A Tribe Called Quest - Hot 97 freestyle (1996)

Q Tip, Phife and Consequence in the studio with Funkmaster Flex on Hot 97 just before 'Beats Rhymes and Life' was released. Shout to Mr Lawson for the tape!

DJ Riz live in NYC (2010)

DJ Riz absoloutely killing it at a recent club night in New York

DJ Riz - Live @ Deko Classics Night (2010) by Djstepone on Mixcloud

Courtesy of DJ Klutch

LL Cool J - Kiss FM freestyle (2004)

Freestyles by James Todd Smith are pretty hard to come by as far as I can tell. Here's one from 2004 when MK was hosting the Hip Hop show on Kiss FM. LL goes in over E Rule's classic 'Listen Up'...

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Thanks to Mr Lawson for hooking me up with the original tape on this one.

Q Tip vs Sade 'Breathe In Paradise'

Another wicked remix out of the Soul Focus camp. Tip's vocals and Sade's 80s classic 'Paradise' sound made for each other...

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This blend was initially made about 10 years go when DJ Mystery mixed the acapella over the instrumental and recorded it to tape. Its been given a 2010 revamp since then and sounds even better.

BONUS! Q Tip 'Gettin Up' (King Most remix)
Been playing this a lot since I found it on the net (I forget where) last year.

DJ Riz & DJ Eclipse - Half Time Vol 1 mixtape (1999)

Riz & Eclipse come with a load of late 90s underground flavour on this tape, aswell throwing in a few freestyles and cuts-n-juggles for good measure.

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DJ Riz & DJ Eclipse - Halftime Vol 1 by Djstepone on Mixcloud

Thanks to DJ MK for the original tape. I should've posted more recently but Mediafire won't let me upload anything for some reason. Anyone who knows why this might be get in touch! I'm going with Megaupload in the meantime.

Pete Rock & CL Smooth - Hot 97 freestyle (1994)

Was lucky enough to grab a handful of tapes off DJ MK the other day. Haven't had time to run through them all yet but thought I'd post this up as a taste of whats to come. Pete Rock and CL Smooth on Funkmaster Flex's 'Street Jams' show on Hot 97. This is from around the time that 'The Main Ingredient' was released.


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Check back soon for some DJ Riz, Stretch Armstrong, Westwood and Funk Flex sets!

The Story Of The Incredible Bongo Band

One for the vinyl nerds! This dude breaks down the story of Michael Viner, The Incredible Bongo Band, 'Apache' and 'Bongo Rock'. Well worth a watch, if only just to find out how the assasination of Bobby Kennedy inadvertantly gave birth to the ultimate breakbeat.

Spotted at Turntable Lab