John Martyn hangs up his guitar for the last time

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.

dodgy Bootlegs Number 8-Mobb Deep 3 The hard way and Gun Love (Re Up)

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'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.

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 which is actually a blessing.
A few of you have expressed an interest in buying this 12" well I'm not really someone who sells his vinyl but if you have something worth trading I may be interested.
Check these out the bootleg by clicking the link below
I used to let Noyd Hit her

Dodgy Bootlegs Number 7-KRS ONE - Questions and answers Pal Joey remix

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 'Who are the pimps'. Check the link before for this little Gem.
No Questions?

Dodgy Bootlegs Number 6-RA the Rugged Man Stanley Kubrick and What the with Akinyele

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 on the album called "every record label sucks dick) and it is said was bootlegging his own material too.
Throughout his career he's worked with the Notorious B.I.G., Mobb Deep, Sadat X, Akinyele, Chuck D, Jedi Mind Tricks, Kool G Rap, Wu-Tang Clan, Killah Priest, and producers Erick Sermon, DJ Quik, Buckwild, Alchemist, Ayatollah and Havoc.
This 12" was released in 1999 and features two tracks; "What the ?" and "Stanley Kubrick". "Stanley Kubrick" appeared on Rawkus's Soundbombing 2 compilation (R.A. was also featured on Soundbombing 1 as well). I am unsure if "What The?" appeared anywhere else other than this bootleg.

'Stanley Kubrick" is the B Side but is my favorite of the two tracks and is produced by Capital The Crimelord who had worked with R.A. before as a DJ. The A Side is called "What the (fuck)" and features that other foul mouthed NY rapper Akinyele. The beats not bad but the kids singing the chorus is a little grating. If I remember rightly this was purchased at the long gone Mr Bongos', which probably means I paid a little over the odds for this but when I heard "Stanley Kubrick" back on Soundbombing 2 I had to have an unmixed copy of it. Check the link below for the vinyl rip and also something a little notorious.

Thats some Stanley Kubrick type shit

Tragedy and Capone Thugs Paradise and the Theme from S.W.A.T.

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 taking my one and a half year old daughter with me the day I picked it up.

The sample is taken from Rhythm Heritage's 1976 album Disco Fied and is easily the best track on the album. It can also be found on Ultimate Breaks and Beats volume 10. The A side was True Confessions and features Iman T.H.U.G. (I don't know what T.H.U.G. stands for probably something incredibly silly) and this is pretty much your run of the mill, boring and ignorant thug song with some wack ass singing. Not deserving of the A side in my opinion but what the heck. They even throw in an instrumental of True Confessions for good measure. Check the link for the rip and the break. Another cool thing about this 12" is for the radio version they use cool sound effects to cover the swearing, don't you just love that shit.

I'm deep like a Saukrates

dodgy Bootlegs Number 5-Large Pro and Nas One + One and Noreaga Married to Marijuana

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-Side. The A-Side was strong enough to justify the price. You also have to remember this was sometime around '97 or '98 and we hadn't had the long awaited Large Pro album, The LP and there was no sign of the mildly disappointing 1st Class. The track was on The Lp but seeing as the only really promo copies of this ever circulated were on tape (beware eBayers if you see any vinyl or CD of it they all come from the tape) a vinyl copy of this track was too dope to pass up. So it obviously had to be purchased.

Surprisingly the Noreaga track is pretty good too. It uses Al Green's Something taken from his 1976 Have a Good time album. Its an obvious use of the sample but it works well. The track itself is Nore talking to his beloved weed as if it were a woman, not an original idea but not a terrible one either. I'm not sure if this was ever really released on any Nore solo albums because I never followed his career further than the first CNN album and that joint with Premier.

For good measure they throw in the instrumental to the Nore joint but not unfortunately to the Large Pro and Nas joint. Check the link below for the rip of the bootleg and the break too. Damn thats a good deal. Check back soon for some KRS, RA the Rugged man, MOP and some Beatnuts

Traveling through the mind one time