Backstage Soundtrack (RTR Version)

This movie every time i see it brings back very great memories. It reminds of a time when hip-hop was hot & exclusive and still capitalizing off how huge '98 was. This tour took place in my senior year in '99, everybody was hyped about it and couldnt wait for them to visit their town. But there were naysayers saying that the violence would ruin it or the rappers will ruin it cause they couldnt get along wit each other. Well those rumors were put to rest cause this tour brought the house down to every town they went! It was a huge success! When they went to Denver after that shooting happened in Columbine, they donated the money to that cause. It was this tour that showed people that hip-hop can be marketed and be a huge money maker. So all those tours u see now are all birthed from this. Before this, no huge tours was being made in hip-hop since the 80's cause of violence. But this tour just shattered the mold.
Also this tour was a reminder of how cool everybody was wit each other and how dope everybody was at that time. But man o man how have times changed. Jay is still Jay but not the Jay of that time if u understand. Red & Meth arent as relevant anymore. X is self explanatory, plus him and Jay arent as cool anymore either. Beans fell off completely and blames Jay for it.Memphis havent been relevant in years since! Ja ruined his own career. Even Eve fell off and Busta who made a small appearance isnt no where near what he was. So boy how has the times changed, but when i watch this every time it brings me back to that '99-00 time frame when it was all good and the music was great!
Now this soundtrack was a huge success sales wise, it did great numbers. But for me it coulda been way better & hotter. There wasnt even a Method Man or DMX track on this joint??? Aint that crazy? So i had to revise this joint a bit and do my own version of it. Some tracks i kept and the rest i dropped but the tracks i added fit perfectly for the theme of this soundtrack. Its pretty much '99-00 all over again but in a well sequenced way! Hope yall enjoy it and rock out to it! One!

Backstage Pass

Recognize The Real presents The Dapper Dan Era ('86-'88)

You know for a certain time in hip-hop the rappers didnt dictate the latest styles, the hustlers and the gangsters did. In the mid '80s hip-hop was still trying to figure what the main style was, whether was it was dressing like rock starts like Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five or dressing like Run-DMC with the leather pants & jacket wit the hats. I mean it really wasnt set in stone yet. But around '86 things started to change and it started in Harlem. If you are familiar to the game and know hip-hop like u should, we all know in Harlem around that time Alpo & Rich Porter plus AZ was running thangs in the streets. They was moving that weight and was considered kings in the hood of Harlem. As u know, if u living large like they were at the time u was definitely gonna flaunt it. I mean u have to dress the part to be the part. And where they did they go? A local designer in Harlem on 125 St. named Dapper Dan had his own store there. And he gave the opportunity most people in the hood never had, and that was for us to actually get major fashion design labels to wear. Back then labels like Gucci, MCM, Louis Vuitton & Fendi was costing astronomical prices plus they wasnt catering to us black folks.
So Dapper Dan was able to get madddd bulkloads of  Gucci, MCM, Louis Vuitton & Fendi print material sent to him from Korea using his connects. And he was able to design custom clothing outfits to cater to the masses of NYC. He was ahead of its time in sort of ways cause those labels wasnt making clothes like this yet, they was still years away from doin anything even similar to this. Dapper was even takin it further by customizing interior of cars using the same print plus wheel covers! So as Dapper Dan was doin his thing making these pieces, the streets was watching and hustlers & gangsters was peepin game. They knew this was the dude to go to get that fly shit that showed others that they was the don dada in the hood. Dapper Dan's store was open 24 hrs a day!! Thats crazy to even think about, but he had people workin around the clock at all times. The hustlers & gangsters of Harlem used to come at all times of the day to get custom pieces of clothing made for them. So now the word of mouth has spread and it caught the hip-hop world's attention. And the 1st MC to put his stamp on it was Rakim & his partner Eric B in the "Paid In Full" video. Once Rakim did that in '86 it was on and poppin from there. Every rapper from the 80's damn near, went to Dapper Dan to get their outfits done. It was only right for this man to outfit you and Mike Tyson knew that too, thats why he hired Dan to be his personal tailor. So that endorsement right there is a official stamp to let u know how big this dude was in the 80's.
I made this mix inspired by that brief time in hip-hop '86-'88, cause that was a time in hip-hop when it was making the move to big time and everybody was being creative. And Dapper Dan was the man leading the way. I tried to create a mix to kind of recapture what the hustlers & gangsters was listenin to in their rides driving up to Harlem 125th St. going to Dapper's coppin their pieces. Thats what i tried to do with this, im pretty sure they was jammin these joints during this time plus every rapper in this mix wore Dapper Dan in some point of time during that period. I hope yall like this joint. I love this mix myself and i will be jammin this alot and i think u will do the same!

