Westwood VHS archives: Rakim, Ultra, PE, LL Cool J Live from London….

Tim Westwood has been going in heavy on the archival action recently. He’s been uploading unreleased and never seen before footage from iconic performances  like Rakim at Hammersmith, Ultramagnetic in Camden, Derek B live at the Hammersmith Palais and more…

Tims clips capture the raw excitement of the embryonic stages of the London Hip Hop youth culture in clips that feature body-popping on corners of Trafalgar Square, and under the watchful eye of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square.  And as well as these, he has also added outtakes from the N-Sign Rap show. We all know about the Bizmarkie handshake debacle but what about a young Will Smith dropping more bloopers than Dennis Norden !

E-Feezy interview

Ooh wee, its two thow-wow twelve, and here’s super OG E-40 in discussion with Nerd-man Nardwuar. The kang o’slang talks tampons, Too Short & Freddy B, the origins of IZZLE and MC Hammer. He also talks ‘crevice’.

Check the others for important answers to important questions like ‘DJ Premier, how many times have you sampled James Brown’ and ‘What do you have for breakfast 2Chainz’ ?

Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee AKA “FUCK YOU STEPHEN” !

Jerry ‘The Young King’ Seinfeld returns to our screens in something as simple as  an 8 episode string of clips based around the concept of small-talk, in and out of a car, with a cup of joe to follow.

 

Its a web-series about nothing. The series follows a familiar path to the Robert Llewellyn series Carpool from a few years back; just interesting people mooching around in beautiful vintage cars sharing time, jokes, tall stories about this and that and of course, a post-cruise coffee.

Each clip starts with Jerry explaining the history of each vehicle, reading off the cars stats like its Top Trumps for eccentric petrol-heads. Each clip also starts with each cars ignition emittance, and even though im no man racer, theres something special in the sound of ignition charges from a 1970 Dodge Challenger being fired up.

All 8 passengers have their own brand of humour, some of the passengers include Colin Quinn, Ricky Gervais, Brian Regan and Bob Einstein [Marty Funkhouser].

Naturally, seeing Larry sitting uncomfortably in a 1952 Volkswagen Beetle discussing the pressing issues of the day is a treat, but the chemistry between Jerry and Alec Baldwin is on some next ish.

“So you think you are RAPIER that me/ my cell mate in Rahway, he was the RAPIEST”,  was a high-light for us…

 

Martha & Henry

Not much to be said here, it is what it is, rarified…

Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap – June 2012

I remember seeing an early trailer for this and thinkin it was just another budget affair that probably wouldnt inspire me or educate me. I take that back. Im interested now because the core of the subject matter is less about the artists involved, its about the craft of rapping, although its always nice to see Caz in conversation about how it was actually Barry Manilow & Melle Mel that inspired him. Nice to see that the film will cover the important subject of an individual rappers style, and technique.

The underlying importance of this film is that the millions of worldwide fans who want to know more about the origins of Rap, get to discover the truth behind what the elders grew up with. It is also important because street poetry and the actual ART of rapping and rhyming words is still so integral to the soundtracks of our lives in 2012.

Grandmaster Caz & CC4 – February 1980 @ Bronx River Centre

Just a cheeky somethin somethin for the weekend. Some records/ breaks are untouchable, some MCs are equally unfeckwitable. Caz murders More Bounce on this, mainly as he’s  DJin & MCin at the same time, they call it ‘doin an Edan’ these days. Shouts to Tapemaster Troy.

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines to all the lovers…

More sex rhymes courtesy of the great J-Zone here…

btw. If anyone has any info on the rest of the Danceteria set from 85/ 86, get at me, I got somethin for ye…

Mr Magic birthday party [1984]

Another week, another clip from way way back from peoples that were there along-side the greats. This time we have conversations with the late great Mr Magic, Sweet G from the Fever, Kool Kyle, DLB from the Fearless4 and live performances from Fearless, Divine Sounds and the Force MCs.  Magic discusses Graffiti writers and the ‘generations’ of Rappers while DLB is prophetic in his observation that there are ‘so many creative writers when it comes to Rap, that there is no way it could really end’…

There’s also an instrumental with a Malcolm X speech towards the end, not unlike the 1983 Keith Le Blanc produced cut on Tommy Boy. Its probably exactly that, just a World Famous Supreme Team instrumental with a sheet of Malcolm over the top, but its cohesive, and sick…