As Malicious Vinyl’s first signing, Excel played pure Venice, California bred balls-to-the-coping skate rock, charged from the same creative wellspring that fueled the peerless Dogtown skateboard team of the mid-1970s, and Excel’s Venice bros Suicidal Tendencies. That spirit — epitomized by the Glen E. Friedman photo of Dogtown pioneer Tony Alva that graced the cover of original vinyl pressings Seeking Refuge— is in the album’s every unflinching groove. Excel’s third and final album, Seeking Refuge contains some songs that had been in the band’s repertoire as far back as 1991, but by ‘95 they were recording with a more metal-minded line-up, updated from their original ’80s incarnation.

On Seeking Refuge, the band is clearly possessed by a propulsive energy that doesn’t allow for melodic nuance, although singer Dan Clements’ voice has sonorous uplift, and lyrics to go with it. Subverting the assumption the music so aggro must be bent on destruction, Clements delivers lucid, unencumbered messages (”don’t deny your brother/ don’t deny one another” goes “Riptide”) over Brandon Rudley’s shreddymade guitar leads and the tribal-minded pounding of no-last-name drummer Max. Befitting their titles, “United Naturally In True Youth” and “Take Your Part Gotta Encourage” are mercuric monuments to positivity embedded in seriously burly riffage, while the wah-wah intro of “Riptide” sucks the listener in and under like the Venice beach breakwater on a dangerous day. The album peaks with the focussed quickness of “Unenslaved”, a five-and-a-half minute emancipation proclamation (”feel unenslaved now/ they can never rule me”) with a dreamtime breakdown evoking the mystical surf experience of shooting the tube…before breaking right back into the churn.

EXCEL, “Unenslaved”

If you are a freak-a-zoid, Bobby Evans is your friend. “Freak-A-Zoid Robotz (RMXXOLOGY Theme)” is his new single, so get ready for some serious electro-pelvic gyrations. The song sports whip-it-good drums, ass-clapping bass, and synapse-snapping synthesizers…but not today, not here, not now. Instead we’re freaking on one of the single’s bonus cuts, the Freakapella, reveling in the isolated voice of a loving droid as it gives props to the pioneers of Miami Bass music:

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FREAK-A-ZOID ROBOTZ (RMXXOLOGY THEME) ACAPELLA

And now for a word from the Bobby Evans:

 “While making ‘Freak-A-Zoid Robotz’ I was taking in a steady diet of bass and early electro, Afrika Bambaataa, Gucci Crew II, Maggotron, DJ Smurf — a lot of the artists who wound up getting name-checked on my song. Even the SP-12, TR-808, and TR- 909 are mentioned on the chorus. Those machines were the foundation of the music so I knew I had to work them in. Musically ‘Freak-A-Zoid Robotz’ is steeped in Bass references, the drums are 808s, there’s arpeggiated synths, and of course the Vocoder! Also everything in the mix was touched by the same classic reverb that Prince used on ‘When Doves Cry’.”

Thanks Bobby. Freak!

On Tuesday, Sept 23, Los Angeles is the place to be. Or to be exact, 611 N. Fairfax Ave., one block below Melrose. That’s where the fine-feathered folks at Cinefamily are hosting the special Delicious Vinyl night of Word Is Born: Hip Hop At The Movies. 8pm, chill’un! You’ll catch ultra-rare footage of Ramellzee and graffiti artist Jean Michel Basquiat at the Rhythm Lounge on Melrose–a rare pocket in the advent of L.A. hip hop culture.  Also, Soul Brother “Legendary” will present highlights from 1982-1989 (from the Freak Beat to the Golden Era), from his upcoming Suns of James Brown documentary, which features footage of Uncle Jam’s Army, Jam City, Ultrawave, and underground dance crews including early moves from members of The Pharcyde.  Next, Delicious Vinyl artists (Tone Loc, Young MC, Def Jef, and Body And Soul) appear in a 1988 Electronic Press Kit made for the label by director Tamra Davis.  Plus music videos, a live dance performance by the Soul Brothers, DJ set by KDAY Grand Mixer M-Walk, and some other very special guests! To top it all off, Peanut Butter Wolf will be in the house to VJ pon de replay.

