Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - Superrappin'

Quality real old school disco rap and my personal fave of all time by 'the five emcees [that] sound like one'. A friend of a friend had some relatives over in Detroit in the US and after a 4 week stay over there he brought back some tapes with him of a guy called 'The Wizard' on WJLB (I think) and one of them had this cut on it which was the first time I ever heard it. I couldn't find a copy for years so when the re-issue dropped it was 6 quid well spent. Just the two tracks, vocal and instrumental on this one and a couple of spelling mistakes thrown in to annoy certain folk. Enjoy (records)..

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First Frontal Assault - Atomic Air Raid

This is the second release by the lads from the West Midlands and is my personal favourite. Staying true to form there're three variations of the same track again but I feel this record just pips the one below for hardcoreness, (if that is a word). You can't deny that the break from 'Amen Brother' and a few sirens will make your Easter day just that little bit more special.

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First Frontal Assault - Bloodfire Assault

I think these guys, like many UK artists went under the radar somewhat and I also feel that if they weren't signed to this label maybe their records would be sought after more considering that they were recorded almost 20 years ago. There're three variations of the same track on here and all are presented in the firin' 'britcore' (I hate that word) style.

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Pieces Of A Dream - Mt. Airy Groove

I was watching one of those Michael Holman old school DVDs this morning, volume 1 to be exact and the first one on it is some bloke called MC Easy Gee and he's rhyming to this. It's all very entertaining but the thing that kept bugging me was the DJ who kept on letting the record play too long and the rappers on the original recording are overlapping Easy Gee's rhymes. Why didn't he just flip the plastic and use the instrumental version? Anyway, I don't have an OG copy just this bootleg which I bought around 3 or 4 years ago and it's just as nice. Also, check out the producer's name mid right, I never noticed that before.

1. Vocal
2. Instrumental

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Disco Four - Get Busy

I've been walking to work (only part of the way) for a few months now to try and combat the inevitable middle age spread which has enabled me to listen to a lot more music than I normally would on my ipod thingy. I was trudging along in the pissing rain this morning and this came on and cheered me up a little as it's the kind of record I remember when I was a young 'un. Initial exposure for me was the B-side on John Peel's radio show and it must've been good because he played it on two seperate occasions and he didn't do that too often. The latest Fatlace podcast/radio show has some decent offerings too and they recall, albeit brief memories of John Peel's radio show as they're a couple of Northeners like myself and John Peel was the man for hip hop back then if you didn't live anywhere near that London so that's partly why I uploaded it today. And it's produced by Teddy Riley, which I'd forgotten, who made some thumpin' records before taking a turn down swingbeat & R & B Avenue and making some more commercial tunes aimed at the girls amongst us. This is quality though. Firin', speaker bustin', wife botherin', heavy drum machine driven hip hop and I love it.

1. Get Busy (Radio Edit)
2. Get Busy
3. Get Busy (dub)
4. Stomp, Stomp, Clap
5. Stomp, Stomp, Clap (Instrumental

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Short Fat Sally - Sally's Attack

I won this on ebay last week for less than 3 quid which I thought was a bargain. I had never heard the A-side before but the B-side was always a personal fave of mine as DJ Cash Money gets busy good style on the scratching cut. I used to love the way he cut up the fat boys' 'come on beatbox play one for me', (which still sounds dope today), on 'You're A Pest' and I tried to emulate that many a time I can tell you. 'Sally's' Attack' is the inferior cut in my opinion but her name should win an award even though 'The Human Beat Breath' could be conceived to be a little disgusting sounding. Oh yeah, and they spelled 'you're' as 'your' on the label which is a schoolboy error and should've been corrected before going to press.

