Sunday, August 22, 2010

Come On, Motherfucker!

After The Notorious B.I.G.'s shocking death, a lot of projects were released, including everything from incomplete songs, shelved material, hordes of remixes and rejiggings of his old acapellas and even freestyles. One of the biggest of those releases was the Born Again album, released by Bad Boy Records in 1999. That it's a sub-par album goes without saying, but considering we were never going to get any new Biggie material, fans were happy to get what they could. It was consisted of scraps and bits of Biggie material mixed with new producers and guest MCs, meant to give us the sense that Biggie was... wait for it... born again.

One of the songs on that album was "Come On," featuring Sadat X. The rhymes were tight and not material we'd heard before. In fact, the boldly delivered line, "release the brainstorm to make your motherfuckin' brain warm," has even managed to enter the lexicon of unforgettable Biggie quotes, It's just too bad the production, by the certainly not untalented DJ Clark Kent, kinda sucked. I mean... it's okay; but it's definitely a case of the beat not living up to the MCs rhyming over it.

Now flash forward years later. In interviews like this one with UrbanSmarts, Lord Finesse lets the world know, "I did another joint for him that never came out, with him and Sadat X. It's called 'Come On Motherfuckers.' That was dope too, that was real dope."When asked if that would ever come out he simply replied, "I don't know. I got a copy."

Well, come to find out, "Come On Motherfuckers" was the same song as "Come On" off Born Again, but (like everything else on that album), remixed. In an article for The Fader, Sadat X tells us all about it: "Clark Kent did the remix to [the Notorious BIG collaboration] “Come On”, but the original was done by Lord Finesse. I had met Biggie prior to that. One day Bad Boy called me to come on in. Puff was there and it was me and Big—we had a box of Phillies, we just brainstormed and we did it. I found out it wasn’t going to be on the album when [Ready To Die] came out. It was probably out of Biggie’s control, so I wasn’t mad. It did make it to a couple mixtapes, it did get around the underground. They called and told me they were going to put it out [Clark Kent’s version] on [the posthumous] Born Again. I like the original beat, but I was in no position to contest. That was the one song on the album that was actually done with Biggie, most of them were recorded by other people later." So "Come On" was always intended for Ready To Die, and featured a beat that everybody seemed to prefer way more than the subsequent remix? This needed to drop!

Well, a Japanese label called Soundtable, named after the record store it was born out of, came to the rescue in 2008. They actually released it twice: they included it on the first volume of their limited (300 copies) Lord Finesse's Rare Selections series of vinyl EPs [update: according to DJ Mike Nice in the comments, this version is actually different; a first take]; and even better, they released it as its own 12" single, which included the instrumental and acapella! That's the release with the sticker cover shown above, and if it wasn't already obvious, that's the ideal way to have this track.

And the best news is that Finesse and Sadat were right: this track is better. Way better. Like, blow-the-Born-Again-version-completely-out-of-the-water, and-some-of-the-best-work-all-parties-have-ever-done better! This is classic DITC production at its finest; on the one hand jazzy and vintage-sounding, and on the other, ominous and hardcore. The bulk of the instrumental was recycled for Big L's "Da Graveyard," but I daresay it sounds even better here. The fact that this version was shelved is indicative of everything that was wack about Bad Boy. This easily would've been one of the best tracks even on Ready To Die.

Like the Finesse EP, this was also limited to 300 copies. So, expect to pay a bit for this one... There is also a European bootleg of this, which is super easy to tell apart from the legit 12" - it's just printed on a generic white label, in a plain sleeve, and the A-side apparently plays at 45rpm. I haven't heard it, so I can't vouch for the sound quality being the same; and, nowadays, the bootleg is rare enough that you'd probably wouldn't save any money getting that version anyway. So I'd hold out for the OG unless I found a really good deal on the boot. In either case, though, it's definitely worth the trouble of finding for your crates.

6 comments:

  1. Wow. I never even knew Finesse did that beat. It makes sense though.

    "Why not blow up the spot with Sadat" is such a refreshing line, because it gives you the sense that they were actually in the studio together.

    It's a crime they remixed the song. That beat is ridiculously dope.

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  2. It's also interesting that Lord Finesse already sampled the line "release the brainstorm.." on his Awakening EP in 95. For the song with KRS-One and O.C.

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  3. you know an alternate version exist of the acapella which i used for my Brooklyn Bullshit mixtape
    "BIG MILLIONAIRE"


    also on the Rare Selections the version is different from the soundtable 12" as its the 1st take demo version

    their are actualy 6 different versions of come on motherfuckers
    including a buckwild remix

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  4. Krish - Oh yeah... I didn't put that together, but you're right! That's funny.

    Mike - It's different? Cool; I didn't realize. I'll update the post to mention that. ...Just one more reason I need to pick up that Finesse EP now. ;)

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  5. All I know is that I had the Finesse version of C'Mon on a Stretch n Bobbito tape back in the day and played the hell out of it. I don't which of the versions Mike Nice mentioned is the one I know best, but probably the demo. I'm guessing Finesse hit Stretch or Bob up with the DAT or something back then. Unless it was on another rare acetate or some shit?

    Anyways, when I saw that C'Mon was on that Born Again crap album I got amped for a second, then heard the beat, and never listened to that wack version again.

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  6. This is essential! Includes Biggie's verse from the Madison Square Garden battle.

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