Sunday 31 August 2008

NYC Subway Graffiti

Now this ain't your usual you-tube graffiti footage .... check out some of these rarely seen burners by BLADE, CRASH, DAZE, IZ THE WIZ, SEEN, plus a few early DONDI pieces. And not forgetting the dope top-to-bottom whole-car by CODE, plus some more unusual photos from the 80s with accident damaged / graffiti-bombed trains and a few "white elephants". There are lots of images here I'm sure you may not have seen before, and lots that will have you pressing replay despite the dodgy soundtrack. But we just had to post it anyway and share it with you!!

Monday 25 August 2008

Tuff City Records

From the early 1980s TUFF CITY made it's mark as a quality independent Hip Hop Record Label with some amazing acts signed to its roster. In 1979 the label's founder, AARON FUCHS, had seen DJ HOLLYWOOD outshine bigger and better known artists at the Apollo Theatre, and then realised he had to become involved in this music called hip hop.
What proved to be the turning point for Fuchs and his involvement with rap was when he realized that Bobby Robinson and Paul Winley (both old doo-wop producers from the '50s) were releasing rap records on 12" by such artists as Grandmaster Flash and The Treacherous Three and Afrika Bambaataa. Seeing these trends, FUCHS felt that he should get involved with the
scene and quit his journalism job to start Tuff City Records.By the mid-80s FUCHS decided he wanted to take Hip Hop music onto the next level, away from the electro and disco rap sounds, so then Tuff City was the first to release more experimental material by such artists as DJ MARK the 45 KING, PRIORITY ONE, The COLD CRUSH BROTHERS, DAVY DMX, LAKIM SHABAZZ, PHD, FREDDY B & THE MIGHTY MIC MASTERS to name just a few. And not forgetting the incredible ULTRAMAGNETIC MCs at one point!
Despite being an independent label and lacking the substantial marketing budgets of the majors, TUFF CITY still maintained its position within the hip hop music industry, and some of its artists went on to become some of Hip Hop's greatest artists. But at the same time it kept it's strong "underground" reputation for dope artists and dope music. So here at DAILY DIGGERS HQ, we wanna take our hats off to TUFF CITY for providing some Hip Hop classics throughout the last 25 years almost, for keeping the faith, and continuing to release good music to this day. Nowadays their emphasis has changed onto releasing funk & blues re-issues and finding lost musical archives, but TUFF CITY will always be regarded highly amongst hip hop heads.
Remember you can still buy classic TUFF CITY 12" and LPs directly from TUFF CITY.
Below is a random selection of superdope TUFF CITY 12"s (and one OLD SKOOL FLAVA 12"). Some joints you will know for sure...some you may not. Starting and ending with LIVE recordings from SPOONIE G & COLDCRUSH BROTHERS respectively (both on wax!!). Enjoy it! And for a great in-depth interview with Aaron Fuchs you must check out FATLACE MAG's recent interview. Great stuff!



Cat. no. & track listing
TUF128023 SPOONIE G - Spoonie's Rap LIVE
TUF128021 GRANDMASTER CAZ - Get Down Grandmaster
TUF128014 FREDDY B & MIGHTY MIC MASTERS - The Main Event...Word
OSFEP8003 SPOONIE G - Big Beat (45 KING remix)
TUF128025 FUNKMASTER WIZARD WIZ - I Aint With Dat
TUF128020 FREDDY B & MIGHTY MIC MASTERS - Coolin' On The Ave
TUF128029 HOT DAY DANTE - Hot Day's Turn
TUFEP3003 THE MIGHTY MAESTRO - One Man Band Strikes Again
TUF128077 PHD - Set It
TUF128076 YZ - Maflobi Pimp Strut
TUF128031 MC LA KIM - We Got The Funk
TUF128052 LORD ALIBASKI - Lyrics In Motion
TUFEP3002 45 KING - Nickel Bag of Breaks
TUF128044 GRANDMASTER CAZ - Creston Ave
TUFLPPRO-05 COLDCRUSH BROTHERS - It's Like That Y'all LIVE


Kid Dyno

Wednesday 20 August 2008

Breaks For Days podcast

There's been a few technical hitches over here at the DAILY DIGGERS HQ lately - hence the lack of posts apart from times when we could hijack a PC here & there. But now we're back in EFFECT and ready to spill some more funkjuice on y'all!
I recently received a comment from a reader instructing us to take a wider view on hip hop music, and to get our asses out of that '92 mentality. Well I can see where he's coming from, as we do tend to lean towrds the 80s and 90s here on BREAK FOR DAYS...but that doesn't mean we don't dig QUALITY post-millenia hip hop!
So today we're gonna drop a few joints from the last few years, plus our usual portion of crispy funk, rock and drums. There's a few recognisable samples hidden away towards the end of this podcast...so please take the time to spot the samples maybe from one of your favourite hip hop records? But we're keeping the breaks on the secret squirrel tip this week. You never know, if you ask us nicely we may be talked into divulging one or two.



Download

Tracklisting...
Chace Infinite - Do For Self
MC Lyte - The Wonder Years
Kollabo Brothers feat Diamond D - My Flows to Blow
13 - Slow Burnin'
Quasimoto - Rapp Cats
Team Demolition - The Burbs
Asheru & Blue Black - Elevator Music
Panda One - The Essence
People Under The Stairs - Underground Run
DJ Skye - Central Line (INSTRUMENTAL)
BREAK? - Camarillo
BREAK? - The Seed of Love
BREAK? - Pourquois Pas?
BREAK? - I Need You
BREAK? - Funky Mule
BREAK? - It's Only Love


Kid Dyno

Monday 11 August 2008

45 King and Chill Rob G

Holy shiznit - ain't this the best video you have seen lately??



Now that's what I'm talkin' about! DJ MARK is still a MASTER OF THE GAME, and CHILL ROB can still RIDE THE RHYTHM!!

Isaac Hayes Rest in Peace

I heard the sad news over the weekend that ISAAC HAYES had passed away at the age of 65. The man who brought us "Ike's Mood", "Theme from Shaft" and "The Breakthrough", and gave us a million laughs as the Chef in the cartoon SOUTH PARK will be sorely missed.
Sample-wise there are so many artists that used ISAAC's music, particularly "Ike's Mood" which has to be one of the mellowest piano riffs on record.
IKE's MOOD

THE BREAKTHROUGH


...and here is BIZ MARKIE using the piano loop from IKE's MOOD, on "Make the Music With Your Mouth" from '87.

Thursday 7 August 2008

A Splash of Colour

It's supposed to be summer....but it's raining outside and I need some colour to brighten up my day. I hope this brightens up yours too! Clicking on each photo will enlarge.