Pop Ch Blog

Throwback Of The Week:

Whats goin on everyone!  Welcome to the Throwback section of the “Pop ch Blog” hosted by yours truly, Dj John John of Orena Records.  I will be featuring one of my personal favorite hip-hop tracks from the golden era every week, including information about the production/cuts/lyrics from the opinion of a DJ/Producer.

My first entry is a track called “Metal Thangz” by Street Smartz later known as FT.  This is a gritty New York anthem from 1996 featuring Brooklyn’s own O.C. & Organized Konfusion’s Pharoahe Monch.  I first heard the beat on a clear cassette which was actually a beat tape from producer/DJ O.Gee of D.I.T.C.  The cassette also included “Your Life” later used by O.C. on the “Soul in the Hole” soundtrack.  O.C. sets the track off with a powerful couple of bars: “Unfold, remarkable soul…cold blooded bleeding icicles equivelent to north pole”…the hard track continues into FT’s rapid fire flow with the undertone of BIG K.O. cutting the hook back into the last bar before Pharoahe Monch’s delivery steals the show.  The beat is a raw and repetitive without getting redundant, and gives you that classic Diggin’ in the crates feeling.  This track in my opinion, may have been one the top 5 best underground collaborations of the late 90’s & proved so by impressive vinyl sales.  Street Smartz at the time wasn’t exactly blown up, but picked the perfect mesh of lyrical balance and boom baps which made him a respected name on the underground hip hop scene.  Street Smartz blasts in with crazy wordplay and includes one of the funniest lines at the time, “I’m sorta-psycho like a retard on a motorcycle” which had me and my crew in stitches the first time we heard it.  Sit back, light up, and let this track take you back in time.  Fat shout to Big K.O., O.Gee, F.T., Buckwild and Skill(Tru Criminal Records)…

First Track Released Off Little Vic Autopsy

“Your Reign” with a little visual treat…Enjoy!!!