DJ Riz - Live on Westwood (1996)

A full 90 minute mix from one of NYC's finest, DJ Riz. This was live on Tim Westwood's show in October 1996 when Riz was in the UK to promote his Shoot Tha Pump mix CD.
Theres not a bad track on this tape. Its 100% head nod Hip Hop: Pete Rock, Jeru, Royal Flush, ATCQ plus lots of indie stuff. The majority of it was brand new at the time so the fact that alot of these tracks are considered classics today is testament to Riz's selection skills.

DOWNLOAD    STREAM PART 1   STREAM PART 2

Mixes recorded in the 90s >>>>>> 90s mixes recorded in the 00s

"Live from the corner of Marcy..."

Its pretty hard to come by stuff that is genuinely rare these days. If you know where to look you can probably find all sorts of demos, unreleased mixes and shelved material by artists both known and unknown. This track definitely falls into the latter category.
If I’d have bought this on vinyl when it dropped it would more than likely have been filed alongside the numerous other classic 12”s that dropped around 95-96. However the only place it existed - for me - was on a TDK at the start of one of Pete Rock & Marley Marl’s ‘Future Flavas’ shows on Hot 97 (it may have actually been the last track played on the show before them but whatever). I kept an eye out for it through 10 years of numerous vinyl digging sessions but never found it.
A couple of years back I decided to harness the power of the internets and track it down. No amount of Hip Hop geeks on the forums could help so I googled the names mentioned on the track, one of which was Almighty Wise and – of course – he had a myspace page. He was more than a bit suprised that some bloke from England was after a track he put on tape over 10 years ago but was good enough to send me a full version and some other tracks he'd done.
Shame I'll never have it on vinyl but thats what Serato is for I guess.

DOWNLOAD 'ALL I SEE (LIVE FROM THE CORNER OF MARCY)'

I'm not one of these people who just likes stuff cos its rare or obscure but I do really like this track.

DJ Evil Dee on Hot 97 (1994)

This tape (only 40 mins long unfortunately) is one of my favourites for the following reasons:
- E Rule's 'Listen Up'.
- Evil Dee cutting up Zhane & Blackgirl acapellas over Gang Starr and Wu Tang beats and scratching his name check on 'Crooklyn'.
- Its got the world premier of Black Moon's 'Murder MCs', straight off the DAT from D&D studios.
- Buckshot drops a freestyle over the 'Kaught In Da Ak' instrumental.
- The phoned-in shout-outs give it an authentic mid-90s NYC feel and I like that sort of thing.
Considering this is from 1994 (one of the best years ever for quality Hip Hop) its strange that Buckshot mentions "taking Hip Hop back". He obviously had no idea what the future held and that any DJ playing a Bootcamp Click b-side on daytime Hot 97 in 2009 would be fired.

DOWNLOAD

Wish I had the first part of the show but the other side of the tape (courtesy of DJ MK way back in the day) is Roc Raida tearing it up on Funk Flex's show. I'll drop that soon.