A Post Both Scattered & Long

My five day weekend back in Durham (North-East England) was much needed, and much appreciated, as my life, or at least social life, was getting a little stale. A few nights round my old mates, a trip to the cinema and a Foo Fighters/Serj Tankian gig soon changed that.

Now, its back to the daily grind in terms of my job, and the same applies here on Northern Author, starting with today’s post. On my trip back home I came across a great mix CD from UK DJ/Producer Blufoot. The album came out in 2005 just after his debut solo LP ‘The Ablution’. The mixtape/compilation album is one of a kind, chronicling some great old school tracks from both Great Britain & USA.

‘The Old Testament: Book I & Book II’ is, as you can see, split into two halves, with Book I being a large collection of tracks from the USA mixed together by Blufoot. On this CD you have everyone from Brand Nubian, Lord Finesse & Masta Ace to lesser known US underground gems from the 90s such as The Raider men & Sista Souljah. The CD spans 57 tracks, and if you read the tracklist you will see that it has a hell of a lot of good material on it. Book II is the same drill, but with all of the old UK hip-hop classics that have helped shape the foundations of the scene. This CD will definitely be one to listen to for those who aren’t necessarily deep in the UK scene, as it displays our roots and what our own versions of say, Lord Finesse and the like are. This CD has all of the big names on it from the early 90’s, such as London Posse, Demon Boyz, Hardnoise, Caveman, Hijack, Derek B and many more.

Altogether, Blufoot has done an excellent job in crafting two collections of tracks that encapsulate the essence of both the UK & US scenes in the 90s. You can definitely see the differences between the two, and you can see the growth from song to song also, and as a mix CD its one of the best I’ve heard come out of England (DJ Yoda’s craziness aside!).

Blufoot - The Old Testament: Book I & Book II

DISK 1 - The Old Testament Book I (USA)

1. Intro
2. Prayer
3. Funky Enough - DOC
4. Boys In Da Hood - Eazy E
5. Bitch Is A Bitch - NWA
6. Efil 4 Zaggin - NWA
7. Grand Verbaliser - X-Clan
8. In The Way Of The Scales - X-Clan
9. Untitled - Brand Nubian
10. All For One - Brand Nubian
11. 360 (What Goes Around) - Grand Puba
12. Comin' Thru Ya Fuckin' Block - Artifacts
13. Just Wanna Chill - Large Professor
14. Get Funky (remix) - Beatnuts
15. Return Of The Funky Man (remix) - Lord Finesse
16. Most Beautifullest Thing - Murray, Keith
17. Tonite's Da Night (remix) - Redman
18. No Equal - Beatnuts
19. How The Fuck Would You Know - Positive K
20. Top Billin' - Audio II
21. That's How It Is (remix) - Casual
22. Me O Mi O (remix) - Casual
23. Swing - Camp Lo
24. Coolie High (Paradise mix) - Camp Lo
25. Crazy Noise - Stezo
26. Down The Line - Nice & Smooth
27. I'm Not Playin' - Ultimate Force
28. Wreknoize - Smif-n-Wessun
29. Jeep Ass Nigguh (bizcappella) - Masta Ace
30. Magnetic - Raidermen
31. I'm Kurious - Kurious
32. Straight Outta Compton - NWA
33. Step To Me - Tim Dog
34. Amerikkka's Most Wanted - Ice Cube
35. Gangsta's Fairytale - Ice Cube
36. Buck Whylin' - Terminator X & Sista Souljah
37. You're Gonna Get Yours - Public Enemy
38. On The Run - Jungle Brothers
39. Poison - Kool G Rap & Polo
40. Soul Clap - Showbiz & AG
41. Fuck What Ya Heard - Diamond D
42. Mission - Special Ed
43. Take A Rest - Gang Starr
44. Flow Joe - Fat Joe
45. Bucktown - Boot Camp Clik
46. Gotcha Open - Boot Camp Clik
47. You Can't Front - Diamond D
48. Gangsta Of Hip Hop - Just Ice
49. La Di Da Di - Doug E Fresh & Slick Rick
50. Ill Street Blues - Kool G Rap & Polo
51. Calm Down - CNN
52. Ultimate (showbiz mix) - Artifacts
53. Tonite's Da Night (original version) - Redman
54. Safe Sex (remix) - Sermon, Erick
55. Get Lifted - Murray, Keith
56. Outro

DISK 2 - The Old Testament Book II (UK)

