Generic list post: can you believe 2000 was 20 years ago?

"THERE'S ONLY FIVE YEARS LEFT!" bellowed Busta Rhymes on Everything Remains Raw. Then we all finally got to party like it's 1999, the clock struck midnight, and... ain't a damn thing changed. This was particularly true in Rap because half the biggest anthems of 2000 were released in 1999: Black Rob's Whoa, Method Man & Redman's Y.O.U, Dr. Dre's The Next Episode, Crooklyn Clan's Be Faithful, Jay-Z & UGK's Big Pimpin', DMX's What's My Name and Party Up (Up In Here), Juvenile's U Understand, and Nelly's Country Grammar (Hot Shit).

All of which is a fancy way of reminding all y'all that I dropped a 1999 list last year, and now I'm postin' a 2000 list as a sequel to my recent 1990 list. The 35 best Rap songs of 2000 as according to me.

OutKast ft. Sleepy Brown - So Fresh, So Clean
Ghostface Killah - Saturday Night
Kool G. Rap ft. RZA - Cakes
Mac Dre - Off Tha Rictor
Prodigy - Keep It Thoro
8Ball & MJG - Pimp Hard
M.O.P - Roll Call
DJ Quik - Pitch In On A Party
Shyne ft. Barrington Levy - Bad Boyz
Black Rob ft. G-Dep - B.R.
Three 6 Mafia ft. UGK & Project Pat - Sippin' On Some Syrup
Project Pat - Gorilla Pimp
Cocoa Brovaz - Super Brooklyn
Nelly ft. City Spud - Ride Wit Me
SPM ft. Baby Beesh - Oh My My
Big L Flamboyant
Cam'Ron ft. Prodigy - Losin' Weight
Mystikal - Big Truck Driver
Bumpy Knuckles - Industry Shakedown
Trick Daddy ft. Trina, Deuce Poppito & Co - Shut Up
Trina - Da Baddest Bitch
De La Soul ft. Redman - Oooh
Big Tymers - Get Your Roll On
Mad Skillz - Ghost Writer
Snoop Dogg ft. Kokane & Suga Free- Bring It On
C-Murder ft. Magic & Snoop Dogg - Down For My N*ggaz
Big Pun - N*gga Shit
K-Rino ft. DJ Screw - Why Ya Wanna Hate?
Beanie Sigel - The Truth
Field Mob - Project Dteamz
AZ - I Don't Give A F*ck
Ruff Ryders ft. Snoop Dogg, Yung Wun, Scarface & Jadakiss - World War III
Jakki Tha Motamouth ft. Copywrite - Widespread
Ludacris - Southern Hospitality

What's a goon to a gobbling?

Mic Terror - Head In The Morning
(From Tall, Dark, & Gangster EP; 2019/YouTube; 2020)


Hooray - my favourite song from Mic Terror's last EP now has a video. Hip hip hooray - the video lives up to Mic's "I love a pretty face, fat ass, and huge boobs" lyric.

It's a brand new decade, we need brand new attitudes, and brand new ways to stop superfluous dudes from turning every Rap video into a sausagefest. In with Eye Candy 4 The Lads, out with neighbourhood goons mean-muggin' the camera! Sing along with me, folks:

♫ NO MORE LOCAL RANDOS, BRING BACK VIDEO HOES! ♫

Late pass! Rebel without a boutique raer vinylz release

There was me thinkin' I knew all the unreleased 1989 Intelligent Hoodlum tracks via old Westwood shows and those two EP's on DWG Records. Then I came across this sequel to The Rebel and was like "how have I never heard this before?" Turns out Westwood did play this in 1989, someone upped the audio of that to the internet in 2016, and someone else finally tracked down the test press 12" last year and ripped it.

"Mic manipulator mutilating MC's
Narrator-navigator of the seven seas"

Tragedy AKA Intelligent Hoodlum - The Rebel Returns
(From Marley Marl sessions; 1989/the internet; 2019)


A smattering of lyrics on this one date back to the 1987 Super Kids era. Otherwise, it's sick-scientific Tragedy mispronouncing the Tasmanian Devil over a twangy loop of Cissy Strut.

