Diggin In Dolby's Cube

My favourite Hip Hop E.P. of all time has got to be Showbiz & A.G.'s classic debut release "Soul Clap" (closely followed by Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth's "All Souled Out"). Originally released independently on Showbiz Records in 1991, it was quickly picked up by Payday / London and repackaged with a nice picture sleeve and slightly different track listing. The Payday release includes an intro and the "Party Groove" Bass Mix which do not appear on the original E.P. instead replacing the "Soul Clap" and "A Giant In The Mental" instrumentals. Also missing from the Payday version is the track "It's Up To You". Now, I'll be honest, I still don't own an original copy of the Showbiz pressing as I'm yet to come across one on my travels and the average going rate is well out of my price range. I bought the Payday release the week it came out and then picked up the first repress from Mr Bongo, which I think was either in '96 or '97. At the time I thought it was a reissue of the Payday version and didn't even know about the original Showbiz pressing until the internet came about! As a rule I generally don't buy reissues but bought this for what I thought was a bonus track, added to entice people who already had the P/S version. All sounds a bit confusing I know, but I'm sure there's others out there with the same experience.

Anyway, the bonus track 'It's Up To You' (featuring Lord Finesse) to me, sticks out from the overall sound of the E.P. with more of an Electro type feel, as opposed to the other Funk and Jazz sampling tracks. I've had most of the breaks used on the E.P. for quite a while now as there's really nothing too obscure - James Brown, The J.B.'s, Ramsey Lewis, etc...but it's only recently that I picked up the main loop (of sorts) for "It's Up To You". A totally random bootsale purchase of a 12" I knew nothing about but for some reason looked interesting. A white (or yellow in this case) label pressing with a stamp on one side that reads Dolby's Cube - "Get Out Of My Mix" and "Get On Out Of My Mix". The latter is an accapella type version of the main track, and it's on this accapella that the sample source comes from. On first listen I wasn't really into either side and was only skimming through the accapella for possible vocal or sound snippets to cut up when - BAM!!! - out of nowhere drops the dope stabs Showbiz got busy with! I then went back to the main version and, sure enough, found the same sample mixed up with other elements around the 3 min 45 mark.

The main track has since grown on me and I imagine could have been a Bambaataa tune, which would explain how Showbiz (or Jazzy Jay) picked up on it. I dunno? The few people who I've asked hadn't heard of it, so it's obviously not a very well know sample amongst the Hip Hop heads. Anyway, it's something I took pleasure in finding for myself and thought I'd share on here. Enjoy...



Dolby's Cube "Get Out Of My Mix" (1983 Venice In Peril U.K. 12")



Dolby's Cube "Get On Out Of My Mix" (Snippet)



Showbiz & A.G. "It's Up To You" (1991 Showbiz Records U.S. 12")