Senswif - Elevation - 1997

12" - 1997 - Lah Lah Music Inc 

In the early 90s, two brothers named GodSen and BornSwif from B&R in Flushing Queens formed a rap duo called SENSWIF. They dropped their first and only 12" in 1997, composed of two songs, 'Elevation' on the A-side produced by Lord C. Black,  a friend they went to school with,  and 'Maintain' on the flip side produced by Mike Mass who is also their brother. 

BornSwif :" We began this journey in the early 9o's when hip hop was cool to listen to. Our style was called SAP, a singing form of Rap... Lyrics with harmonious patterns and deep meaning. We love to harmonize and it was like we were singing and rapping simultaneously. The streets were not ready for that transitional period of rappers with very intricate styles... We didnt know the business well enuff to manipulate our way in so we went underground, but 'Elevation' was really making steam ! We pressed 1000's on records & tapes and had a distribution deal with tower records..."

The wax was released on Lah Lah Music Inc, their own indie record label.  Both tracks was from the forthcoming project named 'Alpha & Omega' which never came out because they didn't finish it .  

Scan courtesy of T.R.O.Y Blog 

Notes From The Underground - Sept 1996

From Vibe Magazine - September 1996 

D-Strong - In The Masters Footsteps - 2018

"In The Masters Footsteps" is the new D Strong's single produced by the UK-based producer Giallo Point. 

Lord Finesse - Baby You Nasty (OG Version) / Bad Mutha (Extended) 7"

7" - 2018 - Slice Of Spice Records 

A1 - Baby You Nasty (OG Version)

B1 - Bad Mutha (Extended)

Black Vinyl, White Vinyl or the limited 45 Bundle (Purple, White & Black + Bonus - Slice of Spice Website Exclusive) are available for pre-orders.

Shipping Date : around September 28th 2018

Raekwon - Chambers of Ice

From Hip Hop Connection - August 1995 

Radio Show : Live From The Hood - July 1, 1995 - WOWI 102.9FM

Here is an episode of the  'Live From The Hood' radio show hosted by the Boodah Brothas. It was aired on July 1st 1995 on the Norfolk, Virginia based radio station WOWI (102.9FM).

Don't miss the Dark Skinned Assassin interview and Freestyle on Side #2 and Wise Intelligent of the Poor Righteous Teachers on Side #3. Props to DJ Problematik for the upload !

 Live From The Hood Intro

Big Kap feat Bahamadia, Precise, Treep, Uneek & Lauryn Hill - Da Ladies In The House Remix

Doug E Fresh - It's On  

Smif-N-Wessun - Sound Boy Bureill

Radio Promo

AZ - Rather Unique

L.O.T.U.G - Neva Faded

 Whitey Don feat. Chip Fu & Phife Dawg - Artical

Gang Starr - Instrumental

Talk Break

Show & AG feat Party Arty, Wali World, D Flow and Method Man - Got The Flava

Finsta Bundy - Sunnyside Instrumental

The Roots - Proceed Beatminerz Remix

Phone Call

Lost Boyz - Lifestyles Of The Rich And Shameless

Special Ed - Neva Go Back Remix

Raekwon feat Ghostface Killah - Criminology

Random Radio Promos

Notorious Big - Give Me One More Chance Remix

Nine - Ova Confident

Smif-N-Wessun - Wrektime Instrumental

Talk Break

Dark Skinned Assassin - Interview 

Dark Skinned Assassin - Gotta Get The Creme

Dark Skinned Assassin + Guests - Freestyle

Ol' Dirty Bastard - Shimmy Shimmy Ya

Phone Call

AZ - Sugar Hill

Talk Break with Wise Intelligent 

Radio Promo

Wise Intelligent - Killin' U

Wise Intelligent - Interview & Freestyle  

Nitty Gritty feat Wise Intelligent - Good Morning Teacher

Jemini the Gifted One - Funk Soul Sensation

Talk Break

Mic Geronimo - Masta IC

Talk Break 

?

