Smif-N-Wessun (Cocoa Brovaz) -2000-2002- Still Shinin' Original (CB's Shinin' / Rawkus Unreleased) (Bucktown USA / Rawkus unreleased)

• 1998-2002 : sessions for a third album with Duck Down, and with Rawkus.
  
• Step 1 : Singles and B-sides, first draft for a new album in 1997-2000.
• Step 2 : Shelved album recorded for Rawkus circa 2000-2002.
• In 2004, Smif-N-Wessun released a Mix-CD titled Still Shinin' which included some of these shelved tracks.
  
• Sources : CB's Shinin' Bootleg, Rawkus Unreleased Bootleg.

 

taken from the same photography shooting than "Bucktown Remix" single cover

it has been used for an old bootleg with the title "CB's Shinin'"

 

Step 1 : CB's Shinin' (Singles & B-sides, 1997-2000)

 

1. Get Up (Instru) Drama (1997)

2. Get Up (2000)

3. More Fire (2000)

4. You Can't Take Me Out (2000)

5. Super Brooklyn (Instru) What's Poppin' Niggas feat. 50 Cent (2000)

6. Super Brooklyn (2000)

7. Intrigued feat. Buckshot (1999)

8. What You Gonna Do (by Steele) feat. Buckshot (2000)

9. Bucktown USA (Remix Instru) Do That feat. Starang Wondah (1998)

10. Bucktown USA (Remix) feat. M.O.P. (1998)

11. Shiestee (1999)

12. Swollen Tank (2001)

13. We Pledge Allegiance feat. Prodigy (2000)

14. Holocaust (Instru) Take It To The Limit (1999)

15. Holocaust (1999)

16. Living Legends (2001)

17. Teenage Luv (1997)

18. No Justice No Peace (2000)

Bonus Tracks :

19. Midnite Run (by Tek) feat. Mike Zoot (1998)

20. Weed For Life (Remix) feat. Roundhead & Otloud (Blahzay Blahzay)

Producer - Tek & Steele (7,8,11,14,18), DJ Rob (3,4,6), Baby Paul (12,15), Mr. Walt (1?,10,17?,19), Easy Mo Bee (13), Jeff Brown (9), Hi-Tek (2), Cut Killer (16), Massive B All Stars (20)

 

Tracks 1, 5, 9, 14, 19, 20 were not in the so-called "CB's Shinin'" bootleg, today impossible to find.

Tracks 1 and 2 have been released in Rawkus' Oh No / Get Up 12'' and Lyricist Lounge 2 (2000) 

Track 3 has been released in More Fire 12'' (2000)

Tracks 5 and 6 are taken from Super Brooklyn 12'' (2000)

Track 4 is taken from Game Over (2000), which includes original and remixed version of "Super Brooklyn" with Mr. Cheeks (replacing one CB verse), "More Fire" remixed and retitled as "Punch Out" with guests, and the eponymous track with Steele featuring guests.

Track 5 has been released in What's Poppin' Niggaz 12'' (2000) ; it will be re-released in Collect Dis Edition (2003) but without 50 Cent's verse.

Track 7 has been released in Whiteboys OST (1999).

Track 12 has been released in Tony Touch's In Da Lab mixtape (2001).

Track 13 has been released in Easy Mo Bee's Now or Never Odyssey 2000.

Tracks 1 and 17 are b-sides of Spanish Harlem 12'' (1997)

Tracks 9, 9 and 10 are taken from Bucktown Remix 12'' (1998)

Tracks 11, 14, 14 and 15 are taken from Holocaust 12'' (1999)

Track 16 is taken from Cut Killer's Living Legends 12'' (2001)

Tracks 8 and 18 are taken from No Justice, No Peace 12'' (2000)

Track 19 is the b-side of Mike Zoot's Urban Harvest 12'' (1998, Guesswyld), who will record songs at that time with Mos Def, Hi-Tek, DJ Spinna, Baby Paul...

Track 20 is a b-side of Bounty Killer's It's A Party 12'' (1998)

Track 20 is taken from Massive B All Stars Weed For Life Remix 12'' (1998)

 

Tracks 1, 6, 10, 14, 15 and 16 in a remix form have also been released in The X-Files mix-CD (2006, Bucktown USA) 

 

 

Still Shinin' was the title of the planned third album of the Smif-N-Wessun then called Cocoa Brovaz (since 96, at the time of One Nation).

 

We chose to follow the tracklist of that old bootleg titled "CB's Shinin'" (for Cocoa Brovaz' Shinin'). We just took off the instrumentals and replaced them by four forgotten singles & b-sides of the same era. We added a Tek solo feature as a bonus track and a b-side by reggae superstar Bounty Killer to finish the selection.

 

 

Dah Shinin'. Beginning of '95, 2Pac is behind bars. 

