HHC Top 100 rap singles 40-31

#37 & 31 - NWA

*Please, please, please use the zshare links or else I won't be able to post properly once my bandwidth is used up on fileden.*

The tunes are getting bigger now yet there are probably still a few that you don’t have. I’ve been wondering what purpose this top 100 has been serving for people. Has it been a trip down memory lane? Has it been an opportunity for you to fill in gaps in your collection? Has it been an educational experience? Drop me a comment so I can understand more about my visitors. Today’s selection is particularly good:

40. Big Daddy Kane – Ain’t no Half Steppin’ (zshare) – 1988 – Long Live the Kane (buy album here)
In 88 this must have sounded a couple of years ahead of the game. A very laid back track with numerous samples, the strangest one being the serial killer with a knife sound effect.

39. Gang Starr – Mass Appeal (zshare) – 1994 – Full Clip (buy album here)
DJ Premier is one of those producers who will never be accused of whackness. He’s consistent on the whole and even when he makes a weak track the strength of his back catalogue holds him up. Him and Guru were a perfect pair, this track embodies the character of their music.

38. Eminem – Stan (zshare) – 2000 – The Marshall Mathers LP (buy album here or borrow it from your sister)
This is the track that sadly, you are most likely to have heard. Yes it is great, flipping Dido and kick starting her career was a great move and served its purpose well. I grudgingly accept that in fact, this does deserve to be here.

37. NWA – Express yourself (zshare) – 1989 – Straight Outta Compton (buy album here)
Ahhh, the first NWA track I heard and nothing but positive vibes from the boys. The critics of the time obviously overlooked this when they labelled NWA as troublesome, angry, vile and unsuitable.

36. Public Enemy - Public Enemy #1 (zshare) – 1987 – Yo! Bum rush the Show (buy album here)
A brilliant intro here, mimicked by Karl Hinds on ‘You don’ Know’ and the forerunner of tracks like ‘Super Sharp Darts’. Chuck’s distant vocals hit hard as usual.

35. Ultramagnetic MC’s – Watch Me Now (zshare) – 1988 – Critical Beatdown (buy album here)
‘Watch me now’ seems to sum up everything that Hip Hop had become in the late eighties. Funk samples and breaks, fast tempos and boastful rhymes.

34. Ice Cube – It was a good day (zshare) – 1993 – The Predator (buy album here)
This is another tune for a sunny day, perfectly mellow and uplifting, suited for a BBQ in the yard.

33. Public Enemy – Welcome to the Terrordome (zshare) – 1990 – Fear of a Black Planet (buy album here)
Wooooooo! This is music to go wild to! Contains the immortal line ‘Hear the drummer get wicked’.

32. De La Soul – Plug Tunin’ (zshare) – 1988 – Three Feet High and Rising (buy album here)
Why wasn’t this on the greatest hits? Weird.

31. NWA – F*** the Police (zshare) – 1989 – Straight Outta Compton (buy album here)
Ooof. Now that’s why those critics, politicians and anyone with white skin were scared of NWA, now that’s attitude.

Right, I'm off camping now so pray the sun shines for me.

Thoughts without music

It's come to the end of a good day. I had a nice lie in, my Fiancee made curry for lunch (thanks Bec), I interviewed 10Shott and heard some amazing new music fresh from the studio (thanks to Lisa for the hook-up) and I watched Donnie Darko again and had a good discussion about it (postmodernist rubbish or thought provoking art?).

I've also been catching up on some other blogs. There are some favourite ones I wish to share and some I wish didn't exist.

Eclectic Hermit is doing what he does best (being eclectic) and consistently posting good music of all varieties. His writing is sharp, on point and witty and there is sure to be something you like on there.

Another favourite of mine is Snow Day Music. These boys (and girl) are from Canada and show pure enthusiasm for the music they love. They also rep the UK so they deserve a clap and a visit.

Just recently a bloke's blog has really caught my attention simply for his devout love of UK Hip Hop. Adam over at Northern Author is a bit like me -he was born in the North East and now lives in West Yorkshire and he likes Hip Hop and writing - you know it's a good look.

