#stezo

[todayinhiphophistory]

Today in Hip Hop History:

Steve Williams better known as Stezo died April 29, 2020

[doompatus]

COMPILATION RAP N°253

[harveys-records]

[omegaremix]

Winter 2011 Mixtape:

Main Ingredient, The “California My Way”

Donald Byrd “Night Whistler”

B.U.M.S. “Elevation (Free My Mind)”

Anotha Level “What’s That Cha Say”

Scientifik “Still A Herb Dealer”

Erule “Listen Up”

Hoodz, The “OOIIOO” (Maniak RMX)

Miilkbone “Keep It Real”

Organized Konfusion “Why?”

Ruggedness “Mad Drama (Make You Go Crazy)”

90 Prophets “The Day I Died”

Ultramagnetic MC’s “Raise It Up”

Supernatural “Buddha Blessed It”

Madd Man “Nod Your Head”

Trends Of Culture “Make A Move”

Scientifik “Lawton”

Stezo “Bop Ya Headz”

Mic Geronimo “Shit’z Real” RMX

90 Prophets “Remember Me”

Mood “Hustle On The Side”

Mad Fam “Dad”

Mobb Deep “Give Up The Goods (Just Step)”

Jamal “Keep It Real”

Att Will “Just Another Day”

Troubleneck Brothers “Back To The Hip-Hop”

Grimm Teachaz “I Getz”

A Tribe Called Quest “God Lives Through”

Q-Ball & Curt Cazal “Makin’ Moves” 

Combichrist “Without Emotions”

Studio X “Party”

Strafthanz “Strafthanz”

Stahlfrequenz “Maschinenfuehrer”

Combichrist “I Want Your Blood”

Paradoxie “Indoxication”

Studio X “Decapitated”

Hocico “Boiling Blood”

Grenzkommando “Schiessbefehl”

Combichrist “God Warrior”

[lordrakim]

Ultramagnetic MC's London 1990 - Westwood

12th April 1990 – Ultramagnetic MCs, Stezo & Outlaw Posse Live at Dingwalls Camden Lock London *OLD SCHOOL* – Ultramagnetic MC’s London 1990 – Westwood – YouTube

[mikijamcf]

Stezo - It's My Turn

[legendaryalishabazz]

Just Enuff Time to Shine feat Stezo A Golden Era Hip Hop Dance Legend

[omegaplus]

# 3,770

Lafayette Afro Rock Band: “Hihache Pt. 1 & 2″ (1973, 2009)

Out of 252 recorded uses of this on WhoSampled, only eight instances (3%) sampled it for reasons other than drums. Those eight? Stezo, TLC, Capitol AK, The Avalanches, Luke Vibert, Mazzi with Soul Purpose, and Trent Taylor (twice!) used it for either more than drums, sound effects, hooks / riffs, or vocals. The other 244 entries? Drums drums drums. It’s not The Winstons “amen break” (’69) or Skull Snaps’ “It’s A New Day” (’73), but “Hihache” stands as one of the most sampled drum beds in existence. Formerly called The Bobby Boyd Congress, the Lafayette Afro Rock Band later moved to France for two years before returning to New York City / Long Island to create Soul Makossa (1973) and Malik (1974). With what “culture” Long Island currently has (cue laugh track), no one has ever mentioned the impact they’ve made here as much as they talk about My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields residing here, too.

[underground-hiphop]

Watch "Stēzo (feat. Grand Puba, Chris Lowe, Chubb Rock & Kia Jefferies) - Check One, Two (Official Video)" on YouTube

[djevilninja]

Sweating and regretting that I'm the best; I'm putting dancers to the maximum test. Using and confusing beats that you've never heard; Protect my rhymes ‘cause my rhymes are conserved.

Stezo - It's My Turn

[todayinhiphophistory]

Today in Hip Hop History:

Steve Williams better known as Stezo died April 29, 2020

[icecoldaa]

[omegaremix]

Golden Era Revisited.

The first two weeks of 2011 was an eventful one for me right from the get-go. On New Year’s Day, an old high-school “friend” was kicked out by his soon-to-be ex-wife. He messaged me to drive out to Patchogue to help move all of his life possessions out to his new residence in Lake Ronkonkoma and be his unwilling moving target. A few days later, I won a week-long stay at Stony Brook Hospital for a digestive condition; one that had my manager Bob screaming at me over the phone as to when I was coming back to work. Real classy people I had in life.

I came back the day after discharge and Bob put me on for five straight days before giving me my first day off. It was Wednesday and I decided to try something new: food shopping at the very market I worked at. Fruits, vegetables, Italian cookies, cold cuts, breadsticks, iced tea, soup - all of it. Total: $45.00, no discount. Said “hi!” and smiled to the young skinny blonde hussy leaning on the courtesy counter and left without an issue.

I was feeling pretty head-heavy that afternoon. Blame the greyscale skies and rainy mid-40’s forecast. I had no other plans except only to stay home, check my online dating profile, and see what the latest new music releases were. HipHopSite championed a new release from Tha Grimm Teachaz; a “lost” album that was “scrapped” due to having a rough-up with Shaquille O’Neill at a music showcase but was “discovered” by Serengeti’s brother and was “finally” issued. “I Getz” dropped and it was a backpacker’s dream. Serengeti, Prince Mighty Dark Force, and DJ Koufie joined forces for what sounded like a golden-era throwback that somewhat didn’t add up when I heard the lyrics and read that it was finished in 1993, but still. It sounded so fresh to me and could’ve sounded like it did come from the mid-Nineties. It got me going.