R.I.P 5th Ward Weebie

5th Ward Weebie ft. Wild Wayne & Trombone Shorty - Drop It How Ya Feel It
(From Soundcloud; 2018)


Let me find out that the internet is bullshitting with the news of 5th Ward Weebie's death. That man kept Bounce alive when Bounce had taken a dive, made music which sounded like Mardi Gras in Magnolia Projects, and was responsible for some of the only non-corny Real Instruments Rap™ of this past decade. Most importantly, Weebie owned the G.O.A.T Louisiana-sounding Louisiana Rap song:

5th Ward Weebie - Supa Sunday In N.O
(From Da Unexpected album; 2003)


Rest in peace lil' big man. I hope Heaven got more pop-up Seafood Gumbo restaurants you can open up with your royalties from Audrey's Nice For What.

Black Steel In The Hour Of Lateness

"Have you ever thought of suicide
On a jail call when your mother cried
She ain't understand you had to ride
It was him or you, it was do or die"

Casanova - Jail Call
(From Behind These Scars album; 2019)


I got a letter from the government the other day, I opened and read it, it said I'm a sucka for sleepin' on Casanova's Jail Call. Pain music par excellence where Casanova turns down for what's the first introspective song of his career. Not so much Don't Get Caught, as Don't Do It If You Do Get Caught. Modern Blues and the most effective anti-porridge song since Mysonne's In Jail.

Never fear, though, because the next song on Casanova's album is a Brooklyn Shout-Rap version of Body Count's Talk Shit, Get Shot where Cas' threatens to pull up on people who've trolled his Instagram.

Buff(et) Crew

Eatem: he looks like Percy Tragedy and makes regionally distinct rowdiness in the spirit of Treal Lee. This new song's pressure, but with only one verse it makes a better B-side to Spent It All than a single in its own right.

"Different angles with the banger like triangle isosceles"

Eatem - Wat's Wrong Wit' Em
(From YouTube; 2020)


Where's my true Paid In Full fans at? I'm talkin' people who copped the O.G bootleg DVD from Canal Street in 2002 with the scene set to Special Ed's I Got It Made which was later overdubbed with Jaz B. Lat'n's era-inappropriate Set It Off for the official movie. Lord knows why they changed it because I Got It Made was on disc one of the soundtrack.

Generic list post: can you believe 1990 was 30 years ago?

The year was 1990, I was in my 2nd year of high school, Round The Twist was my fave show on TV, Vanilla Ice's Ice Ice Baby was thee shit to me initially, and I loved FNM as much as N.W.A. Plz believe ya host was livin' that Hardcore Hip-Hop lifestyle, though: stealing Posca pens from Partners and tagging up provincial carparks, buying a pair of snow-camo trousers in a misguided attempt to dress like the S1Ws, paying a neighbour to record me Yo! MTV Raps off BSB, and accidentally making a Jehovah's Witness girl cry by playing Silver Bullet's 20 Seconds To Comply on our high school common room's tape-deck.

James Brown samples and Ultimate Breaks & Beats staples were starting to recede as new styles and sounds were beginning to fully blossom, but 1990 Rap was still funkier than Rab C. Nesbitt. And so, in no particular order, here's 30 Legit Jams™ from 30 years ago. Some were faves at the time, others I've discovered in the years since, all of them are absolute choonz.

