DJ Step One - mid 90s hip hop mix

1 hour, 20 tunes. That 95-96 head nod era when I was picking up all sorts of great records in Handspun and Mr Bongo. Probably my favourite era of rap music. This stuff always sounds good when winter hits too.

Tracklist

Jigmastas - Beyond Real (remix)

Rawcotiks - Hardcore Hip Hop

Nine - Lyin King

Soul Kid Klik - Mortal Kombat

KRS One - Wanna Be Emceez

Blahzay Blahzay ft Smoothe, Trigga & La The Darkman - Danger pt II

Rakim - Shades Of Black

De La Soul - Stakes Is High

Shazam X - Down For The Crown

Jemini The Gifted One - Brooklyn Kids

Tragedy ft CNN & Mobb Deep - LA, LA (Iraq mix)

Jamal - Fades Em All (Pete Rock remix)

Ras Kass - Soul On Ice (Diamond D remix)

La The Darkman - I Want It All

Ill Al Skratch - Don't Shut Down On A Player

Raekwon & Ghostface Killah - Rainy Dayz (remix)

Mic Geronimo ft Royal Flush & OC - Men vs Many

Jay Z - Dead Presidents

Nas - The World Is Yours (Q Tip remix)

AZ - Your World Don't Stop (original version)

The Best of The LOX mixed by DJ Step One

Blogspot for hustlers, I'm back motherf**kers! Got some new things to post and hopefully some tapes coming into my possession in the near future so lets see if I can get back to some regular updates. In the mean time you can enjoy this LOX mix I put together. It's not exactly a Best Of as such, but their catalogue as a group and solo artists is so huge that I managed just over an hour without even reaching for Benjamins, Why, Money Power Respect and a bunch of tracks they performed at the recent Verzuz evisceration of Dipset. That obviously inspired this but I've had pretty much always something LOX related in rotation since I heard You'll See on the Bad Boy Volume 3 tape back in '96. More often than not it's been a Jadakiss freestyle or guest verse but it's impressive that any rap crew can maintain that level of output for so long. There's definitely some notable omissions, and I was a bit pissed off I forgot to include Broken Safety so maybe I'll do a part 2 at some point.

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tracklist

The LOX - Wild Out (blend)
The LOX - BARS
D Block - Take Everything (original version)
Styles P ft Pharoahe Monch - The Life
Sheek Louch - Goin Be Some Shit
Jadakiss - Who Shot Ya freestyle
Jadakiss - Kiss Of Death
The LOX - Fuck You (blend)
D Block - Good Times (remix)
Jadakiss - Live in Philly
Jadakiss - Beanie Sigel Dis
The LOX - None Of Y'all Better
The LOX & Black Rob - Chain Gang
Sheek & Jadakiss - Kiss Your Ass Goodbye (remix)
The LOX - Dirty Ryders
Jadakiss - 40 Bars Of Terror
Jadakiss - Incarcerated Scarfaces freestyle
D Block - 2 Gunz Up
DMX & The LOX - Get At Me Dog freestyle
The LOX - Ryde Or Die Bitch (blend)
Pete Rock ft Styles P & Sheek - 914
Kasino ft The LOX - Men Of Respect
The LOX & Black Rob - Can I Live
The LOX - Recognize
Jadakiss & Styles P - The People freestyle
Styles P, Jadakiss & Eve - We Gonna Make It (remix)


I'm still getting used to a new mixer and feeling a bit rusty DJ wise so this isn't flawless but it's decent enough and the selection more than carries it. I banged it out in 1 take and didn't realy overthink or plan the tracklist so it turned out well all things considered.

DJ Step One - Actual Rap Music

10 days off work during lockdown is not the same as 10 days off work during lockdown with a 2 year old to look after. I did find time to pull out some records last night though, and recorded it. 97-98ish type stuff (and a couple of 96 things).

