The Cassingle Series – Part 1
Snow - Informer (drum mix)
Snow - Informer (dub)
Snow - Informer (clark's fat bass mix
A while back was the 2nd annual(?) Punk Rock Flea Market in Philly thrown together by my R5 peoples to benefit ongoing all-ages shows and whatnot in the city. I made some choice finds including a complete set of Operation Desert Storm trading cards – hilarious and terrifying - which I managed to get for free, a bunch of records, and an enormous bag full of hip-hip cassingles that cost only a dollar. I think some day I should procure another tape deck so that I can dj a party using only these tapes. It’s been an uncommon joy for me to peel off the original cello-wrap from every one of these cassettes. The first cassette to make it’s way into the tape deck was Informer the 1992 one-hit-wonder off 12 Inches of Snow by, of course, the inimitable Snow. Maybe so that his homeboys in Canada could understand what the hell he was saying the music video, as I recall, actually included subtitles. Since then it looks like he’s released five more unremarkable albums, the latest called Mind on the Moon dropped this year. Informer was one of many successful efforts by producer MC Shan, whose own music is not much to speak of. Is he arguably more famous for The Bridge or just being Marley Marl’s cousin and a member of the Juice Crew? Anyway, my favorite part of any of these tracks is during the Informer dub mix right after the break when what sounds like a synthesized bass clarinet comes in. DJs: sample that – it’s hot shit. Clark’s Fat Bass Mix by DJ Clark Kent is the most blatant abuse of hip hop’s number one credo (you don’t stop), but for Chrissake!.. stop already. Is there another rule somewhere that limits the number of times in a song a DJ can sample the same hook? Unfortunately, Snow has been a challenging google effort. I was hoping to find the transcript of the Arsenio Hall show when Snow tried to explain why he is a better rapper than Vanilla Ice. It had something to do with him growing up in the streets. Is he talking about Ontario? Oh well.