279's Friday Nite Flavas on Choice FM from October 1994, with Black Moon and the Bootcamp Click in the studio for an interview followed by a freestyle. There's also a couple of tracks off Rampage's shelved debut album as well as stuff by Method Man, OC, Keith Murray, Bas Blasta and Lords Of The Underground ('Tic Toc' is really quite rubbish although the acapella did end up being sampled on 3 or 4 decent jungle tunes so it wasn't a complete waste of vinyl). I've left a few adverts in and cut out the ones for local businesses and warnings of the dangers of ecstasy and, erm, measles. After some deliberation I left in the 2 tracks by winners of a spoken word/poetry/rap competition. The first one at 1:13:00 is hilariously bad so it seemed a shame for it to be consigned to the recycle bin. There is a danger it might get stuck in your head though. The second track is 100 times better by default but god knows what the rest of the entries were like.
Having missed most of them when they aired, I'm really enjoying these New York Live shows with Westwood and Marley Marl. The guests and tunes tend to be a bit more varied than what you'd hear Flex playing on the Hot 97 Rap Exchanges. Lots going on in this one with Starang of OGC and Cormega guesting in part one, and then Deadly Venoms (an all female group that included N Tyce and who were briefly affiliated with the Wu), Screwball and DJ S&S appear in part two. All of them get together for a freestyle sesh at the beginning of part two...
I've only ever had a couple of Wake Up Show tapes in my possession so was happy to see this one in the last batch of cassettes that Tobes hooked me up with. I was particularly pleased to find this treat on there though: Guru stops by the show to do a quick interview (just before Moment Of Truth came out) and then drops a few verses alongside a relatively unknown Eminem, before Defari steps up to the mic and then the Beatnuts get involved. Good times. Do things like this still happen anywhere outside of the BET awards?
That's followed by a Smif N Wessun freestyle - they were rolling as the Cocoa Brovaz at the time - and Em jumps on the mic again. The full show is below...
Not sure if it's a West Coast radio thing in general or just something Sway & Tech did but their lengthy intro and approach to drops and jingles might even out do Weenie & The Butt. Definitely not mad at their female co-host's voice though. Much more soothing than your standard rap radio DJ.
Had my first copyright infringement takedown notice from Audiomack last week, for a bootleg remix of Top Billin of all things. Hopefully they don't go the way of Soundcloud and Mediafire. Seems crazy that in 2017 there isn't an established reliable platform for hosting music to stream and download. I'll persist with it for now but if things start disappearing on a regular basis I might need a new home. It has occured to me that having Eminem's name on there might be a red flag. Can't say I wasn't a tad shook a few years ago when minutes after making a disparaging remark about Jimmy Iovine, I received a notification informing me that INTERSCOPE RECORDS IS NOW FOLLOWING YOU.
Its a BDP reference. No posts recently due the house move now being in full effect. 20 years ago, almost to the week, I bought my first set of turntables - some Gemini belt drives. Today is the first time since then I haven't had them or my vinyl (or any CDs for that matter) in the house. Having lots of records is all well and good until it comes time to move, and then it's just a total bastard. Especially when you live on the 3rd floor with 5 flights of stairs and no lift. It's hard not to feel envious of the people who have all their music on a harddrive, or the types that just use iTunes and Spotify and occasionally buy a compilation from the supermarket.
Anyway, rant over. I feel like I may have posted something similar before but the point remains relevant. This is going to be one of those placeholder type posts where I put you up on them thangs I've discovered on my online travels. No one really sends me their mixes to post anymore. Feel free to do that if you've got something you want to share. Some decent artwork and being able to actually mix helps btw, although I'm fully aware I never have art for my own mixes. So...
Remember The Supafriendz? They were Mad Skillz' crew back in the day. Bad Cop just put together this 'best of' mix featuring posse cuts, solo joints and radio freestyles. Check Supafriendz - Da Supa Mixtape
That should keep you going for now. Have fun and enjoy whats left of the summer.
Edit - just realised that 4 of the 6 people linked above used to work in record shops in London. Weird. Shout out to Mr Bongo, Liberty Grooves, Handspun/Deal Real and HMV Oxford Street!
One other thing. I really wanted to like Compton and aside from the presence of Kendrick Lamar and Eminem the tracklist showed some promise. I can't remember the last time I was that pleased to receive a new release in my inbox, but on hearing it I thought the majority of it was rubbish with one or two songs being tolerable at best. The first track after the intro is particularly terrible. Comments I've read online - and there are many - suggest I'm very much in the minority but then as a general rule, comments online suggest most people are stupid. So there. There's a new Warren G EP out with previously unheard Nate Dogg vocals. I suggest you seek that out instead,
First up today, taken from the same tape as the ODB freestyle below, is this Smif N Wessun freestyle done for Flex & Westwood's 'Rap Exchange' where Tim would take his Radio 1 show up to Hot 97.
And to go along with that, heres some more Bootcamp Click business courtesy of thewool over at the TROY forum. This is Black Moon and Smif N Wessun on Westwood's Capital FM show back in (I'd guess) 1994.
