Death row is the label that pays me

So N.W.A officially dead, the only memeber still friends with everyone was Ren. Dre had come out of nowhere with a track called "Deep cover" from a movie soundtrack of the same name. On that now bonafied classic track there was a skinny dude with a hat way way too big for him in the video and little did the world know what was coming next....

Now i wasn't ever gonna drop albums like this on a blog as i thought it was pointless as just about every head in the world had bobbed to this shit at some point right??? wrong?

Now picture the scene... i work with this dude (not a big hip hop fan but he knows some stuff?) I get to work quite often with him already taking over the c.d. player with chronic 2001. So last week i bring in a big stack of c.d's (the chronic and doggystyle included) and proceed to bump head to "fuck wit dre day" when i get asked "whats this????" now i see red and just laff at first but then the more i talk to his dumbass i realise how people still think death row was pure 2Pac. Now I know its not his fault for being young and fucking stupid, but seriously the longer the day went on the more stressed i got with everyone i work with! I had people trying to tell me shit about Dre, Snoop and dont even get me started on Pac.
So rant over, now comes the goodies for all the youngstas out there that really didnt get to be around when the whole Death Row thing blew up. Now I have said this before and i'll say it again... i think Dj Quik was the first to start the whole G Funk shit off but to be fair Dre has that magic touch and with a crew as talented as Snoop and the whole dogg pound its not hard to understand why they ruled the world for 2 or 3 years. Gangsta rap had died a death and New York was bubbling away with classic after classic dropping on a weekly basis. So when the chronic just appeared in the shops (and that really was the case! no one knew that shit was coming) it took a little while for people to trust in another N.W.A related release which was bound to be about tits, pussy and shooting people! but history is now history. Illmatic asside...I dont think there has been a buzz like it since (possibly 50's get rich effort came close) but i'm gonna give you some joints which i think show the whole crew at there best.

Dr Dre - The Chronic

I Picked the album up by surprise i think the week before christmas 92 while visiting my dad. Now my dad had no C.D player in his house so i had to wait nearly a week and a half to hear the shit! imagine that. So i finaly get my ass home and in the presence of some mates, throw the shit on and realise then and there what you listening to is just classic classic shit. But seriosly now i can remember it taking a long long time for people in the U.K to really start bumping this stuff and it wasnt untill "Nuthin but a G thang" took over MTV that people really took a shine to the album. Hip Hop connection (english version of the source at the time) absolutely panned this album!!! fools.

The single came out and as usual from dre there wasnt that much of an extra to the single.
But there was a nice "Freestyle Mix" which cuts way to short as daz is in full flow the shit fades down??? anyone got a longer version of this hook me up. Also there was a "Club Mix" Which is basically nuthin but a G thang over the bitches aint shit beat? exciting hey? but it works quite well and gives the track a little harder edge to it .

Then came Let me Ride... Another pretty dull single release with no mixes then came another version? that seemed to happen a lot with this album (3 different singles of the same song ) but then there was a "Let Me Ride (extended) " version . A full 11 mins long with some alternate lyrics and beat was a tiny bit different. but well worth having if you dont have it.

Then...Dre finally releases a single thats worth its weight in bud seeds and quite possibly the essential dre 12" to own.

Now i remember hearing "Deep cover/One Eight Seven" a long time before the chronic came out but could never find the track and i dont think many did so the fact it was finaly released on this 12" was defiantely the biggest reason to own it...untill you flip it over and get blessed with the now classic studio smoking session banger that is "puffin on blunts & drankin tanqueray" Classic 12" here for any vinyl junkie alive.

That was that...The chronic and its singles were absolutely played to death for over a year and the hip hop world waited on the arrival of Snoops solo album. Now when "whats my name" dropped i was a little dissapointed to tell the truth but then the day arrived and the album dropped.

Snoop Doggy Dog - Doggystyle

So on very first listen you have the bathtub intro????? then the actual G-funk intro where Lady of rage explodes the album up straght away and all is forgotten with the dissapointing first single. classic after classic on this album and it just picks up from where Chronic left off. I own not a single 12" from this album ? i dont know why but nevermind.

Then came a little spin off featuring the whole death row crew. The track "murder was the case" from snoops album was turned into a mini film and that paved the way for a soundtrack to be created from pretty much the entire Death Row roster. Not by any means a classic but there were some very good tracks on it and its one of those albums i not seen posted up anywhere else so i thought i would do the honours.

Murder Was The Case - OST

So to wrap it all up I think i've thrown up a little surprise. This wasnt a Death row release but it may as well have been. The man responsible for introducing Snoop to Dre, Warren G. Warren G is Dre's little step brother and had a little crew going on with Snoop and Nate Dog while Dre was in the studio producing N.W.A's last album. Of course things happened and Dre and Snoop did the deep cover thing and "G-Funk was officially born" soon after.
So as not to be caught in the shadow of his older step brother Warren G released his debut album and it was very nicely named "Regulate...G Funk era"

Warren G - Regulate...G -Funk era

So that concludes my little death row connections ting. I do have many many views about the similarites with Dre's effort and Above The Laws "Black Mafia Life" album but as my pc wont rip the cd its kind of hard to throw down my argument about it. hope you enjoy the tracks if you havn't heard them before.......

the fabulous......

