A Prince & A Pharoahe

Boof baf, here is, the latest round up of freshness from around the interwebz.  There's always a lack of new releases early in the year, and 2014 has been no exception, but history shows that by March/April things start to hot up and there's usually something that looks promising.  See what you think.

Dropping Diamonds

As Diamond D gets ready to drop his new LP The Diam Piece he hits us off with the first video, a collaboration with Pharoahe Monch entitled Rap Life.  Both of them are on top form with Monch sounding effortless over Diamond's production.  The video was directed by Deacon The Villian from Cunninglynguists.

B-Boy Stance

O.C. has just dropped this track on a limited edition 7".  It's as fresh as a newly laid egg, with O.C. reminiscing about the golden era of hip hop, but rather frustratingly there is little more information about it.  Even the website where you can purchase the vinyl doesn't bother to list what else you might, so we'll have to assume its a double A side of the same track and there's nothing more to come!

Ain't Saying Something

It's an observation that many artists have already made, but J-Live's stab at wack emcees with nothing to say takes a slightly different angle as he guns for the ones with dope sounding tracks, but when you scratch beneath the surface...

Probably The Greatest (Hip Hop) Concept Album

Prince Paul's classic LP A Prince Amongst Thieves is now 15 years old, but it still sounds as good today as it did back in 1999.  And  looking back, it's surprising that it wasn't more of a launch pad for Breeze Brewin to go on do much bigger things.
Well, Breeze recently took time out to inform Red Bull Music Academy of some of the history behind the album, including Prince Paul's original intention of having Chino XL in the other lead role!

http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/magazine/breeze-brewin-interview

Young Dirty Bastard

Whilst ripping some videos off of an old VHS I came across this great bit of nostalgia from the Wu-Tang Clan.  It's an episode of Yo! MTV Raps from 1993 with Fab 5 Freddy and was filmed on the production set for the video Da Mystery of Chessboxin. 

I think most people can reminisce about the Wu in their heyday, but watching this episode took me straight back to that era, and seeing Ol' Dirty in his formative days as a fresh faced, raw, crazy and highly entertaining character is priceless.  RIP ODB.

Fresh Like A Winter Morning

Well its been a slow start to the year, and let's be honest, January never has been a great month!  But there's always something to entertain us in the blogger-sphere, however dull the real world seems.

A White Boy MC's Photo Album, 1986-1991

Prime Minister Pete Nice has shared some of his photo collection along with the memories and insights for each picture.  This provides a revealing look into 3rd Bass' history, but also many of the other artists they worked and toured with.  Check the story about Flavour Flav's fake seizure at an airport, classic Flav.

http://deadspin.com/5843406/when-rap-ruled-the-world-a-white-boy-mcs-photo-album-1986+1991/

Prince Paul Ill's Out

Back in 2005 Prince Paul started his World Famous Illout Show on XM radio.  Eight shows later, it all came to an end for unknown reasons (which also meant that it never really became 'world famous').  But Paul has now shared the first episode, and it's great for throwing on in the background whilst you're doing something and packed with a broad selection of 90's nostalgia.  Its also laced with anecdotal tales about many of the tracks or artists he's worked with, and not always in a positive light, which just adds to the entertainment!

 

Prince Paul's World Famous Illout Show archives ! Show 1 Part 1 2005 by Prince Paul on Mixcloud

Prince Paul's World Famous Illout Show archives ! Show 1 Part 2 2005 by Prince Paul on Mixcloud

You Should Know

Spotted this little gem over on Repo's Ageing B-Boys blog, and if you haven't seen it already then its a highly recommended viewing.  This track epitomises everything that was great about UK hip hop 20 years ago and stays true to the classic styles and techniques that made UK hip hop such a potent genre.  And it's great to here some proper cutting up on a chorus again, nice work guys.

If you want to support them, buy the single for £5 here - http://www.blinerecordings.bigcartel.com/product/chrome-illinspired-you-should-know

History & Hunger

I'm pleased to see the stress and chaos of Christmas well behind me, now its time to focus on music and blogging.....
Here's some interesting stuff the internet has thrown up over the last few weeks:

Boombox History

 

In this era, where virtually everything from the early days of hip hop has become either a collectable, iconic, valuable, or captured in some kind of documentary, it never occurred to me that nobody has every really given any shine to the good old boombox.  You know, before the man bag, the record bag or the back pack, the must have accessory was a boom box (or 'ghetto blaster' in some local dialects).  So it's great to see that Egotripland picked up this article which looks back at the power sucking radios that so many of us first heard the latest Electro album on way back in the 80's.