Also worth a mention, a visit and a thank you are Until the Train Stops (for his excellent writing, comments and links), Passion of the Weiss (again), Retro Music Snob (for the repeated links), Let's start over (who has linked me, get in touch) and Hype Machine for blowing my page visits through the roof.

As for the ones who I wish didn't exist, well, I'm not going to name and shame. I will tell you why they have got my goat today. Blogging should be primarily for writing, it doesn't have to be particularly good writing but it should be present. I've started to see bloggers who think that posting an entire album and some poor quality artwork is worth wasting web space on. Not only is it pointless and indicative of a total lack of creativity, it is ruining the livelihood of music without even a smidgen of justification. I know there are probably alot of greedy blog visitors out there who just come to plunder the mp3's - the sort who don't care about the writing - and this inferior blogging suits them just fine, but people, please have some dignity. Tell us why you like that album. Show some ability to make choices; tell us which are your favourite and only upload that track. Take pride in your presentation and content. These things aren't hard to do and for me and those like me, your blogs will be more appealing.

I've (I say I've, I mean Bec and I) been thinking of some new ideas for the blog. The Top 100 thing blew up but once it's done, it's done. There will be follow up posts to the Top 100 to discuss omissions and possible recent ammendments but I'm thinking beyond that. We came up with a few ideas that hopefully will keep you, the reader, satisfied everytime you find yourself clicking that Certified Banger bookmark.

Thanks to all my visitors, especially those who are readers and who enjoy music responsibly. I invite you to come back anytime and I hope what I provide satisfies.

On a final note, if there are any artists out there who want their music heard, who feel this is the right place and who don't mind giving up a free mp3 or two, drop me a line and if it's good enough I'll whack it up here for all...to...hear!

10Shott on Blogspot

In anticipation of my interview with 10Shott (which may be happening in person tomorrow) I've been scouring the internet for bits and pieces. First off here are some more tracks from Tricksta's UK Runnings Series:

10SHOTT - Cool Down
10SHOTT - Eye Contact
10SHOTT & GABZ - Tell em who he is
10SHOTT & SIZE8 - Nobody Do It Like We (Dave Bass remix)

Next for you are some videos; this track is beautiful and, if you have just listened to the above tracks, it goes to show a sensitive, more thoughtful side to 10Shott. 10Shott is refreshing in that he can maintain credibilty whatever his subject matter where some artists become very cringeworthy.

Then there are freestyles in their multitudes. Seems that every 2 or 3 days 10Shotts management have uploaded an in-studio freestyle onto youtube. I'll put a few up here but do check them all out, they are seriously hot and fresh, they're like a breath of fresh air.

Story telling:

And with a nice piano (this verse is one of the songs above):

Again visit you tube for all of the freestyle series 'cause dis... a di real.

I'd better go write some questions.

HHC Top 100 rap singles 50-41

# 49, 47 & 42 - Cypress Hill

Now I’d just like to remind you that this list hasn’t been compiled by me. It was made as a result of a poll that the world’s original rap magazine Hip Hop Connection carried out amongst it’s readers. As it happens, a lot of these tracks would be chosen by me if I had the patience to create such a list of my own. I made it my mission to collect all the tunes together and to bring them to the bloggers of the world. Numbers 50 - 41:

50. Nasty Nas - Halftime (zshare) – 1994 – ‘Illmatic’ (buy here)
If only Nas hadn’t departed from this sound, Hip Hop would possibly be alive and kicking.

49. Cypress Hill - How I Could Just Kill a Man (zshare) – 1991 – ‘Cypress Hill’ (buy here)
The first of three tracks in this post means no-one can accuse Cypress Hill of being inconsistent, well, not during the early 90’s anyway, the early 00’s tell a different story.

48. Dilated Peoples - Work the Angles (zshare) – 1998 – ‘The Platform’ (buy here)
Another inclusion of Dilated is welcome here by me, a great track but I’m still not sure how it gets this high in the top 100 of all time.

47. Cypress Hill - Hand on the Pump (zshare) – 1991 – ‘Cypress Hill’ (buy here or up there)
Cypress show off their ability to create unique blunted funky tracks that involve copious amounts of weed and guns.

