Mad Skillz freestyle (1996)

Mad Skillz and N-Tense freestyling over 'Still Shining' on Max LX & Dave VJ's Kiss FM Rap Show back in 1996.

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Shout out to cratedigga who sent me over the full interview which you can get HERE

Cocoa Chanelle 'Best Kept Secret' (1997)

Another one from Mr Lawson! This is the first Cocoa Channel tape I've heard and she's pretty damn good. Some blends and cuts along with a few 'exclusives' and a KRS & Redman freestyle on the intro. Check it...

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Funkmaster Flex & Tim Westwood - April 1995

This is the full tape of the April 1995 Rap Exchange that the ODB and Smif N Wessun freestyles below were taken from.

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This was a favourite tape of mine back then. Fortunately Mr Lawson came through with a copy as I was still going a bit crazy with the pause button in those days.

Pete Rock & CL Smooth live in London (2010)

Great show. Shout to Big Ted, Sarah Love, Jehst, Jazz T, Micall Parkinsun, DJ Matman, Mr Sheen and everyone else in attendance!

Smif N Wessun & Black Moon freestyles

First up today, taken from the same tape as the ODB freestyle below, is this Smif N Wessun freestyle done for Flex & Westwood's 'Rap Exchange' where Tim would take his Radio 1 show up to Hot 97.

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And to go along with that, heres some more Bootcamp Click business courtesy of thewool over at the TROY forum. This is Black Moon and Smif N Wessun on Westwood's Capital FM show back in (I'd guess) 1994.

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Ol Dirty Bastard - Hot 97 freestyle (1995)

More Wu Tang! This is taken from a Flex tape Mr Lawson sent over: ODB rhyming over 'Shook Ones pt II' and 'Brooklyn Zoo'. I'll upload the full tape soon...

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Wu Tang Clan 'Method Man' (DJ Step One blend)

Back in the day Westwood played a blend someone (I forget who) had done using the 'Method Man' acapella over Snoop's 'Tha Shiznit' instrumental, which sounded great. Recently - after a long search - I finally got myself a copy of that acapella (cheers Howard!) and have been playing around with it. I'm hoping to do something 'proper' with it soon but in the meantime it seems to fit nicely over another classic Dre beat...

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Obviously if anyone has got that blend Westwood played or knows who did it let me know!

DJ MK 'Volume 8' (1995)

This tape came out in the Summer of 1995 when I'd just got my first set of turntables (Gemini belt-drives!) and had started going up to London every payday to hit Unity, Mr Bongo, Handspun, Blackmarket and the plethora of record shops that populated the West End around that time. A LOT of good music came out that summer!

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My favourite part of this mix was the blend of KRS's 'Ah Yeah' over 'Moments In Love' by Art Of Noise. It still sounds dope now so I've included it as a seperate track in the download.


















MK was recently interviewed for Hot110 - check it HERE

Big Pun 'Pre-Trial Motion' promo tape (1998)

Not sure if its just me but Pun doesnt seem to be obessessed over as much as other dead rappers. It might be because he's got a relatively small catalogue for people to collect, remix and re-issue. It might also be because European rap nerds were too busy copping Mike Zoot 12"s in 1998 to pay attention to him. Whatever the reason, his first album is excellent and this is the promo tape Loud Records sent out to hype the release...

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Tracklist
'Twinz' w/ Fat Joe
'Toe To Toe' w/ Cuban Link
'Off The Books' w/ Cuban Link & Beatnuts
'Wishful Thinking' w/ B Real, Fat Joe & Kool G Rap
'Dreamshatterer'
'Firewater' w/ Raekwon & Fat Joe
'You Aint A Killer'
'Still Not A Player' w/ Joe (Attention Nerds: this mix is marginally different to the released version)

Shout to Mr Lawson for this one!

Tony Touch - Tape #58 (1998)

DOWNLOAD (click on the image to view the tracklist)

Pete Rock & The UN on Kiss FM (2001)

Pete Rock & The UN being interviewed by Big Ted on London's Kiss FM whilst they were in town promoting the 'Petestrumentals' album back in 2001.