Chi ali has a hip hop story that is beyond belief ...."I was very upset that night. Thirty seconds, man, can change your whole life. And, you know, I'm paying for it."

Dude sure is. Chi currently serving a 14 year stretch for shooting his then girlfriends brother over some petty shit? But thats the pollitics out the way.

Whatever happened that night will never take away the pure gem of an album that a 14 year old produced!!! damn straight 14!!!

Every time i hear "maniac psycho" or "let the horns blow" i cant help but wonder just what went wrong with chi's career? I know i have a slight affection of both the beatnuts production skills and the whole native tongue clique but this really was to me a bonafied classic. I loved this album (can you tell?) but his decline happened way before the shooting incident so someone tell me what the fuck happened after this album came out. i know he popped up on dres's solo LP but thats about it?

The album came out with the first single "age aint nothin but a #" I wonder which dumb ass record label exec thought of using that track as the albums first single? i think they tried to get him as much commercial rep as they could which is a damn shame as the album was so much better than that track. So the single was only rescued by the fact "maniac psycho" was on the B side as that is the only reason to buy it!

But then came the next single...Let the horns blow/Funky Lemonade

Now this was much more like it. The "funky lemonade remix" is 5* classic shit! so well worth the download.
Next up came ...Roadrunner 12"

Roadrunner Puberty Mix

Another totaly on point remix this time coming from A tribe called quest

Then i come to a track not featured on the album and i cant remember for the life of me where i picked this up from. i am sure this was on a B side of a black sheep 12???

No Surrender, No Retreat

This track is just solid sickness and shows the signs of what the now older Chi ali had to offer but sadly thats all she wrote. The only details i could find on this track was here
But i am pretty sure it was available somewhere else but i aint flicking thorugh crates looking for something i probably wont find?

All in all though Chi Came through with his 1 and only Album and this is an absolute must to any collection if you can find it nowadays.

The Fabulous Chi Ali

Its been a long time....

OK OK OK I know i been away a while and i am very sorry. I kinda go through different spells of randomness in my year!
I think towards the end of the summer every year i start to get my Hip Hop swing back on for the rest of the year? i slowley coming back around to the darkside. I am a very busy boy you see! I have been away working on my DJ technique for a little while and i been mixing a lot of dance stuff and collaberating with a friend of mine on some remix shit.

When i first started blogging I was pretty eager to impress and over time it starts to be very consuming and unless you 100% dedicated to this shit you DIE! so for now im just gonna say i'm like 60% dedicated to blogging but 100% dedicated to bringing the goods when i do....

So here is my first installment of my part time blogging goodies. I've gone for a live bootleg i did myself!!! This was ripped a few years back when the beasties came to London to promote the whole 5 boroughs thing.
They did a one off live gig for radio1 here in the U.K and i sat there old school stylee and taped it (nah i didnt i just listened online and used my audio shizzle to rip it) But it still came out all good and to anyone who has ever seen the beasties live they kinda know this is gonna be pure fire! so i hope you enjoy
more to follow very soon and i swear i wont leave it so long this time!

The Beastie Boys Live in London

Enjoy...

Proof R.I.P

A year ago today Hip Hop lost Proof. Best friend to Eminem and without a doubt a true talent in his own right. I have a bootleg freestyle that both proof and Em feature on ripped from a Tim Westwood show a couple of years back. This is one of my favourite freestyles of all time and i challenge anyone to not laugh their ass off at some of the things Proof and Em drop. i do still have the full show somewhere ? but this freestyle shows the talent that is now gone but not forgotten......

Proof and Eminem 5 mic freestyle!!!

Prime Minister Pete Nice & Daddy Rich

Pete Nice & Daddy Rich - Dust To Dust

I dont know why people were scared to buy this album? With a proven track record with the group 3rd bass this should have been an album that got snapped up a lot more than it did.

???

For those that havnt heard this album i can assure that you are missing out on a beat heavy stomper of an album. the first track "Rat Bastard" is straight up Pow to your face! The bass and beat are just sick! and an excellent guest appearance from Psycho Les from the Beatnuts make it sure shot that you want to hear more of this album. I will agree that Pete nice on his own possibly had too much to carry on his own lyrically for an album with 16 tracks and i think had mc serch stayed with the rest of 3rd bass this album and serch's solo effort (coming soon!) could have been merged into a bonafied classic. I think as a group 3rd bass were always just short of becoming slightly special and despite how much i loved this album and the serch joint, i have always felt slightly robbed of what maybe coulda been?

But dont let me put you off as this album holds its own and deserves the listen. There was only 2 singles released off the album and "Kick The BoBo" had an entertaining video and and equally nice "Remix" courtesy from yes you guessed it...The beatnuts! its a much better mix and a lot heavier than the album version

The track "3 Blind mice" features a guest from Kurious and is a nice track indeed. My favourite track is blatantly the opener "rat bastard" this is as i mentioned before, just basically a banger and a must have on any 90's mixtape! but all the way through the album its hard to see why the group were not asked to produce a lot more than they were as the production on this album is faultless! make sure you check it out.

I'm Kurious

So with my large rant over i will go back to my lazy ass write ups :-/

I posted up some Beatnuts stuff the other week so im gonna start with people that rolled in the same circles....... 1994 and im sitting there watching YoMtv when a video comes on

Kurious - Walk like a Duck

I recognised a few cats in the video and liked the track so i grabbed the album next time i saw it (this was also the 100th C.D i ever bought) <-----how sad am i knowing that?

