Nas & De La Soul freestyle (1996)

Its fortunate that Nas & De La dropped 'It Was Written' and 'Stakes Is High' around the same time in 1996 or this session on Westwood would never have happened.
Maceo cuts up Sadat X's 'Stages & Lights' while Nas, Posdnous and Trugoy go off the head for about 8 minutes.

DOWNLOAD HERE

Def Squad - Hot 97 freestyle (1998)

Just found this Redman, Keith Murray and Erick Sermon freestyle from June 1998 on Funkmaster Flex's Hot 97 show. The Squad go off for 5 minutes over the 'Who Shot Ya' and 'Rhymes Galore' instrumentals.

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Pete Rock & Marley Marl on Hot 97 (1996) PART 2

Here's side B of the tape I posted below. This includes Royal Flush, Mobb Deep, PMD, Keith Murray, INI and Nas. The quality isn't as good as the a side for some reason - it definitely has that authentic grimey TDK feel to it!

DOWNLOAD  STREAM

Updated 01/01/19 - now available at the Hip Hop Radio Archive to stream or download at 320 kbps

Pete Rock & Marley Marl on Hot 97 (1996)

I haven’t posted a mix for a while so here is side A of a tape of Pete Rock & Marley Marl’s Future Flavas show on Hot 97. Its from 1996 and features a couple of Mobb Deep tracks from the ‘Hell On Earth’ album, aswell as some MOP, Large Pro, Real Live, Krs One, Big Noyd, PMD, The Firm and Jeru. Pete Rock is on the decks, Marley Marl and Half Pint are hosting...

DOWNLOAD  STREAM

Updated 01/01/19 - now available at the Hip Hop Radio Archive to stream or download in 320 kbps

If you're feeling this let me know and I'll post side B at some point

Akinyele & Sadat X live on Westwood (Jan 96)

By popular demand, here is the Akinyele and Sadat X freestyle they dropped when they were guests on Westwood’s show in January 1996.
As it was the first anniversary of the Radio 1 Rap Show, Funkmaster Flex came over to headline the celebration party at The Temple in Tottenham (a regular Westwood spot). Flex bought over Sadat and Akinyele who featured on his ‘Loud Hangover’ 12” which was the lead single off his first legal mixtape and DJ’d on Westwood’s Friday and Saturday night shows.
I remember being ill that weekend and staying in to tape it. I’ve still got all four 90 minute tapes so I might post those up at some point.

DOWNLOAD AKINYELE & SADAT X FREESTYLE

Eric B & Rakim 'Let The Rhythm Hit Em' (Soul Focus remix)

Another Soul Focus remix! As with the 'Poppa Large' remix this is quite simple but very effective. We've put Eric B & Rakim's 'Let The Rhythm Hit Em' acapella over Run DMC's classic 'Beats To the Rhyme' instrumental with a few Apache and Chuck D samples chucked in for good measure.
This one's for the DJs and the B-Boys...

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Raekwon freestyles (1995)

Some rare Wu Tang business here with a couple of freestyles from Raekwon. These are from 1995 when his classic debut dropped and The Chef was up there with Biggie and Nas as the biggest rappers out.

The first one is taken from Westwood's Hot 97 Rap Exchange in September 95. Rae drops some lyrics over the remix of 'One More Chance'.
The second is from the album sampler for 'Only Built..' and is over the 'Mad Izm' instrumental.

DOWNLOAD SEPTEMBER 95 FREESTYLE


DOWNLOAD MAD IZM FREESTYLE

RARE 90s FREESTYLES - Q Tip, Method Man and more

Some more rare 90s freestyles, this time taken from DJ Sandman’s ‘Volume 120: Mission Impossible’ mixtape.
I haven't been able to find out much about Sandman as there seem to be a few people using the same name. I’ve never seen any of his other tapes around either which is a shame as theres a good mix of exclusives, blends and freestyles on here. This tape was the first place I heard 2Pac’s ‘Hit Em Up’ amongst other future classics.
The freestyles were all done specifically for this tape, which dropped in 1996, and include some of the heavy hitters of that period: Method Man, Q Tip, Smoothe & Trigga, Inspectah Deck with Street Life & Carlton Fisk, Channel Live, and – very randomly – Brother J of X-Clan.

