Rap Summary

 photo from @Represent_NYC_

Recent goodies courtesy of DJ people

Red Alert on Kiss FM, Oct '87 & Whizkid live in Peckham in '84, both courtesy of DJ MK who has been sharing some holy grail business on his Mixcloud recently

Jaguar Skills has dropped the Hip Hop Time Bombs for 1984 and 2011 (2003 comes out on Monday)

Nice mini-mix from the dons Its Overture

TDK presents Where Brooklyn At ?!?! The Biggie Fat Tape

Stetsasonic performing on WNYU, 1986 from DJ Andy Smith's collection

Wojavelli follows his Best Of Eightball mix with a Best Of C-Murder and Best Of BG

Run DMC on Mike Allen's Capital FM show, May '87 at Random Rap Radio

That should keep you going.

Biggie - Wake Up Show freestyle (1997)

March 9th. A date Canibus imprinted on listeners' brains as the day Biggie died and also my 11th Blogiversary (?). We still here. This freestyle has done the rounds over the years but I've been playing it over the last few months since I picked up one of those not-entirely-official compilation albums that was somehow on sale in HMV in the mid 00s.

The interesting thing about this Wake Up Show appearance, aside from being the week before he was shot dead, is that he speaks about how 2Pac's death affected him ("maybe more than anybody else") but then what lyrics does he go to for the freestyle?

Long Kiss Goodnight! I mean..."slugs missed ya, I ain't mad at ya", "maniacs put my names in raps", "look what you made me do, brains blew, my team in the marine blue 6 coupe"

Oh for social media to have been around when Fat Chris (@KONY or @FrankWhite maybe? )went on LA radio and threw all sorts of subliminals at 2Pac 6 months after he died. Your favourite rapper would never. Unless your favourite rapper is 50 Cent. He probably would.

Nice beat selection for this too, and unusually for such a great moment in 90s rap radio, there's video footage too.

Biggie & Craig Mack on Hot 97 (1994)

Not a tape I've ripped myself, but something I recently came across when I was browsing Soundcloud for the first time in ages. Brandan (shout out to Brandan) posted this up 3 years ago so you may have heard it already. To begin with I assumed it would be the show that spawned the infamous Live at The Palladium freestyle that appeared on the Nuttin But Flava 12", particularly as the freestyle on this uses the same Mad Lion instrumental. This is before that though, and is probably the Bad Boy duo's first appearance on Flex's influential Street Jam show. He's asking Biggie where he's from, what name he's officially going under and what label he's on, and he later has the exclusive play of Juicy although as you'll hear from his conversation with Puffy, Unbelievable hadn't made it's way onto his promo CD at this point. Hearing Big drop (at that time unheard) lyrics from Juicy and Everyday Struggle over Impeach The President and Craig Mack following him with Flava In Ya Ear about to hit the streets is a pretty iconic moment so although I don't usually jack content from other people I had to have this one and give it some additional shine. I've edited it down so you'll have to check Soundcloud if you want to hear Flex in the mix for the 50 minutes that preceded this. It was ripped at a really low bit rate unfortunately but it's listenable.

If you don't have time for the whole thing, here's the freestyle...



If you need more Fat Chris in your life Filthy Rich just dropped a Ready To Die 25th Anniversary Tribute mix. Check his Gravediggaz/Organized Konfusion blend project too while you're there.

Also, I'm running low on tapes to rip at the moment so if you've got any an want to share get in touch. I can return them when I'm done.

The greatest blog of all time started on March 9th!

Only Built For zShare Links is now officially 10 years deep, deep like the mines of Minolta (is that even a place?) and I've satisfied my mild OCD by making the anniversary coincide with the 1000th post! Having been conceived as just a good name for a blog, when zShare was still a popular file hosting site, I then came up with the concept based around "what if Nah Right was around in the 90s?"

Ironically I've outlasted Nah Right and most other hip hop blogs and given it was old stuff to begin with, the posts from 10 years ago are (mostly) still as relevant now as they were at the time. Originally it was a case of finding the highlights on tapes of old rap radio and uploading freestyles and DJ mixes, which then evolved into posting full shows, as well as a load of mixtapes, obscure vinyl rips in the form of bootleg remixes and unreleased heat, plus my own mixes. I exhausted my own collection of tapes some time ago so big up to Tobes, Rio, Dise One, Diablo, MK, Richard, Cratedigga, Mr Lawson, Grime & Lime and anyone else who hooked me up with gems from their collection to share. Thanks to everyone that checks in regularly or contributed in some way and if you're one of those randoms that sends anonymous impolite emails that just say "ayo re-upload all your Clue and Kayslay shit" please stop. You ain't got no wins in mi casa. 

