The studio was packed full of guests, including DJ Kam, Courageous Chief (aka “Horrendous Teeth” according to G), Awol, a boisterous Tony D (fresh from the studio having recording some new tracks with the Poor Righteous Teachers), the Hillbillies (“straight out of Muck Holly”… and seriously, does no one remember “Bottom of the Hamper Jam”?), and others.

Perhaps the main reason to check this one out is the primary in-studio guest: a 23-year-old Apache (RIP). “Gangsta Bitch” had just hit and the album (Apache Ain’t Shit) was on the way. It’s kind of strange to come across this particular unlabeled tape so shortly after Apache’s death.

In addition to the typical “what’s up with your album”-type questions, we find out important things like Apache’s favorite ice cream flavor and how he knows “this thing ain’t gonna last” because he doesn’t like “industry people.”

Side B features a great Thursday Night Live session with DJ Kam on the wheels:

• Awol
• Tony D (RIP)
• Courageous Chief
• Baby Chill (RIP)
• Almighty Poppa S-Man (from the Dungeon Lords)
• The Coup Man (?) (from the Dungeon Lords)
• EP (from The Hillbillies) (sounds like the only one that comes off the top)
• B-Struck (from The Hillbillies)
• EP
• Tony D

The show features music from Cutty Ranks, Show and AG, Positive K, Heather B, Main Source, Chubb Rock, Das EFX, Grand Puba, Ice Cube, Diamond D, and The Funk Family.

The show closes out with G discussing some upcoming extended-length shows. He also pimps one of the early episodes of Vibes and Vapors.

This is a great 90 minutes. I hope I come across the earlier part of the show at some point.

I’m dating this one at early July 1992. For those OCD nerds that are interested in how I came to that… all of the newer tracks they played were released in 1992 and there’s a very short snippet of a commercial from the episode discussing Greek Picnic Weekend in Philadelphia, which in 1992, was on July 11 or 18.

There’s a little back and forth between Easy M and G on here as we join them partway into the show. They do a ticket giveaway for an Arrested Development/Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy/Me Phi Me show at Mahorn’s. They also mention an upcoming Pete Rock and CL Smooth show at the same joint. Mahorn’s was a club in NJ owned by former 76er Rick Mahorn. The club shut down a year-and-a-half later due to an issue related to gun violence, if I remember correctly. The segment in the linked video starting at 5 minutes shows the club’s final night ended in fights, captured on camera by Philly’s DJ Ran:

Kam and Chief are headed up to the studio but are late, apparently because they “took a wrong exit off the warpath.” The Crusaders for Real Hip-Hop are also on their way. The only guest in the studio is Harold from Up and Up Productions, a local recording studio that I think was in Willingboro (or maybe Trenton) and used to air ads on PRB featuring local talent. G also mentions the “phat package,” a giveaway batch of CDs and promo materials.

Tracks of note include the “brand new” “I Ain’t Da One” from Brothers Uv da Blakmarket, a Paterson, NJ-based crew associated with the Flavor Unit that put out one album on Select. Also work checking, the Little Bastards’ “Stunt, Get a Job” (the clean version of the A-side “Bitch, Get a Job” single).

The side ends with a “Time Vault” segment of old school cuts from Busy Bee and the Masters of Ceremony.

Back in 1992, I was 17-years-old, filled with love for hip-hop at a time that most of my peers were moving onto other genres. A friend and I were making (admittedly pretty awful) music and I was armed with a good quality dual-cassette deck. Beginning in 1992 and going through 1995 I compiled the best hip-hop singles and soundtrack appearances into a 90-minute collection and sold them to friends and online. It was a great time.

Here is the first of the four editions of The Year in Rap. This one isn’t mixed or blended, as I didn’t own a 4-track or mixer, so it’s a pretty straightforward compilation. Just using a tape deck didn’t stop me from trying to make it sound like I was using vinyl, though, even faking the sound of a record stopping and doing a “remix” of Tung Twista’s “Mr. Tung Twista” by using the pause-tape method of switching between the acapella and vocal versions of the track.

