Mr. Mecca - Over Here ft. Pinks, Skyzoo, Sha Stimuli & Torae AKA Flava in ya ear remix ?

I've not heard of Mr Mecca before but I know that Skyzoo and Torae rip mics on the regular. This is a dope joint using the Flava in ya ear beat and with sick lyrics dropped by all MCs on the track in the style of the Mc who ripped the original Craig Mack classic. peep the video.

Dodgy Bootlegs Number 15-Heat Ep featuring Xzibit, Dead Prex, Big Pun and Tha Liks

I picked this bootleg EP up in the summer of 1997 from the legendary Deal Real record in London's West End. I remember paying about £8 for it and I think it was essentially a bootleg of four tracks from Loud artists; Xzibit, Tha Liks, Big Pu and The Dead Presidents (Dead Prez). My man Mr lawson tells me this was a bootleg of tracks featured on a Loud promo tape called Summer Heat. It has soome good tunes and I have always been a fan of tha Liks so I picked it up.

The first track on this is from Xzibit and is called L.A. Times and is produced by Mel-Man, someone who I heard often does Dre's work for him. This was released by Loud as an official promo 12" in '97 before being featured on Xzibit's second album 40 Dayz and 40 Nights in 1998. Its a decent enough track with an almost marching beat and Xzibit dropping his usual insights on life. Not bad, nothing amazing just a typical Xzibit album track really.
The second joint on the A-side is the Liks jojnt and its a typical Parliament funk Liks party joint. Not one of their best joints nor their most creative although J-Ro and Tash do drop their usual funny rhymes over a beat that is provided by T-Smoov, all I can say is where was E-swift. This track eventually appeared on the Liks's third album Lkwidation. This was a good album but by no mean near their first of second albums in terms of overall quality. I kinda got the feeling that by this point tha Liks were just going through the motions rather than really excelling like they did on the first two albums which were both classics in my opinion.

The third track is the classic I'm not a player by my favorite overweight Puerto Rican (sorry Noreaga)Big Pun. This track is a classic. From the O-Jays sample to Puns amazingly funny lyrics it just works on every level and every-time I hear it I'm reminded of what an amazing lyricist Pun was and what a loss to Hip Hop his death was. Rest in Peace Christopher Rios.
The last track on here was the first track I ever heard by Dead Prez. Although a version of this would later appear on their 2000 debut Lets Get Free I for one prefer this version, its more acoustic and the beat suits the subject matter better than the one on the album.
All in all this was a nice lil' purchase especially considering at the time some of these track didn't come out for another two years. Check the link below for a full rip.

I'm a diamond in the rough

Dodgy Bootlegs Number 14-Lord Have Mercy Featuring M.O.P. Home Sweet Home

I was never a big Lord Have Mercy fan, to me he was always a hype man for a rapper who didn't need a hype man. But when this bootleg 12" came out in 1998/99 I was a major M.O.P. and I still am to this day so I had to pick this because of the fact that it co stars lil' Fame and Billy Danzene. This bootleg was picked up in Uptown records in London's west end for about £8. It is produced by Nottz and it was originally recorded for Lord Have Mercy solo album 'Thee ungoldy hour', but that album never came out. However a track as dope as this rarely gets left on the cutting room floor and finally made it onto M.O.P.'s 2000 classic 'Warriorz'. Home Sweet Home could almost be a Premier, joint like the majority of the 'Warriorz' album was, but its Nottz who created this funky joint. Its made up of some nice horns as well as an off kilter piano loop with some humorous lines from Lord Have Mercy and those Brownsville boys. Of course Billy and Lil' Fame drop some of those signature gun sounds effects that we all love. I really like this joint its got a dope beat from a producer who almost always drops heat and three hyped up emcees.
The B side is a funky track called 'Paint ya Face' and is produced by Nottz again. The beat is a solid beat with some nice bongos and what sounds like a native american chant running through it with a nice bassline underneath it. Lord Have Mercy tells us all to paint our faces for some reason that I am unsure off. He also tells us that he dances like Indians, maybe he thinks that if he does the correct dance Busta will allow him to release his album although this strategy clearly didn't work back in 1999. As far as I know 'Thee Ungodly hour'r was scrapped when Lord left Flipmode. Also set for the album was Havoc.
Lord left Flipmode stating that he did not like the mainstream direction Flipmode was taking and also stating that Busta Rhymes had promised that Flipmode would be a launching pad for all of the members solo careers, which for Lord Have Mercy did not happen. He also blamed Busta for holding his record release back and relegating him to being a "backup singer. Fellow former Flipmode member Rah Digga, indirectly corroborated this when mentioning in an interview that Busta shelved Lord's album release (which was completed) for Digga's (which hadn't even started although it did end up containing tracks by both Premier and Pete Rock).
After leaving Flipmode, Lord recorded a three song single called The Come On Down EP which included songs "Charge", "We Will", and "Come On Down". Lord disappeared from the scene for a while before forming his own record label Sword and Shield and releasing the mixtape The Runaway Slave. The mixtape had many strong hits like "Until the Wheelz Fall Off", which is still available on iTunes in the US at least.
Lord has revealed that he is releasing another mixtape of old unreleased songs and has asked people on his myspace for the songs they would like to appear on the mixtape. I for one would like to get hold of a copy of 'Thee Ungodly hour'

I Lift Wallets, Notorious Like Christopher Wallace

Nike SB's Good Day with Cube cameo

I'm a skateboarding head although its not too often that I get to skate these days but I saw this video and thought it was dope.

R.I.P. Baatin

Rest in Peace to the very talented Baatin from Slum Village. His loved ones are in my Prayers. Baatin was a rapper who used his voice as some would use a musical instrument but could hold his own with thought provoking intelligent rhymes. I saw him live on two occasions and he had an energy unlike any other rapper.
Baatin, who turned 35 in March, left Slum Village in 2002. He continued to record and play occasional solo dates before returning to the Slum fold for the group's upcoming album, "Villa Manifesto," due Sept. 22.
He was with the group for its gig at June's Rock the Bells Tour stop at DTE Energy Music Theatre, and last week performed in a video shoot for Slum's new single, "Cloud 9."
"Baatin will be missed," Slum Village's T3 said in a statement. "I'm glad we got a chance to work together before he passed. We lost another Slum soldier, a dear friend and a brother. He touched many lives."

Fellow group founder James (J. Dilla) Yancey, Baatin's Pershing High School classmate, passed away in 2006.
"Deepest sympathy to the family friemds and fans of Slum Village on the passing of Baatin," Yancey's mother, Maureen Yancey, said in a statement. "We loved him and his kind heart and spirit will be forever be in our hearts."
"He was a very spiritual brother," said Detroiter Khalid el-Hakim, founder of the Black History 101 Mobile Museum. "He brought a spirituality to Detroit hip-hop that you didn't see with other artists. That's what he was known for."
Baatin is survived by his son, Michael Majesty Ellis, 9; his daughter, Aura Grace Glover, 1; his parents Howard and Grace Glover; and his sister, Tina Glover, all of Detroit.
He will be missed. Click below for an example of his lyrical dexterity over a Jay Dee Beat taken from the Jay Love Japan project.

First Time feat Baatin & The Ruckazoid by Jay Dee