Hip Hop and Breakz

This is a strange kinda bootleg because often bootlegs are put out without the artists permission. This one however was put out by Q-Tip under the pseudonym The Lone Ranger as to avoid any sort of trouble from his label at the time Jive. This was purchased from Uptown records in the summer or 1998. I usually wouldn't buy from Uptown because they were usually a little bit more expensive than the other london stores likes Deal Real, Bongos, Wild Pitch, Unity and even HMV. But if you missed a 12" at the other shops there was usually an over priced version on the shelves at Uptown once it had disappeared from the other joints. The other thing about Uptown was that it made most of its money by selling shit RnB which meant it was always full of people asking for the latest Mary J Blige clone or Jodeci clone which I used to find really annoying. Anyway getting back to the point this is a dope joint produced by Q-Tip as a tribute to the great T-La Rock. Its a bouncy upbeat trac...

This is the third in my series of Dodgy Bootlegs and this one is From about 1999 and is De La Soul featuring Pete Rock's dope Stay Away. I picked this up in the now closed down Mr Bongos in London's SoHo. If I remember correctly it cost about £6 and was well worth the money. Its a Pete Rock produced track with De La dropping the usual lyrics but it also heavily features long time Pete Rock collaborator Rob-O despite him not being credited on the label. A dope beat if somewhat slower than Pete's usual jam but well worth checking out. I am unsure where this was originally supposed to end up but it did appear again on vinyl a few years back with the Pete Rock produced compilations For Pete Sake:The remix years which featured a number of Pete Rock produced tracks. It also showed up in 2004 on the Days Off Promo CD which came out just before the Grind Date and was distributed by Hiphopsite.com. However it didn't appear on the Grind Date album. Stay Away, don't com...

Once again its is with sadness that I tell you of the passing of another legend. Freddie Hubbard has died. Freddie Hubbard played trumpet with legends such as John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, McCoy Tyner, Art Blakey and Herbie Hancock, died today (Dec. 29) in Sherman Oaks, Calif. Freddie had suffered a heart attack in November and was 70 years old when he passed away. May he rest in peace. Freddie was sampled by the following Hip Hop artists; Souls of Mischief, Blackalicious, Pete Rock & CL Smooth, Masta Ace, A Tribe Called Quest, Big Daddy Kane, Black Sheep, Murs, UMC and King T.

This is the second in my series of dodgy 90's bootlegs and this time its the turn of Mobb Deep and Cormega. I picked this up in the long since closed Unity records in London's SoHo back in the late nineties. Its a dope Havoc produced Mobb Deep and Cormega joint that I've only ever seen on this particular bootleg although it was rumored to be from the original version of Cormega's shelved Def Jam album Testamant. Its a darkly orchestral beat typical of Havoc at that time and the lyrics are the usual crime riddled, morbid threats that those Queensbridge kids throw about so well. Prodigy handles the first verse, Cormega the second and Hav drops the last one. Prodigy's verse is the strongest in my opinion with this classic quote; 'Overdose music It's theraputic to the user Driving wild under the influence of this Careful, cuz ya might just crash ya shit Total ya whip and still pull my tape out the deck' Pure Queensbridge Classic. Check the link Q.B.C. r...

Another Christmas and another legend passes away. I first remember her as Catwoman and later for her Christmas anthem Santa Baby, she had an unmistakable voice and style. She sadly passed away on Christmas Day 2008 from cancer. May she rest in peace. Goodbye Catwoman

This is the first in a series of dodgy mid to late nineties bootlegs that I have taken from my collection and am posting up here for you guys to enjoy. This 12" was picked up from either Mr Bongo's or Deal Real in London's west end in probably about late 1996 or early 1997. At that time you couldn't go into a London record shop without finding some sort of dodgy bootleg hip hop 12" or another. This one features two songs from Tragedy the QB legend. The first track is Strange Fruit which is a Pete Rock produced track featuring Capone and Noreaga. Another version of this track would later appear on Pete's first solo album Soul Survivor with an altrer line up of Tragedy, Pete Rock , Cappadonna and Sticky Fingaz. Fo this track Pete samples the creative genius of David Axelrod. The track he uses is called Smile and is taken from his 1968 album Songs of innocence. The B Side is simply called Real and thanks to my man Zingama who informs me that this track is p...

