Foul Play - Booyah (w/Heltah Skeltah)

Boosting this one again, one of my all time favorite demos. This is Foul Play from Washington, a group that had a deal on Wild Pitch shortly before the label closed. This song 'Booyah' had like three or four different versions, all with Roc on the hook, but this one alone has both Ruc and Roc with verses. Pretty sure this was a Doo Wop promo according to Eclipse.

NY Live 89.1 December 1996 (demos & freestyles)

This is another pause edit special with strictly demos and freestyles. New York Live WNYU 89.1 during December of 1996. The first half of the show had some unreleased demos from Last Emporer, Nas, and Natural Elements, I'm pretty sure that was Cien Smooth and TO Sweet subbing in for Mayhem and Sunset. Then the tape had a freestyle session with Eddie Brock and L Fudge, then Half A Mill, then Choclair, then AK Skills. I'm guessing this must have the highlights from  2 or 3 different  shows.

Stretch & Bobbito 6-1-1995 (Phantasm, Craig G)

This is a Stretch & Bobbito pause edit special from summer 1995. The tape starts with Raekwon, and then Stretch plays 'Hey Mr. Mr.' (an unreleased track from Kool G Rap), which ended up getting him suspended from the station the following week. For those unfamiliar, the track was a T-Ray production that G Rap used for a really grimy track about beating up his (fictional) girlfriend. It was recorded during the 4,5,6 sessions, pretty sure Stretch pressed up the white label.

Following that there's a lengthy freestyle session with Phantasm from Cella Dwellas along with Craig G, over maybe 5 different instrumentals. The tape caught the entire krunch time session until the show ended, with Lord Sear and Benni B also in the studio. 

Big L - Holdin It Down (12" Version)

Here's another Big L rarity for all you L fans and purists. This is the 12" version of Big L's 'Holdin it Down' with a different hook and different lineup. Stan Spit is replaced by Party Arty, and Miss Jones' singing is taken off this version. Instead, Pete Rock cuts for the hook. Far better version, IMO, and makes much more sense to have Party Artie (RIP) on this one. Even though they made a video for this track, neither version was released as an official 12", both of these version are promo only.




Album Version & Video:

QU Hectic

Sad to hear the news of Prodigy passing away. Mobb Deep will forever be one of the illest groups in hip hop. This is QU Hectic, one of their unreleased demo tracks around the Infamous sessions (I'm guessing). This track really takes me back to summer 1995, that Infamous album killed it that summer as well. RIP Prodigy

Gravediggaz Demo

This has been out there for a while, courtesy of Prince Paul's soundcloud, but yaaaahhhh here comes this Gravediggaz demo again. This track is crazy, love the beat, the vibe, everything. I was never too big on their stuff but this gets me amped. It's surprising this wasn't put on their album. This came up in my shuffle today and wanted to give it a shout. From Prince Paul's caption - "This is the First song we recorded as the Gravediggaz in 92" . It was the intro to our demo and it was actually recorded the day I introduced these guys to each other at my house . This track never made the album but It was one of my favorite productions. This was the track that started it all .. RIP Poetic . Enjoy"

Nas - Represent (Original Version)

As the story goes, the album version of Represent on Nas' Illmatic is a remix. After Premier heard all the work going into the album, and all the beats that were getting placed, Premier was inspired to remix the track. If you haven't heard, peep it...



Just caught the Drink Champs with Pete Rock and Premier, some great stories behind some of their best records included on there..

Big Ill - Get Paid

Here's a demo from Big Ill from Ill Al Skratch circa 1994. Dope use of the Olympic Runners.

Re-Up: Westwood Rap Exchange

Here's an old school Tim Westwood/Marley Marl Rap Exhange clip with a live Big Daddy Kane performance, Roxanne Shante stopping by the studio, and a rare demo from Pete Rock and CL Smooth called 'CL strikes again'.







1) Commercials/talking
2) Big Daddy Kane - Wrath of Kane (live @ Apollo)
3) Pete Rock & CL Smooth - CL Strikes Again (demo)
4) Lakim Shabazz - I Feel Like Flowin'
5) Roxanne Shante Interview
6) Roxanne Shante - Live on Stage
7) Biz Markie - Just a Friend
8) Redhead Kingpin & The FBI - We Rock the Mic (Teddy Riley remix)
9) Big Daddy Kane - Smooth Operator
10) Unique - Pure Dynamite
11) Poetry - Everything I do
12) Kool G Rap - She loves me, she loves me not
13) Prince Markie Dee/Tiger?


Thanks again to Dave from Essex for hooking this up
and also peace to the orginal uploader..

Masta Ace & Lord Digga - Maintain

This is an unreleased track from the 'Sittin' on Chrome' LP. It came out as a B-side on the test pressing of the Sittin' on Chrome 12". Pretty sure it's Digga production as well.

