Review: Mr Bongo has already reissued a swathe of classic albums and singles from legendary hip-hop duo EPMD, whose place in the pantheon of rap greats has long been assured. Here they continue to mine the duo's catalogue, delivering a new edition of the pair's 1987 debut single (which, it should be noted, has long been hard to find on "45"). 'It's My Thing' remains a classic hip-hop club cut, with flowing rhymes rising above a backing track rich in raw drum machine hits, aquatic p-funk bass and sampled snatches of a smooth, disco-era soul number. Flipside 'You're a Customer' is a more sparse and stripped back affair, with slightly faster-paced raps riding stuttering beats and a squelchy synth bassline.
Review: Although it was originally released at the height of hip-house mania (1988 to be exact), EPMD's 'I'm Housin' is not a rap-sporting house record. It is, though, a bona-fide club classic, with E Double E and PMD trading verses atop a rolling, dancefloor-friendly groove built from elements of Aretha Franklin's 1971 soul classic 'Rock Steady'. All these years on, it still sounds fresh - as this Mr Bongo reissue of the rare 1989 UK seven-inch version proves. In a word: essential.
Review: EPMD arrived as an almost unbelievably well-formed hip hop group in the 1980s. Right from the moment they dropped their 1989 debut - 'Strictly Business' - they soared, immediately backed it up with 'Unfinished Business' in 1989 then came more big hitters like 'The Big Payback.' But 'Strictly Business' remains one of the NYC duo's most significant and best-loved singles and it is pressed up here to its own 7" courtesy of hardcore fans Mr Bongo. It's a track with tons of samples, scratching, smooth bars and churning beats. Flip it over for an instrumental.
Review: Given that Gang Starr recently reformed and jazz is now all the rage, it seems fitting that Mr Bongo has decided to reissue the rare 7" version of the group's 1990 masterpiece "Jazz Thing". It's a wholehearted tribute to the greats of jazz - and the role jazz records have in hip-hop's sample culture - that comes in two distinctively different mixes. On the A-side you'll find the "Video Mix", a bouncy and suitably jazzy DJ Premier production that layers Guru's fine rap flows above loose-limbed drums, smoky horn samples and his own super-tight scratches. Turn to side B for the "Movie Mix" - so-called because it was created for a Spike Lee flick - where Guru's vocal rides improvised horns and an entirely different beat crafted from Kool & The Gang samples.
Review: Wild Style may well be the most iconic hip-hop movie of all time, while its soundtrack - created by Blondie's Chris Stein with the assistance of Fab 5 Freddy and turntablist Charlie Chase - remains a touchstone in the development of the style. That soundtrack's focal point was 'Wild Style Theme', a full vocal excursion featuring on-point raps from Grabndmaster Caz of the Cold Crush Brothers. This seven-inch presents both vocal versions of the track: an A-side mix full of cuts, 8-bit videogame bleeps, Blondie style drums, gnarled guitar riffs and weighty bass, and a flipside rework that sits somewhere between early drum machine hip-hop and the more organic end of the style, with a few nods towards the kind of organ-sporting funk and rock classics that partly inspired the sound's creation.
Review: You might well have caught wind of Kenny Dope's exhaustive Wild Style Breakbeats box set which came out in 2014. It found the New York legend offering up six 7"s carrying iconic breaks used in seminal hip hop movie Wild Style. Well now you can cop something from that highly sought after box and enjoy it for yourself as the first disc gets its own individual release. On the A side we've got the low slung bass and dusty groove of 'Down By Law', and on the flip it's 'Subway Beat' with a sweet low funk groove. Both should evoke strong memories for anyone versed in the roots of hip hop culture, but regardless they're just kick ass beats you could have a lot fun juggling and blending into other people's music.
Review: Mr Bongo continue to shine a light on classic hip-hop with their excellent curated reissue series. They have two Main Source 45s in their sights and this is the second. When it first came out on Actual Records, it soon sold out and became a much sought after piece with copies going for high prices on the second hand market. And for good reason - the band really hinted at the greatness they would go on to achieve with an impeccable three minute rap single making a massive mark. 'Think' is a superb example of how to take well known samples and flip them into something fresh.
