Run-D Jewels

Vincent Gallo's third greatest contribution to popular culture after Buffalo '66 and Palookaville: introducing Run-D.M.C's live performance of Sucker M.C's on Michael Holman's 1984 TV show Graffiti Rock. Davy DMX famously "cut the record down to the bone" and Run-D.M.C & Jam Master Jay followed suit by cutting a live performance every bit as sharp as the record itself. Sucker M.C's is one of those iconic 10/10 classic 80s Rap songs which doesn't have a video, so this clip is the next best thing innit?

A game-changing song for sure, but its impact is much misunderstood by lazy 'Hip-Hop historians' who like a neatly-packaged narrative. I've harped on about this before, but you can't tell the story of pre-golden era 1980's rap by using simple generational shifts and grand Slay Thy Father gestures. Far from wiping Rap's O.G generation out of existence, Sucker M.C's inspired Spoonie Gee, Love Bug Starski and The Fearless Four to hit up Davy DMX & Larry Smith for tuff Oberheim DMX drum pattern production on their respective comeback singles, and provoked The Furious Five, Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde and The Cold Crush Brothers into recording their greatest songs as groups.

Generic list post: November 2022

Obligatory wrap-up post of those songs I've played most during the month when the U.S remake of Ghosts turned up on British TV. Gotta be the worst American remake of an non-American sitcom since the U.S version of No Activity, right? Damn, son - CBS have turned the best modern British sitcom into The Big Bang Theory with ghosts instead of geeks.

Reggie Griffin & Technofunk - Mirda Rock (7" edit) (1982)
Whodini ft. Peter Gunz & Lord Tariq - Can't Get Enough (1996)
Eatem - Magical (video) (2022)
Level ft. Mouse On Tha Track - I Don't Miss (2022)
Spitta - Power Ranger (2022)
Duke Deuce - Anna (video) (2022)
Homeboy Sandman - Radiator (2022)
Homeboy Sandman - Satellite (video) (2022)
Marlowe - Past Life (2022)
Seiji Oda - She Go! (Ocaso) (2022)

Other notables: Saweetie shouted out D-Lo and P-Lo on the sole highlight of her new EP; I'm hoping that this video is a hint that Homeboy Sandman & Edan are finally gonna drop the other songs they recorded together; can't wait until Fall Semester by Da PE Teacha goes viral; can you guess which classic Messy Marv song gets flipped on MzA1's Playin' Wit You Heaux?

Other stuff: I upped the zipfile for my Eatem compilation; EttelThun finally put his book up for pre-order; Party Sparty on his favourite Hitchcock inspired movies.

PS: still looking for Seiji Oda's virtual cassette exclusives if anyone has them

Scooby Du

Big Scoob - Can Du 12" single (2000)
1. Can Du
2. Brooklyn Flava


Some more Big Scoob 12" gems from his brief early noughties renaissance. A-side Can Du is some 45 King produced Hard Knock Life-core with a sample from Guys & Dolls; B-side Brooklyn Flava is some hard Rock Brownsville shit-talk with young Uncle Murda on ad libs (allegedly!) Both songs strike the ideal balance between Brooklyn thug-Rap and Golden-Era fun. Not so much Tunnel Bangers as Tunnel Woppers and that's word to B.Fats.

Big Scoob's career trajectory was proof that a Dancer-Turnt-Rapper could drop hotter music than the Rapper they danced for if they were willing to persevere long enough. Scoob hinted this was possible when his 1996 single Champagne On The Block was lowkey better than anything on Big Daddy Kane's 1994 album Daddy's Home, and achieved it fully in the early 2000s when songs like Kryptonite, U Got It, Can Du and Brooklyn Flava bodied anything on Kane's boring 1997 album Veteranz Day. Patience is a virtue, chess not checkers etc.

In hindsight, I wish I'd named this place Champagne On The Blog.

22 'Til Infinity

Marlowe - Past Life
(From Marlowe 3 album; 2022)


This is like the best Hieroglyphics single of 2022. A-Plus effort & execution to the rapper Solemn Brigham & the producer L’Orange for delivering All The Feels™ of a new Souls Of Mischief solo song. Solemn Brigham is, of course, the North Carolina rapper who dropped that Dirty Whip song last year. Reeeeeeewind for my favourite piano sample anthem of 2021:

Solemn Brigham - Dirty Whip
(From South Sinner Street album; 2021)



Like I said, Dirty Whip is the first Mello Music Group single which sounds like it could be a Maybach Music Group single from the era when Rick Ross kept his ear to the underground.

