Cipha Sounds on the Tunnel classiques

mannybolone

Readable. Listenable. (Even if it's with Complex's annoying page advance system).

I'm feeling VERY nostalgic for the late '90s right now.

http://best.complex.com/lists/Cipha-Sounds-Presents-The-75-Greatest-Tunnel-Bangers

phongone

Really good, such a great era of music. I never knew that the Alkoholics got love out on the east coast.

Hotsauce84

Tha Alkaholiks are the West Coast Beatnuts.

Why they never joined forces to make a song called "Lik 'Nuts" is beyond me.

mannybolone

Herm said:

Tha Alkaholiks are the West Coast Beatnuts.

Why they never joined forces to make a song called "Lik 'Nuts" is beyond me.

SO REAL

Brian

this is pretty awesome

Brian

This is a quintessential Tunnel record because it would definitely not play anywhere else. A street anthem. Like, how could you dance to this?

Every time you were in trouble at the Tunnel???'cause mind you, after a half-hour of Tunnel bangers, you were getting into dangerous waters???this record would always save you. You had to be on point because it felt like you could lose your life if you didn't play what they liked.

:killin_it:

Hotsauce84

mannybolone said:

Readable. Listenable. (Even if it's with Complex's annoying page advance system).

I'm feeling VERY nostalgic for the late '90s right now.

http://best.complex.com/lists/Cipha-Sounds-Presents-The-75-Greatest-Tunnel-Bangers

Is there any website that just lists these in one shot?? This design is just downright STUPID. /frustrated

mannybolone

Herm said:

mannybolone said:

Readable. Listenable. (Even if it's with Complex's annoying page advance system).

I'm feeling VERY nostalgic for the late '90s right now.

http://best.complex.com/lists/Cipha-Sounds-Presents-The-75-Greatest-Tunnel-Bangers

Is there any website that just lists these in one shot?? This design is just downright STUPID. /frustrated

It's all about getting page clicks. I can't be mad; this is how online publications manage to generate any kinds of ends.

mannybolone

This was fun to read but in revisiting these tunes, it only confirmed that 10 years later, I still wasn't that into "the Tunnel sound". I figured maybe time would mellow my prejudices but I still can't really get with a lot of the Trackmastersz/Hitmen/Swizz Beatz styles.

Controller_7

I love Cipha Sounds. When he was the host of that show on MTV he would constantly make fun of the guests and half the time they didn't know it, especially the young rapper dudes. He'd say something right to their face and they wouldn't even get it or know how to respond.

deej

this is some of the greatest shit.

gloom

juan epstein

Jonny_Paycheck

mannybolone said:

This was fun to read but in revisiting these tunes, it only confirmed that 10 years later, I still wasn't that into "the Tunnel sound". I figured maybe time would mellow my prejudices but I still can't really get with a lot of the Trackmastersz/Hitmen/Swizz Beatz styles.

I'm glad you said this because I was suppressing my urge to yell "you hated on ALL this schitt back then!!"



no diss

Jonny_Paycheck

... some of these dates are weird. Mobb Deep "Give Up The Goods" 1996? I guess that's when the 12" dropped?

mannybolone

Jonny_Paycheck said:

mannybolone said:

This was fun to read but in revisiting these tunes, it only confirmed that 10 years later, I still wasn't that into "the Tunnel sound". I figured maybe time would mellow my prejudices but I still can't really get with a lot of the Trackmastersz/Hitmen/Swizz Beatz styles.

I'm glad you said this because I was suppressing my urge to yell "you hated on ALL this schitt back then!!"



no diss

And I still kind of do. I still don't find DMX listenable, I still don't get why Black Rob really ever had "a moment" and the idea that Memphis Bleek had a "club banger" is comedy to me. But I loved reading Cipha talk about these songs and how they played; at that point, whether you liked the music or not is secondary to just the colorfulness of the anecdotes.

That said: I don't know if anyone here ever went to the Tunnel but for real - was Flex REALLY cutting back and forth *on an intro* for 20 minutes? Or playing "Hypnotize" for 45 minutes straight? I mean, I like that song as much as anyone else but 45 minutes? Really?

HarveyCanal

First record I thought of was Busta's Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See and sure enough it's #2.

b/w

I know people who eagerly love this mini-era of NY-centric rap, but I am definitely not one of them.

Jonny_Paycheck

mannybolone said:

Jonny_Paycheck said:

mannybolone said:

This was fun to read but in revisiting these tunes, it only confirmed that 10 years later, I still wasn't that into "the Tunnel sound". I figured maybe time would mellow my prejudices but I still can't really get with a lot of the Trackmastersz/Hitmen/Swizz Beatz styles.

I'm glad you said this because I was suppressing my urge to yell "you hated on ALL this schitt back then!!"



no diss

And I still kind of do. I still don't find DMX listenable, I still don't get why Black Rob really ever had "a moment" and the idea that Memphis Bleek had a "club banger" is comedy to me. But I loved reading Cipha talk about these songs and how they played; at that point, whether you liked the music or not is secondary to just the colorfulness of the anecdotes.

That said: I don't know if anyone here ever went to the Tunnel but for real - was Flex REALLY cutting back and forth *on an intro* for 20 minutes? Or playing "Hypnotize" for 45 minutes straight? I mean, I like that song as much as anyone else but 45 minutes? Really?

Heh. Flex does that schitt to this day.

Frequently on my 25-30 minute ride home he'll not be able to get through one song if he's really feeling it. I've been subjected to 30 straight minutes of "Salute" several times recently.

mannybolone

See: I know Flex does that on the radio but radio is different. You can get away with that on the radio. But in a club, I would think it'd be a dicier proposition but maybe the Tunnel was good with that.

