Forgotten Beefs!
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psychedeliic
- mr. blonde
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Am vazut primu' post si mi-am adus aminte, Ricca poate stii deja..
Fourteen years after its intended release on Flavor Unit/Epic Records, Freddie Foxxx's Crazy Like A Foxxx album is being released on July 29th by Fat Beats Records.
The 1994 sophomore release was promoted behind the single of "So Tough" which was remixed by Notorious B.I.G. mentor Easy Mo Bee and also by Pete Rock [click to read], the single was backed by "Crazy Like A Foxxx." After promotional cassettes were sent to radio and press, the album was mysteriously shelved by the label.
"It was important for me to [release] Crazy Like A Foxxx because I took it back in, and I remastered it. I just wanted to give them the whole entire album," Freddie Foxxx told HipHopDX last evening. The album was largely made for the emcee's comrades in prison at the time, and initially featured darker music and aggressive subject matter.
The initial 1993 demo version of Crazy Like A Foxxx features production exclusively from D.I.T.C.'s Showbiz, Lord Finesse and Buckwild. As an added treat for listeners, Fat Beats and Foxxx have included these unheard versions on the bonus disc of the two CD set, also available digitally. The emcee, who released his debut album in 1989, added, "The D.I.T.C. version got turned down by Flavor Unit. I actually liked it better, but I had to go and produce [the album] myself, and that was the [version] they accepted. A lot of emails and MySpace blogs were comin' in about how people liked the Crazy Like A Foxxx album. I was [thinking] I don't know how they like it if it was never put out. Somebody leaked it on a cassette, and people were just listening to the raggedy old, nasty-soundin' cassette version. I said, 'You know what? Let me just put it out.' It's really about the fans all day."
Among those original tracks, producer Showbiz had initially submitted the beat that would later become KRS-One's "Sound Of Da Police," which can be heard in its original form through this release. The Freddie Foxxx version is called "8 Bars To Catch A Body."
Another point of interest from this relic is the largely unpublicized competitive rap battle with the Ultramagnetic MC's. "It wasn't a physical thing, it was a rap competition/battle, whatever you want to call it," reveals the artist who also goes by Bumpy Knuckles a decade and a half later. "I decided to switch up the title song 'Crazy Like A Foxxx.' There's two versions on there that people are gonna hear. I gave them the original version, which was more of me doin' my lyrical skill thing, and then I switched up and put my whole battle verses on there and dedicated the whole track to them. I was trying to feed the audience what they wanted from me."
Asked what the album makes him think about today, Foxxx says, "At first I think, 'Damn, I've been rapping a long time. [Laughs] I think about, and hopefully people understand, it's just classic material. It's catalogue. I'm actually going to start releasing a lot more catalogue."
The album also features appearances by Kool G Rap [click to read], Chuck D and 2Pac.
Freddie Foxxx is also releasing Motorcycle Music volumes 1 through 3 for Krupt Mob, as well as working on his anticipated next studio album Amerikkkan Black Man and the Stop The Violence movement.
Fourteen years after its intended release on Flavor Unit/Epic Records, Freddie Foxxx's Crazy Like A Foxxx album is being released on July 29th by Fat Beats Records.
The 1994 sophomore release was promoted behind the single of "So Tough" which was remixed by Notorious B.I.G. mentor Easy Mo Bee and also by Pete Rock [click to read], the single was backed by "Crazy Like A Foxxx." After promotional cassettes were sent to radio and press, the album was mysteriously shelved by the label.
"It was important for me to [release] Crazy Like A Foxxx because I took it back in, and I remastered it. I just wanted to give them the whole entire album," Freddie Foxxx told HipHopDX last evening. The album was largely made for the emcee's comrades in prison at the time, and initially featured darker music and aggressive subject matter.
The initial 1993 demo version of Crazy Like A Foxxx features production exclusively from D.I.T.C.'s Showbiz, Lord Finesse and Buckwild. As an added treat for listeners, Fat Beats and Foxxx have included these unheard versions on the bonus disc of the two CD set, also available digitally. The emcee, who released his debut album in 1989, added, "The D.I.T.C. version got turned down by Flavor Unit. I actually liked it better, but I had to go and produce [the album] myself, and that was the [version] they accepted. A lot of emails and MySpace blogs were comin' in about how people liked the Crazy Like A Foxxx album. I was [thinking] I don't know how they like it if it was never put out. Somebody leaked it on a cassette, and people were just listening to the raggedy old, nasty-soundin' cassette version. I said, 'You know what? Let me just put it out.' It's really about the fans all day."
Among those original tracks, producer Showbiz had initially submitted the beat that would later become KRS-One's "Sound Of Da Police," which can be heard in its original form through this release. The Freddie Foxxx version is called "8 Bars To Catch A Body."
Another point of interest from this relic is the largely unpublicized competitive rap battle with the Ultramagnetic MC's. "It wasn't a physical thing, it was a rap competition/battle, whatever you want to call it," reveals the artist who also goes by Bumpy Knuckles a decade and a half later. "I decided to switch up the title song 'Crazy Like A Foxxx.' There's two versions on there that people are gonna hear. I gave them the original version, which was more of me doin' my lyrical skill thing, and then I switched up and put my whole battle verses on there and dedicated the whole track to them. I was trying to feed the audience what they wanted from me."
Asked what the album makes him think about today, Foxxx says, "At first I think, 'Damn, I've been rapping a long time. [Laughs] I think about, and hopefully people understand, it's just classic material. It's catalogue. I'm actually going to start releasing a lot more catalogue."
The album also features appearances by Kool G Rap [click to read], Chuck D and 2Pac.
