CL Smooth - Future Flavas freestyle on Hot 97 (1995)

A brief appearance from CL Smooth on the first Future Flavas show hosted by Pete Rock and Marley Marl. CL drops a verse from Carmel City over the Brooklyn Zoo instrumental. Short and sweet, but good enough to warrant uploading.

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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Operation Lockdown

The rap internet stays busy. Here's a few bits from this past week...

Jaguar Skills - Hip Hop Timebomb 1983


Mr Magic's Rap Attack, 1987 (courtesy of Andy Smith)


Stretch & Bobbito on WKCR, 11th April '96 (+ Grap Luva interview here, courtesy of Random Rap Radio


Tony Touch - Hip Hop #25, 1993 (courtesy of Dailey Maddawg 76)

Capital Rap Show - LA Gear Rap Exchange 29.07.89

One of few positives of this current shit show is that DJs are having to focus their attention on whatever they can do their homes. In MK's case he's gone into his stash of tapes and commenced to ripping some gems. First up is the first LA Gear Rap Exchange where Tim linked with Marley Marl. You already know what to do...

A big ass Wake Up Show freestyle cipher (1997)

Freestyles were a regular part of rap radio by 1997 but this is like a Mr Bongo regular's wet dream. It's a 37 minute freestyle session on Sway & Tech's Wake Up Show from late 1997 and the line up is immense. Kool G Rap, Craig G, Juice, Shorty Wreck, Eminem, Kwest Tha Madd Lad, Thirstin Howl, Wordsworth & Mos Def and Talib Kweli all step up and do their thing. A lot of those names were new on the scene at the time so there's definitely an element of hungry MCs with something to prove when their time on the mic comes around.
As far as I can tell, this is a simultaneous broadcast with Marley Marl who's on the radio in NYC with G Rap and the lads. At one point you'll hear Eminem (of all people) get told to hold off rhyming so they can switch over for some rhymes from the east coast.

The full tape (with the 50 mins of the show before the freestyle) is available on  the Hip Hop Radio Archive

There's a snippet of this on YouTube but I don't think the whole thing has been online before



Thanks to Random Rap Radio for supplying the tape of this (and a few others soon to come). He's about to drop a very dope limited edition cassette mix of super rare live 80s Hip Hop with the latest issue of Dig Mag, so get that.

Clark Kent - In Control on WBLS (1989)

I've been going back through some tapes and re-ripping things at 320 kbps whilst trying to date them (for HHRA purposes, but also just because having several shows labelled with just a year gets confusing) and have come across a few bits that I've never posted before. This recording of In Control was one such thing. I think it was part of the first bundle Tobes gave me. Anyway, Clark Kent is on mixing duties on Marley's show filling in for Pete Rock who's off on tour with Heavy D & The Boyz. I've dated it based on the ticket giveaway for the Livin Large Rap Contest at The Apollo on September 16th. Clark gets busy.

download at the hip hop radio archive

Mr Magic & Marley Marl on WBLS (1986)

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Big fun in the big town with Super Rockin Mr Magic and Marley Marl playing Eric B & Rakim, Run DMC, Fat Boys, LL and UTFO amongst others. This is a recording that was re-broadcast on Dave Pearce's show on Radio London, so in that respect it's a something of a precursor to the Rap Exchange that Westwood would host with Marley and then Flex years later.

Dave mentions having details of tickets for UK Fresh which was 19th July '86 so I guess this must be from a month or 2 before that.

Mr Magic & Marley Marl - Rap Attack on WBLS (1986)

This tape may well have the world premiere of MC Shan's Jane Stop This Crazy Thing, aswell as Cutmaster DC's Brooklyn's In The House but the highlight is Mr Magic going full Partridge at 30:50 after running Oran Juice Jones 'The Rain' back to back with Tommy Boy's answer version 'Thunder And Lightning' by Miss Thang...

"...went by the Kurtis Blow party at the Quarter last night and saw Juice and he only had one thing to say about this young lady. He don't know who she is and don't know what she want. Juice was stylin a brand new suit from AJ Lester from the $600 rack so I don't know what her problem is but obviously she better not mess with The Juice..."

and that's why tapes of NYC radio in the 80s are more entertaining than 2018 Nas albums.

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NB: Tape once again courtesy of DJ Diablo (as will most pf what I post over the next few months) the last part of the tape actually switches to Red Alert on Kiss FM but as he drops Ego Trippin I thought I'd leave it in.

Radio 1 Rap Show 11.05.02 New York Live with Kay Slay & Nature

it's the links baby, it's the links...

I haven't had time to do anything blog related recently so here's some things that have appeared online elsewhere that may be relevant to your interests...

DJ Yoda presents Make Mixtapes Great Again

DJ Filthy Rich - Loungin Volume 1

Pete Rock & Marley Marl - Future Flavas on Hot 97 (1997)

Slum Village on the Radio 1 Rap Show (May 2000)

Clark Kent in the mix on WBLS (April '92)

oh, and here's a video for Sugarbear's 'Dont Scandalize Mine' 

Radio 1 Rap Show 24.03.00

New York Live with Tim and Marley Marl joined by Max Glazer, Steele of Smif N Wessun and J Force.