I'm going to try and upload a few treats between now and the New Year for those of you who check Hip Hop and Breakz on the regular. The first of these treats is a collection of Mobb Deep tracks that were recorded in between their 'Juvenile Hell' album and their Loud debut 'The Infamous' in or before 1994. I'm a big Queensbridge fan and in particular Mobb Deep. I think its often underestimated how much Havoc's dark and ominous production style influenced the whole sound of the East throughout the mid to late 90's and beyond. Some of these tracks went on to become tracks on the 'The Infamous', tracks like; Give up the Goods, Up North Trip, Survival of the fittest and Temperature's rising. Whereas some of the other tracks have only ever shown up on mix-tapes and dodgy bootlegs. I'm unsure if this really is Havoc and Prodigy's pre Loud demo but it certainly is a nice little collection of tracks that deserve their place in any Mobb Dee...

A number of you guys have bee requesting that I re up some of the files that I uploaded earlier this year. Below is a link to a copy of the files that I am able to re up and also the ones I haven't been asked to take down. The files is split into Breakz and Hip Hop. The Breakz are a load of MFSB breakz, some Sweet Inspirations, Booker T, Black Ivory and some Peabo Bryson. The hip hop is some Mobb Deep, Raekwon and Mic Geronimo tracks that I uploaded earlier this year. Check it out as these will only be available for 1 month and thats it. Asd for the rest of this week I'm going to try and upload some vinyl hip hop gems from the mid to late nineties including artists like Mike Zoot, Non Phixion, Oldworlddisorder and some other dope shit so keep checking back. These will all be full vinyl rips including instrumentals and all. Check the Re Up man

Back in 2001 Nas announced he would be releasing an album called Stillmatic and hip hop fans everywhere hoped that this would be the album to finally bring Nas back to his Illmatic form. Some of the ingredients from Illmatic were in place, Nas had once again enlisted DJ Premier, Large Professor and LES to supply beats. All of whom had laid down tracks for the original and undisputed classic Illmatic. However unlike Illmatic there was no sign of the other legendary producer who had contributed to the 1994 classic; Pete Rock. Fans eagerly awaited the album hoping that it would satisfy, refusing to be pessimistic after the lacklustre Nastradamus. Thats the thing with Nas hip hop fans always fall into the track of hoping he'll drop another classic but often the best we get is a decent 12" or two before being subjected to some Salaam Remi or even worse Trackmasterz. Needless to say Nas did his usual trick and gave us an album with a few dope tunes but essentially another disap...

The new Ludacris album drops on Monday and it looks like its going to be a dope album. Sure it has all the usual suspects that you would expect production and guest wise but it also has serious hip hop heavyweights on it; Common, Nas, Jay-Z, The Game with Premier producing the joint MVP. Which you can check out via the link below. Premier gives Luda a slightly slower beat then he usually dishes out but it works well with Luda's accent. The beat has some nice strings in it and Premiers trademark scratches work well throughout the tack. Luda has always been one of my favorite Southern rappers, he can drop braggadocio like nobody else combining arrogance with a blunt sense of humour and good story telling skills when needed. The album is called Theatre of the Mind and it drops on the 24th of November, do yourself a favor pick it up. The first Southern rapper on a Primo beat

Ghostface Killah is back with a new album set to drop on December the 16th of Def Jam. The set will be available as a single CD or bundled with a DVD chronicling the artist's recent tour. "GhostDeini" is a compilation of rare, unreleased and new tracks similar to 2006's More Fish. It includes "Ghostface Christmas," a remix of "Be Easy" featuring Ice Cube" and a remix of "Kilo" with Raekwon and Pusha T. "Slept on Tony" is a new song. Also featured are remixes of "Run" with Jadakiss and Lil Wayne, "Back Like That" with Kanye and Neyo, the Ghostface-dominated version of the Amy Winehouse hit "You Know I'm No Good" and the Mary J. Blige-featuring "All I Got Is You." As usual it should be well worth picking up a decent addition to any hardcore hip hop fan's collection. Heres the listing "Slept on Tony" "Run" remix (feat. Jadakiss, Lil Wayne, Raekwon, Freeway...

