Skillz - Hot 97 freestyle (2003)

This is one of those things I played to death back in the day but had forgotten about it in recent years. (Mad) Skillz on Kay Slay's Drama Hour, going all out with the punchlines over 50's 'In Da Club' beat. There's a good chance you might have heard this before but its old enough and dope enough to warrant posting. Rap twitter would have gone nuts if it was around when this first dropped.

"I was sick when Jermaine was pop locking for Whodini"

He reworked some of the lyrics used on this into an actual track in 2010 but it's not anywhere near as good. As for In Da Club, it's strange to think that it was probably the last big selling rap 12". The first time I heard it was when Westwood played it in early 2003 (possibly the same show I first heard Dipset Anthem on aswell), and he followed it with Fabolous, Paul Cain & Joe Budden's take on the track, which I still enjoy. If anyone has an untagged CDQ of this get in touch. I need that.

Black Rob & Lil Vicious 'Rippin MCs' (1998)

Since it's inception, this blog has dropped more than it's fair share of rare/unreleased Black Rob tracks and here's another one. I can't tell you too much about it other than it's taken from a  DJ Avalon (no, me neither) mixtape called Laugh Now Cry Later. BR was on Bad Boy at this point but Whoa was still a good year away. You can file this one under random unexpected collaborations as he teams up with mid 90s one hit wonder Lil Vicious...



Sounds kind of like a freestyle but it had a title so they were obviously going somewhere with it. Big up Steve for sending me this.

This is only 2 minutes long so here's some other things you might want to check:

Ed Lover on The Combat Jack Show - this is brilliant. Ed's got stories for days. Well worrth a listen. CJ's interviews with Masta Ace and AZ are good too if you're a fan and have got the time.

DJ JS-1 - Sure Shot mix

Mr Thing's Pete Rock & CL Smooth at 25 mix

If you're into old school (late 80s/early 90s) WWF then go here 

DJ Step One - The Best Of Ice T

One day late but here's the First Of The Month mix for September and it's a good one (if I do say so myself). Ice T is one of my favourite rappers and as most DJs that post mixes online seem to be content with dropping the 39,873rd 'Best Of Premier/Pete Rock/Dilla' mix I'd thought it was about time someone paid tribute to rap's
original OG. Here's 1hr 10 mins of tracks covering Ice's peak period from 1986's '6 In The Morning' to the Home Invasion LP in 1993. There's a few blends, freestyles and live tracks in there too. Fortunately you can just stream/DL it so there's no danger of shooting anyone in an argument over the cassette...

DOWNLOAD

Tracklist

Intro

Home Of The Bodybag

I Ain’t New Ta This

You Played Yourself

Drama

Heartbeat

Mind Over Matter

Addicted To Danger (Beatnuts remix)

C4 News interview

6 In The Morning

Combat Jack Show acapella

Colors (YGB blend)

Ziplock / Ricochet (live in NY 1992)

High Rollers

I’m Your Pusher (AMW blend)

Last Wordz (w/ Ice Cube)

New Jack Hustler

Power

Radio Suckers

Capital Rap Show freestyle 1989

That’s How I’m Living

Original Gangster

This One’s For Me

My Word Is Bond (w/ Donald D)

Evil E What About Sex?

99 Problems (w/ Brother Marquis)

Bitches 2

Peel Their Caps Back

Soul On Ice

Ain’t A Damn Thing Changed

A few things about this mix then:
 - There are some omissions. Due to time restraints and things not "fitting" I had to leave out Lethal Weapon, Somebody Gotta Do It, Fly By, Girls LGBNAF and several other classics from the man's catalogue. I enjoy pretty much everything on Power, Iceberg and OG so there always had to be some things that didn't make the cut.
 - Although I've never been a massive fan, I've become slightly more appreciative of Home Invasion after doing this mix. At the time it seemed like it should've been a lot better - particularly on the production side - but Ice's voice seems a bit off at times and he does a lot of  tracks in a whispery flow/lower register. It's a solid enough set though.
 - Although it's rarely mentioned, Ice is one of the genre's best storytellers. Up there with Slick Rick and better than Kool G Rap imo.
 - The acapella taken from his Combat Jack Show interview is fantastic, as is the interview itself.
 - Donald D's verse on My Word Is Bond >>>
 - Think I'm going to check his later albums from Return Of The Real onwards - there has to be a few gems on those, although the less said about this cover the better.