Hip Hop and Breakz

Heres is a another gem from my own collection.  This is a certified Queensbridge classic from the legendary Kool G Rap.  I honestly cant remember where I picked this up from although something tells me I may have bought it from a friend of mine who was selling off his Hip-Hop collection, possibly Diablo I'm not too sure to be honest. Wherever I picked this up from there is no doubt this is a perfect example of Kool G Rap's Crime filled storytelling.  This 12" features two versions of the track; The Al Capone and the Untouchable version as well as instrumentals and an accapella.  Both of these are different to the album version.  There is also the inclusion of another track called Straight Jacket.  The A side starts of with a dirty version of the Al Capone mix of the track.  This version comes in at just over four minutes and features nice piano loop over the Skull Snaps drum break.  It also has vocal samples of Robert DeNiro from The Untou...

One of my favourite underground NY producers from the late nineties/early noughties has joined forces the undisputed QB Legend Kool G Rap to drop an album later this year.  The album will be entirely produced by Necro and is set to drop on November the 19th.   Kool G Rap's raw street stories will work perfectly over Necro's grimy beats. Be sure to keep an eye on their Facebook page for updates and catch the album when it drops. The Godfathers Facebook page.

Queensbridge legend Cormega returns with a new album this October, Born and Raised. The album is set to drop on October the 20th and deserves a place in any self respecting real hip hop fan's collection. With production from Large Pro, Nottz, Havoc and two tracks from DJ Premier you know the beats will be dope. The album also features guest appearances from KRS ONE, Big Daddy Kane, PMD and Grand Puba on the track "Mega Fresh X" which has Red Alert on the cuts. Check the link below for one of the Premier tracks, "Make it clear" Mega and Primo

Heres a couple of Nas Joints for you QB heads out there. The first is called 'Be Worried' and is produced by Swizz Beats, a producer I don't really check for to be honest but this track isn't too bad. He seems to have gone for an epic sounding beat but the chorus doesn't really work for me and it detracts from the tune and Nas's lyrics. The second track is called 'Film' and I am told its produced by a young cat from Chicago called C-Sick. The beat sounds like its using a sample from that old House track by Ultra Nate but slowed down a lot. Its decent enough, Nas drops some nice lines and you'd expect. I prefer this one to the Swizz Beats joint and its good to see Nas using some new talent production wise. Check the link below for the zip file of both. I speak to the streets like we executive chief types.

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 ...

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-...

This is the second in my series of dodgy 90's bootlegs and this time its the turn of Mobb Deep and Cormega. I picked this up in the long since closed Unity records in London's SoHo back in the late nineties. Its a dope Havoc produced Mobb Deep and Cormega joint that I've only ever seen on this particular bootleg although it was rumored to be from the original version of Cormega's shelved Def Jam album Testamant. Its a darkly orchestral beat typical of Havoc at that time and the lyrics are the usual crime riddled, morbid threats that those Queensbridge kids throw about so well. Prodigy handles the first verse, Cormega the second and Hav drops the last one. Prodigy's verse is the strongest in my opinion with this classic quote; 'Overdose music It's theraputic to the user Driving wild under the influence of this Careful, cuz ya might just crash ya shit Total ya whip and still pull my tape out the deck' Pure Queensbridge Classic. Check the link Q.B.C. r...

This is the first in a series of dodgy mid to late nineties bootlegs that I have taken from my collection and am posting up here for you guys to enjoy. This 12" was picked up from either Mr Bongo's or Deal Real in London's west end in probably about late 1996 or early 1997. At that time you couldn't go into a London record shop without finding some sort of dodgy bootleg hip hop 12" or another. This one features two songs from Tragedy the QB legend. The first track is Strange Fruit which is a Pete Rock produced track featuring Capone and Noreaga. Another version of this track would later appear on Pete's first solo album Soul Survivor with an altrer line up of Tragedy, Pete Rock , Cappadonna and Sticky Fingaz. Fo this track Pete samples the creative genius of David Axelrod. The track he uses is called Smile and is taken from his 1968 album Songs of innocence. The B Side is simply called Real and thanks to my man Zingama who informs me that this track is p...

I'm going to try and upload a few treats between now and the New Year for those of you who check Hip Hop and Breakz on the regular. The first of these treats is a collection of Mobb Deep tracks that were recorded in between their 'Juvenile Hell' album and their Loud debut 'The Infamous' in or before 1994. I'm a big Queensbridge fan and in particular Mobb Deep. I think its often underestimated how much Havoc's dark and ominous production style influenced the whole sound of the East throughout the mid to late 90's and beyond. Some of these tracks went on to become tracks on the 'The Infamous', tracks like; Give up the Goods, Up North Trip, Survival of the fittest and Temperature's rising. Whereas some of the other tracks have only ever shown up on mix-tapes and dodgy bootlegs. I'm unsure if this really is Havoc and Prodigy's pre Loud demo but it certainly is a nice little collection of tracks that deserve their place in any Mobb Dee...

For some reason this was left off Nas's Untitled album. Despite it being produced by DJ Khalil its a good tune and would have been better than that terrible track with Chris Brown that was on the album. Esco Lets Go Nas-What it is produced by DJ Khalil

Heres a little gem for all you Queensbridge heads out there. Back in 1996 Mic Geronimo was getting ready to drop his sophomore album, Vendetta which had the lead single Unstoppable. Unstoppable is a very dope Pete Rock produced banger. The album featured production from; Pete Rock, Buckwild, Havoc & K-Def who were all dropping dope tracks at this time. But the album didn't make much noise and that was down to it being executively co-produced by Irv Gotti and the terrible use of a Cameo sample on the Jay-z featured track Single Life. For some reason the track Queens Life wasn't included on the album, despite being a very dope track. For some reason this was only included on the Unstoppable promo 12". Its a typical mid-nineties Queensbridge jam featuring a dark ominous beat from Havoc and the usual crime related threatening lyrics from Mic Geronimo, Royal Flush and Prodigy. Queens Lufe seems to have been badly mixed because the beat is a little too loud and at times...

Official video for one of the better tracks from Nas's untitled album, the Stic.Man produced Sly Fox. Which has Nas firing off a few Lyrical shots at Rupert Murdock Fox empire.

As we all know the new Nas album was originally supposed to be called 'N**ger' but Def Jam gave in to pressure and Nas was forced to drop that title. It now looks likes its going to be Untitled or simply N as the album cover above suggests. The album is 15 tracks long (although iTunes have managed to snag two bonus tracks) and features guest appearances from Busta Rhymes, The Game, The Last Poets, Eban Thomas of The Stylistics, Chris Brown, Johnny Polygon, Mykel and Keri Hilson. Production credits for the album include Nas's longstanding collaborator Salaam Remi, Polow da Don, DJ Green Lantern, DJ Toomp, Stargate, Cool & Dre, The Game, Mark Batson, Mark Ronson, Jay Electronica, J. Myers, Dustin Moore, and Stic.man of Dead Prez. As with most true hip hop heads I was hoping to see at least one track produced by DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Large Pro or even Kanye West on this album but I was disappointed to see them all missing. However I decided that I would give the alb...