As KEXP celebrates its 50th anniversary, we're looking back at the last half-century of music. Each week in 2022, KEXP pays homage to a different year and our writers are commemorating with one song from that year that resonates with them. This week, Martin Douglas writes about the thrill of being a young hip-hop fan listening to Raekwon's legendary "Purple Tape" and why Wu-Tang Clan are the Beatles of their generation.

Read the article version here: https://www.kexp.org/read/2022/9/21/50-years-of-music-1995-raekwon-incarcerated-scarfaces/

50 Years of Music: 1995 - Raekwon - "Incarcerated Scarfaces"

I used a sample from the 80's movie "The Hitcher" as the foundation for this beat I made. I thought the verses fit so I turned it into a remix.

Mobb Deep & Q-Tip - Drink Away the Pain (Phat Tape Remix)

Mobb Deep - Right Back At You (remix)

W2W BORED ASF

I'm a Rip It

Heavy Haters

Get the mp3 of this beat here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMP22si9U6U

D/L INSTRUMENTAL HERE

Ghostface Killah - Mighty Healthy [Remix]

Bloodsport feat. Prodigy (Mobb Deep) & Yatzee Yates "Mind Control"

Instrumental Remake of the Wu-Tang Clan's Tearz.

Wu-Tang Clan-Tearz(Instrumental Remake)

Gang Starr - JFK 2 LAX (Instrumental)

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This show is all about turning lemons into lemonade, taking a bad situation and flipping it so it works for you. Few have done this better than our next guest, Chi Town’s own Vic Spencer. In middle school Vic entered the group home system and when his schedule was restricted so he couldn’t play basketball anymore, he picked up the pen. The staff running the group homes took notice and decided to sponsor Vic to make music and tour other group homes, foster care events and the like sharing his positive message of turning a bad situation into a great one.

Fast forward years after that and after dropping many mixtapes he dropped the critical acclaimed “Cost of Victory” in 2015 which had the biggest buzz of any of his work to date. Despite being older than most of his contemporaries, he was not only able to make it in music but make it with his sound which is very different to his peers, but true to him. He also shared some inspiring and hilarious stories about meeting Sean Price and getting to work with someone he looked up to as well as eating weed brownies with Heltah Skeltah. 

Listen to these stories and more on this episode of Beat The Block, powered by BeatStars. If you’re a producer trying to make a living doing what you love, head over to BeatStars.com and start making money, for free.

Mobb Deep - Right Back At You (remix)

!ns!ght

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