1. Sally's Attack
2. Your A Pest (Feat. Mac Fresh)

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World Class Wreckin' Cru - Best Of

I wouldn't consider myself to be a very big fan of the Wreckin' Cru but I do like the debut single a lot. Songs such as 'Juice' with it's heavy breathing, 'House Calls' and the diabolical 'Lovers' were never really my cup o' tea even though I did once own two out the last three that I mentioned. 'Surgery' however is a fine record indeed and the version on this comp, although it is not listed as such on the label or the sleeve, is a remix and a pretty good remix too even though it does sound very much like the original. I think the lyrics are brilliant too and it's one track I know all the words to and can mime to in my room whilst rockin' the b-boy stance. Yeah right. Also please, no mention of the shiny suits and lip gloss, thanks.

1. The Fly
2. World Class
3. Surgery (Remix)
4. Juice
5. Lovers
6. House Calls
7. Cabbage Patch

Man, the freaks ain't freakin'

We're still looking for more contributors!

Want to become part of To The Break Of Dawn? We're looking for anyone wanting to share out of print hip hop, electro, freestyle, dance... anything with a dope beat. Leave a comment with your email address or better yet shoot an email to machiventa858 at yahoo dot com and I'll add you to our list of funky dope contributors.

DJ Black Steel - The Original Wild Style Breakbeats

I was 'suffering' with a bit of a cold last weekend so I stayed in bed an extra couple of hours and decided to watch 'Beat Street'. Now, I haven't seen it for a number of years and I have to say, it's pretty bad (and that's bad meaning bad). I searched for the Rocksteady bits, watched Melle Mel do his thing right at the end and swiftly switched to the superior and infinitely more entertaining 'Wild Style'. The music is real hip hop, the graff is real graff and the people are the subjects of the whole thing are the real deal too, (which is obvious from the acting but what the hell). Check out the Beat Street OST if you haven't and just count how many real hip hop tracks are on there and, considering there are two volumes, it's really not that many. Compare those to the one volume of Wild Style and it goes without saying that the music is more relevant to the whole movement even now. Watch Wild Style and not Beat Street for true hip hop legends. Jazzy Jay and Kool Herc only have bit parts in Beat Street and even Melle Mel is impersonated for the first verse of the title track. What the hell were they thinking?

1. Dixie Theme
2. Wild Style Theme
3. Hectic Style
4. Down By Law
5. Playtime
6. The chase
7. Wild Break
8. Subway
9. Crime Does Not Pay
10. Gangbusters
11. The Ampitheatre
12. South Bronx Theme
13. Military Breakbeat

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2 Live Crew - The Revelation / 2 Live

Been after this 12" for longer than I can remember now but that good-things-come-to-those-who-wait business has paid off for once. I put up the B-side scan as that is the tune I remember the most. In fact I don't remember anyone ever playing the A-side when I was a kid, it was 'bea...bea...beatbox' all the way. It could sound a little minimal to new ears but I was real pleased when it was delivered on Friday and it sounds just as fresh as the first time. To me at least.

1. The Revelation
2. 2 Live

'It's Gotta Be Fresh'

Public Enemy - Don't Rhyme For The Sake Of Riddlin'

Time for a book recommendation, yes? I've been in a PE state of mind of late after reading this one which I bought a while back now but only just got around to reading. There's some really good stuff in there with some revalatory info that's definitely worth your time. PE haven't really been at the forefront of my mind for a while now but after thoroughly digesting this my own personal interest flame has been re-ignited and afterwards I chose 'Timebomb' to kick off the musical memory lane trip as that was the debut cut for me. I was gonna post the debut single but everybody's got that and I couldn't think of any music to accompany this post that's not already been extensively covered so I've decided on this 17 minute extra off the 'Live From The House Of Blues' DVD where Chuck goes back around Roosevelt, Long Island to places of PE interest kinda like a tour guide would if you were on holiday. >.>.>.Architects Of Rap

The Mighty Rap Specialist - Order In The Court

Dope mid eighties jam and one that I didn't pick up first time around. I stumple upon this about 4-5 years ago whilst wading through an online acquaintances mp3 collection (of his own records mostly) and downloaded it 'cos of the title, which, incidentally, is the way I used to buy records in the early days as some of the people behind the counters in the stores 'didn't have time' to play a snippet of what you were interested in. Anyway, it's a really good track and I bought my own piece of wax about 2 years ago, still sealed for £2.78 which no-one on this earth could possibly sniff at.