Then something clicked in my head. I wanted to go back to that sound, that production value. There was nowhere else for me I thought of going except back to the golden era. Youtube made some similar suggestions and I went with them. Jamal, B.U.M.S., Supernatural, Troubleneck Brothers, Stezo, Trends Of Culture. Release dates: 1994, 1995, 1996; the closing years of the rap golden-era when production was polished to a smooth shine. I was absolutely astonished.

How come I never found these artists until now? Their singles and videos sounded exactly like the type of hip-hop I grew up listening to that Hot 97 and Kiss FM played - but they didn’t. For one reason or another those markets chose not to air them and left them behind. I never knew these artists existed but have at some point as other stations aired them and made their videos in hopes of market playback.

I felt like I found undiscovered gold. I kept mining and found Anotha Level, Ruggedness, and 90 Prophets. Ultimately I found what I referred to as white-label hip-hop - triple-digit pressings of unknown and local artists who flew under the radar and were never signed or picked up. Compare these to many of the Skittle- or mumble-jumble rappers of today and you can hear why the white-label artists are considered ‘real hip-hop’ - by the same cats and armchair taste-makers who grew up in the Nineties.

I rifled through a couple hundred of finds in a few days time. It was only a matter of time before I would stumble upon those one or two records whose lyrics and / or samples evaded me for years. What were once mere moments in my head, transitions that were cut off by cassette limitations, or even erasures by other family members (which you later find out after retrieving tapes you once left behind) have finally been answered for. I totally forgot about A. To The D.’s “Cumin Ta’ Getcha’ because I didn’t catch it on tape until I heard it again for the first time since Hot 97 played it upon its release. I only heard it once, but when I found it again, it all came back to me. How amazing is elephant’s memory?

Another record stuck in my head for ages sampled A Tribe Called Quest’s “Scenario” remix and transitioned on-air into a cut that ended but the dee-jay didn’t i.d. it. (It’s not their duty or pay grade to do i.d.’s on Saturday nights.) I had it on another tape which I left behind at my cousin Dorona’s house and by the time I got it back from her, I later learned that she erased it with her one-and-done R&B jams. Ugh. Having memorized the lyrics and song title, I finally found it after all those years: Q Ball & Curt Cazal’s “Makin’ Moves” became a fifteen year-old cold case that was finally solved.

And, while still  there, I wanted to revisit the tried-and-true artists I was heavily into back then and catch what I overlooked the last time, such as A Tribe Called Quest’s “God Lives Through”, Mic Geronimo’s “Shitz Real” remix and Ultramagnetic M.C.’s “Raise It Up”. Returning to Erule’s “Listen Up” and Mobb Deep’s “Give Up The Goods (Just Step)” had me feeling like I was right back in the halls at Brentwood during another winning wrestling season and in Plainview teasing the cute uptight stuck-ups at my friend’s house.

Hadn’t it been HipHopSite’s DJ Pizzo who posted Tha Grimm Teachaz’ release, I wouldn’t have revered golden-era sounds as I have now. Unlike the Seventies where I had to return and rebuild an era I missed out on through T.V. intros- and production i.d.’s, money shows, board games, and Atari 2600 games, it was the Nineties that Dorona and I already lived through and experienced. Though, both decades did have something for me: I felt I went back in time and to a world that no longer exists.

Donald Byrd “Night Whistler”

B.U.M.S. “Elevation (Free My Mind)”

Anotha Level “What’s That Cha Say”

Scientifik “Still A Herb Dealer”

Erule “Listen Up”

Hoodz, The “OOIIOO” (Maniak RMX)

Miilkbone “Keep It Real”

Organized Konfusion “Why?”

Ruggedness “Mad Drama (Make You Go Crazy)”

90 Prophets “The Day I Died”

Ultramagnetic MC’s “Raise It Up”

Supernatural “Buddha Blessed It”

Madd Man “Nod Your Head”

Trends Of Culture “Make A Move”

Scientifik “Lawton”

Stezo “Bop Ya Headz”

Mic Geronimo “Shit’z Real” RMX

90 Prophets “Remember Me”

Mood “Hustle On The Side”

Mad Fam “Dad”

Mobb Deep “Give Up The Goods (Just Step)”

Jamal “Keep It Real”

Att Will “Just Another Day”

Troubleneck Brothers “Back To The Hip-Hop”

Grimm Teachaz “I Getz”

A Tribe Called Quest “God Lives Through”

Q-Ball & Curt Kazal “Makin’ Moves”

[mikijamcf]

Stezo

Remembering Rapper Stezo aka Steve Williams (March 10, 1968 - April 29, 2020) was a former dancer for the Legendary duo EPMD. You are missed but never forgotten.

[culturalappreciator]

RIP to Hip Hop artist Steve Williams better known as,

Stezo (3/10/68-4/29/20)

[findthosedetonators]

RIP