Lookin very Dapper!

Recognize The Real presents Who's The Best MC? Pt. 2

The Argument continues.....There is really no cut clear answer for some. For some it changes by the day to the month to the year. So hopefully by listening to this series ur mind can be made up or it still might not. But dont worry, there is still more volumes to this series and many more chances to make ur decision.

The Debate Continues......

Belly- The Soundtrack (RTR Version)

This movie to me gave me a insight into how New York life really was. I mean i saw it all the time in videos and that nature but never in a feature film for our generation of '98. And thank god Hype Williams was able to put this together for the masses. I remember when this movie 1st made it to Dish Network i begged my moms so i could order it and watch it. When i did, i recorded it on vhs and that is my only copy of this movie til this day! This movie gave birth to so many lines in hip-hop such as "One", nobody was sayin that it always keep it real or one love not just "One". But DMX started so many trends in this movie its not even funny. But who knew X could act like that? He was great! And I dont care what nobody says, Nas did a great job as well. I mean nobody even thought Nas could act at all and for him to do this was great within itself. I just deep down love this movie to death!!
Now when the soundtrack came out for this film it was sellin madd copies everywhere. And it was very successful, but to me somethin was missing. To me it wasnt all that great that people thought it was. Now because soundtracks sometimes come out on major labels, the major labels is gonna flood it with tracks by their artists whether they are established one or ones that are brand new and introducing them. If u look on the tracks on here, some of these artists had very short careers if any. So i was thinkin let me flip it. Like pops said on Boomerang, "u gotta flip it!" (i aint gonna say all that he said but u know). Now some of the songs on here i kept, but the others i dropped off and replaced them with tracks that i felt should have been on this soundtrack. This will really bring u back to '98 when everything was poppin and hip-hop was risen to a level to where a movie like could come out. I always say '98 was the final golden year of hip-hop, ever since '99 its been a slow decline to where we at now. I hope yall enjoy this re-working of this soundtrack i put together and bang out to it!! And no there is no Stan Spit tracks on here....smh.

Belly Soundtrack revisted

Recognize The Real presents The Best Of Easy Mo Bee

Before i really knew who DJ Premier & Pete Rock were and what they did, Easy Mo Bee was my fav. producer comin up listenin to hip-hop. This man's sound was like a sonic explosion but he flipped it in many ways. Back in '94 when i 1st heard Craig Mack's "Flava In Ya Ear", i lost my mind!! That was the 1st song i can remember that i just fell heard over heels for. I thought at the time that was the hardest beat i ever heard!1 I must have jammed that repeatedly back in those days. Now the crazy thing is that Craig Mack wasnt the orig. recipient of that beat, Lost Boys was. Lost Boys was givin that beat and Craig Mack had "Lex, Coupes, Bimaz & Benzes" beat. Now the story goes is that both couldnt really do nothin wit was they was givin so Puff was able to work out a trade that worked for both parties. And speakin of Puff, he should give this man a lifetime's check for gettin his label off the ground with a distinct sound. He gave them a sound that propelled them to where they at now. Over the years this man's work been kind of overlooked but hopefully when u listen to this mix you will see he deserves to be mentioned with the all-time greats! Oh and it dont hurt that he produced tracks for BIG & Pac, and did a track with both of them together. I mean thats legendary status for me, i dont know whats higher than that!! Please give this a listen and give this man his props!

