The Rapologists - The Hip Hop Beat

I don't know about you but I thought the Streetsounds UK Electro LP was pretty dire. I only bought it to complete the collection but rarely played it all except for this track. I eventually got this copy from good ol' Beat Street records in the late eighties. I must admit it does sound a little dated and there's not a lot of expression, if you like, in the way the lyrics are delivered but it's still a decent 12". The UK scene was still in it's infancy in '84 and I would say it went on to much greater things, particularly in the '88-'92 period. I don't think this is any different to the UK issue on Billy Boy but please feel free to let me know if you own a copy.

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Newcleus - Automan

Not much to say other than this is my fave Newcleus cut and there's not even any rapping. In 1984 I was a bit of a purist and any singing or musical instrumentation, in my eyes was a bit lame so I guess this was a guilty pleasure. Incredibly catchy tune though and I was a little disappointed with their version on the recent Street Sounds reunion DVD but what the hey, I still have this.

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Crazy Eddie & Jazaq - Come On Party People

I traded something for this around '86-'87, can't remember what but an excellent trade don't you think? My mate (at the time; stole my PE 'Public Enemy no.1' 12" and a compilation video of stuff I'd recorded off the telly) got it off someone he knew and I ended up with it. I'd like to know the provenance of it as promos were really not around much due to there being no internet and what have you. I don't ever remember buying one in the shop so I'd say this is a pretty scarce piece of wax. And a killer track too with some firin' vocoder action to boot. There's also a glaring typo but let's not discuss that.

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