Dj Premier Live @ Jazz Cafe, London 17.05.2010

By Chriisss

After a 10 hour wait at Lyon airport last week to come home after the Oxmo Puccino show, the travelling involved for DJ Premier in London was much easier going. 10 minutes on the Number 31 bus and I've arrived outside the Jazz Cafe in Camden with a fully charged camera, a pocket full of Mango Kush and not a single ash cloud in sight to halt the journey.

DJ Premier hit the UK earlier in the year for a March date at Matter at the 02 arena with a load of other DJs and MCs and returned for last night’s show for the first stop of a tour which will see him move on to Norway for 2 nights before heading off to China . This show promised to be all the more poignant with the recent and untimely passing of Guru still fresh in everyone’s minds. As all TheRapBuzz.com members were out of the country on either business or pleasure it was left to resident photographer Sefton "I love it when they call me Big Poppa" Blake to wave the La Cantina flag and properly papp proceedings before reporting back to the masses.

The Jazz Café is an awesome hip hop venue, spread over two floors with the stage and decks in full view it's a decent size whilst still being intimate enough to really feel the acts. Particularly at home on the stage and with an ever increasing following were the Droppin’ Science DJ collective who provided more than ample support to the big man. Armed with an apple mac and time code vinyls DJ Daredevil threw down some crazy doubles of early 90’s beats, beat juggled with Eric B and Rakim’s 'Don’t Sweat the Technique' and had the crowd going crazy singing along to Cypress Hill’s 'Could Just Kill A Man'. DJ Matman was then standing by taking us though the hip hop ages moving from Pharcyde and KRS-1 to Jay-Z and Nas and then Biggie and Keith Murray. Credit where credit is due – Daredevil and Matman kept the crowd noisy and more than entertained for well over 3 hours with classic beats, killer cuts and doubles on practically every track.

Preemo himself turned up around 10.15 going straight on stage to set-up after what sounded like a nightmare journey which saw his flight from New York get cancelled, none of his crew being able to fly with him, taking a flight alone to Paris and then finally the Eurostar to London. After this brief explication and introduction DJ Premier made it clear for all present right from the get go that the night was to be a tribute to Guru. In his characteristic velvet gravel voice Preemo blessed the person, the life, the family, the music and the legacy of his former Ganstarr partner with a moving couple of minute’s parlance.

By this time the crowd were gagging for it and when Preemo kicked things off with cuts of Gangstarr tracks from the first few albums they responded with that unique collective sound of “whoa”, “yeah” and “ooh” all rolled into one sound that you only hear at a hip hop show with 'Militia' followed by 'Above the Clouds' getting the loudest cheers and the highest jumps.

The crowd was pumped and Premier, you could say, was already pretty emotionally charged so when some twat in the crowd dressed like a member of Goldie Looking Chain with a fake afro wig and over size necklace shouted out "you're not a gangstar" he went on a realness rant, blaming him for disrespecting Guru's soul and shot the guy down big style shouting, "what the fuck do you know little boy, I'm a G!" - this got the loudest shouts of the night. "You know what you haven't got" screamed a pi$$ed off DJ Premier, "Skills!!!" and with that he dropped the Ownerz album track - the crowd went off all sorts of chains!!!!!

Phat beat was followed by phat beat after phat beat as we moved from the classic Gangstarr catalogue to the Preemo produced tracks by MOP and Group Home which left heads nodding hard. From here we were all treated to some of the classic Biggie tracks 'Machine Gun Funk' and, of course, '10 Crack Commandments' – I couldn’t spot anyone not singing along which is cool considering I saw men, women and children of all ages, races, styles and backgrounds - some seriously unsuspecting DJ Premier fans crawled out of the woodwork for this one - including one old lady who must have been at least 65 who had her hand in the air like she really didnt care all night long - true heads!

Very little actual mixing going on mainly as he had to perform mic duties as well but this was cool as between tracks Preems would tell a little Gangstarr or Guru related story - one about how the group was formed, the stages it went through and one about how much of a ballsy little scrapper Guru used to be back in the day.