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This is a pretty interesting interview, especially where Ted quizzes Pete on certain rappers he has/hasn't worked with, plus theres the mandatory freestyle session at the end, although its worth hearing for the Nas impressions alone!

Shout out to Mr Lawson for sending this one over.

You can catch Big Ted every friday at midnight on Colourful Radio

Funkmaster Flex 'Street Jams' on Hot 97 (1994)

This is from the flipside of the tape that the Theodore mix below is taken from. Could possibly even be from the same night. Flex does his thing with some Freddie Foxxx, Jeru, Nas and Wu Tang...

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He also drops LL's elusive 'Year Of The Hip Hop', which K Def was meant to be blessing us with a few months ago but has yet to appear.

BONUS!
Flex (or one of his interns) recently uploaded a 1994 Street Jams show with Pete Rock in the mix. You can get that HERE. Hopefully he'll make this a regular thing.

"Time to get wreck with The Creator..."

Info & tickets HERE

Grand Wizard Theodore on Hot 97 (1994)

One for the real old school heads - Grand Wizard Theodore brings his box of B-Boy breaks and beats up to Funkmaster Flex's 'Street Jams' show on Hot 97 and lets Dot-A-Rock get busy on the mic.

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AZ ft Doo Wop 'For The Streets' (1998)

This a great promo only 'jackin for beats' style 12", with AZ flowing over the big tunes of the day...

DJ Riz & DJ Eclipse - Halftime Show (2001)

45 minutes of Riz & Eclipse's 'Halftime Show' from February 2001. Features music by MOP, Beatnuts, Common, Group Home and more...



Big up DJ MK for this one. He's unearthed another huge box of tapes and I managed to grab a few treats the other night, so best believe theres a few goodies on the way!

Masta Ace, DJ Noize & Supernatural on Westwood (1998)

30 mins of Westwood's One FM Rap Show from 1998, with Masta Ace and Supernatural freestyling and DJ Noize on the decks.

Masta Ace, DJ Noize & Supernatural - Radio 1 Rap Show (1998) by Djstepone on Mixcloud

Can anyone tell me the name of the first beat Supernatural rhymes over?

Flava Of The Month

Method Man & Redman 'Double Deuces'

I'm off to see Red & Meth live this Sunday which seemed like a good enough reason to post this, which is basically a St Ides advert done over the beat for 'Childrens Story'. Whats not to like?

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Nas - Capital Rap Show freestyle (1994)

'Illmatic' era Nas live on Westwood's Capital Rap Show, rapping over the 'Ikes Mood' break which is possibly my favourite sample ever (it makes anyone sound good). He does 'Memory Lane' and some off the dome rhymes. Classic stuff either way.

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Back in the days of 56K dial-up, I remember uploading a yousendit link of a pretty muffled and hissy tape rip of this. Fortunately, a couple of years ago I found a great quality WAV posted at Kam from Mr Bongo's blog (unfortunately he doesnt update it often). Anyway, I've been playing it a fair bit recently so thought Id share it.

Its Overture - Classic Rap Vol 1 (2010)

Spotted this on the TROY forum recently. I dont download too many mixes nowadays as I found I never get round to listening to them. The tracklist on this caught my attention though and having listened to it a few times now I can highly recommend it!

