Resident Alien - Suckas Revisited

I'm not in the habit of doing reposts but I noticed Bust The Facts posted two Resident Alien singles here and here so I figured, what with my mentioning that Prince Paul is on my interview wishlist, this was as good a time as any to mention that you can download RA's unreleased It Takes A Nation Of Suckas To Let Us In here and you can read the original post, actually the very first Unheard Music post, right here! Just in case you want the quick and dirty though...

Resident Alien were a hip-hop group consisting of actual resident aliens that Prince Paul knew and he intended for them to put an album out on Dew Doo Man Records, his short-lived subsidiary of Def Jam. They recorded the album between the first and second De La Soul records and it sounds like it, making it an interesting bridge between the other Native Tongues groups of the late eighties and early nineties. They had videos released for the songs Mr. Boops and Ooh The Dew Doo Man, both of which can be seen here and here, and a 12" with both tracks on it. Everyone was taken by RA but Russell Simmons who decided to terminate the deal with Dew Doo Man and Def Jam prematurely. Maybe that's because Paul holds nothing sacred and made big fun or "Russell Rush" on RA's album. A few tracks have surfaced since but the album is still otherwise unreleased. Def Jam should just give Paul the rights to issue this because it does no one any good to let it just sit in a vault somewhere. Seriously, how much money could this have cost to produce? How much would Def Jam lose after twenty years?

That's the abbreviated version of the story, for which you can read a longer and more detailed account here, but I couldn't help but share this again after Bust The Facts shared those singles and videos! So grab this and party like it's 1991 all over again! Native Tongues forever!


Resident Alien - It Takes A Nation Of Suckas To Let Us In

01 Intro
02 The Resident Alien
03 I Yam What I Yam
04 The Ox Tail, The Burger & Chicken Wing
05 Miss Lee
06 Shakey Ground (feat. Maceo and Dres)
07 Ardicle Don
08 Horrorscope
09 Midtro
10 Ooh The Dew Doo Man
11 Mr. Boops
12 Alone
13 State Of Emergency
14 Are You Ready
15 We Na Play
16 Wanna Be (Russell)
17 Mother's Day
18 Third World
19 Extro
20 Welcome To America

December 2009 Mixtape

This mix consists mostly of things I've featured here on the site before. I thought it would be nice to do a quick review of the year's posts for anyone who doesn't dig through every single one. There are a few new tracks in here, but they all relate back to things previously featured here.

I've got a lot of stuff planned for January and I've got my interview wish list all set up, so there will be a lot of stuff coming up soon! On top of that, I'm looking into writing a book, albeit a short one. I've got a few projects in mind that could be very big, but that short book would be the starting point. I'll say more when there is more to say :). For now, enjoy the mix and have a Happy New Year!


The Unheard Music - December 2009 Mixtape

01 Lou Reed - Metal Machine Music (excerpt)
My love of this album may be questioned by some, but I swear it's legitimate. For those that would rather not give it a full listen (or download), here is thirty seconds to either whet your appetite or confirm your fears.

02 Queen - Tie Your Mother Down (Trent Reznor Remix)
Shoulda woulda coulda been released, but it was done for Hollywood Records, and we know how creatively open-minded Disney generally is.

03 Juliana Hatfield - Mountains Of Love
In a perfect world, God's Foot would be available at the very least for download via Amazon or iTunes. On top of that, Juliana Hatfield would get the credit she's due.

04 Crustified Dibbs - Every Record Label Sucks Dick
I wouldn't say EVERY record label, but I know what Dibbs aka R.A. The Rugged Man is saying.

05 Miles Davis - Untitled Original 760330a (Unheard Edit)
This is my own little concoction. I didn't do much to the original sources, just a little snip towards the end of one take and the beginning of the other to put them together. They simply felt far too short on their own. Miles plays organ on this one but no horn. By the way, there will be another Miles post in the near future, but it'll focus on a significant point a little earlier in his career.

06 Team Sleep - Natalie Portman
I wish Team Sleep releases weren't nearly as infrequent as they are, but I'm glad to have their self-titled and unreleased Lovers albums. Awesomely mellow track that doesn't seem to have anything to do with the awesome Natalie Portman.

07 John Oswald - dab
This is the original version of dab from the plunderphonic album. This also includes that album's short intro, btls.

08 Soul Coughing - A Murder Of Lawyers
Great leftover from early in the Cough's career. Good for showing off their less-than-friendly side.

09 Takeshi Muto - Ntak
Romulo Del Castillo and the Schematic crew are in the house!

10 Resident Alien - Ooh The Dew Doo Man
Prince Paul is on my interview wish list. I wouldn't say the Resident Alien album is as good as the De La Soul albums of the same era, but it deserves to be heard and is just as essential. Russell Simmons is why it'll probably never get an official release.

