Tuesday, November 29, 2005

DREAM WARRIORS, GANG STARR + KOOL G RAP: NO SHAME IN THEIR REMIX GAME
posted by O.W.



Dream Warriors + Gang Starr: I Lost My Ignorance (Gang Starr Remix)
From "Follow Me Not" 12" (4th and B'way, 1991: Germany)

Kool G Rap: It's a Shame (Butcher Mix)
From "Fast Life" 12" (Epic, 1995)


A quick update for mid-week with two cuts I had sitting around for a minute.

I'm not going to lie and say the Dream Warriors were unsung MCs - they were never that great, but they did have good taste in music and as it was on this song: partners. Gang Starr joined the Warriors for "I Lost My Ignorance" (a pairing sure to make all the acid jazz kids go nuts) and while the original version wasn't bad, this Gang Starr remix (which only appears on German copies of the "Follow Me Not" single) is considerably better with its smooth basslines and electric keys. It's almost good enough to make you forget the corny chorus.

As for the Butcher remix of "It's a Shame," that dark, moody loop (taken from, if I recall, a Ryo Kawasaki LP) is ace, sounding almost as ill as Kool G. Rap does. This track makes me nostalgic for G. Rap at his prime: straight up, one of the baaaaaaaaadest MFers to touch the mic; one line from him is more menacing than the G-Unit's entire catalog.