We all know Fat Joe as the overweight DITC member who jumps from hip hop band wagon to hip hop band wagon pledging allegiance to whatever crew will have him. He has however dropped a good few dope tracks over the years working with producers like Premier, Finesse, Showbiz and the Beatnuts to mention a few. But it appears that in between dropping tracks with Ja Rule and Ashanti he's been popping over to North London to see Wenger's boys play a few games. A friend of mine sent me this picture taken at the old Arsenal stadium and either Fat Joe has been popping over to Highbury or he has a a twin, other Big Pun that is. I thought he may Represent the better North London Team, Spurs. Thanks for the picture Howard. Check the link below for one of Joe's finer moments with Premier. One day I went to visit my aunt and stuck up my cuz

Back in the Summer of 1995 I was sharing a flat with one of best friends in South East London and spending too much time playing Mega Drive and too much money on records. One of the most important records I bought that Summer was the first 12" from Raekwons' classic debut Only Built for Cuban Linx. The 12" had Criminology on the A side and Glaciers of Ice on the B side. Although Criminology is a strong track that works well with the rest of the album Glaciers is my favorite track on this 12" and also my favorite Raekwon track overall. On Glaciers we see the start of the orchestral sound that would eventually be the sound that Rza perfected on Ghostface's album and on the masterpiece Wu-Tang Forever. I had first heard Glaciers in a late night smoking sessions with my friends at the time and had been totally blown away by Rza's layered production. Rza had been tearing up the East Coast for a couple of years with his dirty and raw style of production but th...

What do you get when take Hip Hops best producer, a sick lyricist and a classic David Axelrod song ? You get Royce Da 59's new banger "Shake this". As you all know Royce is a dope Detroit lyricist who proved his skills in the same clubs that birthed Eminem in the mid to late 1990s. He dropped has number of dope 12"s, a few albums and mixtapes since then. However his best work has always been with Premier behind the boards and this track shows this again. Premier always gives Royce dope beats that allow him to show off his mic skills to their full extent and this track is no different. Its an up beat track that has Premier returning to his David Axelrod collection. The Axelrod track he samples is from his 1968 Capitol release "Songs of Innocence" album and is called "Holy Thursday". Premier has samples Axelrod numerous times in the past as have DJ Shadow, UNKLE, Pete Rock, Dre and many more. David Axelrod is a very talented Jazz, Funk and So...

Back in about 1999 I picked up a Bootleg Mobb Deep 12" from London's now closed down Mr Bongos. I've always been partial to a nice bit of Havoc and Prodigy especially if its Havoc behind the boards. I like the dark ominous production style that Havoc fathered and their style of morbidly threatening raps has always cheered me up. At the time I had only heard 3 the Hard way and Gun Love on a couple of mixtapes and had liked what I heard despite the wack DJ shouting all over the tracks. So of course being a big QB fan I had to grab this bootleg 12" The track Gun Love is about a love affair and how it lasts through the various ages of Prodigy's life and how much this love means to him. I know what your thinking this doesn't sound like the usual Mobb Deep subject matter but the love that he's talking about is as the title indicates his Gun Love. I know this sort of thing has been done before by a few other decent MCs but Prodigy drops the rhymes with su...

Last Year Lupe went and pissed off a whole lot of hip hop heads by saying he had never even listened to Midnight Marauders and that he was more of a West Coast Gangsta man than an East Coast Backpacker, fair enough not everyone gets to listen to every classic album when they dropped. But Lupe then went on to perform a cover of Electric Relaxation at the VH1 Hip Hop Honors show and he messed up the Lyrics, then he made a few posts about how he was asked to do the track by Q-Tip and then Tip refuted that on Hot 97. The whole thing seemed to get a little bit silly in my opinion. Now months after what became known as Fiascogate we have a remix of the track Paris, Tokyo from Lupe's very underrated album The Cool. The original version of this was produced by Lupe's boy Soundtrakk and I think he's behind the boards on this one too as the beat is very similar to the original. The beat is mellow and laid back with some nice drums and a cool keyboards loop. Pharrel does his ki...