Brand Nubian - Step To The Rear
Too $hort - The Ghetto
Eric B. & Rakim - In The Ghetto (LP mix)
Ice Cube ft. Lil' Russ - A Gangsta's Fairytale
N.W.A - Real N*ggaz
Above The Law - Murder Rap
Gang Starr - Just 2 Get A Rep
Compton's Most Wanted - Duck Sick
Lakim Shabazz - The Voice Of Power
King Tee ft. Ice Cube & Breeze - Played Like A Piano
Master Ace - Me And The Biz
Kool G. Rap & D.J Polo - Kool Is Back
Rated X - Be Cool To Your Girl
EPMD ft. LL Cool J - Rampage
Poor Righteous Teachers - Rock Dis Funky Joint
Digital Underground - Packet Man
Chubb Rock - Treat 'Em Right
X Clan - Funkin' Lesson
Public Enemy - 911 Is A Joke
Poison Clan - Bad Influence
KMD - Peachfuzz
M.C Pooh - F***in' With Dank
Lord Finesse & DJ Mike Smooth - Funky Technician
Ice-T - Mind Over Matter
LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out
C.O.D. - Clever Word
A Tribe Called Quest - Luck Of Lucien
Jungle Brothers ft. Native Tongues - Doin' Our Own Dang (Do It To The JBs mix)
Main Source - Looking At The Front Door
Mob Style - Gangster Shit
Bonus beats: can you believe 1980 was 40 years ago? Was gonna drop list of my favourite Rap songs from 1980 too, but it'd just be three Spoonie Gee tracks, Jimmy Spicer's Adventures Of Super Rhyme, Treacherous Three's Body Rock, and Kurtis Blow's Hard Times.

Throw Dem Bowsers

For Smif-N-Wessun to get one of their very best songs effectively shut down by sample clearance was standard practice, to get two was plain bad luck: first there was Nothing Move But The Money in 1995, and then Super Brooklyn in 2000 after their rebrand as the Cocoa Brovaz. In a perfect world Dru-Ha got the Super Mario Brothers samples cleared and Super Brooklyn went on to be the biggest Boot Camp Clik single since Leflaur Leflah Eshkoshka. G.O.A.T video-game sample song? Possibly. The only Boot Camp Clik song Peter Crouch could do The Robot to? Definitely.

"I'm a Brooklyn survivor
These streets is hotter than lava
Yo, that saliva burn you like fire"

Cocoa Brovaz - Super Brooklyn
(From Super Brooklyn 12" single; 2000/Game Over compilation; 2002)

Generic list post: December 2019

Obligatory wrap-up post of those songs I've played most during the month when Jeremy Corbyn lost his second successive election to the Tories. Tony Blair would never.

Mac Dre - Dedication To The Crest (199?/2019)
Mustard ft. Roddy Ricch - Ballin' (2019)
Eatem - Spent It All (2019)
Yhung T.O - You Know (2019)
Mozzy - Big Homie From The Hood (2019)
Woodie - Karma Is A Mutha (2004/2019)
Yung Cat - Gangsta Shit (2019)

Other notables: I wish 70th Street Carlos' To The Max had a hook; I wish Boldy James & Alchemist's My First Offense had a hook and another verse (albeit not a verse from Alchemist lolz); I wish BlocBoy JB & Sada Baby's song didn't have any verses from Hoodrich Pablo Juan; I wish J Hus' new song wasn't so heavy on the Auto-Tune; I wish Drake's silly U.K Drill song makes all these U.K Drill rappers realise what a national embarrassment they are.

Bonus beats: 2019 late pass Rap playlist and the obligatory best Rap songs of 2019 post.

SOB X WTF?

"I'm just speakin' to the real, because I done been where you been
And there's only two places: it was death or to the penn'"

Yhung T.O - You Know
(From YouTube; 2019)


The unlikely scenario where I prefer Yhung T.O's new single to any of DaBoii's recent singles. You Know is some fuzzy womb music which sounds like the opening slap on a Yhung T.O & DJ Fresh Tonite Show album with beats chosen by executive producer Berner. Say what you want about Berner The Rapper™, but Berner The Executive Producer™ has exquisite taste in beats.

Fork The World! (Festive reprise)

"Ya bitch was f*ckin' with dude and got put in the cross
Put some holes in ya 'fit now the drip is off"

Eatem - Spent It All
(From YouTube; 2019)


Economic karma: Gucci Mane made it a hot line, Mouse & Level made it a hot song, and Eatem's followed the money trail with Spent It All. Vintage Concentration Camp vibes and modern Baton Rouge Brawl Music™ in the SAME DAMN TRACK. Only criticism here would be that the video's lacking some of the big Treal Lee & Prince Rick energy from the Instagram teaser.