The third single (that’s 12-inch vinyl, hombres) released on Delicious Vinyl was Mellow Man Ace’s “Do This”…or, as it was titled en español, “Mas Pingon”. The first hip-hop record ever recorded entirely in Spanish, “Mas Pingon” remains a hard hitting jam of spare battle drums and a heavy cut rock guitar sample (from Michael Des Barres’ band Detective, released on Led Zep’s label Swan Song, dig). It’s been twenty years since “Do This”/”Mas Pignon” was released, and it still sounds…well, you decide:

From there, Mellow Man Ace’s debut album Escape From Havana took shape, spawning the hit single “Mentirosa” and setting the table for the rise of Cypress Hill (a group comprised of Ace’s brother Sen-Dogg and his dancer B-Real).

These days, Mellow Man Ace is the Chairman of the Latin Rap Conference, gearing up for their big annual event this November in Los Angeles (more info here). Last week Mr. Delicious was fortunate enough to link up with the Mellow Man himself at Canter’s Deli in Hollywood. It was great to see the Cuban rhyme fighter looking strong and wearing his signature snap brim hat. Over potato pancakes and reubens on rye bread Ace talked about how rap in Spanish came to be, the truth behind his beef with Eazy-E, and the spliced-up influence of Big Daddy Kane’s eyebrows. Here are some highlights from the conversation:
YOU ALWAYS WEAR CLASSY HATS. WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR HATS?
Greenspan’s in Southgate, where we grew up. Now a lot of people bite the style.
LET’S GO BACK TO THE BEGINNING. IN 1988 YOUR DEBUT SINGLE CAME OUT AND GOT PLAYED ON L.A.’S ORIGINAL HIP-HOP RADIO STATION, KDAY. DID THEY PLAY THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE VERSION “DO THIS” OR THE SPANISH LANGUAGE VERSION “MAS PINGON”?
Both! [KDAY Mixmaster] Greg Mack, I tip my hat to him because even though it was the ‘black’ format he went out on a limb and played that record in Spanish and the response was amazing. All over L.A. kids were happy that rap was in Spanish, then it no longer became just a black thing to do, from that record. [Before the record came out] I remember going to Solar, and Sunshine, and Casablance Records, and they were like, “Rap in Spanish? Get the hell outta here!” I landed at Delicious Vinyl accidentally. DJ Muggs, later of Cypress Hill, was producing a group called 7A3, and he landed a song on the Colors soundtrack, a song called “Why”. And that particular day Muggs had no one to go to the studio with him, I think Sen-Dogg was working, B-Real had a gig at the Compton Swap Meet at the time, so I went with Muggs and we ended up at Delicious Vinyl’s studio on Santa Monica, which was actually Matt Dike’s apartment, the living room was the studio. At that time Mario Caldato was the engineer. Before the session ended, Matt Dike came out from the kitchen where he used to hide with his record collection and said to me, “Hey dude, what’s up? Mellow? Okay dude, well man we’re starting up a new label and we’ve got these two dudes, Tone Loc and Young MC, you probably don’t know ‘em but, here take a listen…” So he played Tone Loc “On Fire” for me, and I said okay. Matt said, “Glad you dig it!” He said, “We’re looking for more artists, are you a rapper?” I said, “Yeah, and I can even rap in Spanish.” He said, “Whut?? Dude, you need to come over here tomorrow so I can put you down on something and see what you sound like bro!” So the next day I used my mom’s Toyota Corolla and we recorded “Do This” that day and then Matt said, “What about the Spanish bro?” and I said, “I got it right here!” so pulled it out and we recorded “Mas Pingon” — we did them both that first day — and they stayed that way until they came out. One take. Matt loved it and called Mike Ross, “I found a kid who can rap in Spanish.” Mike Ross being the genius he is said, “Give him a contract.” Rest is history.
WHAT WAS THE PROCESS OF TRANSLATING THE LYRICS? ENGLISH FIRST, THEN SPANISH? DID YOUR BROTHER HELP?
