So, who takes the title of G Rap supreme, was it Pretty Boy Gee Rap in 85 or Kool G Rap in 86?
As Jansport-Rap one-offs Ten Thieves once noted, it dont matter…
Mutant sailors
Gangsters with guitars
Electro Rock
OG Electro Rock
Head shot
Moody tough-guy shot
When HOTASBALLS arent buying prams, doing voice-overs, listening to Radio4 during our coffee mornings or having conversations about cinema in Japanese, we sometimes find ourselves listening to dusty yet trusty old cassettes while doing the housework or makin dinner…
Scanning the images above, The City Limits Crew are fare game for us to rip the piss out of, they wore hired faux gangster costumes on stage at Leicester Squares’ Hippodrome during 85 in Electro Rock, but they did a decent performance, for a kinda corny looking outfit. They werent the Willesden Dodgers, or Loose Bruce and they werent dressed in super-rockin Hawaiian shirts like uncle-esque Mike, but they were decent…
Dont recognise Pretty Boy Gee Rap ? He’s the one wearing the ‘Red and Black lumberjack’
It turns out that even though their recording careers didnt exactly last particularly long [due to a lackluster catalogue, two twelves if memory serves well], upon closer aural inspection, they were actually a quality outfit, the rhymes were tight [at times], and John Peel even warranted shout-outs durin the openin of one cut. Neither the surprisingly ambiguous accents nor the novelty element were really the sales pitch that got us, it mustve been the in-depth perplexing rhyme cadence that caught our attention.
How could you not be interested when youve got flow like:
The beat is rockin, the partys’ shockin
All the people on the floor, you know your knees are knockin’
There are some actual factual moments of interesting lyrics in these 4 songs, but sadly, not enough. The subject matter of MONEY is a socio-political rant about the perils of inner-city pecuniaries, which is nice, and the Fat Boys styled SUCKER has moments too…..
It seems that the 12″s were produced by Ricky Rennalls, who according to the undisputed king of good music trivia, Wrongtom, is one of the many unsung heroes of UK Hip-Hop culture, having released the Thatcher Rap and making major contributions to the game. He even did a club with Jerry Dammers once, allegedly…
This session is proof positive that [master of records and broadcasting legend in the UK] John Peel was very much behind the promotion of British Rap outfits, even if the DJs down the dial werent paying much attention to artists and the format of live Rap recordings. He famously supported and therefore, unseasonably, he broke underground indy Rap during the 80s on a major station. I still find it odd thinkin back that BBC Radio One and John Peel in particular, was the first place I heard South Bronx.
Good to see Paul Trueman from Eastenders on microphone control duties as Pretty Boy Gee Rap [Gary Beadle]…. Amazin to think that Gary appeared in the Young Ones and Grange Hill before he did the session. So, who was Stevie Bee? Did he appear in Eastenders too?
Turns out that Mr Beadle is actually a good ole London boy and a very well respected actor, having appeared in way more than some soap opera….
Beadle’s about…
Get yerself over to bustthefacts.blogspot.com for some City Limit download action, shouts to Jimmy Smithson and the chaps there…
City Limits Crew & the Mutant Rockers – Peel Session from January 1985 [excuse the switch in quality, they were on different tapes]
Tracks:
Fresher Than Ever, Sucker, Keep It On & Money
HOTASBALLS 