Whilst Daredevil and Matman ripped the decks up technically earlier on, DJ Premier was there to show he is more than just a track master - cutting, scratching and juggling with the best of them and there was more to come as we neared the end of the set with some more classics from the likes of Big L and Big Pun as well as some more recent beats he's done for Termanology. The highlight was 'Salute Pt II' at the end of the show with Preems introducing the track with the story of how and why it was made, dropping the track and shouting out Guru's verse through the mic - the look on his face was priceless, he was proper feeling it.

I left more than satisfied having seen a living hip hop legend in action and was impressed how he ran the stage and controlled the crowd for over 2 hours. I went straight home and spun every Chris Martin record I own – DJ Premier that is, not Coldplay.

Oxmo Puccino Live @ La Cigale, Lyon 07.05.10

As you know, TheRapBuzz.com is proud to claim that true International Hip Hop spirit and we wouldn’t be true to ourselves if we didn’t travel across the lands to witness the best emcees from all over the world perform live...

Last week we were in Lyon, France to check out one of the best lyricists and innovators of the French Rap scene, Oxmo Puccino, accompanied by his trusted band, the Jazz Bastards. With live instrumentation providing the musical background throughout the show and an impressive crystal-clear diction close to CD quality, Oxmo took control of the crowd like only the best showmen can.

The highlights of the night were undoubtedly the rendition of classics such as ‘Amour et Jalousie’ (both off ‘Opera Puccino’, his first and possibly best album), ‘J’ai Mal au Mic' (from ‘L’Amour est Mort’), and performing ‘On Danse Pas’ with an almost club-like beat behind it, making the room go wild with each and every one shaking that a$$!

Jumping from one album to another, obviously including ‘365 jours’ and ‘L’Arme de Paix’ from the homonymous full-length release, the show ended with 2 encores, the second of which featured Oxmo’s standout track ‘L’Enfant Seul’ to the pleasure of all present, who’d been demanding it and were finally blessed to witness such a musical masterpiece live.

French rap at its' best.

Check out the full length video of the concert here and some more pics below...

Just Blaze vs The Alchemist - The Sound Clash Live @ East Village, London 06.05.10

The shock of Guru's death put us out of action for sometime, while we re-played every Gang Starr and Guru track that we own (there's many of them). Attending The Sound Clash was therefore a great reminder of all the kick ass talent still alive in hip hop; it took away the sadness we felt after the death of a hip hop icon and brought back the energy (for real, with some of the boomiest bass lines we have ever heard vibrating our rib cages) that drives this culture forward.

It may have been a coincidence that just as we walked in, one of the supporting acts (Spin Doctor, Mr. Thing, Chris P Cuts & Dj Snips) was playing 'Above the Clouds', and damn it sounded good and felt good to see everyone on the dancefloor applauding the choice.

Shortly after, the show began (pics here, thanks Doctor's Orders). Alchemist and Just Blaze took up their positions behind the decks and ignited the crowd with all of their top productions. The beatmakers alternated their bangers in a format, that as beatmakers ourselves, we absolutely love: the original sampled track first, with the beat dropping in after. This creates a beautiful build up, as the crowd immediately recognises the sample and anticipates the drop of the beat, skillfully chopped and skrewed by the beatmaker. No fear here of copyright infringement or unsolicited sample calling, just pure appreciation of the talent of the hip hop beatmaker.

All of this was made even cooler by improvised cuts and scratches by the two, with the highlight probably being Just Blaze beat juggling Rick James's 'Super Freak' and then dropping 'Kingdom Come'.

As the set heated up though, it unfortunately became clear that the venue chosen wasn't ideal for a battle event. Unless you were one of the early arrivers sweating it in the first two rows, seeing the beatmakers in action was near impossible, therefore turning a battle event into what resembled a club night (where seeing the deejay doesn't really matter). A venue with an elevated stage would've made more sense, since a core part of the show was the live entertainment provided by Jus and Al on the mic.

