DJ Rectangle - OG Style (1994)

This is one of my favourite Rectangle mixes. Having initially lived with it for years on tape (possibly off Westwood), and then downloads of varying quality, I finally copped a CD copy recently at a reasonable price. Lots of 1994 classics on this, but as with all mixes like this (as opposed to golden era mixes made in the 00s onwards) there's a few lesser known joints like Record Jock by Dana Dane, The Legion's Legion Groove and Flow Wood by Volume 10. Highlights for me are the blend of One Love over Deep Cover (sounds kind of basic now but it was the shit back then), the way Black Superman comes in (simple but effective) and the intros and little scratch/acapella blends between tracks that was Rectangle's signature, along with his intros. Full tracklist is here.

Steady Pace & Master Ace on the Capital Rap Show (1990)

Here's a short but enjoyable clip of Master Ace and his DJ Steady Pace on Westwood's show in October 1990. Steady does his thing on the 1200s for just under 10 minutes while Ace handles the mic. It cuts off before Ace kicks any rhymes unfortunately but it's a good listen nonetheless.

DJ Skully on Kiss FM (2002)

I've got a big soft spot for 2002 Hip Hop. There was still some good indie releases around, the UK scene was firing and the major label US stuff was fucking great. Here's Skully in the mix on late night Kiss FM, straight from the archives of the man himself... 

tracklist

TY - We Don’t Care 

Obie Trice - Rap Name 

Scarface - My Block 

Loop Troop - Heads Day Off 

Styles P - Good Times (I Get High) 

Binkis - Bullit 

Wildchild ft Percy P & Medaphor- KnickKnack 

Jaz-O & Immobilaire ft MOP - Pledge Allegiance 

Phi Life Cypher ft Task Force - Want It So Bad 

Roots Manuva - Witness The Swords 

DJ Spinna ft Shadowman - Drive 

Nas - Purple 

Mr Lif - New Man Theme

 Lewis Parker - At Large With A-Cyde 

Tommy Evans - Silent Mobius 

2For5 - Whats Ya Naim 

Karl Hinds - Freestyle 

Mr Lif - Trobleshooting 

50 Cent - Ghetto Qu’ran

Gang Starr - Capital Rap Show freestyle (1990)

Daaaaamn son, Guru busting Take A Rest over the Eat Em Up L Chill beat on Westwood back in 1990? Finding things like this is what keeps me going through these tapes and trying to hunt more down.

DJ Step One - Golden Era Rap

New mix by me! Banged this one out back in August. No real theme to it, just pulled out a bunch of records. Late 80s/early 90s stuff always seems a bit more summery innit? Probably because it's a bit more uptempo and funkier and the whole timbs/blunts/grimey thing hadn't fully taken hold yet*. As much as I like using Serato, I also sit in front of a screen all day at work so going all vinyl helps me to switch off. Couldn't come up with a clever title so kept it simple. Seems to help with the SEOs anyway. Enjoy...

DOWNLOAD

tracklist

Ultramagnetic MCs - Poppa Large (Pete Rock blend)

LL Cool J - Jingling Baby (remix)

UMCs - Blue Cheese

Kings Of Swing - Nod Ya Head To This

De La Soul - Keepin The Faith

Lakim Shabazz - Pure Righteousness

Brand Nubian - Brand Nubian

Kool G Rap & DJ Polo - Poison

3rd Bass - Portrait Of The Artist As A Hood (remix)

Run DMC - Beats To The Rhyme

Ice Cube - Jackin For Beats

Cypress Hill - The Phuncky Feel One

Jungle Brothers - Because I Got It Like That

YZ - Thinking Of A Masterplan

Zhigge - Raking In The Dough (Uptown Bounce beats)

Gang Starr - Who's Gonna Take The Weight

EPMD - Crossover

Nice & Smooth - Hip Hop Junkies (Bedford Park mix)

Del Tha Funkee Homosapien - Mistadobalina

Naughty By Nature - Everything's Gonna Be Alright (City Lick mix)

Redman - Blow Ya Mind (remix)

* "Underground" rappers take note - not everything has to be 3 minutes of gunz n drugz bars over a moody 85 bpm loop with no hook. You're all very boring right now.

DJ DS Goes Back to School (2nd Year: 1987)

Another tasty mix by DJ DS, this time focusing on 1987...

Unfortunately it’s the end of October half-term and that only means one thing…….. DJ DS Goes Back to School!

As I mentioned in my 1986 mix, I was at high school from 1986 – 1991, therefore my 2nd year covered in this mix is 1987. What a year too…. Getting this down to 35 tracks (plus an intro & outro) was so tough. Hopefully your favourites from this year feature in the track list.

If you’ve heard any of my mixes you know what to expect, plenty of doubles, blends and all that good stuff. I’ve also popped some sound bites from movies released during the same year including Good Morning Vietnam, Predator, The Principal, and many more!!

On a way more important note:

If any of you are on Twitter and follow Hip Hop then you may know about my man Del Soulcondor and the ongoing fundraising campaign to support him through is battle with Cancer. Huge props to Tim for setting up the page. Please visit the Go Fund Me page for more information about Del and his horrible illness. In addition to the Go Fund Me, the amazing Greg Blackman has dropped 'Save The Wax', featuring Genesis Elijah & Bohze. The track is produced by DJ Moneyshot and all proceeds kindly being donated to Del’s Go Fund Me too. 

https://gregblackman.bandcamp.com/track/save-the-wax-featuring-genesis-elijah-bohze-produced-by-dj-moneyshot

Please, if you haven’t already, help out the effort to give Del a boost through this difficult time and help #SavetheWax!

Thanks.

DJ DS

 Obviously I have to co-sign the fundraising for Del, it's been a remarkable effort so far and great to see so many people pitching in, especially given how tough its been for a lot of us over the last few months. Del is a good dude and his record collection is crazy so it would be a shame if he had to start selling it off in such awful circumstances.

Tracklist for the mix below

MC Serch - Kiss FM freestyle (1991)

 

Don't call it a comeback! Hardware/software issues seem to be sorted just in time for Lockdown II so I thought I'd kick it off with a treat. MC Serch on Richie Rich's Rap Academy going in for nearly 10 minutes over some UBBs and he sounds particularly dope over Got To Be Real and Dance To The Drummer's Beat. This is from around the time Derelicts Of Dialect dropped so guess 3rd Bass were in the UK doing some promo. Shout to Eddie, who's tapes I'll be getting back into over the next few weeks. Hopefully there's more gems like this.
Thanks to Brett from This Is For The Hustlers for the hints and tips on the new blogger layout.