No Vaseline

I'm reading this book at the moment. It's a pretty good insight and a frank recollection of the events leading up to the inception of Ruthless Records through to it's ultimate demise when Eazy died of AIDS. Jerry Heller formed Ruthless with Eazy and introduced the world to groups like N.W.A. as well as artists such as Michel'le and the D.O.C. It seems he didn't have the greatest relationship with Ice Cube who left N.W.A. shortly after their debut album was released. Cube called Heller out on one of his later recordings 'No Vaseline' which you should dig out.
I'd never met any of the original members of N.W.A. until recently when Ice Cube released his album 'Laugh Now, Cry Later' and came on my show for an interview (I'll archive that at a later date). Before this book came out, I knew he was never the best of friends with Heller but I didn't know the severity of his beef with Ruthless. When Cube came in for the interview I thought I'd wear my Ruthless Records T Shirt for the purposes of nostalgia. It was only when I read the book soon after that I realised I must have been rubbing his nose right in it.
As ever, I got him to sign a few records, although his hand writing is obviously not the best. He seemed impressed that I had 12" copies of all his early singles when he was a member of the group C.I.A..

Click Here for The C.I.A. "My Posse" (if you like the audio, please say 'what's up' and leave a comment)

Classic Magazine Covers #2

This magazine is probably the most classic out there. Maybe I'm bias. Down the line I'll talk a whole lot more about Fat Lace but let me break down the story behind this particular cover first. So Eminem was blowing up around '99/'00. Me and the crew were totally aware of Em before most people caught on after we discovered his early 12" releases. Paul Rosenberg, Em's manager used to manage a group called The High & Mighty. A friend of mine Jon Shecter also knew Paul, so between the two connections we did a phone interview with Em for Fat Lace. This was the first magazine cover Em ever got, before Stress had him dressed as Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange, later copied by Spin Magazine. I used the same interview for a feature in HHC down the line but this was the first. At the time, he had beef with Cage, so he talked about that a lot.
The next year I got invited to interview Em before his show at the Manchester Nynex Arena. I was the only radio DJ to be invited. Zane Lowe was the only TV presenter allowed. That interview was a little more interesting as his fame levels had risen by then. He'd become a world-wide phenomenon by 2001. The interview I did with him in Manchester was used on his European Tour DVD, there I was, clearly speaking to Em about Mark The 45 King producing 'Stan'. He seemed pretty impressed by that. I'll archive that footage later.
Before I started on XFM, and a few months before the Manchester interview, Westwood had heard one of my mixtapes called 'Jiggy Free'. It was actually Jon Shecter that told him about it. I used to visit Jon at the office for Game Records / Game Girls in New York and always took him copies of my tapes and the latest Fat Lace issue. Westwood called me up. I thought it was a hoax. He asked me to come on the show and do a guest mix. Me and Andrew Emery aka Drew Huge went to the Radio 1 studio. I did a 20 minute mix of the latest Independent classics which went down well. So who walks in the studio for his first appearance on Westwood? You guessed it, Marshall Mathers III, Paul Rosenberg and the whole entourage. That was a really classic show which I'll archive at some point. That's when I got Em to sign Fat Lace Issue 3 and his 2nd 12" release which also includes my press pass from the Nynex show.

Classic Magazine Covers #1

Words can't describe my excitement when I found this at Tower Records, London way back in '93. It is of course the first issue of The Beastie Boys' Magazine 'Grand Royal'. There was always tonnes of irreverant crap in there like a column by Mark Nishita (Keyboard Money Mark) and of course Ricky Powell. I love flicking back through and checking out the ads for records that were out at the time, like a little snapshot of what was hot back then. It no longer exists but it's certainly a piece of Hip-Hop history.

Through The Wire

Here's another story. Me and DJ Yoda were spinning in Liverpool, Feb 2001. I'd literally just started on XFM a few weeks previous. He was already in Liverpool and I was driving up to meet him later, I had all his records with me. I'll not go into the reason why I was late, but eventually I made it. The promoter was pissed off but whatever. I think Shortee Blitz was also DJ'ing with us. After the gig, I was supposed to stay over but drove to Leeds to stay with family. As the photo may tell you, a big ass truck delayed my journey. The Audi got totalled. I woke up in hospital and ended up looking like Kanye West. A few broken bones but I didn't cry about it and feel the need to sample Chaka Khan. A word to the wise, when the promoter books a hotel for you, sleep in it.

Shrink Wrap (Record Stores I Loved #1)

I'm not having a pop at Serato (I love that shit), downloading or the digitisation of music in any way, well actually I am because I'd literally be a millionaire if illegal downloading didn't happen, I'll get over it though. What is sad is that when you download a single these days, you don't get the excitement of cracking the shrink wrap and then carefully removing the plastic and keeping cool little stickers like this. The Nice & Smooth one speaks for itself. The Music Factory was a ridiculous record store just off Times Square on Broadway. I went there a couple of times and picked up some of my most treasured records. It closed down in 1991 and I heard they sold all their wax to Rock N Soul, a record store that lasted a little while longer on Fashion Avenue, just opposite Macy's. Psycho Les from the Beatnuts told me he used to work at the Music Factory, that was his first job. I wonder if he was behind the counter when I went in there. My memory's not bad, but......