The set lasted for two hours, and while the energy released during the night was unmeasurable, we were surprised not to see (or hear) more of a 'battle' going on between the two. We had read that the same set in the US featured some on the spot improv with the beatmakers responding to each other's beats in clever ways. The London event felt more like a joint deejay set than a battle, still cool, but not really a 'clash'...

And as pointed out by many reviewers, the set really brought to life the difference in styles between the two. Just Blaze is a hip hop hit maker, driving the crowd wild with practically every track he dropped; his beats have a bouncy feel and intricate rhythm patterns that you can't help moving to. Alchemist is instead more of a story teller, cooking up emotional soulful and dark samples into exciting soundbeds; not party tracks but intelligent boom bap bangers. It was therefore not surprising to see a stark difference in the crowd's reaction to the two beatmakers; people recognised and sang Alchemist soul vocal samples, but they broke into wild dancing when Just Blaze spun yet another hit. Not necessarily a bad thing, but in what was supposed to be a 'battle' it kind of automatically favoured one beatmaker over the other based on 'hit count' and not really talent.

The set finished with the instrumental version of Exhibit C at 2 am (great finale track by the way) and we happily exited the club, ears ringing and satisfied at having had yet another session of real head nod hip hop.

But, while outside lighting up a well deserved post club cigarette, to everyone's surprise, Alchemist walked out to hang out. Cool, unpretentious friendly dude, he had his picture taken with everyone (including us) before walking off into the Shoreditch streets with his black back pack. Guess it really is true, 'our boy Al, everybody's pal'

...and to wrap it up in his own words from Twitter:

London has been blessed. I never knew Just Blaze / ALC beats could create such a pungent body aroma ! Salute! AlanTheChemist

Look forward to more people...

TheRapBuzz.com in house trade union activist Ru1 posing with Al, happy days

RIP Guru - 20th April, 2010

Hip hop lost another one of its' legends today, Guru. We're going to look past the controversy around Solar and the last two months of his life, and just focus on remembering his music and talent.

RIP Guru

[Chorus: Guru]
(Skills) Top rank point blank we vital
Spit flows rip shows peep the recital
(Skills) Now, you feel it when we drop those
Hot beats stop phoes killin shit we got those
(Skills) It's, the music that the street love
Each thug, is now reppin this with deep love
(Skills) Gang Starr duelin again rulin again
Watch as we do it again


Originally reported by DjPremierBlog

Erykah Badu on Gilles Peterson Worldwide

We're big fans of both Erykah and Gilles Peterson here at TheRapBuzz.com, so this is definitely not one to miss. The file is a two hour long mp3, featuring the tracks below...perfect Sunday evening entertainment people.

Thanks to KevinNottingham for the link, download it here

1. Erykah Badu — On & On – Universal Motown
2. Erykah Badu — Turn Me Away (Get Munny) – Universal Motown
3. George Clinton — New Spaceship – 550 Music
4. Ramp — Look Into The Sky – Blue Thumb Records
5. Erykah Badu & J Dilla — Love – Universal Motown
6. Madlib — Ancestors – Stones Throw
7. Madlib — The Legend Of Mankind – Stones Throw
8. Patrice Rushen — Haw-Right Now – Prestige
9. The Voices of East Harlem — Loving You The Way I Do – Vinyl Experience
10. Gary Bartz — Music Is My Sanctuary – Capitol
11. Deniece Williams — How’d I know Love Would Slip Away – Columbia
12. Erykah Badu — Strawberry incense – Universal Motown
13. Alice Coltrane — Huntington Ashram Monastery – Impulse!
14. Flying Lotus — Sultan’s Request – Warp
15. dead prez — Hip Hop – Loud Records
16. Erykah Badu — The Healer – Universal Motown
17. Lil Wayne — Cannon – Gangstagrillz.com
18. Jay Electonica — Untitled – White
19. Mala — Eyes – DMZ
20. Erykah Badu — Agitation – Universal Motown
21. Erykah Badu — Window Seat – Universal Motown
22. Herbie Hancock — Thought It Was You – CBS
23. Edith Funker — Don’t Forget The Hot Sauce – White
24. Erykah Badu — Fall In Love – Your Funeral

Jedi Mind Tricks Live @ Jazz Cafe, London 01.03.10

La Cantina Productions was there...crazy wild sh*t. Literally. The crowd was out of control.

