No Sleep Till After Midnight

Never seen before by me: the Beastie Boys performing No Sleep Till Brooklyn and (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party) live on MTV's 1987 new year's eve Rock 'N' Roll Ball show. This is #problematic teenage brat era Beasties in their full glory, and the only downside to the clip is that they weren't given more airtime to perform Rhymin' & Stealin', Posse In Effect, Brass Monkey and Slow and Low too. On one hand, I wish I'd been old enough to have seen Run-D.M.C, LL Cool J and the Beasties on their U.K tour in 1986. On the other hand, if I was old enough to see that tour in 1986 then I wouldn't have been watching Children's BBC in 1990 when Round The Twist first hit U.K TV screens.

Sod that. Conclusion: Round The Twist - 1, Rush Associated Artists - 0.

Walk like a Jansport

Lord Sko & Statik Selektah - Wish Upon A Star
(From Elevator Music album; 2026)

Lolz. Third song I've liked by this lad after Pimp Socks and Girbaud Talk with Grand Puba. One thing New York backpack-rap has always been good at is making wistful piano choonz you can pound the pavements to at dusk, and Statik Selektah conjured up the sundown vybz with this one. We outside while you in the house like LL listenin' to tuneless dirges by Earl Sweatshirt's m8s.

Been very partial to the odd Statik Selektah production ever since Animal by AZ. That JOMO song by Jim Jones from last year was annoyingly good.

Don't Overthink About It

Trunk Boiz & Seiji Oda - Go Dumb
(From Right Back In EP; 2026)

My personal song of the summer now has a video on some Planet Of Giants type shit. If I ruled the world Go Dumb would be the Steal My Sunshine of 2026. A cool breeze on the boombox of AM radio bubblegum Hyphy which puts a Zen spin on the concept of Going Dumb. This song is THE shit because it's a literal Floater.

Demolition Men

Biggie Smalls - Biggie Got The Hype Shit
(From demo; 1991)

Дмитрий Дейниченко · Biggie Smalls - Biggie Got The Hype Shit (Demo)

Best pre-fame Biggie demo track ever IMHO. Biggie Got The Hype Shit was one of the first songs B.I.G ever recorded in 1991 with Jesse West on the beat and DJ 50 Grand on the scratches. This shit is Biggie's one real Golden-Era song and sounds like it coulda/shoulda dropped on Select Records with Biggie as the Mr. Hyde to Chubb Rock's Dr. Jekyll. For doz who still think that Biggie stole his Notorious B.I.G moniker from Notorious B1 in 1993, plz note that he introduces himself as "the notorious Biggie Smalls in full effect" on this demo 2 years earlier.

Strictly Dope - Never Be Beat
(From Beginnings: The Lost Tapes 1988–1991 album; 2007)

Dj kael kaelmi & maythayus1 · Tupac Shakur - Beginnings The Lost Tapes 1988-1991 - 04 - Never The Beat

Rewind for the best pre-fame 2Pac demo track ever IMHO. Never Be Beat comes from the era when him & Ray Luv were recording together as Strictly Dope. This song was probably recorded around 1990 but if it had ended up on 2Pacalypse Now then it woulda been tied for best song on there alongside Tha Lunatic. Even annoying Boom-Bap purist blokes like Wicked22 and A.C The Program Director can't front on this song.

In The Trunk

Trunk Boiz & Seiji Oda ft. Fijiana - Sky Scraper
(From Right Back In EP; 2026)

seiji oda · Sky Scraper (feat. Fijiana)

Trunk Boiz & Seiji Oda - Never!
(From Right Back In EP; 2026)

seiji oda · NEVER!

The Boiz are back in town: after No Fillins2, I Call Tell and Go Dumb!, Seiji Oda & the Trunk Boiz have recorded an EP together. Seiji mixed his tai chi Hyphy with the Trunk Boiz' traditional dumbness to create an alternate universe Baytrix. The Fijiana lass on Sky Scraper even sounds like Kreayshawn.

Generic list post: May 2026

Obligatory wrap-up post of those songs I've played most during the month when David Raya ensured he won't win this season's Ballon d'OR. Oh well, it's a tinpot title anyway. How can it possibly be a prestigious award when Michael f**King Owen won it once?

Run-D.M.C - Jam-Master Jammin' (Rick Rubin remix) (1985)
Rev Run I Used To Think I Was Run (2005)
Sir Michael Rocks - Talkin' Legit (2025)
Trim - BOAT (Audio Exhbit performance) (2026)
Seiji Oda & Trunk Boiz - Go Dumb! (2026)
The Assembly - Mob Throb (2026)
Bruus ft. Mic Terror & Gzus Piece - All I Do (2026)
Bri3 - Whatever (2026)
70th Street Carlos - Get Out The Way (2026)
Duke Deuce - Feathers Up (2026)
Mexikodro - Mail (2026)
Mýa ft. Too $hort - Just A Little Bit (2026)
Donae'O - Big Up The Gooners Around The World (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:
Meantime (1983) *
Krush Groove (1985) *

TV shows I watched and liked:
Dear England (episodes 1 and 2) (2026)
Arsenal vs. Fulham (2026)
Arsenal vs. Athletico Madrid (2026)
Arsenal vs. West Ham (2026)
Celtic vs. Rangers (2026)
Arsenal vs. Burnley (2026)
Celtic vs. Hearts (2026)
Bournemouth vs. Manchester City (2026)
Crystal Palace vs. Arsenal (2026)
Luke Littler vs. Gerwen Price (2026)
Luke Littler vs. Luke Humphries (2026)
Match Of The Day 1 and 2 (new episodes) (2026)

Late pass!

Run-D.M.C - Jam-Master Jammin' (Rick Rubin remix)
(From American Bandstand TV show; 1985)

Sum shit I was utterly oblivious to until I read JayQuan's book about Run-D.M.C's Raising Hell album: there's a Rick Rubin remix of Jam-Master Jammin' which knocks the original version outta the box. This was the second time Run-D.M.C worked with Rubin after Can You Rock It Like This and they even performed the remix on American Bandstand in 1985. The beat is kinda like a prototype for No Sleep Till Brooklyn in the same way that the beat on She's On It is kinda like a prototype for (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party). When I say prototype it's not a dis, boiiiii, because all 4 songs are hall of fame choonz in the pantheon of 1980s Rock Guitar-Rap IMHO. Another thing I was oblivious to until I read JayQuan's book was how insanely jealous Run was of LL Cool J. This was one of the factors why Run-D.M.C dumped Larry Smith as their main producer and switched to Rick Rubin for Raising Hell.

Rev Run - I Used To Think I Was Run
(From Distortion album; 2005)

Bonus beats: a notable entry in the canon of Shinola Songs On Shitty Albums is the opening track on Rev Run's solo LP. This is a proto-Top Shelf 8/8/'88 bangeur which would have sounded right at home as a token old skool choon on one of those mid 2000s Kay Slay compilations. In a perfect world there woulda been a remix featuring M.O.P where Danze & Fame made it clear that they were the true heirs to Run-D.M.C.

Legit by name, Legit by nature

Sir Michael Rocks - Talkin' Legit
(From the internet; 2025/Rock, Paper, Scissors: Choices album; 2026)

Ur boi has been on an early Cool Kids binge recently, so it's the perfect time to check out Sir Michael Rocks' recent solo dolo shit. Was expecting 500k would be the jam 4 me since it's a DJ Fresh production. Joke's on me like Kid Capri because Talkin' Legit is my #actual choon of choice. The kid Rocks is taking the Michael on this one and it gives me the po pimpish adrenaline rush of some modern day Legit Ballaz type shit.