Run-DMC - Sucker MCs / It's Like That

It's 1983, school holidays I think. I leave my house to see who's out and about. We all seem to congregate around the newsagent's shop at the top of the road as there's lots of room for b-boying (the new thing that's taken over from the BMX craze for a lot of folk). No-one's there. I can hear music so I start to walk and eventually see the son of the owner of the newsagent on the other side of the road singing along to the whatever song it was on his 'ghetto blaster'. He had the largest portable hi-fi system on the street. Massive it was. He was loaded too. Always got the newest stuff, best BMX, best trainers. His dad even built a mini BMX track but we were all allowed to use that, which was nice. He himself was massive too. He was a year younger than me but he was freakishly tall, stood 6'6" and had size 12 feet when he was 13 years old. I asked him where everyone was and he blanked me totally and just sang along to the record that was on. I pulled a face and watched him as he looked straight forward, never acknowledging my presence for a second and I became impressed as he appeared to know all the words. And he wasn't singing, he was rapping. 'champagne, caviar and bubble bath...' 'take that and move back, catch a heart attack...' I turned my attention from him to the music and was immediately hooked. I fancied myself as a bit of a drummer (I had two old cricket stumps that I used to hit my bed with in time to my punk records) so the pounding beat mesmerised me. I was already heavily in to breaking, hadn't ridden my bike for weeks but this was my first taste of hip hop music. I sneaked a peek at the tape and it was 'streetsounds electro 4' and that was my first purchase at the record stall in the market when I mustered up enough cash. No more punk records for me. A transition had occurred and there was no looking back.

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The Boogie Boys - You Ain't Fresh

This is the first US import 12" single I ever bought. Got it from the Virgin store before it became 'mega' on the high street (it's a pub now and not a very good one either. It's one of those crappy wine bar types where you're not allowed to wear your football shirt on match day). Anyway, I first heard it on a tape one of my brothers brought home from school and I remember 'The Show' by Dougie Fresh was on there and 'Don't Fess' by Sha-Quan too and also that he'd given all the tracks on it marks out of 5 and for some reason he gave this the shamefully low mark of 2 out of 5. I didn't agree of course and bought it the following week and played the hell out of it. The sound of the kicks and snares always astounded me and I built a picture in my head of this enormous wall of machinery making this brilliant drum sound that was virtually unique to hip hop music at the time. The best mix for me was always the extended 'High Noon Mix' as around halfway through there's a part where the drums get super heavy and almost knock you sideways. I still think it's a dope record and it's definitely a keeper for me if only for nostalgia's sake. Oh, and I can't remember what mark he awarded Sha-Quan but he gave dougie fresh 5 out of 5.

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The Almighty El-Cee - We Have Risen

I bought this around September last year. It was on my wants list for a long time but I kept pushing it back in favour of other stuff I wanted more. A friend of mine bought a copy in '87 because he got to the rack before I did and there was often only one copy available and some wax never got re-stocked so I was stiffed by a few seconds (and 20 odd years) until now. He traded his a few years later for some shitty house record 'cos he was/is into that crap when it blew up in the late eighties. I tried to like it but failed as it's obviously aimed at girls. Dope record this though, in perfect, unplayed nick too. I paid a tenner, which might be a tad over the odds for some but I think it was a fair price for the condition it's in. I've invested in a few old/new slices recently including this, this and this and pre-ordered this as the desire to buy vinyl refuses to leave me even though I've got less money now than I had back then. That would be the privelege of living with my mom then..

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