Sip The Juice, I Got Enough To Go Around

I gave Juice (Ernest Dickerson,1992) another watch the other night. In fact I realised I hadn't seen it since I first rented the video back in the early 90's.

The clothes have invariably dated as well as the hairstyles although if you look past this then it's still a good enough film.

The soundtrack is absolute killer. Have a look at the tracklist to refresh your memory.

1. Uptown Anthem - Naughty By Nature
2. Juice (Know The Ledge) - Eric B. & Rakim
3. Is It Good To You feat. Tammy Lucas - Teddy Riley
4. Sex, Money & Murder - MC Pooh
5. Nuff' Respect - Big Daddy Kane
6. So You Want To Be A Gangster - Too Short
7. It's Going Down - EPMD
8. Don't Be Afraid - Aaron Hall
9. He's Gamin' On Ya - Salt & Pepa
10. Shoot 'Em Up - Cypress Hill Crew
11. Flipside - Juvenile Committee
12. What Could Be Better Bitch - Son of Bazerk
13. Does Your Man Know About Me - Rahiem
14. People Get Ready (Remix) - The Brand New Heavies featuring N'Dea Davenport

The first track on the album is Uptown Anthem by Naughty By Nature which incidentally actually features over the end credits, brilliantly I might add.
And the inclusion of undoubtedly one of the contenders of Best Hip Hop Songs Ever as it's title theme, Juice by Eric B & Rakim just lifts the album into the stratosphere. This is such a great song with intelligent lyrics telling the story of a young man and his untimely death in the depressing streets.

Even Big Daddy Kane gets in on the act with the uptempo Nuff' Respect which although not lyrically his best is still a great floorfiller and gives the film a sense of urgency especially compared to slower numbers from MC Pooh and Too $hort.

Let me think, what other musical genre was popular back in 1992... New Jack Swing!
Swing Beat was assaulting our ears around the time of the film's release but was by no means a new music - remember Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing had a Teddy Riley track snuggled in the soundtrack ('My Fantasy').  Teddy's back again with Is It Good To You featuring Tammy Lucas and you might remember this was heard as the crew rolled into the record shop. And who can forget the female shop assistant...

Have a look at the scene with the guy doing a stick-up in the bar and you'll see a blink-and-you'll-miss-em EPMD acting like bar-flies at the end. They also contribute It's Going Down which is a nice mid-tempo jammy.

And who can forget Aaron Hall's warblings during the obligatory love scene?
Oh yes, when Q (Omar Epps) and his girl are getting their love-thang on, the smooth vocals and not entirely smooth beat of Don't Be Afraid comes floating on. A great song with a rather dodgy paedo-like title.

I have to say the dj scenes are especially well done and Omar Epps could almost be doing them for real instead of acting them. There are a few odd scenes with dj's cutting up different snatches of songs in quick succession - these are the days before Serato remember - when you know that they are just using LL's Mama Said album and then Troublefunk's Pump Me Up comes on.
But I'm talking from an anorak point of view and otherwise it looks like they've all done their homework.

  There are a number of celebrity cameos throughout the film as well as the aforementioned EPMD such as Special Ed, Queen Latifah, Red Alert, 3rd Bass' DJ Richie Rich and the ubiquitous Fab 5 Freddy which makes the viewing experience a little bit more enriching. Just think, could hip hop make a film like this nowadays and have modern-day hip hop cameos?

The always-entertaining Samuel L Jackson has a bit part - this was back in the days when he was just a bit-part actor playing junkies ('Jungle Fever') or baddies ('Coming To America') - although he plays a relatively normal character in Juice, albeit a bit slimey.

I haven't even mentioned Tupac yet.
Whilst not being a fan of his music - or his films really come to think of it - he really does seem to own the whole piece and posesses a real, raw screen presence which bursts through whichever scene he is in.
Tupac plays Bishop who always seems to be up for a fight and comes up with the idea of robbing the local bodega, introducing a gun into play.
His prophetic death at the film's closing scene certainly made me feel uneasy as it was now being viewed after Pac's passing - which hadn't happened upon my previous viewing.

In closing, it's still a worthwhile film even though some of the swingbeat tracks and fashion generally date it somewhat.


Some more shots from the film.

And this one for the anoraks. The disc is 'Sound Effects Volume 4' from Valentino Inc. It's a sound effects record that Q uses in the film

And I put this one up as it reminds me of my own teenage bedroom - well 21-year old bedroom anyway - at the time of the film's release.

