Showing posts with label Hip Hop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hip Hop. Show all posts

Thursday, September 6, 2007

The Cookie Crew - Born This Way! (UK 1989)


The Cookie Crew - Born This Way!
Label - FFRR
Released - 1989
Style - Electronic, Hip Hop, Breaks, House, Hip House
* per Special Request from a friend.

Tracklist:
1 Yo! What's Up
2 From The South
3 Come On And Get Some
4 Pick Up On This
5 Feelin' Proud
6 Bad Girls (Rock The Spot)
7 Got To Keep On
8 Born This Way
9 Black Is The Word
10 Places And Spaces For Your Mind
11 Rhymes And Careers
12 Dazzle's Theme

I've been meaning to post this for a while, but I had to find it first. Now that I found it, I'm really syked to post it because it's one of those highly overlooked urban gems from the late 80s that really deserves its props. The main track I knew from the album was the title song 'Born This Way (Let's Dance)' - and I only just recently became exposed to that from watching VH1 Soul's Soul School show. If you live in the states and get the VH1 Soul channel on cable, check your listings for Soul School. They play alot of the classic hip hop/r&b videos from the 80s and early 90s. There isn't alot of that stuff that I haven't come across before, but they do surprise me from time to time. Seeing the Cookie Crew video was one of those surprises. Being natives of South London, the Cookie Crew girls were obviously in touch with house music and acid house which were big in London at the time. So you can really pick up on the 'hip-house' sound they helped pioneer; a sound that gave way in the states to entire new music genres like Baltimore Club music and Nu Jack Swing. I look at it as some sort of underground Music Pathology, and I'm always looking for connections between different forms of music or sample sources and shit. So in that respect, this Cookie Crew album is seriously interesting to me. Please believe it. And enjoy it. Word.

(from Wiki)
Group Members:
* MC Remedee (real name Debbie Pryce).
* Susie Q (born Susan Banfield, 10 March 1967).

Cookie Crew is a rap music duo formed in Clapham, South London in 1983. Pryce and Banfield decided to break away from a 13-strong rap aggregation called "Warm Milk And The Cookie Crew" and make a career as a duo. In 1985 their career took off after winning a national rap championship and recording two sessions for the John Peel radio show. They gained a contract from the UK dance record label Rhythm King and were put in the studio with the production trio Beatmasters, who put them in a house music direction.

In July 1987, the resultant single "Rok Da House" (no relation to the dance single "Rock The House" by Scoop) was popular in the nightclubs and peaked at number 79 in UK Singles Chart. Their follow-up single "Females" also was a minor hit in October 1987. The continuing popularity of "Rok Da House" in nightclubs eventually renewed interest in the track and garnered a couple of television appearances. The record was re-issued at end of December 1987 and crossed over into the mainstream. The song became a Top 5 hit at the beginning of February 1988, and was even used for an advertising campaign. The track is often quoted as being the first hip house record.

The duo moved on to another label, FFRR Records and different producers, resulting in a string of hit singles in 1989, with "Born This Way (Let's Dance)", "Got To Keep On" with Edwin Starr and "Come And Get Some"; plus the album Born This Way! which reached a modest number 24 in the UK Albums Chart.

By 1992 there were differences of opinion with their then label London Records over musical direction, and the duo parted company to pursue separate projects.



download
info

Friday, August 24, 2007

Stu Allen - Best of '89 Hip Hop [UK Radio Key 103]


Thanks to my new buddy Craig, I've dug this old Stu Allen Best of 1989 mix [Key 103, Manchester] out. It is one of the best compilations of raw hip-hop from pre-1990 era. This just reaffirms my position that UK radio has been ahead of the pack for years.

Here in the states, we would potentially begin catching up if only we could convince the FCC to go back to their original position - what they were created for back in the 1930s.

This blurb from wiki sums up how corrupt they have been allowed to become. Public airwaves should have always been For The People and used By The People. One scroll through the FM dial in Washington, DC will leave you with a bad taste in your mouth. I hardly ever venture past 95.5 FM.