46. Run DMC - Walk this Way (zshare) – 1986 – ‘Raising Hell’ (buy here)
Pretty much the forerunner of nu-metal (the sort that have ‘rappers’ and guitar riffs). A classic in many circles particularly Dad circles (also affiliated to air guitar circles), rap circles and student night DJ circles.

45. Eric B & Rakim - Microphone Fiend (zshare) – 1988 – ‘Follow the Leader’ (buy here)

44. 2Pac - California Love (zshare) – 1996 – ‘All Eyez on Me’ (buy here)
Big ‘cruising with windows down in the summer’ tune here courtesy of Dre, Pac and Roger Troutman on the vocoder/talk box. You know what to do; go cruise with your windows down.

43. Hardnoise – Untitled (zshare) – 1990
UK, once again, sounding suspiciously late 80’s American.

42. Cypress Hill – Insane in the Brain (zshare) – 1993 – ‘Black Sunday’ (buy here)
Cer-lassic! A point of much reference in pop culture this track has somehow managed to sneak from hyped up stoner track to one of those songs that everybody just knows.

41. The Crooklyn Dodgers – Crooklyn (zshare) - 1994

Buckshot, Special Ed and Masta Ace come together exclusively for this track produced by Q-Tip. If you like ATCQ or Jurassic 5 then this should really tickle your fancy.

40 tracks left. I'm going away next week so wont get to post for that time, I'll try to do one more installment before I leave y'all.

Variations

It's a crime that this hasn't been posted on a blog aggregated by Hype Machine yet. Well, I suppose it's actually a crime TO post it but that doesn't stop hundreds of bloggers doing their thing does it? Anyway, the actual music is way past copywrite laws although the arrangement is not. If Paganini was cool in his day then hopefully he moved with the times, it can't be possible for him to be spinning in his grave. Someone needs to rhyme over this now!

Andrew Lloyd Webber - Theme (Paganini Caprice in A minor No. 24) and variations 1 - 4 (ft. Julian Lloyd Webber) (zshare)

Buy the albumen at amazon (if that's your retailer of choice).

HHC Top 100 rap singles 60-51

#53&55 - De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising

I know you’re all salivating at the mouth (and all manner of other body parts) for this next selection of rap tunes, well here it is in all its uncut glory: numbers 60 – 51.

60. Rammellzee vs. K-Rob – Beat Bop – 1983
Thanks to Aaron @ Canned Thinking for this one - the last track I needed. I can’t believe I haven’t heard it before because it is amazing! (Only available on fileden!)

59. Marley Marl – Marley Marl Scratch ft. MC Shan (zshare) – 1985
A classic DJ/MC set up, yes, it did used to be that way around. DJ’s were more important back then.

58. JVC Force - Strong Island (zshare) – 1988 *fixed link*
An instantly recognisable intro heralds ‘Justified by Virtue of Creativity For All Reasons Concerning Entertainment’s biggest hit. Pick up any Hip Hop compilation and chances are this is on there - good work boys.

57. LL Cool J - I’m Bad (zshare) – 1987 – ‘Bigger and Deffer’ (buy here)

56. Gang Starr – DWYCK ft. Nice & Smooth (zshare) – 1992 – ‘Hard to earn’ (buy here)

55. De La Soul – Buddy (zshare) – 1990 - ‘Three Feet High and Rising’ (buy here)
Big fat posse cut here – Jungle Bro’s, ATCQ & De La (that’s 6 MCs), if positive Hip Hop from the 90’s is your thing (and it should be) then this is essential.

54. Gang Starr – You know my Steez (zshare) – 1997 – ‘The Moment of Truth’ (buy here)

53. De La Soul – Eye Know (zshare) – 1989 – ‘Three Feet High and Rising’ (buy here)
How big was ‘Three Feet…’? It must have been huge at the time, I really wish I hadn’t been 5 at the time but at least time goes forwards and not backwards; now we can all still enjoy these tracks that still sound fresh.

