Support Your Record Shops

The recession bites again as I hear the sad news that BIG CITY RECORDS in NYC will be closing it's doors. It's a sad fact when any quality record shop closes in these harsh economic times, but the fact that a store as revered amongst record collectors as BIG CITY cannot survive even in New York City is an upsetting reality. If you speak to anyone about digging in New York then that particular shop, and the respected collectors who worked there, was always mentioned very high up on anyone's list. And when people tell you stories about BIG CITY RECORD store in the future it will include tales of finding a rare gem whilst standing next to LARGE PRO, DJ SPINNA, or PREMO, or whichever hip hop personality was frequenting the shop at that time. In other words, BIG CITY was the store of choice for artists as much as the avid collector. I KNOW I am right when I say BIG CITY RECORDS Manhattan store will be greatly missed. A huge shout to JARED JBX (thanks for the interview and for being such a gent) and to that turntable wizard and beathead extraordinaire FORREST GETEMGUMP. Keep spinning fellas, and I'm sure you will find yourselves surrounded by rare vinyl in your next adventures. Best of luck to all involved, and most importantly .... SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL AND NATIONAL RECORD STORES people!! There is no feeling, I REPEAT there is NO feeling like getting your hands dirty going through a box or ten of records!! No amount of web searching and keyboard bashing will EVER give you the same feeling. Who knows what you may find?

Voodoo Drums

Once again my fellow vinyl junkie DJ JOHNNY DETT has put together a new MIX CD which will rock your woofers and wake up your tweeters. "VOODOO DRUMS" is his third installment of beat mixes produced on two turntables with nothing but OG vinyl and is aimed at b-boys, b-girls, and beat junkies alike. It's all about rocking the doubles, and this time JOHNNY let's rip with some of his recent vinyl acquisitions. Go JOHNNY!!
To get yourself a physical copy of "VOODOO DRUMS part 1" on CD you can contact JOHNNY DETT by sending him a message on his Soundcloud page. Or alternatively drop me a line and I can also organise this for you.

Voodoo Drums 2012 by Johnny Dett

Mobile Mondays with DJ Muro

Tomorrow night at THE BOWERY ELECTRIC you can catch DJ MURO spinning strictly 45s with the MOBILE MONDAYS crew (OPERATOR EMZ, JOEY C & NATASHA DIGGS). If you live in NYC then you'll know the hype surrounding the MOBILE MONDAYS night is well deserved, and the music selection is second to none. And what's more, the night is 45s only on the 1s and 2s so you're guaranteed some high fidelity quick fire beats to keep the crowd rocking ALL night - where else but NYC can you expect Monday night to feel like a Friday! Hosts on the night as usual are SNKR JOE and MISS REBECCA.

New York Writers

This is where the inspiration comes from - NEW YORK CITY. Although PHILLY can rightly claim that the first tags were scrawled across their city before NYC awoke to an explosion of paint, NYC will always be the spiritual home of train graffiti. Photos like these inspired thousands of others to paint their cities.

Amsterdam Writers

Here is a picture of myself, Kid Dyno, stopping for a cigarette break during a tour of record stores, coffee shops and brothels (!) in Amsterdam circa late 90s. There's several well known tags up on that shutter behind me. The Dutch graff scene is a very inspirational one, and I'm always impressed by Dutch writers that know their history.

London Writers

If you live in London or have visited the UK Capital city, you will no doubt have spotted some of the names below either trackside or maybe on steel if you have been lucky enough. I do not condone illegal activity nor encourage graffiti (well, that's my official line anyway!) but I would like to shake their paint-stained hands for making London a brighter city and for making a laughing stock of the BTP and rail authorities' security measures. Photo courtesy of Hurtyoubad superblog. Getting up is a way of life.

Emerald Sapphire & Gold

Keep pressing buttons until you find yourself over at the always fresh UNKUT website where ROBBIE breaks down 24 of the best sampling uses of "UFO" by South Bronx girl group ESG. And not only does he break it down, but he has put together a compilation of said joints not to be missed. One for the sample spotters out there.

