One heLLuva guy

LL Cool J - Illegal Search (Pre-Trial Hearing mix)
(From one of the Jingling Baby (remix) 12" singles; 1990)


LL Cool J - No Airplay (Bad Boy remix)
(From Bad Boy's Gettin' Down In Da LB mixtape; 1995)


LL Cool J - Bring On The Mo's & Ho's
(From Double L Cools Down bootleg 12" EP; 1996)


Oil up your ankles and let your Timbs tap to three of my favourite LL Cool J deep cut gems. Firstly, we got the Illegal Search (Pre-Trial Hearing mix) which was done by Large Professor and is more flavour like praline than the LP version. Secondly, we got the blowticious No Airplay (Bad Boy remix) which features entirely new lyrics and a completely different beat. And third and finally, we got a track recorded for Mr. Smith which was relegated to a Def Jam bootleg EP due to it sharing the same sample as a certain 2Pac song, word to mama. If LL ever does a Lost Tapes album then I guess like the jeans that these three tracks would be no brainer inclusions alongside Mr Controversy, Year Of The Hip Hop, the uncensored version of the O.G No Airplay, and Set It Off New York.

Kangol bucket hat tips to EttelThun and Step Wun for the Audiomack uploads of the two remixes, and to Yohan for suggesting Year Of The Hip Hop which completely slipped my mind.

Rebel without a boutique raer vinylz release

"Mic manipulator mutilating MC's
Narrator-navigator of the seven seas"

Tragedy AKA Intelligent Hoodlum - The Rebel Returns
(From Marley Marl sessions; 1989/the internet; 2019)


There was me thinkin' I knew all the unreleased 1989 Intelligent Hoodlum tracks via old Westwood shows and those two EP's on DWG Records. Then I came across this sequel to The Rebel and was like "how have I never heard this before?" Turns out Westwood did play this in 1989, someone upped the audio of that to the internet in 2016, and someone else finally tracked down the test press 12" last year and ripped it. A smattering of lyrics on this one date back to the 1987 Super Kids era. Otherwise, it's sick-scientific Tragedy mispronouncing the Tasmanian Devil over a twangy loop of Cissy Strut.