20 years, mang! (Part 2)

Young Dro - Fresh
(From Best Thang Smokin' album; 2006/YouTube; 2026)

Did Young Dro get his masters back? I ask because he's just shot another 20th anniversary video for one of the best album cuts from his debut LP. Like I said last time, these type of videos are always welcome because they give new leases of life to old favourites which have long since fallen out of your regular rotation. Wouldn't say no to Dro shootin' 20th anniversary videos for some of his best 2006 mixtape cuts either. Namely What It Is with T.I. and Cartoon.

Shout outs to Kevin Beachman, we in this bitch!

J.U.I.C.E - The Original
(From unreleased; 1998/The Man expanded reissue; 2023)

J.U.I.C.E. · The Original (Demo Version)

Rhymefest - Prepare For The Fest (remix)
(From Molemen Presents... Below The Ground/Buried Alive CD; 2000)

Molemen · Prepare for the Fest (Remix) [feat. Molemen, Rhymefest & Panik]

Old Chicago underground Rap has got me so open right now that I'm wishin' I could travel back in time to every Scribble Jam from 1996 to 2002. I'm a Rap connoisseur and these two songs by J.U.I.C.E and Rhymefest are currently my manure. But why does Rhymefest call J.U.I.C.E a "snake n***a" on the Prepare For The Fest remix? I thought they've always been m8s who just had a friendly rivalry?

The Wrong Baggy Trousers

Ur boi went to see the BFI's 4K restoration of Madness' biopic Take It Or Leave It yesterday and pretty much concured with everything Poncey Pete from The Guardian said. Of course I then spent last night lost in my own head thinking up terrible Madness movie-based puns. Laugh? I gassed myself up like an insecticide.

A Suggs Life

Ska Face

Nutty Boyz N The Hood

A Skanker Darkly

Last House of Fun On The Left

Our House On Haunted Hill

One Step Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls

My Girl Friday

A Hard Day's Night Boat To Cairo

Bed & Breakfast Man At Tiffany's

Two-Tone Kill A Mockingbird

Driving Miss Daisy In My Car

What a Div

Pac Div - Slider
(From Still Sealed Vol. 1 album; 2026)

Back like deja vu it's... Pac Div soundin' nothin' like the Pac Div of old. I fuxwit this song because it's a dense, minimalist piano track which somehow sounds like it could have come out on Maybach Music Group or Mello Music Group. File Slider under 'songs which could feature cameo verses by Gunplay or Murs.'

Down on The Tube at midnight

Conclusive proof that Britain was the key early adopter of Rap music: the only #actually live TV performance of The Message in the 1980s was on late night U.K yoof TV show The Tube. Melle Mel bosses it as half-rapper/half-raconteur, Rahiem makes a perfect stand-in for Duke Bootee on both Duke's verses, The Furious Five are dressed as ridiculously as you'd expect and Grandmaster Flash looks like La Forge from Star Trek had been beamed down onto the set of Cruising. The group even end the performance by assauling a copper as revenge for getting arrested in The Message video. Old skool Rap music TV gold, which should be as celebrated/cherished as Run-D.M.C performing Sucker MC's on Graffiti Rock.

Generic list post: September 2026

Obligatory wrap-up post of those songs I've played most during the month when Bubba Sparxxx became Brotha Sparxxx. Bubba ain't choose to tan, tannin' chose him, so he hit the track black like Soul Man.

Buckshot LeFonque ft. Uptown - Breakfast @ Denny's (1994)
J.U.I.C.E - Rip It (1996/2023)
J.U.I.C.E - The Hustle (Big City Hustle Prelude) (1998/2023)
Everlast - Next Man (1998)
Everlast - Ends (1998)
Young Dro - They Don't Really Know About Dro (video) (2006/2026)
Jayy V Vondon - Don In My City (2023)
Ezale - One Job (2026)
Trunk Boiz & Seiji Oda - Never (video) (2026)
Duke Deuce - I Told Yuh (2026)
Mic Terror ft. Gzus Piece - All In Yo Face (2026)
Aesop Rock & Blockhead - Trouble Trouble (2026)
BunnaB ft. YKNiece & Black Queen - K.O. (2026)
Nine & Dex - Shake It (2026)

Bonus bloggin: 1nce again I'm gonna use my monthly wrap-up post to keep track of the best movies and TV shows I've been watching. * indicates rewatches dunnit.

Movies I watched and liked:
The Blue Lamp (1950)
Harold and Maude (1971) *
License To Drive (1988) *

TV shows I watched and liked:
No Activity (series 1 and 2) (2015 and 2016) *
Colin From Accounts (series 3) (2026)
Mastermind (new episodes) (2026)
Only Connect (new episodes) (2026)
Arsenal vs. Chelsea (2026)
Napoli vs. Arsenal (2026)
Sunderland vs. Arsenal (2026)
Salute The Sample (new episodes) (2026)

Late pass: hat tip to DJ Z-Trip!

Buckshot LeFonque ft. Uptown - Breakfast @ Denny's (Uptown Version)
(From Buckshot LeFonque album bonus track; 1994)

Sum shit I never knew until this new episode of Salute The Sample: there's a bonus track remix of Buckshot LeFonque's Jazz-Rap anthem Breakfast @ Denny's featuring Uptown of Dope On Plastic minor-fame on vocals. All these years I never even knew there was any kind of vocal mix. And I'll be damned if it isn't better than the single mix and shouldn't be considered the definitive version.

Random-Rap - 1, Regular-Rap - 0.

J.U.I.C.E Wrld Part 2

J.U.I.C.E - The Hustle (Big City Hustle Prelude)
(From unreleased; 1998/The Man expanded reissue; 2023)

J.U.I.C.E. · The Hustle (Big City Hustle Prelude) (Demo Version)

Another tasty unreleased J.U.I.C.E cut from the late 90s which didn't come out back then for some unfathomable reason. This song is the polar opposite of Rip It because it's a storytelling track with J.U. Kasa as Illinois' vividest author. Matter of fact, the way J.U.I.C.E spins his yarn on here is compatible to Roots Of Evil era Kool G. Rap.