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.