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

Chief Kamachi-Mic Messiah 1

DJ Revolution, Chief Kamachi, & Rasheed-Forever

Tabernacle MC'z-WE ARE THE TMCz

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

This is part of my interview with the amazing J-Sumbi (James Sumbi) of Freestyle Fellowship and All In All Fame. Full story at Fifth Element: RedefineHipHop
http://fifthelementonline.com/blogs/fifth-element/tagged/redefinehiphop

Deryl With The Curl and DJ Curl Activator (a.k.a J-Sumbi)-Curl Activate (1988)

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 & Plain Ole Bill-1-25 Last Night A DJ Saved My Life ( 82)   Mt. Airy Groove ( 82) (3Wisemen Rmx) [Concept & Breaks By Nikoless, Cuts By Plain Ole Bill]

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

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-He's Incredible [12  Radio Mix - 1985]

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-Egyptian Musk

THIS IS A SAMPLER TO ACCOMPANY A BLOG ON SIR IBU/DIVINE FORCE ON THE FE BLOG (EXCERPT BELOW). READ THE FULL STORY HERE: http://fifthelementonline.com/blogs/fifth-element/5884283-underground-legends-sir-ibu-divine-force

NEWS UPDATE: I just established contact with all the original members of Divine Force!! I'm interviewing the whole crew individually over the next couple weeks and will have the full story soon! Plus they have reunited to create new music together as well!!

I regularly speak about a lot underdogs in Hip Hop who never became household names or didn’t have a chance to reach their perceived full potential. I wholly believe that there are a lot of talented MCs who were as good as some of the bigger known names of their same era and never reached the same amount of fame. However, I feel there are only a very select few who are among the elite that were able to compete with the best and with those few, their limited fame completely shocks me*. Certainly on that list is the charismatic, influential, and poetic, Sir Ibu.

Sir Ibu represented Brooklyn and was part of the crew, Divine Force. They were managed my Melquan, who was a prominent force in the 80s Brooklyn scene and is also known for managing the early careers of The RZA & The GZA, more connections on that later. The MCs of the crew consisted of Ice T (a female MC), Supreme, and Sir Ibu. How the group operated wasn’t typical, many of the released material is actually solo songs.

I actually experienced the Divine Force releases in a fairly random manner. I first became aware of them via an interview in September ’88 Right On Magazine “Rap Special” issue, where Sir Ibu describes how he connected with Melquan after they admired each others sense of fashion on the subway…classic! In that interview they discuss the “T.V. Guide” 12”, but I never found it in stores or heard it at that time. I finally heard Sir Ibu a year later when I picked up the “I’m The Peace Maker” b/w “IBU Gets Lyrical” Cassingle**. However, Sir Ibu and Divine Force are most recognized in history for their track “Holy War (Live)”, which also released in ’87, but I wasn’t aware of its existence until ’91 on Gang Starr’s “Step In The Arena” album where DJ Premier cut up the line “Individual with intellect!” Such an ill statement! I recognized Sir Ibu’s very distinctive voice, but had no idea where it came from. That started a search to find out. Not long after, I ran across a person who had the “Holy War (Live)” 12” and I was able to hear it for the first time finally***! Then at some point I ran across their last 12” “My Uptown Beat” b/w “Aint’ We Funky Now” from ’88, which doesn’t have Sir Ibu involved as a vocalist. So basically, my means of discovering their music is as random and confusing as the history and the nature of the group itself. Case in point, all the Divine Force singles are on Yamak-ka Records, the indie label operated by the aforementioned Melquan. They all have the basic catalog number of “01” so I’m not exactly sure which of the records came first…so many mysteries.


I'm the peacemaker

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"

Micranots-Preparations

Musab a.k.a Sab The Artist "The Revival" Fifth Element Exclusive Digital EP Buy Now: http://bit.ly/11Zr2Ip
Includes all EP instrumentals Produced Exclusively by Big Jess.
Release Date 5-7-13

MusabTheRevival

Sab The Artist - Revival - 05 Revival

Sab The Artist - Revival - 06 Business Straight

Sab The Artist - Revival - 07 Royalty

Sab The Artist - Revival - 08 Thanks For The Love

Sab The Artist - Revival - 09 Crucial

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.

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