Month in Review

 

September has been a good month.  Maybe not for everyone, but for those of us who crave old school and golden era nostalgia, it's been a bumper month.  What's been most surprising though, is that much of this little collection is kind of new, despite being old (bear with me and you'll see what I mean).  Ah heck, to save me explaining it, just peep the first item and you'll see where I was going. 

 

Be sure to follow the jump link as there are mixtapes, break beats, new music and much more for your eyes and ears.  I told ya, it's been a monster month.

 

Bizarre Tribe

 

No, I've not found a previously undiscovered group of cannibals deep in the Amazon rain forest!  But if you haven't heard this mix yet then you must have been deep in the Amazon yourself.  Amerigo Gazaway (who previously fused Fela Kuti and De La Soul to critical acclaim) has been hard at work again, this time reinterpreting the music created by A Tribe Called Quest.  Using the original soul, funk and jazz samples, Gazaway recreates the instrumentals from some of ATCQ's classics, and then drops vocals from the Pharcyde over the top.

Kool Moe Dee - Unsung

If you're under the age of 30 and have an interest in hip hop history, then this is essential viewing.  If you're over 30 (and are a b-boy/b-girl who's aging gracefully), then this is pure nostalgic pleasure and Kool Moe Dee's significance to hip hop should need no introduction.

As a pioneer of the speed rap style, one of hip hop's first intellectual rappers, and the legendary slayer of (the king of his time) Busy Bee, Kool Moe Dee's place in hip hop history is already assured.  But this documentary adds more depth to Moe Dee's contribution and contains many other interesting nostalgic moments as well as interviews with other legends from that era.  Moe Dee makes a good contribution himself and discusses his long running feud with LL Cool J and it's explained how the infamous red Kangol hat that was associated with LL Cool J ended up under the wheels of his jeep on his How Ya Like Me Now LP cover (see above).

Interestingly the programme highlights Spoonie Gee recording music before the Sugar Hill Gang's 1979 release of Rapper's Delight.  It also shows Kool Moe Dee performing on the US TV programme Graffiti Rock which the Arsonists and Non Phixion later paid tribute to in their video for their 14 Years of Rap collaborative single.

This documentary was originally shown recently on TV One's outstanding series Unsung.

Mike Check.

Art of Rap

Well, after all the hype, opinions and criticisms, if you haven’t yet seen Ice-T’s rapumentary Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap then here is your chance. Although a minority have criticised it for one reason or another, the majority seem to have welcomed its presence and feel that it fills some of the gaps that previous documentaries have failed to cover. And, it does attempt to cover the art of emceeing, rather than being a collection of interviews with old schoolers talking about how hip hop got started.

For me, this film is a welcome addition.  No single film is ever going to document hip hop perfectly, or explain the art form in consierable detail, and no matter how many people you interview there will always be an alternative opinion from someone.  But hey, it's that complexity that makes hip hop so compelling and captivating to such a broad audience.

Given that this is Ice-T’s directorial debut, I think he’s done a pretty good job. Yes it could have been better and yes it could have included so-and-so. But in fairness to Ice-T, I guess this is what happens when you have to make the film a certain length and appeal to broad enough audience that you can justify the filming costs and get it onto the big screen. With that in mind, I think we’re onto a winner. After all, when was the last time you saw a rapumentary hit the big screen like this one did?

The DVD was released yesterday and although I can’t confirm it, it appears to be longer than the film, so I’m guessing it will contain additional footage and interviews, which may go some way to pleasing the critics.

Peace
Mike Check


Note: - To get the film to play without the advert, make it full screen. Alternatively, you need to click a little x that usually appears somewhere beneath the green 'download' button.  This will close the advert and allow you to play the film at the smaller resolution.  Don't download the advertised software as you don't need it and it'll probably screw up your computer.

Saxon Scoundrels - The B Boy Master Files

These days when most people first get online the obvious thing, I would imagine, would be to look for porn. Not so in my case you'll be pleased to know as the old school b boy in me never died so my first mission was to find out some old records I wanted but never had enough money to buy. I remember searching for two records in particular, 'You Can Make It' by Charlie Brown and The CB Girls and 'Little Cezar' by Elliott Ness & The Untouchables. One of the websites that came up was one called 'Trakfinder' and it was run by a chap by the name of Russell and he called himself the MP3 Genius. There was also a message forum where you could discuss whatever you liked musically speaking as long as it was old school related. I was a little nervous at asking for stuff at first but thought what the hell, he can only tell me to cobblers so I asked for both the aforementioned tracks in mp3 format and they appeared within a few days in my inbox and I was delighted I can tell you. He also had some cut 'n' paste, Latin Rascals style mixes for download, namely 'Locked In To The Boss' parts 1 and 2 and they were  unbelievably dope. I discovered this limited 7" single pressed on orange vinyl to make it extra special and released on Freddy Fresh's B Boy Beats and Pieces label which has more of the same razor sharp editing and is the first where he teamed up with his partner in scoundrelling Ictus and they contribute an offering each, both of which I'm sure, will blow you away.

