1 – Gotta love the orientation choice from this Discogs upload (as well as all across YouTube ups). The artist is Insomniac, the record is Don't Sleep, and for some reason this guy also hates the letter N. ∅ailed it.
Look folks, you can put quotes 'round those footnotes.
06. Mission Burrito Project1 – My Goals Beyond ft. B-Ski Rocks | San Francisco, '96
07. Grand the Visitor – Bring It Live | Milpitas, '96
08. Messy Marv – Children's Story | San Francisco, '96
09. Kool Kaz (Alski) – Pass the Blunt | Oakland, '96
10. Raw Soul – Dialect | San Francisco, '96
11. Eclipse-427 – Pressure Point | East Palo Alto, '96
12. 10BASS T – Open Your Eyes | San Jose, '96
13. Mr. Sandman – Everyday, All Day | San Francisco, '96
14. Jed Dust – Strictly King & Better | San Francisco, '97
15. Big Nous – Fatal Thoughts | Oakland, '97
16. Double Life – Revolutions | Oakland, '97
17. The 1628 Factor – Lyrical and Original | Redwood City, '97
18. Tommy V – Nevermind | San Francisco, '97
19. Sanuhtayshun Duhpartment Muzik – Shut Up!!! | Oakland, '97
20. A-Plus – Greed | Oakland, '97
21. The Funk Force Collective – The Invitation | San Francisco, '97
22. Nitrous Ox – Tekillya Sunrize | South San Francisco2, '97
23. 3X Krazy – West Coast Shit | Oakland, '97
24. Lazerus Jackson – Chopsticks ft. Jason the Argonaut | Bay Area, '97
25. Living Legends – Awaken Ya Mind ft. Doze, Pep Love, Sunspot Jonz, & Luckyiam.PSC | Oakland, '97
Peace to DJ Kenny K, Schmoovy Schmoov, Shock G (and Humpty Hump) of Digital Underground.
Minor liner notes on Volume 11
1 – This tape was sold for $3 to raise funds to make vegan burritos for the homeless. Upon learning of this, my friend who used to live in an area of The City known as the Tendernob (Tenderloin + Nob Hill) called it “the most San Francisco thing” he had ever heard.
2 – I should've brought this up earlier, with The Organization in '91, but for non-Bay residents, South San Francisco isn't me making a distinction about what portion of San Francisco someone is from. South San Francisco is its own place.
Look folks, you can put quotes 'round those footnotes.
1 & 2 – MC X and L-MC. Two almost impossible to Google names, with no posted discographies online. They shared management and were seemingly planning on working together on a Dynamic Duo project. (Maybe the name XL MCs was too easy.) Did it ever happen?
Look folks, you can put quotes 'round those footnotes.
1 – Only in the Bay could you have two groups, each with their own misspelling of derelicts.
2 – I try to decode all types of acronyms, backronyms, and initialisms. As far as I can tell, DGSB just stands for the duo's literal initials. Daniel Green and Shaun Bivens.
Look folks, you can put quotes 'round those footnotes.
03. Rappin' Ron & Ant Diddley Dog – Smoke Season (Extended Version) ft. Goldy | Oakland, '94
04. Kritikal Phlavor – Drop the Reel | Oakland, '94
05. Saafir1 – Late '94 Wake Up Show Freestyle (Pre-Battle Casual Callout Diss) | Oakland, '94
06. Strong Soul – On a Saturday | Oakland, '94
07. The Gr8 T.J. – Fear My Freestyle | Richmond, '94
08. Swift – Here It Is | Richmond, '94
09. 2 Prolific – Choices | San Francisco, '94
10. Rondo & Crazy Rak – No Justice, No Peace! | San Francisco, '94
11. Lyrical Storm – Attack Mode | Oakland, '94
12. Dazes – Frisco Undaground | San Francisco, '94
13. K-Maxx – Be 4 Real | San Francisco, '94
14. A.K. Black – Riddle of Steel | San Francisco, '94 15. Mental Prizm – Strawberry Moon | Bay Area, '94
16. Extra Prolific – Go Back to School ft. Pep Love | Oakland, '94
17. Funk Shack – Summertime | San Francisco, '94
18. 3-Deep – For Da '94 | Oakland, '94
19. Groove Shop – Spins | Berkeley, '94
20. Rappin' 4-Tay – I'll Be Around | San Francisco, '94
21. Playa-Ju – Play It Like It Is | Fairfield, '94
22. Smoove Black Poetz2 (S.B.P.) – A Gun Don't Make a Man | Oakland, '94
23. Blackalicious – Swan Lake | Davis, '94
24. Various Blends – X Hues Me | San Mateo, '94
25. N2Deep – High Sidin' | Vallejo, '94
Peace to Rappin' Ron, Saafir, Crazy Rak, K-Maxx, Gift of Gab from Blackalicious, and Lofty of N2Deep.
Minor liner notes on Volume 7
1 – See Sidebar(s) segment below.
2 – On both the cassette and 12” version, someone wanted to make it real clear that this project was being bankrolled by none other than Gary Payton, then about five seasons into his career as a Seattle SuperSonic. To make it even more apparent, the “record label” (who released nothing else) is Bouncin Ball Records and their logo is...you guessed it, a basketball. Clearly The Glove was investing his wealth by helping some homies from around the way, back in his hometown of Oakland.
Look folks, you can put quotes 'round those footnotes.
Sidebar(s)
We're a week in, halfway through. You know what that means. Time for a brief storytime intermission. There's one battle that holds an oversized reputation and influence in this scene. Y'all know the one. So my dilemma was, do I address it? Do I avoid it? I can't really comfortably do either. So instead I'll share some history that doesn't often get told.
If you somehow don't know, or need a refresher course, Shomari Smith's 2021 short film does a good job of recapping. Except (and this is no fault of a short trying to summarize an over forty minute long event in nearly half that time,) it didn't cover just how much Saafir was hounding and goading Casual with taunts and barbs prior to the actual day. So we flip the script over and here's Saafir in the weeks leading up to the battle, on the air at the Wake Up Show and he's freestyle dissing Casual the entire time. This much important lead-up has nearly been lost to history.
But wait, there's more! What we used to only see Rap Pages magazine photos of and hear whispered rumors about, now exists as documented proof on YouTube. Another filmed battle, also from prior to the KMEL battle, with both writtens, freestyling, and also an audience. The infamous footage of Saafir face-to-face against Casual on stage, stealing Casual's wallet, and handing it back to him, while rapping the whole time. Absolutely legendary. Live from the Krash Palace in San Francisco. Also included is a portion of the Dereliks' show beforehand, all filmed and uploaded by Luke Sick of Sacred Hoop, with DJ Hen Boogie showin' up in the comments section.
Supposedly this is the battle Chino XL is referring to on Riiiot! when he said: “Take you out like Saafir took out Casual.” Who knows?
So why not include this in the anthology instead? Because the audio is fairly bad. The video, therefore, is an even more important part of this. So I kept it a visual thing.
(I've read that this might be from Friday, September 16th, '94. There was a show there on that date featuring Del, Pep Love & Jay-Biz, Mystik Journeymen, The Nocturnals, Lyrical C, with DJ Apollo. Someone else said Tajai was also there that night. Problem is, Casual, Saafir, Dereliks, Sacred Hoop, none of those guys are mentioned. So my guess is it's a different Honey Presents Showcase at the Krash Palace, with Hiero members, from around that same time.)
I tried to limit my selections to songs rather than freestyles. I made an exception for Saafir. Whereas Casual has Hiero and a catalog of music to fall back on, this is too big of a part of Saafir's legacy to be left unmentioned.
