dodgy Bootlegs Number 4-The Lone Ranger (Q-Tip) It's Yours

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 track reminiscent of some of Tribe's best work. I remember at the time being told that this would be on Tribe's underrated swan song album The Love Movement but unfortunately its wasn't. I have posted the track itself and the instrumental for your listening pleasure.

Oh and by the way Happy New Year Y'all and all the best for 2009. Expect more breakz, Bootlegs and general dopeness from this blog in the new year.

A crackerjack Joint to put on ya ring finger

Dodgy Bootlegs Number 3-De La Soul featuring Pete Rock Stay Away

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 come back here no more

Freddie Hubbard R.I.P.

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.

Dodgy Bootlegs Number 2-Mobb Deep and Cormega Killaz Theme

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. representative, I'm just trying to live
If I can't get to you, I'ma take it to ya kids

Eartha Kitt Purrs no longer

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

Dodgy Bootlegs Number 1-Tragedy Strange Fruit and Real

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 produced by the dope Tokyo producer Dj Krush. I have no idea who produced it but I think its using the Skull Snaps drums, but I could be wrong. Chekc the link below for the vinyl rips of the bootleg and the Axelrod sample.

Burning Live on the Roof

Mobb Deep's Demo Tape?

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 Deep fan's collection. As you would expect the sound quality is'nt the best but the production is unmistakably an early example of Havoc's style. The rhymes are vintage Hav and P, slightly threatening and vividly morbid. With a guest appearance from another QB General, Illa Ghee.
Check it out and post any comments you may have. I will try and up some more rare Mobb Deep tracks later on this week, so check back soon.

Its the M O double B

The Re-Up is here

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

Nas's Second Childhood with Premier, Peabo and Roberta

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 disappointment. The dope tunes however where very dope indeed. Large Pro gave us a couple of his dopest beats for years with You're the Man and Rewind which coupled with inventive rhymes from Nas made these tracks as memorable as some of their previous collaborations. DJ Premier however really changed his style for the track that he contributed. Around the time of this release Premier had been releasing tracks that although very dope had all been a little similar in style and tempo. But as with Devin the Dude's Doobie Ashtray the previous year Premier slowed things down for the beat behind 2nd Childhood.

Premier took the opening to Peabo Bryson and Roberta Flack's Born to Love from the album of the same name released in 1983. Premier chops it up expertly using the opening bars to create the basis of 2nd Childhood, throw in a few signature Premier scratches and we have another Nas Premier classic. The original Peabo and Roberta song was produced by Peabo and released on Capitol Records. It is a classic early 80's soul duet complete with cheesy bass riffs and harmonizing melodies from Peabo and Roberta. To some extents its a bit of a cliche but its done so well its hard not to like it.
Premier uses it to create a darker track matching Nas's tales of people finding it hard to let go of their youth despite everyone around them moving on. Lyrically this is a poignant track where Nas strays away from his Escobar persona to show some depth. Easily the best track from Stillmatic which apart from the Large Pro track was another disappointment. I wonder if that Nas and Premier album will ever really happen? I guess it'll drop just after the Ghost and Doom project.
Check the track, the instrumental and the sample below.

I'm in my second childhood.

Ludacris and Premier: MVPs

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

Ghost Deini: The Great

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)
"Kilo" remix (feat. Raekwon and& Pusha T)
"Be Easy" remix (feat. Ice Cube)
"Tony Segal" (aka Barrel Bros.) (feat. Styles P and Beanie Sigel)
"It's Over"
"Walk Around"
"9 Milli Bros." (feat. Wu-Tang Clan)
"Mighty Healthy"
"Apollo Kids"
"All I Got Is You" (feat. Mary J Blige)
"Cher Chez La Ghost"
"Back Like That" remix (feat. Kanye West and Ne-Yo)
"Street Opera" (feat. Sun God)
"You Know I'm No Good" (feat. Amy Winehouse)
"The Champ" remix
"Ghostface Christmas"

Check out the Amy Winehouse remix below
You know I'm no good
and heres the Run remix with Jada and Wayne

Is Fat Joe an Arsenal Fan ?

