You can't see me like Charlie Angel's boss

Redman - Can't Wait (Remix #2)
(From Dat Undaground Shit!!!! promo EP; 1995)


As featured in ya host's recent 60 songs Westwood put me onto post. Like Spunk Bigga's remix of AZ's Your World Don't Stop, this one is a "remix" which is actually the original version and is #actually superior to the official LP version. Your guess is as good as mine why Reggie Red & Erick Sermon felt the need to mess up Tonight's Da Night part two by adding a bunch of doo-dads and turning it into some stodgy boom-bap.

Kickin' tinny rap songs off the Earth part 2

What do Elvis Presley, Sid Vicious, Shane McGowan, Limp Bizkit, the Fat Dancer from Take That, Fetty Wap & Monty, and the Kung Fu lass Queen Key have in common? They've all rewritten My Way in their own image:

"Meanwhile I'm turnt as f*ck
I left my pizza in the oven, that bitch burnt as f*ck"

Queen Key - My Way
(From My Way single; 2017)


And what special quality do My Way and Kung Fu have in common? Whether you're in the house like LL Cool J or in the car like like Ivan Locke, both songs will leave your stereo's speakers as nuked as Queen Key's pizza.

PS: Sid Vicious woz innocent! It woz the mysterious Michael lad wot done Nancy Spungen in.

Nas was a gun, Open Mike Eagle is a block of flats

"My other name is 3-9-2-5
Make sure that my story's told
Sixteen or so stories high
Constructed fifty five years ago
Winter weather, yeah here we go
Chi Town in my building code
Stood here for ten million snows
Wind is chilled and all in my bones"

Open Mike Eagle - Brick Body Complex
(From Brick Body Kids Still Daydream album; 2017)


This one appeared in last month's wrap up, but definitely deserves its own post. As me nan used to say, a well executed rap song/video about a Pertinent Issue™ is worth a thousand of yer little thinkpieces. Dunno enough about Project Blowed to know where/why/how this song fits into their lineage, but I do know that it soars where most Open Mike Eagle songs are content to flap about in oblique formations under the guise of Unapologetic Art Rap.

Wish there was more eccentrics on wax who made 2017 backpack-rap as good as this and Quelle Chris' Buddies. Quite like When Cats Claw by Shabazz Palaces too.

Max Markin

Remember when the Beastie Boys' keyboard noodler transformed one of his rickety lo-fi album interludes into a U.K Top 40 hit which was catchier than herpes on a Concert Square hookah pipe? Lemme kill a whole flock of seagulls with one fact here: Hand In Your Head is empirically the best song Mo' Wax Records ever released, and, yes, that includes songs from any of their licenced U.K reissues.

Money Mark - Hand In Your Head
(From Push The Button album; 1998)


Fun fact: John "The Scouse XXXtentacion" Lennon's son played the bass on Hand In Your Head. That's his half-AZN 'Murican son Sean, not his full CAC Scouser son Julian. Another L for the city of Liverpool or wot?

Ante Down

"Look, you know whassup, it's finna go down
We both got a pistol, you better bust, this ain't no showdown
Don't even try it, I got somethin' to shut the show down
After I shot ya, whole block looked like a ghost town"

OMB Peezy & Cardo Got Wings - Go Down
(From Humble Beginnings EP; 2017)


The Overkill name stays the same, but Go Down is a whole different interpretation of Feel The Fire. This one redeems Peezy's Chinese Jordan YFN Lucci-isms elsewhere on his EP with Cardo - you're from Alabama not Atlanta, m8.

Ain't gon' lie, though - it bugs the Hell outta me that Peezy repeats lines in a row on both his verses here. Jimmy Spicer didn't rap for nearly 14 minutes on Adventures Of Super Rhyme so these lazy modern day rappers could play Jimmy Two Times on songs that are south of the 3 minute mark.

Born to Audiomack: 2017 late pass (1nce again)

I've heard things you people wouldn't believe. Fire Berner joints that aren't even off a Drought Season album. I heard J-Diggs glitter in the pen style of Andre Hicks over the Cutthoat Soup beat. All those songs lost in time like piss in the shower. Time to update:



Expanded my 2017 late pass playlist with new-to-me discoveries by Biz Markie, Juvenile & Big Tymers, Dru Down, Fat Tone, Berner, J-Diggs, and Valee. If you're out here music blogging but you're only searching out gems from the present day then you're doing it all wrong. Wake up, time to dig.