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tracklist
Capone N Noreaga ft Tragedy & Nas – Calm Down
Xzibit ft Mobb Deep – Eyes May Shine (remix)
All City – The Actual
B1 - Verbal Affairs
Mo Money, Genovese & Lord Tariq – The Block Hot
DITC – Day One
Black Rob – I Love You Baby
Alley High ft Monifah – Voo Doo
Bad Meets Evil – Nuttin Ta Do
Large Professor – Mad Scientist
Big Kwam – Verbalize (DJ Spinna remix)
Ghostface Killah – Cobra Clutch
Dilated Peoples – Work The Angles
Jay Z - A Million and One Questions (extended remix)
Cru – Bubblin
Keith Murray – The Rhyme (original version)
Redman – Funkorama (Blackstar blend)
Mic Geronimo ft DMX, Ja Rule, The LOX & Tragedy – The Usual Suspects

DJ Step One - Golden Era Rap

New mix by me! Banged this one out back in August. No real theme to it, just pulled out a bunch of records. Late 80s/early 90s stuff always seems a bit more summery innit? Probably because it's a bit more uptempo and funkier and the whole timbs/blunts/grimey thing hadn't fully taken hold yet*. As much as I like using Serato, I also sit in front of a screen all day at work so going all vinyl helps me to switch off. Couldn't come up with a clever title so kept it simple. Seems to help with the SEOs anyway. Enjoy...

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tracklist

Ultramagnetic MCs - Poppa Large (Pete Rock blend)

LL Cool J - Jingling Baby (remix)

UMCs - Blue Cheese

Kings Of Swing - Nod Ya Head To This

De La Soul - Keepin The Faith

Lakim Shabazz - Pure Righteousness

Brand Nubian - Brand Nubian

Kool G Rap & DJ Polo - Poison

3rd Bass - Portrait Of The Artist As A Hood (remix)

Run DMC - Beats To The Rhyme

Ice Cube - Jackin For Beats

Cypress Hill - The Phuncky Feel One

Jungle Brothers - Because I Got It Like That

YZ - Thinking Of A Masterplan

Zhigge - Raking In The Dough (Uptown Bounce beats)

Gang Starr - Who's Gonna Take The Weight

EPMD - Crossover

Nice & Smooth - Hip Hop Junkies (Bedford Park mix)

Del Tha Funkee Homosapien - Mistadobalina

Naughty By Nature - Everything's Gonna Be Alright (City Lick mix)

Redman - Blow Ya Mind (remix)

* "Underground" rappers take note - not everything has to be 3 minutes of gunz n drugz bars over a moody 85 bpm loop with no hook. You're all very boring right now.

Big Pun & Fat Joe - Twinz (Step One blend)

Having a few tech issues but should be able to resume posting tapes soon. In the meantime here's another blend from the Droppin Gems On Your Melon mix. This time Terror Squad meets Bomb Squad.

Big up to B-Boy Document for the feature on the blog in their most recent issue. You can cop that here. It was my first magazine interview so I shoudl probably have submitted some recent photos for it rather than ones from 2005 but it came out well regardless.

Also

Filthy Rich dropped a tribute mix for Only Built For Cuban Links

Random Rap Radio shared a Capital Rap Show from August '89

Chase March hooked up a tape of Mastermind's Street Jam Show on the Hip Hop Radio Archive. Hopefully the first of many.

oh, and I'm on the 'gram now. Might be more 90s Jungle/D&B orientated but will throw in a few hip hop bits here and there.

AZ, Raekwon & Ghostface - New York Get Down (Step One mix)

AZ, Rae & Ghost on the Nas - Get Down beat. Thought I would post up this blend off the last mix I did (cop here if you somehow haven't already), partly because it's good but also I've never really uploaded anything to YouTube and wanted to try it out. Might get a few more things on there if it does some numbers (reaches double figures)

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DJ Step One - Droppin Gems On Your Melon

A mix with no theme, covering no specific era, style, sub genre or region (although it's 95% east coast). Just a load of good shit with some dope blends and a couple of snippets from interviews thrown in for added flavour.