Junior Mafia - Players Anthem Remix

Phone Call

Rugged Scientist - Lights Camera Action 

Big L Feat. Missy Jones - M.V.P. (Summer Smooth Mix)

Nine - Famaldahyde

GZA - Labels RZA Remix

Phone Call

Stezo - Bop Ya Headz (1990-1997) / Kaotic Style - A Diamond In Da Ruff

CD - 2018 - GRR 


"This compilation gathers all the tracks from Stezo's mid-90s vinyl releases together with 3 recently unearthed tracks from the early '90s. As a bonus, 6 instrumental/dub versions are also included. Limited edition of 250 CDs and 50 tapes." - GRR

Here To School Ya

Police Story

I Have A Dream

Shining Star

Bop Ya Headz

Bonus

Figure It Out

Where's The Funk At

Time Ta Blow Ya Mine

Tension Off The Chest

Funky For Ya

Mr S

Bonus tracks (not included in the snippets) :

Shining Star (Dub)

Bop Ya Headz (Dub)

Figure It Out (Dub)

Where's The Funk At (Dub)

Time Ta Blow Ya Mine (Dub)
Tension Off The Chest (Dub)

CD - 2018 - GRR 

"This CD release features all 10 tracks from the original, classic hard-to-obtain vinyl EP and tape from this Brooklyn duo. As a bonus, the CD also includes 4 tracks from the group's '96 and '97 vinyl singles. Limited edition of 250 CDs" - GRR

Intro

Represent

Tales From Da Sex Side

Put Your Ear In Da Flava

Let A Nigga Flow

6 MCs

Stick Up

Hip Hop Jazz

Hit The Deck

You Know The Name

Bonus tracks :

Player

What U Want

Top Billin 97
Da Ones

Orders : Stezo CD / Stezo Tape / Kaotic Style CD / Double Pack 

Sure Shot Singles : Chuck D - No - 1996

12" - 1996 - Mercury  

From The Source - September 1996 - Scan courtesy of Frederic Thecle 

Intrepid Stylez - Junior Criminalz (CD) - 2018

CD - 2018 - Dust & Dope Recordings 

"Fresh off the hype of our Mytee G Poetic drop, Dust & Dope Recordings is proud to present it's first Canadian release Intrepid Stylez EP CD  scheduled to drop in just a few weeks (early September, 2018).

Representing Block 13, outta Toronto, Ontario, Intrepid Stylez was in fact born from a 1980's Bboy crew the Intrepid Street Rockers. This limited one time CD pressing features 7 of the groups early demo recordings leading up to their independently released 1999 debut "Underground Connex". Recorded between 1996-1997, emcees Mast, Chill Da Bandit and Special each bring forth a ferocious rhyme style, complimenting the hard hitting productions of DJ Kama. 

Included amongst these recordings is the well known vinyl only 1996 banger "Junior Criminalz" and demo versions of album tracks "Kasualties" and "Da Outcome"." - Dust & Dope Recordings

Available September 2018... More info coming Soon !

Limited vinyl format is still available courtesy of Chopped Herring records.

Aquasocks - Abu Dahbi / Wires 7" - 2018

BBR 010 - 7" - 2018 - Black Buffalo Records  

A - Abu Dahbi

B - Wires 

"With dope beats by DJ Uncle Fester, veteran Halifax rapper Ghettosocks teams up with new to the Halifax scene, Aquakulture and the result is Aquasocks! Here are the 1st two joints from the forthcoming album  “Holos” out later this summer." - Black Buffalo Records

Listen and Order your copy Here  

Buttas - Diamonds And The Gold - 1998

12" - 1998 - 438 Entertainment  

Back in 1998 with this rare 12" released by Buttas, a female emcee from Richmond, Virginia. It was fully produced by Ron Flowers a.k.a Fro or Fro Organix, also from Richmond,VA and came out on 438 Entertainment, a record label owned by a guy named Via and consisted of Baby Fro, Via, Brian Trent, Mega Roka and D'Angelo before she signed. The wax is composed of two songs 'Diamond and the Gold' and 'Snake eyes', both available in their album, remix and remix instrumental versions. 

