For those who don’t know, I met DJ Premier only one time in person. It was still in the days that 50% believed in the notorious “Don’t Tell Me (DJ Premier Remix)” by Madonna. For those who still don’t know, it was going to be released on a German version of the twelve inch single. But we never found it so I asked Preem about the remix and he told me that he mailed two versions to Madonna and she both rejected them, so I asked him if we would ever hear those remixes and he said that the instrumentals will be on “Beats That Collected Dust” serie so.. Don’t ask me which beats he ment… When I’m going to meet DJ Premier again I have 4 questions and this Chi-Ali record is one of them.
Who doesn’t know Chi-Ali should go and learn a few things, but why should I not explain it in my own words: Chi-Ali was the youngest member of the Native Tongues Posse, at an age of 14(16?) he recorded in 1992 a hip hop debut jewel called “The Fabulous Chi-Ali” with classics like “Age Ain’t Nuthing But A #” and “Funky Lemonade“. It was the only album he made. A few years later he murdered his sisters boyfriend because he owned him 300 dollars and some cd’s. Before he was arrested in Harlem in 1999 (2001?) he was in the program “Americas Most Wanted”. Now he is serving 14(?) years of jail. Sad story…
But there was this track, floating on the internet, produced by DJ Premier, written by Chi-Ali. Most of the people couldn’t tell me where it came from but they all knew the track, the quality wasn’t that good. It could be ripped from vinyl or it could be ripped from a cassette. So I would ask DJ Premier the history behind this record… But I think I know it, it’s ripped from cassette called “Relativity Rap Up Vol. 2 Sampler“. It’s a sampler tape released in 1993 by Chi-Ali’s record company. The scans of the tape tells us it was a track for his upcoming album that never got into retail. So now we know, and we also know there is an unreleased Chi-Ali album… Here are the scans of that tape:
Enjoy:
Man i just love this track. I always play that on my Gigs. I thinks that track is one of the best grimmey applications of the Lafayette Afro Rock break!
I Just love it!
It’s Timeless.