Late 90s NY hardcore rap -- the tunnel, ruff ryders, pun, etc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4amwrIayiO4

what are ur fav traxx??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdUA1t2owAs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kF8DmcyC-g

^^^capone jumps in the audience when someone throws a drink on him

best part of that is the pause before he decides to jump

bikerchic650 (1 year ago) Show Hide
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i remember the lox SHUT the tunnel down the Sunday they came out for their first album release...whooooo weee! and the next week i think dmx did his vid shoot....CRAZY!!!!

i miss those days ::sigh::

one of my fav cru songs is 'live at the tunnel'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiFcIHGWEoA

my fave cru joint:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2rct18-iSM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbnXV-qHnfA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oM_lFtEFidA

ny was kiling it up til around ... what, '02? wtf happened

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBU1cT0FY7M

kosovo343 (2 weeks ago) Show Hide
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the guy in the background needs to turn up his hearing aid or something because he cant hear anything.
What...What... What...What... What...What

rockleemaster79 (2 weeks ago) Show Hide
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XDDDD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTyp-d7yIys

i was gonna post "get At Me Dog," but i figured you wanted deep cuts and i didn't want to put my thinking cap on

ny was kiling it up til around ... what, '02? wtf happened

I always figured it was G-Unit's quick rise to Kings Of New York and then when everyone copped their style, they devolved into self-parody mucho quick

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAlpG7kODzg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd4AgT2FWMA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uPbSA170MM

on a fucked up browser so dunno what other people posted. but

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnqa0x-jff4

is not by the strictest definition late 90s but close enough.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VguTgrBL-dA

Eve's debut is the best Ruff Ryders record I've heard. If it wasn't for the boring ballad closer, it'd be a perfect album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d3TfbjJUEU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcdgExRatrA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdSt2tP5URk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmsAw7xrcKM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyTrtZRfDN4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DabklBnUPqg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkAx5y6IXLs&feature=related

That Rah Digga record is one of the most underrated in all hip-hop history imo.

philly but still in the same vein and always loved this song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUMNFpYaPEY&feature=related

^ram squad "ballers up in here"

basically hip hop needs more dudes riding around on four wheelers and motorcycles

http://upnorthtrips.com/post/353391825/dj-clue-desert-storm-98-side-a-hard-knock-life

this is what im talkin bout

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Tu5L8dmRl8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raK7fAbCNcI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fC8EAQ8xhM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0PnCe0uHso

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC4ORS5n9Hg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPgTSUXqzBo

That right there might be my favorite.

WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXGme1K_NeE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCV5zCzojy8

WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT!

― talrose, Tuesday, January 26, 2010 2:37 PM (10 minutes ago)

Can't seem to find a Youtube video for it, but my favorite track of this period by far is Busta Rhymes ft. Mystikal "Iz They Wildin Wit Us And Gettin' Rowdy Wit Us."

http://best.complex.com/lists/Cipha-Sounds-Presents-The-75-Greatest-Tunnel-Bangers

thats a great fucking piece, finally treating rap like more than some fucking game of intelligence vs. stupidity stratego & more like well how ppl cover dance music for example ... what was the crowd feeling, who were into what songs & why they were into them ...

lmao @

71. "Piña Colada"
Artist: Ruff Ryders feat. Sheek Louch and Big Pun
Producer: Swizz Beatz
Year: 1999

Cipha says: "In a weird way, it was probably one of Pun's biggest records in the Tunnel—that and 'Banned From TV.' And I'm sure Sheek made the record with Pun to bag more Puerto Rican girls."

such a dope track too ... that first ruff ryders comps is so classic

some of this stuff is like, yeah man exactly!!! its like real fukkin music criticism

69. "Give Up The Goods (Just Step)"
Artist: Mobb Deep
Producer: Q-Tip
Year: 1996

Cipha says: "Would've been a bigger record in the Tunnel if it had a hook. The intro was one of the best intros ever, but no hook, so it was hard to get out of it. Mentally, you might've skipped over it."

65. "Holla Holla"
Artist: Ja Rule
Producer: Irv Gotti & Tyrone Fyffe
Year: 1999

Cipha says: "It's just a classic call-and-response Tunnel banger. And Ja Rule's biggest hit, Tunnel-wise."

this makes tons of sense, could have called it

Yeah noz otm saying that this is da capo type ish in a way -- if only complex wasn't more interested in shoe galleries

Lol at deej of all ppl criticizing ppl for treating rap as "intelligence vs stupidity"

52. "Bout It Bout It II"
Artist: Master P
Producer: Beats By The Pound
Year: 1996

Cipha says: "At the time when Flex was playing this, the only people who reacted were literally the dudes that used to hustle drugs down South. They'd come to New York and they'd go down South to sell. We used to call them 'I-95ers.' It'd be like 200 people reacting to this record. To the regular customers, it sounded like straight noise. But the hustlers down South, they saw how this record really got reaction. From there, it just grew and it spread. And the I'm Bout It movie came out, and that's how it blew up."

Lol at deej of all ppl criticizing ppl for treating rap as "intelligence vs stupidity"

― hoos gossage (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, July 13, 2010 8:48 PM (17 seconds ago) Bookmark

wtf u talking about / why u all on my nuttz lately.

Ha @ straight noise

I'm saying that you do that all the time

would add something but i'm just gonna spend my night listening to these one by one front 2 back first

shit every new pageload is just like... ahhh

64. "I'm Goin' Down"
Artist: Mary J. Blige feat. Mr. Cheeks
Producer: Chucky Thompson & Sean "Puffy" Combs
Year: 1994

Cipha says: "It was perfect to play after 'The What,' Biggie and Method Man. It's probably my favorite Mary record of all time."

