The WhoRidas-”Talkin’ Bout Bank”
In what’s quickly shaping up to be late 90s unsung rap group week (sponsored by St. Ides Special Brew), it’s appropriate that I include the West Oakland duo, The WhoRidas. Particularly since, during our interview last night, Bishop Lamont and I bonded over our mutual love for “Talkin’ Bout Bank” and “Shot Callin’ and Big Ballin’.”
Arguably, the most hard-core act on Delicious Vinyl,” the pair of King Saan and Mr. Taylor came up in a crew called Hobo Junction, backed by Saan’s older brother Saafir, then one of the Bay’s brightest stars. After impressively battling their East Oakland quasi-rivals Hieroglyphics on the Wake Up Show, WhoRidas started to accrue enough fame to push 15,000 units of the “Shot Callin’ and Big Ballin’ single out of the back of their trunk. Scooped up by Delicious Vinyl, they released the severely overlooked Whoridin’ in August of 1997.
Both “Shot Callin” and subsequent single “Talkin’ Bout Bank,” fared reasonably well, but by the time their sophomore effort, High Times dropped in 1999, Delicious Vinyl had effectively stopped releasing records and The Whoridas were forced to travel the indie route with minimal promotion and scant sales. They released the even more obscure, Corner Store in 2002 and presumably broke up, though they currently maintain a mostly inactive Myspace page. But watching the “Talkin’ Bout Bank” video, you can see what made them stand-out: impressive rhyming ability, fluid interplay and the willingness to look incredibly goofy for the sake of being funny. Needless to say, the Vincent Vega and Jules Winfield wigs are a crowning touch. Also, few things are more fun to do than sing along with the lyric, “break yo’ self playa, fat lumps baby.”
* Indeed, The WhoRidas were almost certainly gullier than Masta Ace. But rumors of Tone Loc rolling with a pack of maniacal Hell’s Angels still persist.
Also see Davey D’s excellent review of Whoridin’
Download:
MP3: WhoRidas-”Talkin’ Bout Bank”
MP3: WhoRidas-”Shot Callin’ Big Ballin’”
MP3: WhoRidas-”Keep It Goin”
Video: “Shot Callin’ Big Ballin”
Video: “Keep It Goin”
Stumble It!
September 12th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Am I really the only one who remembered these guys or something. Did they not make it out East?
September 12th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
I don’t remember them either, but Id definitely take these guys over Clipse anyday.
September 12th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Agreed. When I was re-watching these videos Clipse were the first name that came to mind. Except these guys were doing it six years earlier and didn’t write the same exact song over and over again.
September 12th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
wow!! being from the biggity biggity O and at the ripe age of 15 attending saafirs boxcar session release party ive been a huge fan of that whole set. good to see them make the blogasphere bump. did i say wow already?? wow!
good post…so much history here.
September 15th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Holy sh*t, what a strange coincidence. I was just bumpin’ “Talkin’ Bout Bank” on my mp3 player the past few days. What an obscure oldie but a goodie eh? I must confess I thought they were from LA, not Oakland. I still have their CD single. I don’t remember at all when I was a teenager how the hell I bought it in the first place, but still a random classic. My friends and I always loved to jokingly use the “Break yoself playa…fat lumps baby” phrase. And yes I am a white guy from the ‘burbs. PASADENA! WHERE YOU AT! haha.
When is Bishop Lamont’s Aftermath debut dropping? He is extremely talented as evidenced by his mixtapes. And I love that he comes from the street scene but also has that backpacker side, too. He’s collabo’ed with another guy I’m a big fan of, Trek Life. Maybe it already came out, since I’m out in Korea and not really up on the haps in hip hop lately other than LAX dropped and Dr. Dre’s son died.
Here’s another random reference for you. LBC Crew - Somebody Somewhere Best Beware of My Crew. Or maybe it was just called Beware of my Crew. Another CD single in the same bangin’ vein. I think they became Tha Eastsiderz? Tray D and Goldie Loc? My memory is bad.
Cool blog! I’m too lazy to read blogs regularly but I’ll try to check in for amazing and random tidbits like this. Keep up the good work.
Tim
September 15th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Thanks for the kind words. Nice to see other people remember these dudes. They were pretty huge in LA for a minute so the confusion’s not surprising.
Bishop’s debut is going through typical label fuckery. I have an LA Weekly piece coming out on the 25th that explains the situation further. Definitely check for that.
LBC Crew. That was dope too. I own that on cassingle. They are definitely fit for a mini-profile as well.