Download

Scratch That

I'm sure many of you will already have seen Scratch, the feature length documentary on DJing and turntablism released in 2001.  But whether you've seen it already, or missed it the first time around, it's an excellent film that truly captures the world of the DJ and is certainly worth another watch.

The most poignant moment for me was seeing DJ Shadow sitting in the basement of a 2nd hand record store surrounded by towers of vinyl and telling how it's a humbling experience being a part of the big pile of people's broken dreams, and how every artist will eventually end up there.  So true, and it also highlights the many dedicated, lonely hours that go into making those beats and giving those broken dreams another chance at being heard, even if it is only for a few seconds.

Mike Check

Nobody is on holiday!

 

I thought this was the holiday season when everybody went away and the internet hit a periodic lull.  Nope.  The US heatwaves and the UK washout seems to be keeping people indoors, so there's been plenty of interesting stuff to keep me entertained this month, and here are a few things that I think you might appreciate, read plenty more after the jump:

 

Eventually - Show & A.G. LP Is Coming

For nearly a year it's been talked about, leaked, hyped, pre released etc etc, but it seems that it's now actually going to happen for real.  This is the first track from the full LP and if it's anything to go by then the LP will be some real grown man rap (at last).

 

Total Eklips

French beatboxer Eklips gives us a Hip Hop history in 4 minutes of top notch beatboxing .  He covers everything from Planet Rock, to Tupac, Public Enemy to Dr Dre and everything significant in between.  It's good fun trying to name the tunes and keep up with how quickly he flips them.

Banned (for the wrong reasons)

Not so long back, I looked back at the contribution of the 2 Live Crew in the late 80’s. During my review I committed to upload their full length VHS home video that was released in 1991.
Well, spare time has been scarce in recent months, so I’ve not had a chance to do it yet, but for once this has worked in my favour.  Instead of me sharing an old VHS rip, someone on YouTube has uploaded a laser disc version for our viewing pleasure.

Now cast aside any thoughts you might have about Luther Campbell and his somewhat unique brand of sex rap, and let us remember that the 2 Live Crew took on the US justice system to define what freedom of speech really meant.
I didn’t care how many times they use the word bitch on their album, nor how many times they used the F or N words (or any other profane or derogatory term), but I was deeply concerned about record store owners being told what they could or couldn’t stock. [Hell, I remember the only reason I copped a copy of N.W.A.’s 2nd LP was because I knew the store owner, and even then he made me buy a bullshit album and gave me N.W.A.’s album free with it so that he couldn’t be accused of selling banned album!].
If the American do-gooders had won this particular argument, it could have opened the door for wholesale censorship on a grand scale!!! So, unexpectedly, I find myself thanking Luther Campbell for fighting for our freedom of speech (but I still won’t buy his records, lol).

Watching this home movie 20 years on, I’m seeing it all from a whole new angle, and I find myself wondering whether the right outcome would have been a compromise between the do-gooders and the 2 Live Crew. Whilst I’m completely against the suppression of freedom of speech and artistic expression, I’m pretty certain that the 2 Live Crew’s victory effectively gave every record exec full authority to put as many scantily clad hip hop honeys, shaking their ass, in every video they could without the fear of being challenged. And lyrics could now be as derogatory as you like, cos hey, nobody’s going to challenge it. The problem isn’t with the derogatory content, it’s that those who specialise in this field are extremely limited in almost every other aspect of lyricism. I’m not thanking Luke for that!

What’s also interesting is the attitudes of the people, and their appetite to stop this type of music from damaging the kids, even though rock and roll had already committed most of the same crimes several decades before.

This video contains excerpts from the infamous Donahue interview, footage of the concerts that got stopped, the record store that got raided etc, along with the usual live footage and videos for the singles.

