FLAVA IN YA EAR

I’ve been meaning to do a post on the remix of former Bad Boy Records artist Craig Mack’s Flava in Ya Ear for a while, as it is a song that is never far from my mind! I play it often as it’s one of those that makes me feel really good, almost invincible, as crazy as that sounds! A lot of old school songs I listen to a lot tend to spark a memory of a certain time period in my life, which is why they are so dear to me.

This one is summer 1994. I was out of secondary school and into the big wide world of college! Hip hop was taking on a new direction. A fresh crop of rappers were emerging. From B.I.G, Craig Mack, Wu-Tang Clan, and Nas, the buzz name signed to Columbia a couple of years previous, who had released his debut Illmatic that April. In addition Dr Dre’s debut solo set The Chronic had been released the previous year (on Death Row) and was the first hip hop album I bought with my own money. As had Snoop’s Doggy Style, another one I picked up!

Flava in Ya Ear reminds me of that time, the transition in my life, as I went from girl to woman. It was an exciting time for me. No more school uniform, no more going to an all girls school, which was major in my little world back then. For the first time I felt totally free to  really express myself, and it was fitting that the music  driving me was hip hop. It was the soundtrack for my life at that time, and it hasn’t strayed far from that since.

‘I know I wasn’t the only female who got a little flushed at LL sitting on that chair with the one trouser leg rolled up, and the lip-licking at the 2:51 mark…*pass out* Overly sexy!’

The beat of this song is so heavy, you can’t help but move to it! I was bouncing like crazy listening to it while writing this post.  The bottles at the beginning and Diddy/Puff’s haunting line: ‘Bad Boy… Come out to play…’ is simple but uniquely effective! And Puffy’s dance moves… Well only he could get away with them. Lol!

Notorious B.I.G, LL Cool J, Busta Rhymes Rampage and of course Craig Mack, who has already smashed it with the original version of the song, fit nicely on the track. Biggie brought it lyrically as he always did, opening with the line: ‘N***** is mad, I get more butts than ash trays…’ lol!

And I know I wasn’t the only female who got a little flushed at LL sitting on that chair with the one trouser leg rolled up, and the lip-licking at the 2:51 mark…*pass out*! Overly sexy. Then there was Busta, when Busta animated to the max and was still about shouting ‘Yah, yah, yah’ and was crazy with the word pronunciations! I miss that Busta!

This song and vid was a big look for both Busta and Biggie. For Busta, it was one of his first solo appearances on a record, having not too long split from Leaders of the New Skool. While Biggie was gearing up to release his much-anticipated debut LP, so this cameo served to whet the appetite of hip hop fans everywhere.  The top ten hit was also a great look for the east coast in general.

Keisha Spivey (now Epps, having married actor Omar) also appears in the vid, as does Irv Gotti (pre-Murder Inc). Irv must have been taking notes that day as almost ten years later he sampled the same beat for a remix of Jennifer Lopez’s Ain’t It Funny (2001). Click here for vid

As much as Busta, Biggie, LL, Puffy and danm near everyone else in this video, including Irv Gotta and Keisha  and even Rampage to a lesser extent, went on to enjoy varying degrees of success /recognition following its release, the person whose track it was originally; Craig Mack’s career went the complete opposite. Shame that.