Thursday 30 October 2008

Always Rockin' Tough

Forget street dance, or urban dance ...or whatever the media decides to call that bullshit you see on MTV these days. It's weak and it's wack!
Uprockin' and breakin' has been an integral part of Hip Hop since the 70s. It makes me cringe to see the way the press/media now sees the b-boy culture as "hip" and more importantly a moneyspinner for them now in the 00s. If you were around back in the days, you will recall any b-boys publicly going off in a circle would be instantly moved on and in some cases arrested by police, as if they were a menace to society. And as for press/tv interest - it was merely considered a craze rather than a form of dance with any kind of longevity.
Far from it, 30 years later.....




Wednesday 29 October 2008

Breaks for Days Radio

We've had some great guest mixes in the last few months....P&O, MR KRUM and JABBA & CRATEDIGGER. A big thanks to those guys for putting together something special for us here at BREAKS FOR DAYS. If you have a dope mix you would like us to feature, whether hip hop or breaks & beats, we'd be happy to give it a listen and possibly post up a link. Please get in touch through the comments section.
Right now though we have another hour and half of funkiness supplied by myself KID DYNO, in the form of BREAKS FOR DAYS radio - an hour and a half of only the funkiest hip hop and beats...

BREAKS FOR DAYS RADIO

Track list

DAILY DIGGERS - Throw on Somethin' Funky
BLACKMALE - Let It Swing
DJ DOC & MC PAC - In Doc We Trust
TOP CHOICE CLIQUE - Peace of Mind
TWO KINGS IN A CYPHER - Movin' On Em
G LOVE E - Suck On This!
KID FROST - In the City
T LA ROCK - I'm Doin' Damage
KGB -Power of Three
DOWNTOWN SCIENCE - Somethin' Spanking New
STEADY B - Funky One
KNOWLEDGE - Put On Your X
POOR RIGHTEOUS TEACHERS - Strictly Mashin'
FULL RESISTANCE - 3-2-1 I Explode
JEMINI THE GIFTED ONE - Brooklyn Kids INSTRUMENTAL
ANDREW WHITE - Who Got de Funk?
BILLIE JOE YOUNG - The Push
HERBIE HANCOCK - Palm Grease
JAKE WADE - Searching for Soul
JUGGY MURRAY - Oily
THE WATTS 103rd STREET RHYTHM BAND - Do Your Thing
MFSB - Something for Nothing
LTD - Love to the World
KING FLOYD - I Feel Like Dynamite
RUFUS THOMAS - The Penguin pt2
DAVID AXELROD - Songs of Innocence
BONUS MYSTERY NUGGET


Enjoy! Kid Dyno

Friday 24 October 2008

Kon & Amir diggin' for 45s

Another dope vid, this time XLR8R TV featuring kings of the diggin' game, KON & AMIR.

Record Raps

Check out DENT with some freestyle record rhymes! That's real hip hop.

Tuesday 21 October 2008

...more baked beats.

Once again we've been cooking up some beats in the DAILY DIGGERS kitchen, and as usual we've made a god awful mess in there! There's LPs all over the place...
The weather is damn cold outside, so we needed some home-baked beats to warm us up.
Some snappy Eastern European drums provide the carbohydrate for today's menu, while the jazzy horns are taken from a library LP to tickle your taste buds! As for the flutes.... I forget ;o) but don't they taste just great?

Lunchtime Crunchtime


Kid Dyno

Monday 20 October 2008

How Rare? pt2

DENNIS COFFEY - "Theme From Black Belt Jones" Warner 45
I'm not sure which word describes this funky little 45 best....elusive or expensive, all I know is it took me some serious years to bag a copy. DENNIS COFFEY pretty much blessed every LP he released or played on, and THE THEME FROM BLACK BELT JONES is perhaps his finest work?? A b-boy classic and notably used by 45 KING and LAKIM SHABAZZ on their aptly titled track "Sample The Dope Noise". Man this joint blows up any dance floor guaranteed - in fact if you dare listen to the clip I bet it makes you get off your ass and JAM!
This killer joint unfortunately never appeared on a DENNIS COFFEY LP, nor a BLACK BELT JONES soundtrack until one was retro-released in 2003, so the 45 is the only way to copy it on original vinyl, hence it makes well over £50 ($100) when it does appear.
A certified NUGGET on 45!

