The FunkyFunky 7

Friday, August 18, 2006

Kings of Diggin' + Scarface news!

Fellow FF7er, Mallory, ripped this compilation for me a while back when it was released (waaaaay back) in July. It's the latest in the excellent line of Rapster Records' "The Kings Of..." releases.

Disc One is compiled by Kon & Amir, the prolific digging duo behind the "On Track" compilation series of soul-popping rare grooves and breaks. Disc Two is compiled by Japan's own super funky and self-proclaimed "King of Digging" DJ Muro.

This pairing of artists is a bit odd, considering there's been some beef between the two groups in the past-- a quote from Amir...

“There was this guy out at the time named DJ Muro who called himself The King of Beats, or The King of Digging. We kinda took offense to that because to us, no body could be the king of digging because there is always gonna be somebody who has knowledge of records more so than you. That’s just the nature of things. So we decided that we could do it too because there are so many great records out there—like, if [Muro] was the King of Digging, how come he didn’t put these or those tracks on there, you know?”

But either they got over their hatin' and realized that with their digging powers combined great things were possible, or maybe Rapster didn't care that there was beef there (or paired them intentionally for dramatic purposes!), BUT for whatever reason, now we have a good two cds of jaw-drop-worthy soul and funk that you've probably never heard before packaged nicely together in one nice little set!

Now Disc One, the Kon & Amir disc, is a bit tame for my personal tastes. There is some great laid-back funk, soul and disco here-- a lot of instrumentals mixed in as well. It's mixed well, and, well, I'd never heard anything on this compilation prior to listening to it, so I guess there's definitely some rare shit on 'ere. Overall I wasn't too keen on the mix though... just not my "style", the tracks felt a bit long and cumbersome at times, etc. Some notable (and probably some of the most upbeat) tracks off of Disc One:

Unico Black - A Vida
Soul Dazz Band - Dazz

Then there's Disc Two. DJ Muro's mix. Which is pretty much the densely mixed, fast paced, makes-me-want-to-move good time that I was hoping to get out of this compilation in the first place. I was familiar with a few of the tunes off of this mix before listening, which *may* mean that Muro is not as deserving of the rare digging crown as his mixtape counterparts (kidding!). But regardless, the guy knows how to mix a fucking tape! His transitions are for the most part flawless, he throws in bits of salsa, funk, soul, disco, and pop in 1 to 2 minute-long blurbs, which keeps things constantly moving and exciting. There's a very strong sexual tension overlaying the entire mix, more blatantly in tracks such as the Bob Crew Generation's "Menage A Trois" and Together LP's "We're Together", but all the latin tinged instrumentals and sassy soul tunes throughout help carry that motif to the end. Some favorites:

The Crowns - Jerking Dog
Ko Ko Taylor - Yes, K's Good For You
Phil Flowers - I've Got To Move

and try out this lovely trifecta of greatness:
Milton Wright - Let's Take A Break
The Trubadours - Funky Good Feeling
Johnny Gamboa - Bad Boy

Also if you want to hear more of these mixes, or hear how well they're actually mixed, you can check out Rapster's webpage and stream the first 15 minutes of each disc from there.

And Scarface! You may recall (or not) when I mentioned something about Scarface not thinking T.I. was gangsta, and from there, I pointed you to a post on my own blog from a while back. If you scroll down to point "f" and point "g", you will see some mumbo jumbo about scarface wanting to get out of the rap game. Well, I got that information from my brother, who used to work at one of the Harley Davidson shops here in Houston, namely the one that Scarface shopped at. My brother was Scarface's go-to parts-guy on many occasions. And my brother sent me a follow up article yesterday that proved that Scarface wasn't shitting him when he went off on his rant about getting out of the game. Scarface has now very publicly vowed never to record another solo record. 'Tis a sad day in Houston, folks.

Posted by Lady K! : on Friday, August 18, 2006 at 8:03 AM | Permalink

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