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Kay Slay - intro

Dr Octogan - Bear Witness

Ghostface Killah - One

Prodigy - Keep It Thoro

Method Man, Redman, DMX & Master P - 4,3,2,1 (Triumph blend)

Crooklyn Clan - NYC Anthem

Notorious BIG - Can't You See (verse)

Notorious BIG - Warning

Capone N Noreaga ft Tragedy - T.O.N.Y (Phone Tap blend)

Kool G Rap & DJ Polo - Ill Street Blues

Smif N Wessun - Buck Town (Wu blend)

AZ, Raekwon & Ghostface - New York Get Down (Step One mix)

Cold Crush Brothers - The Bronx

Camp Lo - Park Joint

Black Moon - How Many MCs (Ed OG blend)

Gang Starr ft Rage - You Know My Steez (remix)

Beatnuts ft Gab Gotcha - Bless The Mic

EPMD - Its Goin Down

Armand Van Helden -Word Up Doc

Redman - Can't Wait (remix)

Stretch Armstrong / Russell Simmons - PE # 1 interlude

Big Noyd ft Prodigy - Louder

AZ - The Format

Big Pun & Fat Joe - Twinz (Black Steel blend)

Nas, Cormega & Kamakaze - On The Real

Combat Jack & Stetsasonic - My Melody interlude

Eric B & Rakim - My Melody

Melody - Cool Chillin

DJ Step One - Bagleys Flex [96-99 drum n bass mix]

Some more non-rap stuff. About once or twice a year I pull out my drum & bass records and bounce around mixing them for an hour. This is the stuff I learned to mix with, and the soundtrack to my first years of clubs and raves so there's a lot of memories attached to some of these tracks. That jump-up style of the late 90s had a certain energy to it and although like any dance music it could be a bit formulaic at times, 18 year old me was perfectly happy with a half speed intro, hip hop samples, a big ol' snare roll and some hoover bass.

tracklist

Shy FX - The Message (Ebony)

Special K - Knowledge (Proper Talent)

DJ Die - Special Treat (V Recordings)

EPS & 2Vibe - Hype The Funk (Urban Takeover)

Omni Trio - Trippin On Broken Beats (Moving Shadow)

DJ Hype & MC Fats - Peace Love & Unity (True Playaz)

Peshay - Miles From Home (Mo Wax)

Firefox & Suvivor - Back Out Of Dis (Philly Blunt)

DJ Zinc - On Fire Tonight (Ganja)

DJ Rap - Hardstep (Proper Talent)

Evil II - Cops Ain't Shit (Evil)

Origin Unknown -Valley Of The Shadows (awake 96 mix) (Ram)

Roni Size - Brut Force (Full Cycle)

Love Nation - Positive (Cru L T remix) (JAL)

Shimon & Andy C - Nightflight (Ram)

Step One & Mystery - Verbal Assault (Direct Drive)

Ray Keith - Do It (V Recordings)

Mystical Influence - Dub Plate Pressure (Vinyl Syndicate)

Swoosh - Ya Rockin (Back2Basics)

Trend - Tune Your Bass (Live)

Jungle Brothers - Jungle Brothers (Urban Takeover remix) (Gee St)

Adam F - Circles (remix) (Section 5)

DJ Step One - Reminiscence

Found myself with enough time to have a little mix earlier and this was the result.  Given the nature of this blog it's probably no surprise that nostalgic raps* and autobiographical raps are one of my favourite themes/sub genres so here's some of the better ones...

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Troubleneck Brothers - Back To The Hip Hop (remix)

Dred Scott - Back In The Days

2Pac - Old School (B.Cause remix)

Missy Elliot ft Jay Z - Back In The Day

Game ft Fat Joe, Jadakiss, Pusha T, Bun B, Young Buck & Keisha Cole - Pain (remix)

Nas - Surviving The Times

Large Professor - Dreams Don't Die

Rakim - Remember That

LL Cool J - The Truth

Dr Dre - My Life (aka Smokin Weed For Hours)

Ice Cube - Growin Up

Choong Family - Memory Lane

Kyza - Lucozade Bottles

Blak Twang - 19 Long Time

Wan Cee - Rememberance

Marco Polo ft Masta Ace - Nostalgia

Ghostface Killah ft Black Thought - In The Park

KRS ONE - My Life

Nas - Where Are They Now (90s remix)

*Just to clarify, nostalgic raps about Union Square, Latin Quarter and Dapper Dan are fine, new rappers trying to recreate the 90s and giving it the 'hey guys who remembers Illmatic?!' and wetting themselves with glee and over-rapping their hearts out when Premo tosses them one of his recent dry as fuck beats, not so much.

