Hip Hop and Breakz

It has been a little while since I dropped a Dodgy bootleg on y'all so heres a dope little mid nineties East Coast gem for you to savour. Back in 1996 the seminal DJ / Producer, Frankie Cutlass dropped a dope little compilation album called Politics and Bullshit. Frankie handled the production and had some dope emcees on board; Kool G Rap, Mobb Deep, M.O.P., Lost Boys, Heltah Skeltah, Craig G, Fat Joe, Busta, Sadat X and BIz Markie to name a few. A few months before the first single from this album dropped the phenomenal Mobb Deep, Kool G Rap and M.O.P. track Know the game started making noise on Mixtapes and getting play from people like Westwood and 279. The track is a 100% classic that often gets overlooked when people mention Mobb Deep and Kool G Rap other duets. Not only does this track have Mobb Deep and Kool G Rap, both QB legends but it has Billy Danze and Lil' Fame on the hook, what more could you ask for? Well a dope beat would good and Frankie Cutlass does his...

Its late 1995 and although the year clearly belonged to the East Coast in particular the Wu Tang Clan no one was ready for the lyrical and musical onslaught that two cousins from Staten Island was about to release on the hip-hop world. Not only had Rza shown us the grimy underbelly of Staten Island's sound with the original Wu Tang album but he had gone on to smack the hip hop world in the head with amazing albums by Method Man, Old Dirty and of course Raekwon. But so far nothing had prepared us the the lyrical genius that was Liquid Swords. Without a doubt my favorite Wu solo album. We had heard rumors and comments from various Clan members about Gza's complex lyrical skills but nothing could have prepared everyone for the immense and complex lyrics that we were to hear on the Liquid Swords LP. Not to mention the dark, sample heavy, intrictae production supplied by the Abbot, Rza. The first 12" from the album was the title track Liquids swords with the double A side...

Low Key is one of the dopest UK MCs and following on from the G20 protests he decided the death of Ian Tomlinson needed to be highlighted. The death of Ian Tomlinson at the hands of police was bad enough but for them to go and choose a coroner with a history of bad verdicts almost always in the favor police was damn shameful. I understand that every society needs the police and that there is some police out there who take their jobs and power seriously but the police that are implicated in Ian Tomlinson's death are not those police. The attempts to disguise what has happened by using your own dodgy coroner only make the circumstances of the death even more suspicious. Its strange that with all of protestors about on that day that the police manage to kill the only man who had absolutely nothing to do with the protests. R.I.P. to Ian Tomlinson and sympathy to his loved ones.

Back in 1997 Common dropped his third album, One day it will all make sense. This was Common's first album under the name Common following on from a law suit that prevented him from using his previous rap moniker, Common Sense. Some might say that this album was more accessible or perhaps even commercial as it featured a wider array of guests than Common had ever had before and it also featured some radio friendly RnB tracks. Although at the same time this was a more mature effort from Common and featured lyrical content beyond his earlier releases. For example the track featuring Lauren Hill has common rhyming about the decisions facing a young couple over whether or not to carry on with an unplanned pregnancy, the only other group I can think of who handles this subject with such maturity would be Digable Planets. The track I have decided to cover today was the first 12" from the album, Reminding me of Sef. This tune was a little more soulful that the Common we had hea...

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