But this album was just awesome you have half the production credit going to the beatnunts and the other half going to the SD50's, Now that should make you want to own the album by itself. The album starts with some crazy hispanic dude swearing lots (i remember my mum shouting up at my room and saying "what the fuck are you listening to?") but after about 30 seconds beat and bassline take over completely and the album bursts into life with "spell it with a J" this is one of my favourite opening tracks to an album ever.

The album just rolls along nicely track by track with guest appearences from The Nuts themselves and a surprise appearence Casual from hierro. But alltogether if you had to rate every track on this album out of 10 i dont think any would drop below 7 which to me is a must own album. The stand out tracks are proper stand out too!

"I'm Kurious" is just a well thought out autobiography of the man himself over a great beat (pete nice & daddy rich did it!!!)

This was also a great single and came with a quite nice remix and a great non album track "mansion and a yacht" featuring Sadat X and Mike Gee.

"Uptown shit" was my personal highlite. Its by now means a 5 mic classic but its just one of those really well put together tracks that makes you nod your head like a churchill dog

Kurious - A Constipated Monkey

Now kurious kinda went off the radar? but from what i understand he is still involved in the game but possibly under a different name? so anyone know hook me up?

But all in all a solid album and well worth the download.

I'm sorry

First off can i say a big sorry to any peeps that been checking my blog recently and been dissapointed with the lack of content...all i got to say is i been a busy boy! But now i back and i have a few huge drops for you all.

I sat with an old school friend the other day in the pub who i hadnt seen for a while, we ended up changing numbers and over the last few days we been practically living at each others houses listening to hip hop and copying shit up for each other so believe me when i say i have some very very classic shit coming up for you over the next few weeks.

Now the thing that defines the golden era of hip hop for me was that pretty much everyone had 6/7 absolute gems on there albums. there was a complete lack of filler back in the day and practically every album i own from then has been played to death? i cant think of an album that has made me do that for a while now.

While it seems essential to be rolling in a crew 20 deep right now back in the days you could be part of a crew but your album was yours and yours alone and apart from the odd verse here and there and the production credits. But what that gave us was little crews that consistently had classic albums. So with my next few posts im gonna throw up albums from similar crews that rolled together so you can see how different it is listening to a crew like D.I.T.C back then to listening to someone like G-Unit nowadays? (why would you?)

Im not a G-unit hater or anything but i think thats the easiest crew to pick out of the hat and say whats wrong with hip hop nowadays? you can buy pretty much any album from the G-unit crew and you know what you gonna get before you buy it, the same cannot be said for what crews used to throw out back in the 90's.

I always try to keep my posts fairly to the point which is the music!!! at the end of the day i know 80% of readers only go to the download and click. I'm not gonna get all funny about that cos frankly i dont care too much, dont get me wrong i love it when i get comments and feedback but at end of the day im here to share my shit up. Im guilty of doing the same thing quite often and i guess the reason i started my blog was to just put out the stuff i loved and hoped that people would occasionally say "damn! and then maybe fill in any gaps that i had not covered" and so far thats happened a lot so my whole reason for doing this works for me so thats what im gonna stick too. There are a few readers of my blog who i know do check in lots and always leave me a comment or 2 :-) and that is greatly appreciated! so hopefully i can show that back in my posts coming up over the weeks!

I will try my best to not leave it as long anymnore to update ...peace

House Party

Now there was a lot of movies out back in the day that always get mentioned when talking about hip hop....Juice, Boys in the hood and new jack city. But there always seems to be the not so much talked about House Party. This film was funny as fuck and i think you can still watch it today and still laff your ass off!

You have to love this film even tho kid's haircut is out of controll, there are moments of this film which i think pretty much everyone can relate too... everyone has been to a party like this at some point in there life... surely?

There was some pretty sweet music too in this film and i picked up the soundtrack ages and ages ago. Now there are some songs from the film which never made it onto the soundtrack which i dont get at all but the main tracks are really all included on the cd. So i give you the official soundtrack to the movie. hope you enjoy and hopefully it makes you want to watch the movie again...

House Party OST

Special guest starring Mark Ronson...

Mark Ronson is creating a bit of a buzz at the minute and truth be told its long long overdue...

Mark has been on the boards for some of Hip Hops biggest names over the last few years and is about to drop an album full of Hits Reworked to the Ronson way!

The first track Stop Me is fucking Genius to say the least! Check out his Myspace page to hear more cuts from the album...

But as we talking solid hip hop only here im gonna throw in the official Fade to Black mixtape which dropped a few years back. I think a lot of people under rate Jay from time to time or get too caught up with fairly average releases that he seems to be churning out nowadays.

However What this mixtape does is offer you a pretty good rundown on Jiggamans career and even if you own all the albums i highly recomend this mixtape... it does work so well to just throw on in the background while you getting ready to go out for beer! this is a nice grab for any Jay fans and you wont be dissapointed

Jay-Z versus Mark Ronson - Fade To Black (part 1)

Jay-Z versus Mark Ronson - Fade To Black (part 2)

Tracklisting...