GO HERE

Tracklist
1. Bobyahed2dis - Redman (+) Save Their Souls - Hamilton Bohannon
2. The Planet - Gang Starr
3. Whole City Behind Us - Kanye West
4. Streets Of New York (Acapella) - Rakim (+) Heart Of The City (Instrumental) - Kanye West (with elements of Escape From New York - Sadat X w. Pete Rock)
5. Trouble Man - Inspectah Deck (prod. Pete Rock)
6. Sucka Nigga (Instrumental) - A Tribe Called Quest
7. For You - Little Brother
8. Royal Flush (Accapella) - Andre 3000 (+) Goldmine (Instrumental) - Dr. Dre
9. Lyin King (Instrumental) - Nine (+) Apocalypse - Wyclef
10. Audiotorium - Mos Def (prod. Madlib)
11. Make Em NV - J Dilla
12. Represent (verse) - Big L (+) Moses Theme - Frankie Bleu (sample used for “24 Hours To Live”)
13. Click (DJ Premier Intro)
14. Thirteen - Organized Konfusion (+) How We Rock (Instrumental) - DJ Premier
15. Poisonous Darts - Ghostface
16. Made You Look (Acapella) - Nas (+) Illy (Instrumental) - El-P
17. When The Last Time (Acapella) - Clipse (+) Get At Me (Instrumental) - Alchemist
18. Return Of The Mac - Prodigy (prod. Alchemist) (+) Beatnuts Forever (Instrumental) - Beatnuts
19. None Of Y’all Better (verse) - Jadakiss (prod. DJ Premier) (with elements of No Mercy (Instrumental) - Alchemist)
20. The Stomp - Ol Dirty Bastard (+) The Edge - David McCallum

DJ MK 'Volume 12 - Worth The Wait' (1997)

Quality mixtape right here from London's DJ MK. This was probably the first place I heard the 'next generation' of UK artists like Fallacy, Skinnyman and Roots Manuva, who would go on to be huge a few years later. Some good US stuff on here aswell from DITC, All City and Tribe.

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Here's a bit of info on the tape from the man himself...
POINTLESS BUT TRUE FACTS ABOUT THIS MIXTAPE !

1 - The comedian Russell Peters used to hook me up with promos and gave me my copy of "Northern Touch"
2 - All the freestyles were recorded in one night at my flat using Braintax's studio. I made Roots Manuva a pizza as he was hungry and had no money at the time. Skinny man smoked the flat down.
3 - The cover was drawn by the world renowned Parisian graffiti artist KAY ONE.
4 - Tony vegas gave me his copy of the only test pressing at the time of "Itchy Town" I gave it it's 1st play on a mix i did on Choice Fm for 279 and also put it on this mixtape. Tony also gave me his spare DMC mixer, which i used to record this mixtape on - MK

Catch MK alongside Harry Love plus guests streaming live from The Funhouse every Monday to Thursday night from 9pm UK time

NEW SOUL FOCUS RELEASE!

Its been a while since we dropped anything on the Soul Focus label but we're back! I actually posted a rough version of this in the early days of this blog but its since been mixed and mastered properly and just generally sounds a lot better...

DJ Step One - 93:95 Hip Hop mix (2010)

Heres a 60 minute mix I just made covering what is probably my favourite era of Hip Hop. I tried not to go too heavy on the 'over-played classics' side of things and pulled out a few bits I hadn't heard for a while. There's a few blends and obscure bootleg remixes chucked in to keep things interesting aswell..

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Tracklist
DJ Steady G 'Everybody Groove'
Tha Alkaholiks 'Relieve Yourself'
Das EFX 'Baknaffek' (remix)
KRS ONE 'Mortal Thought' (DJ Step One blend)
Notorious BIG 'Everyday Struggle'
Nine 'Whutcha Want'
Armand Van Helden 'Stick Em'
Run DMC ft Pete Rock & CL Smooth 'Down With The King'
Flavor Unit MCs 'Roll Wit Tha Flavor'
Slick Rick 'Behind Bars'
Ten Thieves 'Black Reign'
Erick Sermon 'Bom Digi' (Street Jams bootleg remix)
Masta Ace Inc 'The B Side'
Method Man & Redman 'How High' (bootleg remix)
Mad Skillz 'The Nod Factor' (DJ Step One blend)
Kamikaze 'Spread It'
Group Home 'Supastar'
Troubleneck Brothers 'Back To The Hip Hop' (remix)

AZ 'If You Want It'

I picked up this semi official/bootleg AZ 12" last week and seeing as it doesn't appear to have had an official release, I thought I'd hook it up for you.

