Digging For Fire Vol. 3: Vell Bakardy - Genuine Liqua Hits
I used to love to go Dollar Bin hunting. Most times you either walked awake empty handed or with a really scratched copy of some mediocre to halfway decent album you just didn’t want to shell $7 for whenever you found it used normally. But every so often you’d unearth a diamond like no other and it fueled the fire for more and more fruitless trips to the Dollar Bin.
I can’t claim Genuine Liqua Hits as my own dollar bin discovery though. A friend in Florida who was also Dollar Bin hunting unearthed this gem which he then clued me in on. He then proceeded to track down a second copy in yet another Dollar Bin and sent it to me. For that I am truly thankful because I’d probably never have discovered the wonders of Vell Bakardy if it wasn’t for him.
Now while the cover suggests this was put together on Pagemaker on a Mac II in some dude’s garage, Genuine Liqua Hits was actually put out by Rick Rubin’s American Records, not exactly a fly by night operation. So why did Vell fall so hard and heavy into the Dollar Bin? Beats me, but I’m fairly sure this god awful cover didn’t help. If I had to guess what stumbled this album out the gate it was probably this… It didn’t get the proper push from it’s record label, reppin’ Kansas City just didn’t have the same ring as Compton did back in 1995 and Vell was just a bit ahead of his time. He was kind of like Devin the Dude, and fuck… Devin the Dude was way ahead of his time on Fadanuf Fa Everybody a year before Genuine Liqua Hits even dropped.
The album really doesn’t stray too far from what it title suggests… boozy southern slang about drinking, bitches and Latarian’s favorite, doin hood rat shit. Production wise It’s got the kind syrupy sweet 90s G-funk meets Rap-A -Lot beats you’d expect from the album’s subject matter. Vell made one video for the album, Drink Wit’ Me which was poor a choice as with which to promote this album with. While it’s a good track, Drunk B*tches produced by and featuring AMG (Yes the DJ Quik AMG) should have been the first single. No only because it’s an amazing track but because it probably would of helped push Vell a little more by riding some G-funk coattails. AMG also produces and raps on Liqua Ndustry, another stand out cut. All and all the whole album is just terrific… It makes for a perfect alternative to anyone out there who’s tired of spinning his same old west coast classics to death but hankering for some of that same old sound, with some southern flavor.
May 17th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Dude, I totally remember seeing an ad for this album in the SOURCE some years ago. I totally laughed it off because in my mind, I assumed they were shitty based on the album cover, and ALSO for some reason they reminded me of an ALKAHOLIKS rip-off. I was a real judgemental shithead. Disgusting.
I will definitely give this a listen
May 17th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Well an Alkoholiks comparisons are probably totally called for given the subject matter this album focuses on. But sound wise it’s not like The Liks at all. At least I don’t think so.
I think you’d probably like it once you listened to it now. But I totally wouldn’t blame anyone who might have seen this way back when and been like “What the fuck is this bullshit!?”
a couple years ago I randomly opened an issue of Murder Dog and boom there was this one page feature on Vell Bakardy. I guess he’s selling new albums out the trunk somewhere in K.C. these days… who knows.