Generic list post: February 2026

Obligatory wrap-up post of those songs I've played most during the month when the first N.W.A remake of 2026 popped up. Some things really are eternal like E. 1999.

Bavgate ft. LJ - Keep It Gangsta (2005)
Mac Dre & J-Diggs ft. Dubee - Casual (2007)
Homeboy Sandman - Look Alive (2025)
Casual - Hard Drive Music (2026)
BunnaB - Mind Right (2026)
Mexikodro - Loser (2026)
Jill Scott - Pressha (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:
Sherlock Jr. (1924)
The Last Man On Earth (1964)
Harold and Maude (1971) *
The Fly (1986) *
EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert (2026)

TV shows I watched and liked:
Small Prophets (series one) (2026)
Arsenal vs. Sunderland (2026)
Tottenham Hotspur vs. Arsenal (2026)
Match Of The Day 1 and 2 (new episodes) (2026)

Before I exit stage left pursued by Big Bear, peep the 3 Audiomack playlists I made this month: Eric B. & Rakim's 2nd album reduced and rearranged; the best of Bavgate and some personal favourite Mac Dre deep cuts.

Stop Being Greedy

Casual - Hard Drive Music
(From Black Magic album; 2026)


Sum shit I didn't see comin' in 2026: Casual having a semi-viral moment with a song where he implores rappers to stop being stingey bastards by hoarding unreleased music on their hard drives. My man. This is Reality-Rap, we really go through it! Some anti-Scrooge Rap which sounds like a Scooby Doo ghost train.

On the album cover, Casual bizarrely looks like Diamond D dressed as a member of Suicidal Tendencies in the 1980s. All Casual wanted was a Pep Love, just one Pep Love and Del wouldn't give it to him!!!

Born To Audiomack: Dre cuts

Mac Dre - Dre Cuts
1. Mac Dre - Mac Dre's The Name (1989)
2. Jay Tee & Mac Dre - Do The Crew (1990)
3. Mac Dre ft. Coolio - California Livin' (EP mix) (1991)
4. Mac Dre & Khayree - Times R Gettin' Crazy (acoustic) (1991)
5. Mac Dre, Coolio & Ray Luv - Wake Up In Da Morning (1994/2001)
6. Dubee & Mac Dre - You Ain't My Dog (2001)
7. Mac Dre - Outrages (2001)
8. Mac Dre - Doin' What I Do (2001)
9. Mac Dre - Shitonaman (2002)
10. Mac Dre - Don't Hate Tha Playa (2004)
11. Mac Dre ft. Zion I - We'll Roll You (2007)
12. Mac Dre & J-Diggs ft. Dubee - Casual (2007)




Listen, you wouldn't wanna miss this. I'm droppin' playlists like gifts at Christmas. I wrapped this playlist up like Christmas night, these songs all shine like Christmas lights. She neva heard Mac Dre deep cuts like these, had her all on her knees like "can I have some more please?" Baby, I got exactly what you need, peep Dre's post-prison sure slaps produced by Khayree. She admirin' the way I compile, the way I blog with style, and how my dad-jokes always make her smile. She neva seen no bloggers from England, white bois makin' big noise in Rap like that Anthrax band.

Bonus Bay Area beats: the Best of Bavgate playlist.

Mostly Tha Beat

Young Bari ft. BossLife Big Spence - That's A Playa
(From On The Radar YouTube channel; 2026)


A pleasant surprise to see one of the best NorCal Rap singles right now on a big platform like On The Radar. What a pity that it's a mimed performance with Bari & Spence looking like Milli Vanilli. This performance has big replay value for me tho because Bari & Spence have got the song's producer Pay$ean up in the video looking awkward but happy to be there. More rappers should give their producers a moment in the spotlight. Without the beats these rappin' arse MFs would be slam poetry battle rappers - a fate more embarrassing than being a stand-up comedian.

That "BAWSE! TALK! WALK! BABY!" bridge near the end before the final chorus comes in is a true Slap-Magnifico moment for me. Very rare double-whammy in a modern day Rap song.