52. Jurassic 5 – Concrete Schoolyard (zshare) – 1997 – ‘Jurassic 5 LP’ (buy here)
One of my favourite tunes of all time, from the “We were just sitting out on the step you know” to the “I represent the real from the beginning to the end of it” it’s just a straight up classic. Seeing them doing this live was a dream come true.

51. Craig Mack – Flava In Your Ear (zshare) – 1994 – ‘Project: Funk the World’ (buy here)
If you can understand what Craigy boy is saying here then you must be a skilled multi-linguist. It doesn’t matter though ‘cause the beat is cool enough and his cadence matches it well.

Half way house homeslice! I’m audi.

p.s. As a big fan of Harry Potter I urge you to watch the new film, read the new book and go here to find out all about Wizard Rock. There are some great tracks there and 'Where's your hood at?' is an amazing title for a song by a Dementor!

hypem + fileden = blogging disaster

Sorry that I'm harping on about this but, I just want to keep you folks informed. Sorry to all the people who are coming now and can't download the latest tunes from my blog. I have devised a cunning plan so that I wont be at the mercies of Fileden for too long but so that my tunes will show up on Hypem; it does involve Zshare, sorry homies. This will be in effect as of tomorrow so please surf back this way in 24 hours time.

All said and done, welcome new readers, hope you find a home (and some mp3's you like) here.

Aidan

Bandwidth limit *nearly* exceeded (in one day)

That's 2/5 of my bandwidth on fileden in one day! Maybe Hype Machine isn't such a great thing after all? I'm going to have to put the files elsewhere where this wont be a problem. Any ideas? I want it to still be picked up by Hype Machine.

HHC Top 100 rap singles 70-61 *updated*

#69. Kurtis Blow - The Breaks

Only the zshare links work on this post now, I know it takes a few more clicks but for free classic rap it's worth it isn't it?

The first three instalments have made a minor ripple in the blogging pond and I’m feeling quite pleased to know that people are appreciating this…but come on party people, drop a comment; it’s not hard to do – if someone gives you something you say thank you, right? Correct etiquette. Miniature rant over…let’s get on with it.

70. Jeru the Damaja – Come Clean (zshare)– 1994 – ‘The Sun Rises in the East’ (Buy here)
Another nod inducing mid 90’s affair here but with a peculiar spacious percussive beat. Contains slightly curious lyrics: “I blow up spots like the World Trade Centre”. Can anyone explain that to me please? I may just be being really ignorant.

69. Kurtis Blow – The Breaks (zshare) – 1979 – ‘The Breaks’ (Buy the 'Best of' here)
Classic Hip Hop party track with all the essential crowd involving elements such as saying ho and waving hands. Kurtis outlines a few cringe inducing situations and exitedly informs us that those are ‘The Breaks’, knowledge is born.

68. Man Parrish - Hip Hop Be Bop (zshare) – 1982 – ‘Hip Hop Be Bop (Don’t Stop)’ (Buy here)
This IS electro. A rambling but steadily changing collection of synthy basses and blips accompanied by the obligatory cowbells and claps make this somewhat akin to a delicious 3 course meal.

67. T La Rock – Breaking Bells (zshare)– 1986
Samples James Brown and contains rhymes about being superior; yup, it’s Hip Hop alright.

66. Nas – Represent (zshare) - 1994 – ‘Illmatic’ (Buy here)
Hands up who loves mid 90’s Hippedy Hop…mine were up but are down again so I can continue typing. I’m getting tired of writing about nodding my head, and those who have read all of this series will be tired of reading about it but I’m not tired of actually nodding my head. Everyone knows this is classic fare from a certified classic album so if you don’t have it, buy it! (And get me a copy too, track 1 is scratched on mine!)

65. Dr Dre – Still DRE (zshare) – 2000 – ‘2001’ (Buy here)
2000 seemed the perfect year for Dre to change the game again, it must of seemed that way to him too ‘cause that’s exactly what he did. Remember any other Hip Hop that came out that year? Or did it fall under the shadow of the good doctor?

