Sunday, 27 November 2011
Friday, 25 November 2011
Keep It Sealed
If ANYONE out there can help me track down a sealed original copy of MAIN SOURCE's "Looking At The Front Door" 12" please do get in touch with me by leaving a comment. An old habit dies hard ... I'm sure you understand!
Nike Blazer Highs
Thursday, 24 November 2011
Style Wars Appreciation
Let's be honest, would Hip Hop culture be as globally widespread as it is now if it wasn't for seminal films like STYLE WARS and WILD STYLE making such an impression on the youth of the 1980s?
I don't honestly think so, so I am always pleased to see people such as CHARLIE AHEARN, MARTHA COOPER, HENRY CHALFANT, TONY SILVER etc. getting the respect and praise they deserve for the roles they played in these two productions. Also along these lines I believe people such as JOE CONZO, BUDDY ESQUIRE and FAB 5 FREDDY also have contributed massively to Hip Hop and their names should also be set in stone within Hip Hop's history alongside names like KOOL HERC, BAM etc..
Have you ever wished that you could contribute to Hip Hop history and help preserve the artform in it's original and traditional form? Well now you DO have the opportunity to help - HENRY CHALFANT has begun a campaign to raise $28,000 which is needed to help preserve the complete STYLE WARS film archive. Here's what HENRY had to say.....
"STYLE WARS was originally edited to its 69 minute length from about 30 hours of 16 mm film that we shot in 1981 and 1982. Hours of exciting and wonderful scenes in the extra footage that didn’t make it into the finished film need to be restored. There are many shots of trains and some surprising masterpieces rescued from oblivion.
There are more scenes from the B boy battle at United Skates of America between the Rock Steady Crew and the Dynamic Rockers, and more interviews with Skeme and his mom, Dez, Kase 2, Shy, Seen, Dondi and all the other kings and characters that people have grown to love.
But this history is threatened. The original footage is damaged and fading. Fortunately, it will be possible to repair using digital technology. It will cost $28,000 to save and restore the outtakes. Saving the best outtakes is an important component of our overall project to restore the entire negative of the film and make an HD master which will preserve the record of the first painted trains in their original vivid colors."
Get yourself over to the STYLE WARS PRESERVATION SITE where you can donate as much as you can afford towards helping the preservation of this amazing archive. It would be a huge loss if the complete STYLE WARS footage cannot be saved, so please stop and think for a moment how much the movie STYLE WARS meant to you growing up in the 80s into Hip Hop. I'm sure you will agree we should ALL be pledging a little something to this well worthy cause.
Not only will you be proud of yourself, but you also get something in return for your generosity. Depending on your pledged amount you can expect a variety of STYLE WARS memorabilia ranging from a simple name credit at the end of the completed movie project, a certificate detailing your involvement, a STYLE WARS 2 DVD set, a limited ART IS NOT A CRIME poster, Henry Chalfant fine art photograph, a signed photograph from Style Wars of a NOC167 train, and you can even arrange for HENRY CHALFANT to set up a 100ft INSTALLATION of his many train pics in your office or home. As JAMES BROWN would say ... Get involved!
Friday, 18 November 2011
Happy 50th Jazzy Jay
Doors Will Open @ 9:00 Pm and the party goes on until 4am. I'm sure there will be plenty of legends in the building!
BRONX RIVER Zulu party 1980 with DJ JAZZY JAY on deck duties.
Monday, 14 November 2011
Double Goose
Sunday, 13 November 2011
Hijack Outta Jail
Tha 4orce
THA 4ORCE 'MUSICAL SHOT' VIDEO from pritt on Vimeo.
Friday, 11 November 2011
Vinyl Veterans Swap Meet
My Adidas
Thursday, 10 November 2011
BBE 15th Anniversary
BBE was started back in 1996 by two DJs PETER ADARKWAH and BEN JOLLY,

On reading through some of the above names it is easy to see that BBE are sticking firmly to their mission statement of "real music for real people" and they are continuing to do so with some big releases for 2011.

My good friend CHRIS READ has also become part of the BBE crew as the label's choice DJ, and he has been responsible for compiling and producing the BBE 15th ANNIVERSARY mix CD using material from the label's now extensive back catalogue. CHRIS is always meticulous about his mixes so I knew the outcome would be classic material (which ironically is the name of CHRIS READ's own club night that he runs in East London showcasing Hip Hop music from the last 30 years). You can expect some quality PETE ROCK, MARLEY MARL, DJ VADIM and JAZZY JEFF tracks on the CD, as well as some interesting ROY AYERS remixes, all comfortably blended together with the listener in mind. Hence the perfect marriage - BBE's high grade sounds and CHRIS's precision mixing. For me personally it also opened my eyes to some other artists I have known about but never actually listened to. BBE's high level of quality control ensures that only serious music makes it onto their vinyl and CD releases. In fact if you scan through the BBE catalogue HERE you will see how many notable releases CHRIS had to choose from in compiling the mix, in fact the selection was so vast that the mix is spread over

