51. Black Moon - I Got Cha Opin (Beatminerz Remix) (Nervous. 1993. From the LP Enta Da Stage)
Raven Mack: Certain things have been commonly acknowledged within hip hop as Great Shape-Shifting Shit when it hit the scene - like Wu Tang or The Chronic, but, upon initial arrival, I'd put Black Moon and Boot Camp right up there, although they maybe didn't follow through like others did. I rode my stupid 10-speed bike to the record store for like three Tuesdays in a row, trying to cop a copy of the Enta Da Stage tape, eventually having to go to the stupid white people indie record store that kept their rap tapes in a locked case even though all the Operation Ivy and Jawbreaker or Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen you could possibly want was sitting there right out in the open. I think this was their second single, and they had already displayed the hardcore Timbalands stomping on concrete gritty style, but this busted out that remix with the sing-songy reworking of the Timbalands stomping on concrete Boot Camp style, which was the greatest-sounding shit ever. It was hardcore boom bap, but flavored with the catchiness of raggamuffin, and just all around tasted great to your ears. Smiff-n-Wessun, who were forced by white dudes in lawsuits to change their name to Cocoa Brovaz, also ran with this style, and then you had "Lefleur Leflah Eshkoshka" by the Fab 5 on the heels of that, and it seemed like Boot Camp was bound to rule the rap world. I'm not really sure what happened to make that not happen, but I know in the dork rap magazines like Elemental and Mass Appeal (nothing personal, I've been a subscriber to both myself, but I'm also sitting at a computer keyboard typing complete sentences about hip hop, so I'm a fucking dork too), the BCC gets hyped up and always seem about to launch a comeback of ultra-magnetic proportions, but they definitely have to be considered underachievers on the career tip. You don't come out knocking grand slams like that at the beginning, only to be mired away in mediocre obscurity for the rest of your time being prostituted by the music industry.
Also, what exactly did the 5-foot Accelerator ever do in Black Moon? I've never understood his role, so I've always assumed he was like the one dude who had money so he bought a P.A. for them, which is how he was in the group. But you have to sort of assume Dru Ha had that role since he was the white guy who managed everything. If you happen to know, hit me up at ravenmack420@hiphopinternerdsodomyfactory.com.
Mike Dikk: One of the last issues of Elemental explained what happened to the entire Boot Camp Click, but I lost that issue and I forgot the whole story. I think it was some Yoko Ono type shit that initially broke them up along with your average rock star ego nonsense.
I could never differentiate between anyone involved in the Boot Camp Click because they ALL made hits. They had a full years worth of hit singles with no sign of stopping, and this gem was a small sample of their reign.
Oddly enough, this wasn’t one of their surefire ready made hits. The album version of this song really sucks, but they were smart enough to remix it and make it one of their best songs. I prefer this song to a lot of their other big singles because it has more of a breezy laid back feeling to it, and most people associate the BCC with that real hard hitting boom bap shit, but they could get all melodic on your ass and light up a low-key tune. It’s the same reason I like “Music Makes Me High” so much.
I’m listening to “I Got Cha Opin” as I write this, and I don’t understand how they couldn’t get their shit together after their initial collapse. There are many people out there that are bigger fans of BCC than I am. I was kind of discovering other types of music at the time and I didn’t pay as much attention to them as I should have. What I’m getting at is, I may not be qualified enough to say this, but the only rap clique that had a quality-to-quantity ratio like BCC was the first wave of the Wu Tang Clan. I know most RILL RAP HEADS will more than agree with me on this statement, but they never got the shine with the younger folks that Wu got. There are little kids (by little, I mean like, under 18) who still hold Wu Tang up on this legendary pedestal, and they have no reason to, since the Wu hasn’t put out any classic shit in these kids' music-listening lifetime. BCC has close to as many big early singles as Wu did, and unless the kid is a rap nerd in training, chances are, he could give a shit about BCC and Duck Down Entertainment.
If you’re the type of person who is into doing good deeds, burn Enta Da Stage for a younger dude. There’s a good chance he won’t want to listen to that old man shit, but it just might seep through his thick skull that rap music used to be awesome, and that the Wu Tang isn’t the only legendary rap crew from the early '90s.
Download: Black Moon - I Got Cha Open
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