''Funk Upon a Rhyme'' is the sophomore studio album by American recording artist

Kokane Jerry Buddy Long Jr. (born March 10, 1969), better known by his stage name Kokane, is an American recording artist best known for his distinctive vocal style and numerous guest appearances, such as on Snoop Dogg's ''Tha Last Meal''. Early life ...

. It was released in 1994 through Ruthless Records with distribution by

Relativity Records Relativity Records was an American record label founded by Barry Kobrin at the site of his company, Important Record Distributors (IRD) in metro New York. Relativity released music that covers a wide variety of musical genres. When it entered in ...

. Recording sessions took place at the Edge Studio and Echo Sound in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

Production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

was handled by

Cold 187um Gregory Fernard Hutchison (born August 4, 1967), known as Big Hutch and Cold 187um, is an American rapper and producer, and leader of the rap group Above the Law. He currently records for his self-founded label. Biography Hutchison is ...

with executive production by Eazy-E. The album features contributions from Janine, Nicki and Tha New Funkateers on background vocals, Cold 187 um on keyboards and vocals, Mike Smooth on guitar and keyboards, Mike "Crazy Neck" Sims on guitar, with

guest appearance In show business, a guest appearance is the participation of an outsider performer (such as a musician or actor) in an event such as a music record or concert, show, etc., when the performer does not belong to the regular band, cast, or other ...

s from Dirty Red,

Tha Alkaholiks Tha Alkaholiks, also known as Tha Liks, is an American hip hop trio from Los Angeles, California, United States. Since the early 1990s they have produced party music with a hardcore hip hop edge, powered by the beats of DJ and producer E-Swift ...

, Black Hole Of Watts, and Above The Law. Previously, the rapper debuted with '' Addictive Hip Hop Muzick'' under the name 'Who Am I?', making this full-length his first one recording as 'Kokane' and his second release overall. ''Funk Upon a Rhyme'' peaked at number 56 on the

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated ...

chart and at number 19 on the Heatseekers Albums chart in the United States. The album is now out of print and very rare. The album spawned two singles: "Slow Burnin' 22.5° F" and "Bakin' Soda Free". Its last song, "Don't Bite the Phunk", is a

diss track A diss track, diss record or diss song (diss – abbr. from ''disrespect'') is a song whose primary purpose is to verbally attack someone else, usually another artist. Diss tracks are often the result of an existing, escalating feud between the ...

towards

Dr. Dre Andre Romelle Young (born February 18, 1965), known professionally as Dr. Dre, is an American rapper and record producer. He is the founder and CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics, and previously co-founded, co-owned, and ...

Snoop Doggy Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. (born October 20, 1971), known professionally as Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg and briefly Snoop Lion), is an American rapper. His fame dates back to 1992 when he featured on Dr. Dre's debut solo single, " ...

Tha Dogg Pound Tha Dogg Pound is an American Hip hop music, hip hop duo made up of rappers Kurupt and Daz Dillinger. They were signed to Death Row Records in their early careers and were key to the label's success. Kurupt and Daz went on to release solo albu ...

& Death Row.

Track listing

Note *Some versions have 15 tracks because the intro isn't a part of the first track. Sample credits *"Ridin' on the Funk" contains elements from "I'll Write A Song For You" by

Earth, Wind & Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (EW&F or EWF) is an American band whose music spans the genres of jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, big band, Latin, and Afro pop. They are among the best-selling bands of all time, with sales of over 90 million reco ...

(1977) *"From the Funk to the Back" contains elements from "Anniversary" by

Tony! Toni! Toné! Tony! Toni! Toné! was an American soul/ R&B band from Oakland, California, popular during the late 1980s and early to mid-1990s. During the band's heyday, it was composed of D'wayne Wiggins on lead vocals and guitar, his brother Raphael Saadiq ...

(1993) and "

Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker) "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)" is a funk song by Parliament. It was released as a single under the name "Tear the Roof off the Sucker (Give Up the Funk)". It was the second single to be released from Parliament's 1975 album '' ...

" by

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

(1976) *"Mo' Water" contains elements from "

Flex Flex or FLEX may refer to: Computing * Flex (language), developed by Alan Kay * FLEX (operating system), a single-tasking operating system for the Motorola 6800 * FlexOS, an operating system developed by Digital Research * FLEX (protocol), a comm ...

" by

Mad Cobra Ewart Everton Brown (born 31 March 1968), better known by his stage name Mad Cobra or simply Cobra, is a Jamaican dancehall musician.Huey, Steve " Mad Cobra Biography, AllMusic, retrieved 2010-01-31Larkin, Colin (1998) ''The Virgin Encyclopedia ...

