This year for the Last Of The Record Buyers Sample Challenge the five chosen producers randomly picked a video game sample that they had to flip into a track before the main event. Here is what they came up. Shout Out to Big Quarters for hosting/managing LRB and to the Sample Challenge Producers: Tou, Taylor Madrigal, Adept, Adriatic, and Taylor Rave!!

Tou-Legend Of Zelda LRB Sample Challenge Beat

Taylor Madrigal-Original Tetris Theme LRB Sample Challenge Beat

Taylor Rave-Megaman 2 LRB Sample Challenge Beat

Adriatic- Street Fighter 2 Guile's Theme LRB Sample Challenge Beat

Adept-Super Mario Brothers Theme LRB Sample Challenge Beat

"Cut Throat" appears on Musab's "Respect The Life" album released in 2002 on Rhymesayers Entertainment, and is produced by ANT of Atmosphere. 

Musab "Cut Throat"

Posting this up to coincide with my retrospective review of this Rhymesayers classic album. Peep the review, analytical breakdown, insight, and some album lyrics here: 

09 Southside Myth

15 Tenfold 1

16 Anything Is Everything

09 Nile Nutrition

Chief Kamachi-Mic Messiah 1

This is a collection in support of a FE Blog Post about the importance of the B-Boys and B-Girls in Hip Hop Culture and specifically about a annual event in Downtown Minneapolis called Groundbreaker. This set is a dedication to friends of mine who made songs that are perfect for the dancers!!!

View full story and other Hip Hop history here: http://fifthelementonline.com/blogs/fifth-element

X:144 - Led Zepplin  Immigrant Song  (Remix)

This set was created in support of our "From The Rhyme Side: Sir Mix A Lot" blog on FE that celebrates the often overlooked lyrical side of Sir Mix A Lot. You can view the article in full here: http://fifthelementonline.com/blogs/fifth-element/tagged/redefinehiphop

SIR MIX A LOT - ELECTRO SCRATCH

Sir Mix Alot-In My Studio

August 2012 is the 15 year anniversary for Atmosphere's debut album, "Overcast"! To celebrate Fifth Element will have the CD on sale for $5.99 for the rest of the month of August!! Get Yours: http://fifthelementonline.com/products/atmosphere-overcast

Atmosphere-1597 (from the Rhymesayers Release "Overcast" 1997)

Atmosphere-Brief Description (from the Rhymesayers Release "Overcast" 1997)

Nikoless-2-22 DJing For Dummies (Bonus Scratch Lesson By Plain Ole' Bill) ('04)

This is a sampler set to support the FE Blog about Siah & Yeshua Dapo ED's excellent CD, "The Visualz" Anthology. Great 90s and early 00s Hip Hop! You can read the full review and support the album here: http://fifthelementonline.com/blogs/fifth-element/tagged/redefinehiphop

Visit Their Homebase, Head Bop Music on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/headbopmusic

02 Gravity

04 No Soles Dopest Opus

This set is dedicated for my Microphone Mathematics 3-Part article on T La Rock on the FE Blog. You can connect with the man himself here: http://www.facebook.com/terry.t.keaton

And View the full articles here:  http://fifthelementonline.com/blogs/fifth-element/tagged/redefinehiphop

T La Rock-Breakdown [12  Version - 1985]

T La Rock-You Got The Time [1988]

East Of The Rock is one of the most mysterious crews from Chicago’s 90s Hip Hop underground. They don’t have any official releases, yet they are considered by many in the know to have classic songs…available only as tapes or the infamous test-pressings. There’s at least two noted 12” test presses of E.O.R material, but neither materialized into a proper release. They rocked a series of shows thru out the 90s, but weren’t known for mingling in the crowd or hanging out otherwise.

East Of The Rock = The Flux, The Mad Thinker, Mac 10 & Mr. V, their most well known demo contains four songs- “Egyptian Musk”, “Galaxy Rays”, “Mr Producer”, and “Burnout Assassin” a.k.a “Funky Prescription”. The closest thing to an actual release is their contributed track to Chicago’s 1995 Talent Fest Compilation, “Check The Mic.” Each offering is top notch: musically, lyrically, and stylistically.

For years I wondered not only about their history, but also their disappearance, by the time the late 90s arrived. Then after stumbling upon a Talent Fest Press Release semi-recently I discovered some useful information. Armed with some government names and a Facebook log-in I began a simple investigation, which lead to contact with “The Mad Thinker.”

Below is Part 1 of a four part interview series that offers some great and well -needed insight on the crew formation, creations, disbanding and current status. He reveals who the producer being dissed in "Mr Producer". He talks about getting production from Muggs (sort of...), Plus the unearthing of some unreleased demos and new music! All that and even a jab at a key Hip Hop respected figure is thrown out and later explained. Check back all week for parts 2-4, it’s all here peoples….

