Classix

It was a real pleasure to welcome legendary Australian Disc Jockey Mark N into the Kool London Studio for a guest mix . Known mainly for his Hardcore sets, Mark wanted to showcase his Hip Hop influences on this one and what a mix he turned out !! (100% Vinyl as is standard for this show) More info here: www.facebook.com/DJ.Mark.N.Australia
Being extremely knowledgable and passionate about the music, Mark was kind enough to send over an extended and ultra informative track listing to bring the listeners in on a few extra details :) 
Apologies for the mic feeding back during the first couple of tracks..

Tracklist : 

Lynn Collins - Think 
Rob Base & Dj EZ Rock - It Takes Two
Rob Base & Dj EZ Rock  - Keep It Going Now
Word Of Mouth ft. DJ Cheese - King Kut
Gunshot - Battle Creek Brawl
Big daddy Kane - Nuff Respect
Breakfreak Inc - Just A Break Freak
First Frontal Assault - Atomic Air Raid
Kool G Rap - Kool Is Back
MC Paul Barman - Housemate Troubles
Society Suckers - Kakke Ekko
Depth Charge - Depth Charge Vs Silver Fox ft. MC Alkaline
___________________________________

Mark N Guest Mix:

1. Bomb The Bass / Megablast (Original Rap Version) (1988)
Several versions of this track were released and out of all of them, this is by far the greatest. A stripped down version consisting of UK MC Merlin on vocals over a rough Apache break, complimented by DJ D-Zire transform scratching the intro of The Jimmy Castor Bunch classic 'It's Just Begun'. This version was only released on a 7” which was given away free with copies of the UK music magazine 'Record Mirror' in September 1988.

2. Bomb The Bass / Megablast (7” Edit) (1988)
This was the re-worked version made as the theme tune for the classic Amiga/Atari shoot'em up 'Xenon 2:Megablast'. It was also released as the B side of the Bomb The Bass single 'Don't Make Me Wait' in 1988. Samples / breaks / cuts all in the mix. Original UK sample-house.

3. Big Daddy Kane / Raw (Extended Alternate Version) (circa 1988)
Rough as a badger's arse! This weird version was recorded on cassette from the radio in New York in the very late 80s. It features Big Daddy Kane freestyling over an extended stripped down and brutalized 'Hot Pants' break rolled out by Marley Marl. The recording is so distorted (with added radio compression) that it inadvertently beefs the break up beyond the stratosfear. This version finally hit wax in 2006 on the reissue of Kool G Rap & Polo's 'Road To The Riches' 4xLP special edition.

4. Kool G Rap & Polo / Men At Work (1989)
From the same album as the above cut. Another rugged and raw Marley Marl production utilizing a liberal amount of Incredible Bongo Band's classic 'Apache'. Added 808 kicks for flavour and Kool G Rap lisping and spitting at breakneck speed seemingly without ever coming up for air. “I might be cool but I'm far from a fan”. Golden era business.

5. Twin Hype / Do It To The Crowd (1989)
Two brothers Glennis and Lennis Brown paying homage to their DJ King Shameek over what sounds like a sick rock break. This track has a touch of hip house about it which caused a bit of sneering from the hip hop bosses at the time. It remains one of the best hybrid tracks of its time though with loads of on-the-fly scratches and drop ins. The twins ended up in prison after their career took a sharp dive following the final Twin Hype release in 1991, when they were rumoured to have been involved in an armed robbery which went awry.

6. MC Duke / I'm Riffin (1990 Remix) (1990)
A slightly unusual re-blast of UK MC Duke's original 1989 masterwork, found on the B side of The Final Conflict single on Music Of Life. This version has a slightly more stripped down break combined with sections of Kraftwerk's 'The Model' rocking away in the background. Duke's vocal delivery also seems a bit more subdued than the original.

7. MC Duke / I'm Riffin (The Criminal Minds 5 Year Grudge Mix) (2013)
Awesome recent remix of the original, using Duke's original 1989 vocal track. Remixed by Spatts from The Criminal Minds, with loads of break switch-ups and old school britcore-style open fader roll cuts by Sir Jerome Hill. Released on Jerome's own label Fat Hop last year. Supreme!