The art of translating, I always did by myself. It was always easier to write song in English first and then find the appropriate words to match it and rhyme in Spanish. The hardest part would come two years later when I had to write “Mentirosa” and use a style that nobody had done ever and that was to blend English and Spanish together to make one language. That was the toughest part. I was working to finish my album Escape From Havana, and “Mentirosa” was the last song on the album. Tony G had told me, “We’re working on this last song based around this Carlos Santana sample [”Evil Ways” and “No One To Depend On”], but don’t come into the studio to record your vocals until the lyrics are bilingual.” I said, “What? What do you mean? Bother languages at once?” Well, at the time Tony G was really into santeria, and had gotten guidance from his spirit keeper that this was how it was supposed to be, but he just told me, “You figure it out.” So the next day me and B-Real were drinking 40’s and passing blunts out in front of my mom’s house in B-Real’s Pinto, this was 1988 going into 1989, and we were sitting there for hours, nothing was coming to me lyrically, all we had was the “check this out ladies” part and B-Real had came with that. I had to use the bathroom, and I went into the house. Now, where we grew up in Southgate, the houses were only a car’s length away from each other so you could hear everything being said in the neighbor’s house and I’m in the bathroom and I hear the neighbor’s kid, this little Mexican kid named Alvaro, about 11 years old at the time, and he said “Mama, I’m going to the liquor store, quieres venir?” and it was like, ding! A lightbulb went off, I felt like Ben Franklin when he discovered electricity and by the time I got back to the car the lyrics were flowing like whatever: “Check this out baby, tenemos tremendo lio, last night you didn’t go a la casa de tu tio…” And B-Real was like “Where’d you get that shit?” But it didn’t occur to me that we were speaking to our parents all this time in both English and Spanish, especially our parents who were Cuban refugees who were in the process of learning English, and we were raised here in California. I remember when we laid it down the next day with Tony G he said, “Yo this is the one.” It was my least favorite record on that album, but it was the one that made me my place in hip-hop history.
WHO’S THE GIRL WHO APPEARS ON “MENTIROSA”, THE ONE YOU’RE CALLING OUT?
A neighborhood friend of ours from Southgate named Denise who came and did it, it was lovely, she was our homegirl from our little breakdance crew that we’d had years prior. The first TV appearance that we did with that was on The Paul Rodriguez Show, and I called Denise to come out and perform but she got cold feet. So I called my sister Ana to play the part on the show and she came on board and we took it around the world.
YOU ROCKED A PRETTY STRONG HIGH-TOP FADE ON THE BACK COVER OF ESCAPE FROM HAVANA. WHERE DID YOU GET YOUR HAIRCUT BACK IN THE DAY?
We had our own clippers so the crew, we all cut each other’s hair. Sen would cut my hair, I would cut his. The high-top fade was a classic cut in hip-hop, but you had to have the splices in your eyebrows to make it work. Then we went to the regular fade, we brought it down. The first time I ever saw the splices in the eyebrows, Big Daddy Kane had done it, so we did it.
WAS KANE A BIG INFLUENCE ON YOU, ESPECIALLY WITH HIS DANCERS SCOOB AND SCRAP LOVER, LEADING TO YOUR SET-UP WITH B-REAL DANCING FOR YOU BEFORE HE STARTED CYPRESS HILL?
We took pages of game from Big Daddy Kane, LL Cool J, Run DMC. I always had my Cuban panama hat, but the thing that changed it all for me was the guayabera shirt, allasudden people were like “What kind of look is this?” but it made people proud to be Latino again, and that was a cool part of being Mellow Man Ace, the character.
WAS THE WILLINGNESS TO DO LOVE SONGS SOMETHING YOU GOT FROM LL COOL J?
Absolutely. In that era a lot of rap albums had a love song on it. Poor Righteous Teachers had “Shakiyla”, Steady B had “Going Steady”, Whistle had “Barbara’s Bedroom” and of course the biggest one was LL Cool J “I Need Love”.
LET’S TALK ABOUT “RHYME FIGHTER” THE VIDEO, FIRST OF ALL YOU’RE RIDING A HORSE IN THE VIDEO! YOU ALREADY KNEW HOW TO RIDE A HORSE?
No, I learned the day we made the video! I almost ran over the band. They’re playing in a field, and I almost ran over Trouble Funk’s horn section! I rode between the horns and the conga player, and I almost ran the conga player over, it was the first take and I’d never been on a horse. That was my very first video. I didn’t mind that it was goofy. In my quest to find a place to belong in hip-hop, Capitol came with an idea of a spoof of an old western, so…a little bit later N.W.A was pointing guns at the TV screen, but at the time I was like, okay, let’s do the Western spoof. And we did it out in the hills where they used to film M*A*S*H the TV show which I thought was exciting, and we did the video, had a great time, and in the video you can see B-Real. Sen was at work that day, and Muggs wasn’t coming period. But Sugapop from Rock Steady Crew was in that video, and both of my sisters.