Merry XXXmas from ya host Santa Pause. Here's your annual festive Blowie (no George Michael):

You might be deep in this game but you got the rules missin'

Marvin Gaye - Ego Tripping Out
(From Ego Tripping Out single; 1979)


"What's the point of this?" <~~ That's my response whenever I see any kind of Best Rap Songs List which doesn't even hyperlink/embed the songs or contain a link to a playlist/zipfile of them. Invariably the list will be made by some gassed-up rando who has time to post on Twitter daily everyday, but can't take a 30 minute break from havin' earnest opinions about Lil' Tecca and ranking KanYe West's albums for the sixty billionth time to add some hyperlinks to their little vanity-project list.

It's a matter of manners innit. What - we're supposed to be grateful that you've graced us with your Very Special™ selections and you now expect us to go search YouTube for the tracks we're unfamiliar with? Yo money grip, money grip - I hate to break it to ya, but you definitely ain't no Ego Trip.

IF U A RESPECTABLE PERSON WHO HANDLE THEY BIZ AND TAKE CARE OF YO LISTZ AND LINKZ U LAPHING AND LUVING THIS POST! IF U MAD U THE ONE IM TALKIN BOUT BITCH!!!!!!

(Never forget!)

Reasons why I love YouTube: Crestside is the best side part 2

Mac Dre - Dedication To The Crest
(From local Crest tapes; 199?/YouTube; 2019)


Knick knack patty whack here we go again with another early 90s Mac Dre that's turned up on YouTube in 2019. I hate to be the rabid Stan who claims that random demo tracks are better than most Rapper's careers, BUT some of these Mac Dre demos really do body most rapper's entire discographies. 100% fact, 0% opinion.

Previously: Crestside is the best side.

Sorta late pass!

Mustard ft. Roddy Ricch - Ballin'
(From Perfect Ten compilation; 2019)


Dismissed this shit for the past couple of months purely because Roddy Ricch's blatant Rich Homie Quan Stars In Their Eyes performance on the song made me sad that Quan has been reduced to shilling in Newcastle replica shirts for British R&B sangers. However, after hearing Ballin' in a bar last night I can't deny it, I'm gonna str8 ride to it without pining for RHQ from now on. Die Young will always be a snoozefest to me, but I can't front on the Roddy here.

Deliberately kept my best Rap songs of 2019 list at 29 songs in the hope that summat else would either drop or grow on me. Ballin' will do very nicely as that summat else for a dirty 30 like CRU.

Johnson is the P.M but I voted for Shirley Manson

Evidently the man himself was the only person who didn't see it coming, but Jeremy Corbyn has turned out to be the post-2006 Arsene Wenger of British politics: stubbornly idealistic, defensively weak, strategically naive, enabled by fawning dickriders, too consumed by his own anachronistic vision to realise he's dragging his organisation back to the 80s, and the ultimate specialist in failure. Analogy-wise, John McDonnell would be the Steve Bould to Corbyn's Wenger, and both Corbyn & McDonnell should now sod off and join Bouldy in whatever skip he's currently sleeping in behind the Emirates Stadium.

Tony Blair's three successive demolitions of the Tory party coincided with Arsene Wenger's purple patch as Arsenal manager. Alas, the only traits Labour and Arsenal presently share are toxic fanbases and a pathological inability to choose the right man to lead them. There's a myriad of reasons why Corbyn was the wrong man for the top job, one of which is that he inspired the worst thinkpiece Simon "Grimey Simey" Reynolds has ever written (no mean feat.) Not a lotta people know this, but Grimey Simey's weed-carrier Matthew "Woebot" Ingram went to Eton with David Cameron and Boris Johnson. Conclusive proof that Hauntology is for Tories or wot?