It's A Demo...

Now pay attention, because what you are about to listen to here is possibly one of the most interesting hip hop mixes ever to reach your eardrums. "DEMOlition Mix" is a bumper 3 hour mix of almost 100 super rare hip hop demos all nicely cut, scratched and blended together by the ROCK STEADY CREW DJ and hip hop enthusiast DJ JS-1. The mix includes some unreleased demo joints from the likes of RAKIM, KRS ONE, GRAND PUBA, MOBB DEEP, ORGANIZED KONFUSION, THE ARTIFACTS, LORD FINESSE, SHOWBIZ & AG, T LA ROCK and kicks off with RUN DMC's infamous original version of "Slow And Low" recorded before THE BEASTIES BOYS stepped up and took ownership of the track. Here's the story behind DJ JS-1's "DEMOlition Mix" from the man himself....

"It's finally here... The 3 hour long "DEMOlition Mix" is complete. For the past year or two i collected a bunch of demos from many of our favorite hip hop artists. I have a collection of approximately 350 to 400 demos and rare tracks. I narrowed that down to my favorite 100 and made this mix. There is a few things to keep in mind about this new mix. First, these are all demos, many of them from cassette tapes, poorly recorded, duplicated n copied over the years, played on radio shows, etc, so the sound quality is not top notch. The sound is the best it could be considering what this is. i had to leave out several of the famous Wu Tang demos and some Mobb Deep demos because of the extremely poor quality. Second, when i say demo, i mean that lightly. Many of these are actual "demos" in the traditional sense of the first recordings they made to shop for record deals. Others are unreleased songs, some that are not completed, some are songs that have been released but this is the original version or unreleased remix. Some are just very rare unreleased songs that i wouldn't necessarily classify as a "demo". And finally, these are my favorites. Like i said, i have 400, so i picked the ones i personally like to listen to the most. Please do not contact me to tell me which rare demo you know of that i missed or didn't play unless you are emailing me the file and thanking me for making such an unmatched plethra of mixtapes. Also, I'm sure there is demos and freestyles from wocka flocka, drake's uni-brow, mac miller's cousin and asap rocky's partner asap bullwinkle, but i used songs from only the greatest like krs-one, biggie, rakim, kool g rap, big daddy kane, nas, run dmc, tribe, del, organized konfusion, lord finesse, etc... For most people this is getting 3 hours and almost 100 songs by your favorite classic hip hop groups that are brand new, but made in the golden era years. It's really a nice treat and it will take you a while to listen all the way through.

I doubt there is anyone who heard EVERY single track in this mix. Even the biggest hip hop fiend and collector is sure to find something on here to make them look twice. This whole mix is worth it just for the unreleased KRS-ONE and DJ PREMIER track that didn't make the Return of the Boom Bap album. Thank You Dj Premier for letting me have that. I promise we won't sell a few thousand white label 12"'s to japan. hahaha. The 3rd Bass and Brand New Heavies track is also a really good one to check out. Of course all the Rakim songs on here are sure to make you press rewind once or twice. I think the DMX track like Unstoppable Force will surprise people. I love the Biggie reference track for Lil Kim. That's been around for the longest, but it's classic and i die laughing everytime he says stuff like "i suck dick better than you." lmao. man, mr. cee must have been loving this track. I wish i had the reference tracks Treach did for Queen Latifah or all the ones everyone did for Dr. Dre. anyways... The first song, with RUN DMC doing the original to the Beastie Boys Slow N Low is really bugged out too. I'd like to know the story behind how soo many different songs were made. For those who never heard the Scenario Freestyle version or the Rampage freestyle with LL Cool J's second verse, then you are in for a big treat! There is also no other mix available that is 3 hours long, with this amount of rare material, and cut up and blended the way i do it. The track-listing should speak for itself. This is certainly a mix for your all-time collection. It is long (3 hours), so the file size is fairly large (270mb), but well worth the download.