I first heard Jake One's production skills on an unreleased remix of MF Doom's Hoe Cakes from a free CD called MM..Leftovers, that was given away with pre orders of Doom's now classic MM...Food. His spin on Hoe Cakes was dope in a more laid back way than the original was. He flipped the track using a crisp snare and a singing sample looped up all the way through it but still keeping the "Super" vocal sample every so often throughout the track. The next I heard from him was on De La Soul's extra dope Grind date, on which he produced two tracks; Days of our Lives with Common and Rock Co.Kane Flow with Doom. Both tracks are dope and at the same time different to the usual type of track that the Plugs rhyme over. Jake One has produced tracks for a diverse range of Hip Hop artists including the Strange Fruit Project, Vast Aire, MF Doom, E-40, John Cena, Planet Asia, Nas, and 50 Cent. Well now Jake One is about to drop his own album and the list of lyricists on...

So earlier on today I was taking my daughter to an optician's appointment and was 10 minutes early so I took a look in the Charity shop next door to the Opticians. I find it hard to walk past a charity with vinyl in it without taking a look. The Charity shop was a Cancer relief shop and had a couple of rows of vinyl at the back. So I got diggin' and found the usual collection of Simple Minds LPs, strange German classical albums and KLF EPs but then I came across a few hip hop records. The first was a John Forte album so I just put that one back in the rack along with the Wyclef 12" next to it. Then I came across something really surprising The Beatnuts Street Level instrumentals which according to the label features to unreleased instrumentals . As you can see from the photo above someone has at some point in the life of this vinyl spilt some coffee or hot chocolate on the cover but other than that its in perfect condition and cost just £1.65. The second gem I found...

Lord Sear first came to prominence on the infamous WKCR radio show The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show which ran for nine years from 1990 to 1999. Since then Lord Sear has gone on to do a number of other shows and now has his own show on Shade 45 on Sirius Radio every Friday called the Drunk Mix from 10pm to Midnight. Lord Sear is a dope Dj but in the 90s he dropped the odd piece on vinyl that although hard to find are worth picking up if you ever see them. The First 12" he dropped was on the Legendary Fondle Em label in 1997. The A Side was called Alcoholic Vibes and the B Side was my Hindu Love. Lord Sear Produced the Track and Mighty Mi engineered them. Both tracks are fun and have pretty decent beats backing up Sear's funny lyrics. the first as you might guess from the title is about Sear's love of Alcohol. the second track finds Sear going into the details of his love for a lady Hindu faith. The second 12" he dropped was in 2000 and was on the Buds la...

MF Doom has been a one of my favorite artists since I first heard him as part of KMD on their classic Mr. Hood back 1991. But like a lot of people I really started to to take notice of his production when he dropped Operation Doomsday in 1999. Doom always seems to use obscure samples as the basis for his production; strange film scores, obscure TV themes and long forgotten dodgy 80s soul tunes. In the past I have only managed to track down a few Doom samples, on vinyl that is not the internet. But on a recent trip to a second hand record store in one of the many markets in Dublin's city centre I managed to find a couple of little gems. The First was a copy of Roy Budd's film score to a Charles Bronson film called Stone Killer. Roy Budd is an English film score composer who is probably best known for producing the film score to Michael Caine's Get Carter. I picked the record up because I have a copy of the Get Carter soundtrack which is damn funky and they were only cha...

So there was a lil competition on one of the messages board I frequent, Phil Flava and the comp was to make a lil compilation of early 90s tracks but you had to include the following; - 12 tracks total - 2 diss tracks (can be obscure but you must provide the reference) - 2 remixes - 1 Westcoast track - 1 Midwest/Southern/European/Asian or Canadian track So I put together this lil compilation and I figured I'd post it up here for anyone else to download if they wanted, heres the track list. 01-Big L - Devil's Son 02-Pop Da Brown Hornet - Lets go the Lap 03-Sham and the Professor - So-Low-Ist (Kenny Dope remix) 04-Dre Dog - The Ave 05-Tim Dog - Fuck Compton 06-3rd Bass - Brooklyn Queens (Prince Paul Remix) 07-K Solo - Tales from the Crack Side 08-Above The Law - Freedom of Speech 09-King Tee - 09 Black Togetha Again (Marley Marl Remix) 10-Naughty by Nature - 10 Its on (Beatnuts remix Sir Mixalot diss) 11-Hijack - The Badman is robbin (UK) 12-The Wascals - Class Clown Fatlip remi...

