This is something that I posted way back in 2009, except then it was by way of a hissy tape rip recorded off a Westwood show in 1995, and ripped to 128kbps. What we have here is the full 15 minutes in considerably better quality taken from the vinyl pressing (it's part 2 of 4 - the sleeves fit together to make a complete graf piece).
It's 1993 in Rocksteady Park for the annual jam and KRS is on stage with Willie D (the BDP one), Mad Lion, Fat Joe, Grim Reaper (aka MF Grimm) and Lord Finesse. Slap Them Up, Black Cop, Sound Of Da Police and Shoot To Kill get an airing. Joe and Grim kick a freestyle (Joe does his verse off Stricktly Roots - Beg No Friends), but this set gained notoriety for Finesse's superb acapella dis of Lords Of The Underground, which has always been a personal favourite of mine, so it was great to finally get a full uncut version in good quality.
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.
45 minutes of a Rap Exchange show from 2001UPDATED 16/12/18 with the full show.
December 2001 Rap Exchange with Flex joined in the studio by LL Cool J and Petey Pablo. Music by Fat Joe, Noreaga, G Dep, Wu Tang, Jadakiss, Foxy Brown and more.
1) If in 1993 you'd asked 1000 people to pick a new rapper that would still be making reasonably successful music on a major label 20 years later, I'm pretty sure no one would've chosen Fat Joe. Mr Crack (as his fellow PTA members call him) has endured a decent career without ever being particularly outstanding. He's also managed a decent amount of commercially successful singles which is pretty bizarre for someone who made their name off Diamond D beats and Kool G Rap collabos. He's no one's favourite rapper yet he's outlasted most of his peers. Other '93 alumni like Jeru, Buckshot and Inspectah Deck are probably wondering where the fuck they went wrong when they're backstage waiting to perform to 150 people in a basement in Budapest and Joseph Cartagena is kicking back with a low fat smoothie watching the outakes from his videos with J Lo and R Kelly on his HD plasma. Salute.
2) People really need to chill with the J Dilla anniversaries, tributes and reissues. And what the fuck his mum has do to with anything is beyond me. I imagine if he could see what's happened since he died he'd find the whole thing hugely embarrassing. I get that he's very innovative and creative with his sampling and drums and blah blah but where's his 'TROY', his 'World Is Yours' or his 'Come Clean'? Fuck, where's his 'Grindin', 'Protect Ya Neck' or 'Get Low' for that matter. It kind of makes me scared of what will happen when we lose Primo, Dre, Marley and the 10-20 other producers that rank above him.
3) Kendrick Lamar. Just...no. I get that if you aren't into Drake/Young Thug/Molly & Weed rap or whatever then you might consider him a "refreshing alternative" but his voice is fucking terrible. Trying to sound like Canibus when you want to, like, really seriously get your point across because you have Something To Say is not the one. I get the feeling he wants to be Nas x Kanye but he's basically the US version of Rizzle Kicks.
4) How have we found ourselves in a world where Kanye, Paul McCartney and fucking Rihanna can make a song together without any fear of violent reprisals. It's becoming increasingly hard to believe Kanye was behind so much good rap music 10-12 years ago. The least he could do is throw us a 'Power' or 'Cant Tell Me Nothing' every now and again.
5) If someone thinks 'Illmatic' is the best rap album ever I just assume they're too young to have heard 'Nation Of Millions...'. One is a great rap album. The other is just a great album. One took early 90s Hip Hop to its logical conclusion and one just changed the whole fucking game. Pretty much all rap sounds weak if you play it after classic PE/Bomb Squad music. Check this great BBC4 documentary on the group here and an unintentionally hilarious look at what Professor Griff is up to these days here (spoiler: 2Pac was killed because he wouldn't let Quincy Jones take him up the wrong 'un)
6) There really should've been a third Crooklyn Dodgers record (I assume we've all agreed to pretend this didn't happen). 1998 would've been a good time for it. I think a line up of Big Daddy Kane, Sauce Money and Jay Z with Primo on the boards would've done the business. They could have tied it in with being a Biggie tribute seeing as all the other ones at the time were terrible.
On a related note, this is a really good article about the making of the first Crooklyn Dodgers record. A whole album could've been amazing. Shame Buckshot opted to do that second Black Moon album instead but then that's why he's in Budapest and not lounging with video hoes like ya boy Joey Crack.
Side note: This is probably the worst photo to ever grace the cover of a rap album
7) How the fuck did we get into a position where people are talking about this and using the phrases 'classic', 'fire' and 'blackout' ? At best its mildly amusing but for the most part its pretty shit. I mean, I know the people championing it on twitter were probably the same ones losing their mind over Kendrick's 'Control' verse (yawn) but still.
This post was bought to you by a long week, a scroll back through old twitter posts and this morning's playlist being set to 'random'.
Been a while since I had any radio freestyles for you so here's an obscure one. Joey Crack, C-Boogie Brown & Red Hot Lover Tone in a cipher on Hot 97.
