beat this! a hip hop history (bbc 1984)

arcane, sublime and ridiculous, see malcolm mcclaren, kool herc and sha rock amongst the theatrical intergalactic zulu nonsense. perhaps one for hip hop fans only, who will no doubt enjoy it merely for the sake of sample spotting (largely from gary byrd's excellent rhyming narration). but then again, it's surely a curiosity to behold for anyone wih a passing interest in the genre, in the new york of the early 80s, or in the bbc at its best, in its pivotal, tipping-point cultural role.

so hip hop broke through for many in the UK when the bbc broadcast the 'buffalo gals' video on top of the pops in 1982 (causing outbreaks of breaking in school playgrounds up and down the land); or when, like me, a few years later, they heard ll kool j on john peel. where this documentary fits into that, i'm not sure - i've never heard anyone cite it as an founding influence (perhaps it was late night, midweek, bbc 2, tucked away where no one would notice it) - and i for one only saw it a good fifteen years after its broadcast. but there it was, and here it is.

update: this video can now be found here. thanks crawf.

(with props to andrew for the initial tip-off.)

back from the dead: hkpodcast #1

apologies for slipping into darkness for a month or so there: blame the new job and a trip to morocco; pix from that one coming later ...

but to make up for it, here is the first in a regular series of mixtape podcasts done by myself and dj partner crawford tait. back in the day we did a club in glasgow called
... of which the legendary record collector and bon viveur mr 'andrew' divine was also a large part. it indulged our passion for hip hop, breaks, funk, reggae, disco, cut-ups, and whatever else, and being the types never to quite give up on these things, we never quite gave up, as will be borne witness to here and elsewhere over the coming months.

to download directly, right click and save target as, or left-click to stream, on the mp3 file below. to subscribe, and keep up to date with our podcasts, right click on the podcast icon and then copy the URL into your podcast subscription software (such as iTunes) to schedule updates. as ever, beware the swearwords if yer at work or near children (although there's not as many masturbation references as in the jay-dilla tribute ;) )

hi karate podcast 1 - mp3


tracks
1. les crane - independence: a different drummer
2. ahmad jamal - genetic walk
3. rare earth - crazy love (re-edit)
4. cozy powell - el sid
5. jay dilla - two can win
6. c-swing ft krs-1 - my thing!
7. eddie senay - zambezi
8. red astaire - rockin with the...
9. gorillaz - dirty harry (instrumental) / soul 2 soul - back to life (acapella)
10. gringo starr - made you look (apache remix)
11. missy elliot - we run this
12. katalyst - showtime
13. lefties soul connection - organ donor
14. hai karate - linguistics baby (smalltown djs remix)
15. the younger generation - we rap more mellow
16. dennis coffey - son of scorpio
17. hero no. 7 - better learning thru chemistry
18. black sheep - strobelight honey (def mix (re-edit))
19. restless soul - namby it ain't (instrumental)
20. sound directions- the horse
21. charles pryor - what they doing (funky junky)
22. alton ellis & tupac - nothin like rocksteady
23. sizzla - one of those days

casting my eye over that tracklist, i felt the UK may not have been as amply represented as is appropriate, so to compensate, here's a bonus track featuring a british reworking of one of dilla's best. dirty diggers are also responsible for the epic 'for the haters', but here are in more tongue-in-cheek mode, so download and get the drinks in ...

dirty diggers - let the pound get around mp3

as ever your comments on the mix (or diggers track for that matter) are greatly appreciated, so let us know what you think... and i promise you won't have greyed too much before the next installment.