One for the late night crew! Poor Righteous Teachers

The real shit, the Zapp shit! Big ups Tony D (RIP)

Hip-hop that brings a tear to the eye

Remembering Tony D

Hip-hop lost an important producer last week when Tony D died in a car crash at the young age of 42. His name may not mean anything to you, but like hundreds of other music people behind the scenes he was very instrumental in making hip-hop an art-form that the world would eventually take seriously. Tony D's hip-hop heyday was arguably gone by the time he became popular in Cork, through a few low-key yet incredible releases for Manchester label Grand Central in the mid 90's. While many were enjoying great success as hip-hop blew up, it was typical of Tony D that he remained behind the scenes making music that still sounds great years later.

Having a forged a tight relationship with the Manchester label, it was inevitable that myself and a few other Cork music people would be enamoured with Tony D's releases, and his track with regular visitor to Cork Spikey Tee ("Erase the Pain") became a huge anthem here. Lyrically finding comparison between the Irish immigrant experience in England and the similar difficulties experienced by black people, it was always going to strike a chord here, but it was the music produced by Tony D that had laid-back funky production style that was unique to a person who is now being rightly heralded as a hip-hop pioneer.

Other tunes, such as "Piano Grand", were also massive in Cork and I remember selling loads of copies of his "Pound for Pound" when i worked in independent music shop Comet (now Plug'd) back in the day. Tony D was happy to remain behind the boards in the studio and like many in hip-hop he would at his most comfortable here. In a hip-hop climate all of these years later where rappers and producers of only a fraction of his talent loom large in a celebrity obsessed media that favours style over substance, it is poignant to think this week of the likes of Tony D. His hip-hop roll of honour included YZ, Poor Righteous Teachers, Blaque Spectrum, Almighty and KD Ranks, Ministers of Black and King Sun. These are artists who were from the underground, but they came from an era where the underground really was that, and where even the big stars of hip-hop were grounded in some degree of reality.

The tragic death of Tony D is mirrored by a less important tragedy, but one in which is still a shame as hip-hop reaches it's 30th birthday as a mainstream music force. The likes of the Tony D, the Beatminerz, Organized Noize, Diamond D, J Dilla, Large Professor, Buckwild, The Beatnuts, Eric Sermon, Clark Kent and many more are reduced to mere footnotes as artists with only a fraction of the talent make millions from a loose definition of what we know as hip-hop. In a week in which hip-hop legends Run DMC were rightly inducted in the rock n'roll hall of fame, and in which Eminem compared the Queens trio to the Beatles, it is additionally poignant to think of the many on the margins of a music that fought hard for credibility over it's 30 years.

But this is the way of the world and we are still blessed to be able to hear the great music of many who didn't care for the limelight as much. As a respected crate digger of rare music himself, Tony D would probably treat all of this with a wry smile. Those who want to know will always know and damn the rest! I'm lucky enough to be in a position to spread the word about the likes of Tony D and others and this Saturday on Black on Red i'll be spinning a few of his best tracks. He was a big lover of reggae too and tonight i'll also be rolling out part two of my hip-hop reggae mix, with Tony D featuring on a few tracks. The beats of a great producer will thankfully live on forever, and if you are new to his music I invite to come along and check out one of the finest.

Some classic vids

Hip-hop reggae!

Last week we mentioned some of the most sampled soul, funk and jazz acts of all time and discussed their importance with regard to the creation of what we now call hip-hop. It's interesting that while soul, funk and jazz remain the most sampled music genres hip-hop producers have also taken many loops from rock records too, and back in the late 70's and early 80's drum breaks from Thin Lizzy, Aerosmith, The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin were regularly sampled in the embryonic stages of the music.
Meanwhile reggae and dub, despite being music that also opened the gates for hip-hop in New York and beyond, played a more subtle role in hip-hop from a sampling perspective. Despite this, when utilised together, the two musics can have a devastating impact. I recently wrote an article here about dancehall but today


I'm gonna look at ten classic combinations of more conventional hip-hop artists putting reggae to great use. The music that was originally born out of Jamaicans love for American r&b and jazz, eventually found it's way around the world and as waves of Jamaican immigrants arrived in New York in the 70's they brought reggae, DJ Culture, spoken word rap stylings and even production techniques to the studios of Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. If it wasn't for DJ's such as Kool Herc, there would be no hip-hop, and if it wasn't for reggae and dub, there certainly wouldn't have been such a panache and freshness about this music that eventually became bigger than ever 10 and 20 years later. Here are ten who had the reggae at the forefront! (Article originally appearing in last weeks Evening Echo)

Catch a mix next Saturday on Black on Red featuring many of these on more

7-10PM Saturday http://redfm.ie

1-Boogie Down Productions
KRS-One and Scott La Rock were one of the finest purveyors of the reggae hip-hop style, and even after Scotts tragic death KRS went on to become one of the great exponents of Jamaican vocal stylings over hip-hop beats.
2-Poor Righteous Teachers
Not as well known these days as KRS or BDP, but this Jersey crew had some underground hits back in the day, and they always had a nice reggae vibe with some conscious roots sounds fused with their rhythms.
3-J Live
A New York MC, Producer and DJ who burst onto the scene with the Sister Nancy sampling "Longevity", using a loop also prominently executed by Diamond D. J Live has since sampled reggae a number of times and cut up "East of the River Nile" beautifully on 'Satisfied"
4-Roots Manuva
UK rapper always heavy on the reggae and indeed ragga plus plenty of his music comes in dub format too.
5-Smiff N 'Wessun
Boot Camp Clik members who hit us with the classic "Sound Bwoy Burriel" and who's rapper Tek has always had a reggae vibe. Fellow members of the Boot Camp, Heltah Skeltah, O.G.C and the mighty Black Moon, were also influenced by reggae stylings.
6-The Fugees
Even before Lauryn Hill and Wyclef went on to solo success with a heavy Caribbean influence reflecting their Haitian roots, their two albums were dominated by clever reggae samples.
7-Shinehead
80's rap and reggae artist who was way ahead of his time and paved the way for many of the successful stars to follow.
8-Estelle
UK rapper/singer turned pop star is another who is proud of her reggae roots, prominently displayed on her recent "Magnificent" single.
9-Phife Dawg
The lessor known of the two main rappers in A Tribe Called Quest was a reggae and dancehall fanatic and even released some solo singles in this mould.
10-Black Star
Both Mos Def and Talib Kweli have been huge respectors of roots and reggae in their solo career, so it was no suprise that their collaborative work was similar in outlook

Some videos

Black Star

Can't tell ya how big this was at the time!



Roots Manuva

Large!



Poor Righteous Teachers

Yes!



Shinehead



Diamond D

File with "Longevity" by J Live