The Soundtrack in superb 320kbps (131Mb)

The DVD (990Mb)

More about → Sip The Juice, I Got Enough To Go Around

9/11 - 9th Anniversary

A re-post from 2008 HERE

More about → 9/11 - 9th Anniversary

Beat Street....flashback!

I watched Beat Street again the other night. But what was different with this viewing was that I watched the whole thing from start to finish instead of just heading to the battle at The Roxy as is the usual routine.
So here we have the film in pictures with some analytical commentary.

This is a nice shot of the action that's about to occur.
The Beat Street crew (or rather, The New York City Breakers) ready for battle.
Look at Lee's get-up; to paraphrase Prince Vince, he's sporting it fresh, Homes.

Look Ramo. A white one!
And so it was. Gleaming, clean & fresh.
Unfortunately the subsequent burner sprayed by Ramo was anything but fresh.

And here it is. I think even in 1984 we were looking at this and thinking, "Was it Bring Your Daughter To Work Day when they shot this scene?".
Considering Martha Cooper, Michael Holman, Tony Silver, Henry Chalfont, Kool Herc, The NYC Breakers, Rock Steady Crew, Afrika Bambaataa and Jazzy Jay were on board then they should have treated the 4th element of hip hop with just as much respect.

And here we go again. What a waste of Krylon.

Here's Jazzy Jay at The Roxy rocking those shades before Kanye was out of Rusks. Probably.
And proof that someone else other than Mastermind mixed on the GLI.

Richard Sisco. There he is.

With lyrics such as "Often imotated but never duplicated" I'm wondering, like you, why he never reached the dizzy heights of fame that so cruelly passed him by.
He shoulda dropped that Wanda Dee like a bad habit. Then maybe it would've been HIM singing about thongs.

Here is 'The System'.
Now this guy deserves his own show. No, not the Michael Jackson-alike but the yuppy keyboard player on the right.
The way he grooves and gets down throughout the whole song? He was born with music in his bones, this dude!








Now I might be wrong but weren't these two in the beginning of that Arena documentary, Beat This! A Hip Hop History...? They were poppin' on the street in Times Square and peering into the electronics shop watching Mel Brookes on one of the tv's.
They're called Fantastic Duo btw. And they are, rather.

This was an influential scene for me when I was growing up.
I had various sound equipment around my room in homage to Double K's bedroom. Oh happy days.

The man, the myth, the legend. DJ Kool Herc live at the Burning Spear.
While it was good to hear Kenny spinning the cool Tommy Boy ish - well, mixed by Jazzy Jay actually - it would have been even cooler to have Herc on the wheels of steel.
But then again, I dread to think what they would've made him play.






What a shot.
I mean, look at them. You're facing off with Rock Steady!!
If this was my POV I'd be uprocking with cacky pants.










The legendary Kuriaki (RIP) and the immortal diss to Powerful Pexter:

Powerful Pexter : You're biters, all your homeboys are biters.
Kuriaki: I ain't never stole no moves from you, your moves ain't worth to be bit. So what's up with that, punk?




This was a great scene in that it tried to convey a sense of authenticity of the hip hop culture.
Like KRS ONE said, "power from the streetlight made the place dark".
We see the guy hooking up the power cable to a streetlight and suddenly the whole room lights up.
US Girls are in the house which is always good. I must admit I had a thing for Lisa Lee. I think it was the haircut.
But check out the turntable. Hmmm, Double K, I don't think Kool Herc would've let you play at the Burning Spear if he'd clocked this. Why and how did the needle get over there?



That's all for now. The next post will feature a 'cut-out-and-keep' guide to the b-boys at The Roxy Battle! So what's up with that, punk?

More about → Beat Street....flashback!

Thankyou

Just want to say a big shout to everyone who tuned in to my man Waxer's Disco Scratch Radio last night on which I was his guest.
It was broadcast as the complete chat we had a couple of days before. Yes. Unedited! Including my choice of tracks throughout the show it all added up to a hoo-mungous 2 hours and 50 minutes.
I think it should have included a subtitle stating 'Special Trainspotter Edition' as we got nerdy on an unparalleled level. Fortunately as the chatroom rolled on we saw that there was a common geekiness amongst ageing b-boys. Yes, I am not alone.
To those in the chat such as Dan Flan, Ridla, Scenes, Biz-Martski, Eclectro, Monk, CrimesForMinds, Random I hope you enjoyed it. And to anyone wanting to cop it you can find it over here at Waxer's Disco Scratch.