As I mentioned recently, I'm not sure if I'll continue on with the site at the moment. I've got another project that needs my attention as well as the small matter of a new born baby (Step 2?) to look after, although it turns out that waiting for him to go back to sleep at 4am is kind of an ideal time for blogging. I've not got too many tapes to post right now but do have a couple of connects waiting to hook me up. It's just a matter of having the time to meet up with them, and then getting a new cassette deck. In the meantime I'll still be posting things up on the Mixcloud page and adding to the Westwood Archives and the Hip Hop Radio Archive. If anyone knows a suitable alternative to Audiomack (ie one with a stream and download option) let me know. Alot of the links on the old posts are still good so if you're a late comer or fancy some nostalgia of nostalgia feel free to go back through it all.

Finally, as it's March 9th (one of the few rap anniversaries I acknowledge) here's a great mix of Biggie blends by J Period and G Brown...

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I was planning to drop a Westwood show from '99 where Biggie's mum is the studio guest but the motor on the tape player had other ideas.

[NB: Before anyone checks, the first post was on March 8th but that's not a thing is it? Technically it started after that I guess but I didn't do the anniversary yesterday due to the aforementioned baby and also I was only at 998 posts.]

Radio 1 Rap Show 16.07.99 with P Diddy & Shyne

Puffy on Westwood's show from around the time 'Forever' dropped. He's also got Shyne with him, and it turns out this was the show that this freestyle went down on. Whole load of Bad Boy tracks get played, and then part two finishes off with the recording of Biggie performing at the Radio 1 Rap Show launch party in London back in '95.

March 9th and all that

Here's the full version of Biggie's 'Real Niggaz Do Real Things' (aka "the one over all the west coast beats") which was all over the mixtapes back in '95 but for some reason rarely found in the full version you've got here. As you'd expect it appeared on a ton of bootleg 12"s but usually in parts 1, 2 and 3. All a bit strange. Anyway, this Crib Underground 12" has the best quality full length version that I'm aware of and it includes the DJ Jam interlude and everything...



His Bigness drops some classic verses over Deep Cover, G Thang, Murder Was The Case remix, Black Superman and Gin & Juice. He even shouts out Death Row at the end. Probably one of my favourite Biggie tracks.
Side note: I recently watched The People vs OJ Simpson and the use of Black Superman for Johnny Cochran to walk into the courtroom was fantastic.

Biggie & Mase freestyle (1997)

I liberated this from DJ Absolut's 'When Disaster Strikes' mixtape. Biggie and Mase rhyming over the 'Benjamins' beat at Angie Martinez's birthday party in 1997. Quality isn't flawless but I hadn't heard it before so here you go. Shout out to Grime & Lime.

Was 3 days into the month before I realised I forgot to upload May's First Of The Month mix. I had one ready aswell but as it was a mid 90s House mix you can probably live without it. Might throw something on here soon if I get time.

Biggie & Jay Z - Young Gs (OB4ZL edit)

Another one of those tracks that I've edited down to my own liking. I don't really have any problem with Puffy's rapping  as he usually has the sense and money to employ a decent ghost writer, but I always thought this track went on a bit too long. Here you have it with just Biggie and Jay's verses.



In hindsight it's kind of strange that these two on a track together was just a relatively low key album track at the time but that's resulted in it having a longer shelf life. You could say that the removal of Puff puts this on an equal footing with DITC's 'Day One' (I think that dropped first but couldn't be sure - it certainly wasn't the first time a DITC creation had been jacked for a Bad Boy release). Either way, Frank White and the dude from the My Kinda Girl remix both bring their A-game here. This also serves as a reminder that there's a lot to be said for subtle choruses and relentless, nagging hooks need not always be the order of the day. Rap Purists might not not have Twitter birthday parties for No Way Out's release date anniversary, but the 3 track sequence of Young Gs, I Love You Baby and Benjamins is up there with the best of them.

Just waiting on The Martorialist to request a Puffy solo version now.

Sad news about Phife Dawg. I re-upped this ATCQ Hot 97 freestyle from 1996  if you missed it first time out.

3 "Classic" Records That Aren't Actually That Good...

This isn't about those songs that we all loved when they came out but we've all heard way too often and don't ever really need to listen to again - Hypnotize, Insane In the Brain, It Aint Hard To Tell, Come Clean etc. You know the ones. I'll put my hands up to not immediately liking Simon Says, Flava In Ya Ear or Protect Ya Neck on first hearing them (with the latter 2 it was probably a case of listening to too much G Funk at the time). Those grew on me pretty quickly though, mainly after Funk Flex pulling it back to the beginning for the 8th time. This post is for tracks that were/are really popular but I never liked. Not then and not now. I think I'm gonna be in the minority but feel free to prove me wrong...