8. Sound Unlimited / One More From The City (A.S.K.'s Concord West Refix) (1992)
Australian 12” from the early 90s. Sound Unlimited were one of the only Australian hip hop groups signed to a major in the early 90s. They copped a bit of stick from some of the other hip hop crews in Aus because of this, but they were doing their thing and had some pretty good releases in my opinion – of which this was their final. The original version of this single was far too smooth for my liking, but a remix by old school legendary Aus hip hop DJ A.S.K was commissioned. He wasted no time at all stripping out all the 'music' from the original and roughing it up in the extreme. Breakbeats, loops and berserk layered cuts all in the mix. Amazing. 

9. Ice-T / Mic Contract (1991)
From his epic opus 'OG Original Gangster'. Ice is on fire here threatening all other MC's with his career-ending skills on the mic. This track was omitted from the European vinyl version of OG for some reason, but did appear on the rare US promo-only double LP alongside all the instrumentals on a separate plate. I've spun this in the mix from the equally as rare US radio-only 2xLP promo where all the rude words are replaced with radio static. I've also slipped into the instrumental and busted out a few 80s style cuts to break the mix up a bit.

10. John Davis / I Can't Stop (1976)
Original B-Boy breakbeat which I first heard cut up to absolute perfection on Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince's 'He's The DJ, I'm The Rapper'. I've used it here from Volume 7 of Ultimate Breaks & Beats, just like everyone else did in the 80s.

11. Unique / Axe-Maniac (1989)
I never believed that the record shopping in Japan was as good as everyone said it was until I turned this one up when I was there. It's the B-side of the 'Pure Dynamite' single on Sylvia Robinson's US post-Sugarhill label New Day Records. An absolute slept-on DJ battle classic where Unique talks about how his DJ Godfather D chops up 'new-jacks'. Some killer lines in there including “cuts are much too deep for a band-aid”. Rough stripped down production using the aforementioned John Davis break. Unique's career unfortunately ended after just two singles and before his debut LP got a full release. Booo. I wonder what ever became of DJ Godfather D?

12. Trouble / I Get Hype (1988)
Britcore at its absolute finest. Appearing on Tim Westwood's short-lived hip hop label Justice. Using liberal amounts of James Brown's Give It Up Or Turn It Loose as the basis. Killer vocal delivery. Killer cuts. Roughness on wax. Not sure what happened to Trouble, discogs leads to an artist called Detroit Red, who looks as if he's done some vocal work on a Caveman release in 1992, after which his trail goes cold.

13. Demon Boyz / Vibes (1988)
Awesome and rough track from the classic London trio who set themselves apart from a lot of other Britcore at the time by unashamedly rapping in their native accents. One of my favourite acts from the Music Of Life label.

14. Mark Summers / Summers Magic (1990)
When I first heard this tune in Australia in 1990, I had no idea that the main sample was from Magic Roundabout, the BBC children's TV show (it wasn't screened on Aus TV). Weirdly I first heard this tune on JJJ (nationwide youth radio in Australia) just after it came out and recorded it on cassette. It wasn't quite like the earlier sample house of Coldcut, Bomb The Bass and MARRS as it was quicker and used more unusual sections of sample sources including a killer loop from Fred Wesley & JB's 'Blow Your Head' in one part. It's a pretty cheesy cut-up record – but it does pre-date some of the gimmicky cheese of the early breakbeat hardcore scene. I'd hazard a sensible guess that most of the samples in this tune weren't cleared – and the delicious irony here is that Mark Summers went on to run a company that 're-creates' samples for people instead of 'clearing' them. Amazing!

15. Simon Harris / Bass (How Low Can You Go) (Bass Below Zero Mix) (1988)
Another early UK 'sample-house' record that had a world-wide release via a major. There are a few versions knocking around (including a version mixed by Public Enemy's Professor Griff!). My favourite version by far though is this one by DJ Streets Ahead where he strips the track down to a bare skeleton and cuts up original breaks over the top. Streets Ahead was a favourite UK DJ of mine in the late 80s as he did cuts on a lot of UK records including some Norman Cook releases. Nobody seems to talk about Streets Ahead much these days, and a bit of research recently turned up the unfortunate fact that he passed away in 2012. He will live on in many people's record collections though, including mine. RIP Shem, thanks for all the cuts.