DJ Step One - So 90s Volume 5: Blends edition

First mix I've posted in some time so I done went and got my blend on. Some of these have been posted here before and others I just made over the last few days. All of them were done on 2 turntables as I can't use anything else, although  did have to make some edits to remove the cuts on the Crooklyn and Suspended In Time instrumentals. Enjoy.

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tracklist

Camp Lo - Coolie High [b/w Dayz Of Wayback]

Artifacts - Wrong Side Of Da Tracks [b/w I Got A Love]

McGruff - Harlem Kids Get Biz [b/w Brooklyn Kids]

Beatnuts - Hit Me With That [b/w Where My Homiez]

Outkast - Elevators [b/w I Got 5 On It]

Goodie Mob ft Big Boi & Cool Breeze - Dirty South [b/w Last Dayz]

Notorious BIG - Ten Crack Commandments [b/w Suspended In Time]

Notorious BIG - You'll See [b/w Life's A Bitch]

Notorious BIG - Think BIG [b/w I Shot Ya]

AZ - Doe Or Die [b/w Broken Language]

Mobb Deep - Hell On Earth [b/w Clones]

Redman - Funkorama [b/w Midnight]

A Tribe Called Quest - Stressed Out [b/w Dead Presidents]

A Tribe Called Quest - 1nce Again [b/w Crooklyn]

Wu Tang Clan - METHOD Man [b/w Tha Shiznit]

Ghostface, Raekwon & Cappadonna - Daytona 500 [s/w Speak Ya Clout]

KRS ONE - Mortal Thoughts [b/w Code Of The Streets]

Eric B & Rakim - Don't Sweat The Technique [b/w DJ Format breakbeats]

DJ Step One - Drop It Heavy volume 2

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New mix of late 90s (and a couple from 2000) bits for you...

tracklist
Big Pun ft Prodigy & Inspectah Deck - Tres Leches
DJ Spinna ft Missin Linx - Who U Be
The LOX - Goin Be Some Shit
Show & AG - Full Scale
Polyrhythm Addicts - Not Your Ordinary
DITC - Thick
Blahzay Blahzay - Federal Reserve Notes
Screwball - Who Shot Rudy
Nas - Nas Is Like
Cormega - Take Mine
Pharoahe Monch - Official
Shabazz The Disciple - Brooklyn Bullshit
Channel Live ft Method Man - Ghetto B.I.
Naughty By Nature - On The Run
Mobb Deep ft Kool G Rap - The Realest
Jadakiss - Kiss Of Death
Gang Starr - All 4 The Cash
Common ft Sadat X - 1999

I definitely slept on that Missin Linx joint with DJ Spinna when it came out - the beat on that is lovely. Same with the Sheek solo track on the first LOX album, which has a nice stripped down beat courtesy of Carlos Broady and Nashiem Myrick. The NBN take on Miuzi Weighs A Ton was a recent discovery on a Marley Marl/Westwood tape and is pretty tough. The DJs amongst you can probably spot when I didn't know what to play next and threw on Nas Is Like. Shabazz The Disciple's Brooklyn Bullshit was something I heard Shortee Blitz play on Kiss FM and the next day I managed to get the last copy in the UK distributor's warehouse (I was a buyer for a chain store at the time). It's a on German label strangely enough. Gang Starr's All 4 The Cash feels like it was probably recorded for Moment Of Truth and would've fitted in nicely on that album. Enjoy...

Had trouble coming up with a name for this mix so went in the archives and decided to make it Volume 2 of this

La The Darkman - I Want It All (DJ Step One blend)

Blend time! Big fan of La The Darkman's debut 12", both sides of which got significant amounts of play on mixtapes and rap radio when it dropped. Here I've taken the acapella from I Want It All and matched it up with an instrumental I discovered on this bit of vinyl. I don't have the record any more but I'm pretty sure this particular beat was produced by none other than Mr Thing.

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DJ Step One - mid 90s Rap mix (2017)

Had some time free yesterday so pulled out some records from the 94-96 sections and pressed record....