DOWNLOAD DJ SANDMAN FREESTYLES HERE

Nature - Marley Marl freestyle (2002)

Nature never really blew up big time as an artist, despite the exposure gained through his involvement with The Firm alongside Nas, AZ & Foxy Brown. I havent heard much of his solo material but have always liked his cameos and freestyles.
This is taken from a show Tim Westwood did from Marley Marl's studio in 2002. Nature goes in over 'Oh Boy' and Truth Hurts 'Addictive'. Short but sweet.

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DJ Cash Money - Live on Westwood (1999)

The legendary Cash Money on Westwood back in November 99. A good selection here scratched and juggled to perfection, including some Biggie, Gang Starr, Nas, Redman and Busta.
I saw Cash play in London a few years ago. He ended with Musical Youth’s ‘Pass The Dutchie’ and had the whole club singing along. Nice.

Canibus, DMX & Noreaga - Hot 97 freestyle

As promised here’s the Canibus, DMX and Noreaga freestyle session from Hot 97. Its from late 97/early 98 when these 3 were about to drop their highly anticipated solo debuts.
This period was something of a changing of the guard in Hip Hop. Biggie had died, Death Row had lost Dre and 2Pac, Jay Z and Nas had just released slightly disappointing albums and Eminem was yet to blow up. The time was right for new artists to come through. Unfortunately Canibus could never really get his beat selection on point (possibly due to hanging out with Wyclef too much), DMX was huge for a while and then lost the plot completely and Noreaga managed some solid material but then decided Reggaeton was the future.
Anyway, this is heavy. Flex is on the tables cutting up a load of classic breaks for them to rhyme over. It went on a bit longer than the 30 minutes here but my tape ran out.

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Shout out to Supar Novar

DJ Step One 'Lost In Soho' (mid-90s mix)

I made this mix last summer after a trip to London got me nostalgic for the days I’d spend all day wandering round Soho buying records. A typical day up there for me in the mid-90s meant checking Handspun (which later became Deal Real), Mr Bongo, Wyld Pytch, Uptown, Blackmarket, Unity, Reckless and probably a few others. There was also a bloke called Dan who used sell promos and rarities out of his record bag on street corners (He wasn’t cheap but if Westwood played it on a Friday he’d usually have it within the week!)

As great as the internet is for sourcing music, you definitely missed out on something if you weren’t around in that era. Shout out to everyone who remembers and to all the staff in those shops for putting up with us!

DOWNLOAD 'LOST IN SOHO' HERE

TRACKLIST
DJ Premier intro
Gang Starr - Mass Appeal (Chrysalis)
Nas - Freestyle (white label)
Nas - Represent (Columbia)
Black Moon - Buck Em Down (remix) (Wreck)
Mobb Deep - Still Shining (Loud)
Krs One - Out For Fame (Jive)
Channel Live ft Krs One - Mad Izm (Capitol)
A Tribe Called Quest - We Can Get Down (Jive)
Raekwon - Incarcerated Scarfaces (Loud)
Notorious BIG - Who Shot Ya (Bad Boy)
Large Professor - Mad Scientist (Geffen)
Masta Ace - Born To Roll (Delicious Vinyl)
Jeru The Damaja - D Original (Payday)
Terminator X ft Joe Sinister - Under The Sun (RAL)
Jemini The Gifted One - Cant Stop Rockin (Mercury)
Rawcotiks - Hardcore Hip Hop (Freeze)
Keith Murray - Most Beautifullest Thing In This World (Jive)
Ice Cube - Friday (Priority)
Lost Boyz - Lex Coups, Bimaz & Benz (MCA)
Common - I Used To Love Her (Relativity)

Canibus - DJ Clue freestyle

Its hard to believe now that Canibus' debut album was one of the most anticipated releases of the late 90s. This freestyle for DJ Clue, which I'm guessing is from around 97-98, shows why people were so hyped for some official material.
Soon I'll be posting the legendary freestyle session on Hot 97 where he went back to back with Noreaga and DMX for about half an hour. In the meantime, heres 'Bis going off over '97 Mentality' and 'Incarcerated Scarfaces'...