^^ cipha probably does merit da capo status with a foolish opinion like that

gender stuff in this is super interesting

god complex ads are the fucking WORST

haha i love this

Cipha says: "This is back when the Trackmasters were running the Tunnel. I broke that record in the Tunnel. Album cut off The Firm. I was a huge Nore fan—me and him did a lot of things together back in the days. This is one of my favorite joints off The Firm album, it was so random. I definitely got the 'shoulder' on this record. When me or Kap would play certain records—like an early version or a brand-new joint—sometimes we'd get the 'shoulder.' Flex would put his hand on your shoulder and say, 'Don't play that next week.' Or he'd just literally take your record and stick it in his crate. We were the testers."

43. "Ain't No Nigga"
Artist: Jay-Z feat. Foxy Brown
Producer: Jaz-O
Year: 1996

Cipha says: "That was Jay-Z's first big Tunnel hit. Big Kap broke that record in the Tunnel. He got the 'shoulder.' It has the male-female, 'back-and-forth' thing."

holy shit @

41. "10 Crack Commandments"
Artist: The Notorious B.I.G.
Producer: DJ Premier
Year: 1997

Cipha says: "Obviously, huge record, because the Tunnel was definitely full of drug dealers. The reason why it was big to me was because it was originally an Angie Martinez 'Top 5 at 9' promo with Jeru rapping. She used to play it on the radio every night, and when Biggie heard it, he wanted it. If you listen to the song and you hear Premier's scratches, the numbers in the background, it stops at '5' and then he starts over at '1' and then he goes straight to '9'—'cause it's a 'Top 5 at 9' promo. This is when I was real underground, and I was like, 'How could they steal that from Jeru!' Angie says she has the original on a DAT in her closet but she won't look for it for me."

41. "10 Crack Commandments"
Artist: The Notorious B.I.G.
Producer: DJ Premier
Year: 1997

Cipha says: "Obviously, huge record, because the Tunnel was definitely full of drug dealers. The reason why it was big to me was because it was originally an Angie Martinez 'Top 5 at 9' promo with Jeru rapping. She used to play it on the radio every night, and when Biggie heard it, he wanted it. If you listen to the song and you hear Premier's scratches, the numbers in the background, it stops at '5' and then he starts over at '1' and then he goes straight to '9'—'cause it's a 'Top 5 at 9' promo. This is when I was real underground, and I was like, 'How could they steal that from Jeru!' Angie says she has the original on a DAT in her closet but she won't look for it for me."

fucking

34. "Where Brooklyn At" (Freestyle)
Artist: The Notorious B.I.G. & 2Pac
Producer: Mister Cee
Year: 1993

Cipha says: "Mister Cee had pressed this up and put it out on bootleg because he's the one that actually recorded it at the Garden at the Budweiser Superfest. We used to always play Biggie's verse and cut it off when he says 'smacking babies at they christening.' Right there was a perfect spot to throw in another record, 'cause there's a little gap. One night, Mister Cee was DJing, and he kept playing the record to the 2Pac verse—which some of us didn't even know was there. And the crowd went fuckin' crazy. From that point on, the 2Pac verse always played."

man i had no idea that the tunnel was into 'i love you baby' -- always been my sleeper favorite track off that album

"...And Black Rob used to hop out of a Dominican gypsy cab whenever he came to the Tunnel—with two Spanish girls, every time."

thats an amazing piece. A+++

damn

i guess i never put it together that "money ain't a thang" came out before "bling bling" cuz i just now realized that dupri says "jigga i don't like it if it don't gleam-gleam"

address of the Tunnel is now a Tom Colicchio sandwich shop

lol

great article

that first ruff ryders comps is so classic

^^^^^

I think I have to sit down and familiarise myself with all of these tunes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rknNci3T4xw

I love that dude mentioned Cru ... heres my fav Cru jam & a perfect example of how wide ranging the artists working around this scene could really be

btw noz posted a link to a zip of all this shit

REAL RAP HEADS KNEW THEM ALL ALREADY lol

i think that's kinda an overdetermination, with cru - not to say tunnel artists couldnt be "wide ranging", but whatever... something about cru was kinda unique though - even maybe prototypical to nowadays? - where you got the vibe they (yogi mainly i guess) was kinda a semi-outsider to all the real street shit, really observant and selfaware on the low; obviously the album goes thru a stylistic pallete but it's in a vignettey short film sort of way - the skits are jarmuschy almost iirc (or haha maybe just seinfeldy) - and note how cipha sounds in the piece mentions they did 'live at the tunnel' channelling the vibe almost as a tribute after seeing 'pronto' (their best song, where the cru-ness all comes together in one statement- completely unique!) take off there first

obv i'm not saying yogi was the og diplo or anything but maybe sorta like a prince paul figure i guess

yeah they were a special case certainly 'just another case' was not v. tunnellesque BUT i think that this kind of track fits in pretty well!

sry for the lexxian lack of an argument im running late ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESo_4GqjKeo

i always wouldve imagined this to be on a tunnel banger list, maybe not top 75 tho i spose

i love all the stories where they play out a new track over and over and over for however long - outside of dancehall maybe i can't remember the last time i heard anyone do similar or even felt like doing so myself tbh :(

really good article on the decline and fall of the tunnel era (and how that's affected NYC rap in general)...

http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/editorials/id.1620/title.the-light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel

this is cool!