Obviously you can see the amount of time and energy i put into making these special mixes for everyone. I do ask in return that you really help me get these mixes out there on the internet for people to hear. please tell your friends on facebook and twitter. let them know! retweet and post, please. If you work on any official hiphop site, this mix should be posted there. Soo many people have no clue there is still a few djays like myself left that is posting mixes like this. Let's be serious, most mixtpe djays nowadays are charging up-n-coming kids to put their demo on some bullshit mixtape. That's as corny as rappers who think they made mixtapes... But not as bad as rappers n singers who think they dj. Pull out ya money, pull out ya cut, pull up a chair...

I hope you enjoy this and appreciate the history and super-special rare treats hidden in this mix. Since i have soo many left, this will probably be a volume 1, with volume 2 coming next year. For now, I'd like to thank a bunch of my fellow dj friends, collectors, others who inspire me to do mixes likes this, and those who help me find some of these treats. Thank You.... i don't forget any of you and remember all you do for me. Just you remember that every time you see a fake dj, someone posing as a dj, disrespecting djaying, pleeeease, slap the shit out them. No matter how "hip hop" you think you are and how cool and knowledgeable you perceive yourself to be, there is ALWAYS more to learn and more treats to find. The 80's and 90's for hip hop were not just the same 100 songs every idiot dj has in their serato. There is thousands of songs, so dig, dig, dig, and dig some more..."

To keep in step with DJ JS-1 and download "DEMOlition Mix" plus any of his other mixes get yourself over to WWW.DJJS1.BLOGSPOT.COM

Soundtrack Pro

Check out this incredible soundtrack mix from DJ MARSELLUS WALLACE aka the SOUNDTRACK PRO. Some killer themes on this mix, plus a whole heap of chase joints and raw flutes. This is just the sound that gets me in the mood for some record digging. Strictly vinyl is the name of the game - all pops, crackles and static come FREE OF CHARGE.


  Dj Marsellus Wallace - Soundtrack Pro by Marsellus Wallace

Give The Drummer Some

Give The Drummer Some by Daily Diggers on Mixcloud

Get Stupid Pt2

This time MANTRONIX, MC TEE, TRICKY TEE and GREG NICE get the JORUN BOMBAY treatment. You ain't never heard it LIKE THIS....

Give The Drummer Some

As we hit the 5 year mark here on DAILY DIGGERS, I'm just finishing up a beat mix to celebrate the anniversary of this blog. And you know I'm always messing with beats on the daily, so this is more like a fly on the wall insight into what comes out the woofers and tweeters in the DAILY DIGGERS HQ. Hold on to your Kangol, your snapback, your fisherman hat, whatever....you know the beats will be certified dope. Stay tuned.

Five Years And Counting

On Tuesday 17th it will be 5 years since I started this blog. What started as an outlet for my obsessive compulsive hip hop disorder has become something of a daily read for some of you out there and I appreciate everyone who stops by and catches up however frequent that may be. The internet is full of bullshit purporting to be hip hop but I like to think that here you will always have a safe haven for all things dope in the real world of hip hop.
On DAILY DIGGERS you will not find any Lil Wayne, there will be no "gangster rap" (unless it's N.W.A. or their affiliates from the same era), certainly no bitch slapping, gun toting or drug selling. And definitely no talk of our riches and rides (because we don't have any!) And seeing as you asked we're more LORD FINESSE over here than MAC MILLER! However, there will be plenty of old school reminiscing, vintage footage, writer's bench gossip, interviews with DJs, b-boy circles, funk breaks as well as details of new hip hop records to look out for as well as the vintage beats I know you dig for.

For me personally, some of my favourite posts on this site have been the various interviews (DANNY DAN THE BEATMAN, FRESH SKI & MO-ROCK, DIAMOND D, DJ FORMAT etc.) and of course the DAILY DIGGERS RADIO SHOW and my section on drum break 45s. I've also been lucky enough to make contact with plenty of you like minded hip hoppers out there who strive for the same cause - keeping true to traditions. And who can forget we were amongst the first to bring you news from SPUTNIK BROWN, the NY crew so highly revered by those in the know and the group that led to a certain MC named OXYGEN relighting his solo career. I wanna say word to all the people I've met since we went live in 2007, it's been a pleasure. And to anyone who stumbles upon this site now as a newcomer, please feel free to immerse yourself in our five year archive over on the right. If you love hip hop music and what it stands for then make us your homepage! Thank you.