Funkin' Donuts (very rare audio)

In 2003 I got a call asking if I'd like Jaylib on the show to promote their album Champion Sound. Obviously I wasn't going to turn that down so along they came en masse. Jay Dee, Mad Lib, Peanut Butter Wolf and J Rocc. The importance of what went down seems to have that much more relevance today. The audio speaks for itself, it's a real treat for any Hip-Hop fan. When they came over I remember cats were excited but not exactly the fever pitch we've seen since he unfortunately passed. I'm not going to be cynical though, just support real Hip-Hop, not just when it's trendy to do so.
There's a post below about Large Professor, support that cat as much as you support Dilla now. Dig deep, keep buying the wax, just support real shit. Don't be a sheep.
So after they came on the show, they did a show at The Jazz Cafe and their appearance on my show actually crept into Stones Throw DVD they released, so if you see them on the mic in a radio studio, that was with me.
In hindsight I should have spent more time talking to Jay Dee but how the hell was I to know that would be the last time we'd ever meet. I have to say, he looked very healthy and was one of the nicest people I've ever met. Look out for the re-release of The Ruff Draft out now on Stone Throw.
I've attached a couple of scans, one of Jay Dee's early releases by 1st Down on Payday records. I got this on a trip to New York. I used to do the rounds to all the record labels on the hunt for promo vinyl. DJ Premier was there that same day. Shout out to Patrick Moxey who owned Payday and is still a good friend of mine. The other scan is a Jaylib 12" which Madlib and "Jay Deezy" signed for me.
The full audio from the interview includes J Dilla freestyling, talking about A Tribe Called Quest and some of his earliest releases. Madlib and PBW talking about Bob James and much more.

Click here for the full interview: RIP Jay Dee (if you like the audio, please say 'what's up' and leave a comment)

Extra P on the SP

The Large Professor, Extra P himself came on the All City Show in 2002 to promote his album. It was a good feeling, not only because of his stature in the game, but I heard tapes of Stretch and Bob when Large Pro was a regular on their show. It felt nice that we could also make something like that happen in the UK some years later and it still be exciting.
As we were playing Keep It Moving by A Tribe Called Quest, like you do, he dropped some impromptu adlibs over the top. It was pretty cool at the time. In fact it's still pretty cool thinking back. We also had Edan on live. He did this live track featuring Insight which included a dedication to Extra P at the beginning. It was meant to be flattering but Edan made some comment that Large Pro totally misunderstood and there was a bit static in the studio for a minute. It was pretty funny, Edan was mortified that P was mad at him. I like Edan. To be honest, it was Extra P's manager that stirred up the situation. So that was in 2002 and we put him on a show at 93 Feet East where we had All City Live regularly each month. I remember every nerd from London's Hip-Hop fraternity came out to see him. It was still criminally under represented though. Anyway, here's the audio, a flyer and photo of me (wearing a 1st Class promo shirt of course) and Extra Paul backstage in East London.
Oh snap. I totally forgot. So me and Yoda were recording our Unthugged album and we got him in to drop a couple of verses on a track we produced. Thinking back, the track was wack but to be in a studio with Large Pro one rainy afternoon was trippy. There was me on MPC2000, not really having a clue what to do with it and Large Pro writing rhymes to my beat. It was so wrong, but so memorable. I'm so fucking stupid sometimes, we didn't even take photo's of the session, I guess me and Yoda aren't the types who like to document everything we do on a handy cam. Humble Magnificent.
A couple of years after I was at a club in New York where Mark Ronson and Q Tip had a night. I bumped into Extra P, he thanked me for bringing him over to the UK then continued to stare at some girls ass. It was a nice moment but I knew my place.

So here's some audio, one day I'll post the whole interview which makes for great listening.

Click here for Extra P On The All City Show (if you like the audio, please say 'what's up' and leave a comment)

It's Working

First up, I know I'm a bit late on this blog thing. I hate the overwhelming self-importance of it all. I haven't even got time to manage it, as if I'm not busy enough. Anyway, don't get it twisted, I'm starting this mainly to celebrate Hip-Hop through my own looking glass. I'm gonna post archived interviews, freestyles and some exclusive gems that never saw the light of day. I'm gonna dig in the vaults too. You may see some classic record covers, stupid promo shit I've been sent, photos of me with artists. It's just a window into my world to which people are rarely invited. This may be out of date in time to come but right now, because of Nasir, everyone's saying Hip-Hop is dead. Dead or not, who cares, Hip- Hop lost it's virginity a long time ago. I'm not even mad, fuck it, I say ride the shitty tidal wave. I still love it though, the mind-set has been ingrained in me. What I love more are the indelible memories it's given me. I doubt there will be many more that are as significant, but hey, I'll tell you about them if they happen. Enjoy.