Saturday 9 March 2019

The greatest blog of all time started on March 9th!


Only Built For zShare Links is now officially 10 years deep, deep like the mines of Minolta (is that even a place?) and I've satisfied my mild OCD by making the anniversary coincide with the 1000th post! Having been conceived as just a good name for a blog, when zShare was still a popular file hosting site, I then came up with the concept based around "what if Nah Right was around in the 90s?"

Ironically I've outlasted Nah Right and most other hip hop blogs and given it was old stuff to begin with, the posts from 10 years ago are (mostly) still as relevant now as they were at the time. Originally it was a case of finding the highlights on tapes of old rap radio and uploading freestyles and DJ mixes, which then evolved into posting full shows, as well as a load of mixtapes, obscure vinyl rips in the form of bootleg remixes and unreleased heat, plus my own mixes. I exhausted my own collection of tapes some time ago so big up to Tobes, Rio, Dise One, Diablo, MK, Richard, Cratedigga, Mr Lawson, Grime & Lime and anyone else who hooked me up with gems from their collection to share. Thanks to everyone that checks in regularly or contributed in some way and if you're one of those randoms that sends anonymous impolite emails that just say "ayo re-upload all your Clue and Kayslay shit" please stop. You ain't got no wins in mi casa. 

As I mentioned recently, I'm not sure if I'll continue on with the site at the moment. I've got another project that needs my attention as well as the small matter of a new born baby (Step 2?) to look after, although it turns out that waiting for him to go back to sleep at 4am is kind of an ideal time for blogging. I've not got too many tapes to post right now but do have a couple of connects waiting to hook me up. It's just a matter of having the time to meet up with them, and then getting a new cassette deck. In the meantime I'll still be posting things up on the Mixcloud page and adding to the Westwood Archives and the Hip Hop Radio Archive. If anyone knows a suitable alternative to Audiomack (ie one with a stream and download option) let me know. Alot of the links on the old posts are still good so if you're a late comer or fancy some nostalgia of nostalgia feel free to go back through it all.

Finally, as it's March 9th (one of the few rap anniversaries I acknowledge) here's a great mix of Biggie blends by J Period and G Brown...



I was planning to drop a Westwood show from '99 where Biggie's mum is the studio guest but the motor on the tape player had other ideas.

[NB: Before anyone checks, the first post was on March 8th but that's not a thing is it? Technically it started after that I guess but I didn't do the anniversary yesterday due to the aforementioned baby and also I was only at 998 posts.]

12 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your anniversary and reaching such an incredibly significant milestone! But equally as important, is your quality has remained consistent too (unlike many other blogs).
    I hope you carry on, even if it’s on a reduced level, as lurkers like me are still around and enjoy these little gems.

    Happy birthday :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. DJ Step Won AKA Jack The Snipper AKA the man who finally found the dirty version of the Firm Biz (World's Famous Remix) 👏

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. and Permanent Scars/Live From The Eastside. We did it Brooklyn!

      Delete
  3. been checkin your stuff for almost the whole run. found a lot of gems. thanks for all the effort!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Congratulations Step....definitely one of the best hip hop blogs out, due to your knowledge and taste in good hip hop. Honored to have my mixes featured on these pages. Also, dying at 'Step 2' lol

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hands down the greatest Hip-Hop blog of all time!!! Happy birthday OBFZL!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Congrats homie...on both the blog & ya` step into the `hood, father/parenthood that is. Being a father isn`t easy, but trust me man it`s an awesomely priceless experience! My son turned 6 in December & it`s been an crazy adventure so far.....LoL, gotta say thanks for all that you have shared over the years. Definitely appreciated kind sir...


    1

    ReplyDelete
  7. Can you post more Westwood tapes?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Congratulations!!! Thanks you for your blog spot. Hope you try to keep it up in some shape or form. Also loved your sets on Kane FM.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks for all the comments people. I've recently acquired a new tape deck (2 actually - don't ask) so updates to the Mixcloud pages should resume with some sort of regularity.
    Will prob post a few things up on here at some point in the near future

    ReplyDelete
  10. Congrats Step One!

    I loved audiomack style but not having a download option sucks. You could try Hear This I use the site and so does Repo at Aging Bboys Unite.

    https://hearthis.at/hamza21/

    The one downfall is you have wait usually an hour or day for your mix to be prepared for streaming. The good part you can import mixes from Mixcloud. I usually upload to Mixcloud then import to hearthis which saves times. Also there isn't a lot listeners like but it works as a great free archive for mixes.

    ReplyDelete
  11. thanks man, I'll look into it. The delay with availability doesn't sound ideal for blog posts though when most of the traffic is in the frst day of posting!

    ReplyDelete