"Theme From Black Belt Jones"


LAKIM SHABAZZ - "Sample The Dope Noise"



PHASE & RHYTHM - "Brainfood"
Many records seem to reach legendary status in Hip Hop these days, but few more so than PHASE & RHYTHM's "Brainfood" b/w "Hyperactive". Whether it be the PAUL C connection (he mixed and engineered the tracks, no doubt at 1212 studios) or the fact that BOTH tracks are amazing, it is worth every penny of what you have to pay for it. I purchased their second release, "Swollen Pockets" with "Hook & Sling" when released on Tommy Boy in 1990/91, and both these joints were dope. But what I didn't know was that these dudes had already dropped an absolute gem of a record on the brief FUNKY TUNE label before signing with Tommy Silverman.
Have a peep at the soundclip, and just check out that drummer logo on the label.
In Hip Hop terms, a HOLY GRAIL. My most expensive purchase on vinyl to date!

PHASE & RHYTHM - "Brainfood"





Kid Dyno

Monday 6 October 2008

How Rare?


It's impossible to judge how rare a record is based on a single internet auction price. In fact quite the opposite, I have seen some wack records on major labels make serious loot, and some of the rarest records I have found have been in the bargain bins! But maybe that's down to the record shops not knowing their stuff.
Over the last 5 years or so I have seen a record make sometimes 10 dollars on ebay, then later make upwards of 100 bucks, only to then drop down to a regular 10 dollars again. Obviously it depends on who is online at the time, and how fat their pockets are.....but also people's buying trends are so easily affected by the latest dope mixtape doing the rounds at the time. Examples of this include DJ SHADOW's and DJ IVORY's mixes - these together spawned an alomost fever-pitch buying bandwagon on ebay's "random" rap listings (as did the Brainfreeze mix with funky 45s). Pure craziness....especially if you remember the times when you could not GIVE away your Hip Hop vinyl??
So a price does not determine it's rarity, only it's desirability. OK so maybe a more detailed look on excellent websites like www.popsike.com would provide you with a more rounded view on an item's price over a certain period, but even this can lead you up a garden path in regards to a true value. So to us, a rare piece of wax is one that we have only ever seen a few times despite all our diggin missions, or never seen at all!
And let's not forget, a RARE record doesn't guarantee it's gonna be a DOPE record! Although we can grade a record's "coppability" thus so....

FRISBY = wax which is only good for throwing
BREAD & BUTTER = shit you see everyday and already have 5 copies
BARGAIN BUY = not rare by any means but dope nonetheless
RARITY = now that's the shit!! stuff you do not see very often
NUGGET = much harder to find & definitely worth buying
OBSCURITY = private/promo/indie press & very rarely seen shit
HOLY GRAIL = once-in-a-lifetime records, stuff you've never seen before

...and we also have a side category for "shit that you saw once at a spot but never copped, and are still regretting it to this very day". Damn I know we all have records in this categrory!

So now let us drop a few rarities from the above categories......

PETE ROCK & CL SMOOTH - MECCA & SOUL BROTHER instrumental LP
There are many bootleg versions of the INSTRUMENTALS from PR & CL's 1992 debut LP "MECCA & THE SOUL BROTHER", but the original double LP featuring just the beats was a promo-only item handed out by the artist/label on the ELEKTRA label at time of release. These awesome 2 pieces of vinyl show off PETE ROCK's amazing beats without the rhymes layered over the top. And in many parts you can hear shit going on sample-wise that maybe you missed on listening to the vocal LP. DOPE STUFF!
This double vinyl treat is super hard to find, and considered a definite HOLY GRAIL by many hip hip collectors. I had almost given up on owning a copy despite offering to sell my grandmother to buy the copies that I knew existed in the hands of fellow diggers. But anyone who owns this record and knows their onions will not part with it without a fight! After almost 10 years on the hunt record karma finally kicked in and I eventually acquired two copies in the space of a month or so (damn what is it they say about buses???). It just goes to show that you should always persist on the hunt for a particular gem and never give up. Obviously you must always dig hard for it, but also tell as many people as you can that you need it - record dealers, fellow diggers, online stores etc etc..

