LL Cool J live in London (1987)

This a top notch recording out of Eddie's collection. LL Cool J live on the Def Jam Tour at the Hammersmith Odeon in 1987, where he was headlining with Eric B & Rakim and Public Enemy supporting. LL rips this shit and was fully on top the rap world at the time.
Despite some sterling detective work by Random Rap Radio (who also kindly assisted in improving the sound quality), I don't have an exact date but DJ Food has photos and memories of a show on the 1st November '87  and there's video footage from a different night, possibly the day before or after that, taken from BBC 2's Behind The Beat. Note the red Kangol in DJ Food's post and the white Kangol in the video.



On a related note - and as the annual Record Store Day nonsense has just passed - Bigger And Deffer really needs a nice double vinyl reissue with some extra tracks. A Lost Tapes album would be nice too, or at least a decent repress or digital issue of the Double L Cools Down LP. No? Ok, Wu Tang, Doom and Dilla reissues for the rest of our days it is then.

I can't record audio into my laptop at the moment but regular service should resume as soon as I get that sorted or can bring myself to buy a new laptop and reinstall everything.

LL Cool J - Mr Controversy (unreleased, 90-91)

Been listening to some old LL recently, specifically Mama Said Knock You Out and Bigger And Deffer (which really needs the 2LP reissue treatment, along with a proper release of the Double L Cools Down bootleg) so I was pleased to come across this unreleased track from 1991 which presumably was part of the Mama Said... sessions with Marley Marl but didn't make the cut. That's a shame because it's pretty good. Can't say I remember hearing it back in the day but this is taken from a Max & Dave Kiss FM Rap Show so guess there's a chance I have heard it before. It's on YouTube already but the quality is predictably weak so only right we get it up on here.

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Radio 1 Rap Show with LL, Gang Starr, Nas & Noreaga (1997)

Hadn't heard this October '97 edition of the Rap Exchange before I found it on a Google deep dive over the weekend. In terms of guests this is up there with the best of them and whoever ripped it - shouts to you - was good enough to leave the interviews in there (most of us seem to have hit the pause button back in the day in order to fit a 2 hour show on a C90 and get maximum tunes). The playlist is decent too: alongside the big tracks of the time by DMX and Busta, there's EZD's Premo produced GunzIs4, plus Calm Down, Firm Biz remix, and the original version of Desperados. And that Nas and Noreaga freestyle I posted a few years ago. Even the songs off LL's Phenomenon LP are decent enough - is that slept on?

Tracklist is below, and it'll be on the Hip Hop Radio Archive in due course if you want the download

Rap Exchange with Funk Flex, LL Cool J, Fat Joe & Petey Pablo (2001)

45 minutes of a Rap Exchange show from 2001 UPDATED 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.

LL Cool J 'No Airplay' unreleased version (1995)

 8 months ago I dropped some audio of LL performing live at Chuck Chillout's birthday party back in 1990. The tape included a peformance of the unreleased - and pretty much unheard - track 'She's Rockin'. As a result this humble little blog from the UK burbs briefly had twitter and the rap internet goin nutz (that is to say, J Zone got hyped about it and Ego Trip linked to it). Anyway, here's another rare LL joint for you. Up until today I was only aware of 2 versions of 'No Airplay'. The one on the 'Mr Smith' LP which is censored, and the uncensored 'dirty funky raw version' on this ultra rare promo 12". Going through some records this evening I came across this bootleg which features a 3rd version with different lyrics and a different beat.



If anyone has any info on this let me know. If there's a CDQ version on some long forgotten soundtrack or an official promo 12" out there then share the knowledge!

LL Cool J live at Chuck Chillout's birthday party (1990)

This past weekend I was fortunate enough to meet up with the homie Tobes who was generous enough to hook me up with a stack of tapes from the early 90s containing all sorts of treats, and first up out of the collection is this gem.
LL performing live at Chuck Chillout's birthday party back in 1990 is pretty dope in itself. He rocks 'To Da Break Of Dawn' over Keni Burke's 'Rising To The Top'. You're downloading already right?
He follows that with a new joint that to my knowledge is still unreleased (some quick tweets to J Zone, DJ Rhude & the DWG boys seem to confirm this). Its a tough 'Amen Brother' sampling track that I've named 'She's Rockin'. As far as I can tell its the full studio version being played off a DAT, with LL intermittently rhyming on top of the vocal track. My theory is that it might have sounded a bit dated in comparison to the rest of the 'Mama Said Knock You Out' LP so it got shelved. Anyway, here you go...

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Because I'm nice, I've included 3 seperate files: one for each of the 2 tracks, and one with whole thing.
Before anyone asks, no I dont have anymore from that night than what's here.

LL Cool J 'Rasta Imposter' (1998)

A quick refresher then: LL had already responded to 'Second Round KO' with 'The Ripper Strikes Back'. That lead to Wyclef dropping the comparatively weak 'Whats Clef Got To With It' (it had a Naomi Campbell cameo if you don't remember). LL then shot back with this; 5 minutes of A1 battle raps over the 'It's My Thing' beat...




(Both pressings of this have the same crackle throughout the track, so its the recording itself rather than the vinyl!)

Ghostface & Raekwon 'Good Times' (DJ Step One blend)

Here's a quick blend for you: Ghost & Rae's 'Good Times' acapella over the instrumental of LL's 'Fa Ha' (produced by DJ S&S)...

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Flava In Ya Ear remix (DJ Step One blend)

I haven't posted a blend for a while so here's something I just cooked up: the acapella of the 'Flava In Ya Ear' remix over the instrumental of Outkast's 'Southernplayalistic...'

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The Unstoppable Def Jam Sampler (1999)

The late 90s saw Def Jam reclaim their spot at the top of the industry following a few years of dominance by Bad Boy and Death Row. The addition to the roster of the Rocafella and Murder Inc imprints alongside DMX and Redman & Method Man meant they pretty much had the East Coast locked down. This promo CD has a few things that weren't available elsewhere and is well worth checking out...

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Tracklist
Def Squad 'Full Cooperation'
DMX & Ja Rule 'I Shot Ya' freestyle
Ja Rule 'Criminology' freestyle
Jayo Felony ft Mack 10, WC, Method Man & DMX 'Whatcha Gonna Do'
LL Cool J 'The Ripper Strikes Back'
Method Man & Redman 'How High' (Live)
Method Man, Redman & DMX '4,3,2,1' (Live)
Onyx 'Freestyle'


NB: I've omitted the snippet tracks - if you really need a 90 second preview of Jay Z's 'Can I Get A...' this probably isn't the blog for you.

LL Cool J - Kiss FM freestyle (2004)

Freestyles by James Todd Smith are pretty hard to come by as far as I can tell. Here's one from 2004 when MK was hosting the Hip Hop show on Kiss FM. LL goes in over E Rule's classic 'Listen Up'...

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Thanks to Mr Lawson for hooking me up with the original tape on this one.

Unreleased Marley Marl remixes - Canibus & LL Cool J

Whilst ripping a tape of Marley Marl on Westwood I came across these 2 remixes he did that never saw the light of day (as far as I know).
He's revamped Canibus' legendary dis track '2nd Round Knockout' and LL's response 'The Ripper Strikes Back'. Both are improvements on the originals but according to Marley industry politics prevented them getting an official release.
If anyone knows if they were bootlegged or if full versions exist then let me know!


'The Ripper Strikes Back' (Marley Marl remix)

'2nd Round Knockout' (Marley Marl remix)

I'll be posting up the full 90 minutes of the tape these were taken from soon.