Speaking of Grimey Simey's weed-carriers, the most unfathomable question of the 2010s is this: how did Mark "K-Punk" Fisher go from being a universally-mocked pseud to being considered one of the profound thinkers of our age? Conclusive proof that you can't trust people or wot?

The obligatory best Rap songs of 2019 post

Back when I was young my dad told me to never play with matches, but here I am postin' That Fire™. Bit of an anti-climax makin' a year-end list when I've already done the decade, but I can't resist the urge to inflict my 2019 essentials on the internet. Talk Talk's theory about life is the realest shit they ever wrote, which is why I had just as much fun dancing to Eatem's Whoop Sum in the house as I did singing along to Lil' Nas X & Billy Ray Cyrus' Old Town Road remix in the pub. As ever, no order of preference and one song per artist.

Best Rap songs of 2019 IMHO:
BlocBoy JB - Mercedes
Positive K & MC Lyte - I'm Still Not Havin' It
Duke Deuce - Yeh
Mic Terror - Playa Shit
Eatem - Whoop Sum
A-Mafia - Wunn
DaBaby - Walker Texas Ranger
Ether ft. Fivio Foreign & Mr. Swipey - WAKA
70th Street Carlos - Play For
ShooterGang Kony - Charlie
Quelle Chris - Obamacare
Sada Baby - Lame
Dru Down - Ring Ding Dong
Lil' Nas X ft. Billy Ray Cyrus - Old Town Road (remix)
AZ - It's Time
Queen Key - Ratchett
Kokane - Doo Doo Headz
Suga Free ft. Kokane - Hole In Your Heart
Yung Cat - Gangsta Shit
Mozzy - Big Homie From The Hood
TREE - Backflip
Peezy - New Car Smell
Rio Da Yung OG - Legendary
Slick Rick - Midas Touch
Mustard ft. Roddy Ricch - Ballin'
Devin The Dude - Trap-A-N*gga
Laroo AKA Hitta Slim ft. E-40 - HOG
Icewear Vezzo & Babyface Ray - Champions
Polo G - Deep Wounds
Xanman - Foulin' The Plug
The Egyptian Lover - 5¢ Camel Ride (Long Version)

Best new-but-old Rap songs of 2019 IMHO:
Mac Dre - Crest Bound
2Pac - Letz Get It On (Ready 2 Rumble) (O.G version)
Pete Rock - Street Dreams (Instrumental)

Best British Rap song of 2019 IMHO:
J Hus - Must Be

Slightly truncated Audiomack version of the list can be streamed HERE.

Best Other Genres™ songs of 2019 IMHO:
Ari Lennox - BMO
Juiceboxxx - Coinstar Song
Burna Boy - Anybody
Peggy Gou - Starry Night
Calvin Harris ft. Rag 'n' Bron Son - Giant
Dua Lipa - Don't Start Now
SAULT - Foot On Necks

Best new-but-old Other Genres™ songs of 2019 IMHO:
Prince - 100 MPH
LFO - Lost World
Related: 2019 late pass Rap playlist.

Antioch & Dec

"I've seen a lot and done a lot
Been known to use my gun a lot
And when the cops got me locked, never been the one to talk
Assume the phone number's hot, always keep another spot
Almost all I was taught, I learned it from the Yoc"

Woodie - Karma Is A Mutha
(From the vaults; 200?/the internet; 2019)


A Nortemare on Elm Street. The unlikely scenario where unreleased Woodie slaps from the vaults are better than anything his old pal A-Wax has dropped in the past few years.

Bonus beats: Me is a killer A-Wax deep cut from one of Woodie's Northern Expozure compilations.

