Cut Master D.C. - Santa's Beat Box

I wanted to be able to scratch like the Cut Master real bad. I would say he was the first major influence on me as far as scratching goes but if I'm honest I never quite got it the style I was looking for before I gave up in the early nineties. Listen to track 3 at around 2:08 and tell me that doesn't still sound dope today. Happy Christmas readers.

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Def Defiance - Rhyme Children/Chemical Attack

Bought myself one of these last week and it's dope. Limited press 7" single on nuclear green vinyl with colour picture sleeve. You know you want one so get one here:  www.blinerecordings.bigcartel.com
B-Line Recordings is fast becoming my favourite label, only missed this one so if there's any left I'd like a copy please.

Cut Master D.C. - The Night Before Christmas

Well, it's almost here and I've resisted for a few years now but here's a fresh 320kbps rip of one of the Cut Master's better releases. The absolutely bangin' drums on this one still do it for me every time I hear it.
Part two of TTBOD does Christmas next week..

'Here comes Santa Claus'

Aleem - Release Yourself

Another classic from the NIA label and Streetsounds Electro 5 which still sounds fresh today. I never actually owned Electro 5 until years after it was released but I recorded a copy off a mate, ('Home taping is killing music' - sorry Morgan but we all did it) a few days after he bought it in '84 and that particular mate at that particular time thought this was the best record he'd ever heard. I disagreed as 'The Buck Stops Here' and 'B-Boys Breakdance' were harder sounding what with me being a b-boy and all but I still bought a copy as it is an astoundingly good record.
p.s. I'm currently ripping a couple of Cutmaster DC Christmas tunes so get ready..

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Prime Time - So Damn Tuff

The TR808 is legendary as far as hip hop music is concerned and it appears to have made a comeback in recent years so why can't these new cats use it properly? Here's how it's done.

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Supreme Force - You Gotta Come Out Fresh

Always liked this one, had it since '86 too, this is my kind of record. Crews bouncing off each other before passing the mic, you know, the Cold Crush or Fantastic Five type of thing. Everybody around this time had to be influenced by those guys and it's evident here. Tough beats, solid rhymes, and they're called 'Supreme Force' so it was a no brainer for me. NIA was a decent label too.

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MC Chill - MC Story

I think MC Chill is under represented on these types of things. My first listening experience came via a tape one of my brothers got from a new kid at school - I think I made a reference before - and he presented it to me with marks out of 5 for each track and he gave 'Bust This Rhyme' a '2' which, I think is pretty unfair as he 'left' hip hop around the same year and now listens to anything from Pearl Jam to Bing fuckin' Crosby so I give him '0' out of 5 for that choice. Anyway, an online acquaintance showed me a youtube vid of a live performance of Mr. Chill upped by the man himself so I thought I'd dig this out to show some respect and enthusiasm I guess for a decent 12" from '86. My personal fave is 'Downbeats' so I might get around to that at some point if I remember. I really think ' The Prophesy' is one of his worst but, what the hell.

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Smitty 'D' & Rock Squad - Kic Kic

Won this earlier this week on ebay. Had it back in '86 but you know how it is when you're young and have no cash flow but I'd forgotten about it and had a lowish bid and won. It was a little different to a lot of tunes released that year due to the sampled beats which were a little strange sounding to my young ears. The B-side is more of an authentic '86 sound but I don't like it as much. A random factoid here; I think Smitty 'D' is PMD's brother although I haven't bothered to check. I think I read it in an EPMD interview years ago in HHC or summat. Cool record.

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Chrome & Ill Inspired - You Should Know!

I bought myself one of these last week and I don't mind saying it's real hip hop done properly. Available from here and here and also from this guy. Very nice.

Divine Sounds - Do Or Die Bed Sty

I fuckin' love this record. I traded something for it back in '86, can't remember what but I've had it ever since. I haven't seen the guy I got it from for over 20 years now but I do remember he had it spinning when I walked in to his room and asking him what it was and him replying, 'why, do you like it?'. I obviously replied in the affirmative and I walked away with it that same day. He always preferred the uptempo miami bass stuff so that's maybe why he gave it up so quickly. He'd trade all sorts and the only slow tempo record I remember him liking was Double Duce's 'School Breakdown' which he described as 'magic' but I still got that one off him. And he went to London for that. Now all he plays, I'm told, is house music. Sucker.