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

Raekwon, Booker, Estelle, Myrna and Sylvia

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 the styles he brought to the Cuban Linx album was totally different to what we'd heard from him before. He utilized a wider range of samples drawing on jazz, soul, funk, rock, pop and soundtracks for what would become the highlight of Raekwon's career.

For the track Criminolgy he sampled two tracks Black Ivory's "I keep asking you Questions" and The Sweet Inspiration's "Why Marry". The Black Ivory track is taken form their 1972 album "Don't turn around" and its easy to hear what Rza took from this track. The Sweet Inspiration's track is a fantastic tune asking the question Why Marry?. This song was taken from their 1973 album Estelle, Myrna and Sylvia. The sample is immediately recognizable and works well with the Black Ivory sample to create the beat behind Criminology.

For Glaciers Rza tapped the legendary Funk artists Booker-T. The track is slower than the usual Booker-T joint and its called Children Don't get weary. it is taken from the 1968 film soundtrack Uptight, which is quite a rare piece of vinyl. Rza has lifted the bass-line from this and thrown a load of what sound like Harpsichord strings at it and made what is easily Raekwon's best song ever. Check the link below to hear the 12" and samples.
Glaciers

David, Premier and Royce

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 Soul producer who worked mainly on Capital records from the early sixties onwards. He made his name producing for Lou Rawls but went on to produce for Cannonball and Nat Adderley, The Electric Prunes, Letta Mbulu and David McCallum. He also released a number of solo albums that were also very successful. Check out the new Royce Joint and the track sampled by Premier to make it by clicking the links below.
Shake This
Holy Thursday

Mobb Deep's Gun Love and Claudja Barry's Sweet Dynamite

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 such dry humorless lyrics that give this track its unique flavor.

The beat is made up a of a Claudja Barry sample taken from the track Love For The Sake Of Love from her 1976 album Sweet Dynamite. Claudja Barry was at one time a member of Boney M and was a well respected Disco artist in the mid seventies. The beat isn't the usual dark and suspenseful Havoc produced joint but a rather up beat and almost happy joint, which I guess is Mobb showing how ironic they can be.

The rest of this bootleg is taken up with some rather unusual tracks. Flippin is on the A side along with the above mentioned Gun Love and is a pretty run of the mill Mobb track with what sounds like Big Noyd dropping some lyrics but as its a bootleg I can't be sure as there is no credits. The first track on the B Side is 3 the Hard way which is a dope track. It has a cool guitar loop with lots of static over it. Its a little short for my liking but I'm sure there is a full version out there somewhere. Once again I think I hear Noyd on this but I'm not 100% sure. The last track on this is terrible it has Mobb Deep rapping over a an upbeat piano loop that by the end of the track turns into Pavarotti's Nestle Dormer, I think with Pavarotti singing included. Its so wrong for so many reasons and its abruptly cut short.
Check these out and the Claudja Barry sample by clicking the link below
I used to let Noyd hit her

Lupe, Q-Tip and Pharrell on the remix tip

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 kinda singing kinda rapping thing with some nice soulful vocals from Sarah Green. But what makes this joint special is the appearance of Q-Tip and the dope verse he drops which obviously means there is no ongoing beef or any other madness. I for one like this joint its chilled, a little reminiscent of Tribe, its the kinda beat I like to hear Tip over and I don't think the Live at the Renaissance is gonna have any beats like this so its a nice little blessing. Check the link below for hear the track. By the way anyone know if Tribe are still pretending that they'll try and get back into the studio anytime soon?
Paris Tokyo remix

Jake One Drops White Van Music

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 it is one of the most interesting line ups I've seen in a long time. The album is called White Van Music and the track list is below;

