Comments for Echoes Of The Crack Age

Echoes Of The Crack Age

2009-07-08T19:29:34Z

The underground is down for peace among brothers...

I remember when they did this on Arsenio. Cats came to school the next day, talking about how Shock G ripped it. Man, almost 20 years ago.

Half these cats I don't even remember. But I was in love with Terrible T from .357. Damn, she was phat to death. Man, to be young again.

Comment from Teknontheou on 2009-07-08

2009-07-08T20:50:31Z

Oaktown 357 represented everything that was exciting, stimulating, and enthralling about the stereotypical "hood chick" of teh 80's adn 90's. (Particlaurly after they pared down to the duo, instead of the quartet they had been before.) They looked good, they reminded you of the girl that lived up the block, they seemed femininely hard enough to have your back in public, and they could dance their arses off.
Only problem was, girls like them were *not*, under no circumstances, checking for awkward dorks like myself, so I just oogled them from afar.

Comment from Juba on 2009-07-08

2009-07-08T20:53:28Z

I know them Bay Area boys like to claim Shock as their own (understandably) but he IS a native of the Original Bay--Tampa, FL...just sayin'

Comment from Juba on 2009-07-08

2009-07-08T20:54:17Z

Also, my favorite verse might be Tone-Loc's. Just cause everyone slept on him as a pop rapper, when he was really a reformed Crip with a rap sheet.

Comment from G.D. on 2009-07-08

2009-07-08T20:54:54Z

Man. I'm pretty sure Oaktown 357 kickstarted my puberty.

Comment from G.D. on 2009-07-08

2009-07-08T20:57:45Z

Now that I think about it, "Juicy Gotcha Crazy" was one big assvertisement: "my vagina will drive you insane."

Comment from Pococurante on 2009-07-08

2009-07-08T21:01:39Z

It was great seeing Tone Loc again. Every time summer spins up I jam on his breakout album. Right after I first bought the CD I named one of my cats Cheeba...

Comment from G.D. on 2009-07-08

2009-07-08T21:01:42Z

Also, are these the gangs from GTA: San Andreas.

Comment from dmf on 2009-07-08

2009-07-08T21:12:17Z

thanks for the flashback to when DU were gettin down for peace among brothers and it makes me sad to think that Tupac didn't have to go out like a thug when he could still be doing the Humpty Dance...

Comment from Acromion on 2009-07-08

2009-07-08T21:29:22Z

All this stuff if before my time. Pretty good though for some retro shit though.

Comment from Juba on 2009-07-08

2009-07-08T21:33:44Z

Ummm no, none of the GTA SA gangs were real.

Based on some of those rappers' hometown sets, yes.

Real, no.

Comment from Juba on 2009-07-08

2009-07-08T21:35:48Z

You ever hear the original Smokin Cheeba Cheeba song by Harlem Underground Band?

Eric B and Rakim sampled it for "Whats Going On."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRyyoQo0qj4&feature=related

Comment from MaddogPHL on 2009-07-08

2009-07-08T21:49:23Z

Wow, too true, G.D.! I haven't heard either of those joints in forever, but living on the west coast and having a DJ for a roommate, I remember them well: 357, JJ Fad, and the squeaky-voiced Michel'le, Digital Underground, NWA, Young MC and Ice-T. I remember this as a counterpoint to "Self-Destruction", which came out earlier, the video of which TNC posted previously. But I also remember the tension in LA in the years leading up to the 1992 riots.

Comment from muzz on 2009-07-08

2009-07-08T21:57:11Z

"My head under her leg under my arm under her toe"

Comment from KT on 2009-07-08

2009-07-08T22:11:03Z

"she says 'I like it when you scream, baby let yourself go'"

Comment from Gramsci on 2009-07-08

2009-07-08T22:17:13Z

I haven't thought about Young MC since wondering why, if your best friend Harry had a brother Larry, and you were the best man at Larry's wedding, isn't LARRY your best friend? And if not, why couldn't Harry be his brother's best man?

Comment from Joe E Rosewater on 2009-07-08

2009-07-08T22:57:07Z

Another thing I've always wondered about that verse: why does Larry only ask you to be his best man a mere five days before the wedding? Isn't that really short notice? I mean, the best man has to plan a bachelor party, write a toast, pay all the help, among other things. That's a lot to take care of in 5 days. Is this some kind of shotgun wedding we're talking about? Or maybe Larry's so unlikable that every other guy he's asked has said no, and now with 5 days to go he has to resort to asking his brother's best friend? So many questions...

Comment from JY on 2009-07-08

2009-07-08T23:00:13Z

And isn't Larry a little passive aggressive, I mean he's hoping you can make there, if you can but then as an afterthought let's you know you're the best man?

Comment from Juba on 2009-07-08

2009-07-08T23:07:12Z

He had a paper on California desert geology the night he wrote that verse!

Comment from tinisoli on 2009-07-08

2009-07-08T23:57:21Z

What's the name of the girl with the really comical voice who sings the chorus? Michellé?

Comment from R.oB. on 2009-07-08

2009-07-09T00:59:54Z

Yeah, I was on Terrible T's bra strap myself if she was the darker of the two (can't remember which was which). She was FINE.

Comment from G.D. on 2009-07-08

2009-07-09T01:01:14Z

The GTA gangs are fake, obviously. It was a bad joke about how these cats looked like Vagos taking on Grove Street.

Comment from Lennox on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T09:57:18Z

I always thought that Harry was asking you to be the best man for his brother Larry, because he couldn't make it for some reason or another, so it's like 'yo dawg, my brother's getting married in 5 days and he needs a best man, but I got this 'Rican shorty out in Far Rockaway I gotta go see, so you think you can fill in for me?'

Which would kind of make Harry an asshole, but hey, who doesn't have an asshole as one of their boys?

Seriously though, even though my corny meter was definitely approaching red, that scene at the end where the kid faces down the bangers still give me chills a little bit. When I was a kid I thought it was the coolest thing ever.

Comment from DB Cooper on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T16:13:01Z

I loved this song (and video), but I'd forgotten the odd references to white people. I had NOT forgotten how much Eazy-E throws the whole project under the bus at the end, though. The Violent Hero, indeed.

Comment from Juba on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T19:17:12Z

Sorry...