Massive props to the one and only Waxer for organising it.
Your Thursday evenings are now found at Freestyle FM at 9pm. There's tons of guests lined up for upcoming shows from superstars to those behind the scene and fans. Next week, unconfirmed reports of Overlord X in interview.  SCENES14 sooncome.

It rolls like this:

1.Disco Scratch Radio Intro
2. Russell Brothers – Party Scene (Instrumental)

3.Gang Starr – Manifest

4. Gang Starr – GotchU

5. Captain Rock – Cosmic Glide (instrumental)
6. Pieces Of A Dream – Mount Airy Groove (Instrumental)
7. T Ski Valley – Catch The Groove (Instrumental)
8. Disco 4 – Let It Whip (Instrumental)

9. Trouble Funk – Pump Me Up

10. Jonzun Crew – Pac Jam (Look Out For The OVC)
11. Warp 9 – Nunk (Instrumental)
12. C Bank – One More Shot (Instrumental)

13. The VHB – Beethoven’s 5th Street Symphony (Short Version)

14. Fantasy 3 – Biters In The City (Scratch Version)
15. Bobby Broom – Beat Freak (Dub Version)

16. B Boys – Girls Part 2 (Snippet)

17. Fantasy 3 – The Buck Stops Here (Instrumental)
18. Great Peso & Mr Nasty – It’s Time To Rock (Instrumental)
19. Newcleus – Jam On It (Instrumental)
20. Byron Davis – My Hands Are Quicker Than The Eye (Instrumental)
21. Eric B & Rakim – Eric B is President (Dub)
22. Justice – Put That Record Back On (Instrumental)

23. Kid Frost – Terminator

24. Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Price – A Touch Of Jazz
25. Kid n Play – Last Night (Dub)
26. Kool G Rap & Polo – Rikers Island (Instrumental)
27. Hijack – The Contract (Instrumental)

28. Hijack – The Badman Is Robbin

29. SL Troopers – Knowledge (remix instrumental)
30. K Solo – Letterman (Instrumental)
31. Kool G Rap & DJ Polo – Ill Street Blues (Instrumental)
32. A Tribe Called Quest – Award Tour (Instrumental)
33. Beatnuts – No Equal (Instrumental)
34. Diamond D – Sally (Instrumental)
35. Onyx – Throw Ya Gunz (Instrumental)
36. Run DMC – Down With The King (Instrumental)

37. Word Of Mouth & DJ Cheese – King Kut

Those in white are background tracks.

Those in gold are played in full.

More about → Thankyou

Reminder

THURSDAY....9PM....FREESTYLE FM....DISCO SCRATCH RADIO....

Don't forget that the interview with myself and Waxer of Disco Scratch is being broadcast tomorrow on the interwebs at 9pm.

1.  Click this link which will take you to the front page of Freestyle FM.

2.  Choose your preferred audio player.

3.  Join the chatroom - just hit enter - no password needed - change your username once you're in.

If you can't make it the link will be posted-up on this site afterward.

More about → Reminder

ABBU! Live in conversation

Make a date in your diary folks. This Thursday (22nd) April at 9pm I will be chatting to the one and only Waxer on Disco Scratch Radio.
Last week in case you missed it was a special guest, namely Blade. So who would be the obvious choice to follow such a UK legend of the hip hop scene......?
Yep. Westwood is 'busy' so you'll have to make do with yours truly.
It's guaranteed to be off the hook, off the chain and more, so tune in at Freestyle FM.
Make sure you join in the fun in the chatroom, too.
As Mike used to say (well for a couple of weeks in 1985 at least) it's gonna be laaaarrrge!

More about → ABBU! Live in conversation

Some Westwood Vocals

Been listening to some old tapes and found some Westwood Capital Rap Shows from 88.
Here's some original Westwood vocals so that you hear how he used to sound 22 years ago. Hear the rawness as he splutters his way through sentences and kicks the slang around the place.
Witness the original clunky jingles that we knew so well. Enjoy

More about → Some Westwood Vocals

The FUN Gallery Returns

If you know Wild Style then you know Patti Astor. If you know Patti Astor then you know The Fun Gallery.

Briefly, the FUN Gallery was co-founded by Patti and opened in 1981 in the East Village of New York. As well as providing a platform for other New Wave artists it also featured a healthy selection of legendary graffiti writers such as FUTURA 2000, LEE, Fab 5 Freddy, DONDI, Lady Pink and ZEPHYR amongst others.

What the gallery was also notable for was the inclusion of two particular artists, namely Jean Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring.

Any visitor to the gallery might find themselves rubbing shoulders with b-boys and rock stars as it became a melting pot for hip, young New York in the early 1980's.