Air Force 1

There is a new documentary coming soon about the NIKE AIR FORCE 1 - NIKE's best selling shoe despite the fact that they do not even advertise it. So why is it so popular? Is it because it is a New York hip hop classic, or because it can be a blank canvas to match your outfit, or maybe because they feel so good when you slip into a boxfresh pair? I can't give you the answer, all I know is that I got over 50 pairs so I'm gonna be biased whatever. Take a peep at the trailer below....and stay fresh.

Air Force 1 - Teaser from 360 Creative on Vimeo.

Dust & Grooves Kickstarter Campaign

If you are a regular visitor here on DAILY DIGGERS then I'm sure you will already be aware of EILON PAZ's excellent DUST & GROOVES website documenting the culture of record collecting across the globe. And if you are a record hound yourself then you will no doubt be a regular on his site already, eager to catch up on the next collector interview to see what they got, where they got it, and to peep how others store all of their records.
When I met EILON a few years back he told me how he intended to turn his love of photographing record collectors into a book project. The website itself is an incredible read and features some incredible images, but I'm now pleased to announce that EILON has begun his Kickstarter campaign to turn this from a digital product into a physical one with the plans for compiling a book. EILON needs to raise $27000 in total to carry this project through to fruition, and is offering people the chance to pledge money towards the book in return for various rewards including copies of the book, signed photographs, t-shirts etc.. Have a look over at DUST & GROOVES KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN, and please pledge your support to this wonderful project. In fact, have a listen to EILON himself as he tells you about the campaign and how you can help.
And watch out for an appearance by yours truly very early on in the video. Is that him, could I be right? Could that be Kid ... Ah DynoMITE!!

Rakim: Definition of a Classic

Want to know more about the God of the microphone RAKIM? Well peep this short but very recent documentary about the man himself, and what he considers a classic. Essential viewing right here.

Rakim: The Definition of a Classic from 2dopeboyz.com on Vimeo.

Operator Emz Rocking 45s

Check out my man OPERATOR EMZ keeping it tight on the 45s during a session at BEST BUYS in Manhattan, with KENNY DOPE, DANNY DAN and BREAKBEAT LOU in attendance. The event was organised by DJ SCRATCH and filmed for SCRATCHVISION.
EMZ (who is another Goose Down collector like myself) has been running his MOBILE MONDAYS night in Manhattan hosted by SNEAKER JOE and alongside NATASHA DIGGS on the two turntables, with guest DJs over the months including the likes of SUPREME LA ROCK, CLARK KENT, BREAKBEAT LOU and DJ SPINNA. If you need a fresh start to your week whilst in NYC then MOBILE MONDAYS at THE BOWERY ELECTRIC is the place to be. As you can see from the footage OPERATOR EMZ always pulls out the big gun 45s!

The Place To Be

The VINYL VETERANS crew have now adopted THE BLACK DOVE in Brighton town as their new HQ with a regular party every third Saturday of the month down there on the UK's south coast. As the VINYL VETERANS rep gets bigger internationally so does member count with names like OXYGEN, DJ FORMAT, JONNY CUBA, OLLIE TEEBA, AUDESSEY, and of course us DAILY DIGGERS added to the roster in recent months. Head honcho MAC MCRAW has just returned from a serious diggin' excursion out in NYC so you know the musical bar is gonna get raised a few notches. It will ALWAYS be strictly vinyl on the 1s and 2s (what did you expect?) and probably the greatest selection of raw soul, heavy funk, original breaks and classic hip hop you could ever treat your eardrums to. And if you didn't know ... now you know.

Shouts to my fellow VINYL VETERANS.... MAC MCRAW, MATT THE HAT, BOBBY BOUCHER, SKRATCHY MUFFIN, MR KRUM, and ROB LIFE.

