Crotona Park...DJ Cash Money live! (My hip hop summer pt 1)

I arrived on the LAX red-eye to be greeted by light New York rainstorms on the day a legendary DJ would spin. Would the Tools of War park jam be canceled? No fear...the day dried out and the jam started (an hour late,) but what a event! Compared to St. Mary's Park in the Bronx, this Crotona Park jam had more love from the old skool hip hop crowd.

Cash Money was the reason I was excited to be in New York. Ironically, he's from Philadelphia. Like many, I started following DJ Cash Money after hearing his "Scratchin' to the Funk" record in 1987. I was blown away. I didn't know the DJ, but I knew the record (Trouble Funk's Go-Go music classic "Pump Me Up".)

What was this DJ doing? Did it involve effects or multiple tracks? In '87, the year before I went to my first New Music Seminar, Cash Money won the New Music Seminar Supermen DJ Battle. A year later he added the DMC World DJ Championship to his titles. How good was - and still is - Cash Money? DMC banned him from competing for the DMC World DJ Championships again to give others a chance of winning?! A decade later in 1998, DJ Cash Money was the first inductee into the Technics' DJ Hall of Fame.

On the wheels of steel Cash Money tore up the set, frequently upsetting the power generator with the intense cutting and scratching. Cash Money pulled out the classic rap jams of the 80s and 90s and a handful of breaks and "transformed" them. Literally. The excitement was too much for the soundsystem which peaked out twice.

Multimedia Check out the audio interviews with Cash Money, Christie Z. Pabon and fans (courtesy of WNYC radio) and the great video of Cash Money from that evening! Priceless and rare!






Here's the playlist The crowd rocked to Cash Money's selection. Part 1: Grover Washington Jnr., The Jackson Five, Joeski Love, Audio Two, EPMD, Fearless Four, Schooly D, T La Rock, Doug E Fresh, Whistle, The Fatboys, Treacherous Three. Part 2: LL Cool J. Part 3: Herman Kelly, Trouble Funk, Soul Sonic Force and Al Naafiysh.

Going waaaaay back! I saw Cash Money once in the UK. He was live in east London in the late 80s. And up on stage filming with his video8 was DJ Milo from the Wild Bunch crew from Bristol, UK. So, it didn't seem that odd to see Milo this week in the Bronx at this Cash Money jam. But, wait... this is 20 years later and we're in New York. It was a crazy moment! And I have the picture to prove it! 

DJ Cash Money and DJ Milo (Grand Wizard Rasheen, far left)

New York...the home of hip hop These park jams have been organized and promoted by Christie at Tools of War for eight years now. The parties are co-hosted by her husband Fabel of the Rock Steady Crew and Cold Crush M.C., Grandmaster Caz. With the Cold Crush Brothers' anniversary party the next day the crowd got a treat with a bit of a history lesson and performance from Easy AD, JDL and Caz.

Easy AD, JDL and Grandmaster Caz

Peace to Christie, Fabel and everyone at Tools of War.

Bristol old skool graff postcards

Last month Tangent Books in Bristol released a set of eight Bristol graffiti postcards by photographer and artist Frank Drake.

"The cards were originally produced in the 1980s in association with the city’s Arnolfini gallery and feature the first graffiti works to appear in Bristol by artists including 3D and the Z Boys."

These cards take me back in time...when Virgin Records was still in Broadmead and stocked European vinyl imports and where I found two copies of the original to Peter Piper when Roni and I were out beat-hunting. Grant was still working in Revolver Records/Rough Trade where I bought the "Wild Style" film soundtrack and John was working in Tony's on Park Street. Those were the days!

If you want a more contextual description, then I copped this from the Tangent Books' website ;)

"Set against the background of the St Paul’s riots and the fusion of the city’s funk, punk and reggae factions under the influence of Mark Stewart’s The Pop Group, hip-hop emerged as the counter culture champion. The four strands of hip-hop were breakdancing, DJ-ing, MC-ing and graffiti. Any self-respecting crew needed each element and Drake’s photographs capture the very first public expressions of hip-hop inspired street art."

Massive...back on the Attack

"In Massive Attack’s world, “Heligoland” is as close to cheerful as it gets, and, once your ears adjust, you can hear a deliberate kind of celebration winding through the music. There are no fast numbers, though. Plenty of bands can do that." New Yorker

Read about how Massive Attack came into being in this New Yorker article. Sasha Frere-Jones did her homework with only one small error: Willie Wee was an M.C., not a D.J.! For an interview with Massive Attack about the making of Heligoland go to BBC 6Music.

Grant and Delge in KCRW studios, L.A. Feb 2010

Massive Attack are in L.A. at The Wiltern in May. See the tour dates and buy tix here. If you want a sampler check out KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic online or Radio 1's Maida Vale Sessions on the player below.

Massive Attack - Paradise Circus (Zane Lowe Show 14-12-09)  by  djjonathandobson

Oh my word...Bristol 1985...Hip-hop ya don't stop!

The Wild Bunch inspired all my Bristol homeboys...and then they amped it up and took it to London...Fresh. See the middle video for Newtrament vs. The Wild Bunch, London 1985. And the video of Freestyle 1985 in Covent Garden brings back memories. I jumped on the train to London and went to a youth club to pick up my tix from DJ Pogo as I remember.

Those were the days and look how far we've come! We are the hip-hop youth all grown up! To my homeboys: DJ Mista Dexter, DJ Wise, DJ Bubbles, Apish Angel, Inkie, FLX, Roni Size, Z-Boys, Krust, Krissy Kriss, Mushroom, 3D...

Wild Bunch


Newtrament vs. Wild Bunch


Freestyle 1985

Dexter hits the Internet

Dexter cleaned himself up and came out of rehab for this video on UK rap videos.com...Joke!

If you know anything about UK rap, you know about Dex and his crew The Brotherhood. For the trivia heads out there The Brotherhood was produced by Trevor Jackson of Underdog and Playgroup fame and signed to Virgin and had 2 albums released.



I met Dex through Nick 'Apish Angel' Walker back in 1987 at the Moon Club in Bristol and we all went to a Wild Bunch vs. Soul II Soul soundclash jam later that night. You can hear some of that jam on DJ Milo's Wild Bunch CD.

Man, dem were da dayz! Dex was the only dude wearing a red Kangol Bermuda Casual hat. Word!