Easy Mo Bee

Recognize The Real presents Houston: The City I Repp

Even tho i will always have that NY State of Mind & I know more about NY Hip-Hop than most New Yorkers...I still have to repp the city where im from which is Houston!! This is a city which is very diversified with many races but there is one common thing....the music. In every town in the city u can hear cars passin by jammin Screw. Whether its a tape by DJ Screw himself or new music that just came out that is Screwed or etc, that is what u always hear. Or its just music that is by rappers from our city, we always support our own. Our city is the one of the few that u can go platinum in it alone and thats incredible. Look, it took me awhile to accept this music from down here. I came up listening to music that was on Yo! Mtv Raps & Rap City when i was younger. Thats all i knew at one point. Then when i moved to El Paso, TX in late '95 i became fully engulfed in east coast music. That was what all my friends listened to was east coast music, thats all i knew. Only 'Pac from the west coast was gettin played & Outkast from the south was gettin played. That was it point blank period. But when we moved again in '97 to where im at now which is a hour 1/2 outside of Houston, things changed. The whole music scene was a change for me and the culture down here as well. It was a 360 turn. It was real slow living down here, people just like to chill and relax down here. But the music caught me off guard. When i 1st heard Screw music i thought the person's tape deck broke!! I was like whats wrong with ur tape player? They was like aint nuthin wrong wit it, thats Screw! I was like what? My 1st year of high school down here (11th grade) people was looking at me as the guy who dont like Screw music. They thought i was crazy, but i rebelled against it cause it was somethin new to me. But low and behold during the end of of that school year the music grabbed a hold of me and i learned to accept it. I learned i can still listen to NY hip-hop and love it but still repp my city at the same time. Like DJ Premier said "Im a Texas New Yorker"!! Now this mix i made pretty much sums up Houston hip-hop as a whole, these are Houston classics in which is the foundation of the culture. Some songs on here are Screwed & some aren't. But please just give it a chance and listen to it and u never know..u might like it. Hey it took me a couple months to accept it but i learned to love it and now i cherish it. This is my city and i am proud of what we have built down here hip-hop wise. We have many legends down here responsible for laying the bricks to build this up to where it is now, but unfortunately they are no longer wit us. People like the legendary DJ Screw ( the originator), Fat Pat (arguably the greatest MC to come out of houston), Big Moe (the harmonizer flower) & Big HAWK (Screwed Up Clik member). May they R.I.P. Ok yall, play this joint in ur rides or whatever and let ur boy now how u like it!! H-Town represent know what im talkin bout!

My City: H-Town!

Recognize The Real presents BET After Dark Pt. 2

Once again yall thought i was gonna stick wit just 1 of this series??? Once again somebody done told u wrong. Im in it for the long haul! And I keep things movin wit part 2 of this R&B series. Trust me, this would b perfect for u just riding in ur whip or if u wit ur ol' lady or if u trying to impress an lady. I got u covered with this, just stay tuned and im gonna hold u down!

BET After Dark 2

Recognize The Real presents A Medley Of Clue Pt. 2

Cmon now guys, u thought i wasnt gonna keep up on this series? U thought it was over wit part one? U know i wont let u guys down, i dont do that to my people out there! Im happy people enjoyed Pt. 1, i hope it brought people back to the times when mixtapes was fun and exclusive. Thats all im trying to do is making it fun again with new concepts and ideas!! More of the same wit this one, let ur feelings know down below of what u think. And sorry people no tracklisting, it would be daunting to know the names for these joints but if u a real mixtape head then u should already know if u memory is good. I know mine is. Rock on yall!!

