DJ Step One 'Windows Down'

Summer has started to appear in the UK over the last few weeks, although for how long is anyone's guess. With that in mind I made this mix for driving around on those precious sunny days (last summer was pretty lame here).
I originally intended it to be 100% car-related tracks but there ended up being too much of the New Jersey Drive soundtrack on there, and alot of southern stuff about candy paint, 24" rims and the like, which isnt really what I was going for. Anyway, its turned out pretty well with a nice summer vibe to it. Hope you like it.

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TRACKLIST
Dr Dre ‘Let Me Ride’
Masta Ace ‘Born To Roll’
King Tee ‘Dippin’
LL Cool J ‘Boomin System’
Ice Cube ‘You Know How We Do It’
2Pac ‘Temptations’
Domino ‘Long Beach Thang’
Outkast ‘Players Ball’ (extended mix)
Kurious ‘Im Kurious’
Redman ‘Cant Wait’
Common Sense ‘Nuthin To Do’
AZ ft Miss Jones ‘Sugarhill’
LL Cool J ‘Back Seat’
Naughty By Nature ‘Written On Ya Kitten’ (QD III remix)
Little Indian ‘One Little Indian’
Luniz ft E40, Spice 1, Dru Down, Richie Rich & Shock G ‘I Got 5 On It’ (remix)
Kam ‘Still Got Luv 4 Em’
WC, Mack 10 & Ice Cube ‘West Up’
Rakim ‘New York To Cali’

also...
Theres a really good interview with Stretch Armstrong by DJ Eli over at the Turntable Lab blog.
Stretch speaks on coming up as a DJ in NYC, his legendary show on WKCR with Bobbito, and being offered $500 for an acetate of the Beatnuts remix of Mobb Deep's 'Shook Ones pt 1' (which is sure to get the collectors going crazy!)
Check it here

KRS ONE, MC Serch & Scarface - Hot 97 freestyle (1994)

KRS, Serch and Scarface (presumably in NYC promoting 'The Diary') live on Flex's Hot 97 show back in 94. Bit of an unusual combination but I always liked this one.
KRS does that 'freestyle' he used to do on everything (including Flex's first '60 Minutes Of Funk' CD), Serch is pretty good and Scarface does something off the top of the head but then admits that freestyling isnt really his thing.
As with a lot of freestyle sessions, I tend to find that the beat the MCs use can make or break how good it sounds. In this case I love the beat but have no idea what it is. Can anyone help me out?

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There was no way I was going to find a photo of these 3 together. I looked for at least 2 minutes...

Ice T live in New York (1992)

Ice T was one of the first rappers I really got into. I heard him being interviewed on Jeff Young's show on Radio 1 back in '88 when 'Power' came out. I bought it not long after. Being that I was only 10-11 years old at the time, the swearing and sex rhymes were obviously the main source of appeal but it still holds up when listened to today. 'Power', 'The Iceberg' and 'Original Gangster' are all solid sets and on my list of all time favourites. He definitely doesnt get acknowledged enough when people are discussing the legends and pioneers of Hip Hop's golden age.

This is a recording of a show from 1992, just after 'Original Gangster' had come out.

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Quality on this is pretty good as its from a CD - Ice T & Bodycount 'In Your Face' (I didnt bother posting the Bodycount tracks) - and sounds like its straight from a DAT recording. These sort of things are quite common for rock and metal acts but quite rare in Hip Hop as far as I know. I once read that there was a loophole in copyright law in some European countries that meant you could get away with selling unlicensed live recordings. This CD is fully barcoded and released by a label in Italy. Weird.

Ghostface & Cappadonna live in London (1996)

Ghostface and Cappa touch down at Westwood's Live To The UK event at Adrenalin Village in Chelsea.
This was the week before 'Ironman' dropped and the pair perform '4th Chamber', 'Ice Cream' and 'Daytona 500'.

Doo Wop & The Bounce Squad - Xmas Jams 93

UPDATED 26/12/17 - re-upped @320kbps and streaming on mixcloud

Funkmaster Flex on Radio 1 (1996) part one

Here is the first part of Funkmaster Flex's visit to the UK on the first anniversary of Westwood's Radio 1 Rap Show.
Flex took over the tables for the friday and saturday night sessions and as I mentioned when I posted the Akinyele & Sadat X freestyles from this show, I've got all 6 hours on tape.
This is the first 45 minutes and includes Ak & Sadat performing 'Loud Hangover' live in the studio. Its also the first time I heard 'California Love' and 'Doin It' (the following night was the first time I heard Busta's 'Woo Hah').Also featured in the mix is some Lost Boyz, Capleton, Fab 5 and Omniscence.

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More to come from this set as and when I rip them.

Doo Wop & The Bounce Squad 'Original Flavour 95'

This is one of my favourite tapes ever. I picked this up on New Years Eve 1994 on my first visit to Handspun Records, when it was still on Oxford Street.
The intro is what makes it stand out the most, kicking off with NYC's biggest DJs leaving messages on Wop's answerphone. Doo Wop and Biz Markie then kick a freestyle followed by the Bounce Squad ripping it up over a series of instrumentals.
The rest of the mix is comprised of classic material from Channel Live, Craig Mack, Biggie, Pete Rock, Outkast and Gang Starr alongside some more underground tracks by the likes of Champ MC, Bas Blasta and Organized Konfusion. Enjoy...

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Pete Rock on WBLS (1989) part 2

As promised, here is the second part of the Soul Brother # 1 live on WBLS in New York back in '89. Includes tracks from BDP, Too Nice, MC Lyte and 3rd Bass.

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Get part one here

Shout out to Mr Greedy

Best of Tim Westwood freestyles

As I posted some of the best material on this site within the first few weeks of its inception, alot of you might have missed some stuff.
With this in mind I've hooked up with the good peoples over at TROY to bring you a 'Best Of' set featuring all the freestyles I've posted from Tim Westwood's radio show.
It includes Akinyele & Sadat X, OC, Nas & De La Soul, Cam'ron, Das EFX, Biggie & Craig Mack, Snoop, Daz & Kurupt and a Masta Ace one that I havent posted on before.

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If you dont know about the TROY blog I recommend you start checking it on a regular basis. The amount of obscure and rare material posted there is amazing and along with the forum that spawned it, its probably the best source on the net for classic Hip Hop.

I've got the real life responsibilities out of the way for the time being so normal service should be resumed with new posts a few times a week.