1 - Live From Madison Square Garden

2 - "The Abridged Life Story Of Sean Carter Thus Far" by Mark Ronson

3 - Can I Get Open

4 - In My Lifetown (remix)

5 - Dead Presidents II

6 - Cashmere Thoughts

7 - Can't Knock The Hustle

8 - BK's Finest

9 - Notorious B.I.G. Tribute

10 - Foundation

11 - Streets Is Watching

12 - A Million And One Questions (remix) [WORLD PREMIERE]

13 - Where Im From

14 - Marcy To Hollywood

15 - Hard Knock Life (LIVE From Madison Square Garden)

16 - Jigga What Jigga Who (LIVE From Madison Square Garden)

17 - Money Cash Hoes

18 - Big Pimpin' (LIVE From Madison Square Garden)

19 - Do It Again

20 - So Ghetto

21 - Change The Game

22 - I Just Wanna Love You

23 - You Me Him Her (LIVE From Madison Square Garden)

24 - You Don't Know

25 - Girls, Girls, Girls

26 - Heart Of The City

27 - Takeover (Dissin' Nas)

28 - The Ruler's Back

29 - Murder Murder

30 - 1, 2 Y'all

31 - PSA

32 - Dirt Of Your Shoulder [new verse]

33 - 99 Problems (Ronson remix)

34 - Lucifer

35 - December 4th

36 - Farewell To The King (Jay's Goodnight)

37 - The Return

38 - Don't Let Me Die

39 - Big Chips

40 - Freestyle

41 - "Pump It Up" Freestyle

42 - Encore (LIVE From Madison Square Garden)

Shout outs

Its a hard old life this blogging stuff!

Anyways... i been doing it for a minute now and i know i slowed down a bit last few weeks but i just changed jobs so its just a matter of timing and ripping stuff!!!

But saying that makes me realise how much effort other peeps go to on there blogs so i just wanna give a shout out to all the peeps that i have added links for!

One of the first blogs i came accross was the Wake your daughter up blog. I love reading some of the stuff on this blog and all them peeps make me laff my ass off at some of their posts along with the extra large stuff they drop every day pretty much!!! mad props to you lot! Plus you cant fault travis's choice of masta ace as a personal fave!!!

Biff hop is another personal fave of mine and i think everytime i about to drop a post them dudes beat me too it! I love this blog tho and they all know what they talking about!!!

Crooklyns Classics Man!!! this site sort of inspired me to drop a video with every post i did! you cant help love this blog. everytime i look at it they have a new video that i forgot all about! always nice posts too!

and i would go on and mention everyone i hooked up with a link but thats just silly but i am thankfull for all you bloggers out there! Hip Hop will never be dead because of all you cats in my links!

One final shout must go to the Bust The Facts blog!!! i know for a fact that some people are asleep on this blog as i dont see it linked up on as many as i should! all i can say about this blog is thanks!!! i got into hip hop a little later than the true old school! i really caught the bug during the golden era so you have no idea how good this site is at educating peeps like myself on the earlier shit out there! they must have crates on crates on crates!!!

But to all you bloggers out there...keep doing your thing . i have friends out there that read my blog and now have been hooked on some of you other dudes too and that can only be a good thing!

I Make Bitches, Make Me Sandwiches...And Scratch My Ass When It Itches!!!

Now there was a period in the 90's where my speakers and amp belonged to The Beatnuts!!! Now a lot of people say Beatnuts this and Beatnuts that but still the crew never ever get the true respect they deserved? This is one of them things that amazes me. To me the 90's had Pete rock for all that soul production....D.I.T.C for that head bob shit that broke your kneck! Primo for just straight up classics and then the Beatnuts? i mean seriously...if you check their discog its frightening to read how many stone wall classic fucking tracks they churned out. They just seemed to become a factory for beats that beat the shit out your system back in the day!

I'm listening to "Hellraiser" as i type this and the one thing that makes beatnuts stand out is the way the shit still sounds so fresh! and im not talking 1 track im talking just about every beat that has beatnut stamped on it...

From Chi ali to Common Sense to Kurious to Prime minister pete nice damn!!! if i made a list of my favourite hip hop tracks ever, i know half of them would have been produced by the crew.

I remember hearing Chi Ali's "Let the Horns Blow" for the first time and saying "shit!!!" about how dope the track was... so when you in the record shop and completely out of the blue you see The Beatnuts on top of a record sleave you just grab it without a second thought. Now I used to have to travel to buy my records as my hometown was just shit for shops! and i still remember the day I grabbed "Intoxicated Demons EP" It took me an hour to get home by train and i swear that was one of the longest hours i ever had as went home after buying it! The anticipation to hear it was unbelievable! and to this day i think the World's Famous Intro is still one of the greatest ever for me. Its not the fact that its that good? its more the fact that you build up an album so much that sometimes the first track lets you down and kinda puts a downer on the whole thing...Now as soon as the first beat starts on that intro you kinda know its worth the wait and i think from that moment on i was in love with the beatnuts!

***The Beatnuts - Intoxicated Demons E.P.***

So then after dropping all be it a shit hot E.P. the Nuts had to come good with a full length effort and even me being the optimistic fan i was back then never expected the classic that came...

***The Beatnuts***

Now This is just one of those albums where not one track dissapoints? not many of them around eh?

So seriously if you dont own this album you should be locked up somewhere where they make you listen to Elton John records all day! This album is about as golden as the whole golden era itself!!! just download the shit and then go buy it!