64. LL Cool J – Going back to Cali (zshare)– 1988 – ‘Walking with a Panther’ (Buy here)

63. Audio Two – Top Billin’ (zshare)– 1988 – 'What More Can I Say' (Buy here)
Out of all the Hip Hop tracks I’ve ever heard I think this must be the most sampled/bitten/quoted by other rappers. Classic snippets include: “Down the road, to the bank”, “[insert name] is Chillin’…”, “Stop schemin’ and lookin’ hard”, “That’s how it is, you can ask…”, “What more can I say” etcetera. Even if you’ve never heard this song it will sound familiar to you if you’ve listened to a handful of rap albums.

62. Beastie Boys – Hold it now, Hit it (zshare)– 1986 – 'Licensed to Ill' (Buy here)
Have an Old Skool party with this track, in fact, have an Old Skool party with the whole album. And click on the Beastie Boys tag for my other posts on them!

61. Mobb Deep – Shook Ones pt. II (zshare)– 1995 – 'The Infamous' (Buy here)
The street anthem that everyone and their goldfish know thanks to Eminem and 8 Mile.

New readers: You may have guessed that there are a few more instalments before this, check them out here, here and here – or click on the HHC Top 100 rap singles label to see them all in sequence. See you next time when we reach the half way point.

Bandwidth limit exceeded

Due to the heavy traffic on my blog my bandwidth limit has been exceeded on the site where I host my MP3's. It says it will be reset tomorrow so I'm hoping that means that things are going to be downloadable again. If this is not the case I'll have to repost them all elsewhere (maybe the evil Zshare). Stop by tomorrow if the links don't work now (they don't for me). Sorry folks, just when I thought things were getting good!

*Fileden is alive again!*

HHC Top 100 rap singles 80-71 *updated*

# 77. Slick Rick – La-Di-Da-Di (thanks to fly by night)

Here’s the next fix of tracks to either add to or build your collection with. *I've just added Zshare links for all tracks in this one post since fileden has failed me, hope it works.*

80. EPMD – You Got’s to Chill (zshare)– 1988 – ‘Strictly Business’ (Buy here)
Funkeeeee! Slow and funky. This is another one for home dancing, this time with a mate, preferably in a small room where you can execute all manner of confined but wild moves.

79. Run DMC – Runs House (zshare)– 1985 – ‘Tougher than Leather’ (Buy here)
A very likeable Run DMC track here, sounds slightly more up-to-date than some of their other famous tracks.

78. Eminem – Guilty Conscience (zshare) – 1999 – ‘The Slim Shady LP’ (Buy here)
The track (out of 2) by Em that deserves to make this list. This was an important track, it ensured slim wasn’t a one hit wonder and made everyone realise that Dre would never fall off. The single version seemed to be an afterthought as the chorus really propelled it into the charts, good afterthought.

77. Slick Rick – La-Di-Da-Di (zshare)– 1985 – ‘The Art of Story Telling’ (Buy here)
How weird is Slick Ricks accent?! Being a UK import to the US meant he had a half English accent. Doug E Fresh makes this track, um… Fresh. Everybody in the world probably knows at least one line from this track (no thanks to a certain Mr. Williams – not Pharrell, Robbie!).

76. Gang Starr – Full Clip (zshare)– 1999 – ‘Full Clip: A Decade of Gang Starr’ (Buy here)
Nod Nod Nod. That’s my head and it’s not falling asleep, it’s nodding to a classic piece of Primo production. In case you can’t quite remember which track this is, it’s the one that starts: “Big L rest in peace”, yup, you know the one.

75. Boogie Down Productions – Poetry (zshare)– 1987 – ‘Criminal Minded’ (Buy here)

74. A Tribe Called Quest – Bonita Applebum (zshare)– 1990 – ‘Peoples Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm’ (Buy here)
Waa wa waa wow – the twangy sitar sound that you know so well, maybe from ‘Killing me softly’. This came before. A nice chilled out love song.

73. Pharcyde – Ya Mama (zshare) – 1992 – ‘Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde’ (Buy here)

72. Sugar Bear – Don’t Scandalise Mine (zshare) – 1988
Throw yo’ hands up and jump, this is a pure party track to be lodged firmly between, well…any track from that era that used this break.