Society is Brainwashed is the B Side to the first 12" single from the new Ill Bill album, The Hour of reprisal which drops on the 16 of September. The A Side is called I'm a Goon and is pretty dope but its the B Side that wins out on this piece of vinyl. Its a dark Premier produced banger that shows us that 2008 belongs to Premier. Ill Bill drops his usual drug stained conspiracy rhymes with ample skill over the Premier beat that sounds full of suspense and has some dope scratches and gunshots throughout. This track has me hyped for the album and I for one will be picking the album up when it drops. Non Phixion were dope and Bill has yet to disappoint. The album will feature production from Premier, Necro, Muggs and Moss among others. Bill has also managed to recruit some dope underground lyricists too; Raekwon, Vinnie Paz, Immortal Technique, B Real, Tech N9ne, Necro and Everlast. In addition to these guys theres alaso a rock element to the album with appearances from...

Reks dropped his debut album Along Came The Chosen back in 2001 when the indie scene wasn't as stale as it can be now and then it seemed like he just disappeared. That was until earlier this year when he dropped Grey Hairs. An early contender for indie album of the year. Though the bulk of Grey Hairs is produced by Statik Selektah, Reks gets a chance to prove his lyricism over the beats of legendary producers DJ Premier and Large Professor. On the Premier “Say Goodnight,” Reks goes through multiple subjects, including his dislike for phony rappers and his legacy as an emcee, singing “I’m top ten dead or alive.” This same gritty attitude can be found on “All In One (5 Mics),” a track that highlights pure hip-hop at its finest and features Lil Fame on the chorus The guest features on Grey Hairs are sparse, yet they all add to the album. The rapper spits alongside Consequence and Termanology on “Premonition,” as the trio speaks about their decisions to change their lives for the bett...

This is the video for the dope second single from the new Roots Manuva album Slime and Reason. This a mellow reggae tinged track perfect for those London Sunny days, yes we do have them occasionally. Peep the ill album artwork below and grab the album when it drops on September the 1st.

As we all know Isaac Hayes sadly passed away on the 10th of August 2008, he left behind 12 children, 14 Grand children, 3 great grandchildren and a loving wife. My condolences go out to his family and loved ones. Isaac began his recording career in the early 1960s, as a session player for the Memphis-based Stax Records. He later wrote a string of hit songs with songwriting partner David Porter, including "You Don't Know Like I Know", "Soul Man", "When Something Is Wrong with My Baby", and "Hold On I'm Comin" for Sam and Dave. Hayes, Porter and Stax studio band Booker T. & the MGs served as the main production team for much of the label's output during the early and mid-1960s. In 1967 Isaac released his debut album 'Presenting Isaac Hayes' which although an outstanding album was a commercially unsuccessful. His next album was Hot Buttered Soul, which was released in 1969 and showed Isaac's distinct sound (extended orc...

In 1995 the Wu Tang Clan was unstoppable, they had changed the face of hip hop forever by dropping a classic group album on Steve Rifkind's fledgling Loud. After which they went onto sign solo deals and release albums featuring Rza production and all the other members of the Clan. My two favorite Wu Solo albums are easily Gza's Liquid Swords and Raekwon's Only Built for Cuban Linx. These both dropped in 1995; Raekwon at the start of the summer and Gza towards the end of the year. Raekwon's album ushered in a new era of hip hop that soon had every other emcee giving themselves Mafioso pseudonyms (Don Cartegena for instance). The album featured gangster film samples and some of Rza's best production with Raekwon and Ghost spitting fire along with other members of the Clan and for the first time a Clan outsider, Nas. Although I love this album I didn't really feel the token track with a female singer on it, Rainy Dayz featuring Blue Raspberry. The track just...

For some reason this was left off Nas's Untitled album. Despite it being produced by DJ Khalil its a good tune and would have been better than that terrible track with Chris Brown that was on the album. Esco Lets Go Nas-What it is produced by DJ Khalil