During a little chat, Buttas explained to me how everything started for her and what happened after the release of the 12", here is her story ! 

Buttas : "Well... I would always carry a notebook around starting in like 5th grade... I used it for writing thoughts, attempts at graffiti and bubble letters etc... By middle school I had been drawn to hip hop...still with my notebook my writings became more organized..wrote my first song "My Lee Jeans" inspired by "My Adidas", Run DMC. I had piles of notebooks ... Kids around my way found out I could rap thru my peers. Started battling and being tested and boy was it fierce ! Never wanted to be an artist tho. Writing was my release. But by now the buzz was crazy ! By high school everybody knew, I was sort of forced to be in every one of what was known as the hottest High School Showcases in VA, Bill McGees John F. Kennedy Talent Shows now known as Armstrong High. In 96/97, one of my homeboys said he knew some people looking for a female artist. I was like 'nahhh dont want to be' but he set me up, introduced to an Emcee name Black who put me on the spot throwing any kind of words for me to spit to. 2 days later I met Baby Fro a.k.a Fro Organix and Via who owned 438 Ent. formerly I.D.U... The rest was history!"

Buttas : "I went on to record over 100 songs. Released an EP on consignment called 'The Forgotten MC' which did very well. We started shopping the packages to record companies and meeting with labels who said and I quote 'you're to complicated, people don't want to think'..smh. It was discouraging especially since I never aspired to be an artist just because I could spit or write. However we did get an offer from a label whose name I won't mention but the offer was a 7 album deal with no creative freedom... RIGHT umm yea, no... How does an artist say she's/he's an artist with no creative freedom. I refused to compromise who I was. So after more struggling and personal issues playing a role, parted ways with 438 Ent. Never stopped writing or recording tho even now. I went to school in NY for music business and engineering and became an Artist Manager. Was a partner in an Ent Company and made moves. I then took every experience I had in music and life and turned it into a show titled "Shaun Nicole's 2 Turntables & A Mic". Inspired the Real BET's 106 & Park. My show educates and assists indie artist producers and eventually dancers. Its my life ! Currently under reconstruction with goals of major network TV."

Mad Props to Shaun 'Buttas' Nicole

Hype : Hard II Kill

From Hip Hop Connection - August 1995 

EP - 1995 - Hard II Kill  

Solar-C - Access To All Lanes (CD) - 2018

CD - 2018

All songs produced by Relic aka Rel McCoy (Gamma Delta Productions). All songs written by C. Allum, M. Morley, L. Dash, E. Elango, S. Lambert, T. Coffey.

200 copies only !
Orders 

Take It Personal - Episode 31 - Talking Book (With Supastition)​

"As the summer comes to an end, we felt the best way to transition was to let the music do the talking. We have new joints by Redman, Westside Gunn, DJ Muggs, Redman, Dres, Blueprint, Apollo Brown & Locksmith, plus we sprinkle in smooth favorites by Little Brother, Hieroglyphics, Felt, O.C. and take it back to '93 with classics by Fat Joe, Ultramagnetic MC's, Brand Nubian, MC Breed, Tha Alkaholiks and KMD to name a few. We also catch-up with our longtime friend Supastiton, who shares some great stories and was kind enough to allow us to remix one of his tracks too. Sit back, relax and enjoy the musical journey and peace to all of the Stevie Wonder fans out there - this cover is for you!" - Take It Personal

1.  Cunninlynguists - Nasty Filthy feat. Supastition & Cashmere The Pro
2.  Vanderslice - North American Money feat. Slug & Evidence
3.  DJ Skizz - Dead Wrong feat. Freeway, Conway & Westside Gunn
4.  Westside Gunn - The Steiners feat. Elzhi
5.  DJ Muggs & MF Doom - Assassination Day feat. Kool G. Rap