71. Dr. Dre & Snoop Doggy Dogg – Deep Cover (zshare) – 1992 – ‘Deep Cover OST' (Buy here)

1000+ page views

" We we we wah way, it's very nice!"

A big thanks and shout out to Passion of the Weiss for the link on their latest post, page views have rocketed, I was gonna celebrate with a 1000th page view post thing but I totally missed the boat on that as this weekend has seen over 200 page views! Nice one!

More of the top 100 in the next two days.

HHC Top 100 rap singles 90-81

#82. Biz Markie - Nobody Beats the Biz

This next 10 was the part of the chart where the greatest deficiency in my collection occurred. Most of these tunes have no memories for me other than ones that are a matter of hours or days old. On the whole I’m pretty glad I got these tracks because there are some beauties here.

90. Mantronix - Bassline.mp3 - 1986 - Buy album here

89. BDP - My Philosophy.mp3 - 1988 - Buy album here
“I think very deeply”

88. Blak Twang – Red Letter Day – 1998
UK Hip Hop of a very heavy and solid album which has blazed the trail for UK Hip Hop.

87. A Tribe Called Quest - Description Of A Fool.mp3 - 1991 - Buy album here

86. EPMD - Headbanger.mp3 - 1989 - Buy album here
Does what it says on the tin, this is a certified banger fo sho.

85. LL Cool J - Rock the Bells.mp3 - 1985 - Buy album here
I have a soft spot for the (Def Jam) Hip Hop of the early/mid eighties, being a Beastie Boys fan I have no choice. Basically Rick Rubin created a new sound with his rock guitars and simple bombastic drum patterns; it made LL, Run DMC and Beastie Boys famous and even Jay-Z revisited the style with ’99 Problems’. This sound is coming back with all this trendy electro shenanigans so although this is dated, it’s relevant.

84. KRS-One Sound Of Da Police.mp3 - 1993 - Buy album here
Bit of a moshing track here, even if you quite like the police you’ll be screwing up your face into a menacing kinda grimace and nodding your head as KRS goes off on one as per usual. Overseer, overseer, overseer, officer OFFICER!

83. Hijack - Style Warriors Revenge.mp3 -
Whoop! It’s the Brits! It’s kinda weird listening to this 17 years on, UK Hip Hop has changed so much, it has it’s own identity now. This could easily be American, these boys would get ripped for their USA accents nowadays yet tis considered a classic, and rightly so.

82. Biz Markie - Nobody beats the Biz.mp3 - 1988 - Buy the 'Best of...' here

Everyone loves Biz Markie, he’s a bit like a big bear, a party starting bear nonetheless and that’s why we love him. Download this, record it onto a C90 and dance around in your house in a sort of ‘walking down the street’ way.

81. Brand Nubian - Punks Jump Up to Get Beat Down.mp3 - 1992 - Buy album here
Starts of like a Hip Hop Rocky theme tune, a guitar loop drops in and then a big fat heavy beat comes in that nearly ruined my already not very good car speakers. Check the lyrics for some very un-PC gay bashing that constantly got them into trouble

Don't forget to check back to the top rap singles 100-91 if this is your first time here.

These singles are all featured on incredible albums that really should be in your collection, most of them can be found for bargain prices at places like amazon, slowly but surely you could build up an amazing selection of classic rap albums.

10Shott

Hi Aidan, We have no problem with you hosting these tracks and it's great to
hear that people are taking notice.

I guess you will not be aware that
10SHOTT is currently in the middle of recording his debut studio album (with
Zion Records), and whilst 'Big Hitter' will be coming out first through
Wolftown, the studio album, as yet untitled, is groundbreaking. He is co
Producing the album with Creative Productions (20 x top 20 hits) and everybody
in the studio says it is, without a doubt, the best project they have ever had
on the desk.

If you want to do an interview or similar please contact
me and I will arrange this for you.

Regards, Lisa

Nice one eh? Hows about I arrange the interview and you write the questions? Leave any questions in the comments section for me.