R.I.P to Bodil Joensen's dog, I had to regurgitate

It's about time Frankie Tha Lucky Dog's favourite Swedish pop diva dropped something proper naughty given that Europe Invented The Kink Pr0n™. That isn't necessarily kink pr0n in the hot sense (teenagers lezzing off with their IRL mams? NOOOOOOOO! People shagging various farmyard animals? A trillion times NOOOOOOOO!), but you've gotta respect a 2017 songstrel who takes it back to that 1977 Euro-kink essence on a Popsicle House bangeur. Probably the only time you'll enjoy a smutty video where some bork lass gallivants with a furry midget who has someone's arm up his backside.

Tove Lo - Disco Tits
(From Disco Tits single; 2017)


Bonus #1977synergy points for having a song with the word Tit in the title starring a Muppet in the video - Tove Knows!

A slightly belated happy 60th birthday to Westwood!

His jeans have gotten tighter and his polo shirts have gotten snugger, but the Big Dawg's thirst for music stays unfadeable, baby. Ya host has already written the definitive tribute to Westwood, so here's a generic list post of 60 songs I've discovered via the Big Dawg over the years - a mixture of classics, personal favourites, and deep cuts. As Westwood nearly told Rae Sremmurd, I ain't got no type, either - I'm just grateful for all these joints.

Run D.M.C. - Slow And Low (1986)
London Posse - Money Mad (1987)
Juice Crew - Cold Chillin' Christmas (1988)
Marley Marl - No Bullshit (1989)
LL Cool J - Year Of The Hip Hop (199?)
Super Cat - Ghetto Red Hot (Hip Hop Mix) (1992)
Time Zone - Zulu War Chant (Remix) (1993)
Slick Rick ft. Doug E. Fresh - Sittin' In My Car (1994)
Notorious B.I.G - Just Playin' (Dreams) (1994)
Lil' Vicious ft. Doug E. Fresh - Freaks (1994)
Frankie Cutlass - Puerto Rico (Instrumental) (1994)
Mary J. Blige ft. Smif-N-Wessun - I Love You (Remix) (1995)
Greg Nice - Set It Off (1995)
Redman - I Can't Wait (Remix 2) (1995)
Aaliyah ft. Slick Rick - Got To Give It Up (1996)
Smif-W-Wessun - Nothing Move But The Money (1996)
The LOX ft. Notorious B.I.G - You'll See (1996)
The Firm ft. Half-A-Mill - Firm Biz (World's Famous Mix) (1997)
Beenie Man - Who Am I (Sim Simma) (1997)
Crooklyn Crew - Tha Franklinz (1997)
Total ft. Missy Elliot - What About Us (1997)
Faith Evans - Love Like This (1998)
Juvenile - Ha (1998)
Missin' Linx - M.I.A (1998)
Noreaga ft. Nature, Big Pun etc - Banned From TV (1998)
Black Rob - The Heist (1999)
Lil' Wayne ft. Juvenile & B.G. - Tha Block Is Hot (1999)
Lil' Kim - Suck My Dick (2000)
Lord Tariq - This Cold World (2000)
Rah Digga - Lessons Of Today (2000)
Rodney P - Big Tings We Inna (2001)
Tweet ft. Missy Elliot - Oops (Oh My) (2001)
Busta Rhymes - As I Come Back (2001)
Havoc ft. 50 Cent & Big Noyd - Bump That (2002)
50 Cent - Wanksta (2002)
Foxy Brown - Stylin' (2002)
Peedi Crakk ft. Freeway - Fall Back (2003)
Wayne Wonder - No Letting Go (2003)
Bubba Sparxxx - Disappear (2003)
Twista ft. Jazze Pha - Badunkadunk (2004)
Kano - P's And Q's (2004)
Trina - Leaving You (Big Ol' Dick) (2004)
Mike Jones ft. Slim Thug & Paul Wall - Still Tippin' (2004)
T-Pain - I'm Sprung (2005)
ODB AKA Dirt McGirt - Lift Ya Skirt (2005)
Donae'o - Party Hard (2009)
Gucci Mane - Lemonade (2009)
Cali Swag District - Teach Me How To Dougie (2010)
Giggs - Monsta Man (2011)
French Montana ft. Charlie Rock - Shot Caller (2011)
K Kutta - Lum Lum (2013)
Kranium - Nobody Has To Know (2013)
Looni - Right Now (2014)
Spice - So Mi Like It (2014)
J Hus - Dem Boy Paigon (2015)
Krept & Konan ft. Jeremih - Freak Of The Week (2015)
Vybz Kartel - Dancehall/Work (Jugglerz Remix) (2016)
Uncle Murda - Cam'Ron Voice (2016)
Dexta Daps - Chinese Jordan (2016)
Busy Signal - Go Again (2017)

Another mystery solved!

