Company Flow - "End to End Burners"

Company Flow were the Beatles of indie hip hop. not only were they the most influential, but they were the best.

El-P has become more of an industrial artist than the "dirty dusty" rapper and producer he once was; he is actually somehwat mainstream. Ironically, Big Juss is one of the most abstract, avant garde rappers out there.

This track was kind of their swan song, they're last great record before they broke up. I love this song a lot, not only because it was the first video I ever saw from these guys after wearing out their Funcrusher Plus LP, but it's just a blistering track. The pulsating beat dives right into the lyrics with no four-bar intro needed. The lyrics are fast and furious (and sometimes unintelligible, click here for approximate lyrics, a new window will pop up), and contain all the pre-Y2K tension that was being felt at the time. It's one of the songs that gets me pumped up like no other.

And Jesus H. Christ, just check out these lyrics.

[El-P] Yo, I cut most meticulous with a similar interest
King of pain and sing to a metronome without an influence
Shot burner off-kilter bust sh*t at random
Like civil war muskets or A.D.D. kids throwin tantrums
Out out the damn spot with phantom power rebel bunch
Using the populace like Phen-Fen the meat to public school lunches
Sad to say im the matrix with the code for smallpox rapist
Out of all shots mine are worn from hit 'n' runs, caught 'em
mixtapeless
Straight from limbo where the most favourite dish is faces
Marching like Dimes or Orangemen through Belfast
Manimal hybrids recombination, then beatbox
til the tastebuds on our tongues are smooth and shapeless
Dodging thought police this patient zero the folk hero
Klepto steal the spotlight before b-boys turn complacent
Specialize in neuter services and theft of game systems
The crew detaches expands and credits them towards purchases
Wisdom with a bad touch, and I'll provide incision pain plus
that botched the operation and denied insurance claim form
Overfiendish, twenty cock to shoot out f*ck your mind
before that morning cup of ovaltine sh*t
El Producto, C.F. born to break shit down and replace it with
fortified vitamins that you can lick right off the vinyl
Little Leaguer, my phonics is on some clearly ironic shit
like hittin pick six on the day of the apocalypse

Grand Puba - "I Like It"

I was never a huge fan of Grand Puba. I always thought he was a nice counterpoint rapper with the rest of Brand Nubian, but he tended to get somewhat annoying when he did his own thing. He tended to get a little lazy on the mic, especially with his offbeat flow.

Having said, that I always thought this was one of the coolest, smoothest songs of 1995. It's got a great, mellow beat, with that awesome vibraphone sound. His lyrics, while not amazing, fit the song fine. It is a little ridiculous of course that an ugly, overweight, cross-eyed man such as Grand Puba would talk about getting ass, but it was pretty much his m.o. from the start. And of course he has to mention Stud Doogie, like he does in every other goddamn song he ever made. But he doesn't mention DJ Alamo. Hmmmm....

The video is kind of dumb: he straight up rips off the video for A Tribe Called Quest's "Scenario" (3 years later no less!) with the computer graphics theme. I can't help but think that this video would have been about 10x cooler if he had just driven around New York City at night and shot that for the whole video instead of wasting time in Puba's boring apartment.

Oh, but Kid from Kid 'N' Play is in the video, and that is just strange. And why the hell are Lord Jamar and Sadat X in there? Didn't Brand Nubian break up so they didn't have to see each other anymore?

I hit a flow all dipped in lotion
Sit back and sip moe as Im countin my doe
Grand puba macks well, doogie, comin with the new york
We keep it real like jail when we might talk
Honies know cause when Im in the set
Grand puba is the one who makes they stink box wet
So let me tell ya somethin lady
When ya flow this flow then its all cream and baby
I made this one for the brothers in the party
To find a hottie
And dance body to body
Step one: first you grab honey by the waist
Step two: then you move at a ghetto pace
Step three: then ya look her dead in the face
Step four: now its time to leave this place
Hold up, be careful of the cheesas
The teasas, the one who wants the money and the visas
Ima tell honies straight off the bat
But please dont even go there with that, dig it
This ones designed to make your spine in your back wind
Grand puba lights it up for you every time