 

http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/how-boomboxes-got-so-badass/

 

 

Chief Rocker History

The original soloist on the mic breaks down a little history in this short biopic.  There's some nice old school footage to accompany the Chief Rocker's narrative of his early years, and he touches on his clashes with Kool Moe Dee and Lovebug Starski.

 

 

R U Gonna Eat That?

I'm really feeling this Dopplegangaz joint of the recently released Marco Polo LP - PA2: The Director's Cut, and now it's got a video!   Marco's smooth thumping beat really fits the Dopplegangaz flow and makes the perfect recipe.  Yep, you should certainly digest this.

 



Madiba

Whenever I see something new by Rakim I approach with extreme caution, as so often I'm left feeling underwhelmed.  I still burn a torch for him in the hope that one day he returns with the right producer and blows me away again.  Unfortunately, this track wasn't the one, but it's a timely tribute to Nelson Mandela and for that reason alone it should get some shine. 

 

 

Straight Buck Wylin In The Place To Be...

November has been a busy month for me, so I've not been keeping up with all the goodness that the internet has to offer, but that doesn't mean that there hasn't been a few things that caught my attention.  So here's a few things that you may want to check out if you haven't spotted them already.

Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See!

In 1997 Busta Rhymes' solo hit confirmed that he'd evolved, he could cut it on his own and that his Leaders of the New School era was firmly behind him.  The latest edition in the Magnum Opus series goes back in time and uncovers the history of this iconic track in this short documentary. 

Can't Lose

Elzhi is back with this smoothed out new track.  He was also seeking some funding for his LP, but appears to have already exceeded his target, so hopefully a new solo LP will be on the way sometime soon.

Guru Tribute Gets A Video

It's been a while since Marco Polo and Talib Kweli collaborated on this joint, and now it's got a video.  As tribute tracks go, this isn't bad.  RIP Guru.

Sublime Wizardry

These guys just hit me up with a link to their latest video, and its made me realise that I've been sleeping on them for months!  They originally hit me up back in the summer (when I was in the midst of a big DIY project and this blog was being neglected a little), so I never got around to checking them out.  But thankfully they nudged me again, and I'm damn glad they did.

To put things in context, it's fairly rare that I heap praise onto current UK hip hop.  I accept that I've got a lot more fussy in my old age, but I'm not alone in saying that most groups these days just can't cut it.  So it's great to be able to say that Sublime Wizardry are dispelling these theories and presenting the listener with fresh new music that's been crafted using the old traditions.  This really is hip hop that's been made for the veteran's that have stayed true to the culture and will appreciate it's authenticity.  They even put their DJ to good use at the end of the track, a feature that is sadly lacking in much of today's music.  I'm now hoping I can catch these guys performing live somewhere in the not too distant future.

Check out the video below, and if you're feeling it then head over to their website where you can hear more of their material including tracks of their recently released Best of the Bunch EP, or you can cop this track from: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/can-she-be-heard-single/id733269157.

Wyld Bunch

Here's a nice little video that's just dropped to promote the Unbreakable EP by Wyld Bunch.
Featuring Hannibal Stax (who seems to be constantly on the rise in recent months) it's an ode to the days when a simple plodding beat, an effective sample for the chorus hook, and straight up New York rhyming was all a track needed.  Sometimes less really is more.

The EP is available on vinyl as well as CD and digital, is produced by DJ Brans and features Masta Ace, Roc Marciano, Guily Simpson and more.

That's Slammin'

I've recently started getting on top of ripping some of the many old videos I have and getting them up on the YouTube channel, but there's still a long way to go!  One of the rarities I was going to rip was the 4 part collection of Slammin' Rap Video Magazine, but YouTube user MusicMan1470 has just saved me a job and ripped the first 3 editions.

These VHS videos are extremely hard to come by and I've never seen them on the web until now, so don't sleep on them.  Originally released in 1990 and 1991, each video was around an hour long and filled with numerous short interviews, videos and clips from the biggest artists at the time.  The first edition was hosted by Alex Winter (the dude who played Bill in the Bill & Ted movies) which was an odd choice, but one that thankfully didn't last into the subsequent editions.

