DJ Stretch Armstrong “Volume Four” Mixtape (1996)

As I continue on through the box of tapes that I located in my basement, here is a semi mysterious DJ Stretch Armstrong "Volume Four" tape. I could find zero info on this one, so I turned to (the mixtape master of the Philaflava forum) Andyman187 for some help. He determined that this tape is a recording from a Stretch & Bobbito show on Hot97 that aired Sundays from 12pm-2pm sometime in 1996. Andyman187 was also kind enough to study the audio and put together a tracklist for me. If anyone out there can help by filling in the blanks or correcting any mistakes, please leave a comment. And the .rar files contain all the scans plus the full j-card.

Side A
01 KRS-One & Lord Finesse - SP-1200 Freestyle
02 Jay-Z - I Shot Ya (Remix) Freestyle
03 Busta Rhymes - Freestyle
04 Capone-N-Noreaga - Freestyle
05 Beatnuts - Find That
06 Bahamadia - Three The Hard Way
07 Pete Rock & The Large Professor - The Rap World
08 Capone-N-Noreaga - Illegal Life
09 Artifacts - Art Of Facts
10 M.O.P. - World Famous
11 McGruff feat. LOX - Reppin Uptown
12 Sun Dullah (aka King Sun) feat. Doo Wop - NY Love (2Pac Diss)

Side B
01 Heltah Skeltah - Intro (Here We Come)
02 Heltah Skeltah - Freestyle
03 Heltah Skeltah - Sean Price (Exclusive)
04 Heltah Skeltah - Soldiers Gone Psycho
05 Akinyele feat. CJ Moore - Freaky
06 Mobb Deep - Street Life
07 Shadez Of Brooklyn - Change
08 De La Soul - Itzsoeezze
09 Shabaam Shadeeq - Freestyle
10 Shabaam Shadeeq - On A Mission
11 Stretch & Bobbito - Shout Outs

DOWNLOAD SIDE A

DOWNLOAD SIDE B

enjoy,
--dirt_dog

Mark 563's Hip Hop Portrait Sketches: East Coast

Mark 563 is a DJ, a graphic designer, he is also into amateur photography, but he also dabble into illustrations.

He is also a proud owner of one of the greatest vinyl collection i have ever seen.
Stay tunned after this one, cause soon after we will show you some more of his great work.
Enjoy and pleas leave the feedback, thanks.

** Click on the image to see it in a bigger resolution.













-- Markshot

Ego Trip's Great Fuckin' Clean Versions

"This one definitely goes out on a censorship tip
So everybody sit back, relax and have a champagne sip"

None of us like clean radio versions! Every time your hear something, it's always gotta be raw uncensored! That's the truth! Some artists just have their curse words bleeped on for their clean versions while other actually record a new version with changed vocals. Some don't have new vocals but instead of it just being muted, scratching and sound effects are used to replace these blanks. A list titled "Great Fuckin' Clean Versions" from Ego Trip's Book of Rap List basically listed the clean versions that were worth listening to. Like Thun said, "Ego Trip made it a hot list, we made it a hot compilation". Last year, I compiled DJ Premier's Underacknowledged Cuts from Ego Trip's list. It received props all over the net.. even from Elliot Wilson! Enjoy this one!

Download

additional artwork by dirt_dog

-- Thomas V

Mick Boogie + NVME + DUCK DOWN Presents: SURVIVAL KIT

Survival Kit is an ode to KRS-ONE & BUCKSHOT's incredibly rich history of music. Their classic hits have been reinterpreted by today's artists to watch:

Track Listing:
1) Survival Kit (Intro) by DJ Sherazta
2) Gotcha Opin Original (RMX) - Tanya Morgan (produced by NVME)
3) South Bronx (RMX) - Cause, The Kid Daytona & Chaundon (produced by NVME)
4) Buck Em Down (RMX) - Christian Rich (produced by NVME)
5) Sound Of Da Police (RMX) - Diz Gibran & Shawn Chrystopher (Produced by ILL TAL)
6) Shit Iz Real (RMX) - Ruste Juxx (produced by NVME)
7) Step Into Our World (RMX) - Team Facelift & Jade (produced by ABADDON)
8) Talk Shit (RMX) - Torae & Skyzoo (produced by NVME)
9) MC's Act Like They Don't Know - Sha Stimuli, Promise, J.A.M.E.S. Watts, Fashawn (produced by NVME)
10) I Got Cha Opin 09 - Kardinal Offishall & Buckshot (produced by Havoc of Mobb Deep)
11) Past Present Future - KRS-ONE, Buckshot, Melanie Fiona & Naledge of Kidz In The Hall (produced by 9th Wonder)

