Steve 'Flash' JuonSometimes you hit a brick wall and sometimes that wall hits you first (twice as hard). Louie Louie’s “Deadlier Than Ever” is an obscure album by an even more obscure artist. The only record released in the name of Louie squared (real name Luis Vega) outside of this is one with the late Mark James a/k/a 45 King. Both projects came out on the notoriously litigious Tuff City Records, a label which has spent more time suing people for unauthorized samples than it has promoting its own artists. It’s no wonder there’s so little information about this record.
That’s sad given that Tuff City had some genuine rap credentials in the 1980’s and 90’s, and not just because of their association with Mr. James. A lot of pioneering and influential rappers like YZ and Lakim Shabazz released albums with the label, and the label itself would (ironically enough) be known for creating break beat compilations that were tailor made for deejays and producers to work with. There is a whole lot of lost history here that could only be answered by the label’s founder Aaron Fuchs, and TBH I don’t think I’m the right person to ask him anyway. Let me put it another way — our generous patrons keep the lights on and the website running, but that’s not going to cover my expenses to go to New York City and track Fuchs or Vega down. If there’s a vlog from 45 King where he did a deep dive on all this, somebody hit me up with the link, with my thanks in advance.
I’m trying not to find the lack of information about “Deadlier Than Ever” too depressing, but the fact I enjoyed this record made it hurt a little bit more. Some people just have an ear for picking the right samples, the right drums, the right tempo, then stitching it all together into a gestalt greater than the sum of its parts. You all know the names like Alchemist, Primo, Pete Rock, J Dilla, Dr. Dre, et cetera. It would be exaggerating to say Louie Louie Vega reached their heights, but with only two records to his credit and scant information about him out there, who is to say he wouldn’t have?
While searching around Discogs to try to pan a single gram of gold out of this river of nothing, I found Vega’s name pop up on a number of Flavor Unit and Tuff City releases, further cementing his relationship with the late Mark James. I also got a few entries outside of that running the range from Gang Starr (cool) to The Almighty RSO (ehh). What became clear through it all was that he vanished before the end of the 1990’s and only shows up on compilation records after 1998. If you know me you know I like to embed songs from albums into reviews, but with “Deadlier Than Ever” that’s incredibly difficult given how few individual songs have gotten uploaded online. I did luck out just once though with “Funky Mix” featuring an even more obscure rap artist — The Mighty Maestro.
Maestro is not anywhere near comparable skill-wise to the better known Maestro Fresh Wes but he’s a bit of alright. At the very least he doesn’t sound out of place on a label with the likes of YZ & Shabazz. He won’t go down as notable any more than Louie Louie save for this review but at least he hasn’t been forgotten completely thanks to Tuff City still pulling every nickel and dime out of everything they own. Yes this is one of the few benefits of greed. If you can put it on Bandcamp and sell it, it’s not ever truly out of print, no matter how many or few people listen to it. Listen to “Deadlier Than Ever” and tell me you don’t hear a good ear for music here. If he wasn’t 45 King’s protege he was at the very least a contemporary worthy of greater recognition than he’s had until now.