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DOWNLOAD INSTRUMENTAL

Can't say I'm sold on the chorus but if you like AZ this is definitely worth checking. I'm not too sure on the year it dropped but I'm guessing early 00s. Googling 'AZ' isn't an easy task so if anyone out there has any info on the track let me know.

Funkmaster Flex live @ The Palladium (1995)

Funkmaster Flex with a dope set of 80s classics recorded live at The Palladium in NYC back in 1995.

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The Heatwave present '25 Years Of Dancehall' (2010)

For the reggae heads, courtesy of London's Heatwave crew

GO HERE

"Tuesday 23rd February 2010 marked the 25th anniversary of the day that Wayne Smith's Under Me Sleng Teng was first played in a dance.

To celebrate the 25th birthday of digital dancehall we looked back over the last quarter century of this brilliant music and had a quick party on our Rinse FM show. It was mad to look at how things have developed over two and a half decades.
The plan was to choose one tune from every year since 1985 while at the same time ensuring that all the key artists from the period were represented. We couldn't quite keep it to only 25 tunes and even then some notable vocalists and very big tunes got left out.
I suppose there's always someone who gets left out at a birthday party. Big up Kiprich, Cecile, TOK, Terry Ganzie, Serani, Spice and all the other artists whose invites got lost in the post"

Eightball ft Canibus, DMX & McGruff 'Pure Uncut Raw' (1998)

Staying on the white label tip, this is something I'd been after ever since I heard it back in 98 on the Mastermind mixtape I posted recently. Its not an easy find on the net and as far as I can tell it never received an official release. It was only earlier this year that I chanced upon the 12" you see above.



8Ball isn't someone who's catalogue I'm familiar with but this appears to be a remix (its listed as 'Part 2' on the Mastermind tape) of a track from one of his solo albums. A nice dark beat featuring Canibus and DMX when they were at their peak and the always reliable Herb McGruff make this one worth checking out.

Shout out to TheBigSleep - a reliable source for anything with a Harlem connection!

'That Mister Cee Freestyle Shit' (1994)

Following on from the DJ Enuff set I posted below, this collection hooked up by Mister Cee is most famous for including the Biggie and 2Pac 'Live At The Garden' freestyle alongside Shyheim, Big Scoob and Big Daddy Kane. Also featured are Keith Murray, ODB, Masta Ace Inc, Brand Nubian, Finsta Bundy and Biz Markie.

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DJ Enuff - Freestyle Collection (1994)

Just ripped this 12" which features freestyle sessions by KRS ONE, Biggie, Cella Dwellas, Masta Ace, Freshco, Prime, Bushwackas and King Just. You're welcome...

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Flava Of The Month

DJ Mastermind - Tape 42 (1998)

 Another dope tape by Mastermind out of Canada. I got asked for this a while back but I've only just found it so apologies for the delay...

Update 24/12/18 - re-upped in 320

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Prince Paul live @ The Do-Over (2010)

The Do-Over comes through again! This time the legendary Prince Paul steps up with a nice party set. This was recorded live in LA last weekend.

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Doo Wop - Live at Mecca (1995)

90 minutes of Doo Wop rocking NYC's Mecca back in 95. Party joints all the way of course. The recording picks up the crowd noise on this one so although it sounds a bit echo-y you get the call and response parts and can hear them shouting the lines when Wop cuts the sound.

[post updated 03/05/20 with full tape ripped at 320 kbps rather than 30 mins at 128. You're welcome]

Fat Beats NY closing party with DJ Eli, Just Blaze & A Trak (2010)

URB x _st : Eli Escobar x Just Blaze x A-Trak - Fat Beats NY Closing Sets from Society Theory on Vimeo.

Sorry, no audio (yet!)

Red Cafe 'Heart & Soul Of New York City' (2009)

This Pete Rock produced track was one of my favourites of 2009 but I only discovered this video for it last night. I got the impression that the song was kind of slept on and seeing as its 9/11 and all I thought I'd post it up for all the NY heads that check the blog.

