i first met scarub through my walkman back in nineteen ninety seven. i wasn’t in the “smart” classes because i couldn’t focus on anything for more than a few seconds. i was a hip hop head who loved tracks from the pharcyde but then i also loved hearing spice one talk about being the fuckin murderer. what could i say… spice one got one of the illllllllllllllllllllllllllest flows of all time.
but i could never just listen to this type of hip hop or that type of rap… i just liked music in all shapes and sizes. rage against the machine was just as dope as the chronic back in ‘92 and then you had sublime creeping up right there in cali too? whoa… snoop, cube, white men can’t jump, suicidal tendencies, beck, rage, nirvana, beastie boys, bone, brotha lynch, tool… not just amazing rap… amazing music.
anybody who cruised in my ninety one candy red volkswagon fox knew that sometimes pantera might be in the mix right after some x-raided. that’s just the way that magnus, ringer, and biggg d8ta liked to roll. we would pregame at my parents’ pad crushing some leftover round table pizza and then watching wrestling videos or rage against the machine bootleg vhs of them just thrashing somewhere really cool. i just always had a unique bond with people through music. my core memories start with music first and then color the picture on the remaining details still fading in my mind.
fast forward back to ninety seven and my hip hop homies were straight dope dealers. anthony and kim always had that pure cocaine with the cassettes they had in their backpacks. you already know they put me on grouch and eligh and this song below gave me hope… hope that i could one day be a white…. nah… sure grouch and eligh were “white” but they were just different than the other rappers i was seeing. the living legends just gave me hope that i could be myself and make a living off of it.
ant and kim gave me the grouch tape called nothing changes and there was this track called “the march” that was so wild. eligh would just sit on the floor with the flyest beanie you ever seen with a hoodie so far over his head it was like he was asleep and then would come up to rip a track and then just go sit down again. and then when he would be chopping on a track it was like he came to life and was this ferocious mahfucka that you didn’t want to mess with. these white dudes from los angeles and oakland were so….. different.
then one day, the creatures gave me the cassette called comurshul which was a murs project. i knew murs from “four the record” and knew eligh from “the march” but there was this third rapper with them that seemed like he was an alien? now keep in mind… i was witnessing orko the psychotik alien rip every mic he touched opening for shows in san diego. then he would hop into the crowd and be the nicest dude with a big smile on his face. during my formidable years, i wanted to be more like orko and the masters of the universe than any other “role model” i was supposed to look up to.
but yeah… this other rapper with murs and eligh was so fresh. murs and eligh had styles nobody had ever heard but now this dude named scarub slides in and had a crazy flow that could work with the beat but then also battle it but never overpower it. this is like the flex of all flexes for rappers. sure you gotta have bars and to be able to tip toe the flow to the moon and back is a sight to see. it was “melancholy manuscripts” that inspired a generation of kids. we all wanted to sound cool like the three melancholy gypsies and we’d practice their flows riding eight deep in a civic without anywhere to sleep in san francisco. we would listen to that damn tape constantly and everybody in that crammed car would be styling their flows trying to be like murs, eligh, and scarub. i want to say we were up in the bay to go see kid dragon at the dmc’s? do those facts check out?
when i first found out that scarub was coming to san diego in early ninety eight i was hyped. i was like, “damn, that dude from like three songs on that murs’ ep is gonna be performing in my town?” i went to the show and it was psc aka pushin suckas consciousness and scarub. now that I think about it, it was probably mystik journeymen and maybe scarub rolled with them? who knows… i do know that scarub pulled up and rocked that shit. he was performing songs off his debut album, the answer two the meaning and he was soooooooooo sick. i had seen a few shows at this stage of my young rap concert career but scarub gave a crazy emotional experience to his performance. his delivery had the craziest chop in and out of the beat and then the performance he’d be one with the beat and it just gave you an encompassing view of an artist that i had never experienced before. it was what i called hip hop.
after scarub performed, he came down into the crowd as performers would always do at underground hip hop shows. i was with my creatures crew that night and i remember psc and scarub coming over to talk to me and david. they were so… normal? it was simply a good vibe that i always supported by buying music. and that night i bought my first tape hand-to-hand off of an artist. this type of direct to consumer sales wasn’t new in cali as earl, todd, and percy always did their thing. but the living legends were really about building loyalty through selling right out of their backpacks. it was truly inspiring so i was happy to take the crumbled up 5 dollars and 4 ones and 4 quarters to give to scarub. in exchange, he gave me a work of art that i could cherish forever. that’s invaluable.
after scarub dropped that project, he came out with an amazing follow up called a fact of the matter all produced by elusive. i strongly feel that this album is a classic. I listen to it and I think it could get remastered and rereleased and be some of the dopest music to drop this year. the scarub and elusive producive combo was wiiiiiiild. scarub would get lost in the elusive beats and just create magic. this beat is such a vibe and scarub weaves in and out like a drunkard at the local tavern. who else was rapping about a dude who is an alcoholic? just different… scarub was and is craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazy.
scarub really didn’t miss when he had the mic. he was engaging and the flow kept you immursed in the track/album/project. I had no idea that he was going to ascend heavenbound on that next album though. i’m not even sure when “savvy traveller” dropped… but sheeeeeeeeeet… he got the craziest beat from od aka omid from the beneath the surface compilation??? then he’s rapping about being a “savvy traveler” all across the globe. amazing chorus…. classic track… no other way to phrase it. this song is an absolute smash and if you ask any of my friends, this would be high on their lists. “savvy traveler” is too good for youngsters today to not know about. we have to change that narrative and bring back the dope hip hop. it didn’t disappear but it needs a lil pump to the chest.
and if you’re a fan of scarub??? we just getting started fam. “empty roads” drops tonight. producertrenttaylor on the beat and fashawn, odessa kane, and scarub on the raps. this shit is wild. can’t wait for you to peep. but until then, give this track a quick spin…