- Produced by Chopmaster J from Strictly Dope & Digital Underground
- Main voice by Dave Hollister of Blackstreet
- features Saafir
17. E.W.T.B.B. (Part 1)
Force One Network is :
- Jimi Dright aka Chopmaster J from Digital Undergroun / Strictly Dope
- Dave Hollister aka "The Black Angel", member of Blackstreet in 94
- Will Waller aka Willi Mac aka "Big Brutha Soul", producer and singer (strong voice).
- Darrell Savage aka Ocea, producer and singer (?)
"Spirit" will be the theme song of Boyz N The Hood John Singleton movie, soundtrack published in July of 1991, with tracks by Ice Cube & Sir Jinx, Yo-Yo, 2 Live Crew, Too Short, Kam, the R&B group Hi-Five (whose first album features Dave Hollister backing vocals) with rap by Prodigy (very juvenile voice), Tony! Toni! Toné! (Mopreme was featured in two tracks on their 1990's album).
So that Force One Network album was mainly recorded in 1991, at the same time than 2Pacalypse Now.
Early times : a producer team ?
Force One Network has probably been first conceived as a Digital Underground side project for Chopmaster J. He produced part of Strictly Dope songs in 1989. And Willi Mac and Ocea seem to have something to do with the production of "Static" and "Case of the Misplaced Mic" (cf. The Lost Tapes). Maybe at that time they were only producers or maybe the reggae rappers of "Static (Original Raggamuffin Mix)" and chorus of "Fade Away" Cooley Ranks & Wycked J (Julian Brooks) were also members (eventually forming with Strictly Dope a "Force One Crew").
Chopmaster J wrote in the back notes of Lost Tapes first editions that he thought to have lost most of 2Pac early Strictly Dope material in a firestorm. It could be during the summer of 1991, leading to a change in the project direction. Like we said, the original project Force One Crew was maybe Chopmaster J's producing team featuring artists around T.N.T / Digital Underground like Saafir, Money B, Cooley Ranks & Julian Brooks, Dave Hollister... and 2Pac above all, with of course one verse on "Static", but maybe also old lyrics recorded with Strictly Dope.
Dave Hollister as main singer
Dave Hollister had a good radio single, with house producer Larry Heard (aka Mr. Fingers) and Blakk Society in 1989 : "Just Another Lonely Day". In 1990, he is backing some Rap R&B albums by Glenn Jones, Hi-Five (produced by his future partner in Blackstreet Teddy Riley) and Father MC (alongside Mary J Blige, K-Ci & Jojo, executive producer Puff Daddy and a dedication to "T-Roy (R.I.P.)"). He got a great single hit as a featured artist for Groove B Chill : "Swinging Single". In 91-92, he recorded a hand of superb songs with 2Pac : hit singles "Brenda's Got A Baby" and "Keep Ya Head Up", B-side "Nothing But Love" and unreleased song "Don't U Trust".
With the success of "Spirit", Chopmaster J convinced him to become the main singer of his group. After the fail of the album, Dave formed Blackstreet with Teddy Riley and will encounter a huge success. But he will leave them to have a solo career that will never be successful...
Digitial Underground side project
In addition of Chopmaster J being the leader, if you listen carefully to the album, you will have the feeling that it has some Digital Underground funk kind-a-like sound (Humpty Hump aka Shock G speaks a few words at the end of "Somethin' About You"). Saafir who was initially a dancer for the group, appeared in Raw Fusion album credits for backing vocals and had his first verse in the 2Pac/Raw Fusion side song "Pass the 40", has two new verses here before becoming a member of Digital Underground for their third album Body-Hat Syndrom in 1993. The group also is credited in "Network Shouts".
The female rapper O'Shun featured in "Sista Sista" has been ghostwritten by Money B. If you think to the time of this album composition, could it be the same girl than the unknown Mysta/Sista/Yonnie partner who was supposed to work with Tupac and The Kidz (project called Ghetto Gospel / 4 Colored Girlz Only) ?
Willi Mac is probably the producer of "Static" (original or remix
version ?). He will release albums (or compilations) in 1997 and in
2002 under the name of Big Brutha Soul. Ocea has not been credited a lot elsewhere, except for producing some spare songs like the comic "Rap to Me" by The Rapping Grand Mommas or a b-side for an Oakland rapper called Premo.
Interesting fact is that the album is published in Qwest records, the label of Quincy Jones, not with Digital Underground's T.N.T recordings. It has some importance because Quincy's son QD3 will produce a bench of songs for the late 2Pac and his two daughters Rashida Jones and Kidada Jones will have respectively an argument and a love affair with Pac...
They will publish another albums in 1997 and 2000 but there are more kind of compilation of old records than albums of new material.
No comments:
Post a Comment