PETE ROCK & CL - ON & ON instrumental




EMBRYO SALES MEETING WINTER 1970
The cover of this LP tells us this is a special promotional record to promote EMBRYO (what seems to be a fledgling label), together with a quote from Herbie Mann "These are the first music expressions on EMBRYO. For us it's a new beginning. Our goal is to remain as naive as we are today."
I'm lead to believe this LP was a sampler for said label, and features music from Herbie Mann, together with bass legend Ron Carter, Brute Force and Atilla Zoller. On finding this LP in a pile of frisby records, that tingling sensation that you get down the spine told me to put this in the must-buy pile. I didn't have my portable turntable that day so it had to be a purchase based on a hunch, luckily one which paid off handsomely. Damn I love that feeling, especially when it's drums.
I had never seen this record before, and I have never seen it since, so this one goes in the NUGGET category.

BRUTE FORCE - The Deacon from the EMBRYO SALES MEETING promo LP 1970




GLADYS KNIGHT & THE PIPS with FUNKY JUNCTION
"Especially For You"
Man....what a wack cover, and surely there are no treats on here?
Yep I passed this LP by for years until BEAT DETECTIVE showed me how dope the FUNKY JUNCTION joints are. Why on earth GLADYS KNIGHT and her PIPS agreed to let a practically unknown band feature 2 songs on this LP is anyone's guess. But I'm glad they did....cuz the tracks ROAD'S END and TALKIN' TRASH are both killer.
Most of the album is very early R&B tunes from Gladys Knight And The Pips when they first got started. The last songs on each side are by Funky Junction who were studio musicians put together by Leo Muller. I beieve one of these dope joints also appears on other albums entitled "Acid Test". Please tell me more if you know about it.
This LP turns up regularly at charity shops, boot sales, bargain bins and normally priced under a pound (2 dollars)...so grab it whenever you spot one. And it's a fairly easy piece to find so it fits the BARGAIN BUY category nicely.
ROAD'S END is a great uptempo banger with drum break intro and a headnod feeling to it, even when the guitar takes over.
TALKIN' TRASH starts off mellow with a sinister bassline with shuffling yet crisp drums in the background... then kapow! takes it up a notch with some fuzzy wah wah guitar and drum rolls, only to breakdown again later. Have a listen...

FUNKY JUNCTION - Road's End


FUNKY JUNCTION - Talkin' Trash




...more to come

Kid Dyno

Sunday 5 October 2008

KING OF THE BEATS 2

Last sunday, myself and the BEAT DETECTIVE hit the VIBE BAR in Brick Lane (London's East End) for the preview of KING OF THE BEATS 2 film - documenting once again the art of beat diggin' culture. If you have seen KOTB 1 then you already know the format....producers are given £20 English Pounds (or the national equivalent) to hit their favourite wax spots, raid the crates, then head back to the studio to make a beat from their finds. The catch is they have to do this without exceeding the £20 budget, or using any other records to sample from.
Devised, directed and produced by PRITT from KEY FIGURES, this second instalment is every bit as good as the first. Once agin we see the UNSUNG HEROES, and SI SPEX from THE CREATORS, but this time joined by MR THING, DJ DEVASTATE (DEMON BOYS), DJ POGO, and P-BODY from Australia amongst others. The diggin' is heavy, and the beats are tough as in the first movie. KING OF THE BEATS 2 DVD is now on release...contact PRITT on the KING OF THE BEATS link above to order your copy.
Check this shit out....



Pritt was also the man behing the excellent NU-SKRATCH website, and the short film featuring DJ SUPREME from HIJACK . Normally a very humble man, it's great to see PRITT drop a heavy beat on his own film. Great work P!! The P-BODY beat is a banger, & the UNSUNG HEROES beat is also sick, using a bargain bin HARRY NILSSON LP with some heavy kick-ass drums.

Now as you already know, making funky beats is a daily operation here at the DAILY DIGGERS HQ, but we thought we would raid the waste bin of discs filled with disposable beats, and share a few of them with you. You never know, you may see the DAILY DIGGERS on the next instalment of KOTB...?? ;o)

DAILY DIGGERS' DISPOSABLE BEATS


Kid Dyno