Plenty of Oda fish in the sea part whatever

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WTF are these two 'virtual cassettes' Seiji Oda is selling? As far as I can tell they're like an NFT meets KanYe Pest's stupid stem player album or some bollocks? All I know is that I wanna hear the exclusive songs contained on them, especially the song in the video up top. Problem is, transatlantic time differences mean I'm asleep during the brief windows of opportunity they're available for sale, and even if I did stay up late I still couldn't buy them because I don't use Cashapp or Venmo. Who's gonna hook shit up for ya boy Kenji Mizoguccimane?

WNC Whop Bez & Shaun

"Spit God on them pills and that's word to The Reverend
You ain't cut how I'm cut, son, I'm rollin' off 7
On them fire bitches like 2007
A n*gga just sold me like 2000 for 7
Then a n*gga bought 'em from me 2000 at 7
Oh my God that's a profit, them pills fell outta Heaven"

Spitta - Power Ranger
(From Belly album; 2022)


Checked in on Baton Rouge's Spitta for the first time in a while. Turns out he recently caught the Furley ghost of Jackie Chain's Rollin' and dropped a Mighty Morphin Power Rapper track about pills 'n' thrills and bellyaches. Must be something in that water because Baton Rouge pill tracks hit different than pill tracks from other regions. Song is twistin' my melatonin, maaaan - call it a Ruff Ryder.

Happy Mondays - Step On
(From Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches album; 1990)

Pop goes the Ecstasy & Jalil

Whodini ft. Peter Gunz & Lord Tariq - Can't Get Enough
(From Six album; 1996)


The highlight of Whodini's 1996 comeback album on So So Def Records. Some pop-bass chauvinism par excellence with Whodini and Peter Gunz & Lord Tariq sounding surprisingly buddy-buddy together on the pan-generational tip. Basically, it's the best Sporty Thievz song not recorded by Sporty Thievz.

Gonna tell my kid this was Donnie Darko

Eatem ft. BR Cowboy - Magical
(From Magical single; 2022)


No bunny rabbits were patronised during this video. Voooodooooo running from Eatem's Magical. Video is some hocus pocus Lewis Carrol of the Bayou shit that don't even make no sense - but in a good way. Is this what happens when you mix the brown acid with the brown arses?

PS: hit the dancefloor and do the twist of fate to my Eatem's Greatest Pressure playlist.

My Mind Spray 5

A Love That's True Part 1 and Sittin' In My Car are my two favourite post-The Great Adventures Of Slick Rick songs by MC Ricky D precisely because they sound like they could be songs from The Great Adventures Of Slick Rick.

World Renown was the best song Slick Rick and Pete Rock recorded together during the sessions for Rick's Behind Bars album so of course that was the song which ended up getting shelved. Flippin' typical innit?

I hate to call Glorilla a One Song Wonder™ BUT everything she's dropped since FNF (Let's Go) has been so dour, so matter-of-fact and so completely lacking the zest which makes FNF (Let's Go) such a choon.

Or maybe Glorilla is the latest victim of Rap's cosmetic dentistry curse, wherein a rapper gets their teeth fixed and their music almost magically takes a dip in quality thereafter. Previous victims include Nas, King Louie, Gucci Mane, and Young Thug.

It's about time that Freeway & Peedi Crakk's Flipside is recognised and realised as one of the best singles of the Roc-A-Fella era. That song is a message in a bottle from State Property's peak, and pure electricity in a bottle which can make a corpse get up offa that thing and get on the good foot.

2 Deep (no Gang Starr)

Level ft. Mouse On Tha Track - I Don't Miss
(From Street Credit 4 album; 2022)


Good timing on a new Level & Mouse On Tha Track single since Mouse's Big Blossom single has been ownin' my speakers for the past month. I Don't Miss sounds like what a new Level & Mouse single should sound like without sounding like any of the previous Level & Mouse singles. Mouse & Level as a duo are kinda like 3 Deep minus Shell and with Level playing the position of Lil' Phat - both gents have very contrasting timbres but such good chemistry together and buku Baton Rouge energy. All in all, this shit is the best Level & Mouse single since DFWT.

Shoulda Been Mo

Coolio - Can-O-Corn
(From It Takes A Thief album; 1994)

Coolio · Can-O-Corn

The Coolio song which was never a single but really shoulda been. Certainly, it was the song The Source magazine's review of Coolio's debut album identified as the jam, and the song I rewound the most after Fantastic Voyage. Obviously the Everlasting Love sample helps, but Coolio brought some vivid lived-in autobiographical pathos from his own time on the pipe.

