Stretch & Bobbito on WKCR 03.08.95

Nuff guests on this one: Smooth Da Hustler, Das EFX and Tragedy with Capone N Noreaga are all in the house and all kick a freestyle, plus there's the unreleased Half A Mil by CNN which is very dope indeed.The recording is a bit paused buttoned in places but that just means that more of the good stuff has been captured.

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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.

Das EFX - WKCR freestyle

Das EFX on Stretch & Bobbito's show...

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Not sure if this one has been put out there before. If anyone can put a year/date to it then speak up.

Also, I'm on Kane FM tonight from 9-11pm (UK time). First hour will be new stuff and then I've got some classics from 1990-1991 for the second hour. Join me if you can.

Tim Westwood with Redman, Das EFX & Hoodratz (1993)

Classic Capital Rap Show action right here with Redman, Das EFX and Hoodratz in the studio alongside J The Sultan (Jon Shecter)...

Playlist

Pete Rock & CL Smooth - Whats Next On The Menu

Erick Sermon - Hittin Switches

Illegal - We Getz Busy

House Of Pain - Who's The Man

Kool G Rap & DJ Polo - On The Run (remix)

Big Daddy Kane - How You Get A Record Deal

Mobb Deep - Locked In Spofford

Jon Shecter - The Source update

Dr Dre ft Snoop Dogg - One Eight Seven

Run DMC ft Q Tip - Come On Everybody

Das EFX - Mic Checka

Das EFX - Hard Like A Criminal

Redman & Das EFX - interview

Redman - Time Sum Aksion

Redman & Das EFX - interview

Redman - Blow Your Mind

Illegal - Head Or Gut

BIG - Party & Bullshit

Tiger ft Q Tip - Who Planned It

Wu Tang Clan - Protect Ya Neck

Lords Of The Underground - Here Come The Lords

Hoodratz - interview & freestyle

Pharcyde - Passin Me By

Shout out to Mr Lawson for the original tape. Hope you're feeling better mate!

MORE RARE 90s FREESTYLES - Lord Finesse, OC & Das EFX

I was going to post these one at a time but seeing as I've got enought material to keep me going for the forseeable future why bother waiting?



This Lord Finesse & Triple Seis freestyle is from a 1998 Funkmaster Flex show on Hot 97. This is a personal favourite as they spit over the 'John Blaze' and 'Banned From TV' instrumentals.

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OC freestyle for Tim Westwood's show on Capital FM. There's no date on the tape but I'm guessing this from 1994.

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This one is taken from the September 1995 Rap Exchange where Westwood would co-host a show with Funkmaster Flex live from NYC. Das EFX freestyling over the 'MCs Act Like They Dont Know' instrumental.

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