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Even if you dont usually check for Red Cafe I'd still highly recommend this - great song, great video!

Lord Finesse & Cormega - Future Flavas freestyle

I've just set myself up a Soundcloud account, and while I was searching through endless pages of homemade remixes and sub-par mash-ups I came across this short Finesse and Cormega freestyle from Marley Marl and Pete Rock's Hot 97 show. The Funky Man kills it...

DJ Riz & DJ Eclipse - Halftime Show with Prince Paul (1998)

Riz & Eclipse on their WNYU show back in December 98. The show was an old school special so expect lots of 80s/early 90s material, plus Prince Paul is in the studio promoting his 'A Prince Among Thieves' album.

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Thanks to MK for the tape

Flava Of The Month returns!

"DJ 279’s Friday Nite Flavas Rap Show is the longest running Rap Show in the UK boasting more than 15 years of transmitting continuous authentic Hip Hop on Choice FM London.
In 1993 DJ 279 launched Flava Of The Month, a monthly Hip Hop party @ The Borderline Club in Charing Cross Rd. The night provided a platform for numerous UK artists such as Fallacy, Blak Twang, Estelle, Skinnyman, MCD, David J, Scratch Perverts and Funky DL making it a must attend event for many years.
Flava Of The Month was also responsible for bringing Mad Skillz, Dead Prez, Big L, O.C, Canibus, DJ Cash Money, Tony Touch, Big L,
Big Daddy Kane and Master Ace to the UK, and those are just a few names on a very illustrious list.
Now Flava Of The Month is back to do it all over again..."


















What with MOP last week, and KRS and Rakim both having shows lined up it looks like there's gonna be alot going in London this autumn.

Early interview with Kool Herc

Some great footage in this. I'd never seen it before but came across it over at 4 Hours Of Funk

quick update...

Back off holiday. Shout out to everyone who made it over to SunceBeat in Croatia! I've had a lot of messages asking for re-ups on dead links so just to say that I'll get to them all eventually, hopefully within the next couple of days. Once they're out of the way it'll back to more of the usual. Stay tuned...

Mr Thing 'Champion Nerd' (2010)

Brand new mix of original samples and breaks courtesy of one of the best DJs around, Mr Thing. Highly recommend you check this, especially if you enjoyed his 'Portable Anorak' mix from a while back.

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This will be my last post for a while as I'm off to Croatia for this...














Roy Ayres live, plus Jazzie B, Joey Negro, DJ Spinna and the aforementioned Mr Thing. Can't wait.

Stretch Armstrong & Bobbito on Hot 97 (1997)

Stretch & Bobbito live on Hot 97 with Chubb Rock in the studio. Some great tracks on here including stuff by Lady Of Rage, Common and DITC. Big up DJ MK for the tape...



The quest to get all the Stretch & Bobbito shows uploaded is still ongoing. If you've got any to contribute or fancy downloading a few GO HERE

Vaporized presents 'Give Me Your Love meets Kool G Rap & Chino XL'

New set of blends courtesy of Vaporized, using G Rap & Chino XL acapellas over samples from Sylvia Striplin's 'Give Me Your Love' album

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Tracklist
Intro
Live And Let Live
Foul Cats
No Complex
Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous
Thousands
Can't Stop The Shine
Outro
Bout That ft.Ma Barker

If anyone out there can help him out and provide the acapellas for Nas' 'Nastradamus' album, get in touch!

DJ Riz on Hot 97 Street Jams (1994)

Riz dropping a guest mix on Funkmaster Flex's 'Street Jams' show. I ripped this a while back but just realised I never posted it. I'd guess its from around September 1994, so you know its worth a listen

Thanks to DJ MK for the original tape.

Tim Westwood with Redman, Das EFX & Hoodratz (1993)

Classic Capital Rap Show action right here with Redman, Das EFX and Hoodratz in the studio alongside J The Sultan (Jon Shecter)...