Radio 1 Rap Show 22.01.00 with Common, Marley Marl & Cipha Sounds (2000)

New York Live with Tim and Marley. Common is in the house doing some promo for Like Water For Chocolate and he drops a freestyle over Jay's 'So Ghetto'. Cipha Sounds puts in some sterling work on the tables and lets his crew get on the mic.

Marley Marl on the Radio 1 Rap Show (2002)

Westwood is nowhere to be found on this tape, so it's a Future Flavas Takeover with Marley hosting alongside Seven Shawn of World Renown. They play some Terror Squad, D Block, Mobb Deep and Nore, plus Marley's own remixes of Rewind and One Mic by Nas. He runs through some Cold Chillin/Juice Crew stuff (although the mixing is a bit sloppy on this part) and some more old skool on part 2.

Radio 1 Rap Show 14.12.01 with Kay Slay and Swizz Beatz

'Super Ugly' has just dropped so all the talk on this show is centered around the Nas - Jay Z beef. I'd suggest skipping that and heading for the beginning of part two where Kay Slay drops 45 minutes of mostly dis tracks by The LOX, Cam'ron, Mobb Deep and Beanie Sigel. That Rocafella - D Block beef served up considerably better musical results than Nas and Jay managed.

Black Rob - Future Flavas freestyle (1998)

Always happy to come across a Black Rob freestyle I haven't heard before and that's exactly what happened on my drive to work this morning when he popped up in the middle of a Future Flavas show from 1998. Shout out to DJ Diablo for hooking me up with this and a bunch of other FF shows.

Radio 1 Rap Show 21.05.99 with Cormega, OGC, Screwball, Deadly Venoms and DJ S&S

Having missed most of them when they aired, I'm really enjoying these New York Live shows with Westwood and Marley Marl. The guests and tunes tend to be a bit more varied than what you'd hear Flex playing on the Hot 97 Rap Exchanges. Lots going on in this one with Starang of OGC and Cormega guesting in part one, and then Deadly Venoms (an all female group that included N Tyce and who were briefly affiliated with the Wu), Screwball and DJ S&S appear in part two. All of them get together for a freestyle sesh at the beginning of part two...

Radio 1 Rap Show 15.12.01 with Nas, Pete Rock & Inspectah Deck

Big episode of New York Live here, with Tim and Marley hosting Nas just as Stillmatic was about to drop and the beef with Jay Z was in full swing. Pete Rock shows up for a quick interview in part 2, followed by Inspectah Deck and U God repping the Wu ahead of the release of Iron Flag.



Iron Flag seems like the most maligned or even somewhat forgotten Wu album but Rules, In The Hood and Uzi (Pinky Ring) are all solid Wu bangers. Don't sleep.

Posted a couple of other tapes on the Westwood Archives page recently

Radio 1 Rap Show 15th July 2000

24th September 1999 w/ The Madd Rapper

24th September 1999 with Rodney P, Skitz & Riddla

Also, you can now check out my man Rio T holding it down on TooHot radio, Saturday mornings 12-2pm, rocking strictly clean versions for the Rap Dads.

Marley Marl & Pete Rock - Future Flavas on Hot 97 (1996)

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Another one out of Tobes' stash. Future Flavas tapes are relatively scarce and always full of heat, in this case Real Live, Group Home, Heltah Skeltah, Sadat X amongst others.

I don't usually do tracklists as I listen to most things while I'm driving and can't write stuff down. This tape had the info on the inlay card which made things easier...

Large Professor & Pete Rock - The Rap World
Real Live ft Lord Tariq, Ghostface, Cappadonna & Killa Sin - Real Live Shit (remix)
Alley High - Voo Doo
The Roots - Clones
Bahamadia - 3 The Hardway
INI - Centre Of Attention
Group Home - Suspended In Time (remix)
Heltah Skeltah - Understand
Sadat X - Stages, Cameras, Lights
De La Soul ft Mos Def - Big Brother Beat
Mad Skillz - The Jam
Tragedy, Mobb Deep & CNN - LA, LA (remix)

Kool G Rap & Papoose - New York Live freestyle (1999)

Before that brief period around 2005ish when Papoose was rolling with Kay Slay and Jive Records and looking like the next big thing, he was down with Kool G Rap. This freestyle is taken from an edition of New York Live on the Radio 1 Rap Show around the time G Rap's Roots Of Evil was due to drop. The full show is below, featuring A+ in part one, and Marley Marl hosting The Roots and G Rap in part two





Kool G Rap is performing in London for the first time in ages in June btw.

Radio 1 Rap Show 19.03.99 - New York Live with Jeru, Black Moon, DJ S&S and Truck Turner

Even though I didn't catch many of them at the time, I'm starting to think that Westwood's New York Live shows with Marley are better than his Rap Exchange shows with Flex. DJ S&S is on the 1210s for a bit and all the guests drop freestyles on this one, with Craig G stepping up to rhyme alongside Truck Turner and Jeru. Pete Rock and TJ Swann are also in the studio. I imagine the #bantz was in full flow.

Part 1 with Truck Turner and DJ S&S


Part 2 with Black Moon and Jeru


and here's the the Buckshot and Jeru freestyles if you want them