In the years that followed these 3 would all see their careers follow different paths. Tone obviously went on to be responsible for a gazillion platinum records as part of Trackmasters, and of all the rappers that were around in 93/94, I dont think many people would've picked Fat Joe to be the one still dropping albums on a major label 20 years later. Its a shame Charlie Brown's solo career didnt take off though as I'm sure he had some good material in him. If anyone has a good quality version (ie not the Westwood tape rip) of 'Whatcha Gonna Do For Me' - the '95 track he did over the same beat Craig Mack used for 'Makin Moves With Puff', then hook me up!
During the mixtape boom of the early 00s, Green Lantern was absoloutely killing it. Whereas other DJs had their niche in exclusives, blends or dis tracks, GL would drop mixes filled with all 3. Its like Rectangle, Kay Slay and Dirty Harry combined. His knack for selecting dope beats enhanced the freestyles on his CDs and his attention to detail when he puts his blends together is ridiculous. With that in mind, here's a compilation of some of my favourite moments from a few of his mix CDs.
Tracklist 1- Green Lantern 'Many Men' Fat Joe, Eminem & Nas verses over one of 50's finest moments. 2 - Cam'ron & Jay Z 'Welcome To NYC' (Green mix) Green chucks Cam & Jay's only collabo over the 'Can I Live' beat. There's not much I wouldnt do for an untagged CDQ version of this. 3 - Fat Joe 'U Dont Know freestyle' A good example of the beat making or breaking the freestyle. Joey Crack over one of the better tracks from 'The Blueprint' 4 - CNN & MOP 'Stompdashitoutyou' (Green mix) This 03 collaboration was on the Def Jam Vendetta "soundtrack". Turns out it sounds rowdier and better over the 'Straight Outta Compton' instrumental. 5 - Ghostface Killah 'Survivor freestyle' Tony Starks over 'Ambitions Az A Ridah'? Its a wrap. 6 - Green Lantern 'The Throwback Mix' Pretty sure I've mentioned on more than one occasion that everyone sounds dope over the 'Ikes Mood' piano break. This is no exception. Jigga, Styles P and Pac all get a run out on this one. 7 - Gang Starr 'Freestyle' Because I had to get a Primo beat on here somewhere didn't I? 8 - Pharrell 'The Ice Cream Man' Skateboard P over 'Ice Cream' and 'CREAM' (you see what I was saying about attention to details?). This is something of a guilty pleasure. It shouldnt work but it does. Just dont focus on the lyrical content too much. 9 - Green Lantern 'Addicted To Retail' I don't recognise the beat used on this one (anyone?) but Biggie, Kanye and Foxy Brown all sound right at home on it. 10 - Jay Z 'Got Me On My Shit' Another one that might aggravate hardcore Wu Tang-ers a bit. Jay over a beat that's basically 'Shadowboxing' with a few changes. I think the raps are off something on 'Blueprint 2'. Works. 11 - Redman & Paul Wall 'Freestyle' From Green's show on Shade 45. This is pretty much settles the "writtens vs off-the-dome" debate. To his credit, Paul Wall rhymes off the top of his head, albeit with mixed results but then Redman steps up and kills it.
I dont know much about Brooklyn Untouched other than that they dropped a few AV8 style remixes and party breaks some years ago. On this 12" they take the 'simple but effective' approach and drop the 'Twinz' acapella over Dre's 'The Next Episode' beat.
All together now: "Dead in the middle of Little Italy..." etc
Another strange 12". I can't find it listed on Discogs but this is - I think - a blend put together mixtape king Dirty Harry, although it could well pass for an original track. Despite the big name line up I dont recognise the verses from any other songs and they flow together nicely. It opens with a sample from 'Menace II Society' and features Big Pun, DMX, Method Man, Fat Joe, Cam'ron, Noreaga, Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz.
OK, so I didn't just drop a 4 figure sum on the Hip Hop collector's Holy Grail, but £3 did just get me a bootleg 12" that includes the b-side which did the rounds on the mixtapes back in the day...
I've been told there's a vinyl release of this recording of the 1993 Rocksteady Anniversary. It must be pretty rare though as I've never seen it listed anywhere. (edit: found it on Discogs).Fortunately Westwood played it one night and I had the tape rolling.
KRS drops a freestyle, Mad Lion performs 'Shoot To Kill', Grim Reaper kicks something, Fat Joe rhymes over Redman's 'Tonites Da Nite' beat, followed by KRS doing a verse of 'Sound Of Da Police' and to round it all off Lord Finesse spits an acapella dissing Lords Of The Underground. I love this...
'Niggas need to shut their mouth, with all this "Yes Mr Funkyman!" - them niggas need to cut it out!'
A short live set from Fat Joe at the infamous New York nightspot The Palladium. This was just after the release of ‘Jealous Ones Envy’ in 1996.
The quality isn’t ideal at first but soon gets sorted out. Joe performs ‘Flow Joe’, ‘Dedication’, ‘Success’ and ‘Fat Joe’s In Town’. He also brings out Big Pun (then still Big Dog Punisher), Keith Nut and Armageddon to perform and they tear it up over the ‘Broken Language’ instrumental.
Just after he announces Big Pun, the side of the tape ends so theres a slight gap that I did my best to edit out. The levels are louder after that aswell.
Why at so many Hip Hop shows is the hype man’s mic the loudest and when this happens why dont they ever swap mics?