BTW: the "shoulder" anecdotes were some of my favorites.

Soulhawk

insert bomb blast sound effect

Duderonomy

Tunnel Bangers.

[strike]pasue[/strike]

Sorry, that's childish.

faux_rillz

mannybolone said:

Jonny_Paycheck said:

mannybolone said:

This was fun to read but in revisiting these tunes, it only confirmed that 10 years later, I still wasn't that into "the Tunnel sound". I figured maybe time would mellow my prejudices but I still can't really get with a lot of the Trackmastersz/Hitmen/Swizz Beatz styles.

I'm glad you said this because I was suppressing my urge to yell "you hated on ALL this schitt back then!!"



no diss

And I still kind of do. I still don't find DMX listenable, I still don't get why Black Rob really ever had "a moment" and the idea that Memphis Bleek had a "club banger" is comedy to me. But I loved reading Cipha talk about these songs and how they played; at that point, whether you liked the music or not is secondary to just the colorfulness of the anecdotes.

That said: I don't know if anyone here ever went to the Tunnel but for real - was Flex REALLY cutting back and forth *on an intro* for 20 minutes? Or playing "Hypnotize" for 45 minutes straight? I mean, I like that song as much as anyone else but 45 minutes? Really?

You sound like somebody who's never listened to Hot 97--I missed the Tunnel era, but Flex comes close to doing that stuff on air all the time.

I've warmed to some of this stuff over the years but, like you, still can't feel a significant amount of it. Ruff Riders and early Swizz production sounds better to me than it did ~12 years ago, when I absolutely hated it. I don't think I'll ever be able to feel Memph Bleek--I thought "Mind Right" was straight corn when it was out and still do. Never knew anyone anywhere was feeling Cru like that. To me "Pronto" is still just wack as hell. Black Rob has some joints though.

All that said, this is a really fascinating perspective.

Jonny_Paycheck

mannybolone said:

See: I know Flex does that on the radio but radio is different. You can get away with that on the radio. But in a club, I would think it'd be a dicier proposition but maybe the Tunnel was good with that.

BTW: the "shoulder" anecdotes were some of my favorites.

I'm not sure where you're coming from with the "club" thing, Mecca was Flex's house, if it was a hot record he could go on it forever if he wanted. And DJs have been doing that since forever, it's not unique to Flex or to The Tunnel.

To be honest the way a lot of guys DJ *now* would've cleared many clubs back then. It was a different time and scene. It's not like the concerns a regular DJ would have at your average hip-hop night or whatever in 2010.

Garcia_Vega

This almost looks like your average hip-hop collection at a NYC flea market today.

DocMcCoy

FAO any Spotify-enabled Euromans or US people whose proxy game is tight, I put together a Spotify playlist featuring 60 of the 75 songs on this list. Sadly, there are some glaring omissions for copyright reasons, one presumes (Simon Says and Ain't No N***a, for example) but, as a snapshot of NYC street rap in the latter half of the '90s before the South swept everything before it, it works pretty well. I can remember hearing so many of these tunes blasting out of motors all over South London around that time.

faux_rillz

Garcia_Vega said:

This almost looks like your average hip-hop collection at a NYC flea market today.

Hilariously accurate

Whatever happened to party break records? They apparently just died completely.

dukeofdelridge

what that place must've looked/felt like when some of those songs came on...I'm kind of scared just thinking about it.

Soulhawk

not just in NYC - Ruff Ryders & Roc twelves clog junk shops & thrifts coast to coast

wasn't 1999-2001 raps commercial peak?

HarveyCanal

To me, this kinda thing had already hit roughly post-Ready to Die, with that Blahzay Blahzay The East Is in the House, oh my Gawd into Broken Language and Shook Ones and first Raekwon solo steez that would get the Yankees caps out in Texas, even bubble goose at times. I mean, that was even the wave after the one via Black Moon and Nas and Enter the Wu and Come Clean...which brought out the Timbs in Texas. But yeah, by say 98 clubwise there was this Texas pride thing that took over down here where Tops Drop and Southside reigned and jocking NYC became somewhat of a thing of the past. Of course there were still those who loved Jay-Z like a trusted cousin, so we still had folks on that other ish. But it kinda takes me talking to family from Fort Lauderdale/Atlanta to illuminate how big that Tunnel ish really got.

Scott

I need to start using "shoulder" as a verb now.

DJ_Enki

mannybolone said:

Jonny_Paycheck said:

mannybolone said:

This was fun to read but in revisiting these tunes, it only confirmed that 10 years later, I still wasn't that into "the Tunnel sound". I figured maybe time would mellow my prejudices but I still can't really get with a lot of the Trackmastersz/Hitmen/Swizz Beatz styles.

I'm glad you said this because I was suppressing my urge to yell "you hated on ALL this schitt back then!!"



no diss

And I still kind of do. I still don't find DMX listenable, I still don't get why Black Rob really ever had "a moment" and the idea that Memphis Bleek had a "club banger" is comedy to me. But I loved reading Cipha talk about these songs and how they played; at that point, whether you liked the music or not is secondary to just the colorfulness of the anecdotes.

on all of this. I liked a few songs here and there, but on the whole, I was never into the "Tunnel banger" shit. Swizz Beats and Memphis Bleek never did it for me, sorry. But this article was a great read nonetheless--definitely a good snapshot of a bygone era, and the tales about "the shoulder" are funny.

phongone

Memphis Bleek was grossly overrepresented in that list.