40 oz. to freedom (thing)

The first album from Long Beach, California band Sublime, originally released on Skunk Records in 1992. Highly recommended. The sound is a mix of reggae, punk, and ska, basically; Sublime always described themselves as a reggae band, but, for example, We're Only Gonna Die is a flat-out punk song, while Date Rape, the big hit off this album (even though it didn't make it to radio for about three years) is distinctly ska. Reggae is just slowed-down ska anyway (yes, this is true; most think that ska is sped-up reggae, which is not true). Made for under $1,000, it sold over 30,000 units in its first two years, out of the trunks of people's cars. The album was produced by Paul Leary of the Butthole Surfers. It was later picked up by MCA when the band hit it big. Original releases (on Skunk) are very difficult to find; the original track listing reads like so (typography preserved):

• waiting for my ruca
• get out!
• 40oz. to freedom
• smoke two joints
• we're only gonna die for our arrogance
• don't push
• 5446/ball and chain
• badfish
• lets go get stoned
• new thrash
• scarlet begonias
• live at e's
• d.j.s
• chica me tipo
• right back
• what happened
• new songs
• ebin
• date rape
• hope
• krs-one

There is also a hidden track, rawhide, after date rape, and at the end there is a "thanks dub" in which the bad runs through a long list of people they wants to thank. The original recording differs from the MCA version in the following ways:

• No get out!
• No rawhide
• No explicit lyrics warning on the front cover
• Says "MCA" on it (duh)

The album cover (based on a motif of the sun) was done by Opie Ortiz, a good friend of the band who did alot of their artwork and tattoos. The back cover features a picture of Lou-Dog, Bradley Nowell's dog.

I'm not going to do a play-by-play of the individual tracks, since that belongs in the tracks' nodes; nevertheless, a note on the album's 6 (!) cover songs is in order:

• Smoke Two Joints: As said in the "thanks dub," this song was "jacked from the Toyes"; that's Toyes with an e, a 90's reggae group, not the 60's rock group The Toys.
• We're Only Gonna Die (For Our Arrogance) is by Bad Religion, a Southern California punk band from the early 80's to the present.
• 54-46 That's My Number was copped from Toots and the Maytals, an influential reggae group starting out in the 60's.
• Scarlet Begonias: The Grateful Dead.
• Hope was a Descendants song
• Rivers of Babylon is a cover of the Melodians, from Psalm 127

And lastly, fondly, a list of all the samples used on the record (Artist, Song Name, Album Name), and an explanation of some of the references:

• Ruca:
• "Punk rock changed our lives": D Boone from the Minutemen (a very influential outfit), Double Nickels on the Dime
• Barking: lou dog
• "Damn Tough": Kurtis Blow
• ruca is spanish slang for bitch
• heina is spanish slang for "a good loking woman"
• Get Out!:
• Beats and riffs: Led Zeppelin, Lemon Song, Led Zepeplin 2
• Drum roll: Led Zeppelin, Moby Dick, Led Zeppelin 2
• "Fuck you man" and "I got a bone to pick": Geto Boys (a gansta rap group), Fuck 'em, The Geto Boys
• Keyboards: Willie D, from the Geto Boys
• "Let me bust a freestyle then": N.W.A.
• Peni is a punk rock band
• Smoke Two Joints:
• Beginning sound clip ("She was living in a single room..." etc.): Beyond the Valley of the Dolls(a 1970 movie about Hollywood, sex, and drugs
• Bong hit: Chris Hauser (this is given in the liner notes)
• "Smoked cigarettes 'til the day she died": The Ziggens, Outside
• "Easy E, were you ever caught slippin'? Hell no!": Easy E. (from N.W.A), No More ?'s, Easy Duz It
• Don't Push:
• "Stolen from an African Land" is a reference to Bob Marley's Buffalo Soldier
• Half Pint is a reggae artist
• As were the Boomtown Rats
• King Ad-rock is Adam Horovitz of the Beastie Boys
• Comfortably Numb is a Pink Floyd song, from The Wall
• "Racism is schism on a serious tip" is in the Beastie Boys' Lookin' Down the Barrel, from Paul's Boutique
• 5446/Ball and Chain:
  • "Lord have his grilled cheese" is a random quote from a friend of the band.
• Let's Go Get Stoned:
• "Damn...": Easy E
• "The rhythm, the rebel": Chuck D., Rebel Without a Pause, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
• "And I said suck the mutherfucker, you bitin' it, shit": NWA, Just Don't Bite It, 100 Miles and Runnin'
• "Word": Chuck D., Contract on the World, Fear of a Black Planet
• "Let's Go Get Stoned" (only on the original version): Ray Charles, Let's Go Get Stoned
• "Kick it": Beastie Boys, Fight for Your Right, Licensed to Ill
• Scarlet Begonias:
• Background Beat: James Brown, Funky Drummer
• Live at E's:
• E's = Eric Wilson's (bassist's) house
• 5000 apparently means "goodbye"
• D.J.s:
• "The stone that the builder refuse shall be the head corner-stone" is from Psalm 118, quoted by Jesus at Matthew 21:42
• "Dready got a job to do...we will survive in this world of competition" is from Bob Marley, Ride Natty Ride
• "Stop your messin' around, or you'll wind up in jail" is from The Specials, A Message to You Rudie, The Specials
• What Happened?:
  • The beginning is a sample of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue
  • The Champs' Tequila is also sampled
• New Songs:
• "Why must I feel like that?": George Clinton, Atomic Dog, Computer Games
• Flava-Flave is a rapper from Public Enemy
• Ebin:
• PLO: Palestinian Liberation Organization
• JFA: Jodie Foster's Army, an 80's punk band
• KRS-One
• The beat is from Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince (Will Smith), Charlie Mack, He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper
• "Meet our producer": KRS-One (rapper), The Style You Haven't Done, Ghetto Music: The Blueprints of Hip-Hop
• "Damn Tough": Kurtis Blow, Tough
• "Be-biddy by-by-by": KRS-One, same song as above
• "You must learn": KRS-One, You Must Learn, same album as above