6 Music 'Hip Hop Hooray' Day

One of the BBC's digital radio stations, 6 Music, is broadcasting a day of hip hop music with songs and documentaries.
This Saturday (12th) the station will kick off with a DJ Shadow Essential Mix featured during Nemone's Electric Ladyland at Midnight.

Who needs Photoshop? This is dope, right?

There is a documentary ("Looking for the Perfect Beat") which was originally broadcast in 1990 on Radio 1 by Jeff Young. I distinctly remember this because at the time Radio 1 would have documentaries every Saturday lunchtime and this was one I recall being quite excited about.
I've even posted this previously on the blog complete with my shabby cassette cover.
You'd best catch this on the rewind as it's on at 4 in the morning.

Mary Anne Hobbs has a look at how Los Angeles has become part of the scene in "The West Coast Influence" at 7am.
This show is 3 hours long so I'd expect to hear a good bit of history from back in the old Egyptian Lover, Wrecking Cru, Radiotron days rather than just Cypress Hill and The Pharcyde.

And who would've thought that they'd be getting goosebumps over the possibility of listening to Alan Freeman? Yes, he's on at 4am on Sunday with "Rap It Up" which "explores rap music from its origins onwards".
Having previously been aired in 1994 this will be right up my street because as most right-minded folks know, hip hop died after this year. Suck it up, you know it's true.

For the whole schedule check this link.
It's great that a station such as 6 Music known for their love of specialist music away from the norm are doing this so hats off to them.

Art of Rhyming: Eric B. is President Broken Down

We all know or at least acknowledge that Rakim is the master emcee, right?
His rhyme style is legendary, masterful. The way he plays with words is skillful to the extreme.

Have a read of this breakdown of his style and you'll appreciate The R more than you ever thought possible.

Check the whole article and - forgive me for using an over-played internet exclamation - your mind may well be blown.
Written with eloquency, the whole being of Rakim is explained beautifully.
http://www.thetroyblog.com/2017/07/10/art-of-rhyming-eric-b-is-president

DJ Jorun Bombay & Flexxman - Funkbox Reload July 1st Weekend Edition

Bit late posting this but it's another sureshot from the (sometimes a little bit too smug) Jorun Bombay as he delves into his crates to bring us a tightly-packed and edited 60 minutes of some great hip hop tracks that you probably forgot about as well as his own unique remixes along with some classic breaks.




Tracklisting
World's Famous Supreme Team - Hey DJ (Jorun Bombay Edit)
Duke Bootee - Broadway (instrumental)
Doug E Fresh & The Get Fresh Crew - All The Way To Heaven
Heatwave - Ain't No Half Steppin' (Tape Echo Scratch)
T La Rock & Mantronix - Bass Machine
Run DMC - Dumb Girl (Jorun Bombay Edit)
LL Cool J - Dear Yvette (Jorun Bombay's Glockenspiel Edit)
Worse 'EM - Triple M Bass (Jorun Bombay's Extra Cuts Edit)
Liquid Liquid - Cavern
The Monkees - Mary Mary
Run DMC - Mary Mary
John Davis & The Monster Orchestra - I Can't Stop
The Bar-Kays - Do You See What I see
Mandrill - Suzi Cesar
Dyke & The Blazers - Funky Broadway
Big Daddy Kane - Wrath of Kane
Ricky Williams - Discotheque Soul Pt. 2
James Brown - Soul Pride
Jorun Bombay - Bombay Lager Lite Beer Commercial (Parody)
Jorun Bombay & The Rampagers (Em, Ox & Phill Most) - You Ain't heard Nuthin' Yet
SoundSci - Write On
SoundSci - Entrapment
Freddi Henchi & the Soul Setters - Funky To The Bone
Foster Sylvers - Misdemeanor
Kid Dynamite - Uphill Peace of Mind

Mantronix Return!

Well, Kurtis Mantronik is back anyway (MC Tee has other interests these days) and is rocking the boards like he hasn't been doing in years.
To be honest, I hesitated in pressing Play because my memories of the man had sadly faded in disappointment since his last big 'return' to music.
What's that? You don't remember? Well, allow me to retort.

Cast your mind back to 2013 when Street Sounds released their long-(emphasis on 'long') awaited compilation album, Crucial Electro 4 - the last one in this legendary series was Crucial Electro 3, some 26 years previously in 1987. A nicely-packaged bookend to the series, yes, but alas there was the bonus mix.
The CD release of Crucial 4 contained two discs; one unmixed album and one mixed album. So far, so fresh? Well, kind of.
The unmixed selection were great slices of classic Electro cuts such as Looking For The Perfect Beat, The DMX Will Rock, What People Do For Money and Disco Four's Get Busy. The mixed version however came complete with updated versions of some tracks which seemed an odd decision.
The actual mix was a sound to behold. I'm imagining at the time that Mantronik's mind was elsewhere when putting this together, like wondering what he was having for dinner that evening or worrying about Jesse Pinkman and Walter White's final nail-biting conclusion.
Wherever it was it certainly wasn't on the matter at hand as can be evidenced on the frankly terrible mess that he ended up proffering to Morgan Khan.

Digital DJ-ing is part of hip hop culture and whatever your personal feelings on the subject it is definitely here and is definitely staying. The things that can be done digitally can be quite astounding when done correctly. Sadly there is no such display here. You simply have to hear it to believe it. If I had to sum it all up in one word then shoddy would be that word.
It's like listening to a load of ideas that were going to be tried out in draft form before discarding as they obviously didn't work. Maybe Mantronik simply handed in the wrong version and Morgan was too humble to question it?
Cough.

Anyhoo. where were we? Yes, that's right, Kurtis is back and I can happily say that he can rightfully don his crown as King Of The Beats once again as not one but two brand new beats have been dropped on our laps in one day.
Both are extremely hard-hitting slabs of dope production employing familiar chopped funk breaks and vocal samples that just scream out to be played on a heavy sound system.
The tempo is pretty slow on both and the arrangements could easily have given way to a double-time drum n bass tune after the drop and I was actually waiting for the style to switch on both.
But it didn't and I'm grateful that Kurtis kept it hip hop. Fresh is definitely the word

'Ballsack Swinger' is one of the greatest titles of a song ever. Fact.


R.A.W. like Kane!