The Biz vs. the dude in the next office
oldjeezy
134 Posts
I work with a dude who used to be with CTI. I just asked about Mardis Gras w/o the bells, briefcase, etc. He didn't know, but said it was entirely possible because they liked to do stuff like that...C. Taylor does many mixes of tunes, with a huge catalog of stuff in the vaults. For example, Boys 11 Men's "End Of Our Road" played by Grover Washington, Kenny Garrett and a third (poss. Stanley Turrentine?) that will never see release.I got my boy on the trail now to verify the legendary briefcase-no-bells.
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he could make fat $$$$sack if he did
That's what I'm sayin'...apparently there were a lot of alternate mixes already done back in the day.
Sad thing to me is that this dude didn't seem familiar with all the sampling from Mardis Gras. I think they're probably a little clueless as to who their audience is these days.
I think it was Bob James, at least that was the rumor. I wonder if that came about because of the whole Souls of Mischief "Cab fare" sampling of the Taxi joint. Wasn't there some misunderstanding there? Something about people saying it was Bob James who tried to file a lawsuit aginst them or some shit, but it ended up being somebody else who owned the rights to the record? I dunno, it's all real hazy, but I believe that weas discussed at length here on the strut at some point. I may be way off on that...
Speaking of the suitcase, I saw a picture of it somewhere recently, it was brown leather (i'm assuming, maybe it was vinyl) with little gold CTIs all over it a la a louis vuitton handbag or something, right? I hope this story unfolds completely one day. I know there've been multiple people on here claiming to be on the case, but no results yet.
(a) CTI still existed by the early nineties? (They must have, to be covering a Boyz II Men song...)
(b) And Grover Washington, Jr. came back to CTI after all that time?
a) was resurrected in 1990 & was functioning (in a way) through to 1998.
b) Grover Washington was a Columbia artist & Columbia held the CTI masters from 1978 through to the 90s?
Is possible I guess.
i believe he did some stuff with rob swift as well.
Yea, on that last Swift LP ('sound' something). I think Bob's quote was old and taken out of context. I'm pretty sure it was something like.......I don't listen to rap, I don't understand why they pay me and don't just make their own music. Nothing hatefull, just observation.
Just because Hip Hop dudes made it into a classic, doesnt mean that James sees it more than a regular album cut.
Id like to know when it debuted, what songs were actually promoted and played at the time.
Im sure dj just found it by happenstance, and not anticipating the album.
where is that video of bob james playing over that snippet from "daytona 500"...
BJ hated "Cab Fare" - he said they made him sound cartoony, like on some Mickey Mouse schitt, by speeding him up (I believe it was the WildStyle DVD where Paul Simon's publisher put the kybosh on Mardi Gras) but he's cool w/sampling if he likes the use of his material
There's a little insert in a lot of the LPs w/a pic of the suitcase - you'd get in by sending in a bunch of those inserts w/some cash I think... so I'm sure there's plenty of them out there...
He said he hated cab fare and wouldn't clear the sample. There were like five more the played for him, but he said his favorite thing he ever heard that sample him was Daytona 500.
Kind of funny, since as hot as that beat is,
it's pretty much just a straight loop, right?
Maybe that's why he likes it, cause it just sounds
like rapping over his track.
He should have said BEATS TO THE RHYME
he said something along the lines of he liked how rza changed the key and made it almost stutter giving it a hectic dark feel the changed the mood of the original. Or something like that. I'll scan it if i can find it.
-Creed"
That's it. All I got- no briefcase or "no bells" mentioned...but definitely 2 promo versions of "Mardis Gras".
I expressed my desire to see a compilation of outtakes/ different mixes.
1) He doesn't own the rights
2) He's such a perfectionist, there's probably something "wrong" in the unreleased stuff.
Sounded pretty
frickin'fuckin' good in 1988.i would still rather hear beats to the rhyme
Just because rza is wack now doesnt give people the right to walk around talking bout daytona 500 beat was wack.
I would even say that cti is wack, bob james is hella wack smooth jazz garbage, or that take me to the mardi gras is actually a wack ass cover of a wack paul simon song or some shit before i would say daytona 500 is wack.