If KMD's Black Bastards album had dropped as was intended in 1994 then Sweet Premium Wine surely would have been the follow-up single to What A N*ggy Know? Name me a more anthemic song from Black Bastards which the iconic duo of Zev Luv X & Subroc both rhyme on. I'll wait. KMD - Sweet Premium Wine
(From Black Bastards album; 1994/2000)

fourfours · KMD - Sweet Premium Wine

Everybody Eats, B!

Better belated than Neveruary: for doz who asked for a zipfile of my Eatem's Greatest Pressure playlist you can download it HERE. Eatem is kinda like a rapper from Trill ENT's imperial era who woke up in the present day and decided to have his witty way with these wicked times we live in. Who else but Eatem could tour his local high schools performing songs like Whoop Sum and Go Get Yo F*ckin' Brotha? It's just a pity I couldn't include Stamina on the compilation because he still hasn't dropped it.

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Seiji Sun

Seiji Oda - She Go! (Ocaso)
(From Ora EP; 2022)

seiji oda · she go! [ocaso]

The rest of Seiji Oda's new EP is too wishy-washy singy for my taste, but this song is some Wavy flava for my ear. Only Seiji can make acoustic guitar Hyphy slaps for star-crossed lovers basking in the glow of a sea-front sunset. The first Bay Area Rap song you could play next to OMC's How Bizarre or wot? R.I.P to the Maori bloke with the cravat.

BTW, it's also R.I.P to Tame One from The Artifacts. The 12" they did on Rawkus Records under the pseudonym of Brick City Kids is one of that label's best bangers no IMHO necessary.

Brick City Kids - Brick City Kids
(From Brick City Kids 12" single; 1997)

Zero Dark 40 · Brick City Kids aka Artifacts - Brick City Kids

Walk like a (Sand)man

"They call my place of birth the rotten apple
Where odds are long, the odds are better tryna win a raffle
Where every man's a king, but when a king don't have a castle
He feels more like a serf or like a vassal"

Homeboy Sandman - Radiator
(From his upcoming Still Champion album; 2022)

HomeboySandman · Radiator

You know how I'm always saying that Homeboy Sandman is kinda like a Fondle Em Rammellzee? Radiator isn't so much Beat Bop as Bang Clang. Some zensual-bap packed with grain of Sandman non-sequiturs which make more sense to me than most current N.Y rap. Old bean really said "it's practically medieval, if you're not interacting with my VEVO you're basically reacting to placebo, whether you're the type of chap that like to sit and sip a cappuccino or enjoy a finger-lickin' bag of Cheetos"!

Speaking of Sandman's VEVO, Satellite just got blessed with a video which captures the song's essence and puts a whole 'nother spin on this is the way we walk in New York. Been a big fan of people walking around N.Y.C set to music ever since I first saw The Wanderers in the late 80s.

"What a mix
It can’t be recreated in a pic
It can’t be recreated in a flick
Or in a GIF
What you see is not as much as what you missed
But what a gift that what you see is what get"

Homeboy Sandman - Satellite
(From his upcoming Still Champion album; 2022)


Bonus beats: Homeboy Sandman 2022 Quinary Of Quality playlist.

7 and 7 Is

Reggie Griffin & Technofunk - Mirda Rock (7" edit)
(From Mirda Rock 7" single; 1982)


Mirda Rock AKA the missing link between the vocoder-funk of Glory's Let's Get Nice and the wacky Electro-pop of Oingo Boingo's Weird Science theme. Much like Glory's Let's Get Nice, Mirda Rock is one of those early 80s choonz which hits hardest in its truncated 7" mix as opposed to the regular 12" mix that outstays its welcome by a couple of minutes. Notably used by 2 Live Crew in 1986 and Arabian Prince in 1989, Mirda Rock has barely been touched since. Imagine the fun Ezale & DJ Fresh could have if they freaked it.

True story: the only time Rap needed to exist on 7" single was the 1980s. Not only was it a handy format to snip certain early 80s songs down to a more listenable length, it was also a more affordable format for kids like me who discovered Rap in the mid 80s via chart hits like Run D.M.C's King Of Rock and Doug & Rick's The Show. The 7" single retailed at somewhere between 99p and £1.99, so it was the perfect format for 80s pre-teens who had to juggle our pocket money to accommodate Action Force figures and comics, sessions of Wonder Boy and Double Dragon in the local arcade, and singles like Whistle's Just Buggin' (Nothing Serious), Lovebug Starski's Amityville (House On The Hill), Run-D.M.C's Walk This Way, and the Beastie Boys' Fight For Your Right (To Party).