LQBLT

"The Rap game stressed me, made me get the burner
Thought about it, pimp it out like Ike Turner
Not a hard-head, I'm an easy learner
Back in the day boned a girl named Mirna
Styles I flip: R&B, even Pop
No matter how I flip I'ma flip Hip Hop
Put the pedal to the metal, put the icing on the cake
The tea in the kettle, get a mansion like Blake"

Greg Nice - Set It Off
(From Set It Off single; 1995)


Imagine a world where Set It Off is acknowledged as bringing that Latin Quarter essence to The Tunnel era, a world where Set It Off is considered the equal of Nice & Smooth's best singles, a world where Set It Off is regarded as Certified Canon™ rather than Cult Classic™. I'd like to live in that world meself, if only to stop basic bastard warm-up DJ's at heritage-Rap shows playing Dwyck for the 50 billionth time.

You, a square: Smooth B was a big influence on Snoop Dogg.
Me, a connoisseur: Greg Nice was the true father of Project Pat's flow.

Born to Audiomack: 2019 late pass!

1. Extra T's - E.T. Boogie (1982)
2. Midi - Kool Is Chillen (1987)
3. Bizzie Boyz - Brainstorm (1988/2011)
4. Filthy Phil - Deadgiveaway (1992)
5. Alley High - Voo Doo (1996)
6. Mac Dre - My Folks (1997/2005)
7. Jakki Tha Motamouth ft. Copywrite - Widespread (2000)
8. Dubee & Mac Dre - You Ain't My Dog (2001)
9. Cam'Ron ft. Ted Dibiase & Frank Muller - Oh Boy (Philly Remix) (2002)
10. Husalah - Inshallah (In God's Will) (2003)
11. Max B - Take A Flick (CDQ version) (2007/2015)
12. Mic Terror - Juke Them Hoes (CDQ version) (2007/2017)
13. Shady Nate - 1 Mo Lick (2008)
14. Pablo Skywalkin - No Big Homie (2017)
15. AzChike - Big Chop (2018)
16. Eatem & Spitta - Side N*gga (2018)

Ain't gonna lie, ya host Greta Thun & Kickoberg had hoped my 2019 late pass playlist would've been a tad deeper than this by now. Oh well - at least I've discovered twelve legit jams I'd never heard before, rediscovered a couple of Mac Dre and Shady Nate tracks I'd sorta undervalued, and finally found CDQ versions of personal classics by Max B and Mic Terror. Plus, check me out lovin' a song featuring literal internet punchline Copywrite!

Never got round to postin' about Midi's Kool Is Chillen, so lemme explain it: basically, some raw 1987 drum-machine Rap outta Milwaukee that's a missing link between The Skinny Boys and The Bizzie Boyz. Thanx to Bob D for the assist on that one, hat tip to Big Sleep for the Filthy Phil tip off, and cheers to Step One for hookin' up the Alley High and Cam'Ron choons. My folks or wot?

What would Fat Tone say?

"Chevy sideways, gettin' stupid and shit
Broad daylight we do the stupidest shit
When it's fonkin' then we comin' with drums tryna lift shit
30 rounds 'll make your bucket do a full flip"

Yung Cat aka Fat Tone Jr - Gangsta Shit
(From YouTube; 2019)


Just when I'd given up on Yung Cat he slides through with a big, hooky Kansas City slapper. The tone is Husalah's twitchy country cousin, but the words are pure Fat Tone foulness. What a pity K.C's half man/half moggy waited to drop this one when Britain's skies have turned the same grim shade of grey as Pep Guardiola's "lucky" hooded cardigan (shoulda kept that thing another season, m8.)

Generic list post: November 2019

Obligatory wrap-up post of those songs I've played most during the month that's probably gonna inspire an influx of Rappers called Hoffa, Buffalino, and Tony Pro. Also the month when some of youse lot finally realised that Jon Caramanica is just Tom Breihan in R.A The Rugged Man's body.

