the genius of a-plus

Roy Johnson · Post by **Roy Johnson** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 2:31 pm

What is your favorite A-Plus beat?

Souls Of Mischief - Cab Fare
http://www.zshare.net/audio/37748043172ddf/

Souls Of Mischief - Step To My Girl
http://www.zshare.net/audio/3774492e33c7ed/

Souls Of Mischief - Good Feeling
http://www.zshare.net/audio/39009551970bfa/

Souls Of Mischief - Batting Practice (Original)
http://www.zshare.net/audio/3901377c4818e1/

Souls Of Mischief - 93 Til Infinity
http://www.zshare.net/audio/39014912f3694f/

Souls Of Mischief - 93 Til Infinity Remix
http://www.zshare.net/audio/390209943f7fa9/

Souls Of Mischief - Never No More
http://www.zshare.net/audio/39012084ac7c11/

Souls Of Mischief - Never No More Remix
http://www.zshare.net/audio/390109760d9547/

Pep Love & Jay Biz - Every Day Of The Week
http://www.zshare.net/audio/3901223ea8f509/

Tajai & Extra Prolific - Let It Ride
http://www.zshare.net/audio/3901784428801a/

Del - Thank Youse
http://www.zshare.net/audio/3901800efd004a/

Del - Catch A Bad One Remix
http://www.zshare.net/audio/39013933d12997/

Hieroglyphics - The Who Remix
http://www.zshare.net/audio/39017804e38cc0/

Hieroglyphics - You Never Knew
http://www.zshare.net/audio/390216634a8117/

Hieroglyphics - Mics Of The Roundtable
http://www.zshare.net/audio/3902068505b4d4/

A-Plus Production Discography
http://www.discogs.com/artist/A-Plus

His discography isn't extensive, but he's easily one of the most slept-on producers of the 90s.

My Top 5:
1. 93 Til Infinity
2. The Who Remix
3. Step To My Girl
4. Cab Fare
5. Batting Practice (Original)

Thun · Post by **Thun** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 2:47 pm

Every Day of the Week is an amazing flip of that sample that Q-Tip used on the LP version of "Temperature's Rising." Hell I'd say it's even better than that. So that might be my favorite beat of his.

Radio Raheem · Post by **Radio Raheem** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 2:48 pm

Holy shit. Thanks for the ups. My fave is '93 till Infinity but thats probably a given so second is Cab Fare.

YouTube · Post by **Philaflava** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 3:03 pm

good thread

PopsUK · Post by **PopsUK** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 3:11 pm

I never even realised these were A-Plus beats! Some of the best from Hiero...

bringinoutbangerz · Post by **bringinoutbangerz** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 3:16 pm

"You Never Knew"

citizen · Post by **citizen** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 3:25 pm

you never knew is probably the best beat ever thats essentially not that good of a beat if you know what i mean

didnt he produce soweto? that should be up there too

Thun · Post by **Thun** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 4:08 pm

"Never No More" is criminally underrated because the legions of whigger weedhead longboarding suburban trust fund rastafarian vegetarian co-op dwelling peacenik milque toast pie-in-the-sky Green party voting Aceyalone reggae incarnation roadies that comprise their fanbase do no allow any discussion of the Souls of Mischief to transcend OMG 93 TIL INFINITY IS THE TITEST RAPP SONG I EVER HEARD OTHER THAN THINGS YOU CAN DO ON DELTRON levels of banality.

ardamus · Post by **ardamus** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 4:10 pm

I've always been a big fan of Del's "Thank Yous". Those drums are some of the sickest I'd ever heard. Good thread.

Y@k Bollocks · Post by **Y@k Bollocks** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 6:01 pm

[quote="Paragraph President"]"Never No More" is criminally underrated because the legions of whigger weedhead longboarding suburban trust fund rastafarian vegetarian co-op dwelling peacenik milque toast pie-in-the-sky Green party voting Aceyalone reggae incarnation roadies that comprise their fanbase do no allow any discussion of the Souls of Mischief to transcend OMG 93 TIL INFINITY IS THE TITEST RAPP SONG I EVER HEARD OTHER THAN THINGS YOU CAN DO ON DELTRON levels of banality.[/

THESE R THE TITEST POSTS I EVER READ.