1. I'm Coming featuring Nottz & Black Milk
2. Gangsta Boy featuring M.O.P.
3. Truth, The featuring Freeway/Brother Ali
4. Turn It Down [Interlude]
5. God Like featuring D. Black
6. Bless The Child featuring Little Brother
7. Oh Really featuring Slug and Posdnuos
8. Hi [Interlude]
9. Trap Door featuring MF Doom
10. Dead Wrong featuring Young Buck
11. Kissin The Curb featuring Busta & Bishop Lamont
12. How We Ride featuring Freeway
13. White Van featuring Evidence, The Alchemist & The Prodigy
14. Big Homie Style featuring Evidence, The Alchemist & The Prodigy
15. Scared featuring Blueprint
16. Great Sound [Interlude]
17. Get 'Er Done featuring MF Doom
18. Feeling My Shit featuring Casual
19. Soil Raps featuring Keak Da Sneak
20. Glow featuring Elzhi & Royce Da 5'9"

Now that is a sick line up, now only does it include hardcore underground emcees like MF Doom, Casual, Brother and Royce but then you've got people like Busta, Freeway, Posdanous, Prodigy and M.O.P. The Line up alone demands that this album be purchased not too mention that the beats are dope too. Jake One's style is hard but at the same time mellow and melodious. Below is a link for Jake One's Hoe Cakes remix and Gansta Boy featuring M.O.P. taken from White Van Music.

Hoe Cakes Jake One Remix
Gangsta Boy featuring M.O.P.

Charity Shop Gems including Beatnut's Instrumentals & Freddie Foxx

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 was Freddie Foxx's second album as Bumpy Knuckles Konextion for £1.05. Any piece of vinyl that has two DJ Premier produced tracks and a Clark Kent one for under £2 is a serious bonus. I've always been a fan of Freddie Foxx and when you put his threatening rhyme style over dope beats you simply can't go wrong especially when it comes to Premier.

I also picked up the 12" of Aha's Take on me with the extended version on the B side but thats another story. Check the link below for The Beatnuts instrumentals.

Props over here

Lord Sear's 12"s

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 label which was dropping a lot of dope underground and obscure 12"s around the late 90s. Again Lord Sear produces a couple of humorous tracks, one in particular about the problems of bad breath is very funny. Both have dope upbeat samples and are worth checking out.

Alcoholic Vibes / Hindu Love

Hello / Ya Mouth Stink

MF Doom Breakz

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 charging about €12 which seemed like a bargain to me. When I got it home and played it I was not disappointed its a strong soundtrack full of suspenseful tracks and about half way through the main theme of the soundtrack there is a dope MF Doom sample which he used on the King Geedorah album on the track LockJaw (A tip of the hat to Marvel's In-humans, comic heads know what I mean). Its a short track but Doom uses the sample to make up the heart of the it and its dope.

The second record I got was the soundtrack to Hawaii 5-0 by composer Morton Stevens. I got this one for €10 and figured it was worth owning just for the main theme to the program. Morton Stevens has been used by a couple of other hip hop artists including Fat Joe and OutKast. But the track that I like best on the Hawaii 5-0 soundtrack was used by Doom on the Madvillain album with Madlib. The track Doom used it on is the Illest Villain which is another short track (Doom seems to like to keeps his tracks short from some reason) but again he uses the sample well to create another signature Doom track. Check the tracks and the tunes he used them on below.

The Illest Stone Killer Villain

TROY Mix

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 remix

TROY Mix

Ill Bill and Dj Premier - Society is Brainwashed

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 Howard Jones of Killswitch Engage, Max Calvera and Darryl Jenifer of Bad Brains.

Society is Brainwashed

Reks & Premier at it again

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 better.
As an ode to his mm, Reks draws an inspirational picture on “Cry Baby.” Over a soft soul-sampled melody, he revisits how his mum overcame many adversities, including her drug addictions and his incessant failure to help. You can’t help but feel sympathy for her this track also highlights Reks’ story telling abilities.
At 19 tracks, the album inevitably has a some filler. But even on these, Reks puts his undeniable skils on display, something lacking from most albums these days.

Reks Is'nt someone to rest on his laurels and has already let loose with a dope Premier produced track that serves as the first single off the next album, More Grey Hairs. Check the flava below, another dope premier production.

Reks - Cloud 9

Roots Manuva - Again & Again

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.