Peep a full article and interview on the group here: bit.ly/PvZsJM

East Of The Rock-Check Your Mic

East Of The Rock-Egyptian Musk

This is a sampler set for a special historical piece on the Treacherous Three, specifically about Special K. Read Microphone Mathematics: Special K at:
http://fifthelementonline.com/search?q=microphone+mathematics

03 Body Rock

To this day one of the best demos I ever received from an unknown crew came from Dallas, TX in the form of The Distortionists a.k.a Skwodd X. The four-man crew consisted of Kwasar, Soule, Jigsaw and Massive*. With the exception of one track, the production is handled by Kwasar. Kwasar has a keen understanding of how to blend moody musicality with traditional Boom-Bap. Their five-song demo is like a musical melting pot, merging East Coast lyricism, West Coast abstract stylistics, and Down South vibes, all-together a lethal combination.

Read the full Distortionists Story Here: http://bit.ly/Us2UYB

Distortionist-Lyrical Rush

Distortionist-Retaliation

Distortionists-Bombardment

Distortionists-Dope Compensation

Distortionists-Geographics

My knowledge on Ninety-9 is limited, but the few songs I did hear definitely secured me as a fan. She was down with Sha-Key and I know that when the Beastie Boys toured with Sha-Key on Lollapalooza circa ’94 that they were so impressed with her they invited her to join them on the main stage few times. That in mind, it’s no surprise that Ninety-9 found herself signed to Grand Royal (The Beasties label). However, she got caught up and lost in what I like to call the “Great Capitol Records Hip Hop Debacle of ‘95”*, so she never got a chance to officially release anything during that deal. However, she did have a showing on the Grand Royal “Mixed Drink” sampler. Ninety-9's contribution is the interestingly Djini Brown produced, creatively vocally delivered and strangely titled, “Jhompa”. It has a stream of consciousness style to it, but also pacts intensity. Her voice projects with purpose and intention. She is teeming with style and her inflections transition seamlessly from sharp to smooth. Her phrasing is unique and engaging or as she suggests in a slow, strongly pronounced fashion, “It distorts the normal forms of speech”. To trace the verbal lineage of her personalized style, you need look no further than a bit later in the same verse, “Whenever I’m in the sunshine I put the rhyme down with accompaniment of knuckles to a table, to a beat/ to an echo…./Commence the flow without syncopation and let my thoughts drift back to when I heard Miles (Davis) at Carnegie, he put fear in the way I walk besides the bassline!”

 Her style is not held by constraints of rhyme or traditional cadence. She builds strictly off feeling and pure energy. Witness the second verse, “Welcome to my talk show/Today’s Topic: Don’t Sleep on the East!/Brothers never cease to amazzzze/It’s not a phase…but tradition/My admission to the rapture/To Capture…the rhyme/???? on the incline/It’s just mind over matter/turning idle chit-chatter until the good word/Preaching about the coming of the bassline/Brothers in Brown(sville?) make the sound surround/Don’t hesitate to hit them off with a pound of the verb/You can be served to suit your taste or need/The greenery seems to be enhancing the feel/No need for reel-to-reel to reel/prefer-er of the top side of the SP/I feel heavy when I wade in the water/Those lacking skills decay in the slaughter…” There are so many clever inferences and sneaky rhyme schemes sitting silently in the verse just waiting to be discovered. After her two mind-challenging verses she drops the chorus and then she’s gone and next heard from (by me at least) five years later...

READ THE FULL NINETY-9 ARTICLE HERE: 


Ninety-9 "Willow"

Skandal Da Ruckus Man was a talented and entertaining MC/Producer from Cincy, OH who passed away this week. I did a blog remembering my moments with him at various Scribble Jam's and wanted to share some music for those who never hear him. You can read the story here: 

Skandal Da Ruckus Man-4 The Queen

01 Holy War (Live)

Divine Force-Aint We Funky Now

Micranots-Balance

http://fifthelementonline.com

2411 Hennepin Ave S, MPLS, MN 55405

Fifth Element is an independent Hip Hop retail store based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, founded in 1999. Beyond acting as the official Rhymesayers online and retail store, Fifth Element has also established itself over the years as one of the primary foundations for all your Hip Hop needs: CDs, Digital Sales, Vinyl, Art Supplies, Clothing, DVDs, Specialty Items, and more. 

In 2005 we expanded by adding the online store. Initially focused as the official online store for Rhymesayers products, over the years has slowly expanded the catalog to a wider range of products.

Independent since day one.

Fifth Element Online

Popular tracks