Posse Out!!!

Heltah Skeltah Feat. Fab 5 - Leflaur Leflah Eshkoshka
De La Soul - Buddy (12 inch Remix)
Hieroglyphics - 7 Sixes


For the longest time, one song personified the mentality, the bravado, the overall greatness that (is) was the collective known throughout the Middle Atlantic States, Beta Alpha Nu. One of these days, TiVo or myself will do a shout out post ot the Brothers of BAN and further explain our exploits and mission but for now I want to focus on on the illest posse cuts of the last 15 years.

"Leflaur Leflah Eshkoshka" hit the airwaves back in 96 and seemingly overnight, entrenched itself in the annuls of hip hop history. The smoothness of the track, the darkness of its purpose, that strange but highly addictive flow pattern that defined the Boot Camp Click back then...just made the whole song a certified member of your mix tape or heavy rotation series. You know how some songs get played out after a while (or after repeated airplay)? Well this one isn't one of those songs. As soon as you hear the first note, you are reminded of why you loved hip hop from the first time you heard it. Truely one of the best collabos ever done.

*Has anyone heard the Sean Price LP "Monkey Barz"? I wanted to know if it was good or not.

Leflaur Leflah Eshkoshka- Video (courtesy of YouTube) (By the by, isn't YouTube the shit?)

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De La Soul. Soul Of The De La. The Plugs. You don't need me to remind you that De La is one of the best groups of all time. Hell, if you didn't know that already, you my uniformed friend are both unfunky and in the wrong place. JIVE SUCKA!

But to keep up with TiVo's theme week, I'd like to reintroduce you all to a Posse Remix of De La's "Buddy". Not only do we get the incredible De La on the track, but as an added bonus, Q-Tip & Phife, Jungle Brothers, a pre-Pizza Hut spokeswoman version of Queen Latifah, and from the "Where are they now?" files, Monie Love. The track personified the Native Tongue sound that appealed (and still does) to many of the Hip Hoppas in the early 90's. Truly a fun song at heart, from Mike G's purpose for protection:

For the lap, Jimbrowski must wear a cap
Just in case the young girl likes to clap
Ain't for the wind but before I begin
I initiate the buddy with a slap

to Afrika's apologetic attempt:
Miss Crabtree (Crabtree) I hope that you're not mad at me
Cuz I told you that it was your buddy (buddy)
That was making me ever so horny (horny)
Junglelistically horny

When all is said and done, the Buddy remix to me is right up there with the all time greats.
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Waaaaay back in like 92 when I first saw the blue cover for the single “That’s When Ya Lost”, I knew one thing was for certain. I was gonna steal it. So I did, and to this day I still have that tape. It’s in a safe deposit box with my signed copy of Illmatic and my grandfather’s 45 from the war. Supposedly, he killed some Germans with it. Anyhow, back then I knew like most people who got hipped to the juggernaut that was the Hieroglyphics crew that we were in the presence of greatness. I always have respected Hiero for the way that they said fuck you to the industry and sort of led the charge for self-released projects.7 Sixes is the last track on the Hiero LP, “Full Circle”. It’s a concept song that requests the Emcees put forth their best efforts in six lines, and six lines only fellas. One of the better tracks on the LP (there aren’t really any bad ones IMO), it really shows the chemistry and growth that the members have gained over the years. Some of the lyrical highlights ihclude TiVo's favorite, "You niggaz saps...maple leafs, all your raps is make believe..." , "Fuck with me get cut with cutlery, Luxury, I'm living luckily" (thanks Boogs!) and "Bush bomed Afghanistan with the missles, and it still ain't putting my hash man outta business"...just some of the coolest lyrics around. Well I'm out for a few days to get some Dr's appointments and the like out of the way. Gots to love Greensboro for being the center of the medical insurance universe. Once you've digested the Funk for today, peep our links section for some more goodness and at times, dopeness. You'll enjoy!

Easy Fo Sheezy

Bruddah B

Too Much Posse

We’ve had plenty of time to gather our thoughts. Since I did most of the talking, I guess it’s only fitting that I be the first to back it up.

Which is good, because I was getting sick of that Voltron picture too.

TiVo’s Reason(s) to Still Love Hip-Hop, Day 1

The movie Posse, my friends, is worth mentioning because any excuse to think about Salli Richardson is a good one. The posse cut, however, is what I’ll be celebrating this week.

I’m not even sure if the official definition of a posse cut includes songs where your whole crew rips the same track to shreds, like The Juice Crew’s Symphony or Wu-Tang’s Triumph, or a super-collaboration like Self Destruction or the Flava In Ya Ear remix, where the connections between the artists are less obvious, but no one cares because everyone’s ripping it.

For All Thangs Funky’s purposes, we’ll leave it at the loose definition: Any song with more than five MCs getting busy on it.

