My Collaboration with Dust and Grooves

This past spring I had the honor of participating in an interview/photo shoot with my homeboy Eilon for his Dust & Grooves website. He took a bus from Brooklyn, NY to Deerfield, MA, where I lived up until a week ago. We crashed that night and got up early the next morning to head out to Worcester, MA to visit my dude DJ Shame.

Shame is the real deal. He has made a ton of incredible contributions to hip hop over the years, from his extremely sought after remix of G Rap's "Fast Life" song to his remix of Tim Dog's "Bronx Nigga". Shame also is the man responsible for Traveling Through Sampleland, which is considered by many the first all sample mix tape.

Going inside Shame's house is kind of like going inside your dream record shop. The man has everything. EVERYTHING. He had doubles of "My Mic is On Fire" by Lord Shafiq, and there are only 500 original pressings in existence! I had been looking for that record for damn near 10 years, and Shame just happened to be selling his double of it. Here is a picture of our transaction.



"My Mic is on Fire"- Lord Shafiq



Anyhow, I don't want to give anything else away, you'll have to read about the rest of our trip in the interview! Check it out by clicking here.

Bonus: Shame very nicely shared some goodies with me for people to enjoy. The following tracks are included below:

"Fast Life" (DJ Shame Remix) Original Sample



"Fast Life" (DJ Shame Remix)- Kool G Rap feat. Nas



"Brong Nigga" (DJ Shame Remix)- Tim Dog



These last two tracks are from Shame's unreleased mega mix that he talks about in our interview.

Big Daddy Kane and Rakim Blend



So Damn Tough Scratch Routine



Extra Bonus: Here is some crazy old school footage I found of Shame performing in Worcester on YouTube.

Just Like Sister Sojourner Truth

I wish I had a lot of information to share about this song. Truth is, I'm struggling to find any. The name of the song is "Underground" and it comes from the Schoolhouse Funk 2 compilation, a two part series featuring ultra rare recordings of high school bands performing covers of various songs. The album provides very little information about the songs that it features, and since I'm in the process of moving (which includes the joy of moving my insanely massive music collection) I'm currently unable to refer to the liner notes.

All that aside, this is an insanely beautiful and haunting song that I can't get enough of. The woman singing has a voice that sends chills down my spine. I recently sent this to my dude Clams Casino, because that man knows how to flip female vocal samples like nobody's business.

This song proves that there is a ridiculous amount of unheard/unknown music that deserves to be listened to and appreciated by the masses. Before being placed on the SF2 compilation, it toiled in obscurity on limited pressing vinyl for years. Many thanks to record heads like DJ Shadow for helping preserve important musical artifacts like this.

My hope is that by posting this song on my blog, somebody with superior musical intellect will give me some background info on the performers and the song itself. As far as I know, there is not a "well known" version of this song that exists, so it doesn't really seem like a cover.

If you can provide any info on this song, please do so in the comments!

Download "Underground" from Schoolhouse Funk 2.

Goldenchyld Mix Tape

I was checking out Goldenchyld's set at the Do-Over when I decided to see if there were any additional mixes available at his website. Lo and behold, I found this really tight mix titled Sample Mix Tape Vol. 1. I'm really feeling the mellow feel and the impeccable mixing on this joint. Please take a moment to listen/download it compliments of Goldenchyld.

Download Sample Mix Tape Vol. 1.

Roc Raida: Searching For The Right Words

Seven days ago one of my favorite DJ's passed away. The news hit me like a ton of bricks and I'm still not sure I'm ready to write something proper about it. I have a hard time writing articles about people I admire when they pass away. I often feel overwhelmed and unsure of what to say. In the case of Roc Raida, however, I felt I had to make a post.

I'll never forget the first time I saw him and the rest of the X-Ecutioners perform on the '99 DMC World Finals VHS tape I bought from a friend. I think I must have watched that routine 20 times in a row, over and over again. I was completely blown away.



Saying Raida was well rounded would be a profound understatement. He was incredible on the cut, providing scratches for the likes of Big Pun and Skillz. He was an under-appreciated producer who collaborated with The Jungle Brothers and Termanology. His mix tapes were the perfect combination of skills and skits, mathcing flawless doubling up and mixing of classic songs with hilarious interludes that featured Lord Sear. Despite all of these accolades, many people, self included, will remember Raida most for his stage presence and unbelievable turntablist routines.



For now it's best for me to let Raida's music do the talking and wait on writing a lengthy post. In honor of his passing, I'm posting one of his hard to find classic mix tapes from back in the day, Old School.



Download Old School Side A.


Download Old School Side B.


I've also tracked down some other Raida goodies that have been posted online.

Download his 52 Beats tape over at Tapemasta's blog.

Download The Adventures of Roc Raida from Cocaine Blunts.

Download DJ Premiers dedication set to Raida from the DJ Premier Blog.

Also, make sure to check out DJ Eclipse's dedication show to Raida at 2 Dope Boyz.

Thanks to anyone and everyone who has been sharing his music for people to enjoy.

RIP AM

Download the famous AM and Travis Barker Fix Your Face Vol. 1 and 2 mix tapes by clicking here.