HHC Top 100 rap singles 100-91

#95 - Dilated Peoples - The Platform

O.K. – We’ll kick off the Top 100 Rap singles in reverse order. There are, as it stands, 2 songs missing and I do apologise for this. Hopefully I’ll get them as we go along.

100. Big Daddy Kane - Wrath of Kane.mp3 – 1988 – from ‘It’s a Big Daddy Thing’(buy here)

99. Public Enemy - Dont Believe the Hype.mp3 – 1988 – from ‘It takes a Nation of Millions to Hold us Back’ (buy here)

My first taste of PE courtesy of ‘Best Hip Hop Anthems…Ever’. (Does anyone have this that they don’t want? It was my little brothers and I think one of my mates nicked it and now we can’t find a copy, it must be the best Hip Hop compilation…ever.)

98. Mos Def - Universal Magnetic.mp3 – 1997 – from ‘Soundbombing' (buy here)

Grrr. Really wish I hadn’t sold this 12”. I never appreciated it before but now I love it. A B-Boy throwback type classic.

97. De La Soul - The Magic Number.mp3 – 1989 – from ‘Three Feet High and Rising’ (buy here)

Has rap ever been more widely accepted than this track? Flippin’ ‘eck, even Julian Clary uses it on his weird BBC 7 radio show where he phones people up and helps them with problems such as their wives liking the Chippendales too much.

96. Just-Ice - Cold Gettin' Dumb.mp3 – 1987

95. Dilated Peoples - The Platform.mp3 – 2000 – from ‘The Platform’ (buy here)

I’m somewhat sceptical about the inclusion of this. I love Dilated, I have all their albums apart from that whack one that had Kanye Cheesemeister on it, but I think this got in here because of its success at the time. A personal favourite track and album though.

94. Public Enemy - Bring the Noise.mp3 – 1988 – from ‘It takes a Massive LP Title to Annoy Rap Writers’ (buy here)

Only to be played loud. Chuck D rages and Flav adds those usual mental ad libs.

93. Lords of the Underground - Cheif Rocka.mp3 – 1994 – from ‘Here Comes the Lords’ (buy here)

Head nodding Hip Hop with a dusty bass and echoey snare/clap that should get you dancing as well as excercising your neck. Good lyric: “…no it’s the shoes // The shoes? // It’s gotta be the shoes”.

92. Naughty By Nature - Hip Hop Hooray.mp3 – 1993 – from ‘Ninety Naughty Three’ (buy here)

Hip Hops anthem. Straight up, more nod inducing fare with THE most sing-a-long-able chorus ever, no exaggeration. NbN walk the fine line between mainstream and hardcore with precision.

91. Wu-Tang Clan - Triumph.mp3 – 1997 – from ‘Wu-Tang Forever’ (buy here)

One of the RZA’s tighter productions, a delicious mono bass tone resonates whilst strings punctuate the tension. The Clan take it in turn to drop lyrically supreme rhymes that serve to highlight how many weak wordsmiths there are around in this mixtape obsessed culture where anyone and their rims can be rap stars.

Make Music with my Mouth

Beatboxing - it's great and probably the only element of hip hop left that actually amazes the casual passer-by. DJing; everyone knows a DJ, MCing; everyone has written a comedy rap at primary school, Breaking; see every pop video ever made in the last 5 years and Grafitti, well it's just downright vandalism isn't it? So...Beatboxing, what do I have for you?

The UK Beatbox Championships:

North East Heat - Bigg Tajj
Leeds Heat - The Petebox
London Heat - Faith SFX vs. Beardyman
UK Quarter Final - desebel vs. badfunk
UK Final - Faith SFX

I heard Beardyman on Rob Da Bank's Radio 1 show and he is def my favourite at the mo. Check out his 'Recipe' on Youtube for some fresh beatboxing, that's next level because he's being so creative. I also heard Faith SFX on there a different time with L.Man (watch out for him). Faith provides a perfect backing beat for an MC to rhyme over, there's a vid of him somewhere with Terra Firma too.

Also check out Greg Patillo; man is playing his flute at the same time as beatboxing! Say Wha?!

