Todays’ topic is Golden Era guest DJs, and we’re happy to announce that Eastern Conference/ Rawkus Records artist and all round indy legend DJ Mighty Mi is the source for all of these three guest spot recordings. Milo has graciously offered up 3 45 minute recordings from his archives, and we bring em to you bumped em up in Izotope, adding mo’ bass, mo’ treble and generally, more dynamic frequencies than you can throw a stick at. Sadly, there arent any mic breaks long enough to catch info with regards to when the shows are from, so no dates on these, other than we know they are from 1989. Huge propers to Milo for sharing these gems, they are evidently the origins of his style, and where the creativity and inspiration for his incredible IG Live Golden Era sets came from. I asked him about the origins of these recordings:
Random Rap Radio: Are these cassettes your own from the period/ swaps/ trades or stuff you dubbed off heads over the years ?
DJ Mighty Mi: I recorded all these mixes myself. My Mom lived in Brooklyn and my Dad lived in Philly when I was growing up. So when I would visit NY, I would always record Rap radio. Usually on a boom box that had the auto reverse function, so it would keep recording when I fell asleep. I would get great pleasure in listening and studying the mixes during the Amtrak ride from NYC to Philly. I’d consider DJ Red Alert to be the Godfather of Golden Era hip hop. His skills werent necessarily as impressive as Clark Kent or Flex’s…..but his taste in music was unmatched. He would always choose the best album cuts to play. He definitely shaped my lifelong music taste.
There are 2 Marley Marl In Control sets, with Pete Rock and Clark Kent, with a Funkmaster Flex set on the Chuck Chillout Show. Yeh, Pete Rock was a regular DJ on In Control and Future Flavas of course, regardless, for simplicity, we’re calling them guest spots. Regrettably, pause button chops in this kinda recorded material were a common occurence in 89, these tapes are no different.
The Chocolate Boy Wonder drops some great LP cuts, and brings the helicopter effect with, erm, full effect on Words I Manifest. Gods’ Favourite DJ drops under-played tracks from Def Duo, King Nice as well as classics from BDP and Ultra. Funkmaster Flex pka The Underground Bandit, is just super-charged, playin Ice Cube & NWA, and doubles of Anti-Nigger Machine/ Buck-Whylin. In this high-powered set he follows the PE classic with a blend of Caron Wheeler/ EPMD that sets him apart from the rest, maybe even his host. You’ll hear exactly why Flex became soooo successful on Hot97 with this smash from 1989 [NB: There’s about 10 minutes of DJ Red Alert on Kiss at the end of the Flex set].
RANDOM RAP RADIO 