1. Vocal
2. Instrumental

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Wreckin' Cru - Slice / Kru Groove

When I was about 13 we formed an after school society and called it 'breaking club' and we held 'meetings' twice a week. At first we had to be chaperoned by a teacher and it usually lasted for about an hour. There were around 15 members at first but enthusiasm faded (amongst the weak..) and attendance soon dwindled to 5 and the teachers stopped showing up so we ended up staying as long as we wanted and some weeks we even stayed every day to practice on the shiny wooden floors in the hall and we all got quite good and formed a crew called 'Faze 4' (yes, that's right, there were 5 of us). After some months we all got kinda bored, the 5 became 3, we were dancing to the same music because it was too hard to get new tapes and records were non-existent until one day a new kid started, heard about the club and joined up and he brought a tape with new stuff on that we hadn't heard before. All hail the new kid (can't even remember his name, think it might be Joe) and the rebirth of 'Faze 4'. I don't need to tell you the name of the first cut that blasted out of the stereo. That's why old music is the best.

1. Slice
2. Kru Groove
3. Slice (Instrumental)
4. Kru Groove (Instrumental)

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Ultimate Force - Cuts Like These

Dope 12" from '86 with some big reverb on the beats a la 'PSK' make this your typical fare from this era. This is the kind of record I loved back when I was a young 'un, rock hard beats, no nonsense rhyming and loads of scratching. The main hook of the tune is, 'you never heard a dj with cuts like these' and whether or not that was true is immaterial really; they big up their dj and their crew and tell everyone else that they're the best. Job done.

1. Vocal
2. Instrumental

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Leaders Of The New School - Classic Material 12" (1993)

A1 - Classic Material (Album Vocal)
A2 - Classic Material (Remix Vocal) Remix - Diamond D
A3 - Classic Material (Album Instrumental)
B1 - Spontaneous (13 MC's Deep!) (Album Vocal)
B2 - Spontaneous (13 MC's Deep!) (Remix Vocal)
B3 - Spontaneous (13 MC's Deep!) (Album Instrumental)

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Shango - Shango Funk Theology (1983)

Some more Bambaataa Funk for your minds. Courtesy of Cheesy Chees.

A1 - Shango Message
A2 - Thank You
A3 - Soca Fever
B1 - Zulu Groove
B2 - Let's Party Down

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Time Zone - Thy Will "B" Funk (1992)

Don't know anything about this release but most things with Bambaataa involved are dope. Courtesy of Cheesy Chees

A1 - The 40oz Crew (The Drunk Mix)
A2 - The 40oz Crew (Inst. Mix)
A3 - Watch Me Now
A4 - Can You Flow
A5 - Can You Comprehend
A6 - Zulu Shout (Part 1)
B1 - Very Special (Radio Mix)
B2 - Very Special (Inst. Mix)
B3 - Zulu War Chant
B4 - In A Minute
B5 - The Zulu Shout (Part 2)

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DJ Chuck Chill Out - Hip Hop On Wax Volume 1

It's 1984 and I'm in my mate's basement breakin' to a streetsounds electro tape, dunno which one but it could've been any one of 4 that were out at the time and in walks an 'acquaintance' shall we say, who's not really into the scene but knows some people and he stops the tape, pulls another out of his pocket and places that into the machine and presses play. We were obviously outraged and although he was a bit of a stocky individual but we had numbers so were about to lay into him (verbally) when this track came on. I had to just stand and listen, couldn't move, the thumping intro and then the 'dj chuck chill out, dj chuck chill out..wha, wha, whatcha gonna do' and the resulting cutting and scratching extravaganza just had me mesmerised for about 7 minutes and I knew I wanted, no needed that tape, (no chance of getting the wax, I was a kid and had no money). Needless to say it took me months to get it and it wasn't directly off of him, it was through numerous friends and by then the sound quality had deteriorated quite substantially but anything was better than nothing. It did take me a long time to acquire my own copy and I did have to settle for the re-issue in the end but it's the tune and the ability to hold the vinyl in my hands that I was after. To me the fact that I remember where I was the first time I heard it would indicate two things. One is how impressionable we were when we were young 'uns which is true for everyone I guess and the other is just how good this record and many others from this particular era were and still are today.

