Hip Hop and Breakz

Today John Martyn died at the age of 60. He was a musician who played masterfully across many genres; Blues, Funk, Folk, Rock and even Jazz. He influenced artists as diverse as Eric Clapton and Portishead. May he rest in peace.

I posed this back in October and a lot of people have been been requesting that i re-up the whole 12", here it is again with a better link this time grab it while you can. 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...

A big thank you to my peeps over at Philaflava who have clarified where and what this track is. I bought this from a friend in 2004 and all he told me was that this was never officially released and was not to be confused with another KRS ONE joint called 'Questions and answers', which is on the Sex and Violence album released in 1992. This track is the Pal Joey remix of 'Questions and Answers' and is sometimes referred to as 'No Questions'. Its a dope upbeat track with a mellow organ loop and was produced by long time KRS studio engineer Pal Joey. KRS drops some dope question related rhymes and says RIP to De La Soul, who had recently released De La Soul is Dead. The vinyl is pretty decent quality, nice and heavy and it has the same track on both sides. Pal Joey co produces the original 'Questions and Answers' with KRS and he also produced the original version of '13 and Good' (anyone got the remix Westwood used to play ?) as well as '...

Although I have listed this as a bootleg my friend, Mr Lawson tells me that its actually a legitimate release albeit probably just a promo. Either way its in my bootleg box so I'm listing it as a bootleg for the sake of my ongoing series. "I thought I was the illest," Biggie was quoted as saying in Ego Trip Magazine Vol. 1, Issue 3 when referring to R.A. the Rugged Man. Biggie and R.A. had recorded the notorious "C*nt renaissance" together early in both their careers. R.A. the Rugged Man (real name R.A. Thorburn) is a sick emcee from Suffolk County, New York on Long Island. R.A. signed with Jive Records as part of the group Crustified Dibbs, a vehicle for R.A. and producer Marc Niles (Nigga Niles) in 1993. They were due to release an album in 1994 called "Night of the Bloody Apes" but after numerous altercations with his record Label they decided to shelve the album. In all honesty by that time R.A. pretty much hated his label (he even had a song...

I have always been a Queensbridge fiend and whilst getting some of my dodgy bootlegs up here my man, Domski asked me a about a Tragedy track called Thugs Paradise. I had totally forgotten this track and after a bit of digging I found my copy of it and threw it on. The track Thug Paradise was originally the B side to True Confessions which featured Iman Thug and was released on Tragedy's 25 to Life Entertainment label back in 1997. There are no production credits for either of the songs on the 12" but if anyone knows who was behind the boards on these two tracks let me know. Thug Paradise came towards the beginning of the end of the whole Thug era. It uses the Rhythm Heritage Theme from S.W.A.T. sample that has been used by loads of people before and after; 3rd Bass, LL Cool J, K-Solo, Lauryn Hill and UTFO to name a few. But it was just something about this track and the time it came out. I picked this one up from Deal Real Records in the summer of 1997 and I remember tak...

Heres the next in the ongoing series of Dodgy Bootlegs and this time we have a Double Whammy for you Queendbridge heads out there; Large Pro And Nas's One + One and Noreaga's Married to Marijuana. Once again we have another bootleg grabbed from one of London's SoHo hip hop emporiums, this one I think was purchased at the long defunct original Deal Real records (not to be confused with the fake trendy one off Carnaby street, those who know understand what I'm saying). Deal Real was a very dope shop on a little street called Noel street if I remember correctly. I picked up some serious vinyl at Deal Real, made some good friends and also met the occasional emcee or Dj. Deal Real, which was originally Handspun, stocked a fantastic collection vinyl hip hop, mixtapes and some classic breakz. I'm getting off the point here. I picked this 12" up straight after hearing the A-Side featured Nas and Large Pro over a Large Pro beat, I never even bothered to hear the B-...