March 17 would have been Sean Price’s 47th birthday had the MC aka Ruck lived past age 43. On February 8, 2019, P’s longtime label Duck Down Music Inc. teamed with Coalmine Records and producer Small Professor for the rapper’s second posthumous album, 86 Witness. Produced mostly before Price’s untimely demise, the album got its title when Small Pro and executive producer Matt Diamond (no relation) realized that references to the year 1986 kept popping up in P’s rhymes for the project. Sean Price was 14 in 1986. Hip-hop was about as young.
Sean Price’s lyrics have always had something of a cafeteria cipher feeling about them. Sometimes his words make little sense together at first (“Dikembe Mutumbo, Feliz Navidad”), perhaps a testament to their being pulled out of thin air, but the rhymes are rarely ever left unresolved, and a perfectly timed punchline can set any verse on fire (“You buy Echo to get us free like Amistad”). Those types of lines also abound 86 Witness, as do features, so the cipher vibes are even more present than usual.
In celebration of the album’s release, to which Sean’s widow Bernadette Price gave her blessing, Tiny Mix Tapes reached out to Small Professor to compile a guest mix featuring only instrumentals from 1986. Included are a number of classic cuts such as “Peter Piper” and “Push It,” as well as some more obscure selections like Anquette’s “Throw the P” and Faze One’s “Layin’ Down a Beat.”
Stream Small Professor’s 1986 Instro Flow below and cop 86 Witness on Bandcamp or direct from Duck Down.
[00:00] Doug E. Fresh Intro
[01:02] Original Concept - Knowledge Me (Instrumental) Prod. by Original Concept
[02:40] Beastie Boys - Paul Revere (Instrumental) Prod. by Rick Rubin
[04:30] Mantronix - Bassline (Instrumental) Prod. by Mantronix
[06:22] Salt-N-Pepa - I’ll Take Your Man (Instrumental) Prod. by Hurby Luv Bug
[08:17] Kool G Rap - It’s A Demo (Instrumental) Prod. by Marley Marl
[09:37] Run DMC - Peter Piper (Instrumental) Prod. by Rick Rubin & Russell Simmons
[10:58] Anquette - Throw The P (Instrumental) Prod. by David Hobbs
[12:43] Faze One - Layin Down A Beat (Instrumental) Prod. by Dave Ogrin
[14:44] Janet Jackson - When I Think Of You (Instrumental) Prod. by Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis
[16:40] Beastie Boys - Slow And Low (Instrumental) Prod. by Rick Rubin
[18:16] Ultramagnetic MC’s - Ego Trippin (Phat Bonus Beat) Prod. by Ced Gee
[19:26] Schoolly D - Saturday Night (Instrumental) Prod. by Schoolly D
[21:31] Biz Markie - Make The Music With Your Mouth, Biz (Instrumental) Prod. by Marley Marl
[23:30] Salt-N-Pepa - Push It (Instrumental) Prod. by Hurby Azor
[25:30] Just-Ice - Put That Record Back On (Instrumental) Prod. by Kurtis Mantronik
[27:20] Mantronix - Listen To The Bass Of Get Stupid Fresh, Pt. 2 Prod. by Kurtis Mantronik
[29:08] Fat Boys - Human Beatbox, Pt. 3