"Bucktown" and "Let's Git it On" are underground hits. "Sound Bwoy Bureill" is among the 100 most important hip-hop songs !! And what to say about the hell infamous remix of "Wrekonize" remixed by Steele himself ??? It could pretend to enter the ten biggest tunes in all the Hip Hop history !!!!! How could Tupac in his cell escape to this explosion of sound ? Especially when we know that Pac always had love for ragga/reggae music and for reggae/hip hop connexions (he invited in his songs many ragga artists : Don Jaggwarr, Prince Ital Joe, Lil' Vicious, Brown Man, Radio, Aunt Glo, Lady Levi, Rah Rah...)

In march of 1995, went out the soundtrack of Bad Boys. Interscope finally chose to promote Pac's upcoming album with its eponymous track "Me Against The World". But 2Pac had earlier recorded a track with Dee Tha Mad Bitch from Bo$$, "Mind of a Bad Boy" with Daddy Marco repeating the famous anthem of Inner Circle : "bad boy bad boy what you gonna do, when they come for you" (cf. Thug Life : Honor Among Thugz). And in that soundtrack there is a remix of this famous anthem song by Inner Circle featuring... Tek !! Not possible for him to ignore !!

After this break through album, Smif-N-Wessun had a big trouble with legal issue about their name, because of the famous weapon trademark. That's why they were invited in June of '96 by 2Pac for One Nation project under the nickname of Cocoa Brovaz (a remembrance of the reggae star Cocoa Tea ?). 

 

  

 

A planned new album in 99-2000 : Still Shinin'

The disappointing sells from The Rude Awakening lead Priority to drop them. They quickly thought to record a new album titled "Still Shinin'" like it was announced in the More Fire single. Maybe at that time, they were planning to record their new album with DJ Rob & Domingo who recorded the underground compilation Game Over with Cocoa Brovaz on 5 tracks ("Super Brooklyn", ""You Can't Take Me Out", remixes of "Super Brooklyn", "More Fire (Punch Out Remix)" and one Steele's verse in eponymous song).

 

 

A few time later, with their feature in Rawkus Soundbombing 2 in 1999 (on "Every Rhyme I Write" by Shabaam Sahdeeq) and the release of the single "Super Brooklyn" prod. by DJ Rob, they got a contract with the super label. So they put "Get Up" in Rawkus Lyricist Lounge 2 in 2000 and "Spit Again" in Rawkus Soundbombing 3. The b-side of that last one was surely a promo for their upcoming album on the label but... 

 

 

2000, back cover of "More Fire" single : 

Music from the forth coming album : "Smif N Wessun : Still Shinin'"

==============================

fanmade cover made from an old picture

the group was then signed as "Cocoa Brovaz"

Step 2 : Unreleased Rawkus (Still Shinin') - Listen here or there

1. Get Off

2. Autobiography (Family Portrait)

3. Glass (We Generalz)

4. Tools of The Trade

5. Smif-N-Wessun Is The Reason

6. La Familia

7. M.N.C.B. (Come Back)

8. Young Man (Likke Youth's)

9. Pete Rock Track

10. That's Boss

11. I Wanna Get High

12. Luv Makes Life

13. Watch Ya Mouf

14. Understand (What You Think)

 

Bonus Tracks :

15. Spit Again feat. Dawn Penn, Geraldine Nicholas & Nyoka Nicholas

 

Producer - Mr. Walt (4), Pete Rock (9), Curt Gowdy (15)

 

Tracks 4 and 15 were released in Spit Again / Tools of the Trade 12'' (2002, Rawkus)

Tracks 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, have been released in Still Shinin'... the Mix CD (2004, Bucktown USA)
Tracks 10, 11 have been released in The X-Files Mix CD (2006, Bucktown USA)

 

 

That only single features "Spit Again" that is strangely not included

in the regular tracklists of the shelved album (maybe because it was the promo single)

Rawkus... kind of Death Row east ?

This album was about to be released when 2Pac's Better Days was published in 2002 with the song "Military Minds" fairly remixed by Edi with Cocoa Brovaz and Buckshot. But there are some common points between Death Raw and Rawkus... They both were able to gather many very very talented artists, kind of underground Dream Team they but failed to release the projects of their protégés and were sometimes accused to be dishonest with money... Some well known projects have been shelved by Rawkus like Kool G Rap's original Giancana Story, Mad Skillz' I Ain't Mad No More, Novel's The World... and the Cocoa Brovaz.

Almost nothing is known about that third album of Smif-N-Wessun who were still officially signed as "Cocoa Brovaz" on Rawkus. Surprisingly, there are no featurings here... like 2Pac in 96, just before One Nation, 2Pac also thought to release a full album without almost any featurings, a project initially titled Me Against The World pt. 2 to get back the intimate mood of his album Me Against The World.

A mixtape album which was supposed to finally release the project...

In 2004, Smif-N-Wessun finally released a mixtape titled "Still Shinin'". But it contains no songs recorded in the late 90's except "Super Brooklyn" and just half of the songs taken from the planned Rawkus album.