6.  Kool G. Rap & 38 Spesh - Flow Gods feat. Meyhem Lauren & Freddie Gibbs

7.  Apollo Brown & Locksmith - No Question

8.  Oxygen & Paul Nice - Feel Good Music

9.  Special Ed - Taxin'

10.   Blame One - Frontin' Foes

11.   Redman - I Love Hip Hop

12.   Blueprint - Health Is Wealth feat. Supastition & Mr. Lif

13.   Supastition - Boombox

14.   Little Brother - For You

15.   Devin The Dude - What A Job feat. Snoop Dogg & Andre 3000

16.   The Roots - Somebody's Gotta Do It feat. Devin The Dude & Jean Grae

17.   Supastition - The Williams

18.   Supastition - Yada Yada (DJ 360 Remix)

19.   Esau - 2 Many Emcees feat. The Nobodies, Yaggfu Front, Danja Mowf, Apathy & Supastition

20.   Supastition - Nickel On The Needle

21.   Hieroglyphics - You Never Know

22.   Felt (Murs & Slug) - Dirty Girl

23.   O.C. - Bonafide feat. Jay-Z

24.   Ed O.G. & Da Bulldogs - Love Comes And Goes

25.   Kurious - Mansion & A Yacht feat. Sadat X & Mike G

26.   The Beatnuts - World's Famous

27.   Fat Joe - Flow Joe

28.   Trends of Culture - Who Got My Back (Remix) feat. Method Man & Treach

29.   Intelligent Hoodlum - Mad Brothers Know His Name

30.   Brand Nubian - Pass The Gat

31.   Ultramagnetic MC's - Two Brothers With Checks (San Francisco, Harvey)

32.   Mobb Deep - Project Hallways

33.   Tha Alkaholiks - Can't Tell Me Shit

34.   MC Breed - Gotta Get Mine feat. 2Pac

35.   Eric B. & Rakim - Step Back
36.   Pete Nice & Daddy Rich - Kick The Bobo

37.   KMD - Sweet Premium Wine

38.   Mad Skillz - The Nod Factor

39.   Dres - Peace Phife feat. Red Alert, Chi-Ali & Sadat X

Busta Rhymes - School's Out

From Hip Hop Connection - April 1996 

Auditive Release - Physical Compilation No. 1 - 2018

2xLP - 2018 - QRATES 

New Crowdfunding Project featuring well known and upcoming artists all around the globe. The wide range of sounds from juicy beats, melancholic boombap to lofi within the beat-scene are provided by artists like : AK420, Devaloop, drwn., EMERLD, Goersch, JoDu, Karavelo, khaderbai, Kilamdapro, KOE the Flavekid, Kuartz, Melodiesinfonie, MF Eistee, Msnthrp, nalim., ØDYSSEE, Otesla, Plactra, Remulak, S I M, Seneca B, Smoke Trees & Spaze Windu.

A1 - OK

A2 - Thrills

A3 - Autumn Walk

A4 - fLoyd

A5 - Ever

A6 - Throwback Blues

B1 - grownonyou

B2 - I Don’t Believe You

B3 - Stolen Moments

B4 - Make Your Head Turn

B5 - Alliance

B6 - La Ragazza Sul Balcone

C1 - Belmonts

C2 - Hide

C3 - YumsYums

C4 - holdup

C5 - Specialists

D1 - Fuchur

D2 - Change

D3 - Life Of Vy

D4 - Cigsmoke
D5 - Checkmate



Orders  

Outlaw Posse - Enforce The Positive / Living In Hackney 7"

7" - 2018 - 45 Live Records 

A - Enforce The Positive 
B - Living In Hackney

"The early 90’s is generally referred to as The Golden Era when it comes to hip-hop, and rightly so. It was a time where sublime creativity - fuelled by the limitless sampling opportunities before the lawyers gathered steam - fused with positive attitudes to produce hip-hop music that was rich in musical gravitas whilst enforcing messages of love, political empowerment, social commentary and above all fun! Over in the USA, groups like De La Soul, Gang Starr, ATCQ and the like brought jazz firmly into the fast-evolving hip-hop stew, mostly grabbing all the headlines, but over in the UK, there were some trailblazing crews too with Outlaw Posse definitely up there as one of the pioneering few. Outlaw Posse’s début album ‘My Afros On Fire’ (1990) dropped in the same years as Gang Starr’s masterpiece ‘Step In The Arena’ and ATCQ’s phenomenal ‘People's Instinctive Travels And The Paths Of Rhythm’, with all of them achieving spectacular results with their clever and intricate use of use of samples and positivity in their raps, it was indeed the original dope.