YOUR TONE OF VOICE ON “RHYME FIGHTER” IS DIFFERENT THAN YOUR USUAL STYLE, IT’S MORE OF A NASAL STYLE.
That was a style that Rammellzee had used first. [aka the ‘Gangsta Duck’ style] His style was more effect-driven, while I just held my nose and went “Yo MCs!” But I’d taken the idea of changing my voice from Rammellzee. He’s still underrated, he was the personal rapper for Rock Steady Crew back in the day. [rhymes “Beat Bop” pretty much in its entirety] But that’s where I derived that style that later Muggs had B-Real ask me if B could use, and that’s what turned into the style that B-Real made famous in Cypress Hill. We used to study Cold Crush Brothers, Sugarhill Gang, Funky Four Plus One, and they were structured. But Rammellzee, it was like one long rap! That’s where we got that womp-womp-womp for “River Cubano” and where Muggs got that “Cy-cypress hill…” from the record, it was all Rammellzee, that’s how much of an impact his work had on us. Beige label, red writing…
DID YOU HAVE BEEF WITH EAZY-E?
Uhhh…
IT’S ON RECORD, SO YOU CAN’T SAY IT DIDN’T HAPPEN. ON “RHYMEFIGHTER” THERE’S A QUICK SAMPLE SNIPPET OF EAZY E SAYING “EAZY E MUTHAFUCKA” AND THEN YOU COME IN AND SAY “OH WHAT A SUCKA!“
Well see we grew up as b-boys at heart. So knowing the how the guys in the Bronx created hip-hop and what it was supposed to mean as a culture, where you’d battle but there was respect, don’t disrespect the culture, make music the right way. It was about housing niggas, not killing niggas. It was about destroying a crew but not destroying a man physically. We learned the moral side of what hip-hop culture is. It’s about building together, getting together, good times, friends, music. So when we heard N.W.A come out with all this killing shit, we were like, they can’t disrespect hip-hop culture like that, that’s a violation. So based on that alone is why I dissed Eazy-E on the record. He never responded. There was no real beef, it was just my objection to the way he was disrespecting hip-hop culture, the way I felt it was supposed to be.
NOW, YOU’RE ACKNOWLEDGED AS THE FIRST TO DO SPANISH RAP.
Yes it’s true…except…Mister Schick. This is where I heard Spanish rap for the first time. I give credit to Mr. Schick of the Mean Machine. The Mean Machine were a group of Puerto Ricans from the Bronx, this is in 1974-75-76. Sugar Hills Records put out a song called “Disco Dream” [in 1981] where Mr. Schick rapped in Spanish, it was only like eight bars, but that’s where I heard Spanish rap for the first time.
TWENTY YEARS LATER YOU’RE THE CHAIRMAN OF THE LATIN RAP CONFERENCE, WHICH IS COMING UP IN NOVEMBER.
This is our sixth year and we’re growing. Whipper Whip, Disco Wiz, Ruby Dee, all will be given awards at this year’s conference. Quite frankly hip-hop has not said thank you to those guys. Bamabaataa and Kool Herc, they’ve gotten props, but a lot of early b-boys have been overlooked. Pop Master Fable of Rock Steady Crew will be doing a presentation at this year’s conference about the history of Latinos in hip-hop, it’s gonna be amazing.

A new post over at circa45.com focusing on Young MC’s “Principal’s Office” fired us up enough to go digging for that song’s crucial source material: “Who Could Want More” by funky piano maestro Lee Michaels. While “Principal’s Office” didn’t scale the chart heights of “Bust A Move” it’s aged endearingly well, and its Tamra Davis directed video slots in nicely alongside contemporary class room clownin’ clips (see also: Van Halen “Hot For Teacher”) and clearly inspired new jacks The Knux with their current clip “Cappuccino” — though nothing compares to the “Principal’s Office” sight of N’Dea Davenport in a splattin’em blonde wig, purple micro-mini and bumblebee leggings…and now it’s off to the principal’s office you go…

Mr. Delicious would be remiss if he didn’t point out that LeBron James, while a phenomenal ball-player,  has made a few gear gaffes over the years (chief among them would be wearing a Yankees cap while Cleveland spanked the Yanks during last year’s MLB playoffs). But hey, he’s still young, and we all make mistakes. Anyway, all is forgiven, now that King James was seen sporting a Delicious Vinyl t-shirt during the USA Men’s Basketball team’s Olympic preparation sessions. ESPN’s multi-part program covering the event is called “Road To Redemption” and wegottasay, LeBron has now redeemed himself.