11 Beastie Boys - And What You Give Is What You Get
I don't know that I'll get to talk to The Dust Brothers or Matt Dike any time soon, but they're on that wish list too. As much as I want to talk with EZ Mike and King Gizmo, Matt Dike is the least publicly known and that's simply a crime. There will be a post of some of his best available tracks sometime soon.

12 Prince - Batdance (Original Version)
I think this is the third time I've posted this track. On top of that, this is yet another version from a different source. All the same though, I'll never get tired of this one and it's just another example of how brilliant Prince used to be. Yeah, I said used to, what you gonna do about it?

13 Jungle Brothers - Troopin' On The Down Lo
Goddamnit I want this album to get an official release! The full album isn't as crazy as this track, but it's so deserving to be heard. Props to Skiz, Dan LeRoy, Matt Stein (for that single conversation), David Williams (waiting for that response man! please come through!) and everyone else who has helped me in my search for more details about the lost gem that is Crazy Wisdom Masters!

14 The KLF - What Time Is Love? (The Moody Boys vs. The KLF)
I'd love to write a book about The KLF, but I'd be more than happy to simply read one. These guys are so insanely wonderful. If you're unfamiliar, find the ridiculously large posts I did about them for, in my opinion, a pretty good overview of their career, albeit far from complete.

15 Outro (More Metal Machine Music)
'Nuff said.

Resident Alien - It Takes A Nation Of Suckas To Let Us In

For the unaware, Prince Paul briefly had a production deal with Def Jam in 1990 which got him his own imprint named, of all things, Dew Doo Man. Yeah, I know, typical Prince Paul.

According to Stacy Gueraseva's book, "Def Jam, Inc.", Paul was 20 years old at the time and, as a member of Stetsasonic, had already signed with Rush Management, Def Jam's in-house management team which handled most of the big name rappers of that era. He had just produced De La Soul's debut, "3 Feet High and Rising", among other things, and Russell Simmons and Lyor Cohen thought he was the next big thing. They offered him his own imprint, but Paul turned down the offer several times. It took Cohen offering him $50,000 to make Paul sign on the line. As part of the deal, Paul would record demos for potential acts and present them to Russell and Lyor for their approval. The first such act, and the only one that went anywhere, was Resident Alien, three of Paul's friends from his neighborhood who were in fact green card carrying resident aliens. Around Def Jam's offcies, the group was not known for rhyming. Again, typical Prince Paul.

Resident Alien went on to record their debut, "It Takes A Nation Of Suckas To Let Us In", whereupon they did rhyme. That's not to say they were fantastic rappers, but they certainly weren't bad. They also sang and did some decent raggae toasting. A 12" for the song "Mr. Boops" was released with the tracks "Shakey Ground" and "Ooh The Dew Doo Man" on the B-side. It got some good hype and fit nicely alongside De La and Black Sheep's debuts, albeit maybe a little sillier. Shortly thereafter, a few reviews for the actual album showed up and they were all quite positive. All in all, everything looked like it Resident Alien was going to blow up quite nicely, but that was where it all stopped and nothing else RA related was heard for a long time. Apparently, Russell Simmons had not been enthused with the album and decided to cancel its release. Maybe it was Paul's lighthearted jabs at Simmons and Def Jam's artists, but regardless it put the kibosh on the album ever seeing release. Well, for the most part...

Apart from the 12" previously mentioned, Paul placed "Shakey Ground" and a previously unreleased track, "Alone", his "Hip-Hop Gold Dust" compilation, but as I don't recall there being any mention of permission having been granted from Def Jam, I'm assuming this was done discreetly. Lucky for us, someone along the way leaked the album online from what sounds like a cd circa 1991, with bad track seperation gaps and start points. So, for your listening pleasure, I present an album which sounds like the point directly between De La Soul's 3 Feet and Dead, Resident Alien's "It Takes A Nation Of Suckas To Let Us In".

Resident Alien - It Takes A Nation Of Suckas To Let Us In

01 Intro
02 The Resident Alien
03 I Yam What I Yam
04 The Ox Tail, The Burger & Chicken Wing
05 Miss Lee
06 Shakey Ground (feat. Maceo and Dres)
07 Ardicle Don
08 Horrorscope
09 Midtro
10 Ooh the Dew Doo Man
11 Mr. Boops
12 Alone
13 State of Emergency
14 Are You Ready
15 We Na Play
16 Wanna Be (Russell)
17 Mother's Day
18 Third World
19 Extro
20 Welcome to America