“Let me tell you… how it will be. That’s 1 for you… and 19 for me.” “And this is what you rap to her…” I can still feel the sweat on the pads of my Sony headphones, riding uptown on a train car with faulty A/C. What this tape contains has survived no small amount of challenges: It didn’t get dubbed over, at a time when nobody thought any of this would matter; it was transported cross-country, twice, in a shoebox; it lived, without a case, in the door pocket of my car for a year or so; and finally, it got lost in my apartment under a huge pile of unlabeled or incorrectly labeled cassettes from the era. This thing has God on its side.

What you are about to hear is a live “breaks” mix, circa fall of 1995, from WNYU radio. I have no idea who the DJ is, but if anyone that was around back then has an idea, I’d love to know. Whoever it was… this was the pre-serato, CDJ, mp3 era… they had the joints. That wasn’t a small thing.

Now I know everyone and their mother has since caught these records, sourced the artists, found a box, sold them on ebay, bought them back for cheaper, gripped it and flipped it and… well suffice to say if you call yourself into beats and grooves and breaks, and can’t name every record on this mix, in 2010, well… you are not at all thorough. But that’s not the point. No, it’s not. These are not exactly top tier secret squirrel records NOW, but back then, you had to have some game to have the kind of collection that powered this mix. And the skill with which it’s executed – again, all live, all vinyl – I know this mystery dude has to be someone of a certain stature.

Another challenge this tape survived: I played it every day, multiple times, in a walkman that didn’t even make it to the following year. And every time I listen to this mix now, I’m transported back to that era. I’m right there, on the train uptown, looking out the window at the apartments and projects, the huge throwies and fill-ins and rollers that replaced the classic pieces which occasionally could still peak through and give us a glimpse into another past, yet further off. The rush of finding joints on here, for the first time: for me, this tape was a genesis. Sure, I was already digging for records, DJing, sampling, and I was listening to all kinds of music from jazz to salsa and rock to funk and so on. But, to use a vague, loaded term that I still think any record guy can understand, I didn’t get it. I got turned on by this mix, it all started to click.

Hopefully, if you were into hip-hop and breakbeats in the mid 90s, this will take you back to those days. If that era precedes you, maybe you’ll find this entertaining and authentic. And if you’re not into that scene at all, maybe you’ll still learn a cool record or two that might seem like old hat to an old head. Whichever way is up for you, please enjoy with my compliments.

- Jonny

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Here it is, at long last… the epic reggae session at Lost & Found. In two parts.

Strong shout outs to my man DJ Wicz, the venerable Mike Stanley, and our gracious hosts Jared, Chris, and Pablo.

Part One features (in order): JBX, DJ Wicz, myself, Mike Stanley, and Boogieman playing 30-40 minute sets of reggae each. Some deep, deep tunes were dropped this night! A set for the ages, no doubt…

Part Two soon to come.

Stream the whole damn 3 hour session here:

Download it separated & tagged HERE

Burn one, family! And enjoy…

Me and Doc Delay are going to lay down some 45 soul & funk goodness with the venerable Lost & Found crew at Savalas in Williamsburg tonight! Fall through and buy me a drank.

I know this vid has made the rounds, but I’m gonna run it because hey – it’s my blog and I feel like watching this and you can kiss me on the Brooklyn side if you don’t like it! Haha. Plus I’ve been having that “J Beez Comin’ Through” bonus beat in my head all week.

Growing up in Cali, my crew was all into hip-hop; the gangster boys called us “housers” though, which derived from the dancing, gear, and music that got identified with the house clubs, where kids could go dance and style in a way that wasn’t really happening in the hip-hop spots, few as they were.

This VHS was passed around like a heavily guarded state secret – “The Brooklyn Tape”. You couldn’t tell me that I wasn’t gonna go to New York and do this. The piece aired in its entirety as a PBS documentary on the hip hop dancing culture in early 90s Brooklyn. But the outro shown here is real special. Shouts out to all the hip-hop dancers doing their thing out there – Mop Tops (featured here), Housing Authority from out west, Soul Sector, and on and on.