Ba Ba Kidz - Swing Kidz / Bad Boyz - 1993

12" - 1993 - Philly Flava Records 

 

Philadelphia, PA has always been a prolific place for young rappers in the early 90s... Da Youngsta's and Illegal were on the top of the list, but there was also a rap trio named Ba Ba Kidz at that time, who was comprised of Dre (Lil' Drizz ), Sy (Small Mill) & Roy (Rubeboy). They were all from Lansdowne Ave. 

This wax is their second 12"... it came out in 1993 on Philly Flava Records, a record label managed by Emanuel 'Mentally Gifted' Parks who also handled all the productions. Their first 12" was the first version of "Swing Kidz / Bad Boyz" with a green macaroon and with a different Bad Boyz remix version. Both 12" are very hard to find !

I had the pleasure to talk with DJ Kareem who was the DJ affiliated with Ba Ba Kidz and he told me that an unreleased album exists. He doesn't remember why it was shelved at the time, but it is somewhere, maybe in Emanuel Parks's vault ! 

Big Tabb - Raw Dawg - 1996

12" - 1996 - Rags To Riches Ent. 

Here is the second 12" single released by the Philly-based MC Big Tabb The Emperor a.k.a Big Tabb. It came out in 1996 on Rags To Riches Entertainment, Big Tabb's record label. 

Two Songs are available on this 12", the main single "Raw Dawg" (Radio Edit / Instrumental / Acapella & Remix Version) produced by Emanuel "Mentally Gift" Parks, and "The Storm Remix" produced by Big Tabb. In terms of special guests you can listen to Shaliek and Diverse of the Dysfunkshunal Familee on "Raw Dawg Remix" and The Sandman on "The Storm Remix". 

Photos courtesy of Jakk Frost.
Vinyl rip courtesy of 90's Hip-Hop Blog.

4th Quarter ‎- C-Note And Grants - 1996

12" - 1996 - 4x4 Records 

Here is the first single "C-Note and Grants" released in 1996 by Darrell Alston a.k.a 4th Quarter from Philadelphia, PA.  

The single is produced by Karl "Nutt" Hampton and is available in its Radio, Suburbanmental, Central Ave. Mix and Accapella versions. The sample used for the instrumental comes from the song "With a Child's Heart" performed by Michael Jackson and released in 1973. 

There are 2 versions of this record released in 1996... this one above was released on 4X4 Records and the other one was released on Exile Records and contains the remix version of the single produced by Emanuel 'Mentally Gifted' Parks. 

12" - 1996 - Exile Records  

After this single, 4th Quarter dropped a few 12-Inches between 1997 and 2000. Eventually, the law caught up with him and he ended up doing time in Graterford Prison. According to an article from FunTimes Magazine written in 2018, after leaving prison Darrell Alston started researching information about design and production. He is now the proud owner of Bungee Raiment, a company that designs and sell sneakers, sweatshirts and hoodies.