1. Long Version
2. Short Version
3. Bonus Beats

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Fearless Four - Dedication

A classic 12" for a cold and snowy Sunday morning. Just two cuts on here, vocal and instrumental. >>Download Here<<

Kev-E-Kev & AK-B - Keep On Doin'

Stompin' golden age 12" from '89 and a must have in my opinion. I never managed to cop the OG so had to plump for this re-issue about 4-5 years ago but that didn't bother me as it was the tune I was after. I heard this on a WBLS tape I bought from my local record store, (which was Warp Records at the time and I still have the tape), but never saw it around and then it was too late and it passed me by. There was also a reissue of 'Listen To The Man' (look how many want it) which I did own back then but traded it ages back and so I bought the repress of that too. The man Paul C is involved once again so nuff said.

1. Keep On Doin'
2. Ak-Apella Mix
3. Dope Instrumental Mix
4. Acapella Mix

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Magnetic Force - Hip Hop Bystander

I've only had this 12" for around 3-4 years now, got it off ebay from the USA and the postage cost me 3 times as much as I paid for the wax but I wanted it and it's pretty scarce so I bit the bullet. The guy I bought it from got it from the Jam Pony Express DJ team, as you can see from the stamp, and they're pretty well known stateside I'm lead to believe. I first heard this on a Mike Allen tape from '87 that a mate recorded on a visit to London, (his only reason for visiting London that particular day). He asked me if I wanted to go but I declined after he said he was 'just going to wander the streets and get the first train back in the morning'. I really didn't fancy roughing it in London so he managed to blag someone else to go along and he did let me copy the tapes when he got back which was surprising as he could be a bit of a twat. I've not seen him for about 15 years..

1. Vocal
2. Instrumental

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Malcolm Mclaren - Would Ya Like More Scratchin'

6 track extravaganza by Malcolm Mclaren & the World's Famous Supreme Team and produced by the legendary record producer Trevor Horn who, amongst many others, was also responsible for Art Of Noise's 'Beatbox' and this one of course.

1. D'ya Like Scratchin'
2. She's looking Like A Hobo
3. Buffalo Gals
4. World's Famous
5. Hobo Scratch
6. Would Ya Like More Scratchin'

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The Rickie Clark Company - Time To Throwdown

I sought after this for a long time. It's not a typical record that people who know me might think I would go for but I like it a lot. It was on the first tape of US import 12"s I ever got my hands on so that's probably why. The vocoder is the thing I loved about it and it still sounds great to me but I dare say if I'd heard it today for the first time I wouldn't be fussed so you might not be but I'll give it a shot. Just two tracks on here, long and short versions and whatever you're up to later on, have a happy new year. Download

PJ Rappers Feat. J-Groove - Use What You Got To Get What You Want

I know nothing about this record except it sounded better when I first bought it in '88. Three cuts in total,a long, a short and an instrumental version and a U2 sample nonetheless. >> Download

The Future - Nuclear Holocaust

Uplifting subject matter for the festive period I don't think but a fantastic record and one I was trying to track down since I first heard it back in '84 and succeeded a few years ago. I can remember there being some concern over the likelihood of nuclear war breaking out in the early eighties and leaflets and whatnot being distributed at school with procedures to follow should it ever occur. There was even a movie made in my home town (I knew some of the folk in it that were cast as extras) which had an unbelievably bleak outlook on the whole thing (I'm not for a minute suggesting that any kind of war couldn't really be so bad) but watch it and see what I mean. Anyway, I saw that film the other day for the first time in about 25 years and I thought of this record pretty much straight away. Now listen to it and try not to knod to the beat or tap your foot to the prospect of total world destruction.. Download Here quick Before It's Too Late