Way way way too many tracks to post up indivudually for you but there was the singles from the album. Sadly i dont got the first "Props over here" i did have it but sold it a long long time ago??? i dont know why i did things like that back then? It didn't have anything different from the album tho from what i remember apart from the instrumentals obviously. Luckilly i still got my copy of Hit Me With That/Get funky 12"

So on this 12" came the excellent "Get Funky Remix" which had a cool as hell beat and some alternate lyrics. nice nice 12" to have

There was also a promo 12" from the L.P. which again i dont have but i do have the MP3's....

"hellraiser Remix" and the i copped a version of "Sandwiches Remix" which i had never heard untill i came across a blog which had it! I'm so sorry for not remembering what blog i got it from so if you see this and think "hey shit bag stole my track" i'm sorry!!!

Now i can post album after album from the Nuts, but i not gonna do that shit! I have a hard enough time posting full albums up as it is which is something i didnt want to get into but it seems the only way to get your point across in blogworld! You know you like what you hear so you have to go buy this shit!

but i will follow up with another classic nuts effort with the video for No escaping this...featuring that crazy fucking man called greg nice!!! check out that lunatic dance at the end of the video man!!!

Why didnt they blow? #3 Dred Scott

***Dred Scott - Breakin' Combs***

Now this could be one of my shortest write ups ever... I know very little about Dred apart from the fact that i loved this album! I heard the track "Nuttin Ta Lose" a long time before i managed to grab the album. My mate at the time did me a mixtape of loads of tracks and the Dred track was probably the one that got re-wound the most. Full of energy and a pretty hot beat this has to be one of my favourite hip hop tracks of all time... It just has that appeal to me for some reason. When you listen to the album you hear quite a bit of name dropping which tells you that dred kinda ran in the right circles so its strange for me to understand why he didnt blow???

Like a lot of albums from back in the golden era you kinda forget about them for a while untill you get the opportunity to listen them again and realise just how averagely shit hip hop is now! this would probably be classed as a 3 star album back then but when you listen to this 10+ years later you feel a bit sad that people like this dropped one album then fled? All in all this is a solid album and well worth the download!

I been told that Dred Scott had a few more releases but i never managed to check any of them. i managed to grab a copy of "Check The Vibe Remix" but the sound quality is a bit shit to tell the truth and the remix aint that much different to the album version so just grab the album???

If anyone can fill me in with some more dred stuff you know where to hit me up!

Okay Okay Okay...What more can i say?

Grand Puba -Reel To Reel

After the success of Brand Nubian's first album ONE FOR ALL, Grand Puba chose to go solo...

This was quite a brave choice to make from a relative newcomer on the scene but as it turned out it was probably the right choice to make. Both Puba and Brand Nubian went on to release very very solid albums. I think a lot of Nubian fans feared for their future when the puba left as many saw him as the most gifted of the bunch, A fact that Sadat X did very well to prove not true!

I'm gonna avoid writing too much on Brand Nubian for now as i want to keep that for a later date so i'm just gonna focus on Puba.

I guess a lot of people didnt know what was gonna happen with his brave solo joint but the first single went on to become a classic of the golden era! "360 What Goes Around" was just what was needed to put people's hopes up about the album. The album itself didnt dissapoint? it was never a 5 mic classic but it had touches of sheer class all over it. Puba never claimed to be the greatest rapper but what he did give you was clever and well thought out hiphop!

The album was a great achievment really considering he had braved a solo career on the back of a stone wall hip hop classic with brand nubian so check it out.

And for people who want to do as Puba Says and "check the resume" i would seriously advise it! its quite unbelievable the amount of work Puba has put in over the years

Dj Quik's 304 Posse

304 Posse

The 304 posse consisted of DJ Quik , 2nd II None, A.M.G and Hi-C

Now i was always a big fan of Dj Quik which i used to get all manner of shit about. I dont know why my friends never seemed to like quik? i think the dude is seriously under rated as a producer and while Dre gets a lot of props for starting the whole G-Funk era off???? it seems to me that people must have not ever heard a Dj Quik album. The man was funky as hell and to me, Quik really started off the whole G-Funk shit. The proof is there on wax!!!

so I am gonna start up with Quik's first album...

Dj Quik - Quik Is The Name

I'm not totally sure if the 304 posse had been created when he dropped his first album but one thing is for sure it was definately in full swing with the arrival of 2nd II None.

2nd II None were KK & Gangsta D and they released a nice nice album!

This album was smooth as hell but still had moments of player brilliance on it. The whole crew started to take off on this album imediately and with Quik on producer duty you know the beats were going to be pretty funky. There were some real classics on this album and none more better than Niggaz Trippin...This featured the whole 304 posse and was a classic back in the day!

2nd II None - 2nd II None

The crew weren't taking time to release albums either i remember pretty much straight away A.M.G dropped the classic Bitch Betta Have My Money. Now there is a some straight up classics on this joint and its a shame he didnt get a bit bigger out tyhere cos the man had some smooth shit. I think the main reason being his lyrical content? but damn some of it was funny as hell! I'm guessing womens rights groups would have him locked up if he tried to release this album nowadays? if you dont have this album or have never heard it please please get this download. Its just one of those albums that i think you have to own from the golden era... its no 5 mic classic but its a pretty good effort and beatwise all the 304's stuff was pretty hot so check it out....

