Hip Hop and Breakz

Following on from last weeks High Drama remix (part 2 ? who knows maybe) this week we have the final part of the trilogy; High Drama Part 3: the Search for 2 (are they referring to the part 2 in that title ?). This came out in early 1998 if I remember right and it was released on Guesswhyld (GW 201) distributed by Fat beats, like the first two parts and like the first two parts this was purchased from Mr Bongos on Poland Street in London's West End. Of course like most of the decent Hip Hop record shops in London Mr Bongos has long since closed down which is a shame as I bought many dope tunes from there and even remember seeing a few good in store performances too. You can still check out the Mr Bongos website but its mainly focused on the rereleases put out on the Mr Bongos label and their mostly Latin, Jazz and Funk albums and compilations. Returning to the 12" at hand, the track is produced Shawn J Period who was at the time at the top of his game and not only did we ...

After doing the original 'High Drama' last week it only seemed logical to put up the remix this week. The remix came out a couple of months after the original also on Guesswhyld (GW 201) in late 1997. This was a pretty big hit on the Indie scene and was featured on a lot of mixtapes at the time, my favourite being the Eddie Ill and DL tapes which featured so much dope indie music at the time. This was another Mr Bongo's( a long since closed down Hip Hop record shop in London's West End) purchase and probably cost about £6.50, around this time I was spending at least £30 a week on vinyl and mixtapes, the good old days when buying music still held some excitement. The 12" features the 'High Drama remix', 'Service remix' and the original 'Service' with instrumentals too. The best joint on the 12" is easily the 'High Drama remix' which is remixed by Shaun J Period. Shaun J Period always struck me as a bouncier version of Hi-Te...

As some of you know I saw Mos Def live in London a couple of weeks ago and I was incredibly disappointed; he was late on stage, did barely an hour, did none of the tracks I wanted to hear, he did a mediocre drum solo (you are not Questlove) and bad Michael Jackson covers. I came away asking myself was I the only one there who thought he sucked ? but after speaking to some friends I came to the conclusion That the real hip hop heads were let down by this poor concert. Even the people who thought it was good could said the best thing about it was that Definition was fantastic and so were couple of other tunes. These guys seemed happy that he did three great songs, in all honesty I have to say three songs don't make a concert. So I went home and vowed not pay to see Mos Def again and that I would content myself by listening to some good old Mos Def before he became the pretentious artists that he now appears to be. So I dug into my record collection and found one of my favourite...

For the second instalment of my Random nineties series I've stuck with the Non Phixion/Necro family and gone with Ill Bill's Gangsta Rap 12" which dropped in 1999 on Necro's second label Psycho-Logical label (PL2). The 12" features two tracks; Gangsta Rap and How to kill a cop both of which are produced by Necro. Gansgta Rap features a lovely piano loop with a spiralling bass riff and a mellow trumpet sample that almost sounds out of place on this track but somehow Necro pulls it off to great effect creating an eerie track with a mellow vibe. DJ Eclipse provides some nice cutting and scratching of a dope ODB sample (You's a Gangsta?) and Ill Bill drops some funny tongue in cheek lyrics about being a thug; "Aye yo I smoke dust and shoot cops, Sold guns to Tupac, smoke blunts with Biggie Smalls and sold drugs on new lots, I was too young, couldn't get up in clubs in the old days, we used rob and terrorise kids in front of home-base, When Funkmaster Fl...