Free Download (DuckDown.Com)

KRS-One & Buckshot - Survival Skills @Amazon.com

Step One “Illegal Remixes Vol. 1” (2010)

It appears that good things can happen when the UK gets blasted with the heaviest snow in 100 years. With the country coming to a complete halt, forum regular Step One had time to put together this sweet compilation of bootleg remixes and blends. Show some appreciation by leaving a comment (or a link to another remix) and he might bless us with volume 2.

Step One says "A staple of any nineties Hip Hop DJ’s collection is the shady white label remix. Information on whoever was putting these out was usually pretty thin on the ground for obvious reasons but they often held some real gems. Having rediscovered some of these recently I’ve put together a collection of some of those unofficial remixes as well as a few that I’ve found on the blogs and forums over the last few years."

01 2Pac-Old School (B.Cause Remix)
http://diamondsinthedust.blogspot.com/
Usually the non-Pac fans favourite Pac track. B Cause throws some familiar samples under Pac’s reminiscing of 80s NY and gives it a nice funky vibe.

02 Big Daddy Kane-Set It Off (Daily Diggers Remix)
http://www.dailydiggers.com/
Some of you might recognise this from DJ Mike Nice’s ‘Brooklyn Bullshit’ mixtape. The UK’s Daily Diggers flip the Cold Chillin classic.

03 Big Pun & Fat Joe-Twinz (Brooklyn Untouched Remix)
This remix discards the original ‘Deep Cover’ beat and replaces it with another Dre & Snoop collabo, ‘The Next Episode’. Always goes down well in a club set.

04 Common-I Used To Love Her (Sir Charles Flavour Remix)
http://www.myspace.com/djsircharles
Common gets a G-Funk makeover as his vocals are dropped over Warren G’s ‘Nobody Does It Better’.

05 D&D All-Stars-1,2 Pass It (Bootleg Remix)
A DJ Fashion remix? All signs point to yes.

06 Erick Sermon-Bomdigi (Street Jam Bootleg Remix)
The beat from En Vogue’s ‘Hold On’ gives this E Double solo joint some extra bump.

07 Fat Joe & Doo Wop-Boriquas On The Set (DJ Dough & Porge One Remix)
http://www.myspace.com/djdoughhiphop
The UK’s Dough & Porge One always had some special remixes on their CDs. This one is taken from their ‘Heads Aint Ready’ mix which is well worth seeking out.

08 Method Man & Redman-How High (Bootleg Remix)
The acapella of this track was definitely a favourite amongst producers, probably due to the amount of quotable lines from Red & Meth at their peak. This version uses the ‘Human Nature’ melody over EPMD's ‘You’re A Customer’ beat.

09 Mobb Deep-Hell On Earth (Paul Miles Remix)
Another UK remix, this time by Birmingham DJ Paul Miles (aka Pat Bateman).

10 Nas-It Aint Hard To Tell (DJ Day Remix)
http://likeathrottle.blogspot.com/ (this also came out on vinyl)
This track has been remixed to death but this has to be the best of the unofficial ones. Quality production from DJ Day out of California.

11 The Pharcyde-Passin Me By (WAR! [What-A-Remix])
A Jazzy Jim remix.

12 Tim Dog & KRS-One-I Get Wrecked (Gamm/Samoo Remix)
http://diamondsinthedust.blogspot.com/
I don't have any info on this one but I’m pretty sure I copped it at B.Cause’s blog.

13 Uptown-Dope On Plastic (B.Cause Why Zee Refix)
http://diamondsinthedust.blogspot.com/
Uptown meets YZ.

DOWNLOAD

enjoy,
--dirt_dog

Is it just me or is KRS-One completely bat shit?

From his comments last month calling Lil Wayne the "Greatest MC alive" to saying "Jay-Z vs. 50 Cent would be the greatest Hip-Hop battle of all-time," he has completely lost it. Am I right? Do you think with his comments and recent material taint his legacy in Hip-Hop? --Philaflava

Beef: X-Clan vs. Boogie Down Productions

This is a strange and unwanted beef between two crews of straight intellectuals, who both seemed to be on the same page. The main difference was (and probably still is) that one crew is pro-black while the other one was pro-human.





