Pete Rock - Lost & Found: Hip-Hop Underground Soul Classics Review

Posted by Phil Watts, Jr on 03.01.2008

The nucleus of what could have been Soul Brother Records…

(Recorded in 1995; OFFICIALLY released in 2003, BBE Records)

What could’ve been…

You got your own label. You got your own sound. You got a few artists on tow to help build the label (yeah, they’re not the biggest names on the market, but that’s what ARTISTIC DEVELOPMENT is for.) On top of that, you have one of the illest logo’s on the planet (You know--the afro’d-out soul brotha with the pick in his hair.) You’d think with all this, and the backing of Elektra Records, you might have a winning formula on your hands, right? Unfortunately, another Mt. Vernon native was hitting big, and the wonderful people at Elektra Records wanted Pete to start making records like him. Knowing full well that doing so would cause him to lose his whole fan-base, Pete refused, resulting in Elektra pulling their support and putting Soul Brother Records in limbo.

Pete would spend years fighting over the masters that were his Soul Brother recordings, only to find that one of his projects had been bootlegged on the internet. In 2003, the folks at BBE got a hold of the masters of two of those recordings--InI’s CENTER OF ATTENTION and Deda, THE ORIGINAL BABY PA--and promptly released them to the general public under the name Pete Rock’s LOST & FOUND: Hip-Hop Underground Classics.

InI--CENTER OF ATTENTION

InI is a group that consists of four members: Grap Luva (Pete’s brother, who you heard doing a little freestyle in the interlude between “TROY” and “On and On” in the MECCA & THE SOUL BROTHER album), Rob-O (who you heard in “The Basement”), Rass, and Marco Polo (not to be confused with the Canadian producer of the same name), with Pete hopping in the vocal booth from time to time.

There a much more polished sound compared to most PR-related recordings, where the funk shit takes a back seat to a more lush, smoothed-out sound. Most of the funky horn shit that Pete was known for was replaced with vibes, Rhodes, and more filtered sounds. The first (and sadly, ONLY) single, “Fakin Jax”, served as an indicator of what this album is all about as far as the album’s sound goes, with its lush harps and sparse arrangements. (FUN FACT: Both Pete & Rob-O’s verses were actually subliminal disses toward C.L. Smooth because of the ugly break-up.) Then you have the somber “Life I Live” which brilliantly uses two recognizable samples: Minnie & the Rotary Connection’s “Memory Band”, which started off Tribe’s “Benita Applebum”, and the “Juicy” vocal snippet of Biggie uttering the song title. Then you have the Tribe-like feel of “To Each His Own”, which features both Q-Tip & Large Professor (who was set to give us his LP around the same time…only to be singing the same song Pete sang when his project got axed as well. Same with Tip and his last few projects. *Sigh*) While these three songs were the main highlights beatwise, much of the album follows the same smoothed out vein.

As for the MC’s…

It’s one thing to bring together a bunch of established talent for a compilation album, already knowing their strengths and weaknesses. However, trying to develop some home grown talent is a whole different ballgame, and both of INI and Deda’s albums (the latter I will get to), Pete has much to learn. Of the four MC’s, only two of them have some potential: Rob-O and Grap Luva, who Pete still works with from time to time. Rob-O sounds like a combination of Dilated’s Evidence and The Guru, as he has a sly monotone that sets him apart from the other three. Grap, while his voice is not as distinguishable as Rob’s, is still just as mellowed and just as well rounded an MC. None of this can be said about the other two members, Rass and Marco. Sometimes it’s hard to even tell their voices apart and some of their rhymes are so amateurish, they make Group Home sound like Organized Konfusion. Rass “Steps Up” and stumbles over himself with rhymes like, “You know you can't cope with Rasta with the fire in his eyes/Yo, it ain't no surprise/I keep it live to survive the system Shit-stem/I can't get caught up as a victim/But if I do, I go out lickin' […uh…]/FL-L-L stickin' [???], cause I'm bout fed up as a fatboy/It's time for I.N.I. to make noise!” Equally unremarkable is Rass’ verse (or was it Marco’s verse?) in “Square One” (you could tell Pete was suffering while trying to make adlibs during his verse), and don’t get me started on the downright silly “Grown Man Sport”, where everyone delivers random-ass verses, Pete gives us one of the dumbest hook ever (“LALALAAAAA--LALALAAAAAAA-LALALAAA-LALAAAAA-LALALAAAAAA---It’s a grown man’s sport!” BRILLIANT!!!) and it ends with a really painful reggae attempt that shouldn’t have been tried.