A.M.G - Bitch Betta Have My Money

So then came the follow up from Dj Quik....

DJ Quik - Way 2 Fonky

Now you have to remember that Quik had just been ripped apart by Tim Dog and dissed pretty bad so i was kinda hoping when i got this album he was gonna retaliate a bit more than he did? He left his special moment for Tim and Mc Eiht (never understood that beef???) until the final track on the album and it was a pretty sweet answer back. So really i suppose you gottas give credit to Quik for not taking the bait and doing a whole album of "fuck Tim Dog" tracks but still i did expect more.

But what you do get from this album was realy the first example of the soon to be G-Funk era. This album was pre chronic and pre Black mafia life so in all honesty you have to say that quik started it all? well thats my opinion? the beats on this album are at times pretty amazing...you havd quiks no nonsence rapping over funky as hell beats, which made this one of my favorite albums of the time. "Jus Lyke Compton" was the first single of the album and was getting a shit load of airplay on mtv! it was a great track but no where near the best on the album. and it also had the track "Niggaz Still Trippin" which was obviously part 2 from 2nd II Nones effort. All in all this was a solid and slept on album.

Quik went on to replace Dre as lead producer at Death Row after all the ill feeling and produced some classic cuts! none more so that 2Pacs all eyez on me..... the rest is history!

...Well untill Quik released his third effort anyway.

Dj Quik - Safe And Sound

This album featured a track called "get at me" which was the first sign that there were cracks in the 304 posse mainly between Gangsta D from 2nd II None and A.M.G ? now Quick was kinda stuck in a dispute over what i believe was A.M.G's second album. But Quik soon had Gangsta D's back and went on wax to tell of his dissapointment at the fact A.M.G wanted to use other producers on his 2nd album? Im not all to sure as to what started the beef between D and A.M.G but it was made pretty clear on the track that Quik was not on A.M.G's side at all?

Things have been patched up since but this was one pretty harsh Diss track that doesnt tend to get mentioned all that much when it comes to disses? but the beat and Quiks lyrics once again made the track pretty impressive. The album also featured the track "dollaz and sense" which i think was on the murder was the case soundtrack album??? but its a pretty sweet track and also another diss record mainly aimed at Mc Eiht.

Anyways Quik gets no where near the respect he deserves except on here so i'll leave you with this little classic....

Track of the year 2006

I been checking out other blogs lists of the year and stuff and was quite alarmed how my choice of track failed to get a mention anywhere?

The first time i heard this track i was blown away by just how fucking great it is... i suppose its down to personal choice and shit but damn i just cant see how anyone who loves hip hop would not feel the vibe of this track.

I was in the process of compiling up a list of a few tracks that really stood out for me last year but to be honest this is the only track that i really want to post up from 2006? not that it was as bad a year as a lot of people think...but just because this is the only track that i played consistently enough to deserve a mention....

TY feat Maceo - Closer

Ty has come a long long way and gets no where near the credit he deserves! this is an absolute gem of a track and if you sleep on it you crazy...

Check out more TY

I would post up the whole album but if ever there was a dude i want to get paid from this business then Ty is him... just go spend the £10 or $10

Chyeah!

Comptons Most Wanted

Straight Checkn' em

Now i shouldn't have to talk too much about this album?

One thing i have loved so far about writing my blog is digging through stuff that i havnt listened to for a while and remembering loads of random stuff about what i was doing at the time i heard the albums/tracks first?

With this album thats not the case as i still throw this album on all the time. This was C.M.W's second album and without a doubt their finest. tracks like "Growin Up In The Hood" & "Straight Checkn' Em" took the group to a whole new level. While they were from gangsta rap capital Compton they were a little different from the other crews. Beatwise i think they were a lot more inventive and MC Eiht as a lyricist were a pretty formidable force to be reckoned with. As albums go this is pretty faultless throughout and i cant think of a track which dissapoints so this is a must have to any Hip Hop head.

***Comptons Most Wanted - Straight Checkn' Em***

Its A U.K Ting...(part 1)

So back in the day the U.K. didn' have no where near the coverage that Hip Hop gets in todays media? Which is such a shame because we had some seriously talented mother fuckers!

U.K hip hop was no where near what it is now... Dont get me wrong, there is some real good stuff around nowadays but much like the golden era of hip hop i think U.K hip hop shared its golden era back then too.

So i'm gonna post up pretty much the cream of the crop starting with Gunshot

To me Gunshot were the flagship UK Hip Hop act. The thing I liked about UK hip hop was the beats were crazy and fast paced! and some of the DJ skills on show were second to none! and for me Gunshot probably had the best DJ/Producer around back then in White child Rix, the boy could seriously scratch his ass off!

Beatwise Gunshot were pretty untouchable and were doing their thing the way that UK acts had to do. release 12" after 12" untill they had a crack at a full album. You had to have something special to win over fans at the time with the calibre of hip hop that was being imported day after day from the US and I think Gunshot had that little something extra to offer...

The groups first single was Battle creek Brawl and contained 2 different mixes... the first was the full beat version "Battle Creek Brawl (4 minute warning) " which set the pace of the group from the get go. the second mix "Battle creek Brawl (apocalyps bass) " was a stripped down version.
now unfortunately i dont have the next 2 singles i wanted to post up which is a damn shame as they are without a doubt their finest work (in my opinion)
Killing Season/Nobody move was a classic UK 12" and a must have (says me???) but then there was my personal favorite "Children of a dying breed" which is just a great track. this was a superb piece of work and am gutted i dont know where my 12" has gone too but rest assured i shall get it up at some point.
There were 2 other singles out before the group released a very eagerly awaited debut album from UK fans.