Masta Ace & Lord Digga - Maintain.mp3

Re-Up: Sadat X - The Melody

This is an unreleased goodie from Sadat X 

circa 1995, produced by Diamond D.

J-Treds - Recognize

He said "you couldn't get fly if you were the karate kid with some chopsticks." This is a dope unreleased track from J-Treds featuring El-P.

Mad Skillz & Supa Friendz - Funk Mode

Pretty sure this isn't on vinyl, but I could be wrong.
Nice unreleased treat from around 1996/97.

Stretch & Bobbito 2-3-1994

Stretch mixes some old and new joints on here, and does some interesting blends. Featured guests include Kazo from Zhigge along with Fruitkwan  from Stesasonic. Tape 2 has Timbo King & Spark 950, who later became Royal Fam. Late in the show, Bobbito pulls out 4 demos for a 'demo battle.' The tape runs out before the callers vote on a winner, but there's damn near the full 4 hour show on this one. Peace to the philaflav heads for taking the time to make out the track list. 

Keith Nut Demo

Keith Nut was wild. He was sort of a fringe member of the Terror Squad. He made freestyle appearances on Stretch & Bobbito's show both in 1994 and 1995 (with Big Pun's first appearance), and also showed up on Fat Joe's 'Jealous One's Envy' and one track on the Terror Squad LP in 1999. There's no information available as to why he wasn't more involved in the Terror Squad or what he did afterwards.



The early-mid 90's had MC's like Geto Boys, N.W.A., Nas, Big L, Akinyele, and a bunch of others coming with the 'shock value' type rhymes. Keith Nut fit right in with that, with the perverted, child molester steez. For the most part, I think his objective there was to say the craziest shit... so sick it made you laugh, or just threw you off. Stuff like this, that is so not PC, would never come out.



Bobbito played a Keith Nut demo in 1995, and I thought it was pretty dope, funny. Just to show you he's not all about child molesting, he mentions that he might bang your grandmother. I'm curious what other kinds of solo joints Keith Nut had back in those days, if he had an album's worth of material, etc. I'm sure labels were afraid to touch him, but man, that would have been a wild album.

Heavy Jewelz

Definitely want to give a big shout to Verge and his friend Pat for doing good things with their Heavy Jewelz label. They've been giving some new life to old demos, with great sound quality and design work for the covers. Most of these tracks were at one time played on Stretch and Bobbito, so for heads like myself, it's cool to be able to finally be able to own/spin them. Check them out here.

Get Off That Bullshit!

This is one of my favorite Large Professor tracks. This original version first appeared on DJ Eclipse's Wild Pitch blends mixtape. 'Gitofdatbullshit' was part of a group of demos Large Professor was working on for the second Main Source album. Main Source soon split, and Wild Pitch folded, but the tape was left behind. This same demo version was bootlegged on the vinyl pictured (most likely straight from the mix tape). Large Professor re-did the track a second time for his long lost 'LP' for Geffen, but I always liked the feel of the original demo. It took me a while to track down the right pressing, with this version, as there are a few bootlegs with the album version. You'll hear the same, radio-dial-spinning intro that Stretch and Bobbito used for their show.








Also check Extra P's appearance on Rhythm Roulette, a series where producers are blindfolded, pick three random records, and make a beat. Tragedy makes a quick appearance towards the end. 

Re-Up: Half a Mill Freestyles

One MC who shows up on a lot of my old WYNU tapes is Half A Mill. I ripped a few of his freestyles from 1996 through 1999. There is one of them (Oct 96) where he rhymes for nearly 10 minutes without stopping. R.I.P. Half a Mill, one of BK's finest.


Half A Mil Freestyles (zip)
*includes Half a Mill Freestyles From WNYU 1996-1999




 

Doo Dirty

Keeping it dirty! I was going through my old WNYU tapes and found this little nugget. It's an unreleased track featuring dude from Doo Dirty, and some other heads I don't recognize. Stretch heads will know Doo Dirty from the track 'Live by The Gun,' which they released independently. Doo Dirty were rumored to have an album recorded, but weren't able to get distribution I guess. They were a crew from Brooklyn, had joints recorded with Half a Mill, and you might recognize the dude as the guy who snitched on Jay-Z in the 'Dead Presidents' video.

Powerrule - Well Connected (featuring Noreaga)

I only heard Stretch play this once on Hot 97, an alternate version of Powerrule's 'Well Connected' featuring a verse from Noreaga at the end. He sort of does a remix of the verse he did on 'Bloody Money,' talking about putting bogeys out in your face. Nice little unreleased gem. This is probably something only Stretch owns, as he ran the Dolo label this was on. I know it's a 'cheddar beat,' but I gotta admit I dig that Kleer record.