At times it tried to be cutting edge and jump on the latest big signing (like Tarrie B, Smooth Ice), only to find that by the time the video was released, they weren't as big as their labels expected or hoped they'd be, or by including artists on the edge of the genre like Daddy Freddy or the Urban Dance Squad.  But at the same time there was also many little gems to be found, like an interview with a very young Dave Mays and Jon Shecter (co-founders of The Source magazine), a rare Schoolly D interview, MC Ren with CPO etc etc.

I've uploaded the video covers for each volume to show the featured artist on each (click on the image for full size version), but each volume is worth skipping through for some full on early 90's nostalgia.  I've also uploaded the cover for volume 4 and if a few people leave comments requesting it then it might just motivate me to get it uploaded sooner rather than later :)  It'd also be good to have all 4 volumes on YouTube.

Volume 1:

Volume 2:

Volume 3:

Volume 4:

Game of Survival

The Live Squad are best remembered for their outstanding track Heartless and their early association with Tupac.  Unfortunately the group were deemed 'too violent' by their label Tommy Boy Records and their LP never saw the light of day.  Lead vocalist Stretch was later murdered in what is widely believed to be connected to the shooting of Tupac in NYC the year before. 

But before all the problems and tragedy, they made this home movie to accompany their album.  This was released officially, but it seems that many people missed it as it was never properly promoted.  It's essentially the three videos for their early singles, loosely held together by some 'hood' acting (you know what I mean!).  It's maybe not the greatest of these promo videos, but it's a classic bit of early 90's hip hop that's rarely seen, and a great introduction to the Live Squad's all too short catalogue of music.

New York's Finest

In recent months I've been trying to start uploading some stuff to the YouTube channel, but I've not got around to sharing it all on here (yet!).  So I'll start playing catch up by sharing this mini documentary from beat maestro Pete Rock.

It's a 20 minute behind-the-scenes look at the making of his 2008 album NY's Finest.  It's much of the usual stuff that you'd expect, but there's also some unexpected highlights, like Chip Fu from the Fu-Schnickens laying down Ready For The War and Do-It-All from Lords of the Underground in the studio.

Wu Excitement???

1996 was probably the last time I put those two words in the same sentence.  Maybe that's a little harsh, individual members of the Wu have certainly shone at various times, but in my mind the Wu Tang have been fairly underwhelming since around 1996/97.  That is, until now.

You've either been in a coma, working on the international space station, or stranded in a desert somewhere if you've missed all the hype around the latest Ghostface Killah project Twelve Reasons to Die.  But just because there's been a lot of hype, it doesn't mean that you've paid it any attention.  I haven't, because experience has taught me not to get excited about the Wu, and I'm sure I'm not on my own.

Last year I really enjoyed the Trophies  album by Apollo Brown and O.C., in fact it ranked in my top three.  So when I saw that Apollo Brown had remixed the new Ghostface album I felt compelled to pay some attention to it, and I'm glad I did.  

I should probably mention now that the Apollo Brown remix is currently only available on a limited edition free cassette that accompanies the CD album.  Most (if not all of these) have been sold, but I can help you out there so keep reading.

Before I get into the music, let's just read the concept for the album, how it was conceived and understand that this album was recorded live.  

From the official website: As those involved tell it, the story came first, the music second and the lyrics last. Twelve Reasons to Die is the creation myth of a black superhero set in 1960s Italy, which looks a lot like 1990s Scorsese. The curtain opens on a young man born into a life of crime. But anyone familiar with Robert De Niro’s characters in Goodfellas and Casino knows what’s coming next when Ghostface’s character rhymes, “I was a boss among white boys, rocking a ‘fro.” He hits the ceiling, leaves to start a black syndicate, falls in love with a boss’s daughter and makes a ton of money importing cocaine. For these crimes, the criminal organization he came up in murders him and dumps his body in a vat of acetate. His former friends press 12 records from his remains, but when those records play, his vengeful spirit arises. Though he was rebuffed and disrespected in life, in legend the Ghostface Killah becomes immortal.

And just like it's cinematic concept, the album plays out like a film.  The production quality is akin to the same creativity that Rza showed in the early days of the Wu, often using simple, effective, stripped back melodies and beats that give everything space to breathe.

It's not my intention to write a review of this album, so that's enough of my analysis.  Why not check it out for yourself without having to part with your hard earned cash.  Even better, why not check out the Apollo Brown remix for free too?  And just for good measure, I'll even embed the video too.  If you're feeling this album, or just a fan of Ghostface, then you've got a full hit to you main artery here.