Props to JMT for a great concert, real live hip hop that we hadn't seen in a very long time...

Jus Allah freestyle below, one of the highlights of the evening

10 Things that Shook Hip Hop in the last decade

Image Credit

By KNL

The last decade has seen a massive shake up for the world of hip hop. In this article KNL looks at how the culture has transformed and what monumental occurrences have changed the way we as fans, and the rest of the world, see hip hop. Deep KNL, deep...(editor's note)

1. Hip Hop Hits the Web - Main Dominator: 50 Cent

This has brewed throughout the decade and is now reaching heights which are quiet frankly – silly. We’re all for hip hop sites and places where we can view and listen to the latest stuff but one has to wonder how far is too far. The last decade has seen hip hop transform itself from more than just music into promotional blogs, videos, articles and websites set up just to promote specific albums. The lateral rise of Twitter, Facebook and MySpace was good news for Stans across the world as they could now synchronise their sleeping, eating and toilet patterns with their favourite rapper.

Furthermore the internet is aptly linked to our other topic, Beef. The internet has made beefing so easy and remote that it has transformed from a lyrical war or words, into a matter of online humiliation and finger pointing. 50 Cent has actively used ‘Thisis50.com’ to destroy many of his rivals, and whilst it’s funny as hell, one has gotta ask why they’re not destroying careers lyrically like they used to.

Finally, Youtube has been a saving grace, providing us all with a way to upload our own or leaked material (I’m not condoning this…!) oh of course not KNL (editor's note) and has also allowed artist’s epic fails to be readily available to millions – who remembers that dude from Pretty Ricky dancing in his underwear?!

2. Beef – Main Dominator: 50 Cent

Since 2000 we have seen more beef than a Maccie Ds in an obese town – off the top of my head, these are just some of the highlights I can remember...

Jay-Z vs Nas

50 Cent vs Ja Rule

Dr Dre vs Jermaine Dupri

Eminem vs Canibus

LL Cool J vs Canibus

Benzino vs Eminem

DMX vs Ja Rule

Kurupt vs Daz

Lil Wayne vs Gillie da Kid

T.I vs Lil Flip

T.I vs Ludacris

T.I vs Alfamega

50 Cent vs Nas

50 Cent vs Fat Joe

50 Cent vs Jadakiss

50 Cent vs Sheek Louch & Styles P

50 Cent vs Cassidy

50 Cent vs Rick Ross

50 Cent vs Jay-Z

50 Cent vs Lil Kim

50 Cent vs The Game

50 Cent vs EVERYONE

Goddamnit – now let us remember that out of these beefs probably 2 or 3 of them actually resulted in hot tracks. The most high profile battles were probably between 50 Cent and Ja Rule, Jay-Z and Nas and Eminem vs Canibus & Benzino. However the rest of this stuff was either a war of words, a war of blank threats and punches and in the case of the last 10 50 Cent beefs – just straight up clowning. I like Fiddy, but this section belongs to him too.

3. Return of the Remix – Main Dominator: Lil Wayne

Damn just about every Radio friendly song that hit our airwaves required some sort of remix to re-release the buzz and capture everyone’s imagination. Whether it was the frenzy created around Touch It or A Millie – or the crazy re-styles of Usher’s Confessions, everybody seemed to want to jump on the remix bandwagon. However the main prize has to go to Lil Wayne, who made it a personal mission to jump on as many tracks as possible – it got to the point where over the last 2 years it was impossible not to hear him remix something!

4. Death of the Super Label – Only Dominator: Aftermath

So it turns out the 90s was the time where Def Jam, Bad Boy, Rocafella and Deathrow to name a few were doing well and providing real music power houses. The last decade however has seen a decline – unfortunately there is probably only one label that lives up to the Music Powerhouse and that’s Dr. Dre’s Aftermath studios, but don’t forget it’s only because they have 3 multi-platinum, now legendary artists.

