Skitz & Rodney P - 1Xtra Original Fever (2004)

UK dons Skitz and Rodney P had a great show on BBC 1Xtra from the station's inception in 2002 up until 2007. Like a lot of shows in the post-tape/pre-mixcloud era not many seem to have been preserved so it's nice to get this one out there. There's a good mix of styles and sub genres on here too which is something that's missing from a lot of radio and podcasts today. Particularly liked the Lord Tariq track at the start which I hadn't heard before



If you're in the mood for some slightly older UK rap radio then you could do worse than check this new mixcloud page chronicling Max & Dave's Kiss FM Rap Show

DJ Step One - Drop It Heavy volume 2

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New mix of late 90s (and a couple from 2000) bits for you...

tracklist
Big Pun ft Prodigy & Inspectah Deck - Tres Leches
DJ Spinna ft Missin Linx - Who U Be
The LOX - Goin Be Some Shit
Show & AG - Full Scale
Polyrhythm Addicts - Not Your Ordinary
DITC - Thick
Blahzay Blahzay - Federal Reserve Notes
Screwball - Who Shot Rudy
Nas - Nas Is Like
Cormega - Take Mine
Pharoahe Monch - Official
Shabazz The Disciple - Brooklyn Bullshit
Channel Live ft Method Man - Ghetto B.I.
Naughty By Nature - On The Run
Mobb Deep ft Kool G Rap - The Realest
Jadakiss - Kiss Of Death
Gang Starr - All 4 The Cash
Common ft Sadat X - 1999

I definitely slept on that Missin Linx joint with DJ Spinna when it came out - the beat on that is lovely. Same with the Sheek solo track on the first LOX album, which has a nice stripped down beat courtesy of Carlos Broady and Nashiem Myrick. The NBN take on Miuzi Weighs A Ton was a recent discovery on a Marley Marl/Westwood tape and is pretty tough. The DJs amongst you can probably spot when I didn't know what to play next and threw on Nas Is Like. Shabazz The Disciple's Brooklyn Bullshit was something I heard Shortee Blitz play on Kiss FM and the next day I managed to get the last copy in the UK distributor's warehouse (I was a buyer for a chain store at the time). It's a on German label strangely enough. Gang Starr's All 4 The Cash feels like it was probably recorded for Moment Of Truth and would've fitted in nicely on that album. Enjoy...

Had trouble coming up with a name for this mix so went in the archives and decided to make it Volume 2 of this

Radio 1 Rap Show 19.02.99 with Rob Swift

Bit of a significant show this as Big L's death 4 days earlier is announced at the start....



Rob Swift is in the house promoting his album The Ablist with his MC Gudtyme



...and then there's a tribute to Big L with Max Glazer mixing up some of his best tracks. You also get Westwood interviewing L back in '95 where he drops a freestyle over Who Shot Ya

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La The Darkman - I Want It All (DJ Step One blend)

Blend time! Big fan of La The Darkman's debut 12", both sides of which got significant amounts of play on mixtapes and rap radio when it dropped. Here I've taken the acapella from I Want It All and matched it up with an instrumental I discovered on this bit of vinyl. I don't have the record any more but I'm pretty sure this particular beat was produced by none other than Mr Thing.

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Radio 1 Rap Show 24.03.00

New York Live with Tim and Marley Marl joined by Max Glazer, Steele of Smif N Wessun and J Force.

Stretch Armstrong on Hot 97 (1996)

Stretch on Hot 97 from July '96, with Nine in the house for a brief interview and freestyle. in the midst of the sort of bangers you'd expect, you can also find Akinyele's excellent 'Freaky Deaky' which appeared on a couple of mixtapes but sadly remains unreleased.

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tracklist

Artifacts - The Ultimate

King Sun - NY Love (All Eyez On Sun)

McGruff ft The LOX - Reppin Uptown

MOP - My Kinda Nigga

Ill Al Skratch ft Greg Nice - Me And The Click

talk break

[Crucial Conflict commercial]

Powerule ft Noreaga - Well Connected

Nine - Lyin King

Nine interview & freestyle

The Roots - The Good The Bad & The Desolate

Adagio - Obvious Joint

Lace Da Booms -Ain't No Secret

CNN - Stick You

ATCQ - Peace Prosperity & Paper

Cru ft Black Rob - Nuthin But

Lace Da Booms - Cut That Weak Shit

Akinyele - Freaky Deaky 

Beatnuts - Find That

Heltah Skeltah - Soldiers Gone Psycho

Edo G - Dedicated

Jeru The Damaja - One Day

NB: not 100% that I have the a and b side of the tape in the correct order but the way Stretch is talking in the first part makes me think that it's the beginning of the show. Also, Adagio appeared at the beginning of side 2 and also at the end (after Jeru 'One Day'). I gave up trying to figure it all out because life's too short.

Radio 1 Rap Show (August 1995)

Don't have an exact date for this one but it's a friday, the week after a Rap Exchange, Lennox Lewis is on the following night and Tim mentions Carnival is coming up so it's almost certainly August. Only 60 minutes long but there's a classic 7 minute Ultramagetic MCs freestyle (with Tim Dog) from 1989.  I posted that on it's own years ago, but here it is again if you missed it. If anyone can ID the 2 party breaks for me that'd be great. Always liked the 'What about Uptown in the house?!' one over Bring The Pain. That RBX track dissing Dr Dre is pretty terrible btw.

Tracklist

Redman & Method Man - How High

Doug E Fresh - Where's The Party At

'Is New York In The House' party break

Raekwon - Knowledge God

Redman ft Roz - I Get Down Like That

Erick Sermon & Keith Murray - It's My Thing

Ultramagnetic MCs - Capital Rap Show freestyle (1989)

'What about Uptown in the house' party break

South Central Cartel ft Jayo Felony, MC Eiht, Spice 1 & Treach - So What Cha Sayin

RBX - AWOL

Raekwon - Ice Cream

Kool G Rap - Its A Shame

A Tribe Called Quest - Glamour & Glitz

LL Cool J - Papa Luv It

Think I got this tape off Rich (hope it's all going well in Russia mate, assuming Putin hasn't blocked OB4ZL out there).

Reminder that I try to avoid posting too many Westwood shows in a row so occasionally post some on the Mixcloud page that might not make it to  the blog, as well as reposting other shows other people have uploaded on there. So keep an eye on it is what I'm saying. That and the Hip Hop Radio Archive. Got some other things lined up for here but been short of time recently. I do still have a ton of Westwood tapes from 99-02 to get through but I'll try and mix it up with some other bits.