DOWNLOAD HERE

Wu Tang Clan - Capital Rap Show freestyle (1994)

Not the whole Clan unfortunately but Meth, GZA, Ghostface and Masta Killa (I think.I cant remember and havent had time to check) rhyme over 'How Many MCs', 'I Gotcha Opin', 'Mass Appeal' and 'Flava In Ya Ear'. Essential for any fans of the Wu.

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DJ Riz - Live on Westwood (1996)

A full 90 minute mix from one of NYC's finest, DJ Riz. This was live on Tim Westwood's show in October 1996 when Riz was in the UK to promote his Shoot Tha Pump mix CD.
Theres not a bad track on this tape. Its 100% head nod Hip Hop: Pete Rock, Jeru, Royal Flush, ATCQ plus lots of indie stuff. The majority of it was brand new at the time so the fact that alot of these tracks are considered classics today is testament to Riz's selection skills.

DOWNLOAD    STREAM PART 1   STREAM PART 2

Mixes recorded in the 90s >>>>>> 90s mixes recorded in the 00s

"Live from the corner of Marcy..."

Its pretty hard to come by stuff that is genuinely rare these days. If you know where to look you can probably find all sorts of demos, unreleased mixes and shelved material by artists both known and unknown. This track definitely falls into the latter category.
If I’d have bought this on vinyl when it dropped it would more than likely have been filed alongside the numerous other classic 12”s that dropped around 95-96. However the only place it existed - for me - was on a TDK at the start of one of Pete Rock & Marley Marl’s ‘Future Flavas’ shows on Hot 97 (it may have actually been the last track played on the show before them but whatever). I kept an eye out for it through 10 years of numerous vinyl digging sessions but never found it.
A couple of years back I decided to harness the power of the internets and track it down. No amount of Hip Hop geeks on the forums could help so I googled the names mentioned on the track, one of which was Almighty Wise and – of course – he had a myspace page. He was more than a bit suprised that some bloke from England was after a track he put on tape over 10 years ago but was good enough to send me a full version and some other tracks he'd done.
Shame I'll never have it on vinyl but thats what Serato is for I guess.

DOWNLOAD 'ALL I SEE (LIVE FROM THE CORNER OF MARCY)'

I'm not one of these people who just likes stuff cos its rare or obscure but I do really like this track.

"Big shot on the East Coast..." Ultramagnetic re-fix

Following on from our remix of 'The Message', heres something else by myself & Mystery (aka Soul Focus). This time we flipped the Ultramagnetic MC’s ‘Poppa Large’ acapella over Ronny Jordan’s ‘So What’. This idea was conceived when I dropped it spontaneously on a mix CD I did last year. We tidied it up a bit, added an intro for the DJs and this is the end result. Enjoy!

DOWNLOAD HERE

DJ Evil Dee on Hot 97 (1994)

This tape (only 40 mins long unfortunately) is one of my favourites for the following reasons:
- E Rule's 'Listen Up'.
- Evil Dee cutting up Zhane & Blackgirl acapellas over Gang Starr and Wu Tang beats and scratching his name check on 'Crooklyn'.
- Its got the world premier of Black Moon's 'Murder MCs', straight off the DAT from D&D studios.
- Buckshot drops a freestyle over the 'Kaught In Da Ak' instrumental.
- The phoned-in shout-outs give it an authentic mid-90s NYC feel and I like that sort of thing.
Considering this is from 1994 (one of the best years ever for quality Hip Hop) its strange that Buckshot mentions "taking Hip Hop back". He obviously had no idea what the future held and that any DJ playing a Bootcamp Click b-side on daytime Hot 97 in 2009 would be fired.

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Wish I had the first part of the show but the other side of the tape (courtesy of DJ MK way back in the day) is Roc Raida tearing it up on Funk Flex's show. I'll drop that soon.

MORE RARE 90s FREESTYLES - Lord Finesse, OC & Das EFX

I was going to post these one at a time but seeing as I've got enought material to keep me going for the forseeable future why bother waiting?



This Lord Finesse & Triple Seis freestyle is from a 1998 Funkmaster Flex show on Hot 97. This is a personal favourite as they spit over the 'John Blaze' and 'Banned From TV' instrumentals.

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OC freestyle for Tim Westwood's show on Capital FM. There's no date on the tape but I'm guessing this from 1994.

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This one is taken from the September 1995 Rap Exchange where Westwood would co-host a show with Funkmaster Flex live from NYC. Das EFX freestyling over the 'MCs Act Like They Dont Know' instrumental.