In this era where pretty much every great mixtape has found its way online, this one certainly isn’t one of the best or most sought-after, but it does hold some treats. For a few of the tracks, I opted to use versions I’d heard on the radio, so you’ll hear DJ Jay-Ski and DJ Kam unknowingly participating on my mixtape (the version of “Dwyck” is especially dope). And while there aren’t any seriously rare joints here, it probably is one of the few “year in review” mixes that includes Raheem and Insane Poetry alongside Naughty By Nature and Roxanne Shante. This is the least interesting (and least technically proficient) of the four tapes in the series, but after listening to it today for the first time in probably ten years, I can say it’s still a good listen.

The j-card (remember those?) is handmade, printed from my old Apple II compatible onto a dot-matrix printer. The shout-outs are embarrassing and the references to a SASE, Dolby B, and HX Pro are quaint.

Enjoy.

click through for the full j-card

Side 1 starts right off with in-studio guest DJ Polo.  There’s a lot of interesting stuff that comes up throughout.  Polo is shamelessly pimping a 1-900 number where he’s encouraging MCs to call and rhyme.  He guarantees three rappers will get contracts.  Polo also discusses an upcoming solo album that will feature Eric B., Father MC, and Brand Nubian.  He says he rhymes on one of the songs, too, but declines G’s offer to step up for a Thursday Night Live freestyle.

Honestly, Polo comes off as a bit cocky (to say the least), proclaiming that he discovered Kool G. Rap and that without him, there would be no Eric B. and Rakim.  He also talks about a new TV show that will be debuting “in a month” that sounds like a precursor to Cribs where Polo will go to rappers’ houses and interview them there.  “I’m gonna take you up to Big Daddy Kane’s house when he’s all up in his drawers, and all that,” Polo promises, “’Cause I’m down with all the rappers.”

As far as I know, the Polo solo album never materialized and neither did his show.  And who knows what became of the 900 # record deal offer.  Nevertheless, Polo steps to the tables on side 2 for a dope Kool G. Rap set.

The real gem, though, comes at 20:26 on side 1, where they play a tape (?) copy of a brand new track from G. Rap and Polo called “Keep It Swingin’.”  This version is completely different (and a thousand percent better) than the version that showed up on 1996’s Rated XXX compilation.  It definitely feels like it would have fit on Live and Let Die right next to “Operation CB” or “Letters.”  Anyone know if this version is actually available anywhere else?  I’ll go out on a limb and say it’s one of G. Rap’s best.

Mike Elliot from Krush Video and Krush Radio is also in the studio.  He briefly mentions a new venture with Tony Mitchell as well as his upcoming book, The Unsigned Rapper’s Guide to Getting a Record Deal, which he self-published and eventually made a 15x return on his investment.

Side 2 closes out with the first 18 minutes of Sounds of the Underground.

(Update: I should have added that I did cut out a lot of commercials and a few songs, as I occasionally did to save tape. All the interesting stuff is still here, though.)

This is the B-side of yesterday’s DJ Kam mix. I suspect it came from Q102, but I’m not totally sure.

I’m not sure which station this was broadcast on. I doubt it was PRB since I have it on this tape by itself. I suspect it was a guest spot on Power 99 or Q102.

This is side A of a tape that features Jay-Ski on the flipside (post coming tomorrow). Audio quality is kind of meh.

A quick personal interjection here. Jay-Ski was actually one of the first people I ever talked to online about hip-hop. Back in 1988, when I was in 7th grade, I remember talking with him via an old school BBS. Crazy. I eventually met him in person a number of years later at Sound Express in Willingboro. Zulu, on the other hand, I have a slightly different connection to. On Easter Sunday of 1994, I went to a teen club in Marlton, New Jersey to see Doug E. Fresh perform. Thing is, Doug E. never showed up. Zulu was the MC of the show and was talking up an open mic competition that was going on when all of a sudden, the crowd erupted into a riot. I remember Zulu trying to calm everyone down, but the place went nuts. I got clocked in the head with a chair and the two or three security people working that night were completely bloodied. Easily the most insane night of my life. The club never opened back up after that.

