The year is 1987 & I'm at a this shorty's basement party in Germantown I was trying to kick it to. Since it's her party everyone's talking to her, pulling at her, trying to get her attention. Some how, some way I finally manage to get her alone & we're chillin' on the couch & I'm kicking my game & then...it happens. The DJ throws on a song with these drums. These damn drums that I couldn't get out of my head. I never heard the MC before but those damn drums were hyptnotizing. And since it's '87 in a basement, ya'll already know the sound system isn't great so I couldn't hear much but I kept hearing "do the james, brown" over and over again. And before I knew it, I wasn't kicking it to shorty any more, I'm in the DJ's face screaming what the FUCK are you playing?!?!?! Turns out it was from a group called Superlover Cee & Casanova Rud and the name of it was "Do The James." I would later go on to find out that those damn drums were from a song called "Impeach the President" by the Honeydrippers which would end up becoming my fave break beat ever!
Now here's something you'll hear me say over and over and over again about hip hop in the mid to late 80's about how the 12" used to be gold. And what I mean by that is in the mid 80's one 12" single could hold an artist down for moths before the album drops. And when I say months, I'm talking 7-8 months! Since it's 2019 & I'm telling ya'll stories from 30 years ago I can't remember what came next, another 12" single or the album but to be honest, it doesn't even matter what came after "Do The James" cause when everything is said and done and there's nothing to do or say, Superlover Cee & Casanova Rud's album "Girls I Got 'em Locked" is EASILY a 5 mic classic. Now here's where things get a little shaky cause even though I know a couple of folk here & there that agree with me about this album being a classic, I gotta ask myself why is it that whenever I bring this album up maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad people my age tell me they've never heard this even ONCE when I've easily heard this album thousands of times? I've got a couple of theories on that so sit back and do the knowledge with me.
One of the reasons I think a lot of folk from the 80's never heard this album is because one of the things I've realized over the years is that back in the 80s & the 90s that you head folk like myself who LOVED hip hop & other folk who just listened to rap as background music. See, there will always be names in sports and in music that even if you're not a "head" that you would know about. And back in the 80s MC's & groups like LL Cool J, Run DMC, Kid n Play, Eric B & Rakim, EPMD were those household names. You didn't have to watch Rap City everyday or know those names. But to know about Supe & Rud's "Girls I Got It Locked" you HAD to be a head. Hell, for the longest time I thought Supe was Rude & Rude was Supe because I had the album for months before I even saw the video for "Girls I Got em Locked." Another reason I think the masses didn't know about that album was because Supe & Rud weren't in a crew or click. See, in the the 80's & early 90's your popularity was heavily based off of who you ran with and/or what label you were on. So while LL, PE & the Beasties had Def Jam behind them, Kid n Play, Salt n Pepa, Dana Dane & Sweet Tee were down with the Hurby Luv Bug Crew & Kane, G Rap, Ace, Shante & Shan were all in the Juice Crew & had the biggest producer in the game Marley Marl cooking for them and they were all on Cold Chillin, Supe & Rud were down with ummmmm...Supe & Rud. And it's not like DNA Records' roster was loaded with hip hop artists. In fact outside of Supe & Rud they had ummmmmm...oh yeah, they had Supe & Rud. And last but not least, Supe & Rude only had ONE video! And having only one video, for your album was like career suicide in '88. In fact, it wasn't "like" career suicide, it WAS career suicide.
But don't get it twisted even though Supe & Rud weren't house hold names, "Girls I Got 'em Locked" is still as classic as a classic can get for so many reasons. One of them being that Supe was a very dope MC who's name should EASILY be mentioned as one of the nicest in the late 80's. And the beats? PLEASE don't get me started on the beats cause that would send me right back to those damn Impeach the Pres drums. And if we're talking about those drums again, then we've gotta talk about the LEGENDARY Paul C who produced (along with Rud) & mixed the album. And if by any chance you've never heard of Paul C, here's a quick elevator speech about him. White kid from Queens, engineered/produced for the likes of Ultramagnetic, Organized Konfusion, Steezo, (in fact Stez's "It's My Turn" was the 1st time I heard The Skull Snaps "It's A New Day" drums) and Eric B & Ra's "Let The Rhythm Hit 'Em" album. Let's just put it this way, if he wasn't murdered in '89 he'd 9 times outta 10 be in your top 5 of the dopest producers ever...yeah, I said EVER! So an album with dope ass rhymes, dope ass beats in '88 and not ONE skipable song (in my humble opinion)...yeah that equals a classic. It's just without a crew, a credible hip hop label and no video budget in sight, "Girls I Got 'em Locked" will go down as a 5 mic hip hop classic that waaaaaaaaay too many folk never heard but trust me...it's STILL just as dope as it was 31 years ago!
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