Search Results for “"streetwise records"” – Hip Hop Be Bop

Awesome Foursome

Shaun Dowling — Sat, 20 Jul 2019 16:51:01 +0000

Awesome Foursome

Members: Milk Dee, DJ Gizmo, Mike Master, Sugar K

The Awesome Foursome were a group of friends from Brooklyn. The group consisted of brothers, Milk Dee (Kirk Robinson) and DJ Gizmo (Nathaniel Robinson Jr.), who would go on to form the Audio Two plus Mike Master and Sugar K who would go on to form the Kings Of Swing together with female DJ, Cocoa Chanelle.

They debuted on Nairobi‘s electro cover version of Manu Dibango’s ‘Funky Soul Makossa’ in 1982 before releasing their own single, ‘Funky Breakdown’, in 1984 on Partytime Records produced and arranged by Arthur Baker and Chris Lord-Alge. The track was reissued some years later on the Canadian Unidisc label with the Nairobi track on the flip side. Two years later came the highly collectable ‘Monster Beat’ on Reality Records which was produced by Greg G of the Disco Four and Teddy Riley.

Following their Reality Records release, the group split amicably and later formed Audio Two and Kings Of Swing.

As is often the case when groups make music, there are often a lot of tracks which never see the light of day. Many are unreleased because the label doesn’t see any commercial viability. Other times the record labels close, leaving behind unreleased material and demos which are very often lost forever.

Fast forward to 2018 and Canadian record label Roots Forward. Since 2011 they have been releasing new material from the likes of Craig G and Madman Shawn plus reissuing hard to find material by Schoolly D, 6th Floor, Frankenstein, Krown Ruler’s, etc. As an addition to their catalogue they had the idea to officially reissue Nairobi & the Awesome Foursome’s ‘Funky Soul Makossa’ as a 7″ single, however, after enquiring about licensing the idea was cancelled in favour of a full 12″ release when a tape was discovered with two unreleased tracks by Awesome Foursome from 1983. The end result is the excellent ‘Awesome Foursome EP’ containing two unreleased tracks from 1983.

There are also dub versions of ‘Subway’ and ‘Big Turnout’ but they couldn’t be added to the EP without compromising the sound so luckily Streetwise decided to release them digitally.

Funky Breakdown

Label: Partytime Records
Year: 1984
Format: 12″
Origin: US

Side A

Funky Breakdown [7:59]
Bonus Breakdown [4:35]

Side B

Funky Mixdown [6:31]
Scratchy Breakdown [6:18]

Side A

Side B

Monster Beat

Label: Reality Records
Year: 1986
Format: 12″
Origin: US

Side A

Monster Beat [6:07]
Monster Beat (Short Version) [3:16]

Side B

Monster Beat (Dub) [6:07]

Side A

Side B

Awesome Foursome EP

Label: Streetwise Records / Roots Forward Records
Year: 2018
Format: 12″
Origin: Canada

Side A

Subway
Funky Soul Makossa (Rap)

Side B

Big Turnout
Funky Breakdown

Side A

Side B

Generic sleeve with hype sticker

The post Awesome Foursome appeared first on Hip Hop Be Bop.

Arthur Baker

Shaun Dowling — Mon, 24 Jun 2019 11:10:20 +0000

Arthur Baker

Member of: Goon Squad, Guru

Originally from Boston, Arthur Baker began his music career as a DJ in the 1970’s but quickly discovered it wasn’t for him so turned to production. Losing You by Canada’s The Hearts Of Stone was his debut production in 1977, quickly followed by the mellow soul single Touch Me by C.L. Smith. In 1979 he produced Joe Bataan‘s Rap-O Clap-O but was uncredited and also formed the group North End with Russell Presto and Tony Carbone, releasing their first single on the disco label, West End Records before taking the group to Emergency Records for their subsequent releases.

Following a move to New York, he began working with artists such as Michael Jonzun, Maurice Starr, The Latin Rascals, etc, and then in 1982, together with his production partner, John Robie, produced the classic Planet Rock by Afrika Bambaataa and the Soul Sonic Force and Play At Your Own Risk by Planet Patrol which they recorded in the same session. The same year he also started his first record label, Streetwise Records, releasing tracks by Rockers Revenge, Nairobi & The Awesome Foursome, New Edition, Freeez and many more.

Arthur Baker’s production skills spanned various genres and he was well known for his dance mixes for commercial artist such as Cyndi Lauper, The Cars, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Pet Shop Boys, etc.

The classic hip hop movie, Beat Street, came in 1984 and he produced tracks by Afrika Bambaataa and Cindy Mizelle for the soundtrack plus his debut single credited as an artist, the b-boy anthem, Breakers Revenge. The track was used for one of the most iconic moments in the movie when the Rock Steady Crew battled the New York City Breakers at The Roxy. It was edited by The Latin Rascals and featured the vocals from Gavin Christopher (R.I.P.), brother of house diva, Shawn Christopher.

Please note that although Arthur Baker was a member of various groups, I’ve only listed a couple above which are more directly related to this website.

Breaker's Revenge

Label: Atlantic Records
Year: 1984
Format: 12″
Origin: US

Side A

Breaker’s Revenge (Extended Vocal Version) [7:27]

Side B

Breaker’s Revenge (Dub Mix/Vocal) [6:52]
Jazzy Breakdown (Instrumental) [5:03]

Notes: There are two different releases of this. If you notice, the hype sticker states the extended vocal version at 7:25 but the label contradicts this and states 7:27.
In fact, there is a 7:27 version which includes the instantly recognisable “Break, Break” intro and also a version which omits this and is 7:25 as per the hype sticker.
Unfortunately, as far as I know, the only way to distinguish between the two is to actually play them. There are also two matching promo releases which also include these two variations. In all releases there are no variations of the labels or hype sticker.

Side A

Side B

Company sleeve with hype sticker

The post Arthur Baker appeared first on Hip Hop Be Bop.

Death Comet Crew

Shaun Dowling — Sun, 09 Apr 2017 21:16:36 +0000

Death Comet Crew

Members: Michael Diekmann aka B Lan 3, Nick Taylor aka DJ High Priest, Rammellzee, Shinichi Shimokawa, Stuart Argabright

Michael Diekmann and Stuart Argabright began their music careers as members of experimental electronic group, Ike Yard, in 1979, releasing a single and album before dissolving in 1983.

Stuart then went on to record as Dominatrix, releasing the pop/electro track, ‘The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight’ on Arthur Baker‘s Streetwise Records which was mixed by Jay Burnett.

In 1984 he then founded Death Comet Crew together with Michael Diekmann once again and new members, Shinichi Shimokawa and Nick Taylor aka DJ High Priest. Although not a permanent member, the group were also joined, on occasion, by NYC rap legend, Rammellzee. Together they recorded the 4-track single ‘At The Marble Bar’ for Beggars Banquet in 1985 which also included ‘Exterior Street’, a track entirely freestyled by Rammellzee in the studio. In 1986 they also released the single ‘Mystic Eyes’ as Death Comet before disbanding a year later.

Tracks from ‘At The Marble Bar’ were later remixed and released in Japan on CD in 2005 followed by vinyl in 2007, which included the original 1985 version together with the previously unreleased instrumental and acapella versions, hence the reason I’ve included it here.

Death Comet Crew reformed in 2003 together with Rammellzee and performed at a number of live shows. They also worked on a new album which was eventually released in 2013 called ‘Ghost Among The Crew’ and was titled in honor of Rammellzee who sadly passed away in 2010.