However, remember the days of a video where you saw more famous cats popping Crystal in a club or by the pool than you thought necessary? They’re gone. No more Lox in shiny suits behind Diddy, no more Dogg Pound, Kurupt, Daz etc. lounging in the club behind Snoop…it looks like merchandising is the way to go. Sad times.

5. ‘So it’s ok to wear white boy clothes now?’ – Main Dominator: Kanye West

People rejoice, for now you can wear a pink Ralph Lauren Polo shirt and not be questioned about your sexuality. You can wear the tightest jeans, with the tightest shirt, and a little red bowtie and no one will question your credibility as an artist. Ever since the arrival of our beloved College Graduate and 10,000 Louis bags later, Mr West has introduced classy attire to an undeniable number of artists who now follow his style.

With the rise of the ‘hipster’ fans it seems mature and sexy is the new way to go. But is this hip hop opening its' doors and becoming more tolerant of the outside world or is it that money and extravagance has taken the main stage in our once gritty genre? I don’t know about you – but the increase in bow ties and suits seems to be directly correlated with a decline of that hard ish...

Part 2 to come, stay tuned people

Rakim works with Bassi Maestro on track from "The Seventh Seal"

We couldn't believe our eyes when we saw an Italian producer/emcee, Bassi Maestro, being credited for producing "Working for You" on Rakim's new album, "The Seventh Seal"...a chance for Italian hip hop to be launched to the heights of worldwide fame and respect...and at the same time a huge honour, crafting a beat for one of the best emcees ever.

But it was all more complicated than that, as we learned by reading Bassi Maestro's blog. Apparently the beat was on a cd left by Bassi Maestro in NY, it travelled far from hand to hand and eventually ended infront of Rakim. Loving the beat but not knowing who the producer was, Rakim decided to use it anyways and leave the credits blank on the album.

Of course, Bassi Maestro found out. Unsurprisingly. The Seventh Seal being such a high profile release made it highly unlikely for the beat to remain creditless for long. What ensued was a an explosion of debates online on various forums and blogs, and the ultimate move by most sites and Wikipedia to give Bassi Maestro his fair credit.

This is a complex one, and affects all beatmakers who give away their beats for free online or to emcees on cds. There is a lot of "heat" around the subject on Italian and American forums, both interestingly arguing opposite views ("Americans are thieves! vs Italians stop whining!"). However in our view, these are the really important things to keep in mind about this story:

1. Moral obligations - None of us know what really happened, if we however take the above version of the story to be the truth, a creditless beat shouldn't be used on an album. Not for the royalties, but for the simple reason that credit should be given where credit is due.

2. Protect yourself - Yes, easily said now, but this is vital. Performing rights association protection is the legal way to do it, otherwise tagging beats is a valid practical alternative. Of course, in the excitement of promoting your beats the last thing that comes to mind is that Rakim may end up using them without giving you credit, but that's the way the world turns and the unlikeliest of things can happen.

3. But actually, it's not that bad - Unfair, irritating, enraging, sad...yes...but once the dust settles and you get over these emotions you start looking at the bigger picture. Italian hip hop is now at the forefront of the global scene and Bassi Maestro is at the heart of it. Stealing and/or imitation is the biggest form of flattery, the beat must have therefore been truly irresistible for a hip hop veteran such as Rakim to use it on his album. Is that not a huge compliment and boost? And also, Bassi Maestro is most definitely on his way now to many more high profile international hip hop projects with some of the best artists in the world thanks to this mishap...the future is bright for him and Italian hip hop.

So in conclusion, lets take a positive look at things. Rakim will no doubt appreciate he made a mistake (we seriously hope so...) , the credit will be officially given to Bassi Maestro and this will hopefully lead to many new and wonderful international collabos. Not sure if any money will ever exchange hands for this beat, but wouldn't any up and coming producer be happy to let one of the best lyricists ever flow for free over his instrumentals? Not for cash, but just for the love of hip hop?