RARE #Bootleg 12" SINGLES Life Is Like A Dice Game - @nas Produced By @therealeasymobee Recorded @ #UniqueStudios1995 Studio A - 8th Floor #7017thAvenue NYC The Unfinished #Nas & #EasyMoBee 💾

A post shared by Easy Mo Bee🐝 (@therealeasymobee) on Oct 1, 2017 at 2:57am PDT

Ah, so it was Easy Mo Bee who produced Nas' Life Is Like A Dice Game. Surprised to find out it was recorded in 1995, though, because I always thought it was a pre-Illmatic demo. If I was a real Nas Stan I woulda known that already - he mentions his daughter Destiny being born on the song and Google tells me her year of birth was 1994.

Generic list post: September 2017

Oh Well They Made Me Do It 🤷🏽‍♂️#ForThePussyChallengePT.1 #5thWardWeebie & @blaqnmild All The Way Back Outchere New Music On The Way #5thWardWeebieWednesday Get Ready ‼️#YesLawd #CarterV @SnoopDogg @Tmz

A post shared by 5thWardWeebie (@5thwardweebie) on Sep 27, 2017 at 7:39pm PDT

Obligatory wrap-up post of those songs I've played most during the month when J. Cole thankfully refrained from taking part in the #ForThePussyChallenge. Way too many new recruits to the Death Fresh Crew this month - pour out a little booze of your choosing for Gary Warnett, Frank Vincent, Harry Dean Stanton, Gee Money, and my mate's dog Rocco.

Dru Down - Gangstafied (2002)
Rich The Factor ft. The Popper - Aristocrat (2016)
Rich The Factor - 1000 (2017)
Queen Key - Kung Fu (2017)
Open Mike Eagle - Brick Body Complex (2017)
70th Street Carlos - Bag It Up (2017)
70th Street Carlos - Ding Dong (2017)
The Brat - High School (1980)
The Brat - Leave Me Alone (1980)
Tove Lo - Disco Tits (2017)

Other notables: genuinely thought Boosie's Get Ya Mind Right was some Gangsta Musik-era deep cut I'd slept on until now; Yhung T.O's Slidin' was the song which sold me on him as a solo artist until the slight Drakeisms of some of his phrasing began to irk me; prefer this video to those two new OMB Peezy tracks; Post Malone & 21 Savage's Rockstar is everything I dislike about 2017 Atlanta rap in one song.

If we sacrifice Hetty Douglas to a volcano can we get Gary Warnett back?

F*ck Hetty Douglas and anyone that love 'er!

R.I.P to the infamous Gary "Gwarizm" Warnett - a proper kindred spirit. Ageing British blokes who truly GET rap music in toto are few and far between, so it was a pleasure to come across someone like Gary who also knew a thing or thousand about movies and clobber, and who shared a similar sense of humour.

It's fitting that the last post Gary wrote on his blog was about a movie memorabilia auction featuring Jack Nicholson's cardigan from The Shining and Jonathan Ke Quan's trenchcoat from The Goonies because Gary was a true fountain of knowledge on garms without being a ponce about it like practically every other #menswear blogger on the planet. It does him a great disservice to paint Gary as merely the internet's foremost expert on shoes/streetwear because he could pontificate about everything from James Spader's 80's yuppie movie outfits to Chopper's zoot suit to EPMD's Hobie Alpine jackets to Kirkland basic white tees to Donkey Jackets as an unfortunate symbol of British culture to the Real McCoys reproductions of Travis Bickle's wardrobe to Shirt Kings TV footage to online auctions of Deadwood's costume department to the fur-lined leather jackets Max B & Jim Jones wore to 80's Heshers like the human pretzel James Vance.

Nobody connected the dots between music, movies and #menswear with such an eye for detail as Gary and that's why he's utterly irreplaceable. I hope Heaven got a Harajuku where he can cop Champion reverse-weaves and Visvim M-65's in western sizes on the cheap. This one's for you, lad.

Agallah - Rockin'
(From Doomsday mixtape; 2004)

Bounce, Hubba-Rock, Skate, Roll

Mac Dre - Mac Dre's The Name
(From Young Black Brotha EP; 1989)


From Adventure of Super Rhyme by Jimmy Spicer to Adventure of Cuddie Crime by Vallejo's conman Don Juan. It could be argued that Mac Dre's The Name is Furl's most underrated song given that it's never appeared anywhere other than his first EP - not any of the numerous Dre compilations nor any official streaming service. Guess Khayree doesn't wanna shell out for that Vaughn Mason sample?