X-CLAN - FIRE AND EARTH





More than a diss record, they just happened to remember Kris's humanist stance, and in this pro-black track they had to air it out:



And here's a message to the Rainbow crew

And their fearless leader, Captain Human:

Revolution is not humanism!

Individualism and not separatism!



Even Professor X (RIP) raps on this one, instead of just "sissying" and "pink cadillacing".



Over and under as I progress to this

Got no time to be hanging out with humanists

Raise a flag, fly the, tag the hand, clutch the fist

Serve we nationally comes the diss

Humanity keep it with us we break edicts



On another track ("Grand Verbalizer") from their first album, Brother J also sends a direct hit to KRS:



Go from go from verb to verb,

Sit back and take heed, brother

YOU must learn!



Now to be fair though, there is an interview with Brother J over at Unkut.com where J states that there never was any hostile situations.

"The original situation with me and Kris wasn’t a beef, it was more of a misunderstanding on the audience’s part(...) All I was trying to state was that black people were not ready at the time for “humanism” views – we don’t have our house clean. (...) So my thing was to him [KRS] “You must learn”, take some time back and sit back and let’s build, sit down with some different elders and see it from different perspective before it goes out there like that. And the crowd instantly took it and said “Ohh, you beefing with KRS, the greatest MC of all time!”

Personally I call bullshit. I guess that memo never got to Kris, 'cause he put on his chef's apron and served them some craaaazy beef.







BOOGIE DOWN PRODUCTIONS - BUILD AND DESTROY





The great response by KRS was not only to destroy them as artists, but also went up against their beliefs. The fact that KRS got up in pro-black's asses with his two verses just proved that he wasn't afraid of ANYTHING.



He very cleverly showed and proved that many black men are worse then white devils, using Colin Powell as a great example.



Throw in the towel, the devil is Colin Powell

You talk about being African and being black

Colin Powell's black, but Libya he'll attack

Libya's in Africa, but a black man

will lead a black man, to fight against his homeland

An accomplice to the devil is a devil too

The devil is anti-human, who the hell are you?



He then went up against all philosophies that defend that since the first man from Africa as the original man, therefore all black men are the original man. He even goes up against 5%'s that focus on black man being God.





God is not any black man on the land; God is consciousness

When you understand this you'll see Kris

Until then, you can get dissed



He finishes his diss, or better yet, his lesson, with a mouth smacking teacher-to-student verse:





Yes I am the original teacher

You gotta study the Qu'ran, Torah, Bahavaghita

The Bible, Five Baskets of Buddha Zen

And when you've read them shits, READ them shits again!

But watch what you're repeatin

If you don't know the history of the author

you don't know what you're reading!

Yeah I'm still the original

Leaving MC's lyrically miserable

Their criminal syllables are minimal, show me respect BOY

Cause I build and destroy!



This is a lesser known battle where KRS stomped all over an MC. Brother J never responded, but instead, years later invited KRS to X-Clan's album to "Speak the Truth":



X-CLAN ft. KRS-1 - "Speak the Truth"







-- cenzi stiles

Sounds Like The 90s (Volume 11)

11 volumes deep and we're not stopping anytime soon. Next month we'll be bringing you the Best of Sounds Like The 90s, then regroup for the new year. We're always accepting mp3 and your suggestions to help create these compilations. No more wasting your time, just download this! -Philaflava

Sounds Like The 90s (Volume 11)

01. Juice Crew - Mr. Magic Tribute
02. Cormega - Define Yourself feat. Tragedy Khadafi & Havoc
03. Jay Electronica - Suckas
04. Saigon - Say Yes Pt. 2
05. Beanie Sigel - What You Talkin' Bout
06. Remarkable Mayor - Doomz Day
07. O.C. - Life (Roc Raida Tribue)
08. Senor Kaos - 20 Years High & Rising (Homage To De La Soul) feat. Von Pea & Homeboy Sandman
09. Fashawn - Samsonite Man feat. Blu
10. Sene - WhyBother?
11. People Under The Stairs - DQMOT (Thes One Remix)
12. Del The Funky Homosapien & Tame One - Flashback
13. Cormega - Live And Learn (prod. Pete Rock)
14. Curren$y - On My Way
15. Godamus Rhyme - Mass Appeal feat. Mr. S.O.S.
16. Masta Ace & Edo G - Pass The Mic feat. KRS-One
17. (Bonus Track) Mr. Chop - T.R.O.Y.