(1992), "Nasty Girl" by

Vanity 6 Vanity 6 was a short lived American female vocal trio that gained popularity in the early 1980s. They were protégés of musician Prince. Led by singer Vanity, they are known for their song " Nasty Girl." History Formation In 1981, Prince, hi ...

(1982), " Give It Away" by

Red Hot Chili Peppers Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1983, comprising vocalist Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea, drummer Chad Smith, and guitarist John Frusciante. Their music incorporates elements of alternative rock, funk ...

(1991) *"Slow Burnin' 22.5° Fahrenheit" contains elements from "Ninety-Nine And A Half (Won't Do)" by

Wilson Pickett Wilson Pickett (March 18, 1941 – January 19, 2006) was an American singer and songwriter. A major figure in the development of soul music, Pickett recorded over 50 songs which made the US R&B charts, many of which crossed over to the ''Bill ...

(1966) *"My Day is Coming" contains elements from "Metal Flake Mind" by

Mtume Mtume (pronounced ''em-tu-may'') was an American funk and soul group that rose to prominence during the early 1980s and had several R&B hits during its career. Its founder, former percussionist James Mtume, previously played and toured with M ...

(1978) and " Impeach the President" by The Honey Drippers (1973) *"All Bark No Bite" contains elements from "Person To Person" by

Average White Band The Average White Band (also known as AWB) are a Scottish funk and R&B band that had a series of soul and disco hits between 1974 and 1980. They are best known for their million-selling instrumental track " Pick Up the Pieces", and their album ...

(1974) *"Bakin' Soda Free" contains elements from " Bring The Noise" by

Public Enemy "Public enemy" is a term which was first widely used in the United States in the 1930s to describe individuals whose activities were seen as criminal and extremely damaging to society, though the phrase had been used for centuries to describe ...

(1987) *"Aftermath" contains elements from " Fuck Wit Dre Day" by

& Snoop Dogg (1992), "Down 2 Tha Last Roach" by Eazy-E &

B.G. Knocc Out Al Hasan Naqiyy (formerly Arlandis Hinton; born January 23, 1975), known professionally as B.G. Knocc Out is an American West Coast rapper and songwriter. He is best known for his collaboration on Eazy-E's 1993 single "''Real Muthaphuckkin G's'' ...

(1993) and Cop Shootout from '' The Terminator'' (1984) * "No Pain No Gain" contains elements from "Munchies For Your Love" by Bootsy Collins (1977) and "Devotion" by

(1974) *"Shit, Goddamm" contains elements from "Sweet Sticky Thing" by Ohio Players (1975) and "

Get Off Your Ass And Jam "Get Off Your Ass and Jam" is a song by Funkadelic, track number 6 to their 1975 album '' Let's Take It to the Stage''. It was written by George Clinton, although the lyrics are made up entirely of repetitions of the phrase, " Shit! Goddamn! Get o ...

" by

Funkadelic Funkadelic was an American funk rock band formed in Plainfield, New Jersey in 1968 and active until 1982. The band and its sister act Parliament, both led by George Clinton, pioneered the funk music culture of the 1970s.John, Bush. Funkade ...

(1975)

Personnel

* Jerry Buddy Long, Jr. – main artist, lead vocals * Gregory Fernan Hutchinson – featured artist (tracks: 9, 14),

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

, producer, mixing * James Robinson – featured artist (track 7) * Rico Smith – featured artist (track 7) * Kevyn "Shaki" Carter – featured artist (track 9) * Anthony Stewart – featured artist (track 9) * Kevin Michael Gulley – featured artist (track 9) * Andrew "D-Nut" Simpson – featured artist (track 13) * Antyone "Big Twon" Reed – featured artist (track 13) * Orie G. "Big O" Windfield – featured artist (track 13) * Shante "Young Down" Henderson – featured artist (track 13) *Janine –

additional vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are used ...

(track 1) *Nicki – additional vocals (track 5) *Tha New Funkateers – backing vocals (track 10) * Mike Smooth –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

, keyboards *Mike "Crazy Neck" Sims – additional guitar (track 4) * Mark "The Don" Paladino – mixing (tracks: 1, 3-12, 14) *Mike Calderon – mixing (tracks: 2, 13) *

Brian Gardner Brian Knapp Gardner, also known as Brian "Big Bass" Gardner, is an American mastering engineer. He has worked on a number of recordings since the mid-1960s, including classic rock, funk, disco, alternative rock, R&B, hip hop, pop punk and dance- ...

– mastering * Eric Wright – executive producer * Julie Dennis – photography

Chart history

References

External links

{{Authority control 1994 albums Kokane albums G-funk albums Ruthless Records albums Albums produced by Cold 187um