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CD III - Success

I remember a mate of mine at the time singing the 'buying closets full of leather jeans' line to me while we stood at the hip hop rack in the record shop 'diggin' as you'd call it nowadays in an attempt to jog my memory and I couldn't remember this tune for the life of me. Until I got it home and played it of course and was most pleased. I think this can go down as my favourite CD III tune with 'And You Know That' coming a very close second. One of the best electro tunes of the year in my opinion and also Hitman Howie Tee's first group in case you didn't know although on here he hadn't taken on the 'hitman' moniker just yet and he's referred to as 'DJ H.T.'

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Awesome Foursome - Funky Breakdown

I replied to a comment a while back now and mentioned hearing this blasting out from someone's back garden while we were playing football on the field next to the scout hut near where I lived and I just stopped playing and listened and wanted it pretty badly. So I got one.

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Great Peso & Mr Nasty - It's Time To Rock

Another stone cold classic from '84 and one which always reminds me of Beat Street for some reason. Nothing more to say really, just one I've been feeling a lot over recent weeks.

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Roxanne Shante - Roxanne's Revenge

Classic electro 6 business and the first time I ever heard Shante rock the mic. I got this and three other Shante 12"s from a record fair held at the Leadmill in Sheffield and all four cost me 12 quid and they were all sealed too, which was nice. This would have been around 1987 I think and I still have 'em all today. I was still breakin' in '84 and this tune and 'The Original Human Beatbox' by Dougy Fresh were the biggest tunes around, for us at least, at the time. Happy days..

'I met this dude with the name of a hat'

Roxanne Shante - The Def Fresh Crew

Re-up. More classic Pop Art era Shante coming soon..

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Uncle Jamm's Army - What's Your Sign

I heard this in the Limit club one Saturday afternoon and freaked out. I also have good memories of DJ Mongoose - I've told you before but I'll tell you again, he was the resident DJ at the club on Saturday afternoons and he's also DJ Mink's older brother - scratching the classic 'fresh' sound from Fab 5 Freddy's famous single over the instrumental version and that freaked me out even more thus inspiring me to want to scratch like that myself. I don't have the tape any more, can't even remember what else was on it and if I'm honest it would sound pretty wack now but the memories of hearing it for the first time and wanting to replicate it so badly are good and that's what matters. The observant among you will also notice that this is the B-side as the A-side, 'Naughty Boy' is a dreadful track and should never have seen the light of day never mind have been chosen as the A-side to any single but I have recorded it and included it in the file for the completists out there.

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Roxanne Shante - Bite This

So, I'm back from my summer hols and ready for action, kind of. Here's a def slice of wax from '85 as requested in the c-box and it is Shante's best record I think. Marley Marl rocked the biggest beats around and that's exactly what I was looking for when I was a young 'un, still am now I guess. Do you remember when there was no regular hip hop played on the radio and you had to wait for the next Streetsounds release or maybe scrounge a tape off someone who was connected to someone else with a bit of cash who could afford US imports just to hear some new stuff? That was the only way you could get anything new and it was painful when you craved new music but it just wasn't quite reachable, especially when you had little or no money to hand. Then you heard a record like this and went wild? Yep, me too. '85 was a great year.

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Bad Boys feat. K Love - Bad Boys

Requested as Inspector Gadget but I think you'll find this is the tune you were looking for. I think most people know but this record is an early appearance by MC Serch later of 3rd Bass. Talking of 3rd Bass, have a little looky here...

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Word Of Mouth - King Kut

Nice request, tune.

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Disco Four - Get Busy

Re-up.

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K-Rob - I'm A Homeboy

Re-up.

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DJ Born Supreme Allah - Two, Three, Break (Part II-The Sequel)

OK, I've been incredibly busy of late, not much free time to spare so this'll be as quick as playing this record. This is like the Hip Hop On Wax 12"s, same on both sides and only one track but what a record. Enjoy your Sunday afternoon and if Murray wins the tennis I'll try and up summat extra special when I've a minute.

