The following was taken from Diggers With Gratitude. Like Chris the first time I heard the track was on DJ Rhettmatic's - Piece Of Shit Vol 4 which I threw up on my blog along with Vol 1 & 2. Here's what Chris from DWG had to say.
Now DWG only offered up a snippet of it in their review, so here is the full track which I spliced out from Rhettmatic's Mixtape."I'd originally heard the track on a DJ Rhettmatic mixtape - and I flipped out. I had to ask the man himself for some more info.
According to Ras, "I made/produced 'Jack Frost' on an SP1200 by myself sittin' at the house. I just liked the sample of Nat King Cole, but my album was already done, so I made it for fun".
The unusual vocal sample, 'Jack Frost nipping at your nose' (taken from Nat's 'The Christmas Song'), and freaky background loops were topped with thick drums and Ras's humourous lyrics:
"I'm sporting triple-down rain gear,
Dumping on flying raindeer.
And that overweight queer with the red and white sleeping apparel,
Sliding down chimneys, but staring down his double barrel..."
Clever lyrics aside, the track refers to the true meaning of Christmas and flips 'Santa' into 'Satan', whilst giving you enough momentum with the beats to keep you locked in and listening. I was hooked and I scoured the magazines and record listings to see when it was dropping. The last I saw of it in '96 was in a DJ Babu chart in 'The Flavor' magazine, so I was sure it had to exist on wax somehow.
Fast forward to the year 2000, and a weird-looking 12" turned up with 'Jack Frost' on one side and the remix of 'Anything Goes' and 'Live From C-Arson' - both of which had already appeared on a Priority promo 12" in 1996 - on the flip. No label info, but there were 'street', 'radio' and 'instrumental' versions, so I was sure it was something to do with the label. By this point, Ras's problems with his old label were well-publicised, so it was likely Priority were just milking things unofficially - it was an open secret that the track would not have got sample clearance for the Nat King Cole sample. I picked it up regardless, all the while hoping to cop an 'official' pressing at some point. According to Ras, "The pressing was basically a bootleg - but people from the record company did it".
Fast forward, again, to 2005 and I had the opportunity to pick up a one-sided test pressing with 'On Earth As It Is...' and 'Jack Frost' on. Despite having been told that I should've been looking out for a test press on Specialty, this was a Rainbo Records pressing - and the previous owner had written 'This shit is neva coming out!! This is only 1 of 25 made' on the blank label on the flip. More research concluded that this is exactly what Rhettmatic had been cutting up in his mix all those years ago - and was the only 'proper' press of the full track.
There were no additional versions - just a 'radio' cut of 'On Earth As It Is...' and a 'street' cut of 'Jack Frost' - so I assumed nothing would be different to what I'd already got on the bootleg.
Wrong.
'Jack Frost' on the test press has a 'cleaner' introductory section than the bootleg's radio-ish intro and is a full minute longer, weighing in at 3.51, compared to the bootleg's 2.48 (the bootleg fades out after the closing "So niggaz better bring more 'Heat' than Al Pacino and Robert De Niro..." line).
The original version's extra minute is filled with Ras giving props and some cutting - "I think Q-Bert did the scratch..." - of Nas's 'I leave 'em froze like hero(i)n in ya nose' from 'It Ain't Hard To Tell'.
The 'Golden State Warriorsssssss! Come out to playyyyy!, with the bangin' bottles, is a dope additional element to the outro sequence. Was this outro chopped off the end because Ras was shouting out the Golden State project? Was it because Sony wouldn't clear the cutting up of Nas's voice? Who knows?
There was a sampler cassette of 'Soul On Ice' ('Sampler On Ice', given out with selected copies of The Source magazine - and not to be confused with the 'Soul On Ice' demo version), which had a minute and a half of 'Jack Frost', and as mentioned already, the track was featured on DJ Rhettmatic's 'U Call Dis A Mixed Tape? Piece of Shit Vol. 4' tape. Other than this test press, there is no vinyl of the full version of the track."
http://www.zshare.net/audio/6265299358856f09/
I think Rhettmatic actually did the cuts tho and not Q-Bert due to the fact that Ras was down with Western Hemisphere and was featured on Key Kool & Rhettmatic's E=MC5.
The Mixtape rip will have to do seeing how there are only 25 Test Presses but does anyone actually have a nice rip of the Test Press Version?
awww shit mad props Kool Max Power! Can't wait...