Gurped Out · Post by **Gurped Out** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 8:16 pm

A Plus is the man with the beats.

Jaz · Post by **Jaz** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 9:38 pm

All are dope, It would have to be "93 Til Infinity" for me and do you know the reason why "Cab Fare" was unreleased?

glavet · Post by **glavet** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 11:00 pm

I always loved "Never No More"

Jaz, "Cabfare" was never released because they couldn't clear the "Taxi" theme...not sure if it was the TV show itself or if it was Bob James, who created that.

read dummy! · Post by **read dummy!** » Sat Sep 29, 2007 12:29 am

Philaflava wrote:good thread

Roy Johnson · Post by **Roy Johnson** » Sat Sep 29, 2007 12:44 am

glavet wrote:I always loved "Never No More"

Jaz, "Cabfare" was never released because they couldn't clear the "Taxi" theme...not sure if it was the TV show itself or if it was Bob James, who created that.

I can't remember where I read it, but Bob James specifically said that they "bastardized" his song.

Roy Johnson · Post by **Roy Johnson** » Sat Sep 29, 2007 12:49 am

Some of the tracks that A-Plus sampled:

Ahmad Jamal - Ghetto Child (The Who Remix)
http://www.zshare.net/audio/3909829c10165e/

Billy Cobham - Heather (93 Til Infinity)
http://www.zshare.net/audio/3909912c110aee/

Bob James - Angela (Cab Fare)
http://www.zshare.net/audio/3909977db3155d/

Grover Washington - Aubrey (Step To My Girl)
http://www.zshare.net/audio/39099617730cd3/

Crusaders - Hallucinate (Thank Youse)
http://www.zshare.net/audio/391002453b4d6a/

Jaz · Post by **Jaz** » Sat Sep 29, 2007 12:54 am

Roy Johnson wrote:
glavet wrote:I always loved "Never No More"

Jaz, "Cabfare" was never released because they couldn't clear the "Taxi" theme...not sure if it was the TV show itself or if it was Bob James, who created that.
I can't remember where I read it, but Bob James specifically said that they "bastardized" his song.

I think it was an Ego Trip or Mass Appeal magazine but yeah Bob James hated it, but he liked what RZA had done with 'Nautilus' on 'Daytona 5000'

Just testing the old noggin for knowledge

Roy Johnson · Post by **Roy Johnson** » Sat Sep 29, 2007 12:57 am

Jaz wrote:but he liked what RZA had done with 'Nautilus' on 'Daytona 5000'

Nice.

Maybe Bob isn't such a bitch after all.

"Bastardized" is a pretty strong word, though. That stays with you.

Thun · Post by **Thun** » Sat Sep 29, 2007 3:01 am

Also, "Cab Fare" is kinda wack.

blastmaster · Post by **blastmaster** » Sat Sep 29, 2007 3:06 am

Latch-Key Child >

glavet · Post by **glavet** » Sat Sep 29, 2007 3:56 am

Roy Johnson wrote:Some of the tracks that A-Plus sampled:

Ahmad Jamal - Ghetto Child (The Who Remix)
http://www.zshare.net/audio/3909829c10165e/

Billy Cobham - Heather (93 Til Infinity)
http://www.zshare.net/audio/3909912c110aee/

Bob James - Angela (Cab Fare)
http://www.zshare.net/audio/3909977db3155d/

Grover Washington - Aubrey (Step To My Girl)
http://www.zshare.net/audio/39099617730cd3/

Crusaders - Hallucinate (Thank Youse)
http://www.zshare.net/audio/391002453b4d6a/

Word, thanks man

Money Gripp · Post by **Money Gripp** » Sat Sep 29, 2007 4:56 am

"Cab Fare" was a great flip of the Taxi theme. I don't see how they "bastardized" it.

Thun · Post by **Thun** » Sat Sep 29, 2007 1:50 pm

Money Gripp wrote:"Cab Fare" was a great flip of the Taxi theme. I don't see how they "bastardized" it.

It's a terrible usage of the sample, no disrespect to A-Plus, and if I remember correctly, Bob James' complaint was not that his sogn was bastardized, but that "Cab Fare" just sounded bad, which it does.