But then the cassette-single became the format de jour of the same pricepoint, the 7" single was quietly phased out for Rap music, and nobody gave a shit until the 2010s when boutique rare vinylz labels started reissuing 1990s Rap songs as overpriced 7"s for OCD middle-aged blokes who stopped listening to new music some time between 1997 and 2003. And so a whole pointless new cottage industry opened up, propelled by blokes who'd be stamp collecters if Rap music never existed.

Generic list post: October 2022

Obligatory wrap-up post of those songs I've played most during the month when Max B got hench. Maybe he's been using yoga to get swole? Makes sense since he's been in prison for a long stretch. Really doe, free the King of New York already!

Prodigy - White Lines (1999)
Y@k Ballz - TCK (CDQ version) (2001)
Lil' Maru - On The Block (2021)
Mouse On Tha Track - Big Blossom (2022)
WNC Whop Bezzy ft. Mouse On Tha Track - Don't Stop (2022)
Homeboy Sandman - Boy Sand También (2022)
Duke Deuce - Anna (2022)
Slimeroni, Aleza, Gloss Up & K Carbon - Shabooya (2022)
George Clinton - Man's Best Friend (instrumental) (1983)

Other notables: October's Most Unexpected song award goes to Seiji Oda's City-Pop remix of DB Tha General's classic 2007 Intro; B.o.B dropped an unintentionally funny song defending his right to be a Flat Earther conspiracy theorist lol; Postcard is the first DJ Lucas & Papo2oo4 I've liked enough to listen to more than twice.

Other stuff: I made a post which links all the Audiomack playlists I've made so far this year; lotta hot music new and old contained in them there playlists. I also found out that Max B got the Why You Do That instrumental by a stroke of serendipity caused by New York traffic.

Mr. Memphis Massacre's got nards!

Duke Deuce - Anna
(From Memphis Massacre III album; 2022)

Duke Deuce · Duke Deuce - ANNA

Fresh for Samhain you (blood)suckerrrrssssss! Duke Deuce is one of those rappers who drops a lot of Shawshank, but Redemption comes in the form of a grand imperial stomper like Anna. A tale from the Memphis darkside that's as fun as a Halloween rewatch of The Monster Squad. Fun is the key word in that sentence because Duke Deuce's best songs reassemble the old motifs of Memphis Rap in fun new ways which make you wanna kick the nards off your nearest Wolfman.

Crosstown Traffic

Max B - Why You Do That (instrumental)
(From Why You Do That single; 2007)


Via this video, sum shit I read: the production duo Arkatech Beatz made the Why You Do That beat for Jim Jones and arranged a meeting with him at ByrdGang's studio, but then got caught up in heavy traffic and by the time they arrived Jones had left. Max B was still in the studio writing and recording and told the Arkatech lads he'd pass their beat CD on to Jones, so they left it with him. Max listened to the CD, heard the Why You Do That beat, loved it, decided to keep it for himself, and the rest is history innit. Now, I'm a big fan of O.G ByrdGang era Jim Jones, but praise the Lord for New York's heavy traffic that fateful day. A stroke of serendipity which was both fortunate and glorious.

Max B - Why You Do That
(From Why You Do That single; 2007)


A quick browse through the Arkatech Beatz production discography reveals that Why You Do That is easily the best beat in their entire catalogue. That said, they were also behind the title track of Big Pun's first album so fair play to the lads.

Yuma Slapamura

DB Tha General - Intro
(From Welcome To The Navy album; 2007)


Yuma Nakamura - Dang Dang
(From Dang Dang single; 1989)


What do you get if you cross DB Tha General's classic intro with Yuma Nakamura's Japanese City-Pop hit Dang Dang? Seiji Oda donned his DJ hat and found out by blending both songs together on some Ron G type shit. Worlds are colliding and, unlike George Costanza, I'm happy to find myself stuck in the middle.

DB Tha General - Intro (Seiji Oda's City-Pop remix)
(From the internet; 2022)

seiji oda · INTRO [city pop mix] ~ dbthageneral x 中村由真

Is Town-Pop the new wave for Bay Area Rap? Did Junko Yagami's 1983 single Bay City accidentally predict such a crossover? I dunno, but Ezale would probably sound perfect over that shit.