Underbelly

Here's a trailer for the forthcoming graffiti documentary following the midnight exploits of the DDS CREW, otherwise known as the DIABOLICAL DUBSTARS. For over twenty years they have braved the BTP, security guards, lasers and dogs and risked injury, jail time, and even death in their quest to paint their names on the side of passenger trains. This stuff ain't for the feint hearted, and not for the art fags either! This is getting up on a big scale.

Martha & Henry

Thanks to PAUSE BUTTON CRAIG over at HOTASBALLS for putting me up on this vintage footage of MARTHA COOPER and HENRY CHALFANT capturing train pieces in the 80s. Fans of SUBWAY ART and SPRAYCAN ART books will no doubt be pleased to see this pretty much unseen footage.

Beatminerz Unreleased

My friend BENNY from Germany has got some serious releases planned over the coming months on his ILL ADRENALINE label. Following the success of THE LEGION "Straight Flow" 45rpm ILL ADRENALINE are proud to announce pre-orders of their next dope 45 seven inch single featuring production by DA BEATMINERZ.

DA BEATMINERZ
A-side: "...Sumthin" feat. Tash of Tha Alkaholiks & Rah Digga
B-Side: Mos Def & Talib Kweli "Another World (Beatminerz Remix)"

Both joints are unreleased, the A-side was recorded in '98 and hast that classic BEATMINERZ production. MR WALT and EVIL DEE then were hired to remix "Another World" in '98 (originally produced by UK crew THE CREATORS), but this remix didn't make it onto any release. Check out the soundclips HERE...

I love the fact that lots of independent hip hop labels are releasing 45rpm 7" singles as opposed to the usual hip hop format of the twelve inch. I'm a sucker for little records but I know a lot of hip hop collectors who don't like them. How can you not like funky little records with boom bap beats?? Yo get over the size issue and scoop these up before they are long gone. Size is NOT important unless you're trying to impress the girls yaknowhatimsayin'?
Pre-orders for this release will go live July 30th (release date: August 21st) directly on the ILL ADRENALINE website. Pressing run is 500 (400 black vinyl copies, 100 transparent blue). The colour vinyl will be sold exclusively on the website.

New York Summer Jams

It's that time of the year when New York City's parks play host once again to some of the pioneer deejays that helped spawn hip hop in the late 70s and early 80s. Names like AFRIKA BAMBAATAA, GRANDWIZARD THEODORE, JAZZY JAY, RED ALERT, ROCKIN' ROB, GRANDMASTER CAZ (remember he was deejay before he began to MC), and DJ CHEESE will be teaming up on the 1200s with the likes of LARGE PROFESSOR, DJ CASH MONEY, LORD FINESSE, BIZ MARKIE, FORREST GETEMGUMP and other similarly revered beatheads. Great to see the legendary DJ CHEESE (WORLD DMC champ) joining the lineup this year. There will be several opportunities to check these deejay legends over the coming weeks - the speaker stacks and multiple boxes of 45s will be the first sign of something going down in your part of the city!
Keep your eye on the TOOLS OF WAR facebook page to keep abreast of the many events NOT to miss. And as the heatwave hits NYC you know this will be a summer to remember. Congratulations also to the Rock Steady Crew who celebrate their 35th anniversary this year with their usual presence felt in the city.

Still Diggin'...

It's good to see people are still stumbling upon OXYGEN's "Gone Diggin'" 45rpm single which dropped on BBP RECORDS back in 2010, a track which I did some cuts for. Recently BREAKBEAT LOU put a certain RICH MEDINA up on this vinyl enthusiasts' anthem and he gives it a mention HERE. Thanks to RICH MEDINA for posting it up, to BREAKBEAT LOU for sharing, and to GENSU DEAN, OXYGEN, MR KRUM, KOHJI and DJ RAGZ for joining forces and allowing myself to also get involved with this project. Still Diggin'...