16. Bomb The Bass / Beat Dis (Gangster Boogie Inc. Remix) (1988)
Seminal UK sample-house tune which again had a worldwide release, and uses a bedside digital beeping alarm clock as the main hook. The version that was locally released in Australia had the 4 bar uncleared sample of 'The Good The Bad & The Ugly' by Ennio Morricone removed, but I managed to get hold of the UK import 12”. The original UK release also initially appeared on a 'fake' US label called Mister-Ron, apparently with the intention of leading the London locals on to believe that it was a USA import with more 'kudos' than a local production. This version was a slightly rearranged remix with the guitar sample isolated at the beginning. It's not in the mix for long here, as I was eager to move along into.....

17. Bomb The Bass / Beat Dat (Freestyle Scratch Mix) (1988)
This version appears at the very end of the Bomb The Bass debut album 'Into The Dragon'. Remixed by J Saul Kane (Depth Charge) who also did the manic, slightly sloppy but perfectly appropriate cuts. Sick!

18. Coldcut / Which Doctor? (1989)
From the debut Coldcut album 'What's That Noise?'. Beautiful dubby London melancholy with breakbeats and Matt Black transform-scratching what seems like someone yelling 'heeeeeeelllppp' from a children's record as the main hook. Loads of unknown acapella drop-ins, cuts and spinbacks throughout the tune, some of them very subtle. Still sounds amazing some 25 years after the fact.

19. RPO / 1991 (And I Just Begun) (Next Skool Remix) (1991)
Early dark breakbeat tune by German artist The Mover (of PCP fame), who was also busy at the time with single handedly inventing hardcore techno / gabber and it's variants under the name Mescalinum United. This version appears on the Planet Core compilation Frankfurt Trax Volume 2.

20. Richie Rich / My DJ (Pump It Up Some) (1988)
Another UK cut-up record this time by Richie Rich on his own label Gee Street (a subsidiary of Island). Tons of breakbeats, samples and 'oh fuck it that'll do' cuts. My favourite part is where he transforms the whole intro of Fred Wesley & The JB's 'Blow Your Head' over the top of the breaks and it manages to sit in time. Amazing. There's also a clip for this on YouTube which is highly amusing. Great record! Richie went on to become more well-known for his massive 'Salsa House' tune in 1989, and his music career trajectory seems to go cold around '92. I wonder what he's up to these days?

21. Rythm Mode D / Flex With The Posse (1989)
This is none other than Mr Mark Archer (pre-Nexus 21 / Altern-8) and Dean Meredith (pre-Bizarre Inc). Chris Peat and Andrew Meecham were also part of the crew at this time. Throughout 88 and 89 the crew released a few singles on their Stafford studio's in-house label 'Blue Chip', and then an album called 'So Damn Tough'. The album swings between acid house and breakbeats – the combination of which is unmistakably British. This track consists of simple loops which give way every 8 bars to turntable drop-ins of some original b-boy breakbeats. Simple, rough and awesome.

22. Incredible Bongo Band / Apache (1973)
The basis of a lot of fine golden era hip hop and one of the finest breakbeats in history (next to the Amen of course). Anyone interested in the history of this particular record might want to have a look at the 2012 documentary 'Sample This'. Michael Viner, the guy responsible for putting the Incredible Bongo Band together was quite a card, and the documentary uncovers a lot of his activities pre and post Apache break. Every hip hop DJ who spins this record cuts it up in their own way. (For 7” fanatics I'd highly recommend the 2011 Mr Bongo reissue with Bongo Rock on the A side. It's loud and heavy!) I first heard the break cut back and forth by Grandmaster Flash on the seminal 1981 'Adventures On The Wheels Of Steel' and have been hooked since. The break constantly appeared in many permutations throughout hip hop, hip house, breakbeat hardcore, jungle, drum & bass and breakcore. 
________________________________
Suspekt - Watch The Rebound
Hijack - Doomsday Of Rap (Instrumental)

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Classix

EFHT