Spice 1 "187 He Wrote"
"Welcome To The Ghetto" and "187 Proof" are often cited as classic Spice 1 songs. And they are. I like the first one anyway.
My favorite song by far though is the less hailed "187 He Wrote", an epic ballad of despair, where the artist born Robert L. Greene, Jr. describes the feelings of hopelessness and deprivation that come with being a young man growing up in the hood. The line "Waking up inside of my hoopty, holdin my glock, full of fright" assumes greater relevance when you take into account the 2007 incident where he was shot inside his car.
I'm curious what it is about someone that makes them prefer this kind of music? It seems as though most people prefer party music of some sort.
I'm reminded of a Psychology Today article that I can't find because Psychology Today online is a piece of shit. Anyway. I had a great point that I couldn't really make without the article. It is what it is.
Here's two more of my favorite Spice 1 songs:
Spice 1 "Strap On The Side"
It's kind of hard for there to be a better east bay gangster rap song than this. I don't know if it is possible. Also, notice the creative cinematography in this video. Rather than shooting this in the middle of the ghetto they opted for shots with evergreen trees in the background, police chases through what looked like smalls towns in Texas (I should know, I drove through there recently... and Spice 1 was born in Texas. Connection?), and the boring ass dry grass hills that California is (or should be) famous for. Think that strip between Castro Valley and Dublin, minus the wind power generators.
It could be that I'm buzzing but I just took particular note of the line "Nick nack patty whack give a G a gat. And put some bullets in that ass crack". That's a line that could only be written in the unique transitional time in hip hop that was the mid-90's. This was an era when you could mix nursery rhymes with extreme violence and make it work.
Spice 1 "Face Of A Desperate Man"
I don't know what to say about this song other than everything about it screams classic. Notice how they try to jack a white boy, and then he pulls out a strap and starts bustin back at them, ostensibly the reason his homie gets shot. The part of me that liked epic beard man's AC Transit fight also likes this. Well shot video in all respects, too.
DJ Screw x ESG "Sailin Da South"
Bonus Trivia: The beat to this song was sampled on DJ Screws remix of "Sailin Da South" by ESG from his classic album 3 N The Mornin Part 2. That's some non-bay area rap game I just laced y'all with. Get that or Big Tyme Records Volume 1: All Screwed Up if you want to hear DJ Screw at his finest.
My favorite song by far though is the less hailed "187 He Wrote", an epic ballad of despair, where the artist born Robert L. Greene, Jr. describes the feelings of hopelessness and deprivation that come with being a young man growing up in the hood. The line "Waking up inside of my hoopty, holdin my glock, full of fright" assumes greater relevance when you take into account the 2007 incident where he was shot inside his car.
I'm curious what it is about someone that makes them prefer this kind of music? It seems as though most people prefer party music of some sort.
I'm reminded of a Psychology Today article that I can't find because Psychology Today online is a piece of shit. Anyway. I had a great point that I couldn't really make without the article. It is what it is.
Here's two more of my favorite Spice 1 songs:
Spice 1 "Strap On The Side"
It's kind of hard for there to be a better east bay gangster rap song than this. I don't know if it is possible. Also, notice the creative cinematography in this video. Rather than shooting this in the middle of the ghetto they opted for shots with evergreen trees in the background, police chases through what looked like smalls towns in Texas (I should know, I drove through there recently... and Spice 1 was born in Texas. Connection?), and the boring ass dry grass hills that California is (or should be) famous for. Think that strip between Castro Valley and Dublin, minus the wind power generators.
It could be that I'm buzzing but I just took particular note of the line "Nick nack patty whack give a G a gat. And put some bullets in that ass crack". That's a line that could only be written in the unique transitional time in hip hop that was the mid-90's. This was an era when you could mix nursery rhymes with extreme violence and make it work.
Spice 1 "Face Of A Desperate Man"
I don't know what to say about this song other than everything about it screams classic. Notice how they try to jack a white boy, and then he pulls out a strap and starts bustin back at them, ostensibly the reason his homie gets shot. The part of me that liked epic beard man's AC Transit fight also likes this. Well shot video in all respects, too.
DJ Screw x ESG "Sailin Da South"
Bonus Trivia: The beat to this song was sampled on DJ Screws remix of "Sailin Da South" by ESG from his classic album 3 N The Mornin Part 2. That's some non-bay area rap game I just laced y'all with. Get that or Big Tyme Records Volume 1: All Screwed Up if you want to hear DJ Screw at his finest.
Man bro when i was in middle school only 14 i had this whole album on replay #classic shit right here! had it on a tape i dubbed from a friend damn crazy memories off this 1
ReplyDeleteAwesome post.
ReplyDeleteSpice 1 was untouchable back in the day and it's a bummer that when most people look back on West Coast rap from the 90's they only consider 2Pac, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, etc. rather than Spice 1, C-Bo, E-40, and Brotha Lynch Hung.