Vinyl Oddities... Part One of Three.

Through my years of collecting rare hip hop shit I've uncovered some really cool stuff. One thing that I find interest in is the details about obscure stuff and what makes it different from anything else.

Today I'd like to talk about something I find dope... un-noticed details of records.

1.) Baby J ft. A-alikes "Walk With A Bop."













I obtained this 12' as a promo in 1998 I think. It's one of my favorite songs to this day. Anyway, the dirty and clean versions of the song start off with the chorus. The accapella starts off with the two rappers having a conversation related to the song's theme and then jumps right into the chorus. I find it very strange but also quite enjoyable. I wish I knew how to produce beats because I'd use that to remix the track and add something new to the original.

2.) RA the Rugged Man- ????

I really don't know what to call this single. It's just too different in form and too unorganized to go un-noticed. For starters they stole the Radio Shack Logo and used that for their logo.















Side A reads: R.A. The RuggedMan and Akinyele in this terribly goofy, 50's Movie Horror Font. Then underneath that is says "What the..." and the track sequence: Radio Mix, Original Dirty, Inst.















So far it looks normal (somewhat).

Side B reads: R.A. the RuggedMan Classics
{Never on wax before!)
Stanley Kubrick
1- Dirty
2- Clean
3- Inst.















Ok, so this is totally different from the back as most 12's follow the same sequence on each side and stick with the same wording (Radio on one side, Clean on the other).

But this is what gets me, it was released by Robbins Entertainment and was distributed by BMG.

BMG? That's fucking major, and at the time RA was signed to Priority (which was also big at the time). They stole the Radio Shack logo and put out this single? That's kinda foul in the business world.

There is more to the story than that though, the label number is RA-222 the phone number has a 516 area code. That's Suffolk County, where RA is from. I called it when I got the record in 1999, trying to get out on their mailing list. It was a fucking pager number.

So quite frankly, I don't know what to make of this record. I think it is the only place to get RA's criminally slept-on "Stanley Kubrick" joint without the mixing that is on the CD release. RA tells a lot of stories about pimping record labels for money and not putting out any music. Could this be proof of one of his stunts? Everyone and their brother knows that RA bootlegged his own Jive release Night of the Bloody Apes when he got dropped and the tape that was made into mp3 for the internet came from a tape dub that RA provided someone, right?

3.) Group Home- Dial a Thug/12 O'Clock BKLYN /Breaker 1,9













First of all, this is one of the best produced 12' of the late 90's and in my opinion is every bit as dope as the stuff Group Home did with Premier. The album was a different story but Lil’ Dap and Malachi did the right thing by putting the best tracks from the forthcoming LP on this single because they didn't keep this vibe up enough (though it was still a better album than I feel most people gave it credit for).

Anyway, the record label stamp reads:













Unauthorized duplication of this recording is applicable to laws and subject to beat down.

In 1998 I felt that made the record just that much more dope and I still feel that way today. Unless you looked for it you wouldn't notice it. I like those subtle little touches of thuggery.