's a Holler-ific type Tuesday here at The Funk; the weather is nice, the plate is pretty clean for today, and most importantly, the funk is free-flowing. As an update to yesterday's post about corporate rappin' it seems that the rumours are true regarding MC Lyte being the guilty party in that Old Navy Commercial. Sigh.

Today I'd like to focus on one of the more thorough crews over the years, Hieroglyphics.

Rooted in the creative atmosphere of the Bay Area, Hieroglyphics has emerged as a powerful force within underground hip-hop culture. Comprised of Del the Funky Homosapien, Casual, Pep Love, Domino, and the group Souls of Mischief, this crew is one of the first to successfully forge careers as a collective and as individual artists. Sales for the crew have sailed well beyond 3 million units-- and that’s not even including their various tapes and underground records released in the early days.

If you felt the Hieroglyphics camp for the first time when Del emerged on the scene in ‘91 with the classic, I Wish My Brother George Was Here (Elektra) you had to know that great things were ahead. And on and on, good things came from Hiero, including: Del’s 1993 release, No Need for Alarm (Elektra), Souls’ debut in 1993, 93 til Infinity (Jive), Casual’s 1994 release Fear Itself (Jive), and Souls’ follow up in 1995, No Man’s Land (Jive).

In 1997, armed with experience and insight, Hieroglyphics formed their own independent company, Hiero Imperium, and soon released their first album as a collective unit, Third Eye Vision, followed by releases by each of the individual artists on the label. Hiero also built a strong online presence through their award-winning website – hieroglyphics.com (8 years and running!) and merchandise line prominently featuring their famous three-eyed logo.

The success of the Hieroglyphics Imperium label has enabled them to branch out beyond their own work to expand their musical legacy. In 2002 Hiero released one of Hip-Hop’s first CD/DVD hybrids, One Big Trip, which included a soundtrack on one side of the disc and a movie on the other. Artists within the collective also have collaborated with the likes of Dilated Peoples, George Clinton, Jurassic 5, Gorillaz and Dan the Automator (Deltron 3030).

2003 also brought about the formation of a brand-new wing of the Hiero Imperium, Hiero2, which showcases the next wave of innovative independent artists. Releases include projects with soul singer Goapele, and hip-hop artists Z-Man and Encore.

The expansion continues - the Hiero crew is now poised to follow up Third Eye Vision with a new release entitled Full Circle (Oct 7, 2003), as well as solo albums from Tajai (Power Movement), Casual (Smash Rockwell), Pep Love (Reconstruction) and Del (Eleventh Hour). Keep your third eye open! (Bio from www.hieroglyphics.com)

Hiero has been one of my favorite groups since waaaay back when Del first showed up with Mr. Dobalina. Building off of what we were discussing yesterday, I’m for sure an A-Teamer when it comes to their music/shows/etc. I think at one time I had every single Hiero release in one shape or form (CD/LP/Tape) but over the years they either got sold off for what I thought was a better deal (Killarmy…yeah) or were ganked from my car at school. But I have slowly begun the process of re-attaining most of those recordings, which has been a fun activity just because I can remember where I was at when I first heard “No Need For Alarm” and “Thoughts Of The Thoughtful”. Like finding your old Tony Hawk skateboard in the storage closet and trying to remember how to oile (sp?). But don’t get it twisted; I never, ever, ever gave away the first pressing copy of that blue
tape from Souls of Mischief for “That’s When Ya Lost”.

But the importance of Hieroglyphics as a crew is more of what I’d like to talk about for a few minutes. Like all multi-member groups, Heiro has had a few roster changes over the years
(Extra Prolific/JayBiz/Snupe/Mike G) but like the championships years for The (pardon me), Da Bulls the crew is now a full tour de force in the underground scene. They have been consistent in their releases from an artistic stand point in that they have never really gone the “sell out” route (minus that debacle of an album “No Man’s Land”). Of course this is just my opinion. Others have their own.

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Same Ol' Ball Coach, and the Same Ol' Jackassery

(As a side note to a post from my man Joey @SB, The Urban Myth has never seen the type of talent the SEC or his non-conf. opponents possess. Even as an assistant at ND or Colo. State. This is after all the SEC, not the Mountain West. And that game with Pitt doesn’t count either cause everybody knows how bad they were last year and that they shouldn’t have been in that game reppin’ the Big East. Point being (and yes I’m a Seminole Homer) is that he is a good coach but to anoint him the next Bear Bryant/Bobby Bowden is just a way to sell papers. This fact is the main reason that I don’t read anything that SI/ESPN/ETC put out because I know they all have an agenda to promote what they think will sell, not necessarily the truth. But that’s just me. )

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So here is what I would suggest for today. If the weather permits wherever you are, take the tracks we’ve linked up and burn them to CD or to your portable MP3 device, and spend the day outside doing whatever. That’s what I’m going to be doing cause well, why the hell not? It’s only a matter of time where it’ll be too hot/muggy to go outside for too long. Plus my car needs a wash so that’s the plan.

I’ll catch yawl on the funk-side

Brother B.

* Side Note: The Prez is back!!!!! Palmer returns to 24 next week. Damn!