Classic Material

In 1990 Chubb Rock jumped upon the scene, with a lean and a pocketful ofgreen. And in 1999, he was re-released|.

Record companies are busy reproducing their old hip-hop records.Profile Records, home of Run DMC, Special Ed, Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock, DanaDane, and the Poor Righteous Teachers, has been re-releasing their LPs overthe last few years. The independent label's back catalogue was purchased byArista Records in October 1998. Recently, this new Arista/ Profile label puttheir hottest old school tracks on a compilation called Profilin' theHits.

Epic Records is also compiling old tracks for a new release. Thisweek, they release The RZA Hits, featuring the Wu-Tang Clan's hottestjoints, like "C.R.E.A.M." and "Brooklyn Zoo." Another group, Gang Starr, isalso pushing a greatest hits compilation, Full Clip, which originallydue June 6, has been bumped to July 13.

Meanwhile, Chubb's label, Select Records, has already dropped amajority of their back catalogue, which includes UTFO's classic"Roxanne, Roxanne," AMG's club anthem "Bitch Betta Have My Money" andWhistle's slow jam "Always and Forever."

Fred Munao, President of Select Records, says the increasingpopularity of hip-hop has created a demand for the old records.

"Hip hop has grown to the point where people are into hip hop, both old andnew," he says. "Like the old pop records, people are always interested. It'sso big now that people are listening to the old stuff. You appeal to allkinds of age groups."

Munao adds that these records represent both the history of hip-hop andSelect Records.

"It's all real stuff with historical significance," he says. "It's part ofSelect's 18-year history."

Due to a beef with their distributor, Select had to wait years beforedigging in their vaults.

Many independent hip-hop labels encounter a similar problem. WildPitch Records, one-time home of Gang Starr, the Ultramagnetic MC's, and MainSource, also had distributor trouble which kept them from releasing theirold hits.

After years of toiling under EMI, Wild Pitch's co-owner, Stu Fine, saidthat he finally has total authority over his back catalogue.

"We bought back the masters. We got back our records," he says. "Now wefinally have control of our own stuff again."

Fine said the deal with EMI quickly soured after the people heoriginally worked with left the company. He said his label got lost in acorporate bureaucracy, which was slow to promote his artists.

"For the next five years we worked for a giant machine," he says. "I didn'tenjoy it anymore."

Fine said that calls from DJs and hip-hop aficionados convinced him thatthere was a market for both the old LPs and the 12" singles. Recently, WildPitch has begun re-issuing their old 12" hits, like the O.C. classic "TimesUp," which features 8 different versions of the song, including the originalremixes.

Starting in 1997, with Gang Starr's first LP, No More Mr. Nice Guy,Wild Pitch has steadily put their wax back in the racks. Soon after, theyreleased Lord Finesse's Funky Technician, Main Source's BreakingAtoms, the UMC's Fruit of Nature, and Ultramagnetic's The FourHorsemen.

"People are ecstatic that these records are in the market again,"Fine says. "They're not for everybody. These are just for the real rapjunkies." - Eric Gillin