Freddie Foxxx is also releasing Motorcycle Music volumes 1 through 3 for Krupt Mob, as well as working on his anticipated next studio album Amerikkkan Black Man and the Stop The Violence movement.
ok, deci asta mi s-a parut 
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJgarNSSKqw[/youtube]
aka "what the fuuuuuck!"
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amvwqW3zyKQ[/youtube]
cand spune tipul la final "it sounded like the real doom"
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJgarNSSKqw[/youtube]
aka "what the fuuuuuck!"
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amvwqW3zyKQ[/youtube]
cand spune tipul la final "it sounded like the real doom"Kno wrote:An Open Letter To MF Doom.written by Kno on Aug 13, 2008
Dear Daniel Dumile a.k.a. MF Doom a.k.a. Zev Love X a.k.a. King Geedorah a.k.a. Metal Fingers a.k.a. Viktor Vaughn a.k.a. Ducktor Doom a.k.a. Victor von Doom a.k.a. Mr. Soft Taco a.k.a. Mr. 78’ Cutlass a.k.a. “That Guy Who Enjoys Fingerpainting.”
I’m writing this as a concerned artist, business-owner and generally even-keeled loather of all things douche-like.
It came to my attention in late 2007 that you pulled a series of no-shows and Super Dave-esque stunt double lip-syncing fiascos in Pomona, San Diego, San Francisco, Rock The Bells in San Bernardino and then in Atlanta. The latter saw the crowd throwing beer at your body double, who subsequently exited the stage only to steal all the merch money and door receipts, insuring noone would be granted a refund for your clone’s piss-poor Milli Vanilli routine. Classy.
The whole thing was shrug-inducing because I’m not a huge fan of your body of work, so pardon my inability to completely connect with the disdain of someone paying $25 dollars to see a slightly rotund, middle aged man in a dirty Gladiator mask stand around onstage and talk into a microphone only to be duped into watching a presumably younger, slightly-less rotund man in a dirty Gladiator mask stand around onstage and pretend to talk into a microphone. As the old folks say, “buyer beware”.
It was shrug-inducing, that is, until someone passed me a link to a discussion in which a talent buyer for a well-known Cali venue clearly states;
“...needless to say, hiphop will not be taking place at the venue again (we will still book alternative artists like sage, atmosphere, subtle, all through legit agencies that we regularly do business with).”
Ok, now wait a minute.
You pissing on your most dedicated fans by cheating them out of their hard-earned cash, while being completely foul, was ultimately no business of mine. At worst it might create a small conundrum for Doom fans torn between investing money in your possibly fraudulent live show or using that loot to re-up on another sack of Northern Lights kush. Not a tough call, I’d assume.
But on the flipside, seeing talent buyers publically saying they’ll only book “alternative artists” like Sage and Atmosphere (Holy awkward racial undertones, Batman) in the future because of your method of handling business? Now I have an issue.
See, people don’t buy much music anymore. Touring is what allows artists who aren’t supervillainous children of Latverian gypsies bent on world domination to meet our fans, fuel our art and put money into our projects and pockets. As part of an “indie” act that operates in the same ever-narrowing circles as you, I can definitely say the ability to book proper gigs with reputable promoters and venue operators is becoming more and more scarce by the month, especially with the poor reputation live hip-hop has for professionalism and punctuality as well as the economic woes of many venues and agencies. The recession is a sumbitch.
So, if any artist pisses off these promoters, fans or venue owners then ultimately they are fucking with my money.
I thought about discussing this last fall, but I decided against it in an attempt to stay away from negative energy. Fast-forward to August 9th 2008, and apparently “you” (I use the term loosely at this point) were at it again, having been re-booked at Rock The Bells in San Bernardino (How does that even happen?) and subsequently getting booed. Again.
Now, surely there is some type of explanation for all of this. Although it isn’t an excuse to be deceptive, some said you were dangerously ill. Personal health is no joke. Your label denied it, though, and continued pushing your tour dates and new remixes of your old product. Some people, like the only man to ever lie to our fans about our involvment in a live show just to sell tickets, one Mr. Jason Swartz (who also happens to be your booking agent) claimed in the Village Voice that this fuckery was a breath of fresh air and “just [your] style”. Yes, the same Mr. Swartz that intentionally misled our fans, the local promoters and operators of The Fox Theatre in Boulder back in 2005 in order to put a couple extra dollars in his pocket. Hmm, sounds familiar.
But I digress. Maybe you had a string of family emergencies. Maybe you developed consistent, unshakable Traveler’s Diarrhea. Maybe you were fed up with curly-haired, New Era-wearing snowboarders asking you to sign their $300 Doom SB Dunks. Maybe you simply got tired of the smell inside of that mask. Who knows.
Yeah, you’re the “villain” or whatever gimmick you use to sell records. I’ve even seen a couple people calling this fiasco “brilliant”. Oh, the sweet Rap Snack™-flavored irony of anti-mainstream types letting this slide by deeming it “genius marketing”. Genius marketing? Beanie Babies, Hannah Montana, Girls Gone Wild. Those are examples of genius marketing. This looks like a lazy or medically incapacitated individual duping his most dedicated fans repeatedly to the tune of a few thousand dollars while those that also stand to profit (read: labels, friends and booking agents) scuttle around attempting to make excuses for him before the loot dries up.
Whatever the case may be, I implore you and anyone involved in this to stop screwing your fans and your peers and get your ducks in a row. Don’t make me throw on some blue stretch leotards and put out a solo record.
Your Friend In Jesus,
Kno of CunninLynguists
you just never know when you're living in a golden age.