Rakim is not going to make millions from his album, it's an underground release, so lets just hope that both parties reach an amicable artistic agreement; and that this is just the beginning of a series of great things to come.

PS

Could not resist mentioning this...but is it not ironic that this has caused such a stir in the world of a musical genre that strives on "borrowing" (aka sampling) other people's music, often without giving the original artist any credit...? What if the artist sampled by Bassi Maestro on the beat steps up and demands royalties?? Now that would be a tricky one...

--

Below are the two versions of the beat, Bassi Maestro's original from 2004 and Working from You by Rakim from 2009

Ridiculous Hip Hop Scenarios - The Game vs Jay-Z Beef

By KNL

For this spanking new piece of TheRapBuzz journalism and play writing (oh yeah), KNL has documented and authored some of the craziest "what if" scenarios for us. In the first hip hop scene, we have The Game and Jay Z discussing their recent beef...get comfortable people, lights down, curtain open...

*Knock on the door*

Jay: Come in!

Game: Wassup You Camel Face Biatch, I been waiting for such a long time and tonight is the night like Deep Cover.

Jay: Look Jayceon...

Game: Uh...uh...uh...didn't you hear my albums trick, my name is Game...address me as the Game...don't forget my name *signals to his assistant*...eh write that down I'm a put that line in my next track.

Jay: Look 'Game'...I don't know why you got a beef with me, I'm just doing my thang...you know I'm too old for this shit. I got a young woman every other rapper wanna jump on, I got a wife every other rapper also wanna jump on, I got 99 problems with my bitches mayn...look at me, I'm wearing slippers and I aint even cut my hair....can't you see I got enough on my plate already.

Game: Nuh...uh Sean, I aint showing you no mercy...I'ma come out with this 'Fuck Jay-Z' thing it's gonna be big...Big like Biggie, the Notorious Biggie from Brooklyn *signals to his assistant* eh-yo write that shit down, I'm a put that name-drop in my next song.

Jay: Look son, I already told you before when you had that shit with Bleek...I don't know why you doing this Game, you really wanna do this?

Game: I'm a just do it like Nike homie *signals to his assistant* eh-yo write that shit down man. You aint even ready, I got like 600 bars for you Jay...I used up 3 of my ink pens I got from my mama, I'm from Compton. I'm from Compton, which is right here *pulls out map*...in LA...you can ask these guys, I Have their numbers...I swear I'm from Compton and I'm a blood...look I got the certificate and everything.

Jay: Look, the whole beef thing, all this shit, I'm done with it...can't you see I'm an old ass man now...I aint got time to do another Takeover dude...you dissing a wall here Game. A wall. I already spoke to Dre, he told me how you turned bi-polar and started crying n shit...

Game: What...

Jay: Yeah son, Andre told me how you starting getting all weird, asking him if he was looking at 50 when your head was turned...he said you accused him of spending too much time with the rest of the guys...he told me how he found your scrap book and diary...he even e-mailed me the entry...look I got it here: "Dear Diary, Day 23 in the Aftermath house. 50 Cent got to use the mic first today, I don't know why Dre let him use it first. I was so excited about it. And then at lunch, 50 took some of my french fries and I complained to Dre, Dre told me to stop whining like a bitch so I went upstairs to my room and now I'm sitting her alone. I sure miss Eazy, I never met him but I feel he is with me at times, in the shower, at nap time. I got to go record Hate it or Love it, hopefully Dre will use my lyrics not 50s...I got like 20 rappers names on Google and put all of their names in my rhyme."

Game: How the fuck did you get that Sean? Where the fuck do you get the balls to read my Diary? Ah I've had it with you Mr. Carter...you make me sick. I'm just...I'm just...I'm just so upset right now. I'm going to call Dre right now.....I'll put it on speakerphone

*Phone rings*....'I'm sorry but this number no longer exists'

Jay: Game. The Game's Over....*signals to his assistant (Drake)*...'eh yo write that down, that's gonna be the Bonus track in my next album.