Beginning in 1994, commercial spectrum has been allocated via competitive auctions rather than the previous method of "best public use." This was a cumbersome bureaucratic process in which competitors attempted to show that they were most capable of making best public use of the license they wished to obtain. The structure and licenses available in each auction are determined by vote of the Commission, with the licenses awarded to the highest bidders. Auctions are usually conducted on a simultaneous multiple-round basis, with all offered licenses being auctioned at the same time. Auctions proceed in bidding rounds of decreasing duration until no more bids are received. Revenues are deposited in the US Treasury to be spent by Congress.

So anyways, thanks Craig for putting this tracklist together. I think a number of people will appreciate this oldschool contribution. FYI - Craig has a couple of mixes on his site that impress me beyond belief. And I'm *very* picky about mixes I support. These are just in their own category of quality. So good! grab them - I LoveDisko and I LoveSurprises @ http://www.musicfromspeakers.com/.

*my favorite of the two is I LoveSurprises. Unbelievably good.


Stu Allen - Best of '89 Hip Hop

Tracklist:
1. Big Daddy Kane - Warm It Up Kane
2. Ace & Action - Letter To The Better
3. Grandmaster Flash & Melle Mel - White Lines 89
4. Silver Bullet - 20 Seconds To Comply (Inst)
5. King Sun - On A Club Tip
6. Twin Hype - Do It To The Crowd
7. Doug Lazy - Let It Roll
8. De La Soul - Me Myself & I
9. Young MC - Bust A Move
10. Queen Latifah - Dance For Me
11. Tuff Crew - What, You Dont Know
12. Cookie Crew - Born This Way (Inst)
13. Rob Base - Get On The Dancefloor
14. Monie Love - I Can Do This
15. Roxanne Shante - Live On Stage
16. Big Daddy Kane - Another Victory
17. DJ Chuck Chillout & Kool Chip - Rhythm Is The Master
18. Twin Hype - Those Who Like To Groove
19. MC Martay & DJ DBM - Beyond Control
20. MC Buzz B - How Sleep The Brave
21. De La Soul - Eye Know
22. De La Soul - Say No Go
23. Digital Underground - Doowutchyalike
24. Redhead Kingpin & The FBI - Do The Right Thing
25. Wrecks-N-Effect - New Jack Swing
26. Heavy D & The Boyz - We Got Our Own Thang
27. Stezo - Its My Turn
28. Ultra Magnetic MCs - Give The Drummer Some
29. Most Wanted - Calm Down
30. Public Enemy - Fight The Power
31. Dismasters - Black and Proud
32. EPMD - So Wat Cha Sayin
33. Lakim Shabazz - When a wise man speaks
34. DJ Supreme Nyborn - Versatility
35. EPMD - Big Payback
36. Cookie Crew - Come On & Get Some
37. NWA - Straight Outta Compton

download

Friday, July 27, 2007

V/A - Trip Hop For Jazz Junkies


V/A - Trip Hop For Jazz Junkies
Label - Shadow
Released - 1996
Style - Electronic, Hip Hop, Future Jazz, Trip Hop, Abstract, Lee Library

Notes: This is a Promo, no case - comes in clear plastic sleeve.

Tracklisting:
01 Sharpshooters - Buck The Saw (3.48)
02 Diferenz - Jazz Workshop (Remix) (3.35)
03 Raucous a/k/a Sabatage - Say No More (4.39)
04 DJ Cam - Mad Blunted Jazz (5.03)
05 DJ Krush - Big City Lover (5.55)
06 Diferenz - Mind Movement (4.12)
07 Sharpshooters - Massacre (Roey Marquis 11 Remix) (3.39)
08 Raucous a/k/a Sabatage - No Way Out (Roey Marquis 11 Remix) (4.14)
09 DJ Cam - Pure Pleasure (6.11)
10 DJ Krush - Roll & Tumble (5.05)


download
info