Born To Audiomack: 5 lesser celebrated 2022 jams

Call me Erik ten Hag the way I'm dropping 5's out here (geddit?) Here's another Quinary Of Quality playlist, this one consisting of some 2022 Martorialist favourites which are lesser celebrated elsewhere on the Rap Internet. 5 Songs by AD, Stunnaman02 & DrewBanga, Mouse On Tha Track, Westside Boogie & DRAM and Wavy Bagels which each deliver something very singular. True story: I almost weep with joy at how wonderful the Mouse song is.

1. AD - All I Do
2. Stunnaman02 & DrewBanga - Wit A Twist
3. Mouse On Tha Track - Big Blossom
4. Westside Boogie ft. DRAM - Aight
5. Wavy Bagels - Slice



Never in a month of black sundays & blue mondays did I ever imagine that perennial L.A hack-turnt-Adam 22's token black friend AD would drop a song I'd really like, but that's exactly what All I Do is. A notable new entry in my personal canon of Shinola Songs By Shitty Rappers.

Born To Audiomack: Boy Sand 2022 Quinary Of Quality

Okay, New York's no longer paved with gold, at least it's paved though... ya know? Here's 5 Homeboy Sandman songs from 2022 + the arse end of 2021 which I much prefer to anything on his last EP There In Spirit. Some traditional New York Rap from a slightly untraditional perspective. As I've said before, Sandman is kinda like Rammellzee if he were born in 1980 and had emerged at the arse-end of Bobbito's Fondle 'Em era. So give it up for Boy Sand - N.Y.C's only working rapper officially approved by Edan and Doja Cat.

~~ Homeboy Sandman 2022 Quinary Of Quality ~~
1. Boy Sand También
2. Animal Kingdom
3. Fruit Day 1
4. Satellite
5. A!

My Mind Spray 4.5

Random old song that's been my jam lately: Style by Craig Mack. Combining the Spoonin' Rap bass with the South Bronx horn-stab was such a good idea that I can't believe nobody'd done it before the song's producer Mark "Prince Markie Dee" Morales hooked it up for Mack in 1997. R.I.P to the pair of them.

I'm immune to ironic hypebeast Rap songs which people performatively Stan for on social media, so obviously I hate that new Lil' Yachty song. TBF tho I hate every Lil' Yachty song because I can't stand his ol' Soundcloud Talib Kweli soundin' ass voice.

As great as Mouse & Level's I Bet U Won't is, for true #Mouse&LevelHive members Get It Back will always be their best song together.

I read Pitchfork's 30 best House songs of the 90s list because Philip Sherburne is someone who genuinely knows his onions about dance music. Or, at least, he usually does because he said Masters At Work's The Ha Dance was the House song which blew up the Trading Places sample in 1991 when it was #actually Seduction's Seduction in 1988.

Ain't gonna lie, I was almost as pleased to find the CDQ MP3 of Y@k Ballz's TCK as I was to find the CDQ MP3 of Jacka's Heavy Rain. Apparently Y@k recorded TCK for his debut EP on Fondle 'Em Records but Bobbito wouldn't let him include it because the song contained a rogue N-bomb - a fair decision when the rapper who dropped it looks like a Persian lesbian dressed as a 90s U.K Hip-Hop fan.

Real Lies are probably best experienced live on MDMA, but I caught them live while on mushrooms last night and still Felt Like I Was Part Of Something™ - just without the dreaded MDMA comedown today. It's very much a Boss Trick night when you can even find magic in the parlance of the venue's pissy bogs.

Don't Believe The Hype (Sticker)

On one hand, it was a game-recognise-game moment when Devin The Dude got top billin' on the hype sticker for Jacka's Tear Gas CD. On the other hand, it was shameful that Cellski got shafted for sticker-space when he was behind the boards and the microphone for the album's arguable best single. Damn, homie - Cellski made Streets Of Frisco but he still got knocked out the box for Planet Asia.

Young Cellski aka 2 Took - Streets Of Frisco
(From Inner City Life EP; 1992)

G-Funk Classics · Young Cellski - Streets of Frisco

So, Jacka songs from 2007/2008 you wish he'd put on Tear Gas? I got these 5 on it:

The Jacka - Heavy Rain (2007)
The Jacka - Aspen (2007)
The Jacka - Rule The World (2007)
The Jacka - Wake Ya Game Up (2008)
The Jacka - African Warrior (2008)