Deaf 2 U aka Deaf 2 U Productions/Inc. was the production duo of Lucious "Luck" Mercer and Neal "Purp" Forrester, who first met at Amityville Junior High School. The group produced three songs for Gee Street singer Ambersunshower (previously a member of the duo Groove Garden) and another three for De La Soul, culminating with masterpiece "Trying People," the final track on AOI: Bionix. Shortly thereafter, they reemerged producing and rapping under the new name, Mood Doctors, with their debut album General Medicine released independently on a label called Deaf 2 U. (Mood Doctors have since released no fewer than seven albums, but that's for another post or seven.)
Mercer and Forrester did also rap under the name Deaf 2 U on at least one song, "Caution," which appeared on Tags Of The Times Version 2.0, a compilation put out by Japanese label Mary Joy Recordings in 1999. An interesting artifact of its times, this compilation series featured tracks from some of the most popular underground hip-hop acts of the late '90s and early '00s, including Company Flow, MF DOOM, Talib Kweli, Aesop Rock and Aceylaone to name just a few. Nevertheless, Deaf 2 U's appearance stands out and not just because it's the only song they released under the name. It's also noteworthy to hear two artists who came up under De La Soul (if you haven't figured it out already Luck is Posdnuos's brother) rapping on a song produced by Da Beatminerz's Mr. Walt in a kind of alternative hip-hop setting. In that sense, "Caution" foreshadows the turn De La themselves would take on their AOI albums.
Below you can hear "Caution" followed by Deaf 2 U's first credit, Ambersunshower's "Blue Skies Butterflies" (1995), and De La Soul's "Oooh," "Foolin'" and "Trying People." (For the other two Ambersunshower tracks Deaf 2 U did, you'll have to dig up her Walter T. maxi-single.)
Busta Rhymes & Roc Marciano in Hollywood, circa 1999.
As a Roc Marciano fan who's long aware of his roots in the Flipmode Squad, I've always wondered why the MC seemingly appeared on so few songs with Busta Rhymes, let alone the rest of the crew. Of course, most everyone who's a fan has already heard "The Heist" (also featuring Raekwon and Ghostface Killah) off Busta Rhymes' Anarchy album and "Let's Make a Toast" (featuring Roc, Busta, Chip Banks and Raekwon) off Easy Mo Bee's Now or Never: Odyssey 2000. Thanks to House Shoes, we've now also heard the version of "Modern Day Gangstas" where Roc raps alongside Biggie, Busta and Labba on a Dilla beat. But none of those are technically Flipmode Squad songs, and of course, Roc Marciano isn't on any songs from the crew's only studio album, The Imperial. However, that doesn't mean Marc never appeared alongside the rest of the squad.
In fact, much of Flipmode's output from the late '90s and early '00s is preserved on mixtapes of that era, as well as the crew's guest spots on other artists' albums. Searching Google and YouTube for such Flipmode Squad apperances yielded several songs I'd never heard. Not including "Modern Day Gangstas," I now have a YouTube playlist of 10 tracks featuring Flipmode-era Roc Marciano. Some standouts are the ferocious "Set It On Fire" from Tony Touch's first Piecemaker album (2000) and the "Talk Too Much" freestyle, a Petey Pablo diss that appeared on a P-Cutta mixtape in 2001 (probably on a Kay Slay tape as well, though I'm not sure which one). Perhaps most unexpected is "What It Is (Part II)" off the Dr. Dolittle 2 soundtrack (yes, Roc Marciano is on the Dr. Dolittle 2 soundtrack). The earliest cut, though, is "Whatcha Come Around Here For" from Violator the Album (1999). I'm betting there are many more, so I'll try to continue adding on to this list in the future. For now, enjoy Flipmode-Era Roc Marciano.
"I got my album getting ready to come out this summer, called That's My Word, you know what I mean? Because that's what it is." That was Craig Mack talking to BBC Radio 1's Tim Westwood in June of 2000. The album never dropped, but Mack did drop a number of singles that year as well as a fantastic freestyle that night. In memory of the late Craig Mack, British DJ Tape Deck King compiled those cuts into an EP that imagines what Mack's lost album might have sounded like had it materialized during his lifetime. The freestlye and other segments from that Westwood interview are thrown in for context. Stream below and as a bonus check out the 1995 concert to which Westwood refers at the start of their convo.
Steve Miller, who Miles Davis famously called a "sorry ass cat" and "non-playing motherfucker," is also known for giving the world "Fly Like an Eagle," which is the sample source for Puff Daddy's "Watcha Gon' Do," featuring Rick Ross, and for EPMD's "You're a Customer." Interestingly, it was EPMD's Erick Sermon who in 2000 put out one of Ross's earliest recordings, the Def Squad song "Aint Shit to Discuss," which featured Ross rapping as Teflon Da Don. Also worth noting, "You're a Customer" wasn't the only "Fly Like an Eagle"-sampling song from 1987 by a Long Island-based hip-hop artist; Patchogue native Biz Markie's "Nobody Beats the Biz" also flipped the Miller tune that year. Which song was recorded first? Which was written first? Or is time actually even linear in the first place? Tik tak toot-toot-toot-tooroom.
"While Trump tweeting quotes from Mussolini / Shit I'm trying to raise my Kundalini." Those lines, juxtaposing fascism and Dharma, have won Knowledge the Pirate some well-earned praise since Rosebudd's Revenge dropped. His "No Smoke" verse, clearly a show stopper, is in point of fact just the latest in a string of solid contributions to Roc Marciano projects, following "Didn't Know" and "Drug Lords" from Marci Beaucoup; "Slingers," "Shower Posse," and "Ten Toes Down" from Pimpire Strikes Back; and "Not Told" from Reloaded. Add on the non-album cut "Her Vice" and the Ricky Dubs feature "Shot A Man," and you've got a nice playlist of Marciano-Pirate collabos.