Review: Mr Bongo has been shining a light on the work of Main Source (aka Queens native Large Professor and Toronto's Sir Scratch and K-Cut) for a while now. Their latest reissue - after plenty of other 7"s last year- is Just Hangin' Out, which is an ode to the simple pleasures of relaxing with friends. The a-side is made from two huge samples (Vanessa Kendrick's '90% of Me is You' and Sister Nancy's 'Bam Bam' ) to make for a stone cold and swooning groove. On the flip, 'Live at the Barbecue' is often said to be one of the finest posse cuts of all time.
Nico Gomez & His Afro Percussion Inc - "Lupita" (7:16)
Review: Mr Bongo continue to churn out top-quality re-edits and here they enlist Danny Krivit aka. Mr. K, the New York producer who has longstandingly helped prop up the dance scene there since the early 1960s. Krivit is responsible for perhaps some of the earliest and most significant disco and funk edits on Earth, so we're more than happy to hear these new ones out, in which he lends his ear to two mambi from Latin extraordinaires Sabu Martinez and Nico Gomez. Percussive clanks and boxy slaps abound on this audiophiles' charm.
Review: Phat Kev might well be best known for his breakthrough mix album Brazilianbeats 'n Pieces, which dropped on Mr Bongo in 2007. He's a true-skool hip hop lifer, and he's been tasked with working on the Mr Bongo reissue of the Wild Style soundtrack. If you need schooling on Wild Style, one of the most significant markers of hip hop culture, then we suggest you do some urgent research right now. Meanwhile, Kev is in the mix, sampling the film and its soundtrack and creating a Lesson-style mix which rolls impossibly smooth from start to finish. Get the best from that mix on this sure shot 7", which has all the disco rap magic you might need to get a party loosened up.
Review: If you can't make it to the Kazakh steppe to watch the launch of the actual Soyuz spacecraft, the next best thing is to immerse yourself in this spacey, dreamy, blissed out psychedelic instrumental music with a 70s AOR touch and send your imagination on a voyage. Minsk collective Soyuz have some seriously strong musical chops and subsequently can bring in guest appearances from the sensational Biel Basile of the rising Brazilian group Sessa and Anthony Ferraro (Toro Y Moi, Astronauts, Etc.). They fit into the mixes beautifully, sounding like they've been part of the group their whole lives. It's a real gem of a release and a likely future collectible 7" from the Brighton-based independent label Mr Bongo.
Review: Since its release in 1973, Ze Roberto's debut single "Lotus 72 D" has become something of an in-demand item amongst collectors of soul-fired Brazilian "MPB". So much so, in fact, that Mr Bongo has licensed it and served up this 7" reissue. In its original A-side form, the track is a carnival-ready slab of samba-soul brilliance rich in razor-sharp horn blasts, rich bass guitar, punchy hand-percussion and twinkling jazz piano solos. Roberto's confident vocals take centre stage, inviting us towards the dancefloor. Over on the flip you'll find a "Fast Version" of Roberto's tribute to 1972 Formula 1 champ Emerson Fittipaldi. This has a slightly more dancefloor-centric tempo, an effect achieved when it was accidentally pitched up for inclusion on a 2001 compilation.
Review: During the late 1970s and early '80s, Miami was a hotbed of percussion-rich disco-funk that blended popular Black American grooves of the day with nods to the drum-heavy rhythms of Afro-Cuban music. Herman Kelly & Life were amongst the outfits at the vanguard of this movement, though unusually they only released one album, 1978's Percussion Explosion! Here it gets a remastered CD reissue. It's naturally best-known for boda-fide disco anthem 'Dance To The Drummer's Beat', but there are plenty of other hot, break-heavy classics on display - not least the low-slung, high-octane brilliance of 'Who's The Funky DJ?', the string-drenched disco-soul sweetness of 'Share Your Love' and the low-down, extra-heavy funk rinse-out that is 'Do The Handbone'.
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