Though the show doesn’t feature any really spectacular rarities, there is a goofy Zulu skit worth checking (12 minutes in) and a short dis aimed at Power 99 (19:13 in):

Well chiggedy checks it, Q102 wrecks it, yes, every hour,
You didn’t pay the bills so we’re shutting down your power,
…
You down with hip-hop? Check what you sayin’.
You’ve got a “No Rap Workday,” stop perpetratin’.

At 26:24 is the “Street Sound Showdown,” a one-on-one battle of songs from local artists. This time around: “Blow My Mind” by Lady Fresh (kind of wack) versus “Keep It Goin’” by Tucannon (sp?), who sounds an awful lot like Shä-Key (now going by Hanifah Walidah). Same person, perhaps?

Side B is a forgettable set from “Downtown” Julie Brown‘s pretty terrible mainstream “American Dance Traxx” show. The only things really worth hearing are the ads, including a great one nine minutes in for Zulu/Jay-Ski’s show.

Something I noticed here, and in several other episodes: a lot of the drops that people did for the station had been very obviously editted. Usually it’s something like “I’m listening to Raw Deal with Easy-M (awkward cut) and my man G,” which means that Tony D’s name may have been cut out. I was thinking it was some sort of dis, but they shout to him on this episode, so I really don’t know.

Stuff to listen for:

• Biz Markie’s cover of “They’re Coming to Take Me Away.” I totally forgot he had done this track back in ’86.
• Lots of talk about violence at movie openings. Juice was opening that day, but they didn’t want to give away any tickets because of shooting incidents at a lot of recent “urban” movie openings.
• Radio drops from Gang Starr, UMCs, Black Sheep, Treach, and and the Ultramagnetic MCs.
• Side 1, from 25:02 through 25:11, my shout-out/friendly dis to the DJ I was working with at the time… always thought this one was kind of funny.
• A nice track from Jaz, “Hypocritters.”
• Easy-M relating how he showed a guy at Armand’s (a legendary record spot in Philly) his belly button ring (?!).
• A kind of baffling sore-throat losenge ad for Cepacol and Cepastat.
• Kicking off side 2, an underground track from some of Marc’s friends, Groovy Productions. It’s titled “Up to the Top” and I’m willing to bet this one never made it to vinyl. Sounds like it’s played off of cassette. Dope cut.
• The “Hip-Hop Concert Calendar.”
• G and Easy talking about the PM Dawn/KRS-One incident (2nd paragraph).
• Black Poets’ “Clockwork.”
• Studio guests include Clay Money and the Black Poets.
• Tung Twista’s “Hocus Pocus,” which was the B-side to the “Mr. Tung Twista” 12″, but didn’t make it onto the album (a stupid move because the album was pretty short, IIRC).
• A radio drop freestyle by DJ Kam and Zulu the One Man Gang (“Turn off your TV and tune into 103 / Because the radio doesn’t suck on PRB.”).
• A public service announcement from the Lifers Group.

Side 3 ends with some house music from Easy-M’s “Sounds of the Underground.” It kicks off with a pretty jazzy little track.

What’s up, Laze. We’ve corresponded about this PRB stuff before. I noticed the most recent entry and had to dig into my tapes to send you something. I have a freestyle featuring most of the folks you mentioned in the post. Could be the missing half of the most recently posted show. At the very least, it would make a good submission to the site.

When I listened, I clearly remembered this episode, so I must have it on tape somewhere as well. Thanks for sending it in, Tom!

And so, here it is, an excellent Thursday Night Live session from 1992:

This is a good set, from a night when the studio was full: Jay-Ski, Cosmic Kev, AJ Shine, Three Nations in One (whose DJ, Scratch reportedly “cut with his mouth”), DJ Kam, Tone, B. Chill (RIP), B. Fine and the Funk Family, YZ, and Zulu the One Man Gang in the studio. There’s a good interview segment in there with B. Chill and his brother B. Fine. Hopefully I can find the rest of this show in my collection at some point because there was a Thursday Night Live freestyle session that had to be dope with that line-up in the house.