Sure, I could trace all this maudlin 90s nostalgia to my forthcoming LA Weekly article that addresses the history and future of Los Angeles hip-hop, but that’s just making excuses. The truth is this year’s been woefully short of really good new rap records and accordingly, I’ve spent a significant chunk of time revisiting material from the early-mid 90s that I hadn’t heard in over a decade. A treatise on Apache’s “Gangsta Bitch,” Sarah Palin and Sexism coming soon.
Another group I’ve excavated from tape deck memories and Junior High school dance flashbacks has been LA’s Funkdoobiest. In particular, the Soul Assassins affiliates’ debut, Which Doobie U B? has been on recent repeat due to its classic DJ Muggs production and Son Doobie’s B-Real-lite party raps about weed, sex and liquor. There might have been nothing particularly ground-breaking about Funkdoobiest, but between their raunchy goofiness and Muggs’ production, Son Doobie and partner Tomahawk Funk made it work.
The sex obsession wasn’t contrived either, as the group owned a local X-Rated club and a 1-900 Sex Hotline (do these even exist anymore?). And in 1997, Son Doobie debuted as a porn star in the creatively titled, Porn King, a film which later became infamous when Eminem name-dropped it on “Guilty Conscience.” According to their Myspace, the group has re-united (Tomahawk left them after their second album, Brothas Doobie) and are in the midst of a European tour, with a new album due out sometime later this year. I might just have to track them down and interview them to find out what they’ve been up to for the last decade. So long as I don’t shake their hands.
Video: Funkdoobiest-“Whopbabulubop” ft. B-Real
Download:
MP3: Funkdoobiest-“The Funkiest”
MP3: Funkdoobiest-“Bow Wow Wow”
MP3: Funkdoobiest ft. B-Real-“Whopbabulubop”
