DJ Kofi - Turntable Entertainment Vol 1 (2002)

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2002 style and fashion from man like Kofi. Highlight is probably Fallacy's Jackin For Beats white label, but the mash ups of the Khia and Missy tracks ain't bad if you like that sort of thing. I still have trouble conflating how shit Jenny From The Block is with the fact it has Styles and Jadakiss rapping over South Bronx half way through. If that's not a metaphor for life in general I don't know what is.

On a related note I recently added Kofi's appearance on Westwood's show from '96 to Mixcloud where he runs through a bunch of late 80s classics

Funkmaster Flex - Hot 97 Street Jams (1993)

Flex getting busy back in the nine-tray. Remember when years got given names?

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tracklist

Nice N Smooth - Cash In My Hands

Timezone - Zulu War Chant

Wu Tang Clan - Protect Ya Neck

Ice Cube ft Das EFX - Check Yo Self (remix)

EPMD - You're A Customer

Joeski Love - Pee Wee's Dance

Slick Rick - The Ruler's Back

Eric B & Rakim - My Melody

Beastie Boys - Hold It Now, Hit It

Doug E Fresh & Slick Rick - La Di Da Di

Biz Markie - Nobody Beats The Biz

Eric B & Rakim - Eric B Is President

MC Shan - The Bridge

BDP - South Bronx

Audio Two - Top Billin

BDP - The Bridge Is Over

Kiss 100 FM, January 1993

Haven't done many R&B posts so here's an hour of Steve Jervier on London's Kiss FM from January '93. The interesting discovery on this tape was the original version of Groove Theory's 'Tell Me' by UK act Rhythm & Bass, which it seems not too many people (on my twitter feed anyway) know about. Both acts were on Sony and it seems like the song was written by GT's Amel Larrieux. Obviously their version with the Edie Brickell sample featuring Brand Nubian is the superior of the two. Quite enjoying the Bryan Powell track on here which I vaguely remember from back in the day, and Wreckx N Effect sound slightly aggy on their tune, which makes me wonder if it's directed at Q Tip given they got into a scuffle at some point.

Guy - Dog Me Out

Wreckx N Effect - Wreckx N Effect

Artz & Kraftz - All Of It

Kenny Dope - Ramajama

unknown - unknown

Rhythm & Bass - Tell Me (If You Want Me To)

Bryan Powell - It's Alright

Force One Network - Sista Sista

Jeff Redd - You Called And Told Me

Intro - Love Thang

Tisha - Love Me Down

Jodeci - My Phone

unknown - unknown

Bell Biv Devoe - Gangsta

>> Chris Phillips' show

Liberty - Who Is She

Mary J Blige - Reminisce (remix)

Thanks to Mr Lawson for sending me this with a few other tapes. The 30 minutes preceding this show was the rap show with Max & Dave, which has me wanting to go and hear more of that Apache LP. Gangsta Bitch was pretty big at the time but I never heard the album. Looking at production line up including 45 King, Q Tip, Diamond D and Large Professor I figure it has to be worth investigating.

The P Brothers on 1Xtra (2004)

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Same year but a different flex to the previous post, as Nottingham's P Brothers (responsible for The Gas which is one of the better "proper" hip hop albums of the last 10 years or so) takeover The Basement on BBC 1Xtra and mix up some funk, soul, breakbeats, and golden age hip hop.

[UPDATE 19/02 - as per their comment on the Mixcloud page, the first 25 mins of this isn't the P Brothers]

DJ 279 on Choice FM 25.06.04 with Swiss, Asher D & Cassius Henry

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It was nice to come across this Friday Night Flavas show from 2004 where 279 hosts one of his round table freestyle sessions with So Solid's Asher D and Swiss alongside Ammo and Young Pro (who I haven't heard of but were presumably up and coming at the time) and singer Cassius Henry. They take turns going in over new and old rap beats for the best part of an hour. It's good, the only place you'll hear members of So Solid Crew rapping over Iced Down Medallions, and a useful time stamp of where certain artists in the UK were before road rap and UK drill became a thing. It wasn't all boom-bap head-nod backpack business over here. On a slightly related note, don't get me started on Complex letting their work experience lad loose on an article where the extent of the research was checking his own iTunes history. Just let it be known that UK artists like Rodney P & Bionic, Mr 45, Skeme & Big P, MD7, Fallacy and Terra Firma have been talking that road talk since the 90s.

I should also add that what made finding this tape a particularly nice surprise was that I was never a fan of So Solid Crew in their heyday (although I do know the lyrics to 21 Seconds inside out - it was unavoidable when it dropped). However, one of the crew's DJ/producers Swiss turned MC and dropped a decent solo effort in 2005, which included the single Cry and as it was on more of straight up rap tip, was more my kind of thing. I liked UK Garage but when the MCs appeared that was it for me, and as much as I wanted to like grime at first but in it's early days the majority of raps and beats were just too basic and raw (ok, rubbish) in comparison to where hip hop was at the time.

Radio 1 Rap Show 22.08.97 with Jay Z & Busta Rhymes

Jay, Dame Dash and Busta (accompanied by Spliff Star, Rampage and DJ Scratch) on this '97 show while they were all in town to perform on Westwood's stage at the Notting Hill Carnival.

DJ Clue - Triple Platinum (1997)

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Some great stuff on this Clue tape from '97: freestyles by The LOX, Cam'ron & Mase, McGruff & Big L, Black Rob and Prodigy & Big Noyd, plus the dirty version of the Firm Biz remix and a lot of Bad Boy and Jay Z related things. Full tracklist is here.

I came across this one whilst tidying up my hard drive . It wasn't one of my own rips so it hadn't made it's way onto the blog. I actually copped this from SOUL's now dormant site which was a great source of tapes for a long time but unfortunately most of the download links are now dead. Speaking of which, I've had a few requests recently to re-up some of the other Clue tapes I posted but haven't had time. The Mixcloud links are still good though so hopefully that'll do for now.