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Tracklist

Organized Konfusion - Stress

Big Willie Smith - Wearing Make Up

Nas - The World Is Yours (Q Tip remix)

Kurious - I'm Kurious

Darkman - Wicked (Ghetto Lab mix)

Gang Starr - Mostly Tha Voice

KMD ft MF Grimm - What A Niggy Know (remix)

Pete Rock  & CL Smooth - I Got A Love

Dobie ft Ola - Original Heads

Group Home - Livin Proof

Smif N Wessun - PNC

Masta Ace Inc - What's Going On

Redman & Method Man - How High (remix)

Erick Sermon - Bom Digi (remix instrumental)

Show & AG - Next Level (Show's street version)

Notorious BIG - Who Shot Ya

Raekwon - Incarcerated Scarfaces

Lace Da Booms - Cut That Weak Shit (L's mix)

Mr Live - Supa Dupa

Keith Murray - The Rhyme (white label version)

Brick City Kids - What What

Tragedy ft Havoc & Extra P - Da Funk Mode

Buckshot Le Fonque - Music Evolution (DJ Premier remix)

DJ Step One - So 90s Volume 4

I put together this selection for the car and thought I'd share it on here. There's album cuts and indie joints and maybe one or two things you'd slept on or never heard before. Didn't go nuts with the mixing but it flows reasonably well. Enjoy.

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Tracklist

Outkast - Claimin True

Redman - Bobyahead2dis

Artifacts - Wrong Side Of The Tracks

Jamal - Keep It Real

Rakim - Remember That

Company Flow - Juvenile Techniques

Down N Dirty Tribe - Inna Cipher

SOP - Styles

Kool G Rap & Nas - Fast Life (Buckwild remix)

London Posse - Roughnecks

Poor Righteous Teachers - Word Iz Life

E 40 - Da Bumble

Junior MAFIA ft Notorious BIG - Oh My Lord

Luniz ft Dru Down - Put The Lead On Ya

McGruff ft The LOX & Mase - Reppin Uptown

This started off life as me wanting to do something with the Redman and Luniz cuts. The Junior MAFIA track is a recent discovery as I'd never heard the album, but it turns out there's a few nice bits on there. The SOP joint features a pre-Missin Linx Problemz and Black Attack on a lovely understated beat with no hook and earlier this year it became the most expensive record in my collection (I'm not one for splashing out on vinyl usually) after I upgraded from the bootleg compilation I had it on, and treated myself to an original. The Rakim track was a favourite that did the rounds on the bootlegs of his '95 recordings that never found their way on to a proper album. I'm not a huge Co Flow fan and only really found out about Juvenile Techniques when I was listening to some old Stretch & Bobbito shows last year and was feeling the beat. The PRT track is another recent discovery when I took a chance on the 12" when I saw it cheap. The London Posse tune makes use of the always dope Blackbyrds sample and is one of the unreleased tracks that finally saw the light of day back in 2013. 

Redman - Funkorama (Midnight blend)

I'm sure someone has done this before but the chance to pair up my favourite Redman track with my favourite Tribe track seemed like too good an opportunity to miss.

DJ Step One - The Remix Mix Volume 3 (2017)

3 years have passed since the first 2 volumes of this series, which really isn't good enough tbh, so I got my shit together and hooked this up yesterday. It's a simple enough concept: all the tracks are remixes. In this case, they're from 95-96 (and all off vinyl if that sort of thing still matters to you). Get on it...

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Tracklist

AZ 'Gimme Yours' (Erick Sermon remix)

Big L 'MVP' (Smooth Summer mix)

Grand Puba  'A Little Of This' (Stud Doogie remix)

Notorious BIG 'Big Poppa' (Jermaine Dupri remix)

Real Live ft Tragedy & Capone 'The Turnaround' (Thug remix)

INI ft Pete Rock 'Fakin Jax' (Frankenstein remix)

Little Indian ft The Foreigner 'One Little Indian' (Buckwild remix)

D&D All Stars '1,2 Pass It' (remix)

Fugees 'Fugee La' (Refugee Camp remix)

Big Noyd ft Prodigy 'Usual Suspect' (Stretch Armstrong remix)

Kool G Rap ft Nas 'Fast Life' (Norfside remix)

Smif N Wessun 'Soundboy Buriell' (remix)

Common Sense 'Resurrection' (Extra P remix)

Jigmastas ft Skam & The Buildin Blox 'Beyond Real' (remix)

Frankie Cutlass ft Doo Wop, Fat Joe & Evil Twinz 'Boriquas On The Set' (Flip Squad remix)

Above The Law '100 Spokes' (Fresh On D's remix)

MC Eiht 'Thuggin It Up' (DJ Spinna remix)

Pharcyde 'Runnin'  (Jay Dee remix)

Volume 1 and Volume 2 are still available to stream and download if you missed them first time round.

