The Source Magazine Singles File- July 1995

Wow....do i even have to go any further on this. First of all, if yall out there dont own this issue please go out and find it and add it to ur collection. This is a must have for true hip-hop heads like my self. Now, the first time i heard BIG was at a car wash wit my moms and over the radio they played Juicy. The lyrics that stuck wit me was "Super Ninetendo, Sega Genesis/ When i was dead broke man i couldnt picture this!" At the time i was in the 7th grade so any time a rapper could include SNES or Sega Genesis in their raps...im all ears! When i heard Big Poppa for the 1st time i was all in. The way the video was shot was incredible. Like to me that was the next level of living to get to or aspire. In the club wit ur peoples, living the life poppin bottles and hanging wit the ladies and ur gear proper. Me being in the 7th grade, ur mind wasnt about those things yet (except the ladies part at least) but i knew as i get older thats the type of things u kinda look toward more. When i seen that Warning video man i was hype! BIG had me amped up watching that cause he was rhyming so hard with aggression!! I remember hearing his 1st LP from a friend and it was like listening to a motion picture movie! One of the few times when i didnt skip a track on a album. Man o man great times. We always love BIG around here and it will always continue! Please check out what else was crackin that month as well!!

July '95

The Source Magazine Singles File- February 1997

Kim & Foxy....man how have times changed. At the time these 2 was the hottest female rappers in the game (wit Missy Elliott included). They set the standard for what a female emcee supposed to sound like in modern times. And every female tried to follow their style since. Some has excelled while a whole lot has not. Its kind of a hard standard to follow cause these females changed the game for every female to follow. But also it doesn't hurt to have on the job training by some of the all-time greats in the game. Kim learned from BIG. Foxy learned from Jay, Nas & Cormega. I mean thats some very big names there. Not every female emcee has been afforded that type of opportunity to work with greatness. For me, i miss these 2 females in the game. Not only were they very raunchy and sexy, they could rhyme their ass off. They do have classics in their books. Its ashamed the way their careers have gone but ill always remember the good times. The time i seen Kim's promo ad for her 1st LP in 10th grade in a issue of Vibe and people literally fighting for it to have it. If u dont know what ad im talking about, u better ask somebody. And the time I 1st heard Foxy on LL's I Shot Ya remix. I was blown away with what she was saying but she was spittin that raw hot fiyah tho. Those are the times ill remember and i know the rest of u will think the same way. Every time i see this cover ill always remember that. Please check out what else was on fiyah that month as well!!

Feb. '97

The Source Magazine Singles File- February 1996

Ummm....i wish i can tell u guys more about Luke hip-hop wise but i really cant. For me, he had a couple of joints i liked wit 2 Live Crew. And solo wise he had a ill joint that year wit a young Trick Daddy called "Scarred"! That was my shit, im not even gonna lie. Also around this time he had a X-Rated TV show that u had to order on PPV to watch! I seen clips of some of the interviews he had on there wit Lil Kim, Jay Z, 'Pac & BIG. Very classic stuff and x-rated, the footage is out there u gotta search for it! Another thing is Lord Finesse's LP had dropped not too long before this issue came out and to me thats one of my all-time fav. LP's!! I absolutely love that album, its a classic from top to bottom. I can go on & on about that LP. Please check out the other dope joints that was banging that month as well. Dont let the Luke cover fool u!

Feb. '96

Complex Magazine: DJ Premier's 25 Best Beats

Recently on Complex.com they complied a list of DJ Premier's 25 best beats. And it was a very nice list. Now we all have our own personal 25 best beats that Premier has done so its kind of interesting to read what others have listed. 

I remember my 1st time ever listening to a Primo beat and if my memory serves me correct it was in '95 wit D&D All-Stars "Pass It 1,2". When I 1st seen the video for it i was hooked in. I was asking myself i wonder who this dude is wearing a Prairie View T-Shirt thats in NYC! Prairie View is a college that is down here in Houston, TX! So i was shocked by that, but I was hooked on that track. I used to jam that joint like 20x times straight!! Then later on in '95 i was looking at a episode of Rap City which was a old skool Wednesday show. And for the 1st time i seen the Mass Appeal video and i was hooked again. I never heard a beat like that, plus i made it my duty to remember Guru's lyrics as quickly as possible cause he was spittin fire all over that track! From that point on it was kind of easy for me to figure out a Primo track if i heard it cause his boom-bap sound with a crazy ill sample was just something that i fell in love wit. Plus one more thing is the way he does hooks on records. Most people would just get somebody to do the hook whether singing or rappin. He was like hey...hip-hop has already done the hook for me! There are thousands of hip-hop records that has some notable lyrics on it and if u sift through them u can piece together something nice and thats what he's done time and time again. Like Jay Z said to Premier one time for a hook for one of his tracks, "just do the primo thing". 

I made it my duty to provide for yall all 25 tracks that was in this list into a mix. I hope yall love it and jam it in ur rides. I cant see how u guys wont like it..i mean this DJ Premier we talking about here! Rock on my peeps!

Complex Mag. Primo Top 25 Beats