Classic Material: Big Daddy Kane on Yo! MTV Raps (1991)

Kane rock a medley of BDK songs. Damn this show was dope.

Nardwuar vs. Mista F.A.B.

Classic Material: Beastie Boys on Yo! MTV Raps (1989)

Nardwuar vs. Snoop Dogg (Interview #3)

Snoop & Nardwuar again, and again, and again.

Classic Material: Biggie's 1995 Source Awards Performance

Featuring the 1995 edition of the Bad Boy family... Puffy Daddy, Craig Mack, Faith Evans, Total, Lil Kim and the Notorious B.I.G.

Rap Treats #76: Raekwon "Latest & Greatest Hits" Promo Tape

I love this shit. This is the promo record that Loud Records put out in '95 to promote OB4CL. I need to dig up my box of promo tapes and start ripping them.

Raekwon

Latest & Greatest Hits Promo Tape

Side 1

Side 2

Classic Material: The Making Of "Hard Knock Life"

This is a pretty dope video of how the 45 King produced "Hard Knock Life" record came to be. The documentary is from Sweden. Kid Capri makes a cameo (if you've heard the story before then you know why).

Demos: Cypress Hill Demo Tape (1989)

I'm a sucker for demo tapes. Something about hearing the actual recordings that lead to record deals is just dope to me. This one has been floating around for a while but I wanted to add it to the archives so here it is... the Cypress Hill demo tape that lead to their deal with Ruffhouse. This was recorded in 1989, a couple years before they dropped their first single in 1991. All these tracks sound like exactly what they are - original versions of records that ended up on their debut album. The only song I hadn't heard was "Caliente" which obviously didn't make the cut. Large up TROY for being a dope blog with shit (like this) that I feel the need to jack.

Cypress Hill

Demo Tape

1. The Phunckee Feel One

2. Caliente

3. Real Estate

4. Light Another

5. Psycobetabuckdown

6. The Phuncky Feel One (Unpolished)

Classic Material: J Dilla in Toronto (2002)

This rarely seen footage gets the word on Dilla's influence from Waajeed, Frank Nitty, and Mr. Love Movement - Dilla himself. These were Dilla's last moments in Toronto.

Rap Treats #75: Brand Nubian - The Now Rule Files EP

This record was limited to only 200 copies and features original, alternate and demo tracks. All songs were recorded between 1989 and 1997 and were produced by Brand Nubian except for "How Ya Livin" and "Love vs. Hate". I love hearing the original Brand Nubian line up together. They've always been dope, but not quite the same after Grand Puba left.

Brand Nubian

The Now Rule EP

(One Leg Up Records)

A1 "How Ya Livin" *Produced by Pete Rock

A2 "I Ain’t Goin’ Out Like That"

A3 "The Devil"

B1 "Mind Your Business" (Original Mix)

B2 "Where Is Puba?"

B3 "Probable Cause" (Original Mix)

B4 "Love Vs. Hate" (Alternate Version) *Producer by Lord Finesse

Questlove's J Dilla Tribute

Questlove made an appearance on Tony Touch's "Toca Tuesdays" radio show this week and dropped a DJ set of none stop Jay Dee related music. Super dope.

Questlove

J Dilla Tribute

Rap Treats #74: KDAY Concerts - Eazy-E & N.W.A + Public Enemy + King Tee Live From Skateland USA, Compton

For a rap radio junkie like myself, Los Angeles' KDAY is up there with Mr. Magic on WBLS, DJ Red Alert on KISS, Stretch & Bobbito on WKCR, and Sway & King Tech on KMEL. In fact, in my eyes it trumps them all because KDAY was the first station to adopt an all Hip-Hop format in 1983. What can you say about a station who's street team included Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Ice-T, MC Hammer, Tone Loc, Kid Frost, and Young MC to name a few. It's the station that coined the term "Traffic Jam" and was the first to play artists like N.W.A. Tapes of KDAY have been hard to come across, even in the age of the internet, but thanks to OldSchoolRapTapes a few have surfaced. These are concerts by Eazy-E & N.W.A., Public Enemy, and King Tee who performed Live in Compton that were broadcast on the station. There is also a recording of Ice-T introducing his "new" record "Colder Than Ever" that I had never heard before. These recordings are nowhere close to being CDQ so you'll have to deal with the sound quality, but 1580 KDAY was an AM station so there isn't much that could have been done about that.

N.W.A. & Eazy-E

Public Enemy

King Tee

"Live From Skateland USA, Compton"

Ice-T

"Live On KDAY/Colder Than Ever"