Me and many other real hip hop fans were questioning this track all the time, now I’ve found the answer. The question we asked is did DJ Premier really produced the Drive By Remix together with Eric Sermon? Who doesn’t know Bosss? Or Bo$$? Nobody? It stands for ‘Bitches On Some Shit’ with members Boss and DJ Dee, DJ Dee left the group later. They were the first artists signed to Def Jam West, and who doesn’t know Def Jam lol. A major hip hop label so it doesn’t spells any good. Russell Simmons liked their demo and signed the female gangsta rappers to Def Jam with success, and you know how the press like big trees. The press revealed that she isn’t that gangsta like the rhymes are telling us, so she resigned from the rap game and became a radio DJ in Houston before she could drop her second album.
Now concerning DJ Premier: one release is markable of her. If you look at the B-Side of the 12″ “Deeper” you see the track “Drive By (Slow Rollin’ Remix)”. You can read ‘Additional Production By DJ Premier & Eric Sermon”. The promo 12″ has even different credits: Produced by MC Serch. Remixed by Jeff Trotter. Recorded at Soundtrack studio, NY. We always thought something is fishy about it, DJ Premier producing something for Def Jam LOL? Never saw that before, and if you’re real, Premo would never used that sample loop for a beat. But why did Def Jam pressed his name on the vinyl? And what about Eric Sermon? I have the answer in a letter of the man who originally produced the remix, Robert “Roblow” Jones:
Boss and Dee da mad bitch showed up at my front door in 1990 from Detroit. I was just a local producer and best friend / so called cousin DJ Battlecatt where making a little name for ourself. They had met a friend of mines in Detroit who told them that I could help get them a deal. At the time Ice cube was working on the movie Boys N The Hood. I then rushed Boss & Dee into the studio and we recorded “Drive bye” and a few other songs. We went down to the movie set to let Ice cube check them out. He loved what he had heard, but could not move on it, because he had just signed Yo-Yo.Ii then took them up to Impact record pool which later became Total Track Production own by Cortney & Tracy.
Also at that time in my life I was a drug dealer and I had went to Michigan to sale drugs and got caught, and was sentence to nine years in 1991. Boss & Dee then signed to total track from the demo that I had produced on them. Total Track who later got Boss a deal with Def Jam all from the Demo that I produced. Remind you, I am in jail. They had got a $500,000 budget to do Boss’s album so Total Track proceeded to complete the album. With their producers DJ Quick and AMG. Def Jam did not accept the album because it sounded nothing like the demo I did. So they reissued a new budget to redo the album. I was then contacted by Boss and Def jam asking for the masters to the demo I did. But in the state of Michigan you can not conduct any business while in jail. So I could not sign any contracts so on good faith I gave my masters to Def Jam’s A&R. I had a good friend at the time “Stone the lunatic” who had just produced Ice cube’s “Wicked” track which did very well for him. And I had ask him to go into the studio and just mix the song and make it sound good. Def Jam thought that since he was a more known producer than I was that it would make better business to let him remix the track and say it was produced by him. The album came out in 1993 with Stone remix version on the album and my version on the b-side of the first single. Def Jam let DJ Premier mix it and Eric do what ever he did to it and the put addition production by those two cats. To this day I am still trying to recover credits and money from that song. -Robert “Roblow” Jones
It’s all politics at the majors people! So I assume DJ Premier did the scratches. Robert Jones didn’t do them. I don’t know what Eric Sermon did but his name was looking good over there. Robert received $5160 dollar for the track and later sued Def Jam, the verdict was they had to fix the credits for future sales. I love those stories, this is my shit, the beginning of 90s hip hop! So now we know, brought to you by gimantalon!
Ow yeah, got something special for the collectors. You know I now also collect (when I can) CDS? Here you have the “Slow Rollin’ Remix” in CDQ, only saw the vinyl rip floating around on the internet. Enjoy fellow hip hop lovers:
Boss – Drive By (Slow Rollin’ Remix) (Produced by Robert “Roblow” Jones)
Robert “Roblow” Jones still makes music, this is his new group. Lastly, I would like to thank him for his letter!