Sadly it closed down in 1985 due to rising rent and many other galleries all providing more of the same.

However Patti is bringing the FUN Gallery back for a short time, not in NYC but in LA. See the pic above for details.

More about → The FUN Gallery Returns

Magazine Scans part 1

Here are a few scans from The Street Scene magazine which you may or may not know was from Streetsounds big cheese, Morgan Khan back in 1985.

I've put up some of the more interesting articles and some other bits. Enjoy.

Don't forget to click for a bigger picture.

More about → Magazine Scans part 1

Ultimate Breaks Volume 26

I don't mind telling you that this is a bit of a special moment.

I've been waiting for volume 26 of Ultimate Breaks & Beats for something like 18 years.

This is the 'lost' 26th edition of the legendary breakbeat series of albums from Street Beat Records and contains that same dusty funk that you know and love right down to the Kev Harris artwork and Louis Flores edits.

We begin with the rather lyrically disturbing Joe Tex track "You Said A Bad Word" in which he dubiously remarks to a girl that he won't tell her mother about her cursing if "you do what I tell you" whilst simultaneously sniggering.

You'll be singing "Su-per...Casanova...naaaa, na, na, na, na, na, na", when you hear it. Fact.

Moving quickly on is a nice old school break, "Ever Ready" by Johnnie Taylor and then a great break I never even knew existed. I wasn't even aware that Herbie Luv Bug had gone digging in search of inspiration for Salt N Peppa's "Push It". Well listen to "Keep On Pushing" by Coal Kitchen and you'll hear for yourself.

The epic "The Jam" is a slab of psychedelic sloppy funk from the p-funk-ish Graham Central Station. I remember finding this at a car boot some years ago and hearing the MARRS break for the first time. 'Twas mindblowing I tells ya.

Those yearning for the days of the Soul II Soul massive will dance in glee for it was this track that introduced that famous beat (05.09s) which was soon sadly plundered by everyone with an Akai sampler back in the early 90's (Jimmy Nail, I'm looking at you).

Troublefunk is the sort of band that every hip hop dj will have at least one of their records in their box. And we have a beauty here in the form of "Let's Get Small" with it's monster use of percussion. Eagerly used by such champs as KRS-ONE, Coldcut, LL Cool J and a staple in Kid Capri's repertoire.

Now apparently an original 7" copy of "Sexy Coffee Pot" by Tony Alvon & The Belairs goes for a price so high that only DJ Shadow and Keb Darge can fork out the cash for it without their bank manager shifting uncomfortably in his seat.

The title comes from the story that a coffee pot was the inspiration for the world's first webcam. The coffee pot was located in the so-called Trojan Room within the old Computer Laboratory of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The webcam was created to help people working in other parts of the building avoid pointless trips to the coffee room by providing, on the user's desktop computer, a live 128×128 grayscale picture of the state of the coffee pot.

It's true. The internet never lies y'all.

However why anyone would deem a coffee pot to be 'sexy' is beyond me. Although on second thoughts the Computer Laboratory probably consisted of mainly blokes with bad hair and zits and the only offering of females would be Beryl the cleaning lady.

And so to end this volume is probably my pick of a very good bunch. Hank Carbo's "Hot Pants Part 2" is a mid-tempo shigger-fragger which you'll know instantly as being 'that Big Daddy Kane break '. Marley Marl is a frickin genius.

It's worth remembering that this album was originally produced in 1991 in the midst of hip hop's Golden Age™ so a lot if not most of the subsequent tracks in which these breaks were used are some of hip hop's greatest moments.

A.

1. Joe Tex - You Said A Bad Word

2. Johnny Taylor - Ever Ready

3. Coalkitchen - Keep On Pushing

4. Graham Central Station - The Jam (Remixed)

B.

1. Trouble Funk - Lets Get Small

2. Tony Alvon - Sexy Coffee Pot

3. Hank Carbo - Hot Pants (part 2) (Remixed)

Breakbeat Lenny R.I.P.

Check here for more info about the individual editions and short history of UBB.

More about → Ultimate Breaks Volume 26

Hip Hop's Most Funky Year - Revealed!!

I have a long, endearing love of breakbeats. And none more so than those found on the infamous Street Beat label, Ultimate Breaks And Beats. All 25 volumes*.

So I decided to have a look and just see which year, according to UB & B, was the most funkiest.

Well 1962 - 1965 have zipadeedoodah, but the earliest year is 1961 with The Monkees "Mary Mary" (which coincidentally was the first track on side A on the series' first volume).