Nice indeed, but these hardly represent the complete discography of Knowledge the Pirate aka Knowledge, an MC whose work dates back to the mid-'90s. Knowledge previously shed light on his history via a2013 interview with the Village Voice, in which he discussed early come-ups via big-name affiliations such as Teddy Riley, The Neptunes and Will Smith. (The picture above was taken on the set of Men In Black, according to Knowledge's IG.) Though it provides a decent overview of Knowledge's first forays into the recording industry, the story fails to mention any of his early recordings by name.
With the recent news that a video for "No Smoke" is on the way (preview it here), I figured now's a good time to dig and see which rare Pirate jewels we might unearth. Using a few of the names mentioned in the VV interview, I combed Discogs and YouTube for previously unheard Knowledge the Pirate songs and came up with five tracks, including one solo cut and four guest features, which I compiled into the playlist streaming below. While you listen, note that the earliest of these tunes dates all the way back to 1994, making Knowledge's debut as much as three years older than "The Prophecy," Marciano's first appearance on wax.
1. Knowledge The Pirate - Am I The Blame (2010)
2. Will Smith - Act Like You Know [add'tl vox by Knowlege] (Born to Reign, 2002)
3. Mike E - Before We Get Too Close ft. Knowledge the Pirate & Queen Pen (Master Plan, 2000)
4. Knowledge the Pirate - Ahoy! (Harlem World Order, 1999)
4. Nutta Butta - Freak Out Remix ft. B.B.O., Knowledge the Pirate & Teddy Riley (12", 1998)
5. Wreckx-N-Effect - Criminal Minded ft. Knowledge & Rugged Baztud (Raps New Generation, 1996)
6. Wreckx-N-Effect - Something for da Radio ft. A-Q, Badd Newz, Knowledge & Rugged Baztud (Raps New Generation, 1996)
7. Wreckx-N-Effect - Sucka MC's ft. A-Plus, Knowledge, Nutta Butta (Raps New Generation, 1996)
8. Blackstreet - U Blow My Mind ft. Knowledge (Blackstreet, 1994)
9. Blackstreet - Baby Be Mine ft. Knowledge (Blackstreet, 1994)
EDIT (8/8/18): Discogs updates have allowed me to add four more tracks to the list. I also removed "The Point" as Knowledge's voice is impossible to pick out, and nobody has confirmed he's actually on there.
EDIT (3/28/23): The Nutta Butta track disappeared from YouTube so that's gone for now, but I also found out that "Ahoy!," which I previously thought was an unreleased loosie, was on DJ S&S' Harlem World Order album and added that here.
Here we have "A[N] INDUSTRIAL MEGAMIX OF PUBLIC ENEMY HITS, INSTRUMENTALS, BASS DUBS, JAMZ, B SIDES & UNRELEASED JOINTS," courtesy of ShutEmDown.com, one of the rare fan sites that's as enduring as it is endearing. Supposedly, PE's initial attempts to make this mix available online in 2000 were blocked by PolyGram. They must have given up since, as it's now easily accessed. After you stream the amazing posse cut "There Were More Hype Believers Than Ever In 97" below and download the 27-track Bring The Noise 2000 mix here, we highly recommend you head over to ShutEmDown.com and check out the myriad other PE rarities that site hosts, many more of which will hopefully find their way over here in future posts.
What we have here is easily one of the best singles of the Fondle 'Em era. The A side features Megalon a.k.a. Tommy Gun rapping over a beat by Metal Fingers a.k.a. MF DOOM. The B side was produced by G.M. Web D a.k.a. X-Ray Da Mindbenda, with singing by the elusive Pebbs a.k.a. Pebbles the Invisible Girl, who's best known for lending vocals to MF's "Doomsday." In fact, that seems to be her only other attributable credit, at least as far as the Internet's concerned. There's actually a singer on the A side as well, with a voice that sounds like it could belong to Pebbs but remains uncredited. Regardless, both sides of this single are Long Beach legend-status, instrumentals included. Which do you prefer? Download and let us know below.
Triple Optix, for those who don't know, was a Suffolk County group comprised of three Cop Shop vets: Huntington Station's Diabolic, and Smithtown's Coal (aka Coal Cash) and Taboo (aka Tabs), who together go by the name Double Negative. When originally released in 2000, the Triple Optix EP consisted of five songs. This, however, is not the version with which most are familiar, because in 2004 an unofficial fan-created version emerged with a different tracklist including two songs that weren't on the first edition: "Epiphany" (by iCON the Mic King ft. Diabolic & Taboo) and "God's Gift" (by DJ Black Panther ft. Diabolic and Lou Cipher). Diabolic and Coal have made clear that this later version, although possibly more widespread, is not the official release, as "Godz Gifts" (as it's officially titled) was actually taken from Black Panther's 2003 album, Darkest Night Ever, and "Epiphany" comes from a 2001 compilation called Freshchest Prose Presents Jabs and Cuts Volume 1; furthermore, neither of these songs feature the full group line-up of Diabolic, Coal and Taboo. Nevertheless, you can stream both versions below, along with "Norman Bates," a recent cut featuring a Triple Optix reunion of sorts.
File under all-time favorite Prodigy song: "Don't Be A Follower," released in 2000 on the Black and White OST put out by Loud Records. No idea how the instrumental got out there, but thankfully it did.
The picture to the left was actually taken from the website of Freeport recording studio On3trackmind, so props to them.