Another thing about this release is that BBE did a disservice in not providing the proper credits. You see, BBE gave Pete Rock credit for producing the entire album, yet Grap had some unaccredited beats here. In fact, Pete even gives Grap credit for making the “Step Up” beat in the closing moments of the song. Equally jarring is the inclusion of two songs from Rob-O’s SUPER-SPECTACULAR album, “Don’t You Love It” (a way-out-of-place Nore-style song) and “Wanderlust”, neither of which had any involvement from Pete Rock despite BBE giving him the credit (both were produced buy Spunk Bigga and Grap Luva respectively.) BBE should’ve done some research before sending this album to press.

Then we jump to disc two--

Deda--THE ORIGINAL BABY PA

Whereas InI was given a more soulful approach, Pete gave Deda a stronger, more jazzy, funk-filled affair to compliment his chunky, Greg Nice-style vocals. “Everyman” kicks things off with an unapologetically smooth track which features Pete still letting off steam after the breakup (“I can count in one hand who’s my man and that’s very few/smile in my face, behind my back you talk trash/that shit won’t last so put a quarter in your ass/and being self-centered is really bad for your health…ah man FUCK IT--It’s Everyman for himself!”) Other standout tracks here are “I Originate” with its acoustic bass and synths, “Nothin More” where he flips the same sample used for the “Jazz” remix and mixes it with a fly Nas snippet (“I rock for listeners, blunt heads, fly ladies, and prisoners!”) Likewise, he flips another Tribe-related sample (Q-Tip’s beat for Apache’s “Gangsta Bitch”) for the drum heavy funk-fest, “Rhyme Writer”, and “Press Rewind” will have you pressing ’repeat’ because of how funky the beat is. The album ends with the equally funky “Understand?” with its jazzy horn samples and heavy drums.

However, Deda himself is much better in small doses, like a hook or a guest verse. He’s good at the occasional ’fat kid/cake’ line (“definitely on some BOOGER/SNOT SHIT!”), and he’s good for an occasional guest verse, but he suffers in trying to keep people’s attention in a whole album by himself. Because of that, it’s a relief when Pete jumps in and bails him out in both “Everyman” and “Press Rewind”. It’s one thing to have Pete Rock’s beats carry you, but it’s another for someone like Pete to lyrically outshine you on your own album.

In another BBE fuck-up, a song called “Markd4death” was included. This song has no vocals from Deda, but instead, includes another group called the YG’z, aka the Young Gunz (not to be confused with Jigga’s Young Gunz or Premier’s NYG’z). BBE doesn’t include them anywhere in the credits…which is bad news, especially considering Pete’s less-than-pleasant run-in’s with them after their STREET NIGGA album bombed. And I refuse to believe that Pete Rock had anything to do with the synthesized mess that is “How I’m Livin”. That should’ve stayed on the cutting room floor.

One peculiar thing about both of these discs: with the exception of one short reggae snippet that starts off the InI album, there are NO INTERLUDES TO BE FOUND ANYWHERE ON EITHER DISC. My guess is that Pete would’ve added the interludes if he was sure that both albums would be released when he intended them to. Oh well…

THE GOOD (“WE GOT A HIT, GURU PETE!”): “The Life I Live”, “Fakin’ Jax”, “To Each His Own”, “Center Of Attention”, “Everyman”, “I Originate”, “Nothin More”, “Press Rewind”, “Rhyme Writer“, “Understand”

THE BAD (“Naw--y’all not leaving the studio until y’all get it RIGHT!”): “Grown Man’s Sport”, “Don’t You Love It”, “How I’m Livin’”; no interludes.

The 411: If only Soul Brother Records would’ve worked. Pete is already a master at making incredible beats, but by being a label-head, he would’ve been forced to learn other aspects of being a producer, particularly, artistic development. Given time, he would’ve been able to take these MC’s and helped them to meet their potential. Unfortunately, ’time’ was one thing the people running Elektra Records wouldn’t give him, leaving two albums with underdeveloped MC’s being carried by incredible beats. With the exception of Rob-O (who would later drop RHYME PRO, which included material from his below-the-radar SUPER-SPECTACULAR solo album) and Grap Luva (who developed into a well rounded producer in his own right), most of the talent roster disappeared after this experience. All in all, if you’re the type that doesn’t mind zoning out the sub-par rap performances and concentrating on the beats, this is the album for you.

Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]