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Difference between Jonzun Crew Pak Man/Pack Jam

DirtyBeatGuyDirtyBeatGuy 297 Posts
edited November 2005 in Strut Central
I've got the Pak Jam 12" on Boston International and for some reason never noticed the name change on Tommy Boy until recently the BI version got re-issued. What's the deal on this one?

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  • hsulu_nationhsulu_nation 110 Posts
    According to Michael Jonzun, "Pak Man" was intended (partly) to capitalize on the Pac Man craze. They pressed it up on Boston International and it's somewhat hard to find. I don't think he authorized the "reissue" himself; I asked him about the Boston International pressing a few years ago and it didn't sound like he really wanted to go back to that stuff. He was busy trying to reunite Mountain with Ed O.G. rapping on top and putting together a younger, schoolboy copy of Monster Magnet called Revolutionary Young New Group or something like that.

    Anyhow, before they signed to Tommy Boy to re-do "Pack Jam," there was "Pak Man," and man is it better than that Tommy Boy bullshit (and I mean that in the most respectful way possible). The original is just much harsher, a lot darker/more dystopian and if you listen very closely (and do some acid, perhaps) you realize it's a totally different song. I mean, that shit is not about Pac Man "watching out." It's way too creepy. The synths, the bodybag drums phasing in and out and that Vocoder (paging Dave T) up the creep factor, way up. There's the part where Jonzun is supposedly going "Pac Man/Watch out!" through the Vocoder but if you squint just right he's actually going "BLACK MAN/WATCH OUT." It's fucked man. Goosebump city. Unfortunately I didn't ask him about this. And according to Jonzun, my name is Zapato.

    Anyhow, they remade the song so it wouldn't be about Pac Man (and thus incur some weird video game/hip-hop lawsuit) or black men. Years later, a little kid Donny Wahlberg would be faced with a choice at a record store. He chose the Jonzun Crew. More years later, Michael's brother Maurice Starr chose to ditch New Edition and mentor Donny and his boys, thus initiating the dark but interesting period of American history known as New Kids on the Block. And somewhere before NKOTB and after "black man watch out" the other brother Donny Johnson recorded a pretty sick 45 called Burning Fire or something like that.
  • DirtyBeatGuyDirtyBeatGuy 297 Posts
    Nice. Thanks for the info.
  • SIRUSSIRUS 2,554 Posts
    Nice. Thanks for the info.
  • soulmarcosasoulmarcosa 4,296 Posts
    He was busy trying to reunite Mountain with Ed O.G. rapping on top and putting together a younger, schoolboy copy of Monster Magnet called Revolutionary Young New Group or something like that.

    MORE hsulu_nation POSTS PLAESE
  • jekilljekill 1 Post
    Mandela Effect
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