Skip forward to 1993, and Outlaw Posse record the equally brilliant ‘My Afros On Fire Vol. 2’ on Gee St / Island Records which was due for release but after some difficulties with the label they decided to part ways, and the album was sadly shelved. Kgee then went on to produce All Saints whilst MC Bello B went on to write for the KLF as well as working with various groups like The Young Disciples, Mica Paris, Damage, Carl Thomas, Push, Nexus and many more, the guys sure weren't sitting around. And now in late July 2018, that lost album is finally coming out digitally directly from the guys via their Bandcamp page. As soon as we heard about it we immediately got in touch to show our respect and love and ask if we might be able to do a 7” single taken from it, and they said yes! So cue up 2 absolutely banging jazz-soaked dancefloor bombs, pure boom bap, pure gold." - Written & Produced by Karl Gordon & Azat Bello

Pre-Orders : Suspect Packages / 45 Live Records (coming soon)  

Lower Life Forms - Open Invitation - 1997

12" - 1997 - Depth Charge Recordings Inc 

Lower Life Forms was an indie Hip-Hop duo formed by Zechariah Wise Dee from Washington DC and DJ Dial-Tone from Burke VA. 

Zechariah Wise Dee : "Dialtone and I were in a group called Point Blanck in grade school (1988-1991). We disbanded in 1992 and formed the Lower Life Forms. We had an album in the can but things fell through with the label... First, it was Polydor. But the A&R was dragging his feet and we were managed by Ahmed and Otis (dancers for 3rd Bass). Pete Nice had started Hoppoh Records and they wanted to put the project out with them. Unfortunately, Hoppoh lost its distribution with Sony right as we were starting to get that together."

Then Zechariah Wise Dee formed Depth Charge Recordings in 1996 and put out the 'Open Invitation' single included two songs from that project. The single came out in 1997, 'Open Invitation' on the A-side and 'Independence Day' featuring Kurious & Optical The Visionary on the flip side, both produced by Zechariah Wise Dee. 

Zechariah Wise Dee : "We met Jorge through MF Doom. He was on Hoppoh Records. Him and Doom spent a lot of time in our neighborhood in the mid 90s so we were all hanging out all the time, our managers Ahmed and Otis being Doom's cousins. Jason a.k.a Optical was in our original group in grade school and we reconnected in 1994.
About the samples used for the productions ... Hmmm... I was really into the ECM jazz label. I think I chopped the drums on 'Open Invitation' from Jack DeJohnette. Can't remember where the rest came from but there were quite a few chops and cross edits going on. The samples on 'Independence Day' are either Gary Burton or a group called Double Image (both on ECM.) I put in heavy work on both so I had no intentions of clearing them. Probably why I don't remember that well."

Only 750 copies of this single were pressed. The wax is rare but you can find a few copies for sale online for an affordable price. After that, they didn't release the shelved album named 'The Whole Universe Is Ours' on Depth Charge Recordings but decided to work on their new project. 

Zechariah Wise Dee : "We had a crew of all the artists we worked with called Team Demolition (kind of like our own Native Tongues.) We decided to do a project together. We did a single called "Dirty Gusto" and it blew up for us so we shifted focus to that. I did do a limited Cd run of the Lower Life Forms album a few years later.

Over the past couple of years I have been approached by several entities interested in releasing it on vinyl. If I do, I want to remaster it. I've done a little bit but I'm just so busy that it is taking a while, the stuff was all recorded on tape so it needs to all be transferred. My goal is to have done by Jan 1."

well, I hope that the album could see the light of day on vinyl, there will be a place on my shelf for it without a doubt !

Mad Props to Daniel Zacharias a.k.a Zechariah Wise Dee a.k.a Mister Wise.