Ras Kass
"Soul On Ice"
(Priority)
Conspiracy theorist and all-out killer lyricist Ras Kass is one of those dudes who just never caught a break. He was aligned with the well respected Western Hemisphere crew, was the strongest part of "Come Widdit" -- one of the best posse cuts of all time, started the Golden State Warriorz with Saafir and Xzibit and, for a brief spell, worked with Dr. Dre.
Ras's 12" solo debut, "Won't Catch Me Runnin'" b/w "Remain Anonymous" is one of hip-hop's best singles. His "Soul On Ice" LP is regarded as a disappointing debut, but it's actually one of hip-hop's lost gems and far more deserving than the tepid 3 mics that "The Source" gave it.
Download HereLabels: hip-hop, Ras Kass
Fat Joe
"Jealous One's Envy"
(Relativity)
Sony dropped the ball on this one. Even though this album shipped gold, it pretty much is a footnote in the storied career that belongs to Fat Joe aka Joey Crack. Mostly known for Scott Storch-produced hits, collaborations with the late Big Pun, Diddy and a bunch of other dudes, this sophomore album by Joe features a lot of production from DJ Premier and Lord Finesse.
It's pretty much lost to the hands of time, until now. Enjoy.
Download HereLabels: DJ Premier, Fat Joe, hip-hop, Lord Finesse, New York
The X-Ecutioners
"Raida's Theme EP"
(Asphodel)
This single came out before their debut album "X-Pressions." Roc Raida passed away two weeks ago and I'm going to put up his titular theme song for the rest of the world to enjoy. This EP has some great alternate remixes and "The Countdown" from "X-Pressions."
Download HereLabels: DJing, hip-hop, X-ecutioners
DJ Shadow
"One to Grow On"
(MCA)
MCA released this promotional EP, "One to Grow On," in anticipation of DJ Shadow's album "Private Press." Some of these songs appear on the Deluxe Version of "Endtroducing..." or haven't been commercially released at all. Most of all, however, it has Cut Chemist's remix of "The Number Song" which is pretty sick.
Labels: DJ Shadow, DJing, hip-hop
Bahamadia
"Kollage"
(Pendelum/EMI)
Bahamadia was one of the mid-90s additions to the Gang Starr Foundation family (which included Freddie Foxxx, Big Shug, Group Home, Jeru the Damaja and a ton of other dudes). Debuting in a year that also saw the release of the D&D Project and Lord knows how many Premier remixes, Bahamadia's "Kollage" was largely overlooked, which is a shame because there was great singles on this like "True Honey Buns" and "3 tha Hard Way."
Labels: Bahamadia, DJ Premier, Gang Starr, Gang Starr Foundation, hip-hop
Boogiemonsters
"Riders of the Storm: The Underwater Album"
(Pendulum)
Along with the Pharcyde, Souls of Mischief, Questionmark Asylum, Digable Planets and a host of others, the Boogiemonsters were a hip-hop quartet who were able bypass the grittier aesthetic of mid-to-late 90's rap. From the Cal Tjader-styled cover of their first album, "Riders of the Storm," it's clear that they were set apart from the Mobb Deeps of the time. Their record is heavy on New World Order conspiracies, but not as heavy as their follow up sophomore, "God Sound," in which half the group quit and didn't quite have the appeal of their earlier offering.
Labels: Boogiemonsters, hip-hop
Lords of the Underground
"Here Come the Lords"
(Pendulum)
One of Marley Marl's post-Juice Crew proteges, Lords of the Underground (Doitall, Mr. Funky and DJ Lord Jazz) had a pretty explosive debut album with "Here Come the Lords." Despite a public thumbs down from the legendary Lord Finesse, there's no denying that this album has some serious hits on it, like "Chief Rocka" and "Funky Child."
Labels: hip-hop, Juice Crew, Lords of the Underground, Marley Marl
INI
"Center of Attention"
(Unreleased)
In 1995, following his split with CL Smooth, Pete Rock helmed the production for INI, a group that was made up of Grap Luva, Rob-O and Rass. Rock appears on a few tracks, but Grap Luva and Rob-O are pretty strong rappers in their own right. This album was originally supposed to come out on Elektra and was shelved. It's come out on vinyl as a bootleg and the UK-based BBE Records released it 2003. BBE has since taken it out of production, but it doesn't mean that people shouldn't be able to hear it.
Labels: 1995, hip-hop, INI, Pete Rock
DJ Q-Bert
"Demolition Pumpkin Squeeze Muzik: a Preskool Break Mix”
(ISP)
Q-Bert’s “Preskool Break Mix” is something of a classic in the world of mixtapes. Q-Bert packed in some of the most important b-boy breaks, scratch routines and samples within a 60 minute timeframe. Nearly every notable song from the “Ultimate Beats and Breaks” series is stuffed on this tape
Download Here
Labels: Disco, DJ Q-Bert, hip-hop, Invisibl Skratch Piklz, Soul
DJ Babu
"Comprehension"
(Self-Released)
This is probably one of the best mixtapes of all time. Released in the mid-90's, Fat Beats reissued it again on cassette (and CD, I believe) in 1999 when Babu's profile was hightened further with his work in Dilated Peoples, as well as the Beat Junkies and the billion DJ videos he was featured in.
Filled with cuts, jazzy breaks and homemade beats by Kan Kick, Babu (before the Mixtape or Duck Season), D-Styles, Shortkut and Melo-D, I would say that this mixtape is one of the most traded and dubbed cassettes of all time.
Labels: Beat Junkies, DJ Babu, hip-hop, mixtape
Large Professor, "The LP"
Originally slated to come out on Geffen in 1995, Large Professor's solo debut, "The LP," was shelved after two singles -- "The Mad Scientist" and "Ijuswannachill" failed to make much of an impact on radio. For years, "The LP" circulated as a bootleg after promo copies became subject to the technological breakthrough that is file-sharing sites.
There have been several versions of various qualities of this album that have been unofficially released, but Large Professor has all but moved on. His excellent follow-up and actually released album, "1st Class" came out on Matador and he's currently promoting his new record, "The Main Source." But for the man who gave Nas his start and is probably one of the most prolific producer/MCs in the history of hip-hop, "The LP" will be a lost classic.
Download Here
Labels: hip-hop, Large Professor
X-Ecutioners, "X-Pressions"
Easily one of the best hip-hop records of all time, the X-Ecutioners -- Roc Raida, Rob Swift, Total Eclipse and (at the time of this recording) Mista Sinista -- were one of the big three DJ groups, alongside the Invisibl Skratch Piklz and the Beat Junkies. Yet of those crews, the X-Men (as they were also known) were the only ones to have an enormous impact in terms of pop culture and relevance [1]. They had a few records that came out on Sony which featured the likes of Linkin Park and Rob Zombie (keep in mind that this was during the apex of nu-metal), but their most enjoyable work came in the form of these independent released recordings, such as their debut, "X-Pressions," which is a mishmash of turntable compositions, live instrumentations and traditional MCing.
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[1] Not including Skratch Pikl Mixmaster Mike's role as the fourth Beastie Boy, mind you.
Labels: DJing, hip-hop, the x-men, turntablism, X-ecutioners
