This group was on fire at the time. They just picked up a Grammy and there album was going gold, that explains the extra swagger in there step.
Watch Digable Planets do there thing on the big stage of the American Music Awards.
Here we go, y’all. This is a rare clip of Mos Def (UTD days, ack like you know) freestyling at CKLN w/ Thrust* . Check the introduction courtesy of the prestigious Johnbronski.
From Canadian hip-hop documentary “Make Some Noise” (1994)
*Peep Fatski in the background. I’m loving the 100 Miles name drop courtesy of the then relatively unknown Mos Def.
Probably one of the nicest rap covers of all time, check out Uncle Calvin perform Lodi Dodi on SNL. Peep the Tommy shirt in full effect.
The live band was really working, until the guitarist tried to do his best Slash impersonation at the end of the song. It did’nt look like Snoop was feelin it that much either.
This is back when The Alchemist was in a group called The Whooliganz with his partner Mad Skillz. No, not that Mad Skillz, this was the name used by a young Scott Caan, yes, James Caans son.
Anyway, check out this clip of Alchemist (Mudfoot) speaking on the state of hip hop.
What the hell did he just say????
10 to 15 years ago, “Swag” wasn’t something that described how much charisma you had, it didn’t determine your style, demeanor or the presence that was felt when you stepped into a room. It stood for something else. It stood for, “Shit We All Get”. And gotdamnit I loved getting some S.W.A.G..
Just in time for TheMeaningOfDope’s first S.W.A.G. post, the good people at NahRight dropped an ad that Lil Wayne has done for J. Prince’s “Strapped Condoms”. We’re sorry Weezy, but nothing comes close to the promotional handouts for Big Pun’s debut, “Capital Punishment” that hit streets nearly 1 decade ago.
Street level marketing in Hip-Hop is nowhere near this hot anymore.
The other day I was rapping to some kids about this MeaningOfDope shit, and my boy T-rexXx started going off on how a lot of these younger Wu fans weren’t able to take in the impact of 36 Chambers when it dropped. That sound of Bring The Ruckus and Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthin Ta F Wit, was mind boggling and grimey beyond anything we had heard before. He talked about rocking the fronts with the fangs, letting his hair out, and roaming the blocks with bats, and a look of amazement and near confusion seemed to glaze the faces of these younger cats like we were whilin’ just speaking on it.
There’s a definite disconnect when it comes to the Wu era and who the majority of their fanbase is represented by these days, and while we love that the kids are realizing that Wu-Tang is for them, there’s not much we can do to help them re-live the experience of waiting to see Ghost without the mask, Meth dropping Tical, ODB on some solo shit, and the release of the highly anticipated “Purple Tape”, other than continue to share our stories and tell them like it was.
One of the dopest and catchiest tunes off of the classic, “De La Soul is Dead” album, we didn’t even know a video existed for this song until stumbling upon it a couple of days ago, let alone having Vinia Mojica singing on this rare as fuck T.V. mix of the tune. Vinia may be more familiar to some of ya’ll as the voice on Kweli’s banger, “The Blast”, Heltah Skeltah’s, “Therapy”, and Hi-Tek’s, “The Sun God”, featuring Common, but she had definitely been putting it down from early times, going back as far as The Jungle Brothers classic, “Done By The Forces Of Nature”, (appearing on ‘Acknowledge Your Own History’).
We tried searching this video on the web and came up blanks or fakes, and invite you to do the same. If you find it it’ll probably be out there chilling with Waldo, Carmen Sandiego, and if you’re lucky, K-Solo.
Otherwise, you’re in the right spot already.
If you don’t know about Ghetto Concept and you’re from Toronto, it’s alright, a lot of people were born in the 90’s too.
Here’s some homegrown footage of the dudes responsible for “E-Z On The Motion”, kicking random freestyles poolside during the Jack The Rapper Conference in ‘94.
DAAAM!!! Here is a promo spot for the classic Liks album Coast II Coast.
This is a bugged out 15sec spot for the “Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age” album.
There’s always a lot of talk concerning older folks bragging about the Golden Era of Hip-Hop. The 93, 94, 95, 96 time period being the equivalent of the Jordan III, IV, V, VI, releases, (this is gonna start some problems). If there has ever been a single piece of evidence that them times were in fact the prime moments for Hip-Hop as a culture, it’s the January 95 Issue of The Source, reviewing what 1994 brought to us as fans and supporters of this shit.
HERE ARE SOME GEMS TO PROVE US OLD FOLKS RIGHT
