Its Jimmy, Saville…#2

More worryingly prescient comments from the late DJ, this time about Madonna, from 1985.

Happy 55th Birthday Tim Westwood [AKA Dont be a Crumb]

To celebrate the 55th Birthday of Tim Westwood [Happy Born-day short shins], here is some rare insight into the mind and mentality of the most recognisable voice of Rap radio. Tim is one of the most hard-working and important names in UK broadcasting from the past 25 years, and he’s a humble down-to earth cat too.

Some know him as a champion of independent black music, some misundertand him as a clown. I see him as a progressive, and have done continually since 1985 and his long-standing Zulu Message column in Blues & Soul.

Tim played at a dance on his birth-day a few years back at Hallam University in Sheffield, and as youll hear in this short clip, he was more than passionate about his shit gettin ganked. Unfortunately he had 2 records stolen from the booth by ‘some thick-set white kid’ while he was playing Punjabi MC. So passionate that when Tim gets his records boosted at a dance in Sheffield, and only realises when he’s back in London, he’s happy to drive straight back to Sheffield to ask for his joints back. And he’d be listening to 50 CENTS all the way.  The question remains, did Tim ever get his joints back?

Huge shouts to Dipod for the love, I see ya…

Here are a few Westwood bits you might not have checked recently…

More radio promo action…[From 1994]

Hotasballs is always holdin the golden when it comes to radio gems and even though http://www.egotripland.com/ may or may not be bitin our shit [see radio promos and Krush TV] were back with the goodness.

Here are two radio promos for Tim Westwoods show from 1994, just months before he was due to start broadcasting on a different station and show, the BBCs 1FM Rap Show. Both of them are themed on songs by the individual artists; Nas with a version excursion of It Aint Hard to Tell, with a few Westwood mentions, along with a Snoop promo that has Snoop bless us with a Nuthin But A G Thing themed banger with Westwood as the subject matter.

Akinyele & Sadat X on Funk Flex – 1996

“I’ll be pushing your wig back like those girls in chemotherapy” – Aknel was savage !

Kool G Rap [DJ Red Alert radio spot] – April 1989

There were almost too many of these radio spots and station IDs over the years to keep account of. Some were dub-plates, some recorded and transferred to cartridge for broadcast, alot were custom made for individual DJs as part of the promotional work the artists had to undertake. The G Rap above is from 1989 and its awful quality, but its one of my personal favourites as its from one of my favourite radio show tapes…

Click on track-list for zip

Mr Magic funeral [2009]

In an anthropological sense, this clip is at the very least, engaging. Its also a very uncomfortable clip to watch, not just because it features Kurtis Blow reading Mr Magics obituary, also cos Marley Marl clowns it up during a service at the open casket funeral…

Larry Blackmon in conversation…

Larry Blackmon talks to DJ Red Alerts old mate Jeff Foxx about amongst other things, hearing his 1st hit played by Frankie Crocker on the WORLD PREMIERE  slot

The Cassette Era AKA In the PJs, my blend tape plays

Mr Jones looks back at the science of recording radio shows onto a format long forgotten about, from the days when he was a ‘young city bandit’. He talks about the importance of twiddling up and down the dial during the days when more than one show was on the New York FM airwaves, the colour of the physical tape and even the fragrance of a fresh cassette. Top choice clip for the throwback crowd and anyone that put their batteries in the freezer to recharge em

To listen to a multi-million selling artist talk about those live tapes and park jams with such affection and admit theyre still hurtin from missing those tapes is something anyone who did the same back then can equate to. I wonder if Nasir repeatedly used the same C90 before he got his double tape player. Anyone that has any Fresh Fest recordings needs to get in touch too btw

It can be a painful experience to recount those lost tapes sometimes. Thankfully, some of us held on to em and folk like ourselves and Dutch are resurrecting those broadcasts and live sessions. I hear the Fat Lace chaps are bringin some Westwood back real soon too, ‘HOLD TIGHT, WATCH THE RIDE’.

This also erm, amps us. Shouts to Dom for the heads-up, and to Jappy Jap for havin one of the most ridiculous names ever.