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DJ Step One 'Bangers'

I havent been playing out much recently but this Easter weekend (April 9th) I'll be holding down Room 2 while Chris Goldfinger headlines the main room at Tru.
I played there last Easter when Goldfinger came down and it was absoloutely rammed so I'm hoping for more of the same this time. Should be a good night.
I dont have any Asha World tapes ripped (yet) so instead heres a mix I made last year, full of club bangers. Dont worry, theres no Akon, T Pain or Lil Wayne. Its all Hip Hop from a few years back....

DOWNLOAD 'BANGERS' HERE
TRACKLIST:
Jadakiss 'Happy To Be Here'
Freeway ft Peedi Crack 'Flipside'
Clipse 'When The Last Time'
Ol Dirty Bastard ft Kelis 'Got Your Money'
Lil Jon ft Busta Rhymes & Elephant Man 'Get Low' remix
Ludacris 'Stand Up'
Dr Dre ft Snoop Dogg 'Still DRE'
Dr Dre ft Snoop Dogg 'The Next Episode'
Snoop Dogg 'Gin & Juice'
Notorious BIG 'Unbelievable'
Puff Daddy ft The LOX, Lil Kim & Notorious BIG 'All About The Benjamins'
Notorious BIG 'Kick In The Door'
Jay Z 'So Ghetto'
Nas ft Jadakiss & Ludacris 'Made You Look' (original & remix)
Method Man & Redman 'Da Rockwilder'
Redman ft DJ Kool 'Lets Get Dirty'
DMX ft Sheek 'Get At Me Dog'
Gang Starr 'Full Clip'
The Rite Brothers 'Thug Anthem 2000'
Beatnuts 'Watch Out Now'
Beatnuts ft Big Pun & Cuban Link 'Off The Books'
MOP ft Busta Rhymes & Remy Martin 'Ante Up' remix
Noreaga ft Nature, Big Pun, Cam'ron & The LOX 'Banned From TV'

Doo Wop & The Bounce Squad - Xmas Jams 93 freestyles

The intros to Doo Wop's tapes often featured freestyle sessions by his crew The Bounce Squad. I'm not 100% on the official line up of the crew but the tapes I have feature Lord Tariq, Uneek, Snagglepuss, Chris G, Rev Gotti, Misery and Leatherface.
This particular session is from Doo Wop's 'Xmas Jams 93' tape and is absoloutely siiiick!


DOO WOP & THE BOUNCE SQUAD - XMAS JAMS '93 FREESTYLE


NB - feedback, requests and suggestions for posts always welcome!

DJ Step One "UK Bubblers" mix

As much as the idea for this blog was to share/show off some music that you might not have heard before , its also a platform for a bit of shameless self promotion for myself as a DJ. I only bought Serato a few months ago so I havent made any new mixes recently as Ive been busy converting all my vinyl to MP3. Until I get round to doing something new I thought I'd post some of my favourites from the last couple of years.
This first mix is a selection of some of my favourite UK tunes. Mostly they're from 2001 -2005. There hasnt been much I've been into recently, but then that goes for Hip Hop as a whole. Hopefully some of the artists I used to check for like Klashnekoff, Fallacy and Rodney P will start dropping stuff again soon.

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Tracklist

Lewis Parker 'Incognito' (Melankolic)

Rodney P, Skinnyman & Mr 45 'Worldwide' (Riddim Killa)

Roots Manuva, Rodney P, Skeme, Fallacy, Big P & Dr Evil 'Swords In The Dirt' (Big Dada)

Klashnekoff 'All I Got' (Kemet)

Jehst 'High Plains Anthem' (Low Life)

Universal Soldiers ft Sundragon 'Metaphysics' (Tongue Tied)

Klashekoff, Kyza & Skriblah 'B4 U Die' (Kemet)

Baby J ft Shade 1 & Laurissa 'Let Them Know' (Baby J)

Fallacy 'FTP freestyle' (Baby J)

Wan Cee 'Rememberance' (Kemet)

Ghost ft Verb T & Asaviour 'The Payoff' (Breakin Bread)

Skeme & Rodney P 'UK Bubblers' (Titan Sounds)

Mud Family 'Nuff Tingz' (white label)