Download

Back-Up #1

Back-Up #2

Back-Up #3

Catch up an all 11 volumes here.

Props to Strategy for the tagged version & Blake Reznik and Tal Danan for the sick cover.

Sounds Like The 90's (Volume 10)

Last month we were a little late with this so it's only right we make up the difference by dropping this early. Volume 10 is full of heat rocks and should appeal to just about every kind of hip-hop fan out there. We got some new joints by Dynas, Baby Blak, Skyzoo, Ghostface, Masta Killa & Big Boi. Recently I discovered Fresh Daily and was taken back by his album that I had to lace ya'll twice!

And if you forgot what its like to hear an emcee blackout make sure you listen to Ali's "Best@it." We appreciate feedback, good or bad so be sure to let us know what you love, hate or would like to hear on upcoming volumes.

And remember we're always looking for gems to lace these compilations so be sure to email us heat @ blog.philaflava@gmail.com. And for coverage on current hip-hop make sure to visit our sister blog Steady Bloggin. Enjoy! --Philaflava

Sounds Like The 90's (Volume 10)

1. Fresh Daily - Supaspectacular!
2. Bro Ali - Best@it feat. Freeway & Joell Ortiz
3. Sha Stimuli - Move Back feat. Freeway & Young Chris (prod. Just Blaze)
4. Dynas - The Future feat. DJ Jazzy Jeff
5. Baby Blak - Evolution (prod. L.G.)*
6. De La Soul - La La La
7. Fresh Daily - Video Gaming
8. Skyzoo - Return of The Real (prod. Just Blaze)
9. Raekwon - Surgical Gloves (prod. Alchemist)
10. Boycott Blues - Da Math feat. Consequence & Insight
11. O.C. & A.G. - Think About It
12. Masta Killa - Things Just Ain't The Same
13. Dynas - Family Jewels feat. Slick Rick*
14. KRS-One & Buckshot - Oh Really? feat. Talib Kweli (prod. Marco Polo)
15. Ghostface Killah - Guest House feat. Fabolous
16. Big Boi - Fo Yo Sorrows feat. Too $hort & George Clinton

*T.R.O.Y Exclusive

Re-Up Links:

Download #1
Download #2
Download #3

Catch up an all 10 volumes here.

Props to Strategy for assisting in the tagging of all these tracks and of course Kalel. The man who has been the mastermind behind all these dope album covers for the past 10 months.

Unfortunately, Volume 10 will be the last for Kalel. He's blowin' up, making moves and leaving us for bigger and better things. We wish him the best and want to thank him for everything he's done for T.R.O.Y.

Video: Buckshot & KRS-1 doing the classics

Aiiight so their new music might not be what we're all looking for, but good news, this video is Buck and Kris covering their classics on Tony Touch's Sirius radio show. It's a nice way to start the weekend. Enjoy! --Philaflava



Peace to ThatsHipHop.com for the video.

KRS-1 talks about who the hell knows what?

Is there another person on earth who likes the sound of his own voice more than Kris?

Peace to Gas Face.

Buckshot & KRS-One - How Many MC's (Live)

I'd imagine if Mike Tyson were to fight Evander Holyfield today, the outcome would be similar to this. --Philaflava

Many Styles

Many Styles
1. Beastie Boys - The New Style
2. BDP - The Style You Haven't Done Yet
3. Poor Righteous Teachers & Krs-One - Conscious Style
4. Original Flavor, Jay-Z & Freshco - Many Styles
5. Masta Ace Inc - Crazy Drunken Style
6. Method Man - PLO Style
7. Cella Dwellas - Medina Style
8. Funkmaster Flex - Butterfly Style (Live MSG Mix)
9. Yaggfu Front - Fling-A-Ling Style
10. Alkaholiks - Funny Style
11. Pharcyde - Funny Style Part I
12. Styles Of Beyond - Many Styles
13. Styles Of Beyond - Styles Of Beyond
14. Alkaholiks - Funny Style (Instrumental)
http://www.mediafire.com/?5eztogfxt3n

Preview:

Beastie Boys - The New Style


BDP - The Style You Haven't Done Yet


Poor Righteous Teachers & Krs-One - Conscious Style


Pharcyde - Funny Style Part I


--Roy Johnson