DJ Format

The mighty DJ FORMAT is live on the wheels of steel on 28th July 2012 at THE SWAN in IPSWICH (UK) alongside CHROME (DEF TEX) and DJ BEN MARR. Needless to say it will be a pleasant overindulgence of heavy b-boy breaks, funk beats and classic rap bangers. There will be no button pushing of laptops on the night so expect heavy boxes of vinyl, sweaty club goers adn DJs, with lots of mixing and scratching on the one's and two's. Sounds like a perfect Saturday night out.

Saturday 28th July @ The SWAN (Ipswich) RHYTHM HAPPENING proudly present the welcome return of Brighton's DJ FORMAT Also appearing is Norwich-based Producer/MC/DJ CHROME (of Def Tex fame) + resident DJ BEN MARR Expect to hear Bone-Shaking B-Boy Breaks, Wallet-Emptying Deep Funk & Classic Rap, all played on %100 Vinyl. Tickets are now for sale at £5. Available at The Swan (ask at the bar) & Out Of Time Records (Fore St, Ipswich) Check out DJ FORMAT'S latest single 'Spaceship Earth' ft. EDAN (very limited 10" available at Rarekind Records, Brighton or find it on his new album 'Statement Of Intent')

Nas + Extra P + No I.D.

Great to see NAS working with LARGE PROFESSOR once again, this time on a new banger from NASTY NAS produced by NO I.D.. When NASIR JONES comes correct and has the right producer he is as good as they get, and I still rate "Illmatic" as one of the most eagerly awaited LPs of it's time. I remember the buzz in 1994 before that LP had dropped and we were all on the edge of our seats waiting to hear what this young MC would do next. Ok so the rest of his career was maybe not as memorable, but I still believe NAS has it within him to drop another classic 100% hip hop album. And with SALAAM REMI on production with a few joints from people like NO I.D., PREMO, EXTRA P, PETE ROCK it would be a surefire winner. Just do it NAS.

Loco-Motive feat. Large Professor (Produced by No I.D.) by Nasir Jones

New Freestyle Professors

FREESTYLE RECORDS are back in 2012 with not one, not two, but three vinyl releases to have you salivating during the heat this summer. FREESTYLE RECORDS are of course the label who brought us more of that Bronx grimey goodness from FREESTYLE PROFESSORS, following the hype surrounding their acclaimed 1994 release "Your Pocket's Been Picked". This time BRANESPARKER, GEO & RICOCHET and PAGE THE HAND GRENADE bring us their "Devastating" EP with five joints and two instrumentals.

FREESTYLE PROFESSORS - DEVASTATING EP
"Devastating"
feat SADAT X and STANLEY GRIMES

"Subway Series"
feat. BLAQ POET & GIFF

"Rebuild Them"
feat. B.A.M.

"Come On"
feat. HOT ICE, AKBAR, STANLEY GRIMES,LORD TARIQ, GIFF and A.G.

"Proverbs" (Sun God Remix)
(exclusive remix of hit track from DOC SINGE’s Kiss Of The Beast CD)

The second release is limited to 300 copies and is a 6 track EP recorded in 1988-89 by the Bronx artist MAGNIFICENT SHAKEEM. Also FREESTYLE RECORDS are offering a bonus 7" limited to 200 copies featuring the original version of the FREESTYLE PROFESSORS favorite "Get Wise" recorded in 1990 and a cassette-only remix of a MAGNIFICENT SHAKEEM track titled "I'm The Magnificent Shakeem" from 1989. The 7" is only available with the pre-order bundle consisting of one of each of the three releases and is priced at $55. This is the only way to get the limited 7".

Check out soundclips HERE and HERE (coming soon). To order get in touch with FREESTYLE RECORDS at jenniferhandal at hotmail dot com.

World B-Boy Classic

In a fortnight's time Rotterdam is hosting the 2012 WORLD B-BOY CLASSIC from July 13-14th. Expect some funky footwork and next level powermoves from the cream of Netherlands' b-boy talent, plus a few European and US b-boys are making the journey over to Rotterdam also. For more details on the World B-Boy Classic peep their website right HERE where you can also check out the full schedule of b-boys, deejays and artists. Beats for the weekend provided by SKEME RICHARDS and RENEGADE amongst others.