Questlove and the "Hold It, Now Hit It" mystery single?

[tuc70021]

I've heard Questlove (of The Roots) tell the story a number of times about how when he was growing up in Philly, the Hold It Now Hit It single was circulating in all the clubs and was blowing up, but due to an error by Def Jam on the labelling, the a-side (with the regular "album" cut) actually had the acepella version, so everyone in the Philly hip-hop scene though that Hold It Now Hit It was a strictly vocal rap song. It wasn't until Licensed to Ill dropped that people heard the drum machine and samples and thought "what the hell is this?"

I'm by no means the most knowledgeable collector out there, but I've never seen any evidence that this mispressed single existed - has anyone ever come across a copy? Beastiemania has nothing about it and i've never found one for sale anywhere. Just curious if Questlove might be mistaken or if there really is some as-of-yet-uncatalogued mispress out there.

[cj hood]

He's referring to the dub version.
It was on youtube....looking now....

[dust monkey]

https://www.discogs.com/Beastie-Boys-Hold-It-Now-Hit-It/release/181258

pretty sure it's this one which i have, but the label doesn't specifically say side A or B or 1 or 2 (just the circle with the upsidedown triangle), so maybe that's the confusion if you just played the acapulco side 1st. don't know....bigfatlove could prob confirm and/or correct.

don't know i've had this record since 88-89 so not sure if there was another error pressing.

[tuc70021]

https://www.discogs.com/Beastie-Boys-Hold-It-Now-Hit-It/release/181258

pretty sure it's this one which i have, but the label doesn't specifically say side A or B or 1 or 2 (just the circle with the upsidedown triangle), so maybe that's the confusion if you just played the acapulco side 1st. don't know....bigfatlove could prob confirm and/or correct.

don't know i've had this record since 88-89 so not sure if there was another error pressing.

Wow, I never noticed that. I've had this single forever as well and knew that the "B-side" was the a cappella (Acapulco) version, but I didn't even notice the weird labeling. Not only are the A/B sides not labeled, the tracks are really weirdly numbered. The a cappella version has no track number and is on its own side, while the album version is labeled track 1 and the instrumental is labeled track 2. I could totally see how someone could pick this up, see the side with just one track on it and no track number, and think that was the A side.

[3stooges]

I have the record too. But it was never confusing to me. Maybe there was some early pressing of it where the tracks got mixed up/mislabeled. Or it could have been the radio dj that was playing it just liked playing the acapella, and it caught on in Philly.

Sometimes weird things like that happen, where one version of a song becomes real popular in a different country, or region, and another version is real popular somewhere else.

[Sir SkratchaLot]

Wow, I never noticed that. I've had this single forever as well and knew that the "B-side" was the a cappella (Acapulco) version, but I didn't even notice the weird labeling. Not only are the A/B sides not labeled, the tracks are really weirdly numbered. The a cappella version has no track number and is on its own side, while the album version is labeled track 1 and the instrumental is labeled track 2. I could totally see how someone could pick this up, see the side with just one track on it and no track number, and think that was the A side.

This is exactly what I was thinking.