Game: Please Jay, don't mention this to anyone. I'll do a guest spot for you...look don't you want me on the D.O.A remix...I'll do anything man.

Jay: Well I'll tell you what, just sign this piece of paper here and we can end this write here.

Game: Cool man, eh yo for real...lemme just tell you, you're a great guy...I told 50 before, I said...hey that guy Jay, he's a good guy. I like you Jay. We should hang out.

*signs paper...Jay picks up his phone...*

Jay: Cindy...get Diddy on the line....he just got another rappers career fucked up with a slavery Bad Boy contract...

Game: I'm a be on Bad-Boy....oh my god like Biggie....*signals to assistant* call the guys, call the bloods and call the girls...we are so going to celebrate.

*Game leaves the room...Jay picks up the phone*

Jay: Andre....yeah...he just left....looks like the only time you'll see him on TV next year is Making the Band. See you at Golf.

Applause

More to come people, you like?

Rap's Dynamic Duos - Part 2

Image Credit


By KNL

Eric B and Rakim

It's been a long time...Rakim to me is one of the very best, if not a contender for the top spot and not least because of his viscious wordplay and effortless flow. It's more to do with the fact that this guy was gangster without actively promoting it; he didn't have to get tough on the mic because the music took care of it for him...and thus he was able to gather a wider variety of fans than say Mobb Deep, because you could respect him for his skills as well as his gangster. With Eric B alongside, it meant Ra had someone who fully understood what sounded nice when he was on the mic. As a result, this Duo were able to craft some of the most incredible hip-hop anthems; it's a shame they had to part ways...but nevertheless, we can never forget.

GangStarr

Rakim sounded awesome when laced over Premo beats. Someone who sounded even better though was Guru, of whom with Dj Premier formed the formidable GangStarr. Even after 20 something years in the game, Guru can kick it with many of today's top MCs....with an almost effortless flow and a way of spitting aggressive rhymes without having to raise his voice, Guru's flow melts like butter on a hot Premo track. It is often the dream of many hip hop fans to have their favourite producer hook up with a dope MC; GangStarr is one of the very finest examples. Their catalog of incredible albums and sizzling tracks mean GangStarr are firmly forged into hip hop history.

Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg

Following on from pairing a dope producer with a sick MC comes a slightly different pair. Snoop Dogg is not really an MC as such, and neither is Dre...but this pair had something that most of the other duos on this list could only dream about - hit making chemistry which refuses to die. When Snoop Dogg signed up to Death Row in the 90s, Dr. Dre took him under his wing and (cleverly) promoted Snoop through himself and then Executive Produced one of the finest albums of all time, Snoop's 'Doggy Style'. What followed was a string of hits and an incredible catalog of platinum selling albums from the pair. Dre used Snoop's hype on The Chronic and Snoop took advantage of Dre's stellar production on Doggy Style, a few years down the line Dre returned with Chronic 2001 of which once again was heavily graced by Snoop...will Detox be the same? I'm pretty sure we can count on it, with Dre and Snoop both helping each other blow up throughout their careers...I reckon we're all itching to see if that same chemistry still exists. Pay homage.

Dr. Dre and Eminem

Snoop helped propel Dre's Chronic. Em did much the same (if not more) with Chronic 2001. And then surprise surprise, Dre graced Eminem's following LPs with Executive Production credits and guest spots to add that 'legend' status. And why not? Team up arguably the best producer alongside arguably the best rapper and what do you have? A dream come true for any fan of good music...Dre's versatility meant Em could switch the mood of his rhymes depending on the instrumental he'd been handed...and whilst Premo beats (no matter how dope) seem to suit a set tone or mood' Dre's ability to experiment meant Eminem now features an incredible catalog of LPs which vary in terms of moods so much you'd swear they came from a different artist. When these two paired up on the mic, they managed to provide a father-son type chemistry which is still unmatched by many of their imitators - Guilty Conscious, My Name Is, Forgot About Dre....must I go on?!

Part 3 on its' way...