Old To The New

Several tracks have emerged recently from golden era heavyweights, that I think are worth giving some shine to. 

Infamous Sessions

First up is a track from the bonus CD that accompanied the recently released Mobb Deep album.  For those who no longer pay attention to Mobb Deep (you're not on your own!), the bonus CD contains original/alternate versions from their 2nd LP The Infamous.  I'm surprised that this particular version ended up on the cutting room floor, and that Ghostface was trimmed from the final release.  This should have been a 12" remix.

The Blastmaster Returns

Whoa, KRS is back spitting like it's 1994 and Premo is on the production!  Ok, so there's no Premo, but this is Kris back in full effect and doing what he does best, braggadocios, arrogant rhyming, with some knowledge dropped in for good measure.

"I'd rather make one righteous dollar on my level, than make a million dollars spitting rhymes for the devil".

Cookin Soul

The original version of this tune was a bit bland and certainly an album track.  But this remix does it plenty of justice, and breathes new life into a 2Pac track that pays homage to the artists that influenced him, and reflects his early days growing up on the east coast.

Looking for a style like mine, you can't find it!

Yet more nostalgia has been dug out of someones personal collection during October, this time from Kenny Parker, (will we ever lose the fascination with this stuff?), and more reflections on the golden era were born.  Either way, it all provides new material to satisfy our thirst for traditional hip hop.  Here's a few of the better items that turned up during October.

The Parker Boys

If you missed this release from Kenny Parker (bigger bro of KRS-1) then make sure you catch it now. Kenny holds many old recordings of KRS and this particular snippet is from a very young KRS spitting some classic rhymes over various breaks, beatboxes etc.  It's a poignant reminder of just how great KRS was in his prime.

Who Got The Props?

Black Moon's debut LP Enta Da Stage turns 20 years old this year and to mark the occasion Duck Down Music have produced this mini documentary that reflects on how the album came together.  There's some nice tid bits of history in this.

Cold Chillin Megamix

Tizwarz The Real has put together a 40 minute Cold Chillin megamix which includes 89 tracks.  Do the math, that's a lot of dope tracks in a short time, but it's good fun to stick it on (without checking the track listing) and see how many of them you can name before the next one comes on :)
It's also testament to just how much work Marley Marl was putting in and the number of classics that label produced.

The mix can be streamed or downloaded here - http://www.mixcrate.com/tizwarzmegamixes/cold-chillin-records-megamix-89-track40-min-mix--916197

Crate Diggers - DJ Scratch

EPMD's DJ gives us some insight into his record collection and obsession for red coloured vinyl.  

End of Arsenio

For those that don't remember it, here is a clip from the last Arsenio Hall show which received a major hip hop send off from some of the biggest names in the game at the time.  Let's not forget that Arsenio Hall gave a lot of air time to rap music when many major television networks were not interested.

The line up includes, Yo Yo, MC Lyte, Naughty by Nature, A Tribe Called Quest, Fu Schnickens, CL Smooth, Guru, Das EFX, GZA, Method Man and Ghostface Killah, KRS-1 and Mad Lion.

What did your teachers teach you...

...well if your school was anything like mine, then probably not half as much as 'The Teacha' (aka KRS One)!  So why not take the time out to listen to some more of his wise words and interesting takes on a wide range of subjects? 

This is a lengthy interview, but its definitely worth watching.  KRS is one of the few artists that I would give up an hour and half of my time to hear what he has to say, and thinking about it, I've actually done this on several occassions.  Having attended one of his lectures I experienced first hand how good KRS is as a public speaker.  A lot of artists these days can't fill a 10 minute interview with anything particularly interesting, but KRS is always engaging and often causes controversy with his frank and honest viewpoints.  Enough said, just hit play.

Mike Check