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.

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.

Month in Review

October has been a fairly quiet month in the blogasphere and interwebz.  Nevertheless there is always something of interest out there.  Here's my cream of the crop for October:

The Man With The Iron Fists - Soundtrack

With Rza dropping his (and Quentin Tarantion's) new film, it may surprise you to know that the accompanying soundtrack can be streamed in full, for free!  And just as you would expect from the Rza, it's a mainly hip hop affair.  Many of the Wu Tang members put in an appearance, alongside Pharoahe Monch, Kool G Rap, Talib Kweli, Kanye West and more. 
Which probably makes this one of the best soundtracks to accompany a mainstream movie for quite some time.  Although I guess that wasn't a particularly challenging achievement given the poor quality of most movie soundtracks.  Still, you might just enjoy it, especially Rivers of Blood with G Rap, it's the Wu-Tang back to their best.  If in doubt, check it out.

New Bumpy Knucks

Check out this new Bumpy Knuckles and Statik Selektah track, personally I thought it was better than Bumpy's recent efforts with Premo and this beat and tempo really suit his style and flow.

Chris Conway - Interview

You're probably saying to yourself 'who is Chris Conway?'.  Well read this interview and you'll see that he's one of hip hop's greatest unsung heroes.  As an engineer, Chris has worked closely with many of the biggest names in hip hop over the last two decades, including Kool G Rap, The Beatnuts, Eminem, most of DITC etc.  He's had a hand in many of our favourite classics.
Chris tells how he inadvertently taught Showbiz to use the MPC-60,  he reflects on Big L, discusses Eminem's intense attention to detail and how he influenced the mega hit Stan and plenty more.  To be honest I think Chris could have filled a 5 part interview with stories for days. 

http://othersounds.com/archives/1574

Peace out,
Mike Check

Free of Style

This is a great little mixtape for those golden age nostalgists out there.  Instead of being the usual mix of classic tracks from established artists, this mix infuses a number of short freestyles over a selection of both well known, and not so well known beats all mixed together by DJ Sav One and DJ Dyllemma.

Dubbed the FreeOfStyle Mixtape - The Underground Come Up: 90's Edition, the whole mix lasts around 45 minutes and kicks off with a nice Lord Finesse track.  There are other DITC offerings from the likes of Big L and A.G. (who goes over a classic Jeru beat to great effect), along with some unexpected inclusions such as Dead Prez and Children of the Corn etc. 

A couple of the freestyles will be familiar to some (hasn't every freestyle by Eminem, Big L, Biggie etc been used to death?), but nonetheless there are plenty of unheard or relatively unknown tracks in here too.  These are frequently coupled with beats that you wouldn't expect, but work well and make for an enjoyable mixtape.  Check Guru over Mobb Deeps Quiet Storm instrumental for example.  The embedded music player and full tracklisting is after the jump.

Mike Check

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.

Shyheim - Live on BET

Shyheim (aka The Rugged Child) was the youngest (and probably smallest!) member of the Wu-Tang Clan. But his age and stature hasn’t affected his presence within the Wu-Tang and compared to many of the better known Wu affiliates, Shyheim has actually had much more success. He’s released studio 5 albums over a 15 year career and worked with a stellar line up of major artists including Big L, 2Pac, Mya, Smoothe Da Hustler, B.I.G., Jay-Z etc.

In 1995 he made a cameo appearance in TLC’s Waterfalls video and has since starred in several Hollywood movies along side the likes of Omar Epps, Pam Grier, Richard Roundtree and other rappers such as Nas and LL Cool J. I don’t think U-God or Cappadonna could top that.

In this video, Shyheim performs one of his biggest hits Manchild, live on BET's Teen Summit alongside fellow Wu affiliate Tekitha.  This is one of my favourite Shyheim cuts, second only to Furious Anger with Big L. 

Download Link (Hotfile - 28mb)
http://hotfile.com/dl/85608110/fc91fc9/Shyheim_Feat_Tekitha_-_Manchild(Live__BET_Teen_Summit).mpg.html