Mike Check.

Stream the original full length album...

Stream the Apollo Brown remix album - The Brown Tape...

Or watch the video for the lead single...

Which Authority?

As the weather begins to heat up, so does the music.  With several decent albums having dropped this month (more on this in my next post), and potentially several more in the near future, hip hop is looking quite good right now.  The winter drought appears to be over, and here are a few pieces of interest from around the world wide webz that reflect this.

Somewhere In between 1 and 2!

Next month Marco Polo releases his follow up to his 2007 debut LP Port Authroity that is imaginatively titled Port Authority 2 (I guess it tells you what to expect from it!).  As expected nowadays, some early marketing and hype is required in the form of a mixtape, so Marco has released the free to download Newport Authority 2.  It's slightly confusing as there isn't a Newport Authority 1.  

Well aside the confusing and effortless titles, the mix contains some better tracks than I've come to expect from these promotional releases.  This is due to the fact that these tracks were only left of the final cut because of legal issues around sample clearances etc.  I found the Tragedy Khadafi track particularly head nodding (and it's good to see Trag back in action), but there's a few others that are worth a listen too, not to mention the already leaked tunes from Big Daddy Kane and Rakim.  

Zoned Out

I've been a fan of J-Zone's production from the beginning, so it was nice to watch this short clip of him crafting something new using a well known break and chop it up with some more unusual samples.  And if you've ever wondered where all those retro movie sound bites come from, well he answers that too!

Mister Warz Taking Over

If you're over 35 years old and haven't yet stumbled across the Disco Scratch site and its frequent radio shows, then you're missing out.  Disco Scratch is dedicated to providing suitable hip hop to B-Boy's of a certain age.

This month saw Mista Warz make his debut appearance on Disco Scratch with an eclectic showcase of music that was all held nicely together with crazy snippets and sound bites.  For me this show has that unique balance of playing classic cuts that are familiar, but still rare enough for you to say "hell, I've not heard that in ages".
Check out the show (embedded player or download link) and the full track list here: http://discoscratch.co.uk/2013/04/18/warz-takeover-show-1/.

An Educated Mind

A friend brought this to my attention, and whilst it might not be strictly hip hop, it's urban poetry which is only one step away.  I'd highly recommend you watch this as the message is delivered with good punchlines and thought provoking ideas that most of us can relate to.  This is the type of message that hip hop used to convey to the kids, what happened?

SBX - Holding Down The Tradition

Classic mini documentary from the D.I.T.C crew.  Featuring clips from the infamous freestyle battle between Lord Finesse and Percy P (the whole battle is on YouTube so check it out), and the friendly rematch that was made specifically for this DVD.  R.I.P. to Party Arty.

Also features performance of the tracks:
1. A.G. - Inspiration
2. D-Flow - Don't Know Me
3. Party Arty - Everyday
4. G.D. - Ghetto Dwellas
5. A.G. - Little Big Man

Fresh Beats

I tend to find that January and February are pretty quite months for new releases, or more specifically, the good quality releases that we're waiting for don't generally drop during the post Xmas lull.  But although no killer albums have dropped yet, there are a number of tracks that are bubbling right now that hint towards 2013 having some interesting releases.

There's even enough of them to make it worth me cobbling together this post together and sharing them with you (and that doesn't happen to often!).

Boston's Finest

First up is some new Edo G.  Boston's long time favourite emcee is back with more of the grown man rap that we've come to expect from him.  This is a release from his forthcoming album Intelligence & Ignorance that drops on 5th February.  I've got to say, that Edo G is certainly one of the more consistent emcees from the golden era, and this track demonstrates it.



That's not it, there's plenty more after the jump!

Ruff (Sleigh) Riders!

As its that time of year, I usually post something festive to mark the occasion (it's about as festive as I get).  I had a couple of ideas, but then this came up.  I'm not sure what's more surprising, a hardcore rapper reciting Christmas carols, or the fact that he can recall all of the reindeer names!

Merry Xmas to all of our readers, from the FoaWP crew.

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.

Crazy K.I.D.

