Saturday, September 28, 2013

WRITER'S GUILD (LOER VELOCITY & L.I.F.E.LONG) UNRELEASED FREESTYLE






WRITER'S GUILD UNRELEASED FREESTYLE

This was another freestyle done for the same unreleased project, that the Rok-One freestyle I posted earlier was for....Loer Velocity and L.I.F.E. were our dudes and I regularly had them appear on my mix-tapes because they always ripped...They picked O.C.'s classic "Time's Up" instrumental for their track and it came out real nice...

- James "DL"

Friday, September 27, 2013

MONEY BOSS PLAYERS & PETER GUNZ @ "THE BASEMENT" on WUSB






MONEY BOSS PLAYERS & PETER GUNZ @ "THE BASEMENT" on WUSB

Whether each show had guests or not, every week I scheduled multiple acts to come out to Long Island.  Usually, out of the three we booked, one or two would no-show and we would then try to reschedule them for another week. This was one of those nights where EVERYBODY showed up, so it was kind of mad house because they all came crew deep.  Hi-Tech and the Mass Vinyl crew came up, P-Dap and Sha Self (who later changed his name to Sha Money XL when he co-founded G-Unit) and of course, the Money Boss Players, Peter Gunz and super producer Minnesota.  Peter Gunz was already our dude because he was one of our first guests ever; back in the day when he came through with The Gunrunnerz.  Being that he was affiliated with Money Boss, he rolled with them when they stopped by to promote their "Walk With A Limp" 12". Money Boss came with about twenty dudes! But they were all real cool and Lord Tariq, Eddie Cheeba, and Trey Bag laced this freestyle. Unfortunately, the tape that was rolling cut out and I lost about 3-5 minutes of the session...After Money Boss finished up, Peter Gunz gave us another cameo as well. Will post some of the other parts of this show when I locate the tapes....

- James "DL"

Thursday, September 26, 2013

I.G. OFF AND HAZADUS @ "THE BASEMENT" on WUSB


I.G. OFF and HAZADUS @ "THE BASEMENT" on WUSB

This was one from Summer 1997 at the Long Island show.  DJ Spinna brought the Beyond Real crew up to the radio show. Himself, Kriminul, Skam, and their newest artists: I.G. Off and Hazadus.  I had never met I.G. and Haz before this night, but I had heard them on Stretch & Bobbito a few years before and knew they were nice.  This turned into a great freestyle session, with DJ Spinna cutting up for them while they were rhyming.  After this night we all became family; recorded some songs together, and Cross Phada and myself even went overseas with I.G. Off in 2000. Unfortunately my friend and underground legend, I.G. Off, passed away last year, but his legacy lives on whenever you hear his rhymes in these types of settings.  This dude lived for the microphone and you can really hear how much he truly enjoyed his craft when he spit....R.I.P. I.G. Off; one of the true kings of off the head flow....

- James "DL"

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

PUNCHLINE AND WORDSWORTH @ "THE REMEDY"






Punchline and Wordsworth at The Remedy

Another great freestyle up at the "Remedy" show.  These two had just finished up a Lyricist Lounge U.S. tour and had been part of the cast of the Lyricist Lounge series on MTV that year. At this time they were also doing some promo for their debut EP (which came out that Fall), so it was convenient timing to finally get them through. 

- James "DL"

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

KWEST THA MADD LAD, KAHIEM, and MANY STYLES @ "THE REMEDY"


https://soundcloud.com/dustycassettes/kwest-tha-madd-lad-kahiem-many

This is another cypher from the "Remedy" show we were doing on Audiotunnel.com.  This one featured Kwest (formerly Kwest Tha Madd Lad), Kahiem, and Many Styles.  Kwest was  a good friend of ours and we were working on music with him at the time, but this was actually the first time I had heard Kahiem and Many Styles.  Emmo, who was one of the co-hosts on the show, had previously met them and invited them up to the show.  This worked out nice, because both of these guys could really spit.  Combined with Kwest, this was an interesting and dope cypher of emcees with different styles.

- James "DL"

Saturday, September 21, 2013

FUC THAT (STREETSMARTZ) and RAFEESE @ "THE REMEDY"


FUC THAT (STREETSMARTZ) and RAFEESE @ "THE REMEDY"

This is another freestyle from the online show that we were doing for Audiotunnel.com.  This time we had F.T. (Fuc That) from the group Streetsmartz come through.  F.T. was a rapper that we were real tight with. He released several dope 12"s throughout the mid to late 90s and had come up to the Stony Brook show a couple times in the past...This time he brought another emcee named RaFeese (or Hafeese at times), who I had never met before that day, but ripped it as well. This was always one of the best parts of underground radio to me; putting on deserving artists who had real skills.