Of course, that means every Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five song was a posse cut, but truthfully, the posse cut’s roots run deep into hip-hop history.

Our loose definition eliminates such personal four-MC favorites as The Roots’ Adrenaline (with Dice Raw and Beanie Sigel), Mobb Deep’s Eye for an Eye (with Nas and Rae) and Run DMC’s Down With the King (featuring Pete & CL), but we had to draw the line somewhere. Although I’ll gladly take nominations, you’ll find that the All Thangs Funky Official Posse Cut Mix revealed on Friday is no thinner with the five-rhymer restriction.

The posse cut really took off in the 90s, when artists realized there was dough to be made selling your crew’s album. Some of the best solo artists were first memorable for shining on posse cuts, but it eventually got to the point where people who couldn’t really rhyme were sneaking 16 bars on to some of them.

Scratch that mess. Here are two posse cuts that might have faded into the recesses of your mind, but are definitely worth remembering:

1. Don’t Curse (Heavy D feat. featuring Kool G. Rap, Grand Puba, CL Smooth, Big Daddy Kane, Pete Rock, and Q-Tip)
Before I look this up, let me guess what year this is, because I sure don’t remember what album it’s on. I’m gonna say it’s a B-side to a Heavy D single circa 1992, which makes The Overweight Lover the unlikeliest connection between today’s reasons to still love hip-hop.

Damn, the significance of having all these dudes on one track is much more pronounced 15 years after it was released. Kool G. Rap and Big Daddy were two of the illest in their era, a claim Q-Tip and Grand Puba could make for the early 90s. And CL Smooth and Pete Rock were too good for too short a time.

The track itself is a pretty obvious loop from the beginning of a song out of the Atlantic R&B catalogue in the 50s or 60s. I’m definitely not a stickler for detail on that, but my guess is Shotgun, maybe, by Junior Walker and the All-Stars. (My bad on being too lazy to take three minutes and verify, but that’s bloggin’ baby … you get what you pay for).

One of the great things about posse cuts is no MC wants to to be outshined. On Don’t Curse, given the limitation of not being able to foul a few off, nobody embarrasses himself. Heavy D sets it and brings it home, which is his right I guess for putting this on his album. G Rap toys with us, almost cursing a couple times over his signature flow. Puba flips the F-word backwards, CL pours smooth lyrics over the track and Kane fast-raps. Pete Rock’s flow always seemed a little awkward, or maybe just simplistic, but he doesn’t ruin the song, not with Q-Tip up next.

Ah, just listen to it yourself. It’s dope.

P.S. Free Slick Rick! Free Slick Rick!

[Check out the video for Don't Curse - dj mentos]
**Bonus points for anyone who can spot cameos (post 'em in the "Comments" section below)


2. A Buncha Niggas (Heavy D feat. 3rd Eye, Guru, Biggie Smalls, Rob-O and Busta Rhymes)
This song is the only reason I’ve touched my Blue Funk cassette at any point outside of the first 90 days of owning it. Aside from the mo’ ignant song title though, everything about this song is pretty dope.

OK, not everything. I’m stunned to learn it was produced by Bad Boy, but that explains how 3rd Eye and his nasal fake-Funkdoobiest flow got on the song.

After that, Gangstarr’s Guru gets busy, but Biggie destroys it. I remember hearing this dude’s delivery and thinking "I want to rhyme like that." It's really a shame he became jiggy Biggie, because I always liked this B.I.G., the one we saw subsequently on Unbelievable, The What and Kick in the Door.




Rob-O became my boy’s nickname in high school because of this song, and yes, that’s more interesting than anything I can say about his verse. But the other significant contribution of this song is I think it’s the debut of Busta Bus The Posse Cut Ender. After this, Busta went on to shut it down on everything from Big Daddy Kane’s Come on Down (shut up, you know you bought 'Prince of Darkness') to the Artifacts’ similarly-named Come on With the Git Down (remix) to Tracey Lee’s The Theme (remix) to the aforementioned Craig Mack joint.

By the way, Heavy D’s little speech at the end of this, where he says he’s “Not going to step away without somebody saying ‘that nigga Heavy D was rough in his day’ ” is amusing. I’m definitely not in the Heavy D is top 50 all-time camp, so excuse me if the bright green raincoats from the Now that We Found Love video supercede the ‘Hev was rough’ thoughts.

Posse Cuts 1 and 2. Enjoy.


If ‘Vo’s ramblings aren’t your style, my man Mentos has recently updated his OfficeThug.com blog with the funky sounds of Yusef Lateef’s Detroit.

Get your five minutes of funk for the day if you haven't already by peeping Russell and Eliot.

Blue Funk by the way … two tracks produced by Primo and three each by Pete Rock and Tony Dofat. (makes dumbfounded face)

Seriously, it’s Monday, we had to hit you off. But every post won’t be this long.