YEAH MAN!!!!!

It’s been a hot minute since I posted up another secret society demo to the HIP HOP BATTLEFIELD faithful….Instead of slapping you with some run of the mill, under the radar shit – this time around I’m going to venture into sub underground territory with Uptown NYC outfit REBELS OF HARLEM on the “I Play To Win Demo”….

Straight up raw uncut heat from 1992…Much respect to the HIDING PLACE spot for keeping me on my motherfucking toes….

The good folks over at the TIL INFINITY blog recently compiled a bunch of under the radar, strictly California joints on the “WESTAKOASTA #10” sessions…I don’t necessarily co-sign every song, but their is still enough rarities to hold your attention….

TRACKLIST-

IMPRINTS – RECESS (1997) / ZAGU BROWN – JUS WORDS (1996)
JOSEPH YOUNG & ANONYMOUS – SUGA AND SADE (2000)
BAY AREA ART COLLECTIVE – BAYSIC 3000 (?)
SFSM – HISTORY (2014)
FANATIK FT/ AZEEM & RASHINEL – CONTROL (?)
CEEBROLISTICS – SPRING (1995)
THE BEDOUIN – GHETTO INPUT (1993?)
BASSLINE XCURSIONISTS – BUILD OR DESTROY (1997)
MZR AXEOM – FUEL FOR DESIRE (?)
HYPNOTIC THE NATIVE SON – QUANTUM MECHANICS (1998)
MIC.EDU – SURROGATE ROLE MODEL (1998)
INSOMNIAC – KILL TIME (2005)
THE JEDEYES – WE’RE RUNNING THIS (1997)
EYEDLMODE – HEADSETS (1995)
JAMES EK-SEL – DEMO (?)
DROP FROM A ROB ONE TAPE
RADIOINACTIVE – HAIR, SHOES & EYEBROWS PART II (2001)
SCARUB – OUR LIVES (2000)

L.I. NYC wordsmith LISAANDRO keeps the 2018 momentum pumping on this new cut “A Message To The Fans”…

PEEP-

What makes a B-Boy fresh in 2018 ?

A) – POWER MOVES..

B) – AIR MOVES..

C) – NASTY UP ROCKS / TOP ROCKS..

D) – CHARACHTER & STYLE..

E) – WELL PUT TOGETHER FLOOR WORK..

The answer to all these questions is all of the above troopers…Plus the ability to string these all together on beat, and flip your combos in a way that shows finesse and agility….B BOY TATA from BK has all the ingredients I mentioned, if your unfamiliar with him, peep this clip and watch how he gets down for his crown!!!!!

If you have been rocking with HIP HOP BATTLEFIELD for the last ten and a half years- you remember file sharing hubs like USERSHARE,ZSHARE,MEDIAFIRE,SHAREBEAST,QUICKSHARE, and many others that are no longer operating…For some strange reason I thought those spots would function forever, I had no idea that a few years later that SOUNDCLOUD, YOU TUBE & BANDCAMP would put a monopoly in the mix and basically control the whole shit…

One day I will re-up many of the dead links from the early years (Glad I backed up mad shit on my hard drive), until then, make sure you scoop up this unofficial album by CALL OF THE WILD that was supposed to be released on Sony in the late 90’s “Straight Out The Wilderness”….Highly slept on duo, that somehow got lost in the shuffle..

TRACKLIST-

01. New york undercover
02. Clouds of smoke
03. Urban wilderness
04. Ruffturrain
05. Intellectual dons (feat. B Real)
06. Andrew’s ave
07. Harlem river drive
08. Rags to riches (feat. Cypress Hill & Self Scientific)
09. Sometimes the neighborhood
10. Ninth symphony (feat. Cypress Hill)
11. Runin’ wild

DOWNLOAD….

On the new “Donny The Jeweler” EP, Frozen Files mainstay DON-O hits us with all types of Queens NYC action..A couple joints definitely perked my ears up a bit…

PEEP-

The AYAK general SUN-LO pops up on the explosive “BEEN THERE ROCKED THAT” podcast for a round of heavy jewelry..

“Prance Lo, Polo Pirata, Robbie Fingers and Blake Loington are joined by AYAK SUN-LO. Sun-Lo talks about the origins of AYAK, growing up in Jersey but spending most of his time in NYC, and the story behind his infamous poncho-led win at the 2017 Lo Goose on the Deuce. The guys get into it over the CP-93 and HI-TECH retro lines, and why the new Wildlife pieces may be a game changer”.

When it comes to Hip Hop and Reggae the similarities are deeply rooted and intertwined in a myriad of ways…Some would even argue that without the foundation built by MC’s / toasters in Jamaica from the early 70’s that Hip Hop itself would not exist in it’s current form…

Unfortunately many in the Reggae world have fallen victim to the same social ills that have consumed some of Hip Hop’s brightest stars…For instance the very talented RANKING DREAD was once considered one of the most dangerous “yardies” residing in the UK..I’m not going to go in depth about what he was accused of
, but by most accounts that I have stumbled across the man was a certified BADMAN (Which is interesting because he never discussed such dealings in his music, unlike many MC’s today that are quick to incriminate themselves on wax – HAHA)…Regardless, RANKING DREAD had a truly unique style of toasting that was often duplicated, but never came close to the original…

Ranking Dread (born Winston Brown; c. 1955 – 1996)

DICEMAN from the South Bronx Bomber clique THE LEGION goes for self with the “POWER OF NOW” release on KING OF THE BEATS label from London….You already know what it is ; gritty beats, straightforward wreck, BX spices, solid tracks, and all that other good shit..

