Furious 5 & Rodney Cee freestyle (1995)

This is a good one. Melle Mell and the lads with Rodney Cee of Double Trouble having a big old pass the mic sesh on the Radio 1 Rap Show. Melle sounds dope over Supastar.

Don't Sleep #18 MC Chill - MC Story (1986)

It's been ages since the last Don't Sleep but as I just copped this 12" I thought I'd post it up. This is something I first heard back in '88 when I was first getting into this hip hop thing. Like a lot of rap fans in the UK, the Streetsounds albums played a key part in forming my tastes, pulling together a bunch of fresh new US jams for those of us that weren't spending a fortune on imports in Groove Records every weekend. Being only 10/11 years old me and my mate Mark were very much about just finding whatever rap music we could get our hands on and at the age of 10 the bargain bins and sale items were a good place to start. He scored a copy of Electro 12 which I promptly copied (on high speed dubbing too I'd imagine) and was introduced to some top tunes by Grandmaster Flash, Fat Boys, 2 Live Crew and Whodini. The only track I din't like was Square Dance Rap by Sir Mix A Lot. The album also includes the super dope 'Ultimate III Live' (which warrants a post of its own) and the subject of this post - MC Story by MC Chill.

The single was released on Sal Abbatiello's Fever label, which was also responsible for records by Most Wanted, Spoonie G, Sweet G and Cover Girls. It churned out a ton of Latin freestyle records and that whole 80s keyboard thing is in full effect on MC Story (along with a bizarre and very out of place guitar solo at the end). The chorus is kind of cheesy but you do get a class verse from the one and only Melle Mell which makes things well worth the price of admission.

Obviously '86 was a changing of the guard for the music once Rakim and BDP came along so this was very much the end of an era for this kind of rap. It's not a track you would necessarily be into if you didn't hear it at the time, but very much a nostalgia piece for me personally so thought I'd shed a bit of light on it.

It's mad that the Streetsounds series didn't make it to CD, let alone digital or streaming outlets. You can listen to Electro 12 on Soundcloud though.

Melle Mell & Afrika Islam on the Capital Rap Show (1993)

Mell & Iz pass through the Capital Rap Show whilst in the UK for some shows and have a chat with Timothy before Melle drops a 10 minute freestyle. The OG version of It Aint Hard To Tell is on here at the top of the show too, alongside tracks from Doggystyle, which was about to drop the following week.

tracklist

Nas - It Ain't Hard To Tell (original version)

Wu Tang Clan - CREAM

Shyheim - On & On (DJ Premier remix)

Snoop Dogg - Murder Was The Case

Snoop Dogg - Serial Killa

Snoop Dogg - Pump Pump

KRS One - Hip Hop vs Rap

Leaders Of The New School - Classic Material

Melle Mell & Afrika Islam - interview

Cold Crush Brothers - Fresh Wild Fly & Bold

Melle Mell & Afrika Islam - interview & freestyle

Buju Banton - Deportees

Melle Mell - The Message '94 (Westwood special)

Melle Mell flips some new (and old) lyrics over The Message as a dubplate special for Westwood...

The photo above was taken at the premier of Ice T's Art Of Rap documentary in London back in 2012. A great night in a less than half full Hammersmith Apollo with Ice, Mell, Hijack, Rae & Ghost and Chuck D all performing live and getting together for a freestyle sesh at the end. Chuck came out to the Nation Of Millions intro, recorded at the same venue 25 years previously which was a nice touch.

Grandmaster Flash 'The Message' (Soul Focus remix)

This remix of 'The Message' was actually made back in 2002, using the same mixing desk that this was recorded on (true story!). We'd found the acapella online, quite a while before it appeared on the b-side of the Paul Nice remix although our version eventually coincided with that release. As with some of our other efforts, its done 'jackin for beats' style...

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Check out Werner's blog for the backstory on the original mix and its subsequent follow ups.

Big up to dirt dog for my new logo!