KRS ONE, Fat Joe & Lord Finesse live at Rocksteady Park (1993)

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.

KRS One - Future Flavas on Hot 97 (1994)

Before Pete Rock and Marley Marl made the Future Flavas show famous, it was hosted by KRS One (yeah I thought that was a bit weird too). Here's 40 minutes from a tape Tobes gave me a while back. Method Man, Bootcamp Click, Keith Murray, Death Camp and Mad Lion all feature.

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KRS ONE 'Outta Here' unreleased original version (1993)

I tend to assume that once some rap rarity has been uploaded to the net, everyone has heard it and saved it to their harddrive, but when I mentioned this version of Outta Here during a recent twitter convo, it turned out at least a handful of people - and so probably more in the wider world - had missed out when the tape rip of Westwood playing it was posted online a few years back (by Unkut if I remember right). This is basically the same track, with one of Primo's best beats in my opinion, until we get to 1.53 when Kris speaks on that infamous visit he paid Mr Magic...



We cant be sure what the exact reasons were for the lyrics being changed before the song was officially released. Maybe Jive didn't fancy Magic getting litigious over the coke head allegations or perhaps KRS just got cold feet and switched it up himself.
It begs the question of how many other tracks of this nature there sitting in the vaults? I've already covered Lil Kim's withdrawn 2Pac dis, and I recently saw an interview with Clark Kent speaking about a savage dis track Jay Z made (also about 2Pac). There's also the Swizz Beatz produced version of 'Ether' that Large Professor mentioned, and the numerous rumoured shelved/deleted shots between Kane and Rakim. All we have now is Drake vs Meek Mill.

Ron G - Flava Beyond Flava Vol 4 (1996)

Obscure 12" time now. Here's 4 blends from mixtape legend Ron G. First up is Mobb Deep over 'The Message' (or Puff & Mase 'Cant Hold Me Down'), followed by a 'jackin for beats' style mix of '1nce Again' using old ATCQ instrumentals. The Buju Banton track is cool but I can't place the beat right now, and finishing things up is Ron's infamous blend of the 'My Melody' instrumental with verses from KRS, Buckshot, Raekwon and Nas.

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Krs One 'Mortal Thought' (DJ Step One blend)

Been messing around with a few acapellas recently and came up with this blend using 'Mortal Thought' over the 'Code Of The Streets' instrumental. Works well I think...

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KRS ONE live in London (1989)

Krs One and the BDP posse live at the Town & Country Club in London at the tail end of the 80s. They run through 'Still #1', 'Criminal Minded' and 'My Philosophy'. The crowd go apeshit.

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Good sound quality on this one aswell.

KRS ONE, Lord Finesse, Mad Lion & Fat Joe Live in NYC (1993)

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!'

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Cant believe it took me this long to get round to posting this. Needless to say, if anyone has the full recording let me know.

UPDATE: 17/09/21 - posted the full 15 minutes in better quality

KRS ONE, MC Serch & Scarface - Hot 97 freestyle (1994)

KRS, Serch and Scarface (presumably in NYC promoting 'The Diary') live on Flex's Hot 97 show back in 94. Bit of an unusual combination but I always liked this one.
KRS does that 'freestyle' he used to do on everything (including Flex's first '60 Minutes Of Funk' CD), Serch is pretty good and Scarface does something off the top of the head but then admits that freestyling isnt really his thing.
As with a lot of freestyle sessions, I tend to find that the beat the MCs use can make or break how good it sounds. In this case I love the beat but have no idea what it is. Can anyone help me out?

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There was no way I was going to find a photo of these 3 together. I looked for at least 2 minutes...

KRS ONE & Common - Hot 97 freestyle (1998)

A pretty unusual combination here, Common (Sense) and KRS ONE live on Hot 97 back in the late 90s, rhyming over the 'Peter Piper' instrumental.
This is taken from the Doo Wop & Tony Touch mixtape Hip Hop On Wax Volume 1. KRS kills it.

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