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Tricky Tee - Johnny The Fox

I got a few second hand records from 'SMR' via Beat Street Records in the mid to late eighties and I'm pretty sure this one is the last of the batch that I still own. Still a top record this after nearly thirty years. Fire.

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Tricky Tee - I've Got It Good

Gargantuan beats by Sam Sever on this slammer from '86. Both sides will bash your face in if you turn up your system loud enough.

Here Come The Drums

Skinny Boys - Jockbox (America Loves The Skinny Boys)

I vivdly remember buying this record in 1986. I use to go down town to the record shop every Saturday regardless of the fact that I may or may not be able to afford to step back out the door with a dope slice of wax under my arm. This trip I had £6.50 in my pocket which was enough for one US import 12" single and my bus fare of course which was all of 2p each way; Sheffield at that time had the cheapest bus tariff in the whole country as it was subsidised and run by the council but, alas,  not any more. Anyway, I always met one of my mates down there - we never traveled on the bus together as he lived in another part of town so we usually met outside or inside, whatever - and on this particular occasion he was stood outside looking up and down the High Street and looking a little agitated. When he saw me across the street he was waving his arms in the air me as if he wanted me to hurry up. 'They've got the Skinny Boys in' he said and ran off in front of me back down the stairs to the counter in the left hand corner where the import bloke was. I asked for the box and it was sitting right at the front and I just picked it without looking at the others, paid for it and we went for the bus home. It was still sealed too which was fairly rare back then as loads of kids used to visit the shop and asked for records to be played even though they had no intention of making a purchase. I did the same, often. We went back to his house and played it at a pretty low volume as he was, shall we say 'respectful' of his parents and I have to tell you I was overjoyed as I'd not heard it before but he had. I still don't know even now where he heard all these records before I did but he was always well informed even though he never bought a record in his life. This was the third US import 12" single I ever bought and I still think it's def today. I still have it don't I?

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Mixmaster Gee And The Turntable Orchestra - Like This

Tough beats and def scratchin' make the perfect record in my opinion. Mixmaster Gee was another Cutmaster DC too; DJ, MC, producer and he was pretty good at all of those things. A one man hip hop band. Stestasonic rolled in to one. I think this might have been on a Masterscratch tape back in the day as I'm pretty sure JP never played it and no one I knew of had it either. 2 years it took me to cop this one thanks to good ol' Beat Street Records once again and it still sounds fresh today.

You May Have Heard It Before But It Wasn't..

Dookie Squad - Deep Rising

New Dookie Squad 12" out now on limited red wax with picture sleeve and it's a dope slice of UK freshness. Got mine yesterday, here's where you can get yours and I highly recommend that you do.

Cool C - Juice Crew Dis

Is this the most irritating record ever made? Yep...

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Dynamic Force - It's Not Right

I was in a b-boy crew called Faze 4. I might have mentioned it before. It's members were my two brothers, a kid from up the road who we went to school with - he was in to breaking before any of us - and me. We did get around a little bit and battle other crews. Challenges is what we used to call them back then. One evening we ventured up to a youth club in the Norfolk Park area of the city and took part in a battle with a local crew from around there. It was nothing fancy - I'd personally only just learned the basic windmills and most if not all crews had at least one member who was capable of doing them - so it was almost all humiliation tactics from both sides and Shaun (he was a last minute stand in for my youngest brother) really upset the biggest bloke on the opposite side by removing his cap and flinging it into the small crowd which enraged him big time and we had to do a runner. We all survived of course but I just remember them having this tune on the tape we were battling to. Under rated I think.

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Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde - Fast Life

I wrote a whole load of bollocks about Streetsounds Electro 5 and how it changed my life but then I thought, who the hell cares and just uploaded another firin' tune from '84.

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Fresh Gordon - Gordy's Groove

Re-up.