Money Gripp · Post by **Money Gripp** » Sat Sep 29, 2007 2:18 pm

Paragraph President wrote:
Money Gripp wrote:"Cab Fare" was a great flip of the Taxi theme. I don't see how they "bastardized" it.
It's a terrible usage of the sample, no disrespect to A-Plus, and if I remember correctly, Bob James' complaint was not that his sogn was bastardized, but that "Cab Fare" just sounded bad, which it does.

Well, maybe I don't remember the original as well as I thought, but I think it's a dope track nonetheless.

Also I picture Bob James as looking like Bob Ross. I'm picturing a white guy with an Afro who could have been a yacht rocker or maybe a fringe member of the SDS flipping out when he hears "Cab Fare", screaming at his agent on a giant cell phone:

"They bastardized my 'Taxi' theme, Terry ...No, I won't calm down, goddamnit! I'm Bob Fucking James! I fucking wrote 'Nautilus', maaaaan!"

Roy Johnson · Post by **Roy Johnson** » Sat Sep 29, 2007 2:52 pm

I found a Tajai interview here:
http://www.youthradio.org/music/010215_souls.shtml

Tajai: So, the production style I think has grown, but it includes sampling but we gotta be more careful about the samples nowadays. Our first album, I think we spent a hundred grand on samplesג¦

YIC: Yeah I remember hearing about the Bob James incident.

Tajai: Basically it's like that! We made a song for the Cab Fare thingג¦We made it when I was 15. It was before I started driving. I was 15, so that's 1990. Awright, our company was pushing for that song to be on our record until 1995, so that's how long sometimes a sample will take to clear. And then on top of that the sample didn't even clear because Bob James only owns a portion of it. Paramount, who owns "Taxi" the TV show, they own the rest. So, it's all those types of issuesג¦ most of the time the artist is not the sole owner of the music. Most of the time when you get sued for samples, it's not the artist like "Man! They sampled my stuff!" It's some dude who doesn't know the artistג¦the artist may be dead or out of the country or whatever, but it's some dude like, "Oh that's my company's property, lemme go get my money."

Tajai is my favorite member of Souls Of Mischief, but every time I hear one of his verses, I think of Saafir uttering "You pencil-neck, piss-colored Gumbi...you can't fuck with me!"

I also found this Galvatron thread from January, and it quotes the same interview:

http://www.philaflava.com/forum/viewtop ... &p=1102399

Otherwise, I couldn't find jack shit. The internet sucks.

torchETB · Post by **torchETB** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 11:01 am

citizen wrote:didnt he produce soweto? that should be up there too

yeah, he did. i'm always pleasantly surprised to look through liner notes and find his name in the production credits. dope track.

ganglyon · Post by **ganglyon** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 4:34 am

Paragraph President wrote:Also, "Cab Fare" is kinda wack.

fools be trippin'

Huldrich Bullsh!t · Post by **Huldrich Bullsh!t** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 5:33 am

never thought cab fare was so special either.

is soweto available on vinyl? its on this dvd one big trip right?
thats a dope ass song. and is this dvd interesting to watch?

torchETB · Post by **torchETB** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 9:53 am

Huldrich Bullsh!t wrote:never thought cab fare was so special either.

is soweto available on vinyl? its on this dvd one big trip right?
thats a dope ass song. and is this dvd interesting to watch?

i'm pretty sure it's on vinyl, and i'm pretty sure i have it. i don't really spend any time at my record shelves anymore, so i could be making this up.

it's on the One Big Trip soundtrack, which is on the opposite side of the DVD. the documentary itself is nothing great. then again, i have a high tolerance for uninteresting movies, so i can say i'm glad i peeped it.

Cab Fare is special if you're old or otherwise if you jock Souls. I heard it before 93 Til dropped, when all Souls had out was Burnt, and i thought hey man, that's fucking great that local kids are making hip hop fun. i didn't expect at the time that anyone outside of California would be checking for it.

then the album came out, and the rest, as we know, is public record. the fact that people don't like the old old shit is not a problem for me, because i know that the material was from before they were ready for prime time so to speak.

PopsUK · Post by **PopsUK** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 2:25 pm

Soweto is definitely on vinyl... I'm pretty sure it was released as a single, not just the whole One Big Trip LP.