U.K Treats

A few tunes you may not have heard and a couple of remixes too...

All U.K, all classic.

London Posse - Gangster Chronicles (Sparki remix) and Jump Around (Nomad Soul remix), taken from the 1991 12" on Island.

S.L Troopers - Movement and There It Is (89, Music Of Life 12")

Breaking The Illusion - Can You Understand, Drop The Mic and Drop The Mic Reprise(1989 12")

Unofficial off on a tangent reggae(ish) Monday...

Moving further away from hip-hop but retaining the theme of the previous post, we bring you a couple of tunes from the back catalogue of Dub Syndicate. Firstly, 1991's "Stoned Immaculate". Taken from the album of the same name, the choice of track name and album cover art seems unusual- when was the last time you heard of dub being associated with spliff??

Going back to 1984, taken from "Tunes From The Missing Channel" we have "Ravi Shankar" (PT.1). No prizes for guessing the instrumentation that supplies the backbone of this one.

Upon the version

With the early nineties seeing an explosion of reggae themed "ragga-hip hop" and the seemingly somewhat liberal attitude of Jamaican copyright it was unsurprising to find white labels appearing with chatting over hip hop instrumentals. As with traditional dancehall, the instrumental (version) of the day was hastily re-recorded with new vocals and released asap while the track could still guarantee a busy dancefloor.

As a prime example of this, have a listen to Major Popular let loose over an instrumental even your grandmother will have heard a billion times... "Don't Stop".

While we are at it, let's also have a bit of "Supa" by Kenny Dope Presents The Mad Racket. Slighty different this, take a well known vocal (Don Dada) and remake it as a hip-hop crowd pleaser. While listening, why not award yourself a biscuit for every hip-hop track you can identify that's been plundered? Possibly because you are watching your weight?

Finally, completing this trio with a hip-hop remix of a big dancehall tune, have a gander at the Main Attraction remix of Cutty Ranks' "The Stopper"... Continuing the theme of well known instumentals and breaks, you may well recognise more than a touch of "Ashley's Roachclip" here....

Criminals and Delinquintz

More UK hip hop from 91 now. Dominant Force released their Raptivity E.P and "Criminals" was the stand out track. Using Amen and heavy bass with no small enthusiasm, it was a nice little find at the time and still sounds good today...

Sounding rather different altogether from the same year, "Juvenile Delinquintz" teamed up with Terminator X for their self titled track. It was first released on the B-side to "Homey Don't Play Dat", both tracks appearing on "Terminator X & The Valley Of The Jeep Beets album". Production is credited as being supervised by The Bomb Squad and it shows. Which is nice.

More soup, tastes different

Back to the States and the early nineties now....

Firstly, Alphabet Soup with "Take A Ride", I have included 2 versions from the 12", the original album mix and a nice alternative from A-Plus (well known from his work with Souls of Mischief and Hieroglyphics).

BTW, this is a different Alphabet Soup than the crew responsible for "A Sunny Day In Harlem" which conveniently explains the change in style and sound...


Also today, from 91, Two Kings In A Cipher with "Definition Of A King". A stompy, conscious rap effort, not atypical of it's time and not too shabby at all.

UK white labels 1991

The mystery of the unheard of artist on white label....

First track is from 1991, Construction with "It's Time To Get Raw", plenty of uptempo and familiar jazz breaks and scratching, good clean harmless fun.

Secondly, a selection of tracks from Sirus, taken from the "The One And Only Sirus" EP. This six track EP was released without a label in 91 and would appear to be rare as feck. Sirus would later be heard from as a member of Bushkiller alongside Gemini from Hardnoise (this should give you a rough idea of what to expect).

I have included 4 of the 6 tracks.... if you want the other two, have a gander at Discogs - some dude is selling a copy for £65....

"The One And Only Sirus", "Controlling The Funky Pressure", "To The Point Of Insanity", "Rhymes Of My Thoughts".

And on that note, I'm off to enjoy my weekend...

Don't try to tell me you're a monk my friend....

Following on nicely from Monday's look at what J Saul Kane was up to in 1989, a brief skip forwards to 91 and the indisputable masterpiece that is "Depth Charge vs Silver Fox".

Vocal duties taken up by MC Alkaline from Gunshot, music from Mr Kane, I've included the full track with dub following on as cut on the original 12".

If none of the above means anything to you, you're in for a treat. As an aside, if hip hop tracks were video game characters, I reckon this would do the trick for Tekken's Yoshimitsu.

Alphabet Soup vs Son of Bazerk

Over the spit and back to the USA now for two old favourites with a nice warm feel....

1991 for Alphabet Soup - "Sunny Day In Harlem".

1990 for Son Of Bazerk - "Change The Style".

I'm not even going to bother explaining further, both tunes are absolute gems (in my mind anyway, your mileage may well vary)....

Nothing to do with Coventry

II Tone Committee hailed from Glasgow and released the next 12" in 1991.

"Beings From A Word Struck Surface" and "Hangman" seem to be quite sought after, the only copy I have seen for sale going at £60 over at Discogs.

Debatable in my eyes as to whether it has aged as well as the Kobalt 60 tunes I posted the other day. That's just my opinion though, the tunes are still hard as hell....

I'm Fort A like a Sizewell B

As I've been searching through the crates I've listened to some tracks that I haven't heard in more than 10 years... In the case of UK Hip Hop, some tracks haven't aged too well whereas some, particularly the following selection still sound fresh today...

So, here we have Kobalt 60 with "Kaos From Order" and "Concrete Show" released almost 20 years ago..... both tracks absolute gems.

And I can't help but love you so...

1991 and here come High Authority with "I'm The Man", a nice bit of heavyweight production created by slowing down The Spencer Davies Group.

Never heard anything more from High Authority, unsurprisingly, low key UK hip hop releases in 1991 probably didn't do too much to pay the bills, which is a shame.

Enjoy.