Isaac Hayes The Legend

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 orchestral songs, heavy on organs, horns, and guitars, deep bass vocals, etc). On the album, Hayes re-interprets "Walk On By" into a dark and brooding twelve-minute orchestral exploration. "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" starts with an eight-minute long monologue before breaking into song, and the lone original number, the funky "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic" runs nearly ten minutes, songs of this length were totally unheard of in the Soul/Pop world of the late 1960s.

"Walk On By" would be the first of many times Hayes would take a Burt Bacharach song, generally made famous as three minute pop songs by Dionne Warwick or Dusty Springfield, and transform it into an soulful, lengthy and at times dark track.
In 1970, Hayes released two albums, 'The Isaac Hayes Movement' and 'To Be Continued'. The former stuck to the four song template of his previous album. Jerry Butler's "I Stand Accused" begins with a trademark spoken word monologue, and Bacharach's "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" is re-worked. The latter spawned the classic, "The Look Of Love," another Bacharach song transformed into an eleven-minute epic of soaring orchestral rhythm.

In 1971, Hayes composed music for the soundtrack of the film Shaft. The title theme, with its funky guitar and multi-layered symphonic arrangement, would become a his biggest hit single, and spent two weeks at number one in the Billboard Hot 100. The rest of the Soundtrack was mostly instrumentals covering big beat jazz, bluesy funk, and hard Stax-styled soul. The other two vocal songs, the social commentary "Soulville" and the nineteen-minute jam "Do Your Thing," would be edited down to hit singles. Isaac won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for the "Theme from Shaft," and was nominated for Best Original Dramatic Score for the film's score.

Later in the year, Hayes released a double album, Black Moses, that expanded on his earlier sounds and featured The Jackson 5's song "Never Can Say Goodbye". This album is probably Isaac at his best and features amazing compositions and deep vocals. This is my favorite Isaac Hayes album. In addition to "Never Can Say Goodbye", other selections on Black Moses include covers of songs by artists The Carpenters (" Close to You", Toussaint McCall ("Nothing Takes The Place Of You"), The Friends of Distinction ("Going in Circles"), and Little Johnny Taylor ("Part Time Love").

Isaac has been sampled many hip hop groups including; Biz Markie, Snoop, MF Doom, Compton's Most Wanted, Public Enemy and the Wu Tang Clan (Isaac actually appeared on the Wu's 2000 The W album on the track I can't sleep which heavily sampled Isaac's Walk on by) amongst others.

I have uploaded a vinyl rip of Isaac's 1973 album 'Live at the Sahara Tahoe' as a tribute. This album features The theme from Shaft, The First time ever I saw your face, Never can say goodbye, Ain't no sunshine, Use me and the Look of love amongst others. This is truly a classic album. If you enjoy this please take the time to buy some of Isaac's back catalog.

Isaac at the Tahoe Sahara

Raekwon - Rainy Dayz remix promo 12" & Sample

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 seemed too formulaic and it kinda bored me. But in the Summer of 1996 a year after Cuban Linx dropped a promo 12" of Rainy Dayz popped up in the long since closed down Unity records off London's Carnaby Street. I had just had my first child and money was tight so spending £15 on a 12" was a big deal. However over the years I have not regretted shelling out that money. The main reason for the high price tag was the Rainy Dayz remix.

This track in my opinion is a hundred times better than the original and this is mainly because of the sample it is based around, a Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes track featuring Sharon Paige called You know how to make me feel so good. A fantastic duet between Harold Melvin and the underrated Sharon Paige taken from their 1975 album Wake Up Everybody. What really surprised me about the Rainy Dayz remix however was that it was produced by Mr Dalvin of Jodeci fame. Mr Dalvin does an incredible job of using the Harold and Sharon sample to craft a dope track for Ghost and Raekwon to spit over and the promo 12" even had an extended version which featured singing from Ol' Dirty Bastard as well as the remix instrumental. So for those of you who've never had a chance to hear these incredible tracks follow the link below and if you ever come across this gem in a record shop as Redman once said Pick it up pick it up.

Raekwon - Rainy Dayz remix promo 12" & Sample

Nas-What it is produced by DJ Khalil

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