Born To Audiomack: Follow My Lead

Eric B. & Rakim - Follow The Leader (Martorialist re-edit)
1. No Competition (1988)
2. The R (1988)
3. Musical Massacre (1988)
4. To The Listeners (1988)
5. Just A Beat (1988)
6. Follow The Leader (1988)
7. Microphone Fiend (1988)
8. Lyrics Of Fury (1988)




Back in the 90s when I got a CD player with a programming function, one of the first albums I re-sequenced to my satisfaction was Eric B. & Rakim's Follow The Leader. Haven't you ever heard of an unofficial tracklist murderer? This was a death penalty that I'm servin' up. Follow The Leader has the greatest opening 3 song run in the history of Rap music which means that the album's other highlights tend to be get forgotten. So, what I did was whittle the album down to 8 songs, reorder the tracklist so it starts with the 4 killer songs from the latter half of the album and ends with the aforementioned greatest opening 3 song run in the history of Rap music. Betwixt both sets of songs is the instrumental Just A Beat which functions as a breather/bridge between Rakim raining down his magic. And there we have it, Follow The Leader reduced and rearranged into a sequence which makes far more sense to me as an album. This version of the album is official Martorialist canon because I put it on one side of a 90 minute cassette tape which lived rent free in my Walkman for most of the 90s.

If I were feelin' adventurous, I might end the album with Eric B. Never Scared. By adventurous I obviously mean masochistic.

09 til Infinity (part 4)

"The type to stay on top of cheese just like pepperoni"

BunnaB - Mind Right
(From Mind Right single; 2026)


BunnaB continues to paint pictures on a 2009 Atlanta Fruity Swag-Rap canvas, but with colours and details which didn't exist in '09. Or sumfink lol. Fave thing about BunnaB: she's the chief exponent of rejuvenating an old style of Atlanta Rap which ended far too quickly for my liking. 2nd fave thing about BunnaB: she looks like she could be Alpo's daughter.

New York rapper on a $4 jazz sample

Homeboy Sandman - Look Alive
(From These Titles Are Getting Pretty Silly AKA Can't Sell 4 mixtape; 2025)


I slept on this one because Sandman's other current single Need A Woman is one of the most embarrassing Rap songs ever recorded: insufferable finger-wagging prudishness which makes 1996 Jeru Tha Damaja sound like Too $hort. Look Alive, however, is my favourite type of Boy Sand song where he mixes the ground control with the galaxy brain. The video even features the return of his apartment from such Martorialist-approved Sandman videos as Waiting On My Girl and Yup. Do It!.

Bonus beats: Sandman mentions Kool Keith on this song, so here's one of my favourite Ultramagnetic MC's deep cuts. Before Kool Keith mastered Sex Style, he dabbled in Romance Rap with this solo R&Bullshit ballad probably recorded around The Four Horsemen era in 1992/1993. Fresh for February 14th you suckaaaaz, there ain't nothing Don Juan Thornton won't do for the object of his affections. He'll take her out in the summer to see the Jets! He'll take her out in the winter to see the Mets! Keith doesn't mention wee-wee or doo-doo on this song and that's why it's a much welcome outlier in his catalogue.

Ultramagnetic MC's - Biscuits and Eggs
(From New York What Is Funky compilation; 1996)

Ultramagnetic Mcs · Biscuits and Eggs

Born To Audiomack: Best of Bavgate

~~ Best of Bavgate ~~
1. Keep It Gangsta ft. LJ (2005)
2. Like Me (2005)
3. The Gate (2005)
4. Touched (2005)
5. Committed ft. Juvenile & Skip (2005)
6. Stay Strapp ft. Turf Talk (2006)
7. Play Bavgate ft. Pooh Sauce (2006)
8. I'm About That Actin ft. Messy Marv (2006)
9. Black Rags (2006)
10. Tyme 2 Shine (2006)
11. Mob Shit ft. Squeeze (2007)
12. T'z Up ft. Mac Mall & Geezy (2007)
13. Park The Scrapers (2007)




Bloggers say they got Bay love, but it never was, they ain't got no Yee like The Breakfast Club. Bavgate started out as one part of the duo Steady Mobb'n in 1991, went solo in the early 2000s and eventually found his final form in 2005 as Thizz Nation's sorta-equivalent of Kokane. Take a soak in Bav's music with this playlist of my favourite songs of his from the Thizz era. Motherf**kers mad because the 'net is jockin' and motherf**kers mad because my posts is knockin'. Keep It Gangsta is a minor classic which should have been a major choon - a two steppin' tune for polar bears and squares alike.