Bonus ‘Bron: Here’s M. Walk’s Remix of Tone Loc “Fatal Attraction”…a King James favorite (pure speculation).

MEETING MR. MOULTON

Recenlty Mr. Delicious was fortunate enough to meet up with the one and only Tom Moulton at City Diner in Manhattan. For those who don’t yet know, Moulton is the man responsible for creating the format of the 12-inch vinyl record — which in musical terms means he basically invented the friggin’ wheel. (Moulton mixed the first promotionally released 12-inch — Southshore Commision’s “Free Man” on the Scepter label — and the first commercially available 12-inch — “Ten Percent” by Double Exposure on Salsoul Records). Among his staggering discography of some 3000-plus records mixed are immortal floor-fillers including MFSB’s “Love Is The Message” and Trammps’ “That’s Where The Happy People Go”. On this occasion, we were meeting to discuss Moulton’s brand new album mix of The Brand New Heavies’ long-player Get Used To It (sensibly titled Get Used To It: The Tom Moulton Mixes), yet the vitally voluble Moutlon held forth on topics including Grace Jones’ voice, Andrea True’s porn career, and the difference between a Volkswagen coming at you and a Mack Truck.

Brand New Heavies “Right On (Tom Moulton Mix)”

HOW DID YOU WIND UP DOING YOUR OWN MIX OF THE BRAND NEW HEAVIES ALBUM GET USED TO IT?
I was flicking channels one night then I hit BET and I saw the video for “I Don’t Know Why” and I thought, Brand New Heavies, I know that name. So I went online and bought the CD. When I heard the album it was a diamond in the rough. I knew I wanted to mix them. So I sent Delicious Vinyl an email saying, “If you want to know how this album really should sound, send me the damn parts!” So Mike Ross did. So I mixed “I Don’t Know Why” and they put it out on 12-inch. At that point I said to Mike Ross, “Why don’t you let me mix the entire album?” and he said “Tom we just put the album out! It isn’t realistic!” But I told him, “I’m going to remix it anyway.” So I ended up doing one, then doing another, then another…and then finally a couple months ago he said “What about remixing the whole album?” I said, “That was my original idea!” He said, “Don’t rub it in.”
WHICH ARE THE FAVORITE OF YOUR MIXES FOR THE HEAVIES?
I think “We Got” is something you can’t beat, it’s got that feeling where there’s a party and you wish you were there and the record makes you feel like you’re there, because of the singing and the way they’re playing. You’re creating an illusion that people want to be part of, and that’s so important. And that’s why I like that group so much. It’s not work, it’s pleasure to mix those tracks. You can’t beat good soul. You can’t fight a good soul record. Soul is so strong that no matter what you put up to it it’s going to sound fluffy. The Heavies are so unique in what they do. I like it because it’s inter-racial. Hey, white people got soul too! The very last song “I’ve Been Touched”, when I went and listened to that tape it had that unique hi-hat rhythm that I wanted to get it all down to, so I put those little pieces of piano in there to keep your attention and then when the groove comes in you go woah! And the guitar being so loud and out of nowhere. I was thrilled with that one. And it’s eight minutes long, but not even a little too long. You realize gee the group is soulful but they can rock if they want to. It opens that door a little more. I love those guitars on “I’ve Been Touched” so I turned them up real loud because they come in briefly and meanwhile they’re singing “whatcha gonna do” and it offsets it. I hope the group likes it because I’m really proud of it, I really am.
HOW DID YOU WIND UP PRODUCING THE FIRST GRACE JONES ALBUM, 1977′S PORTFOLIO?
I didn’t want to produce Grace Jones. Her manager was Sy Berlin. I said “Any relation to Irving?” He said no. Anyway, he said “We have this model we’d like you to producer it.” I met her and thought “You gotta be kidding me.” When I first heard her voice I thought she sounded like Bela Lugosi. I said, “Grace the way you sing is like, I vant to zuck your blaaahd.” But I produced her first album and second album. With Grace Jones, we were doing the second album and she goes supernova, a total superstar, and I’m telling you I was going out of my mind watching people bring her orange juice every time she sneezed, catering to her. She had a hit with “I Need A Man”, and then Grace said she wanted to do “La Vie En Rose”. I’d already done it with somebody else who wouldn’t sign the contract, it never got released. So I took it this place where they makes acetates of it so if people go in and ask for “La Vie En Rose” that’s the acetate they would give you. It wasn’t an official release. So Grace said “I have a version I want to do.” And she had gotten ahold of a dub from the acetate and played it for me. When I heard it I wanted to kill her. I said how well do you know the song? She said she knew it. Okay let’s do it tomorrow. She said, “Don’t you have to create the backing track?” I said “Trust me…the track will sound just like this one.” And I took such pleasure in erasing the original vocal and replacing it with Grace’s. Grace did a good job. It was #1 in France, it was a big record for me.
