Disco Scratch

Yes people, another track from the vaults of The Palace Of Villainy, this time a tune I never got finished, so I jumped on the mic for the final verse!  I came across Joe quite randomly back about ’98 or so,he came to my house back when I was living in Plaistow East London, as he was an estate manager and was going to manage the property as I was renting it out.  Lo and behold as I’m showing him round, I opened my upstairs landing cupboard up which I had converted into a vocal booth… then he saw the studio and it was on!  A while later him & Skillion Grimes came to my gaff to record Blagger, and 1 other tune which I haven’t even comped (but will soon!)

These guys are hot on the mic… you’ll know Skillion from his cut “Hot Gal” that featured on the Wordlab 2 copmpilation back around 2002.  I’ve just found Joe on facebook so maybe we can link and get some new tracks done, who knows?

Anyway, I wanted to share this Studio Mix with you, it’s unmastered but is mixed down, hope you like it!  It’s a warning to all those going down the paths of self destruction…

 

 Joe Blimey, Skillion Grimes, Waxer - Blagger [5:06m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (300)

Check the mic controllers here:  http://www.myspace.com/daoperation

My homeboys Duck Alert & TJ Fresh put a fly new beat up on Dope Tracks and I felt compelled to rhyme on it.  Now for anyone that knows me, I hardly ever rhyme unless I’m drunk at a party (then it’s the cat sat on the mat type stuff) but I just couldn’t help myself, the vibe of this song is so reminiscent of good childhood memories, the 70s & 80s, my experiences growing up with Hip Hop etc…

This is not mixed down, a bit raw, probably needs a revocal and Duck Alert’s gotta do some cuts on the end, but you get the idea, let me know what you think…

Well, you be the judge, here’s the track:

 

 We Got The Soul [4:14m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (179)

Lyrics…

I REMEMBER THE 1970S
BACK WHEN A JUBBLY WAS THE ONLY REMEDY
I NEEDED, BACK IN 72, THE YEAR I WAS SEEDED
MY MATES FROM MY ESTATE WAS WHO I USED TO BE WITH
ENDLESS SUMMERS, EARLIEST I CAN RECALL
WAS AROUND 77, ALL MY MATES LOVED FOOTBALL
PANINI CARDS, BUT I ROCKED STAR WARS FIGURES
OBSESSED WITH THE FORCE, MARATHONS NOT SNICKERS
SILVER JUBILEE STREET PARTY
CARE FREE TIMES WITH SESAME STREET RHYMES
LONG HAIR, FLARES, LIVERPOOL FC
DOCKER HUGHES RUNNING FOR PRESIDENCY
THEN ALONG CAME THATCHER, HAH, THE MILK SNATCHER
BUT AROUND THE CORNER WAS A MOVEMENT THAT WOULD CAPTURE
A WHOLE GENERATION, WITH ME INCLUDED
HIP HOP, MY WHOLE LIFE CONCLUDED

WHO GOT THE SOUL, WHO GOT THE SOUL
WHO GOT THE SOUL, TELL ME WHERE’S THE SOUL
WHO GOT THE SOUL, WHERE’S THE SOUL
WHO GOT THE SOUL, YOU KNOW WE GOT THE SOUL

I FELL IN LOVE WITH HIP HOP IN ’82
PRINCE CHARLES & DIANA WITH THE RED, WHITE & BLUE
EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, GRANDMASTER FLASH
WATCHING MY ZX SPECTRUM CRASH
83 STARTED SCHOOL, WHAT A WASTE
THEN ELECTRO CAME AND I GOT MY NEXT TASTE
OF FUNK FROM THE MOTHERSHIP, SOUL FROM THE HEART
THEN MY VINYL COLLECTION HAD IT’S START
STREETSOUNDS ELECTRO, THEN I HAD TO BUY THE 12S
FROM 12S TO 1210′S IN ’88 MAKIN’ BLENDS
THROUGH COLLEGE WANTIN’ TO BE BIG DADDY KANE
’89 PE IN BRIGHTON EXPANDED MY GAME
VISCOUS DJS CUTTIN’ UP THE PLASTIC
BATTLED SOME SUCKERS, NOTHIN’ TOO DRASTIC
MET DUCK ALERT & TJ FRESH
20 YEARS LATER MAKIN’ TRACKS SOOOOO DEF….