"I said half jokingly in the liner notes that the biggest challenge was not chosing what tracks to include but which ones I could afford to leave out, but it's actually true. BBE has a catalogue of 200+ albums and there aren't really any which you could describe as filler. It was pretty essential to include tracks from the biggest names on the roster, particularly from the Beat Generation series, so Jazzy Jeff, Pete Rock, Marley Marl, Madlib etc are all on there. I also made sure that there were at least a couple of tracks from my personal favourites like Visioneers, Slakah and Roy Ayers. It's a shame to me that I couldn't find space for certain artists, but above all I had to make sure that the mix worked as a complete piece of music and some tracks, great though they are, just were not going to fit. Hopefully I'll find space for the rest on the 20th Anniversary album!"
The video above gives you a five minute taster of the mix and you can purchase the double CD of BBE 15th ANNIVERSARY MIX through the BARELY BREAKING EVEN website. Here's wishing BBE a happy 15th anniversary year, and hoping for at least 15 more years of real music for real people.
To keep in step with CHRIS READ, his CLASSIC MATERIAL nights and various mix projects peep his MUSIC OF SUBSTANCE website. You can even purchase CHRIS READ's two recent 45 releases via his site. Yes he makes his own records too - that's why I call him the hardest working man in the business! Props to CHRIS and BBE from the DAILY DIGGERS.
While you are here you should also check out this PETER ADARKWAH interview with SPINE TV discussing his BBE label.
Listen to CHRIS READ and LEE BRIGHT of BBE on the BBE 15th Anniversary broadcast part 2.....
Tuesday, 8 November 2011
RIP Heavy D
Monday, 7 November 2011
The Funk League
Rockin The 1s and 2s
Thursday, 3 November 2011
Lewis Parker - Shark
Random LEWIS PARKER fact: back in February 1999 I remember being in DEAL REAL records in Soho with BEAT DETECTIVE when LEWIS PARKER announced that BIG L had been shot and killed on 139th street in Harlem.
Wednesday, 2 November 2011
Bamboo Brothers
Breakbeat Lou Gettin' Busy
KFMP The Pioneers Hip Hop Show
This show produced by Miracle 2011. Check the show out every Tuesday at 7pm UK time using the link above.
Tracklisting:
1. Roxanne Shante: Roxanne’s Revenge (first version taken from Mr Magic Show) (Pop Art, 1984)
3. Mc Craig G: Transformer (Pop Art, 1985)
4. Bizmarkie: Make The Music With Your Mouth Biz (Prism, 1986)
5. Juice Crew All Stars: Juice Crew All Stars (Cold Chillin’, 1987)
6. Big Daddy Kane: Raw (Prism, 1987)
7. Kool G Rap & DJ Polo: I Declare War (DWG, 2008)
8. Marley Marl: The Symphony (Cold Chillin’, 1988)
9. Ace n Action: Letter To The Better (Prism, 1989)
10. Tragedy: Arrest The President Remix (A & M Promo, 1991)
11. Nas: Represent (Columbia, 1994)
Tuesday, 1 November 2011
Daylight Robbery
As a non iPhone user I personally couldn't care less if people are being phone-jacked! The only time I would be interested in owning one is if Apple can develop an Application that can sniff out breakbeats in an dusty old record shop. Now I know you must be thinking "what the hell does all this have to do with hip hop?" and wondering why on earth I am bringing this to your attention. The reason being is that THE NEW YORK TIMES quotes three other items of must-have property that have also sparked similar serial robberies in the past. These three things were....LEATHER GOOSE BOMBER JACKETS & CAZAL SUNGLASSES in the 1980s, and also NIKE AIR JORDANs in the 90s.
Here's a quote from the NEW YORK TIMES article....
"The circumstances surrounding recent iPhone thefts had felt relatively tame until Friday morning, when a 17-year-old high school student was fatally stabbed in Jamaica, Queens. The boy, Patrick Dixon, was attacked by a group of teenagers who demanded his phone, just as he’d stepped off a bus. By the time he got to the hospital, he was dead.
The iPhone, though, is the latest in a succession of status objects that have fostered urban crime. In the 1980s, the craze for Cazal eyeglass frames, West German artifacts with gold insets, which sold for $85 to $200 in stores and commanded $35 to $50 on the street, resulted in the fatal stabbing of a 17-year-old Bronx boy at Broadway and 204th Street one winter afternoon, when five teenagers accosted him and grabbed the pair he was wearing.In the late ’80s and early ’90s, cities across the country were forced to deal with the fact that young people were killing one another for Air Jordans. During the same era, the fad for leather bomber jackets became so intense that the Newark Police Department formed a special task force to deal with the shootings and muggings related to it."
Peep the full article here.
On The Move
Click the link to check it out.
www.dailydiggers.com/view/mosaic