TY & Roots Manuva 'So You Want More' (Big Dada)

Fallacy 'Blackmarket Boy' (Virgin)

Klashnekoff 'Murda' (Kemet)

Universal Soldiers 'Renegades'(Tongue Tied)

Deckwrecka ft Skeme, The Extremists & Big P 'The Titan 4' (Ronin)

Champions Of Nature 'Salsa Smurf' (Wordplay)

DJ Doo Wop - Blends: 15.09.94 (Part 1)

That Biggie freestyle was obviously quite rare as it got about 70 downloads in the first hour - not bad considering I only started this blog 5 days ago!
Anyway, the fact that people are checking this page means that I feel a bit of pressure to keep coming with stuff you might not have but will definitely want.
I thought I'd give the Westwood tapes a break for the moment (dont worry there's more to come!) and come with some classic mid-90s mixtape business courtesy of the legendary DJ Doo Wop.
This is the first 30 mins of a tape titled '15.09.94'. It's all blends and they all sound heavy! This is from when Hip Hop DJs used to MIX on their tapes (dont get me started on that one!) and before 'mash ups' and ableton and pro-tools etc were standard.Straight acapellas over instrumentals including Method Man, The DOC, Latifah, Jade, Patra, Nice N Smooth and a few more.
The other 60 mins of the tape is made up of an old skool selection (BDP, Biz etc), a Bounce Squad live set and some new stuff (Fugees, Gravediggaz etc). I might post that at some point if enough people are feeling this.

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Biggie & Craig Mack - Tim Westwood freestyle (1995)

By request, another freestyle session off Tim Westwood's One FM Rap Show.
This time its from early 1995: Biggie & Craig Mack over Redman's 'Rocafella' instrumental.
It was the anniversary of BIG's death 2 days ago and every blog has been full of tribute posts, the best one being put together by the good peoples at
TROY which definitely has some audio and video you might not have come across before.

DOWNLOAD

EDIT: This tribute mix by J Period & DJ G Brown looks like its worth checking aswell

Cam'ron - Tim Westwood freestyle (1998)

Seeing as Cam'ron is making something of a comeback right now I thought I'd post this freestyle he dropped on Tim Westwood's Radio 1 Rap Show.

This is from June 1998, when 'Horse & Carriage' was blowing up in NYC and Cam was just about to release his debut album. He drops a couple of verses over the 'Incarcerated Scarfaces' beat.

"Gimme the microphone first so I can bust like a bubble..."

Another one from the vaults (aka the big box of dusty TDKs under my bed). This is Snoop Dogg alongside Kurupt and Daz live on Tim Westwood's Capital Rap Show. If I remember right this was recorded in early 94 around the time 'Doggystyle' dropped. They go back and forth for about 8 minutes over the 'Deep Cover' and 'Award Tour' instrumentals.

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"If you want more bomb shit make MK know!"

King of the UK mixtape scene back in the 90s, KISS FM's DJ MK has dropped what will hopefully be the first in a regular series of mixes.

The first MK tape I bought was 'Volume 9 - You're A Customer' direct from the man himself back when he was working at Handspun Records when it was downstairs from Dark N Cold on D'Arblay Street. I'd bought my first set of decks around the same time and that tape - and the volumes that followed - were something of a tutorial for me (ie I bought as many of the tunes off his tape as I could get my hands on and then imitated the mixes!)
Basically MK mixes always deliver.

Tracklisting is here
DOWNLOAD IT HERE

"This is the remix..."

Heres a nice remix knocked up a while back by myself and
DJ Mystery.
Its Grandmaster Flash's seminal 'The Message' done jacking for beats style.

UPDATE 06/07/09 - LINK REMOVED - Full release soon through Juno Download

"The turntables might wobble but they dont fall down..."

I'm not aware of any other mixes on the net by Jam Master Jay (RIP) so thought I'd get this blog started off with something original.

This is taken from Tim Westwood's Radio 1 show around the time Jason Nevin's house mix of 'Its Like That' was blowing up in Europe.

Stream & download at The Hip Hop Radio Archive

Strictly classics - EPMD, ATCQ, Eric B & Rakim, etc. Its cool to hear Jay cutting them all up and throwing in a few anecdotes here and there, such as the time he had the choice to sign Common or Onyx and went with Onyx.

Mic Check

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