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E-A-Ski "One Step Ahead of Yall"
E-A-Ski "Straight Business"
It's easy to dismiss much of the No Limit catalog as a "guilty pleasure" -- the cotton candy to Rap-A-Lot's steak dinner -- and is often pointed to by the so-called "rap purist" (along with Ca$h Money) as being responsible for the downfall of "real hip hop" in the 90s-00s. However, that argument paints a picture of the label with a brush that's far too wide.
The truth is, among the "uhh's" and shouts of "No Limit Soldier, I thought I told ya!" are some truly great rap records soundtracked by an in-house production team, Beats By the Pound, who developed a sonic landscape that would help sell millions of records. Now, maybe not every platinum release from the label stands the test of time, but undoubtedly Master P & co. were tapping into a sound that resonated with a hell of a lot of fans.
Unfortunately, many of these platinum releases are now out-of-print, and most of the early, pre-Priority releases never saw wide distribution. So with that in mind, this site will attempt to catalog the best of what the No Limit label has to offer -- the forgotten gems from Lil Ric, the full TRU roster, and Tre-8, to slept-on records from Fiend, Magic and Young Bleed -- and all the other good shit in between.
To start, here are two tracks from E-A-Ski's 1992 release 1 Step Ahead of Yall. The producer from Oakland was an original member of TRU, and dropped this record on "The Tank" (as well as a couple of 12"s along with CMT) before a falling out with P had them go their separate ways. The tracks showcase a heavily g-funk-influenced, West Coast sound that bore little resemblence to what the label would come to represent. (As you may remember, the label was located in Richmond, CA, where P's mother lived, until 1995.)
If anyone has additional information/corrections on early No Limit/In-A-Minute releases, please leave it in the comments. Thanks for coming through.
(Big thanks to Percy Mack for the audio.)
Posts
Props.
ReplyDeleteThe transition of NL from a record store/small studio on the Bay to the south-ruling, million-selling quasi-major label is unique.
I'm only starting to listen to NL material, I wasn't around when the shit was hot, unfortunately. I'm curious to see, or rather hear, if there are any consistencies in sound & style between the NL bay era and NO era.
I read in an old Murderdog interview with KLC that P brought him and other Beats by the Pound members to the Bay and they connected with Bay Area producers like Studio Ton. These interregional connections in the mid-90's are really interesting.
A question: Do you have "E-A-ski $ CMT EP"? Noz posted one track from that many years ago.
But it's nowhere to be found in it's entirety.
I like the two tracks you posted. Is that what they call Mobb Muzik?
Thanks for the comment. Do you happen to have a scan of that Murderdog interview? I would really like to read/post it.
ReplyDeleteI currently do not have a copy of that EP, but I am on the lookout for it...seems pretty difficult to come by.
Also, I'd say this is Mobb Muzik, yes, though it may pre-date the term...I'm not entirely sure.
I'd like to try and show the evolution of the label's sound, from the Ski/CMT stuff to BBTP, which is why I am starting w/ the label's early years first -- hopefully this works out.
Here's the link:
ReplyDeletehttp://rapvault.net/showthread.php?t=19862
There's also a Murderdog archive somewhere, but I can't find it real quick.
O.K., KLC didn't meet Studio Ton, but E-A-Ski and Al Eaton (one of Too Shorts' producers, I guess). KLC talks about bay area music a lot in this interview. Good one.
Scratch that, I just found Ski & CMT EP, so be looking out for that in the coming weeks.
ReplyDeleteThat's cool. Very nice.
ReplyDeleteHere's the Murderdog archive, there's probably more interesting interviews to be found:
http://www.murderdog.com/archives/1998/1998_archive.html