Today in Hip-Hop — November 9: 36 Chambers and Midnight Marauders Turn 33, the Tuesday the Hit Factory Mastered Both Sides of New York

Tuesday, November 9, 1993. Two records hit New York shelves on the same day and split the decade’s sound down the middle. From Staten Island came Wu-Tang Clan’s Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) on Loud/RCA: grimy, kung-fu-spliced, dirt in every bar. From Queens came A Tribe Called Quest’s Midnight Marauders on Jive: warm, polished, Native Tongues at its peak. That was 33 years ago today. The first jewel is in the small print. Both sleeves say Mastered at The Hit Factory, NYC. Two different engineers worked in the same building and cut two opposite sounds, and both records came out the same Tuesday.

Shaolin: Prince Rakeem on the Credits

Wu-Tang recorded 36 Chambers at Firehouse Studio. Chris Gehringer handled the Direct Metal Mastering at the Hit Factory. Look at the liner notes on the original US pressing. The production, mixing, arranging and programming are all credited to Prince Rakeem, RZA’s old Tommy Boy-era name. GZA is listed as The Genius and Inspectah Deck as Rebel INS. The notes also say the album “contains numerous samples” from the dubbed kung-fu film Shaolin and Wu Tang, the movie that lent the Clan its name. Collectors spot a true first press by its yellow spine. We covered the Firehouse sessions in full in our 36 Chambers deep dive.

Queens: Seventy-One Faces and a Tour Guide

Tribe went the other way. They spent about nine months recording at Battery, Platinum Island and Sorcerer Sound, with Bob Power recording and mixing. Tom Coyne mastered it at the Hit Factory. The album opens with the “Midnight Marauders Tour Guide,” a calm robotic voice that the liners credit to Laurel Dann. Then the cover: a woman painted in red, black and green, printed in three different color schemes. Ego Trip’s Book of Rap Lists counted 71 hip-hop luminaries and radio DJs across the front and back. Bambaataa, Chuck D, the Beasties, De La, Busta, Large Professor, Red Alert and the Rock Steady Crew are all on there. Complex‘s Andrew Noz called it one of hip-hop’s last grand displays of cultural unity before the coastal fallout. Tribe’s next move is in our Beats, Rhymes and Life anniversary post.

Wear It

We made an Midnight Marauders tee for heads who played “Electric Relaxation” and “Protect Ya Neck” back to back in 1993 and never picked a side. Red, black and green, the Native Tongues in their prime.

Also Today in Hip-Hop

• 1970: Scarface is born (56 today). He started out in Houston as DJ Akshen before the Geto Boys made him a legend. From 2000 to 2005 he ran Def Jam South as president, where he backed a young Ludacris.
• 2010: Kid Cudi’s Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager (16 years). It debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 with 169,000 first-week copies, Cudi’s highest debut at the time. It was the dark middle chapter of the trilogy, and Emile Haynie and Plain Pat ran the boards.
• 2004: Handsome Boy Modeling School’s White People (22 years). Prince Paul and Dan the Automator’s second album as Handsome Boy dropped on 36 Chambers‘ 11th birthday. RZA shows up on “A Day in the Life” next to The Mars Volta and Rahzel.

Stay creative — The Custom Creative Team

Jon Jones