- James "DL"

Friday, September 20, 2013

L-FUDGE, J-LIVE, PUMPKINHEAD, OCEAN (NATURAL RESOURCE) on WUSB in 1996


L-Fudge, J-Live, Pumpkinhead & Ocean (Natural Resource) @ WUSB 

This is another WUSB "Basement" freestyle.  This was an excerpt of a larger cipher that included Natural Resource, Pumpkinhead, Meat Pie, J-Live, Mr. Complex, Parle, and L-Fudge. This was before L-Fudge was signed to Rawkus, and before my co-host HB and myself were managing him.  He was relatively unknown at this time compared to most of the other participants, who were big names in the underground.  It was fun to get everyone to come out to Long Island for this; as this show was pretty much the entire roster of Makin' Records and Raw Shack Records spitting together.  Hip-Hop giant, DJ Spinna was up there too, and he deejayed part of this, alongside J-Live.  One of those crazy impromptu episodes that came out kind of memorable...


- James "DL"

Thursday, September 19, 2013

SUPERNATURAL AND SKAM2? @ "THE BASEMENT" 1997






SUPERNATURAL AND SKAM2? @ "THE BASEMENT" in 1997

Another freestyle from the Long Island show.  This time we had MC Supernatural, who is one of the best freestyle rappers ever to do it.  I had connected with Supernat earlier in the summer and we worked hard to finally get him out to L.I. He indeed came through, and was joined by our good friend Skam (from Old World Disorder).  Skam probably guest appeared on our radio shows more then any other rapper, and always did his thing on the mic.  This session is only about half of what was an hour of off the head rhymes!  I will post part 2 when I find it....

- James "DL"

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

88 WHATSANAMES (MR. LIVE AND TONY BONES) at WUSB


88 Whatsanames @ "The Basement" on WUSB


This is another dope one from our radio show at WUSB in Long Island.  88 Whatsanames comprised of Mr. Live and Tony Bones, who were both well known and respected emcees in the NYC area.  If I remember correctly, I met them at the Rocksteady Anniversary and I finally got them up to the radio show for this freestyle.  Mr. Live released several 12" EPs as well, which featured Tony Bones on a few tracks. 

- James "DL"

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

The Plague (Pack FM, Tonedeff, Hydra) @ The "Remedy" radio show




The Plague @ "The Remedy"

This one is from around 2001.  We were pre-recording episodes for an online show (The Remedy) on a site called Audiotunnel.com.  The site never launched, as the company that was hosting it, Urban Box Office, lost their investors and went out of business...But, it was fun while it lasted!  We recorded all these shows in a fly studio in Manhattan and since we were getting compensated, it was the closest to commercial radio we ever got!  It's funny because this was in the EARLY days of internet radio and Sirius, XM and others like them were in their infancy.  It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if everything worked out...Well, we recorded about 15 shows and had a lot of guest emcees on there.  This was a particularly good cipher with the homies Pack FM and Tonedeff and their crew Hydra; who we met the first time the night of this recording.  These emcees were part of a bigger crew called The Plague, which did a lot of shows in NYC. 

- James "DL"

Monday, September 16, 2013

ROK-ONE FREESTYLE FOR UNRELEASED MIX-TAPE


This one is from a mix-tape of all freestyles from various NYC area underground emcees, that I started but never actually finished.....Rok-One is a talented emcee, graphic artist, deejay and cool dude who has put in mad work over the years. Most heads probably remember him from the dope "Certified Superior" 12" he released on Bobbito's "Fondle 'Em" label, but he released several other records after and was a mainstay in the local underground scene for years.....I remember when I approached him with the concept of this project, he immediately asked to do a "fast rap" type freestyle over Ultramagnetic MC's "Poppa Large" instrumental.  Anyway, it came out dope and I wish I finished this project....

- James "DL"

Rok-One Freestyle

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Natural Elements @ WUSB (Summer 1997)

Natural Elements "The Basement" WUSB Freestyle

This is another tape rip from "The Basement" radio show....This was the second time NE came through, but the first time Mr. Voodoo came up to the show. The Natural Elements crew was legendary for their radio appearances throughout that era; they destroyed freestyles....

- James "DL"

"Equinox" Era Freestyle from Prince Poetry of Organized Konfusion

Prince Poetry (Organized Konfusion) "The Basement" WUSB Freestyle

This first post is a tape transfer from our show "The Basement", which ran from the mid-90s to the early 2000s.  It was broadcasted from the campus of SUNY Stony Brook in Long Island, NY, but our frequency actually covered most of Strong Island and part of southern Connecticut....Around the time of this interview, I was doing the show with Cross Phada, Emmo, P-Love, Super DJ Jaydee, and HB (who created the show with me).  Unfortunately, Pharoahe Monch had the flu and was unable to make it, but Prince Po definitely did his thing for solo and he stayed and hung out after for awhile, which was cool because we were huge Organized Konfusion supporters. 

- James "DL"