Biggie - Wake Up Show freestyle (1997)

March 9th. A date Canibus imprinted on listeners' brains as the day Biggie died and also my 11th Blogiversary (?). We still here. This freestyle has done the rounds over the years but I've been playing it over the last few months since I picked up one of those not-entirely-official compilation albums that was somehow on sale in HMV in the mid 00s.

The interesting thing about this Wake Up Show appearance, aside from being the week before he was shot dead, is that he speaks about how 2Pac's death affected him ("maybe more than anybody else") but then what lyrics does he go to for the freestyle?

Long Kiss Goodnight! I mean..."slugs missed ya, I ain't mad at ya", "maniacs put my names in raps", "look what you made me do, brains blew, my team in the marine blue 6 coupe"

Oh for social media to have been around when Fat Chris (@KONY or @FrankWhite maybe? )went on LA radio and threw all sorts of subliminals at 2Pac 6 months after he died. Your favourite rapper would never. Unless your favourite rapper is 50 Cent. He probably would.

Nice beat selection for this too, and unusually for such a great moment in 90s rap radio, there's video footage too.

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.

Guru, Eminem, Defari & The Beatnuts - Wake Up Show freestyle (1998)

I've only ever had a couple of Wake Up Show tapes in my possession so was happy to see this one in the last batch of cassettes that Tobes hooked me up with. I was particularly pleased to find this treat on there though: Guru stops by the show to do a quick interview (just before Moment Of Truth came out) and then drops a few verses alongside a relatively unknown Eminem, before Defari steps up to the mic and then the Beatnuts get involved. Good times. Do things like this still happen anywhere outside of the BET awards?

That's followed by a Smif N Wessun freestyle - they were rolling as the Cocoa Brovaz at the time -   and Em jumps on the mic again. The full show is below...





Not sure if it's a West Coast radio thing in general or just something Sway & Tech did but their lengthy intro and approach to drops and jingles might even out do Weenie & The Butt. Definitely not mad at their female co-host's voice though. Much more soothing than your standard rap radio DJ.

Had my first copyright infringement takedown notice from Audiomack last week, for a bootleg remix of Top Billin of all things. Hopefully they don't go the way of Soundcloud and Mediafire. Seems crazy that in 2017 there isn't an established reliable platform for hosting music to stream and download. I'll persist with it for now but if things start disappearing on a regular basis I might need a new home. It has occured to me that having Eminem's name on there might be a red flag. Can't say I wasn't a tad shook a few years ago when minutes after making a disparaging remark about Jimmy Iovine, I received a notification informing me that INTERSCOPE RECORDS IS NOW FOLLOWING YOU.

Method Man & Redman - Wake Up Show freestyle (1994)

 

There's been a few lengthy Red & Meth freestyle sessions from back in the day that have found their way onto the net over the last few years. Here, the duo go in for 25 minutes on Sway & Tech's Wake Up Show in '94...

 DOWNLOAD

Previously:

Method Man & Redman - Hot 97 Freestyle (1995)

Method Man & Redman - Radio 1 freestyle (1999)

some S. Carter heat....

The OB4ZL resurrection continues with a few Jay Z bits for you and yours....

CANT KNOCK THE HUSTLE (DEMO VERSION)
An alternate version that appeared on the flipside of the original 'Dead Presidents' 12". No Mary J on this one, and there's a different second verse.

WAKE UP SHOW FREESTYLE (1998)
A quick 16 live on Sway & Tech's legendary show 

ENCORE (BOOTLEG REMIX)
No idea who's responsible for this but its nice mash-up of Jay's 'Encore' over the Cheryl Lynn classic of the same name.

ROC THE MIC FREESTYLE
I'm not entirely sure where this is from (possibly Flex on Hot 97) but I've taken it from a DJ F-Sharp 'Top 5 Dead Or Alive' mixtape. Its dope though.

Royce 5'9, Sauce Money & Black Rob freestyles (1998)

3 very dope and some what underrated MCs here: Royce 5'9 and Sauce Money on The Wake-Up Show with Sway & Tech, and a Black Rob freestyle from a DJ Self mixtape. All 3 are from 1998 (I think)

ROYCE 5'9 FREESTYLE

SAUCE MONEY FREESTYLE

BLACK ROB FREESTYLE