Universal

Universal Music Group are obviously having a big crack down/paddy with mp3's and downloading. The BBC news website reported this yesterday:

"Universal Music Group is reported not to be renewing its annual contract to sell its music through Apple's iTunes."

Obviously Apple are on the defensive:

"If Universal pulls its catalogue from iTunes then the store would lose access to record labels that account for one out of every three new releases sold in the US, according to Nielsen SoundScan. "

To me it's no coincidence that on the same day as that is reported they come snooping around Certified Banger and Eclectic Hermit. Friends and family are telling me to quit, and I may consider it. EH suggested not posting major label stuff but check this out;

Universal own:

Interscope (Aftermath, Shady etc etc etc) - Big money

Geffen

A&M

Motown

Def Jam - More big bucks

Roc-A-Fella - Kerching

and so many more smaller labels.

There's a good chance everything I've posted has been released by Universal Music Group. Bloggers be aware, unite and don't let anyone go down!

Visitors

Should I be worried that someone from Universal Records visitied my blog last night? It was their ISP and domain server. Am I about to get sued?

iLike

We all like things don’t we? There is not a person who will read this who can’t say that they don’t like anything. Even someone who doesn’t like anything probably likes not liking anything.

When rappers make songs about things they like it’s incredibly cheesy, annoying and lazy or just refreshing that they’re being so positive. It must be easy to make an ‘I like…’ song because you can just lie about things to make it rhyme and it gives you the possibility to have a very broad range of subject matter. Here are three for you to start a collection with:

O-Fresh - I like that
An ice cream truck and a falsetto sunshine begin this track which is somewhere along the lines of LFO’s ‘Summertime Girls’ and other such white boy singy summery ‘hip hop’ tracks.

KJ-52 - Things I like ft. Goldin Child
Another white boy who likes Air Force Ones, Napoleon Dynamite and joking and laughing; honestly, it’s not me.

A Skillz & Krafty Kuts - Simple things ft. Real Elements
Your man here just likes simple things.

DJ Hoobydangler - I dont like cricket ft. 10CC
10CC - Dreadlock Holiday
This is one of the best summery tunes ever, it’s great to dance to (see series 1 of the Mighty Boosh) and it reminds me of Bec. Perfect pseudo-jamaican fun. Also check out the remix I did a while ago.

Sacha Baron Cohen - I like to Move It
Maybe I’ll get a slew of young bloggers hitting me up after this post. What an amazing track from one of my favourite animated films. Cohens character, King Julien is hilarious.

Up in Smoke

1st of July has arrived! As an avid non-smoker I welcome with open arms Britain’s smoking ban in enclosed public places. We’ll see if it actually has benefits (I’ve already encountered the haze of smoke at the door of a pub where the addicted convene even in the rain and cold) but in principle it’s good. Here are some smoking related tunes to celebrate:

DJ Deekline - I Don't Smoke
Warren G - Smokin' me out ft. Ron Isley
Rolf Harris - Nick Teen and Al K. Hall
Mr. Scruff - Sweet Smoke
Oasis - (As long as they've got) Cigarettes in hell

10 Shotts to the sky

10Shott is rapidly becoming one of my favourite UK MC's. Tricksta's UK Runnings mixtapes have brought him to my attention although I previously heard him on a Wolftown mixtape. I'm not really going to say much about him because these tracks (Culled from 'UK Runnings vol. 1' and 'UK Runnings: The National Anthem') give some background.

Conman & 10Shott - Nothin' but Love - Don't really get the 'Cheese' bit in the chorus.
10Shott - All in the Blood - A track about his musical background.
10Shott - Haters - One of the best flows I have heard for a long long time.
10shott ft. Conman - Vicious Circle

This track, also from UK Runnings and Wolftown, deserves a big mention, I love the laid back lazy flow of Reload.

Reload, Late & Conman - Old Skool

Go to Datpiff and search for 'UK Runnings' and you can download 5 of Tricksta's mixtapes, I seriously think they are probably the best UK mixtapes out there.

And...as a parting shot(t) I love Sways verse on Baby Blu's remix, especially the line "You'll have to come to terms with that, like a school bag". He's a clever boy. Go get 'The National Anthem' mixtape to hear that.