Mac Dre - Crest Bound (199?/2019)
A-Mafia - Wunn (2019)
A-Mafia ft. Project Pat - Hemphis (2019)
Mic Terror - Head In The Morning (2019)
Mic Terror ft. Gitta - Nobody Loves Me (2019)
J Hus - Must Be (2019)
LFO - Rob's Nightmare (1990/2019)
LFO - To The Limit (1990/2019)
Dua Lipa - Don't Start Now (2019)

Other notables: unless it's supposed to be an intro, Duke Deuce's Crunk Ain't Dead is too dope to be so short; the Lookout remix by Homeboy Sandman, Kurious & Aesop Rock was a pleasant surprise; Xanman's iCarly is aiight but if he really wants to Get Retarded™ then he should flip the Round The Twist theme; that "new" Gang Starr album was a genetically-modified Gangenstein's MonStarr; Kap G's The Bomb is a step back in the right direction for him; was my Mancunian-Rap/grey Squirrel analogy the realest music writing of November or wot?

And on the 8th day Satan created Manchester

Here at The Martorialist we always thought Dave The Ruf would forever be the absolute nadir of Mancunian Rap. Turns out we were wrong because Dave now has some serious competition in the form of Aitch and Jordan. It's impossible to watch these two videos and not think that Rap is the musical equivalent of when the grey squirrel was introduced to the U.K: a flashy well-meaning import which is accidentally hazardous to the indigenous population.

Aitch - Taste (Make It Shake)
(A legit hit single; 2019)



Jordan - Lifestyle
(A legit viral hit; 2019)


Did the Rap game need a 16 year old Jordan Pickford and Nick Frost's scally little brother?

Reasons why I love YouTube: Crestside is the best side

Because thee fonkiest Mac Dre demo since the O.G version of California Livin' recently turned up on there. Dre is one of the few Rappers with enough charisma to sound fly in filthy 3rd generation tape-dub lo-fidelity. Bigger than life, he still does it Magnum from beyond the grave.

Mac Dre - Crest Bound
(From local Crest tapes; 199?/YouTube; 2019)


Produced by DJ Ceece who also cut the Hell outta the track. This one sounds like it was recorded around 1990.

The L stood for Lads

LFO - Rob's Nightmare
(From Peel Session 1990/12" EP; 2019)


Wot a to do it is when WARP Records have finally given LFO's 1990 Peel Session an official release, eh? To clarify, that's the LFO who combined the disparate aesthetics of Ron Hardy & Don Revie, not the LFO who had M.O.P all up on their frat-Pop shouting. Anyhoo, the Peel Session consists of 4 exclusive tracks, although Take Control is basically an early prototype of We Are Back before Gez Varley & Mark Bell added the evil Electro ecky-thump. Burn one/pour out a little liquor/eat a tripe butty for the Bellmeister.

LFO - Lost World
(From Peel Session 1990/12" EP; 2019)

Bongo Bongo Land (no Nigel Farage)

"Like goin' to Footlocker and seein' some Asics
Or goin' up to Heaven and seein' a motherfuckin' racist "

Homeboy Sandman ft. Kurious & Aesop Rock - Lookout (remix)
(From Dusty album; 2019)


Riddle me this, Backpackman: how come I generally love Quelle Chris and usually hate Aesop Rock but the version of Homeboy Sandman's Lookout I dig is the remix not the original? Cannae pinpoint an answer for that question meself, all I can tell you is that this shit transports me to a parallel universe where London's Mr. Bongo record shop still exists and I'm still tryna get a refund from Kish for that crap Non-Prophets EP he recommended me.

Smooth B - I Want My Money Back
(From Top Shelf 8/8/88 compilation; 2007)

Hell Rella Lugosi's Dead

"Yo, I gotta get this paper, mane
I rap but I'm still pullin' capers, mane"

A-Mafia ft. Project Pat - Hemphis
(From The Good With The Bad album; 2019)


Reality-Rap or wot? Might as well post this too since it's a top 3 song on the new A-Mafia album alongside Wunn and Riding Alone. Trans-regional gooncore with a Transylvania Type Beat™. As with Styles P's Kill That Faggot, we hoppin' outta coffins wearin' Bela Lugosi wigs to this one.

A-Mafia was recently on DGB talkin' like it's just you and me. Very pertinent chat about Project Pat being his favourite Rapper, and how he introduced Hell Rell to Gucci Mane's music.