The Dope Blend Theory

Here's a couple of blends I cooked up using 2 ATCQ joints, the first one is the 1nce Again acapella over the Crooklyn instrumental (which is produced by Q Tip and Ali). I was never a massive fan of the original 1nce Again beat and remember being quite underwhelmed when it appeared as the lead single for Beats Rhymes & Life. The Crooklyn beat gives it a bit more bounce imo.



The second one is Stressed Out over the Dead Presidents instrumental...



These were originally intended to be part of a 'mid 90s blends' mix I was putting together that never got finished, so I might post what I've got so far up as individual tracks over the next few weeks and months.

Step One & Mr Tobes present A Queensbridge Project Volume 1

Another mix, another collaboration. This time out I linked up with Mr Tobes and we've put together a selection of some of QBs finest from the early 00s. There was a flood of material coming out of Queensbridge at the turn of the decade and it was kind of hard to keep track of at times but the fact that Alchemist and Havoc were supplying beats for the likes of Cormega, Tragedy, CNN and an impressive array of Mobb Deep affiliattes meant that the quality was usually on point. This mix goes hard thunn...

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Intro

Capone N Noreaga & Mobb Deep - Queens Finest

Cormega ft Prodigy - Thun And Kicko

Infamous Mobb ft Prodigy - Gunz Up

Mike Delorean - QB interlude

Lake - Crushed Linen

Run DMC ft Nas & Prodigy - Queens Day

Cormega - The Legacy

Alchemist ft Nas & Prodigy - Tick Tock

Mobb Deep - When You Hear The

Mike Delorean - Thunn Language interlude

Tragedy Khadafi, Nature & Blaq Poet - Kings Of Queens

Nas - Let Em Hang (solo version)

Tragedy Khadafi ft Headrush - Bing Monsters

Tragedy Khadafi ft Havoc - What's Poppin

Mobb Deep ft Nas - USA (Aight Then) - unreleased version

Big Noyd ft Mobb Deep - Louder

Nature - Don't Stop

Capone N Noreaga, Cormega & Lake - We Gon Buck

Infamous Mobb ft Prodigy - We Work For This

Mobb Deep - The Illest

Cormega ft Tragedy Khadafi - They Forced My Hand

Screwball ft Cormega - Loyalty

Camp Lo - Coolie High (Sugarhill blend)

Quick ting here. As you might be aware, Camp Lo recently released an album's worth of 95/96 material in the form of On The Way Uptown. As I'm currently sitting on a few blends I'd made I thought I'd let this one go (there was going to be a whole mix of blends but I ended up doing the Real Live project instead). The acapella of the Paradise mix of  'Coolie High' over AZ's 'Sugarhill' instrumental. A Camp Lo - AZ collaboration over some Ski or Harry Fraud '88 Coupes' type production would be immense.

Other things that might be relevant to your interests:

Lord Finesse mixing golden era classics on The Underground Railroad show on WBAI (2006)

100% Ruff Ryders Special on Radar Radio

The Oral History of 'Bling Bling'

DJ Step One & DJ Filthy Rich present: The Turnaround - The Long Awaited Blends

Hyped to be dropping this as the last post of the year as it's something myself and Filthy Rich have been putting together for a while. We've taken the instrumentals from Real Live's 1996 underground classic The Turnaround and got our blend on with some acapellas to give the album a new lease of life. As dope as the original album is (and Money & Shows is probably one of my most played mid-90s songs of the last few years), Larry O wasn't quite at the top level of New York rappers back then but now you can hear the likes of Biggie, Kool G Rap, AZ, Raekwon, OC, Camp Lo and Lord Finesse do their thing over K-Def's beats.

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We tried to use a few less obvious acapellas alongside some tried and tested classics. Not all of the beats on the album made the cut, but any omissions have been replaced by the remixes of the The Turnaround and Real Live Shit aswell as Get Down For Mine.
Have to give an extra big up to Rich for editing some of the adlibs out of the original instrumentals and tweaking a few things here and there to make the tracks sound more on point.