Still blows me away that Michael has been gone for 3 years.
Over his career MJ kept his work with rappers to a minimum. Only a select few shared a record with him, and with apologies to Eve ("Butterflies") and L.T.B. (the dude who raps on "Black Or White"), it is MJ's records with Biggie, Jay-Z, Heavy-D and LL Cool J that get the nominations for Best Rapper Appearance On A Michael Jackson Song award.*
This is an unauthorized UK documentary about Prince in the '80's when he was making amazing music and whylin' the fuck out. The doc is about an hour and a half and worth every minute of you time. Egotrip gets props over here.
What do we have here? A brand new Dave Chappelle stand up?! Dope.
This was recorded June 18th, 2012 at the Dallas House Of Blues. Big up Cazzie for coming through like a champ with the audio after Live Nation shut down the YouTube link. Hit below for Chappelle, BITCHES!
Ice Cube gets his 900 number on to promote his Amerikkka's Most Wanted LP. Only $2 per minute and kids, don't forget to get your parents permission before you call!
We figured we'd have BIGGIE do the honours for number one hundid. This is the infamous B.I.G. Mack promo cassette that has 6 Craig Mack songs on side A and and 6 BIGGIE SMALLS songs side B. hands down b-side wins again! This was one of the first, if not the first, major promo campaigns that Bad Boy and shit was genius. This tape's gem is the original version of BIGGIE's "Me & My Bitch". Sample clearance issues is said to be the reason this version didn't make the final version of the album. I dig this one much better. It's the version BIGGIE and Puff intended the world to hear but never made it past the promo tape.
This falls into the WHAT THE FUCK category. I had no clue that the greatest Hip-Hop group in the history of music performed in the squared circle back at Wrestlemania 5 for a bunch of mullets and rednecks. What is even more amazing is that they performed a song called "Wrestlemania Rap". Again, WHAT THE FUCK?! "Wrestlemania Rap"?! I was half expecting the Hulkster to run down to the ring mid performance and give all three of them the LEG DROP OF DOOM for this shit. They even went so far as to cut a promo for the big show (below).
This came out in 1990 when Tribe put out a VHS tape called The Art Of Moving Butts In Europe. The video is Q-Tip, Phife, Ali Shaheed and Jarobi (who hadn't bounced yet) performing live in Paris making people move their butts. ATCQ runs through half of People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm before ending it off with a freestyle. This is dope as hell for any Tribe fan. Enjoy!
Some epic shit went down this past weekend at Bonnaroo that was, well, epic!
Questlove held a Superjam after The Roots' show that not only included his Most Incredible Roots crew, but also members of Parliament/Funkadelic and The Time. As dope as that was, the epic status occurred when Questo said the following words... "I've been waiting 12 years to say this. Ladies and gentlemen, D'Angelo!"
For those not following along at home, it had been 12+ years since D'Angelo performed on American soil. The Bonnaroo Super Jam also marked the first time in over a decade that the Soulquarians performed together when D'Angelo, Questlove and James Posner reunited for the evening. No doubt the 4th member of the crew, the late J Dilla, was there in spirit and watching from above. With D'Angelo set to make his official return to the stage in the states next month (he's done a few shows in Europe recently), the crew stayed away from anything D'Angelo instead running through covers of Led Zeppelin, Ohio Players, Sly & The Family Stone, Curtis Mayfield, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and of course Funkadelic and The Time joints.
Check the video at the bottom for the finally of the Superjam to get a glimpse of what went down, and hit the link below to download the ENTIRE performance. Large up Okayplayer for the goods!
This is a segment that aired on Super Channel back in '89 on De La Soul that features cameos by Prince Paul, Stetsasonic, Big Daddy Kane, DMC, KRS One, and the Kooooooooool DJ Red Alert. I love the interweb for this very reason because I had never seen this before today.
Here is some classic footage of a not yet famous Kanye West making "Through The Wire". You'll notice some of the footage from the "Through The Wire" video, but the illness is watching 'Ye rifle through beats and rapping.
Our friends The Freshest, more specifically Marvel & Kutcorners, have just dropped the visuals for their latest creation 'Live Set 2.0' directed by Eighties Union. If you haven't seen the original we included it below. Freshness all around!
I remember seeing this live on Much Music when it originally aired and I lost my shit. I was pissed that I didn't have a VHS tape to pop in the VCR and hit record that day, but this has stuck in my memory ever since. LL coming out of the giant boom box onstage was unforgettable. Same with his white track suit and fat gold chain. This is basically a LL Cool J special that ran on Much Music. It has an interview with Cool J but is mostly footage from his concert at The Summit in Houston, Texas. At the time, LL only had his Radio and Bigger & Deffer albums out so this is LL in his prime. Up top is the concert's intro and LL performing "Get Down" and "I Can't Live Without My Radio". Below LL tears through "Rock The Bells". This is the definition of Classic Material. Enjoy!
One of the all time greatest commercials. MJ slanging Pepsi at the height of his popularity. This also features a hella young Carlton of Fresh Prince of Bel Air fame as Lil MJ. He kills it too.
Every Saturday night I gather up the kids, make a fresh batch of popcorn (with hot butter on it), and sit in front of the laptop and head over to EgoTrip for movie night. Then, I usually jack their movie night post for NationOfMillions because it's always dope as fuck. This weeks is the dopest.
When it came time for Run DMC to follow up THE GREATEST HIP-HOP ALBUM EVER MADE, Raising Hell, they decided to not only drop an album but also a movie to go with it. Chuck D often refers to Run DMC the "Beatles of Hip-Hop" and this movie was a page right out of the Fab 4's play book. Tougher Than Leather came out in 1988 to a lot of criticism and not much else. Rain Man it was not, but to me it didn't matter because my heroes were on the big screen. Not even bad acting, a bad plot, and a low budget was able to ruin this movie for me. On top of that, there are cameos by Slick Rick (performing "Treat Em Like A Prostitute"), and the Beastie Boys (performing "Desperado") which set off my 25 year quest to get my hands on a good copy of that record (still haven't found one). Check the video below to see what I am talking about. That cameo alone makes this film classic as fuck in my books. In fact, fuck Rain Man, Tougher Than Leather had my vote back in '88 for the Academy Award's Movie of the Year!
I suggest poppin' that popcorn (with the hot butter), sitting back, and just taking the movie in as it comes, but if you want a quick breakdown of what the flick is about this comes straight of the YouTube page...
"Legendary hip-hop group Run-D.M.C. stars in this cross between a blaxploitation film and a spaghetti western. They must find and punish the evil drug lord-record company executive who murdered their friend. Along the way, they encounter racist bikers, blonde bimbos, and the
Another demo tape from the archives. This one isn't hard to get your hands on, in fact it has been floating around blogland for some time now but since I'm on a quest to post every rap demo in existence it is time for this one to go up.
The Source's Unsigned Hype alumni first started buzzing in 1993. Fresh off their appearance on the Nubian Crackers record "Do You Wanna Hear It", Artifacts dropped their debut album Between A Rock and a Hard Place the following year. This is the demo tape that got them that deal. Everything on this tape are original versions of songs that made the album. The only record on this tape that didn't make the cut is the Lord Jamar produced "Check Da Fine Print" that features Brand Nubian. He also produced the original version of "Wrong Side Of The Tracks" which features a different beat (a James Brown loop), a different flow (same lyrics though), and Jamar on the hook (saying the same shit). As usual, the sound quality isn't the best but it is "Demo Tape Hi-Fi" which means it's about as good as music ripped off a cassette tape from the early '90's is going to get.
