Friday, December 08, 2006
Happy 50th Birthday, Red Alert!
After the sad news yesterday about the shooting of Power 105.1 DJ Carl Blaze, how about a positive reflection on hip hop that I've been sitting on for too long: a post about the 50th Birthday party thrown by D-Nice and Chris Lighty for legendary hip hop DJ Red Alert the night before Thanksgiving.
This party was ridick. D-Nice and Q-tip on the 1's and 2's spinnning classics the entire night joined by Marley Marl and Funkmaster Flex in the booth and Nice & Smooth and Slick Rick on stage all paying much-deserved respect to this rap icon.
For one evening Lil Wayne and Young Jeezy didn't exist, Rakim was still the G.O.A.T. and Marley Marl was the best producer in hip hop. Nothing wrong with the new turks who I rep all day and yeah, it was basically some old man hip hop nostalgia framed in rose-tinted Cazals but it was a night of great memories getting to hear music like this spun again:
- Eric B & Rakim "Follow The Leader" [MP3: YSI | zshare stream/download] - MySpace | Buy Rakim's 18th Letter album
- Boogie Down Productions "South Bronx" [MP3: YSI | zshare stream/download] - MySpace | Buy BDP's Criminal Minded album
Bonus sounds:
Red Alert on KISS-FM back in the day via Palms Out Sounds: Part 1 | Part 2
Tuff Crew "Wreck Shop" [MP3: YSI | zshare stream/download] - I don't know if Red ever really played these cats during his KISS-FM heyday but they were always one of my favorites and severely overlooked IMHO. F-cks with this Philly crew especially if you liked Ultramag. (more: MySpace | Buy Tuff Crew's Back to the Wreck Shop album
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