It's A Demo

I'm often found digging around in the bowels of the internet trying to find rare and elusive stuff that I've failed to obtain over the years, and sometimes I find things that I didn't even know existed until I stumbled upon them.  It's much like crate digging, but I'm not restricted to vinyl, I'm not seeking any holy grails and I'm not in dusty old record shops inducing frequent fits of sneezing!  Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking crate diggers.  I've happily spent many months of my life in those dusty old dungeons, but that was the old days, I'm mostly digital now. And besides, there isn't a high street store or online retailer that sells that old TV clip, concert footage or demo tape that I'm looking for, so alternative methods must be adopted.

While researching hip hop archaeology via the power of the internet, I usually wind up on some defunct blog page that once shared a rare gem, but the download link is now dead.  This sets me off on a wild goose chase to find that item elsewhere.  Successfully finding what I want is currently about 50/50 (it was higher before the demise of Megaupload!).

There is one minor problem with this hobby and the techniques I employ.  Just like a crate digger, you tend to overlook the main retailers.  This rarely concerns me, but every once in a while I find that hidden gem sitting somewhere fairly obvious and easy to find, which brings me to this post.

I was recently digging around when by fluke I came across a gem of an article on the Complex.com website.  Now maybe in the week this was published I was heavily dozing or on holiday or something, but whatever the reason was, I completely missed it.  What surprises me most though, is that something this good wasn't blogged or tweeted much more widely [if someone tells me it was, then I'll have to admit to being in a self induced coma!]. 

So what is this little gem that I'm banging on about..... well, it's only 30 demo tapes from some of the biggest and most influential artists in the rap game!!!  Each of these tapes has been digitised for your listening pleasure and most of them are essential listening. 

More Knowledge

I recently shared an old recording of what I believed was the UK Rappin' Championships and asked if any of you knew anything more about it. Well, thankfully someone came forward who knew quite a lot about this event and has provided a considerable update. So here’s a follow up post to share this information with you, along with some video footage of the event!
But before I start, I want to say a big thanks to Shan Dookna for taking the time to help out and share his extensive knowledge.

The event name is still unconfirmed, but I think I’m safe to assume that it probably wasn’t officially called the UK Rappin’ Championships, which would also explain why the all knowing internet didn’t return anything when I started digging.

The competition was actually held as part of the DMC DJ Mixing Championships, and in 1988 these were held at the Hippodrome in London. However, another trawl of the web still doesn’t provide much fruit, the main focus is purely, and understandably, on the DJing. This leads me to believe that this freestyle competition was mainly a warm up show before the main DJ event.

Shan tells me that the judging panel included members of the Cookie Crew and Mike Allen. In my original post I pointed out that the audio cuts off before the winner is announced, but I can now confirm that the winner was in fact Fresh J, who was apparently from Huddersfield. The final battle between Fresh J and MC Brooklyn is actually on YouTube and can be seen here:



One of the female emcees on the recording went by the name of Jazzi P. Shan tells me that this is the same Jazzi P that later went on to work with hip house producer Les Adams. She had a couple of commercially successful singles, as a soloist under her Jazzi P name, but also as the vocalist for Adams’ group L.A. Mix, who had a reasonable hit with the track Get Loose on which Jazzi fires some rapid rhymes. But like what happened to many artists who jumped on the hip house bandwagon, it didn’t take them very far.

Funk, History & The God MC

Here is this months round up of interesting offerings from around the internet:

 

DJ Format - Hip Hop & Funk Mix

Thanks to Battlechaser for bringing my attention to this great mix by acclaimed DJ and produced, DJ Format.  A clever mix of Hip Hop and Funk that he put together to promote his live set with Simonsound on the 18th August.  Check it out.

DJ Format - Hip Hop & Funk Mix by Soundcrash on Mixcloud

Rakim - Mini Documentary

It's only 10 minutes long, but any amount of time with the god emcee is always an intriguing experience.  Some nice little clips of old freestyles on the streets of NY are included too.

Mixtape History

Unkut.com recently produced an interesting article that documents the origins and evolution of the mixtape.  Personally I never really gave a thought as to how the original mixtape came about, but having read Unkut's brief lesson in mixtape history, I've certainly had an enjoyable history lesson (which is more than ever happened to me at school).

I should make it clear, this isn't about the modern mixtape that unsigned artists use in an effort to get noticed, Think of the old Kid Capri and Ron G style of mixtape. 

Your lesson awaits you:
http://www.unkut.com/2012/07/40-years-of-hip-hop-tape-culture/