PEEP-

“

After 2 years working on this project. We are proud to present DICEMANS – THE POWER OF NOW LIMITED EDTION LP. With music production from Key Figures and J Depina. The second lp from the series Looking for the perfect Beat the movie directed by Pritt Kalsi which features the DICEMAN and group he comes from THE LEGION.

From start to finish this lp is packed 21 pieces of music. The Bronx is Back in effect. We agree and firmly believe that you can drop the needle anyone this record and you will be pleased. No features other than 1 track featuring the Legion the album is going back to a time where one MC can hold his own. This is the Diceman. Lots of thought and care, passion went into the making of this lp, it goes more than the music, from the artwork, its conception, turning it into the physical. We got special access to the plant and where taught how to make the vinyl ourselves. The videos we shot ourselves. This is a labour of love and more than 25 years of experience on both our parts. Both of us felt we had something to prove, joining forcesto deliver this a true hip hop classic”.

Peeped this new EP by west coast rhyme slinger FLASHIUS CLAYTON “Mr.October Suite” the other night….Decent stuff; he manages to stay on topic for the concept joints, solid production (nothing groundbreaking but in pocket), unpredictable flows, and a splash of west coast bravado held my attention throughout…

PEEP-

WOW–

2018 IS JUST ABOUT A MOTHERFUCKING WRAP….It’s somewhat mind boggling that this year literally flew by within a blink of an eye..Contrary to popular belief, I have heard some fresh joints in the world of hardcore Hip Hop in this new era..BAZOOKA JOE takes it upon himself to compile some hardcore cuts from 2018..

Luckily for us he takes the time to rock blends throughout…

CHECK IN…..

KEV BROWN has been dropping a gang of new material as of late….On this recent cut “Windows Down” he links with DJ STRESH for a nice little head nodder…

PEEP-

Been having tech difficulties with WORDPRESS lately, not sure exactly what the bug is, but hopefully it gets sorted out quickly…

Since it’s that creepy time of year, its only right that I post up MYKILL MYERS newest effort “Crime Stories”…Some of you will remember the name due to his output on ILL BOOGIE RECORDS back in the late 90’s-early 2000’s…The self proclaimed “Alfred Hitchcock of Hip Hop” gives us a full fledged concept album that stays on topic, displays focused rhyming skills, and deserves some Monday burn….

PEEP-

Those Cratery dudes bring Mr. Attic into the fold for episode 88-

“As a producer, Attic is as carefree as he is meticulous. Blessed with an incredible ear and cursed with an attention to detail. Democratic about his record choices. And uncompromising about the sound of the final product. Attic’s signature weapon of choice throughout most of the 90’s was Ensoniq’s EPS 16+ (although he switched to the MPC 2000 later). And with it, he made some pretty legendary contributions to Toronto hip-hop around this time. “Drama” was his (and partner Swiff’s) first single under Da Grassroots moniker. I should note that sonically, this song was much different than the majority of hip hop being released in Toronto at the time, in that the mix sounded phenomenal. It didn’t sound like a local, basement record – it sounded full bodied and well rounded.

This was in part, due to Da Grassroots connection to Noel “Gadjet” Campbell, an engineer with a golden ear and future Toronto legend, who was credited with the mix. No one in the city had really achieved those sort of sonics up until that point. The warm kicks, ample snares and moody rhodes on “Drama” was a milestone because it matched the quality of the sound being achieved stateside. The single did well by indie standards back then, and was even heavily bootlegged in Tokyo to try and meet the demand of the Japanese market. Attic’s continued work with Gadjet introduced him to the next wave of Toronto rappers like Saukrates, Choclair and Kardinal Offishall, all of whom have his joints in their discography, notably the latter’s “Ol Time Killin” which is an undisputed hometown classic. Da Grassroots forged a relationship with Seattle based Conception records (through our mutual homie Jake One) to release their own production-based debut album “Passage through time” in 1999, featuring a veritable who’s who of Toronto hip-hop at the time, including a debut single featuring yours truly. I was probably one of the lesser known artists on the album, but Da Grassroots always favoured the music, not the politics. Over the years, flagship Canadian artists like the Dream Warriors, Brass Munk, Thrust, IRS, Tara Chase, Marvel and Checkmate have all added Attic pieces to their discography. But his most frequent and closest collaborator remains Mr. Roam (originally of Born II Roam), whose “Postal Work”, “Price of Living”, “Groupie Central”, “System” and ultra-limited Tom Strokes album are timeless examples of Attic’s beat prowess and some of my personal favourites from his discography”.

PEEP….

Seattle powerhouse (rhymes,produces,mixes, plus graff) SPECS ONE comes to the table with some brand new 2018 flavors on the “Unfollow” EP…Big up SPECS for keeping the flames lit – Nuff respect to the whole 206!!!!!

TRACKLIST-

1.Morning Rain 02:55
2.Sparked Up 02:29
3.The Question 03:17
4.Rap Flow Stain 01:58
5.Messing With You 03:09
6.Magic 01:14
credits
released October 18, 2018

beats and rhymes by SPECSWIZARD
recorded and mixed by Adam and Tyler Swan @ SAUCO
mastered by Adam Straney for Breakpoint Mastering