Leslie Phillips back!

70th Street Carlos - Ding Dong
(From YouTube; 2017)


Less retarded than previous collaborations, but still unmistakably a 70th Street Carlos & Trel Itz A Hit track. Carlos can't find a decent fitting shirt to save his life, but he stays the real driving force behind the WNC camp - not hard when the crew's star Whop Bezzy has spent 2017 making corny Auto-Tune shit over Atlantaficated trap beats.

Also, Bag It Up has grown on ya host recently. Like Carlos says on the song, I'm kinda slow because some shit just hits my brain late:

70th Street Carlos - Bag It Up
(From YouTube; 2017)

Slap Caviar

They never saw me comin'! Did you see wot I done? Updated my favourite jams of 2017 playlist with some songs by Ralo, Tay-K, Queen Key, and Rich The Factor & The Popper. Inspired the whole town, taught bloggas there's enough #CuratedContent to go round.



I dunno why Audiomack no longer shows which artists the songs belong to when you embed playlists. Click the damn thing for the full credits innit.

Reasons why I love Instagram # 1

Because it's the only site with priceless footage of The Rock & Slick Rick in the studio together recording Pie:

Welcome to Rick's bakery... @therock #fbf

A post shared by Slick Rick The Ruler (@therulernyc) on Sep 15, 2017 at 9:12am PDT

Oi Uncle Ricky - where's that priceless studio footage of you & Dana Dane layin' the Smackdown over Godfather's Ho Train theme?

Why couldn't God have taken Frank Bough instead of Frank Vincent?

"You're hot as a pistol, man, hot as a pistol..."


Pour out a little Lambrusco for arguably the greatest character actor of our lifetime, and the man with the best rug in any movie or TV show he ever graced with his presence. His ultimate legacy will, of course, be the shinebox - just look up any clip or interview with him on YouTube and the comments will be 80% shinebox jokes.

Always wished Scorsese had given Frank more of a role in Taxi Driver or a role as one of the mobsters in After Hours. Also always wished he'd have appeared in more rap videos after Hype Williams drafted him in for Nas' Street Dreams. Imagine how the video for Kool G. Rap's It's A Shame could have been improved with Frank's mug up in it as the mafia plug.

Damn, amico. Who'd have ever thunk Dominic Chianese would outlive James Gandolfini and Frank Vincent? Protect Uncle Junior at all costs.

Suga Druga

Best believe ya host is on a mission to locate every slapable Dru Down deep cut. Already ticked off the list are the pre-Relativity Records joints like Weak Move, Dru Rules and Bigger Than What You Think, plus the Can You Feel Me-era victims of sample clearance like Assassinated and In Jail. Now it's onto the sporadic highlights of his 2 early '00s albums, the 2nd of which was supposed to come out on the reborn Death Row Records in 2002. File Gangstafied under ‘Slapp & Roger-core songs which Suga Free really shoulda guested on.’

Dru Down - Gangstafied
(From Gangsta Pimpin' album; 2002)

Birds In The Kitchen

Sacramento been had Birds In The Kitchen, but not like this. Who's a pretty boy then? OMB Peezy apparently:

Somebody look at dis shit 😂😂😂😂

A post shared by MOBILE.ALABAMA. /G\ (@omb_peezy) on Sep 9, 2017 at 1:57pm PDT

Best music criticism of 2017 thus far.

Born to Audiomack: Biz Markie's Converse promo cassingle

13 years before Jay-Z gave away his first and only mixtape with those Reebok kicks of his which turned into Keith Richards' face after a couple of wears, Converse teamed up with Warner Bros Records for a free Biz Markie promo cassingle which came free with every pair of blue-on-white Cons basketball hi-tops in 1990. Nothing for the radio, just 2 tracks of exclusive prime-era Diabolical: Off The Top Of My Head is Biz's version of DJ Cool V's To My Boys, while Non Stop Rockin' is a historical curiosity given that it's a precursor to Biz's Nas demo + the sample-source for Biz's own Studda Step. Catch the vapors below:

Kickin' tinny rap songs off the Earth

"Kickin' n*ggas off the Earth
You a bird, I'm a flirt, I'm a jerk
Kickin' n*ggas to the curb
What's ya purpose? Ima get what I deserve"

Queen Key - Kung Fu
(From Your Highness 2 mixtape; 2017)


F*ck a table, you can't sit on the same planet as this lass. Bass on that, eh, lads? Basically, the great tragedy of 2017 rap is that there's far too many songs with basic bass, and not enough songs that'll turn the interior of your automobile into a air pocket of low-end.

(Via Bout To Blow.)