All the clothes in this video are perfect.

THE JETS - CRUSH ON YOU

All the old original b-boys would talk about Wild Style, Style Wars, etc like they were Citizen Kane, Jules and Jim, and The Godfather all rolled into one. They’re wrong. Beat Street’s only got two good scenes.  One of which is a 30 second clip of Brenda K Starr performing Vicious Beat. I’m guessing, like almost everything else in the film, it’s produced by Arthur Baker. I can’t find the track anywhere on 12″, MP3 or tape. Does anybody on the world wide web know where I can find it?

The other good scene, The Roxy battle,  features Rock Steady Crew and the NYC Breakers in a breakdancing contest. I’ve already blogged about that before. So here are the NYC Breakers a few years later wearing tight trousers.

I don’t say much on this blog these days. I use the word this a lot too. I’m playing records like this one at Top Nice on Friday. It’s going to be wild.

DOMINATRIX - THE DOMINATRIX SLEEPS TONIGHT

If I could dance like a robot I’d dance like a robot to this.

MANTRONIX - WHO IS IT (FREESTYLE DUB)

My friend from Picnic Land tells me that there’s a Joyce Sims freestyle song that’s better than Shannon’s Let the music play! Is that possible? I’ve been searching for a while and I can’t find it. During my hunt for the mythical track I came across this 12″ single. It’s nowhere near as good at Let the music play but it’s definitely a seven or eight out of ten. I think this might have been produced by Kurtis Mantronik but Wikipedia, Discogs and the record’s sleeve all give conflicting information.

JOYCE SIMS - WALK AWAY (12″ CLUB MIX - HIP HOP STYLE)

Been sorting through my record collection and I noticed I used to buy far more interesting vinyl before I became a DJ.

DOPPLEREFFEKT - SCIENTISTS (ALBUM VERSION)

Obviously Starkey and Vex’d are next level but old Planet - µ releases by Mike P and Jega are among my favourite ever 12″s. Amazingly The Fear was released on a major label - it’s a beautiful distorted mess.

µ-ZIQ - THE FEAR (REMIXED)

I remember Rory playing this remix and I made sure I got my hands on it the next day.

BJORK - IT’S IN OUR HANDS (SOFT PINK TRUTH MIX)

Metal fingers is one of those records like Dizzee’s I Luv U that is so familiar that I couldn’t listen to in a long time. Now their biggest hit sounds really fresh again. I remember seeing them live a few times. They were fun.

ADD N TO (X) - METAL FINGERS IN MY BODY

Egyptian Lover and Professor X AKA Arabian Prince are touring Europe together again – exciting! As always I have the best intentions to see them but I bet I end up having drunken fun times with my friends at the Macbeth dancing ridiculously to Rage Against The Machine or something instead.

I enjoy the whole TR-808 drum machine/ heavy breathing vibe and these two are among the best at it.
ARABIAN PRINCE – PANIC ZONE
EGYPTIAN LOVER – KINKY NATION (KINGDOM KUM) – need this on vinyl badly

Freestyle music’s so lovey-dovey. One minute you’re vibing to a track carefree and then you catch the lyrics and you’re reminded of every heartache ever - I mean EVER! It’s not such a bad feeling though - it’s a nice melancholy thing - a celebration of being human. Here are some tracks to laugh, dance and cry to…

BOBBY COLEMAN - MUST BE THE MUSIC (FREESTYLE MIX) - this is SO good - I thought it was Ed DMX.

LATIN EXPRESS - BROOKLYN KNIGHT (BROOKLYN BOUNCE CLUB MIX) - this is even better - it’s my top find of the year - link taken from Freestyleflashback.

TRINERE - ALONE AT LAST (PRETTY TONY’S HYPED EDIT)

FFWD - BABY DON’T GO

LOUISA H - FANTASY BOY (MAXI VERSION) - note that string pattern - might come in handy later.

SHANNON - MY HEART’S DIVIDED

EXPOSE - COME GO WITH ME

What happened? In the early 80s Arthur Baker was defining electro, hip hop and freestyle. This decade he opened a few lame bars, remixed electroclash group W.I.T and put on parties with Wade Crescent. He’s still my hero though.

Arthur Baker - Breakers Revenge/ Beat Street clip (1984)

Freeez - I.O.U (1983)

Soul Sonic Force - Planet Rock (1982)

I wish I had a copy of this 1992 record by the mysterous Michael Knight on Devon Records. The 12″ costs £90 on Discogs so all I have are these mid-fi MP3s.

MICHAEL KNIGHT - KNIGHT RYDER (12″ VERSION)
MICHAEL KNIGHT- KNIGHT RYDER (DUB MIX)
MICHAEL KNIGHT- KNIGHT RYDER (HIP HOUSE MIX)