1. Intro
2. Hip Hop Beat - Rapologist & MC Master C/DJ Whizz Kid
3. Human Time Bomb - Derek B
4. We Got Juice - Derek B
5. Stop The Negativity - Outlaw Posse
6. Our Time - MC Mello
7. North Side - Demon Boyz
8. Glimity Glamity - Demon Boyz
9. Gangster Chronicle - London Posse
10. Money Mad - London Posse
11. Phat Skillz - MC Duke
12. Demanding Cycle Of A Word Bound Hammerhead - Sindecut
13. Battel Creek Brawl - Gunshot
14. 25 Gun Salute - Gunshot
15. Untitled - Hardnoise
16. Bring Forth The Guillotine - Silver Bullet
17. I'm Ready - Caveman
18. On The Mic - Points Proven & Fly
19. Back For More - Cash Crew
20. Taxi - Cash Crew
21. Style Wars - Hijack
22. Don't Go With Strangers - Hijack
23. Class Dismissed - Dynametrix
24. Mind Of A Ordinary Citizen - Blade
25. Crazy Mad Flow - Sonz Of Da Noize
26. Step On Stage - Scientists Of Sound
27. Reverse World - Katch 22
28. X Versus The World - Overlord X
29. How I Make Papes - London Posse
30. How's Life In London - London Posse
31. Pass Me The Rizzla - London Posse
32. Subtraction - MC Mello
33. Mice In The Presence Of A Lion - Hardnoise
34. Onslaught - Standing Ovation
35. Weapon Is My Lyric - Overlord X

Speaking of the gig I went to, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by how good the Foo Fighters were live. I know this is a hip-hop site primarily, but whatever, I can do what I want, and Grohl and co and really play. They made a 14-15,000 capacity arena seem like an intimate town hall gig, were personable with the crowd and even did an acoustic set on a second stage halfway through.

Serj Tankian (of System Of A Down fame) didn’t fare as well as the opening act. Not because he and his band, which Serj said were called ‘The Flying Cunts Of Chaos’ (incidentally drawing giggles from infantile men such as me, and looks of horror on the faces of parents who were with their children) weren’t good, because they were. It was just that people didn’t seem too interested. Plus, a man who essentially metal to the core, regardless of his often zany vocal ramblings, just seemed a bit bewildered to be on stage a 7 in the evening. Anyway, it was a great gig, and proved to me that out of all of the chart Rock outfits that there are today, the Foo Fighters are definitely one of the best.

We’re just riffing here at Northern Author with this post, recalling things to have happened in the past week. First off, I did promise to get some Kid Acne albums up last week but it never happened and I was away from the internet for 5 days. In those 5 days I bought more albums and one I have already shared, but rest assured those Kid Acne albums WILL be upped soon, so be patient.

Also, I may be a little late in declaring my love on this one, but I finally bought ‘Of Gods & Girls’ by Mr J. Medeiros after downloading it and playing it to death. This album has to be one of my favourite albums of the year, and I can’t see that changing at all (maybe I’ll do a ‘top 10 albums of…’ post in December - you never know, if it holds the test of time it may be top). This album has so many songs that should be hit singles its unbelievable. Its just harsh the way the music business is that a great artist like Medeiros (and his group The Procussions) will never get the success they deserve because of politics. An artist such as Kanye West or Lupe Fiasco would have loved to have crafted songs such as ‘Constance’ and ‘Keep Pace’ and for me ‘King Of Rock Bottom’ is one of the best ‘club’ tracks of the year, regardless of the fact that you’re more likely to hear the Iranian national anthem coming out of the speakers of your favourite party establishment.

Another surprise, at least for me, came coupled with disgust at myself, as I downloaded some tracks from probably the biggest hip-hop ’blog’ on the net (if you can still call it a blog) ’The Smoking Section’. A Chris Brown song was in the mix, but I decided to resist the urge of skipping it out of sheer laziness, and found myself nodding my head! The track is called ’Fallen Angel’ and I actually don’t mind it, even though it makes me nearly projectile vomit onto my wall just typing that.

Back to some proper hip-hop to try and redeem myself and earn back my readers, here’s some old Mark B & Blade CD singles from 2001, complete with their B-Sides and bonus loveliness. I bought them when they came out and while looking at my old old old collection I thought a few of the extra tracks on them would be of interest to you lot.

On ‘Ya Don’t See The Signs’, not only do you get the original, and the famous rock version, but you also get the absolutely incredible Phi-Life Cypher remix, in which Life asserts himself as the man with maybe the best flow and rap cadence in hip-hop history. On the ’There’s No Stoppin’ It EP’ you get even more bonus tracks - the EP title track, another track with Life called ’Superior Mind State, the two classics in the form of ’Sealed With A Diss’ and ’Survival Of The Hardest Working’. Without trying to sound like a presenter from a bog-standard shopping channel, these are not to be missed.

Mark B & Blade - Ya Don’t See The Signs (2001)

1.Ya Don’t See The Signs (Grant Nicholas Rock Version) - Prod. by Grant Nicholas of Feeder
2. Ya Don’t See The Signs (LP Version) - Prod. by Mark B
3. Ya Don’t See The Signs (Phi Life Cypher Remix feat. Phi-Life Cypher) - Prod. by Nappa

Mark B & Blade - There’s No Stoppin’ It EP (2001)

1. There’s No Stoppin’ It - Prod. By Mark B
2. Superior Mind State (feat. Life) - Prod. By Mark B
3. Sealed With A Diss - Prod. By Mark B
4. Survival Of The Hardest Working - Prod. By Blade