Showing posts with label hip hop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hip hop. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

THE LOST LOST RAP: BUCKWHEAT THE REBEL

Runnin' down the street gotta Squeezit in your hand. BUCKWHEAT. REBEL WITHOUT A SOUL! I taped this song off the radio in 1990 or so, never taped over it because of the sheer HIGH IMPACT NOVELTY VALUE of this LOST LOST RAP. I don't even know if the lyrics are about Squeezits, or squeegees, which would make more sense, but as far as i'm concerned, the image of Buckwheat running through the streets with a Squeezit is way more golden. Anyhow, the whole category of dance music with rap is largely over-looked these days, & might be part of the LOST LOST RAP milieu. I can't find much info on Unity 2, except that they were/are members of THE TOASTERS & had a bigger hit with Shirlee. Shirlee reveals the mystery of the ubiquitous dancehall rap thing in late 80s/early 90s songs. I just emailed Sean Cavo from Unity 2, maybe we'll clear up the whole Squeezit issue...

& here it is!

"Hey Sean...yeah, it was squeegee, as the song was about a friend of ours who became a crackhead. And yeah, we came out of the Toasters in '89 and signed with warners. Lionel and I were already known as The Unity 2 when we were fronting the Toasters (since '85). I was singer and songwriter on many of the songs from Skaboom and Thrill me Up LPs. The Buckwheat version that blew up in dance clubs was a remix by Steve Silk Hurley, and the album version is much different. We weren't really a 'dance' group, but the label wanted that remix done and it worked. Unity 2 was a 7 piece band with a DJ scratching - I think the first lineup like that ever!
Hope that helps dude. Peace, Cavo."





My gradeschool banned Squeezits for being "TOO AWESOME", something that most schools do after getting a clue about a trend. "They like it too much, let's get rid of it." Consider it cleared.

Saturday, January 3, 2009

THE LOST LOST RAP


My little brother Danny James made up this rap called "The Lost Lost Rap", about a rap that had been lost when we were drawing comics in Lake Merritt park smokin' some bammer many years ago. The concept quickly developed into the idea that there are "Lost Raps" which must be unearthed & decoded for their esoteric knowledge. I loved Rap when it came out & for about ten years or so until it became what it is today. Market-saturated, pervasive, boring & boring. So, when something loses all meaning & relevance like Rap or Black slang has, it actually transcends culture & time & becomes something new. It can become something universal & something amazing. This Fruity Pebbles commercial proves my point, by introducing the word "Fruit-a-rooty". So, enjoy this new feature of BRAIN STORM: THE LOST LOST RAP. Speaking of which, my central New Year's Resolution was to more effectively blog, so i'm concentrating on BRAIN STORM as my central blog & creating some features & trying to get a post up here every day. You can reciprocate by commenting more often & becoming a FOLLOWER of DER BRAIN STORM! Happy New Year.