 

I wanted to do this post a few weeks ago, but due to my NAS drive dying on me and a lack of time to fix it, it’s taken me much longer than I would have liked. The saga with my NAS drive was the main issue, because the rare footage I’m going to share below was residing on that drive, and doesn’t exist anywhere else. I’ve therefore had to rip it apart and retrieve the data, but hopefully you’ll appreciate the work involved (for the techies out there, why is there not a simple way to copy data from an XFS formatted drive to NTFS or FAT32?).

Earlier this month, I heard the tragic news that Lloyd McDevitt (AKA Crazy K.I.D.) had been found dead. He had been missing for more than a month. Although the causes of his death have not been made public, it was not suspicious. This is another tragic loss of young life and another fallen hip hop comrade.

K.I.D. was a UK legend. In the 80’s he was a key member of the world renowned Rock City Crew and recognised as one of the UK’s finest b-boys. In the 90’s he became one of the most talented, yet underrated, emcees the UK has ever had, and was sometimes referred to as a British Rakim. His most successful track is his collaboration with DJ Mink and Carruthers on the underground hit Hey, Hey, Can You Relate. I’ve previously stated that this is one of my all time favourite tracks, and more than 20 years on it stands the test of time. K.I.D. was ahead of his time and it’s a great shame he never blew up like he deserved to. There is rumoured to be an unreleased LP in existence, but whether this will ever see the light of day remains to be seen.

Now, I mentioned earlier that I had some rare footage of K.I.D. I call it ‘footage’ rather than a video because it’s important to keep this in perspective. In the early 90’s K.I.D. released an EP called Killin' MC's that was only available as a demo cassette. This is before he signed with Kold Sweat Records. The footage below is raw and unedited and was shot for a video to promote the Killin' MC's EP.  To my knowledge the video was never completed. So the sound isn’t perfect and it’s by no means a final product. However, I feel this clip shows K.I.D. flowing at his finest, taking his rap shit serious but also shows his fun loving side at the end.

I have more of this footage, and in time I may edit it down and share it with you, but for now, this is how I remember K.I.D., he was killin emcees. 

After the video, I’ve added some links to some of my fellow bloggers tributes to K.I.D. In their posts, you can download most of his back catalogue and hear for yourself what a talented emcee he was.

Lloyd McDevitt (K.I.D.) 1969-2012 - Rest in peace

 



 

http://tothebreakofdawn.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/kid-raw-flavours-volume-1.html

http://stylewarriorzrevenge.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/in-memory-of-kid.html

And some of his early work under the name 2wice The Trouble can be found here http://fearofawackplanetblog.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/sing-song.html

You got a little girl?

Peep Nas' new video for his single Daughters.  It's good to see Nas back doing more conscious tracks, and I'm sure that all of you Dad's with teenage daughters will certainly see Nas' perspective on this one. 

Rapping graffiti characters!

It's been a while since we heard anything from DJ Format, but he's back, and if this teaser video is anything to go by the album looks like it should be a corker.  Due out on 27th Feb, the album features contributions from Edan, Mr Lif, Phill Most Chill, Sureshot La Rock and more.

I'm loving the artistic creation in this video and the representation of the wider elements of hip hop culture.  The video was created using animated graffiti art by and filmed by Jeff Metal.  Innovative videos aren't new to DJ Format.  If you're not familiar with his earlier material then I strongly recommend you check out Vicious Battle Raps feat Abdominal from his 2003 album Music for the Mature B-boy.  It's a clever single-take video that adjusts to cater for Abdominal's variable speed of rhyming, and is laced with crazy background cameo's to compliment his playful rhymes.
It's good to see DJ Format back, and representing good UK hip hop. 

Blogwatch - January 2012

Damn, what a great start to the New Year.  It seems as though bloggers and web masters are going crazy with their content.  Here's the usual monthly round up of the internet's best offerings. 


Fab 5 Freddy discusses Gang Starr's Just to get a rep video
The DJ Premier blog has come correct twice this month!  First off is an interview with Fab 5 Freddy about the iconic Gang Starr video for their single Just to get a rep.  Fab 5 discusses the production processes of casting the right characters, picking the right locations, avoiding MTV's strict cencorship whilst still delivering one of the best hip hop videos of all time.
http://www.djpremierblog.com/2012/01/24/director-fab-5-freddy-talks-music-video-just-to-get-a-rep/


W - The story of the Wu Tang
The Pie and Ears blog has shared this great documentary on the Wu Tang Clan.  With a running time of 1 hour and 20 minutes, this is the full on story of the Wu legacy.