Kurupt -1996- Aftershock sessions (with Tha Philly Mobb) (Death Row / Unreleased)

• July (?) of 1996 : The "Aftershock" sessions with Ram Squad and other artists from Philadelphia. 
• Kurupt tha Kingpin in a kind of jazz/nu soul live session !
  
• Kurupt went to his hometown in 1996 - presumably for justice reasons - in April-May or more likely in July and recorded some songs with The Ram Squad, Mass Appeal...
• What happened ? Daz & Kurupt firstly wanted to use some of these sessions for their new album named after these sessions, West Coast Aftershock, but the project went shelved following 2Pac's death and Kurupt left the label.
• Sources : Death Row Pacific Files DAT inventory

Bootleg cover in 2017

### - There are 8 DAT cassettes labelled "Aftershock" where these sessions are copied on. We followed the tracklist of the most advanced of them, PO405250, and we added the other tracks of the sessions to it. - ###

Tracklist

1. What I'm Feelin' (Here Hit This) feat. The Ram Squad
2. Champagne Wishes (by The Ram Squad)
3. What'Cha About
4. So Sweet (Like That Y'All) feat. The Ram Squad
5. Til Mid-Nite (Original)
6. Life I Lead (Original)
   
7. Addicted (Interlude) (by Mass Appeal)
8. Shady (Aftershock) feat. Shorty (?)
9. Watermelon Pudding (Interlude) (by Mass Appeal)
   
10. Small Bills (by RAM Squad)
    
11. So High feat. Mass Appeal
    
12. Mental (Freestyle)
13. Swiss Groove (by RAM Squad)
14. Country Tides feat. The Ram Squad
15. Rock In All Minds (?) *  That's My N...
    
    Bonus Tracks :
16. Nigga Whut ? (Freestyle) feat. Foxy Brown
    

• Tracks are taken from PO405250 DAT and follow the track order of it, except for tracks in italic.
• * This title could refer to another track (in italic) from these sessions, maybe "That's My N..." instrumental, or less likely to an unleaked song.

 

8 DAT labelled "Aftershock" in the Death Row Pacific inventory :

• "Aftershock Ruffs DAT 8/96 Session Tape" PO405250 : 

Here Hit This (cassette transfer), Champagne Wishes, What You About, Like That, 10 ta Midnight, Life I Lead, Freestyle Instrumental, Freestyle AV, Swiss Groove:w/freestyle, instrumental Swiss Groove 1&2 instrumental, Country Tides AV, Rock In All Minds (?)

• "Aftershock Ruffs "Soundtrack DAT" DAT 3 session tape" PO405251 :

 Champagne Wishes, Small Bills

• "Aftershock Ruffs DAT #6 8/96 Not for production" PO405253 :

Shady

• "Aftershock Ruffs DAT 2 8/96" PO405254 :

Here Hit This, Life i lead, Mental, 10 Ta Midnight, Like That, What You About, That's My…,Addicted,Watermelon Pudding, Small Bills AV, Small Bills instrumental, Nate Dog Instrumental (?), Nate Dog Instrumentals

• "Aftershock ruff DATS 4 not for production 8/96" PO405256 :

Watermelon Pudding, Addicted, Sade Groove, Untitled, Rhodes Thing For D Moet (=Sade Groove elements ?), Mass Appeal inst 1, 2, w Voc

• "Aftershock P-3686-Ruff-DAT 2 session tape" PO308197 :

Here Hit This, Life i lead, Mental, 10 Ta Midnight, Like That y'all, What'cha about, That's My

•  "Aftershock P-3686-DAT 2 safety copy 8/1/96" PO776603 :

Here Hit This, Life i lead, Mental, 10 Ta Midnight, Like That y'all, What'cha about, That's My

•  "Aftershock P-3686 rough mixes 8/8/96 not for production" PO776602 : 

Watermelon Pudding, Addicted 

PO308197 / PO776603 content has been included in this exact order in first Work DAT (PO778974 and PO778936) for the new West Coast Aftershock Dogg Pound album, probably named consecutively to these sessions... 

• Here Hit This, Life I Lead, Mental, 10 Ta Midnight, Like That Y'all, What Cha About, That’s My, Every Single Day, Don’t Care What People Say, I Roc Mics, Don’t Stop, Me And Your Word, Crip Wit Me, U Aint The Homie, Living The Gangsta Life, My System

Return to the origins...

Due to justice troubles (similarly to Snoop and 2Pac...), Kurupt had to go back to his hometown. It was in 1996, maybe in April-May (didn't record a lot at that time) but more likely in July - considering the "Aftershock" DAT with an early August date.

Is it at that time he met Foxy Brown and recorded the freestyle "Nigga Whut ?" Or maybe later in 1997 or 1998...

It is funny to notice that after the peak of Thug Pound recordings in Dec. Jan. 96 and N.Y. 87, Kurupt went to record tracks with East Coast artists, exactly like 2Pac for One Nation, and Dr. Dre in Aftermath "East Coast/West Coast Killaz". Maybe he was not feeling that well in this stupid war mainly orchestrated by Suge Knight and Puff Daddy... Dogg Pound were recording with East Coast artists like Nas and Wu-Tang in mid 95 before the "New York, New York" video.

These recordings are interesting notably for the different kind of music, jazz oriented, what gives an unique material for Kurupt skills.

 The RAM Squad : 

Boy Backs, Tommy Hill,

 Suave, 6/9

The RAM Squad (Richard Allen Mobb) is a Philadelphia group with Boy Backs, Six Nine, Suave, Tommy Hill and also DJ Mizery. They had their first record appearance in 1994 on Philly's rapper/producer Sha'Dasious LP for "Da Whole Shabang". They had their first 12'' the same year : Ramboom, produced by DJ Mizery and Sha'Dasious on which you can hear some echoes of Black Moon/Boot Camp first album. In 1995, they recorded a first cassette album titled The Plague with Bank Ent., finally left unreleased. In late 1995, they dropped a second 12'' Keep It Real/When & Where, first song with the same beat than "Wrekonize" remix by Smif N Wessun - published earlier that year. At the time Kurupt came to Philly, they probably just had finished to rework the album which was finally released as Operation Lock The City, published by Echo International (with no Kurupt featuring on it). In 1997, they released another LP with Thee Album Regardless with notably Bahamadia as guest. In 1999, they published "Mission Impossible" 12'' with Kurupt, and also the B-side "County Ties" recorded in August of 1996 with Kurupt. They had the new album R.andom A.ccess M.oney in 2001. Tommy Hill published a solo project Hilstreetblues in 2002, got shot and killed in 2011.