Playlist

Pete Rock & CL Smooth - Whats Next On The Menu

Erick Sermon - Hittin Switches

Illegal - We Getz Busy

House Of Pain - Who's The Man

Kool G Rap & DJ Polo - On The Run (remix)

Big Daddy Kane - How You Get A Record Deal

Mobb Deep - Locked In Spofford

Jon Shecter - The Source update

Dr Dre ft Snoop Dogg - One Eight Seven

Run DMC ft Q Tip - Come On Everybody

Das EFX - Mic Checka

Das EFX - Hard Like A Criminal

Redman & Das EFX - interview

Redman - Time Sum Aksion

Redman & Das EFX - interview

Redman - Blow Your Mind

Illegal - Head Or Gut

BIG - Party & Bullshit

Tiger ft Q Tip - Who Planned It

Wu Tang Clan - Protect Ya Neck

Lords Of The Underground - Here Come The Lords

Hoodratz - interview & freestyle

Pharcyde - Passin Me By

Shout out to Mr Lawson for the original tape. Hope you're feeling better mate!

Krs One 'Mortal Thought' (DJ Step One blend)

Been messing around with a few acapellas recently and came up with this blend using 'Mortal Thought' over the 'Code Of The Streets' instrumental. Works well I think...

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DJ Step One 'Sicker Than Ya Average Vol 3' (2008)

This is a mix I made a couple of years back which is still one of my favourites. It clocked up a few hundred downloads at the time but I didnt have my own blog to post it on so thought I'd re-up for you in case you missed it first time round...

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This actually started life as a 15 minute mix for a (badly organised) DJ competition sponsored by Alize, hence the 2Pac intro and Biggie samples. I carried on after the initial 15 and ran through a bit of everything - old and new Hip Hop, Reggae, R&B and some Breaks. This was pre-Serato too. Highly recommended!

Tracklist
2Pac intro
Mary Jane Girls 'All Night Long' instrumental (Motown)
Clipse 'When The Last Time' acapella (Star Trak)
Mary J Blige 'Back To Life 2001' (Rocafella)
Change 'Lets Go Together' (Cooltempo)
Mooqee 'Funk Machine Man' (Bomb Strikes)
Joe Budden 'Pump It Up' instrumental (Def Jam)
Jay Z 'Change Clothes' remix (AV8)
A Skillz 'With You' (Insane Bangers)
Naughty By Nature 'OPP' Ultramix remix (Tommy Boy)
Rayvon 'Pretty' (VP)
Krafty Kuts & A Skillz 'Tricka Technology' (white)
Supercat 'Ghetto Red Hot' Hip Hop mix (Columbia)
Mooqee 'Supacat Police' (Bomb Strikes)
Bobby Brown 'On Our Own' (MCA)
LL Cool J 'Around The Way Girl' Untouchables remix (Def Jam)
Derek B 'Get Down' acapella (Music Of Life)
Gap Band 'Outstanding' (Total Experience)
DaBrat & Notorious BIG 'Da B Side' (So So Def)
Spyder D 'I Cant Wait' instrumental (Champion)
Hijack 'Style Wars' acapella (Music Of Life)
Freestylers ft Tenor Fly 'B Boy Stance' original version (Freskanova)
East Side Hoods 'Funky Smile' (Areeba)
Tom Tom Club 'Genius Of Love' (Sire)
Mariah Carey ft ODB 'Fantasy' Bad Boy remix (Columbia)
Rob Dougan 'Clubbed To Death' (Cheeky)
Busta Rhymes ft Swizz Beatz 'New York Shit' acapella (Aftermath)
Jungle Brothers '40 Below Trooper' (Warner Bros)
The Mafia 'Scene Of The Crime' (white)

Pete Rock, Funky DL & Dynamite MC on Kiss FM, London (1998)

Soul Brother #1 live on Max LX & Dave VJ's Kiss FM show, alongside the UK's Funky DL and Dynamite MC. The twist on this one is that they've got jazz/funk outfit D'Influence providing live backing for the cypher. Nice...



Big respect to cratedigga for sending this one over!