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Radio Crew - Breaking And Entering

Released as a limited press in 2005 - said to be 100 on blue vinyl, 100 on clear and 100 on pink (the pink one being the one I was sent out of pure luck or misfortune whichever way you want to look at that) - this is a gem of a bootleg which I discovered completely by accident whilst browsing an excellent online retailer. Classic old school west coast electro ensues as soon as the needle hits the record and I have to say it's not something I'd normally listen to as I would tend to warm to the harder b-boy beats a la Marley Marl or early Mantronik. There's no track list but if you click somewhere up above in the text there's a discogs link and of course I've named them in the file. That's all I can say really except that the original recording was made in 1983 making these tunes 30 years old already and I dug it out in order to sell it but changed my mind after hearing it again. First time I've played it since 2005 an'all. How time flies when you're (approaching) middle age..

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Many Fazes - I'm Hip

As requested earlier on in the week.

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Bonus Break

Imperial Brothers - We Come To Rock

More classic b-boy business. I don't think we need to discuss the freshness of this jam. '84 was a fine year..

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Poor Righteous Teachers - Time To Say Peace

Re-up.

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High Fidelity Three - B Boys Breakdance

Re-up. Classic business.

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Uptown - Dope On Plastic

Top 5 intros of  all time :

5: Word Of Mouth Feat. DJ Cheese - King Kut
4: Mantronix - Hardcore Hip Hop
3: Hardrock Soul Movement - Double Def Fresh (Get Stupid Mix)
2: Just-Ice - Cold Gettin' Dumb
1 : Uptown - Dope On Plastic

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G-Force (Feat. Ronnie Gee & Captain Cee) - Feel The Force

The perfect antidote to a particularly rough day.

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Chrome & Ill Inspired - Out Of Sight

I copped one of these on Monday and I'm here to tell you that you should get one too. It's pure fire from the start, proper rhyming, proper scratching and rock solid beats. There's a killer opener, 'Feels So Good' that has a pretty catchy hook and 'Girth' shows that old school b-boy breaks still sound fresh just in case you forgot. The official release date I think is early February and I guess Kudos and Juno will be stocking them. Failing that you can buy one direct from the man, email him here : ohmage88@gmail.com. Soundclips here. Now, go get one.

International Wrecking Crew - Born To Break

Well, it's snowing like a mofo outside so I'm glad I'm indoors sipping a hot cup o' tea from my Hardnoise mug.
 This is the kind of record that makes me feel that nostalgic kinda warmth, not that I ever had or had even heard it when it came out in '84 but definitely one I'd still have now if I'd bought it then, if you get me. Solid beats, party atmosphere, good clean rhymes, makes me almost want to dust off my Mileta tracksuit, (remember those?) and break like I was born to. I had a a sky blue one with dark blue trim. There was a rather large kid at school, Ian,  who had the same one and he took a dim view of me sporting mine at school. I could break though and he couldn't so in my mind I was more worthy. I didn't tell him that though; I'm no hero now. Some of his mates told him to give me a seeing to but he kind of pretended to punch me 'cos he wasn't really the kind of person to bray the shit out of anyone for anything really and I kind of knew him since junior school.
 Me and my crew were challenged to a battle with him and his cronies one afternoon at school as the snow was coming down big style and we were summoned to the assembly hall before they decidedbeing sent home. We got on the stage all ready to entertain the masses but the headmaster came up and stopped us and announced the school was closing because of the weather and their blushes were spared. They were all talk anyway, had no idea about b-boy style and we'd have burned 'em and made 'em look like the fools that they were.

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DJ Antron - Earthquake

Incredibly dope record and previously unreleased until this dropped in 2004, Since then it's had a 12" release I think , maybe even a coloured vinyl edition but I just stuck with this 7". If you've never had the pleasure then you're in for a real treat.

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Douge Fresh - Just Having Fun

Back in my b-boying days we used to wander the streets looking for something I guess but I couldn't tell you what. I remember one of the crew - we chose the moniker 'Faze 4' -  having a decent ghetto blaster and he'd carry it almost anywhere. I think it would be weird to see a load of kids bollockin' about the streets these days with a large carryable object pounding out loud music but we did it and I am not ashamed. I only mention this because you know when sometimes you remember odd stuff for no known reason and it's not really a significant memory? Well I just remember him saying one night mid Streetsounds Electro 6, 'Shall I rewind to the Roxannes or fast forward to the beatbox?' You can guess what I suggested. Tune.

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