Take a bow Drayz and Skoob. You managed to drop a track in 1995 with mixes by Pete Rock and Primo that I don't like. Pick a mix, any mix, it doesn't matter. The song seems to have been given an eternal shelf life by warm up DJs at Rap shows who will inevitably drop a verse and chorus of this before switching into 'Hip Hop' by Dead Prez. Its not fashionable to admit it but I like most of the 12"s from the two Das EFX LPs. Hard Like A Criminal and the Premier remix of Kaught In Da AK are particular faves. This just isn't doing it all though. At the time it was competing against the likes of Biggie, Raekwon, AZ, Mobb Deep so it was always fighting a losing battle. The beat on it just never did anything for me at all, its one of those one dimensional boom bap things that doesn't really build up or do anything for the rappers. It doesn't even work for me as a nostalgia piece in the "well at least its better than Drake" school of thought. Bin it.


This was the first song I'd heard Biggie on that I didn't like. I wasn't DJing when it dropped but as far as I could tell this was huge in the clubs and it was getting rinsed on the radio. The thing is it's just not that good.
BIG's verse is decent enough I suppose but the beat never really hit the spot for me and in '95 Cease and Lil Kim weren't really up to par (as mentioned in the post above, the calibre of the competition meant standard were set pretty high and we were spoilt for choice). If I had to put a positive spin on it, maybe I'd have been into it more if I was playing in the clubs when it came out or if it had dropped in '99 and was produced by Irv Gotti or Swizz Beatz. As it stands though: Meh. Its a glimpse of the sort of thing Biggie might've ended up churning out on the regular if he hadn't been killed. I'm sure there would've been a few Neptunes and Timbaland bangers along the way aswell though.
Sidenote: I never liked 'Get Money' either, although obviously the remix is greatness.


OK, maybe I'm stretching it a bit with this one but I never liked the beat on this. Obviously it's not completely shit and I know that the (obviously superb) lyrics needed an instrumental that wasn't too overbearing but I find it a bit dull. For such a personal song it could do with a chord change or two just to add a bit of feeling or emotion to the proceedings. If you aren't convinced then consider this:
- If it was that good surely Q Tip would've used it on Midnight Marauders.
- The acapella sounds better over pretty much every other beat I've heard it blended with, the best of which was probably DJ Rectangle mixing it over the Deep Cover instrumental on his 'OG Style' mixtape.

Sidenote: I'm sure that at some point a few years after Illmatic came out, some people got the narrative of the song confused and thought Nas was writing a letter to Cormega.

DJ Chase 'Ha' remix (1999)

This is something that Westwood and Flex played a few times back in the day and I'd been on the hunt for a copy for a while. DJ Chase takes the ill-as-fuck Mannie Fresh beat from Juvenile's 'Ha' and adds the 2Pac, Biggie and Grand Puba verses from Eddie F's 'Lets Get It On'

 DOWNLOAD

Previously: DJ Chase 'The Bitch' remix

DJ M Rock - The Biggie Remixes (2013)

Following on from DJ Rhude's 'Notorious 9' a few weeks ago, DJ M Rock drops this set of 6 B.I.G remixes using his own beats.

GO HERE to check his reworkings of Skys The Limit, Kick In The Door, Come On, Dead Wrong, Crush On You and One More Chance.

DJ Rhude 'The Notorious 9' (2013)

Following on from the post below, the homie DJ Rhude dropped this yesterday...

I’ve always wondered what Big would sound like rocking with some of today’s producers, which was the catalyst behind this project. I’ve taken 9 of his songs and matched them up with some of the dopest producers out now. Some noteworthy beats featured on The Notorious 9 are from Harry Fraud, No I.D., Large Professor, The Alchemist, Jahlil Beats and a few others. Along for the ride are some respected heavyweights from the industry in Datwon Thomas (Exec. Ed. Vibe Mag) Shaheem Reid (The Round Up, XXL, Shade 45), Jayson Rodriguez (The Content King, host of The BQE), Rob Markman (MTV News) and DJ Goldfinger. They all took some out time to share their thoughts on Big. Hope everyone enjoys this tribute to one of the greatest rappers to grace the mic. RIP to the late, great Frank White. Peace. – DJ Rhude

GO HERE

Notorious BIG live in London (1995)

I picked this up last week and as today is the anniversary of Biggie's death its only appropriate I upload it.

STREAM PART 1    STREAM PART 2

This show was also the launch party for Tim Westwood's Radio 1 Rap Show (he'd moved from Capital FM at the end of 1994)  and he's recently posted some video footage



Big up Junior Pepaseed for the heads up on that.
In other anniversary related news, this blog was 4 years old yesterday so shout out to myself and everyone thats contributed over the last few years.