TELL ME ABOUT THE MAKING OF THE ANDREA TRUE CONNECTION “MORE MORE MORE”?
I did a lot of work for Buddha Records at that time, Atlantic and Columbia. Art Kass was the president of Buddha and he’d send over acetates and tapes to me to see what I thought. He sent me a tape of “More More More” where the instrumental was the a-side and the vocal was the b-side. I called Art and told him, “If I tell you why I like it you won’t believe me. I like it because of that schlocky Herb Alpert style trumpet solo in the middle of the song.” It was so hokey but there was something magical about it. The tape had so many mistakes on it, it was an eight track that was overdubbed. I thought I’d gotta take the verse out because it doesn’t make any sense: “the camera’s rolling/ get the action going…” Then I realized that there was no other verse! So without it there’d be no song. But when I heard the chorus “How do like it/ More more more!” I thought it was about the music! So I made it as pretty as possible. And then I found out afterwards what it was, that she was a porn star! I had no clue otherwise I would have passed on the song. But I had no idea, I’d never heard of Andrea True. But the song went top 5 on the pop charts, number one in club and disco play. I laughed over it.
WHERE DID YOU FIND THE PATIENCE TO DO THE EARLY MIXES, SPEND EIGHTY HOURS TO MAKE A 60 MINUTE MIX?
Easy. I always wanted to make something sound like it cost a million dollars to make. Nothing can sound too expensive. And I always like the idea of impressing somebody by giving them class and sophistication. That way, if you have all these records but one sounds like it was a million dollar production, it stands out. I didn’t have the money but I wanted that advantage, and the only way to get that advantage was to put the work into it. It was easy for me because I would take something I liked. When your first record goes to number one and sells a million the only way to go is down. So I put lead shoes on to keep my feet on the ground. It’s so easy to fall into believing all that…so I let my work speak for me and charge everybody the same price so I wouldn’t work any harder for you than I would for anyone else.
WHEN YOU FINISH A MIX DO YOU KNOW IT’S DONE OR DO YOU TEST DRIVE IT IN A CLUB?
No. I knew when something was finished and it worked, trust me. “Don’t you go to clubs and listen to what other people are doing?” Why should I, they’re all copying me! Not as an ego thing, but I didn’t have the time to go out to clubs, I was working. Remember, I wasn’t making dance records, I was making records you could dance to. The reason is that I would get so much play on the radio, not just in the clubs. I knew what was a turnoff to people because I used to be a promotion man. So I made sure none of my records had those negatives in them. If I take all the negatives out of a mix, what remains is all positive. I was always pinching myself, I was the luckiest guy in the world to do all those records. It was a thrill. I still can’t believe. The first few records were remixes, but after that I’d do the original mix. I hear something finished in my head. Then I work to make it be that. When I heard the Brand New Heavies it was a match made in heaven, I’m on exactly the same page as they are. If there’s an ounce of soul in any record, I will find it. And the Brand New Heavies have a lot more than an ounce of soul.
WHO’S YOUR FAVORITE RHYTHM SECTION YOU EVER GOT TO WORK WITH, THAT YOU LIKED MIXING THE BEST?
Believe it or not it’s still [Ronnie] Baker [on bass], [Norman] Harris [on guitar] and [drummer Earl] Young. Those three guys when they were on, nobody could touch ‘em. Nobody. Not the Motown guys. See I got spoiled when I went to Philadelphia. I cut so many records there, and I’d get there a little early and they’d be there in a session. I’d be watching while they’d be running something down. All of a sudden Earl or Norman would say “Let’s take one!” Because things started to click. Once it locks, they had it. You knew it, you could feel it in the room. And I think that’s what I miss most about music. When I mix I use that same concept, because if the rhythm section is all on the same page, it’s easy as pie. It’s like the difference between a Volkswagen coming out