Written By Jerome Segers
Posted on September 28th, 2007
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Hip Hop in the mid 90's had such a distinctive sound to it that is much more raw and loose than the slickly polished beats and "bling bling" lyrical content that comprises the genre in today's world.

In 1994, South Bronx rapper Craig Mack (also known as MC EZ) had the honor of bringing Sean Combs (Diddy) the first of many hits to come in the 90's on the Bad Boy imprint, "Flava In Ya Ear" off of the album "Project: Fuck Da World" (what a great title, lol).

The original is no doubt a classic that helped Mack sell a million units, but what people will most likely remember is the remix that featured chronic lip-licker L.L. Cool J, Flipmode Squad members Rampage and Busta Rhymes, along side the then named Puff Daddy and a young Notorious B.I.G. on the rise. Don't quote me on this, but this was probably the first time a rap song had a mega remix with "everyone" on it. These days it seems like a game with artists to see how many rappers they can fit into a 5 minute remix. If this is the case, I can see why Diddy claims Bad Boy "invented the remix".

Man, old skool Busta is hilarious. The guy is so animated and his rhymes/flow are so ridiculous you can't help but pay attention to him. And on another note, damn, Craig's 'fro was point lol. 90's fashion as a whole is so funny to look back on. Luckily, he chose a hairstyle that has always stood the test of time since in comparison, I was rockin' a high-top fade in 1994... but let's never speak of that again.

It should be noted that the beat was more or less raped for Jennifer Lopez's 2001 single "Ain't It Funny (Murder Remix)" featuring Ja Rule. Now since I work backwards with music, I heard this version first and didn't get to hearing Mack's version until about a year ago when I saw the video on VH1 during a Hip Hop special (Hey, cut me some slack, I didn't start listening to hip hop like, for real, until 1999). I really felt cheated because I loved J-Lo's crap and hated the fact that I did because I can't stand that skank normally. I was mostly feeling the beat more than anything, so I'm glad it wasn't composed just for her to use :)

And I guess those clowns at Murder Inc. don't follow the unwritten rule for waiting 10 years to sample a beat. Thank God 50 Cent killed Ja Rule's career lol.

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