Previously
Busta, Maino, MOP, Sheek, Styles P, Lil Cease, Red Cafe & Uncle Murda 'March 9th'

Biggie & Craig Mack freestyle on Westwood (1995)

DJ Chase 'The Bitch' remix (1998)

Biggie's 'Nasty Boy' over Missy's 'She's A Bitch', courtesy of DJ Chase. I imagine this woulda been killin it in tha clubz back in 98.

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Flava In Ya Ear remix (DJ Step One blend)

I haven't posted a blend for a while so here's something I just cooked up: the acapella of the 'Flava In Ya Ear' remix over the instrumental of Outkast's 'Southernplayalistic...'

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Lil Kim 'Big Momma Thang' the unreleased versions (1996)

Although I'm not exactly a big fan of Lil Kim, this track grew on me as a result of rinsing DJ Rectangle's excellent 'Deadly Needles' mixtape back in 97.
I got hold of the 12" you see below and was dismayed to find that it was missing Jay Z's cameo, and so wasn't the version included on Kim's 'Hardcore' album. Instead there were 2 mixes, one of which I assume to be the 'original' (edit: see update below) which makes use of the awesome Love Unlimited Orchestra sample also used by Real Live and Jemini around the same time, and one labelled 'remix' with the same beat as the album version. The real talking point is the lyrics that didnt make the cut on the album...




The track features Kim taking a few shots at Faith Evans and 2Pac and must have been (like most/all of her songs) written by Biggie. You can hear his cadence and humour all over it...

"Uh, who shot ya?
Who knows how they got ya?
Fed up...wet up
Maybe next time your punk ass will Keep Ya Head Up!"

I'm not sure but would guess that the lyrics were removed from the official release due to Pac having died just before it came out. Its a bit of an under-the-radar track and well worth a listen. If you're a stubborn boom-bap dinosaur who wouldn't dream of checking for Lil Kim, its all ok because its produced by Stretch Armstrong.
















Thanks to Addicted 2 Retail for having a decent Kim photo I could use!

UPDATE 16/12/11: Theres a bit more info on this in the comments section from Stretch. After asking a few more questions (via Twitter) it appears he pressed up 500-1000 copies of the 12" himself.
Mike Nice has also put me up on a demo version of this track with Biggie doing a hook to the tune of 'Sweet Dreams' by Eurythmics. This was scrapped after Nas came out with 'Street Dreams' although apparently Kim's track was made first. Also, I've re-upped the files as the album version was corrupted and I've re-titled the 'original' as 'Stretch Armstrong mix'.

"Its ridiculous, nobody bust one shot for BIG..."

I try and avoid following the pattern of most other Hip Hop blogs but as the Biggie and Craig Mack freestyle on Westwood was one of the first posts that got this site some attention, along with the fact I actually remembered it was March 9th today, I thought I'd drop a couple of B.I.G related things for you.
Pretty much everything Mr Wallace recorded has already been heard already (although the holy grail seems to his collabo with Onyx and Naughty By Nature - anyone holding that apart from Puffy?) so instead I'm gonna break tradition and come with something a bit more recent.

This is a mammoth posse cut by Busta Rhymes, Maino, Red Cafe, MOP, Uncle Murda, Styles, Sheek & Lil Cease called 'March 9th'. Produced by the UK's Dready, this is probably the most fitting tribute to Biggie. It sounds like it hasn't been mastered/mixed down properly but its still great anyway - nice and rowdy and a million miles away from 'I'll Be Missing You'. Not sure if this ever came out 'officially' but if anyone has a better copy then hook me up.


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As a bonus here's the Green Lantern remix of 'Letter To BIG' by Jadakiss


Artwork by 563 (again!)

If you want an interesting read on the story behind the whole Biggie/2Pac thing, realniggatumblr got something for you.

Shout out to Mike Nice.

'Ready To Die - The Premo Edition' (2010)

This a new project from Jimmy Green pairing up Biggie's verses with DJ Premier beats. Cant lose really...

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If you missed it when it dropped, check out his 'What If Dilla Produced The Blueprint' set HERE

Warren G & Nate Dogg 'Regulate' (Soul Focus Juicy remix)

A little something that the DJs amongst you might find useful for the summer months: The G-Funk classic 'Regulate' over Biggie's 'Juicy' instrumental...

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Biggie, Craig Mack, Biz Markie, Rampage & Mic Geronimo - Live Freestyle (1995)

Some rare audio footage here: Biggie, Craig Mack, Biz Markie, Mic Geronimo and Rampage freestylying live at an NYC nightclub.
Taken from an old DJ Clue tape, this isn't something out of my stash but I found it whilst googling for something else and as I hadn't heard it before thought I'd share it here.

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