***Gunshot - Patriot Games*** LP

The album was pretty solid and there was a lot to shout about but for me Gunshots best work always came along on their singles ...

Their first single from the album was mind of a razor

This had the "jagged edge remix" of the Mind OF A Razor track and also a brand new track and one of my favorites "Social Psychotics" i loved this 12" and still listen to the second track a lot.

The second single from the album was Colour Code

This was also a new track But as well as the title track "Colour Code" there was also a remix of an album track "Gunshots History (94 lick remix) "

there was also another version of the 12" which i never got and unfortunately dont know anyone else who copped it? This wasnt the end of the crew at all and they went on to release another 2 full lengths and lots of 12" for fans but i gonna leave it for you to check out their follow ups.

Next up for me were CAVEMAN

I loved this group to bits and was quite sad to not see them be a lot bigger than they shoulda been. I think out of all the UK stuff this would probably be my most listened to. I didnt hear any of theirearlier stuff but was shopping in Norwich when i stumbled across a shop called Soundclash which is still a pretty shit hot record shop! I remember buying MC Serch and E.P.M.D 's album when the bloke behind the counter said "have you heard any of cavemans stuff?" I was like no!!! so the dude grins and throws a track on and straight away the shop was rocking to the sound "Brother In Action (Remix) " and i was impressed so without fail slipped the wallet out again and handed over the cash. For the rest of that week I am sad but glad to say i ignored the 2 heavweight US albums i got that day for the little crew from London.

When i thought about this post the other day i have to say Blade was the first one that hit my mind as my favorite but after hearing this album again i remebered how much i played this album and i can safely say Caveman were without a doubt My personal favorite...sorry Blade?

So the album in question...

***CaveMan - The Whole Nine Yards...And Then Some***

Now please US peeps check this album!!! they dont get as much coverage as other UK acts but i think of all of them these are probably the best to bridge the gap between UK & US.

They were different in their approach to other Uk acts as they didnt come out rapping at 2000 miles an hour they basically just flowed and did their thing.

Now I'd love to add some Krispy 3 stuff??? but i cant find any of my stuff at all which pisses me off as i am gagging to put "On tempo" up. I have left a lot of records with random friends over the years and am way off from getting them all back but i will be digging them up soon so i gonna have to make this a 2/3 part post which is all good as i want to add some Krispy3, Son of noise, Hijack and without a doubt some London Posse.

And For Blade i am gonna do a whole seperate post on becuase the man deserves it!

Anyone have any more things to add UK wise please comment me or email yeedo@hotmail.com and i shall see what i can do.

Back in the day.....

Ahmad

This was just one of those "nice" albums that came out on the wave of the Gfunk era. The whole album kinda has that west coast Dj Quik feel to it.

In truth this was just one of those albums that got picked up played a few times then forgotten about...untill the other day. I been scooping through my records looking for stuff that is a bit different to what other blogs been posting up and i know i definately havn't seen this anywhere? now you can take that how you want to, but all in all this is not a bad little album?

"Back in the day" was the first single from this album and i remeber this getting loads of time on mtv. Its just a nice chilled out track which basically sums up the rest of the album. "Can I Party" was the one track that stood out for me, sort of a mid tempo anthem type track with a nice beat in the background. and one other thing...dude sounds so much like Skee Lo its scary?

***Download***

Ahmad - Ahmad

Welcome to the Slaughtahouse!!! Bonafied classic *****

Masta Ace Inc - Slaughtahouse

Not only is this album a Hip Hop classic this album is a masterpiece of modern music!

There are a few albums that i can say I know inside out and this is up there with them. I have probably played this album 23,002,987 times...amd counting. But with this album, there was 2 excellent 12" which had just about everything on them.

The first of the album was Jeep Ass Nigguh / Saturday Night Live

As you can see this came in a lovelly blue vynil and it contained 2 sweet tracks from the album and 2 remixes of Jeep Ass Niguh.

The first i got for you is "Jeep Ass Niguh (dusted Remix) " This had a slightly lighter beat to the the original and a laid back feel to it.

The second Mix "Jeep Ass Niguh (Bizcapella mix) " This was a very basic mix with just a bad ass bass drum banging away in the background. Very simple but effective.

The second 12" from the album was the title track Slaughtahouse.....

Now i said this about the casual Me-O-Mi-O 12 but this is how 12" should be!!! This had 2 Phat remixes of Slaughtahouse and an even better version of "style wars"

So the first mix "Slaughtahouse (murder Mix) " this is basically an extended version of the album track with just the MC Negro and the Ignorant MC part.

The second mix "Slaughtahouse (Death Mix) " is straight up FIYA! This is an extended version of Ace's part of the track after the beat change. It is longer and has extra lyrics...This is a classic track to throw in at any party and make heads bop!

The third mix is "Style Wars (Remix) " I loved this track on the album already but this mix is Hot!

Do It Like A G.O.

