Hip Hop and Breakz

I bought this 12" in 1996 from Unity records near Carnaby Street in London's West end. This was mainly a drum and Bass shop but in the back they had a dope lil' Hip Hop section that always had the best promos and bootlegs. This 12" is labelled up as a Test pressing and is on green vinyl so I probably a bit over the odds for it but at the time was really getting into M.O.P. and I have always been a QB fan. Side 1 features a track from Queensbridge Legend Tragedy joined by Mobb Deep. The track is called Judas Theory and is a diss to Capone N Noreaga. For some reason Tragedy was unhappy with them and decided to make this track. Its a pretty regular mid nineties QB joint probably produced by Havoc and it features a rather angry Tragedy calling out CNN as some sort of bitches or snakes as he actually calls them. Not really too sure why Trag wrote this or where Mobb Deep fit into the whole picture but I'm sure they weren't the voice of reason telling Tragedy ...

While everyone is waiting for the Ghost and Doom LP (at one time rumored to be titled Swift and Changeable) to drop the two masked men have contributed a track to the Grand Theft Auto : Chinatown Wars Nintendo DS game. The game is already out and is the typical gang related violence we've come to expect from the GTA franchise and as usual they've gone and hooked up a dope lil' soundtrack. Not only do we have a Ghostface and Doom Collaboration produced by Oh No but we've also got a remix of it too. Both are dope and well worth checking as is the game if you're a DS fiend. Check the link below. We Run these streets like a renegade

Heres a little joint dropped by Raekwon as a tribute to the Late Great Notorious B.I.G.. Its a slow joint with Raekwon showing off his lyrical skills in the form of a letter to Biggie talking about their friendship, squashed beefs and dropping classic albums around the same time. Raekwon is popping up a lot right now as I said last month is Cuban Linx part 2 going to finally drop or am I being a too hopeful. I shook your hand in Cali

Back in 1995 Smooth Da Hustler burst onto the scene with a track called Broken language with featured his brother Trigger the gambler. The track was a simple idea, have smooth and trigger going back and forth boasting about what they were over a steady beat that seemed to be building to a crescendo. The track was very popluar at the time although to be honest I found it a little boring and the novelty quickly wore off. What was good about the track was the great chemistry between Smooth and Trigger. Smooth went onto drop a fairly strong album although not groundbreaking. The album featured his brother and a sort of East Coast version of Nate Dogg, D.V. Alias Krist who specialized in singing some rather cheesy but likable hooks. The album dropped on Profile and shortly after Trigger got picked up by Def Jam who were obviously hoping to capitalize on the hype surrounding his brother. However Tigger's Def Jam solo album, Life's a 50/50 gamble never made it to the record stor...

I picked this 12" up in January 1998 from the now defunct Mr Bongo's on Poland Street in London's SoHo. I am unsure if either of these tracks got a legitimate release but if they didn't t the time I'm sure that they will pop up sooner or later on one of the multitude of Beatnuts greatest hits of unreleased collections that seem to get a bi-annual release. The Off the Books remix features an elctro-synth laden beat with Big Pun dropping a classic verse; Hey yo it's all love, but love's got a thin line and Pun's got a big nine, respect crime but not when it reflect mine The shit I'm on is wrong but it lasts long Pull a fast one, then Pun'll wake up, with the stash gone I'm mad strong, and my cream is fast Smoke the greenest grass, my bitch got the meanest ass and a taste legit, I don't have to waste a whole case of Crist' All it takes is my pretty face and my gangsta wit Lace the click, cause we all share It's all fair like love a...