This 33 year old tape is a special recording from the archives, it’s the very first radio recording I made on my first trip to London.
I’d hitch-hiked, took an overnight ferry from Belfast in Northern Ireland, to see Run DMC, the Beastie Boys and Davy D at Brixton Academy. I’d been working in a record store at the time, and for months I wasnt sure were I’d be stayin when I hit the capital. Fortunately I was helped out by one of the sales-reps, he put me in touch with someone that worked for MCA Records that I only knew as the son of legendary Irish radio presenter Candy Devine and co-presenter of a local [Downtown radio] show that played 15 minutes of Hip-Hop every Friday night.
I ended up [as a gangly but confident 18 year old] going to the show on my own because there had been some ‘civil unrest’ in Brixton that week, and even as a Londoner, the guy from MCA Records was too shook to take me to the show as we’d planned.
A few weeks after I got back, upon discovering London Transport travelcards, bags from London sneaker stores, cans of Buntlack spray paint I’d racked in London as well as other ephemera from the trip, my Mum and Dad soon worked out that I hadn’t actually been staying at my girlfriends’ house all weekend, that I’d been to London, on my own. I was grounded for a month. It was all worth it.
While I was staying at his house, I recorded the Mike Allen Hip-Hop Show on Capital Radio the night before the Beasties show. It’s remastered here for you, and for the record, it’s one of my MOST played cassettes: With classic tunes from CIA [Ice Cube]/ Almighty RSO/ Schoolly D/ Professor Rock/ Skinny Boys/ Masters of Ceremony and of course, the Beastie Boys & Run DMC.
What’s memorable about this set is, as well as Mike casually chatting to the Kings of Rap, he describes himself as Your Homeboy Beat Mechanic and explains that he was gonna play the 12″ stylee, Rough & Tough sounds of LL entrepreneur of funk Cool J later in the show. He also mentions that the Beasties were planned for an interview the following night [I was out with a bounty of Buntlack in my coat so I couldnt record that one]. During the conversation with Run & DMC, they talk about a forthcoming album called ‘Run DMC Presents’ and a Soundtrack to the Tougher Than Leather movie that they were finishing up. Yet more unreleased gems we may never get to hear.
Ultramagnetic MC’s – Travelling At The Speed of Thought
Boogie Down Productions – Criminal Minded
LL Cool J – Get Down
Mic Break
Skinny Boys – Feed Us The Beat
Schoolly D – Do It Do It
Mic Break
3 Wize Men – Refresh Yourself
T La Rock – Lyrical King
CIA – Ill-Legal
Derek B – Rock The Beat
Mic Break
Davy D – Keep Your Distance
Mic Break
Ice T & Afrika Islam Promo
Masters of Ceremony – Cracked Out
LL Cool J – Go Cut Creator Go
King Tee – Paybacks A Mutha
Mic Break
Run DMC – Proud to be Black
Run DMC In Conversation
Run DMC – It’s Tricky
Mic Break
Groove Hip Hop Sales Chart 20 – 11
CIA – My Posse
Almighty RSO Crew – Just Call Us The All
Mic Break
Groove Hip Hop Sales Chart 10 – 1
LL Cool J – I’m Bad
Beastie Boys – She’s Crafty
Mic Break
Midnight News
MC ADE – Nightmare on ADE Street
MC Shy D – Rap Will Never Die Part 2
Public Enemy – Your Gonna Get Yours
Professor Rock & The RCC Roxbury Crush Crew – Stop Look & Listen
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