WHO GOT THE SOUL, WHO GOT THE SOUL
WHO GOT THE SOUL, TELL ME WHERE’S THE SOUL
WHO GOT THE SOUL, WHERE’S THE SOUL
WHO GOT THE SOUL, YOU KNOW WE GOT THE SOUL

COMIN’ THROUGH IN THE ’90S
BEATS SO HARD THEY COULD BLIND ME
BRITCORE LEADING THE WAY FOR THE RAP SCENE
BEATS AND RHYMES SO DEF AND HARDCORE
BRITAIN KICKING ARSE THE WORLD KNEW THE SCORE
1994, THINGS FALL APART
AROUND THE TIME THE BACKPACK HIP HOP START
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE FUNK? WHO GOT THE SOUL?
THE HEART OF HIP HOP HAS JUST BEEN STOLE
MOVIN’ ON, KIDS, JOB & A HOUSE
HIP HOP HAD TURNED INTO A CHURCH MOUSE
YEAR BY YEAR, A FEW GOOD JOINTS
THE DOWNFALL OF HIP HOP IS WHERE MY FINGER POINTS
ARE WE TOO OLD? HAVE THINGS MOVED ON?
CAN AN OLD MAN LIKE ME STEP UP AND MAKE A RAP SONG?
MAYBE, YOU BE THE JUDGE I’M JUST KICKIN’ A FLOW
DUCK ALERT CUT IT UP TELL EM WE GOT SOUL…

I am always knocking up new beats, always looking to collaborate with vocalists, so I decided to start upping my beats for your listening pleasure.  I’ll be posting tracks from the current era and from the last couple of years.  They’ve been in the vaults but I always get to a point with a track and then kind of leave it, even though I know I could get it out… If you are interested in collabing I use Logic 8, or I can knock a beat up in Ableton Live 7 or Reason 4 if you want the full file.

I’ve upped beats to my Dope Tracks account, you can check ‘em out at http://dopetracks.com/Waxer

So this beat’s called Def Decibels, a slow grinder with a murderous bass line, so any MCs that wanna spit bars on it lemme know, or just download it, bung it in your DAW of choice, drop verbals on it and send me a mixdown.

Pass any beats you got to thediscoscratch@gmail.com

Here’s the audio (you might need to roll your bottoms off if you play this loud!)

 

 Def Decibels (Instrumental 192kbps/16 bit/stereo/44.1khz) [3:18m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (140)

Like most people involved in Hip Hop music, I started dabbling with a double tape deck doing pause button mixes.  Back in the day (1984) I had access to my dads’ beautifully engineered Technics tape deck with all its’ fabulous clunkiness.  The pause button on this was second to none and I used to use it with another nameless tape deck I had borrowed.  Problem was layering tracks as one was faster than the other so I had to swap the way I recorded each time.  This progressed when I got a music centre with a double tape on it.  Much easier but pause buttons were not as accurate as the Tech, so this needed cunning to get the edits the way you wanted it.

Around 1988 or 1989 I got a Commodore Amiga 500 and a Tascam 4 track recorder and this was off the richter for old Stevie Boy, and it’s from this era that I started to actually save tracks.  The tape I am ripping these from is actually my backup tape as I seem to have lost the original, so it’s second generation.  I still have the original 4 track master tapes but to way of getting the recordings off.  SO if anyone has got a 4 track let me know ‘cos I need one!

This first track was from around 1990 and is instrumental, as were most of my beats unless I put an accapella over the top.  I actually rhymed on a couple of tracks which will see the light of this blog at some point!  The track uses samples from Children Of The Corn 2, Bob James and a couple of raw breakbeats I looped up which I can’t remember where from, but I know I must have the original somewhere as the only breakbeat albums I had then were originals, except Simon Harris which doesn’t count as they are gash anyway!

It’s an above mid tempo but not mega fast tune which reminds me of the scene at the time, very raw and much more concentrated on beats and rhymes as opposed to slick production.  Anyway, as with all my tracks they are only demo versions, mostly unmastered and not of fantastic quality, but hey, they are in most cases 15 to 20 years old so who cares?!  Also the names were only working titles, and as this one has samples of Children Of The Corn and is a Britcore tune, I called it Brit Corn (dodgy I know, but at least I knew what tune I meant!)

Anyway, here’s the audio…

 

 Brit Corn [5:01m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (176)