on a black TDK tape
...another lost hip-hop treasure. From an interview with Johnny Juice Rosado, one of the supposed many that did the actual scratches on PE albums, on unkut.com:
The next night, A Tribe Called Quest was doing 'Scenario'. I got pictures of that shit, too. It was me, Dinco, Busta, Jarobi was there - everybody was in that motherfucker - Dres from Black Sheep was there, both of 'em, Chris Lighty, Mase and Pos from De La, all them motherfuckers rhymed on 'Scenario'. I can't find that copy - I have that tape somewhere in my archives, lost in my attic or some shit. Everybody rhymed on it but Q-Tip, and the best motherfucker on that shit was Posdnuos. He fuckin' destroyed it, and he ain't even like the beat! And after he finished rhyming, everybody went back and rewrote their rhymes!
We was at Unique Studio, that motherfucker finished rhyming, he came out and goes, 'That shit was wack.' That's what Pos said. In the middle of his shit, everybody was like, 'Damn, yo!' That's how nice that shit was. He made 'em turn off all the samples, 'cos they had like 15 samples in there. They had an 'Engine Number 9' sample, that shit by Wilson Pickett, they had four or five samples on there that came on for different people, and Pos didn't like none of 'em so he just rhymed to the drums, and that motherfucker destroyed it. That shit wasn't even close."
So how come they took Pos and them off the final version?
JJ: I have no idea. Mr Lawnge from Black Sheep rhymed one of the verses from [a song] he eventually put on his album - which was real wack - and Baby Chris Lighty's shit was horrible. He's not a rapper.
That take must go on for over ten minutes?!
JJ: Yo, I remember the rhymes on that shit, man. Phife said: 'Slammin' emcees like if my name was Ric Flair/But since I'm dark just call me Coco Beware!' That shit was crazy. Dres ripped that shit, he said some shit about, 'Never chose to listen, never chose to look/Never saw the movie, never read the book/Never something something/Never read the paper/Like Encyclopedia Brown I chose to close the caper!' Even Mase rhymed! Mase's shit was dope. He said: 'I got gift of gab and gift of hustle/Yeah I'm fat but I still got muscle/Some motherfuckers still wanna tussle/I smack that ass without no trouble.' That shit was kinda funky.
So you have that version of 'Scenario' on cassette?
JJ:Yeah, but I can't find it. When I made a copy of it, it wasn't finished - I didn't realise that later it would be a totally different song and it would become the song it did. Now I'm pissed off that I can't find that shit! Four or five people that I know that heard that tape at one time are like, 'Juice, you have to find that fuckin' tape!' It doesn't even say 'Scenario' on it - it actually says 'Unique Recording' right on it, on a black TDK tape. I remember that shit to this day and I can't find that bitch!