you or a Mack truck. And if everyone’s together it’s like a Mack truck. All those years in Philadelphia I saw how musicians connect. But most people don’t record that way, they have charts and they don’t have the freedom to jam. In Philly if the groove was happening they’d let the tape keep running. And so some of the best shit happens after the three minute mark. When I did Philadelphia Classics people said to me, “How could they not have used those ad-libs of Teddy Pendergrass in Don’t Leave Me or Bad Luck?” and I’d say, “Well, they were thinking three minute single, and that was just a rough vocal anyway.” But I used it in my mix because they were kickin’! So I used them because it would peel people off the wall!
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE TRAMMPS RECORD THAT YOU DID?
Well that’s Baker, Harris & Young again, that was them at their best, that was their group. And every one of those tracks from the ballads to the uptempo stuff, the tracks are flawless in the rhythm section. The excitement is there. It was such a thrill to work with those guys. After I did the first Trammps record I thought if I die tomorrow I’ve achieved what I want to achieve. That was the greatest thrill of my life, and then I ended up doing every one of them. You have no idea how lucky I feel. “Rubberband” was used as a sample in a lot of rap records. That Buddha album, if notice there’s a song called “Tom’s Song” that’s named after me. When they left Buddha and went to Atlantic, that’s when Jerry Greenberg called me in and played me the new Trammps record “Hooked For Life” and asked me what I thought of it. I said it’s alright, but I know those guys and Jerry they must have sent you three songs, can I hear the other ones? If you let me mix this other song, that’ll be the single. So I went down and did it, and that’s “Where The Happy People Go” and that was the huge hit. But after “That’s Where The Happy People Go” I went to Art Kass back at Buddha and said “We’ve got almost enough for a Trammps album, do you have any tracks left from them?” He said not really. So I said, “Hmm, if they only had a couple more songs.” So I went to Earl and said “Earl, is there anything?” Because I spread a rumor about Trammps The Legendary Zing album, but there was no such album. I was spreading this rumor “I think the Legendary Zing is coming out soon” and people said “What Legendary Zing album?” And you know a rumor is working when it comes back around to you. It was a buzz everywhere. People in Europe were asking me about it. So I went to Earl and he said he had a couple things they did before they went to Atlantic. So we got “Hold Back The Night.” And I said, “Let’s have a nice cover for the LP.” Earl told me they’d just gotten new dungaree outfits. I said, “Why don’t we go down to the Philadelphia freight yard and shoot there.” And that’s the cover of the Legendary Zing Album. The thing about “Hold Back The Night” was a huge worldwide hit, but I slowed it down, that’s why Jimmy Ellis sounds so funny. The vocal sounds horrible but it’s the groove that makes it work! I slowed it down to make it that shuffle beat that makes you squirm. It was an album track that was forced out as a single. In 1975 I did something for Bunny Sigler called “Free Man” by South Shore Commission and slowed it down but because it was slowed down the vocals were lower and  every body thought it was about two men! They thought it was two men singing! But it was Sheryl Henry singing female part. Scepter Records called me and told me to make it a hit so I did, I knew it would be a hit if I slowed it down. Sheryl Henry was mad about that, that people thought she was a man.
DO YOU HAVE A CONDENSED THEORY ABOUT WHAT MAKES A MIX WORK?
I like music to build. If music doesn’t build I associate that with being in a hospital bed, flat-lining. Life is like rolling hills. When you’re sitting down listening to something you get bored very easy unless you’re doing something. But if you’re just sitting there and there’s no build, you’re bored. It’s gotta move, take people on a journey. The music makes me high. When the music is taking you on a trip, it took me on the same trip. You’re trying to communicate and tell a story. Tell the story as close to visual as you can so the person who’s listening is creating the visual portion of it.

On Wednesday June 18th Baltimore’s own Aaron LaCrate & Young Verb visited the studios of KXLU Los Angeles to get wise, rap about rap, and reveal their latest plan for taking over the world one gutter at a time. KXLU DJs are Bianca O’Blivion and Dick Riordan were the hosts, while Young Verb broke down what it meant to grow up in B’more: “You make it past 21, you happy!”

DIG ON THE AUDIO STREAM OF THE SHOW….