The Geto Boys

The Geto Boys really came into their own in the early 90's. I had just moved to a new town and knew about 2 people when i got introduced to some other people on my estate who loved their Hip Hop. I hit it off with a few of them straight away and started trading records and shit when one of them gave me a Geto Boys album to check out. I remember at the time Gangsta rap was running things and i dont think you could get more gangsta than these albums back then?

The First album i got introduced to was the self titled Geto Boys. This album was straight up "dont fuck with me bitch!" I'd pay good money to see the boys from back then introduced to someone like G-Unit nowadays? I can imagine Willie D taking one look at 50 and saying "get the fuck outta here!"

***Download***

The Geto Boys - The Geto Boys

So obviously you wanna hear more after being introduced to probably the hardest rap crew on the plannet so i grabbed the Scarface album "Mr Scarface is back" Scarface is probably the most well known of the crew and just had that appeal to me back then. Dude is hard as hell and his flow was awsome. This album is still up there in my personal favorites... just plain raw, hard gangsta rap at its best! "Born Killer" has to be one of THE greatest gangsta cuts ever?

***Download***

Mr Scarface - Mr Scarface Is Back

So then i started seeing Geto Boys everywhere and YoMTV was playing loads of stuff. First video i saw was "Mind Playin Tricks" which is just one of them classic videos. By this time I had become a huge fan of them and was happy as fuck when they appeared live on YoMtv and performed a classic live cut!

Classic!!!

***Download***

The Geto Boys - We Can't Be Stopped

The crew "sort of" took a break for a little while after the "We Cant Be Stopped" album but that didnt stop them popping up on some classic tracks with several artists. But one track which gets majorly slept on is a joint they did with Mad Cobra

***Download***
Mad Cobra ft Geto Boys - Dead End Street

I Dont know why this track got slept on? But trust me its a classic cut!

So then solo projects were flying up everywhere, Scarface's seemed to be getting held back time and time again but willie D's effort came to light and was just what everyone expected. Hard as Hell no messin Gangsta. But Bushwicks solo effort seemed a bit different to what i expected? His album seemed to be a real emotional tale of shit he had come through and damn! he came through a hell of a lot as the cover of "we cant be stopped" proved. The album was still hard as hell as what everybody expected but with tracks like "Ever So Clear" it was hard to ignore what the dude had been through.

***Download***

Bushwick Bill - Little Big Man

I could go on and on with classic after classic from the Geto Boys but i think you catch the Vibe and if you dont own any of their shit then you need to get to the store and buy some!

The making of Illmatic

I love Youtube

Gotta prop the dude that posted that!

Da Bush Babees

Da Bush Babees were one of them crew that kinda popped in and popped out of the hip hip world. The album Ambushed got mixed reviews which i dont really understand? I played this album quite a bit back in the day. After hearing the first single "Swing It" i wanted to grab the album as soon as it came out. The mix ive posted unfortunately didnt appear on the album? even the the record sleeve said it would? this mix is pretty hectic and a definate floor banger in the same kind of style as slam by onyx. The thing i liked most about the crew was that reggae element to them, it added something extra to them which not many acts had at around the same time. and when i heard the album i was impressed how the blow straight up with the opening track "Pon De Attack" ...crazy!

The second single was a slower paced head nodder called "We Run Things" I remember this getting a bit of airplay on MTV and was definately a 12" that myself and mates played to death.

The third single "Remember We" was pretty hot! The remix from Salaam Remi was fly as hell. i dont have the 12" anymore but i posted the video below which has the remix...enjoy

If you can get past the strange voices that the crew seemed to adopt throughout the album I think you'll find some pretty good shit here! the lyrics are clever and well thought out and some are funny as hell! but like i say...you kinda have to get beyond the voices?

I came across some stuff while looking to see what happened to the bush babees after this album and i found they released another album called Gravity? i never heard this but i gonna try check this out as soon as!

All in all this is an entertaining album and has some pretty good moments on it well worth checking...

Da Bush Babees - Ambushed (full album)

A.D.O.R re-up and album link

I posted up an A.D.O.R track which just happens to be my favorite track of all time. Unfortunately it was a pretty bad rip that i took from vinyl a while back so i have re-up'd with the whole album here for you via Zshare

A.D.O.R - Shock Frequency

No I.D

So being a huge Common fan i tried my best to find releases from people that had something to do with the man himself? I heard rumblings of a Y-Not album but that never materialised and then by accident i came across an album from No I.D. This was very unexpected down to the fact i just thought he was a producer (what is it with chicago producers hitting the mic too?)

Now this is one of them albums which is straight up slept on? I was gonna put this under my "why didnt they blow section" but damn i'd be doing this man an injustice!

If you like hip hop and never heard this album???......You a fool!

Everytime i hear this album it kinda reminds me of the first time i heard O.C - Word life? I mean the beats are simple but clever and very addictive and the rhymes??? damn. The man produced the whole of Commons "Resurrection" album apart from 2 tracks so you know what the flava is gonna be right?

Ive picked out 2 tracks to win you over but ive also added a zip with the whole album in plus some cover shots for you.

My first track is "state to state" featuring Dug Infinite & Common. this track is so so sick its unreal. My second track is "Original Man" featuring Dug Infinite also. If you check these two tracks out then i should imagine it wont be long before you hitting up the album link and i dont need to say anymore about this album apart from DONT SLEEP!

Full Album Zip

via Zshare