A Medley of Clue Pt. 2

The Source- Rap's New Generation: Class Of '98 (Mixtape)

People think XXL started that whole Freshman Class thing of new rappers coming out for that year, but it was the Source who birthed that whole thing way back in '98. Hip-hop was comin off a very successful year in '97 when albums was flying off the shelves and in '98 Hip-Hop just went to another level man. In '98 albums was swooping off the shelves and commercial success was coming everyone's way. I remember when this issue came out and i still have Orig. copy in the archives. As u look at the cover it seemed it was a whole new batch of MC's that was gonna take us into the 2000s and beyond. U know sometimes u think certain things will go on the right path and with no hitches, and with this batch of artists it seemed they came out of nowhere whether it was fate or self-inflicted or just their time of hotness just worn out.
In '98 Silkk da Shocker was sellin LPs like hot cakes & No Limit was a label to be reckoned with. Kurupt at this time had built up a nice solo rep displaying very ill rhyme skills and a very solid dope 1st LP Kuruption (which was a double album). DMX was competing with Jigga & Nas for status as #1 MC in the game, he was everywhere in '98 and his 1st LP was flying off shelves. Peter Gunz & Lord Tariq had the whole NY on smash wit 1 record "Deja Vu", this was gettin radio play every 10 seconds it seemed like. And they was the 1st ones to get Jay & Nas on the same record (thats a great feat to me at the time). Cam'ron had all ladies & niggas goin crazy over "Horse & Carriage" then he took it to the streets wit ".357". He showed huge potential and and gave reason to why Biggie made sure he got signed before he passed. The legendary Big Pun was making soundwaves in the game with his spit fire rhymes and puttin boriquas on the map! He was the 1st latino rap artist to have a LP go double platinum! Cappadonna was branching away from the WU and got heads open wit "97 Mentality" which led to his 1st LP The Pillage to receive positive reviews. Eightball went solo and released a platinum plus double album Lost. Noreaga blew heads away wit "Superthug" which was the new anthem worldwide, released a classic solo debut and was featured on so many tracks its way to many to count! Then u have the young neophyte Canibus, an MC who came out of nowhere the previous year who in '98 decided to go against the legendary LL Cool J and damn near ended his career!
Fast Forward to 2012, Silkk made all of his money and disappeared. Kurupt was still kinda relavant thru the years but nowhere near where was at solo wise. DMX is kinda self explanatory, if u would have told me back in '98 that he would fall off i would have laughed at u. Its a damn shame what happened to X. Lord Tariq & Peter Gunz 1st LP flopped and went their separate ways. Cam'ron had showed potential thru the last decade and was making strides, in 2002 u could argue he was that dude for a hot minute. But many bad decisions ruined his fate like wearin pink (many people did as well but cmon), beefin wit Jay, beefin wit Nas, beefin wit 50, nursery rhyme style, no longer wit the Diplomats, goin on national TV talkin about he wont never snitch even if the killer is livin next door.....as u can see many decision just killed this dude. The sad fate of Big Pun, just wished he could of watched his weight a little better but we miss him! Cappadonna went from the WU to drivin taxi's! Eightball is a legend wit MJG so his status is pretty much set. Noreaga is very sad one for me, this dude from '98-'01 was one of the most elite MC's in the game. I mean he was star!! But after 2002 he just slowly declined man then in '04 he went reggatoni and look where that went. He started a couple of years ago to get back in the rap game but his audience is much different now. Just very disappointing. And finally Canibus, the 1st bad decision he made was runnin wit Wyclef! That is the worst pairing ever, two different styles that didnt mesh. 2nd bad decison was going against LL, he was winning at 1st then LL dropped "The Ripper Strikes Back" and preserved his career. 3rd bad decision was going against Eminem in '02, he was never gonna win the battle in the public's eye. His albums never sold madd copies and its a shame Def squad or another crew never took him in.

As u can see this class showed mad potential in '98 and couldve been mentioned up there with the class of '86 & '94, but it didnt happen sadly. So i present u a little short mix of the class of '98 to give them some light and u can see what made them so promising! Enjoy!

Freshmen of '98