The most recent track used was "Liquid, Liquid" by Cavern and this was 1983, believe it or not.

Suffice to say that if you wanted to make a funky piece of breakbeat coolness then you would be better off having gone in to a studio sometime around 1975 where you would have rubbed shoulders with some of the following:

UPP "Give It To You"
Dynamic Corvettes "Funky Music Is The Thing"
Johnny Hammond "Shifting Gears"
20th Century Steel Band "Heaven And Hell"
Banbarra "Shack Up"
Please "Sing A Simple Song"
Magic Disco Band "Scratchin'"
The Headhunters "God Make Me Funky"
Chicago Gangsters "Gangster Boogie"
Donald Byrd "Change"
Roy Ayers "Brother Green"
Grover Washington, Jr. "Mister Magic"
The Black Byrds "Rock Creek Park"
Lonnie Liston Smith "Expansions - Part 1"

Yes, 1975 is the funkiest year with no less than 22 breakbeats used on this series. In fact 1973 - 1976 were indeed the funkiest years altogether with the most breaks than any other years.

So if you are celebrating your 34th birthday this year then you may have a feeling that you possess the funk just that little bit more than anyone else. Me? I'm 4 years out, sheeeit.

*Yes, I know that a further volume, #26, has since come out but I'm discounting this one purely on the fact that it's too recent. And I STILL haven't got a copy yet. On ANY format!

And there are a few 'unofficial' ones out there too like 499, 500 and 508.

Anyway it's my game, my rules and my decision is final. So spin on it!

More about → Hip Hop's Most Funky Year - Revealed!!

Happy Birthday Patti Astor!

So who came first, Patti Astor or Debbie Harry? Well Debbie Harry actually by about 5 years. But they seem to be one and the same person in my mind as both were all over New York city in the late 70's, early 80's and both had a major influence in the formative years of hip hop.

Here's a great little video about the life of Patti (in 8 minutes!) and you'd be surprised at the unseen archival footage as well as bits and doodads of Fab 5 Freddy, Lee Quinones and Zephyr chatting about the great lady.

More about → Happy Birthday Patti Astor!

Master Ace chats about The Symphony

Master Ace* drops some science on the story behind the classic, The Symphony about how it all went down and who he actually replaced on the record.



True Hip-Hop Stories: Masta Ace from D-Nice on Vimeo.

* spelt correctly. ABU! doesn't play that Masta Ase shite.

More about → Master Ace chats about The Symphony

B-Boy 80's Adverts

Found these little gems on YouTube the other day.
Anyone remember any?

**Don't forget to pause the Player at the bottom of the page first**


Weetabix Breakers





Right Guard B-Boy




Hersheys Chocolate Breakdance commercial circa 1984




Michael Boogaloo Shrimp Chambers Aqua fresh Turbo Ad





And lastly this one which can't be embedded so here's the direct link to YouTube.

K-Tel breakdance Commercial
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=qgZfH5xKWc4

More about → B-Boy 80's Adverts

9/11 Anniversary

I had the great fortune to visit New York City in February, 1998. The weather wasn't brilliant but that didn't matter because the experience far outweighed a bit of rain. It was like being on a gigantic movie set; busy, bustling, energising. Everywhere I looked it seemed I'd seen it before in some film - and I probably had.
One day I visited Wall Street. I went by subway and was very disappointed in the state of the trains - they were so clean!
I remember looking up at the Twin Towers and just feeling the awesomeness of these huge iconic buildings, the power was just immense.

Listen to Steinski's 9/11 tribute track.

Immense....

View from the Ferry

Outside Madison Square Garden - feel the energy

And that's me.....

The sound of da police

More about → 9/11 Anniversary

Fresh 98

Who remembers Fresh 98? It was in East London almost ten years ago to the day. My memories are: seeing other hip hoppers on the tube all going to Fresh, waiting in a queue for ages on a hot sweltering day, a security guard who looked like Queen Latifah getting riled every 20 seconds, the bloke in front of me being given free tickets to get in while I had to stump up my £20, meeting some of the Fat Lace crew for the first time, seeing The Ruf again for the first time in ages, badly wanting to buy a Mos Def t-shirt as it was based on the Run DMC logo, b-boy crews from all over Europe busting moves randomly, witnessing the sheer awesomeness of MC Supernatural, Tony Vegas in a little room performing to a small appreciative crowd, having to peg it out of the event to get the last train home and missing Busy Bee's performance.

Where you there? Do you remember who else was on the bill?

More about → Fresh 98