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 !

Kid Capri on WBLS 1992

This YouTube clip may only contain a 30 minute tape rip segment of a radio show from 1992, but it’s a 30 minutes segment of a Kid Capri radio show from 1992.

This is exactly why I get hyped about Rap radio. Bangin 92 Rap, compressed, sounding chunky and cut up by a dope DJ.

Capri mawls Bite This by Shante then blends in How to Kill a Man for good measure, that alone in all it’s hissy glory is enough to make a middle-aged man-fan weep, and nod his head uncontrollably.

Shouts to MusicMan

Westwood gets high with Action Bronson

Bronson is a Rapper I know very little about, but as far as his personality goes, he’s a personable enough chap, and he has good taste when it comes to culinary choices. Im loosing my way with new Rap these days. It takes so much more wordplay and inventive or interesting production to impress me, this must be what happens after listening to this shit for 32 years.

Anyhoops, this wee interview is less about the Rappers rap singing, and more about 2 grown men getting high and acting the idjit, oh and those vinyls behind them both [and the paint job buried behind the racks too, who did that] ?

This is Westwoods record room, and what does he think its worth, does he have attachment to the ‘vinyls’ ? Discover the sad truth for yourself.

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 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…