Strictly Kids

Hello, good evening and welcome to Strictly Business.
It's compilation time again, and we have something a little different this time around - Strictly Kids.
This is the Strictly Biz top 25 funky childrens tracks.
Funky basslines & breaks galore here, all plucked from childrens LPs, once again from the well known to the obscure.
Most of these have either been picked up from charity shops, or just lifted from the web, so the sound quality varies a bit.

Again, this is just the first part of what will be an ongoing series.
This stuff is definitely funky, so whether you listen to it yourself, or pass it on to your kids, this isn't old school, it's pre school, get down to the sounds of Strictly Kids.

Tracks include -

The Banana Splits on TV was the shit when I was a kid, used to love those crazy creatures. An LP called 'We're The Banana Splits' was released containing many nuggets of funky joy, three of them are included here, 'Doing The Banana Splits', 'Soul', and 'The Loving End'. Those bizarre looking buggers definitely knew how to play.
Bob & Merry Chimbel's tracks here are from the 'Richard Scarry's Find Your ABCs' LP, fairly weird stuff. 'R' is on some Ziggy Stardust shit, and 'T' has got drum machines & rapping on it.

'London Oh London' is stated as by Bugs Bunny, but Mel Blanc definitely didn't do the voice, it seems it was all done by some bloke called Mike McNaught. The backing track is a funky gem, but the vocals are really fucking painful, plus the same verses are repeated several times, by the end it's agony on the ol' ear lugs. So, funky track, nice horns, but certainly not easy listening.
Next up we have the legendary couple of Harrell & Sharron Lucky, Now these pair recorded lots of childrens exercise albums in the 70s, but they were obviously into the funk, as these four tracks prove. 'Carpet Drill Team Routine' is from the 'Carpet Square' LP, concentrating on exercise routine based around squares of carpet ! They don't make 'em like that any mo'. 'I'll Walk On The Line' is from the 'Tempo For Tots' LP and is a gem. Funky drums, funky bass, funky piano & funky guitar, what else could you want. The drummer gets some at 1 minute 10 seconds. 'Pease Porridge Hot' will instantly be familiar to fans of De La Soul's second (excellent) LP. From the much talked about & hard to find 'Rhythm & Rhyme' LP. Damn funky again, and the tempo keeps speeding up leading to a frantic ending. If only they kept rocking another 20 seconds they could have invented drum & bass, maybe. The Harrells final track here is 'The Body Clap', dope clean drumbreak at the beginning, again from the 'Tempo For Tots' LP. Just drums & percussion in the back, but still plenty funky. (Shit, how many times have I used the word 'Funky' already).

Next up, from the rather scary 'It's OK To Say No' LP, the spoken word parts of the album have been used a few times on hip hop tracks, but it's the title track featured right here.
The track is slightly weird and edgy, but it's funky enough.
The whole LP is pretty crazed, I have a series of three on vinyl but I have no idea if there are any i'm missing. Check out Company Flow's 'Bad Touch Example' for an idea of what to expect.
Then, from the 'Bobby & Betty Go To The Moon' album it's two cuts from Leo Muller, a spacey cover of the JB classic 'Papa's Got A Brand New Bag' and 'The Party After Landing', which is another groovy little number with nice horns, chimes & spacey sounds.

Playaway was my favourite shit back in 1981, my man Sonny D put me onto this nice little 'party rocker' from the Playaway crew, it's short but it's dope, and it's an Effin' Cees classic. Word to Brian Cant.
Now the first of our Playschool tracks, U.K. heads will without doubt remember Playschool, but did you know that they rocked fat breakbeats ? Lionel Morton's 'Fearless Fred's Amazing Animal Band' is a story about (duh) an animal band.
Nuttin's a gwan until Olly Octopus blesses us with a huge open drum break at 1 minute 9 seconds. This break is so fat, Olly rocks that shit lovely.

The next Playschool track is Malcolm Carrick's 'Come To The Shops', from the 'Bang On A Drum' LP. It starts out as a standard kids tune, then the bass kicks in and we get a funky workout about "Fish & Lollypops".
And the third Playschool is Rick Jones' 'Bang On A Drum', from the album of the same name. This is the first kids break I ever found many years back, and I definitely have a soft spot for this track. Nice track in general, couple of drumbreaks including a drum outro. Flair classes this as classic material, maybe the rhythm section was Big & Little Ted !

Then, from another BBC LP it's Ragtime. The track in question is by Miss Sponge & Mr Jelly (actually Maggie Henderson and Fred Harris), Sponge's Welsh rhymes are a bit grating, but this track evolves into another funky bass and drum jam. Another track that speeds up until it all gets too mental and has to stop.
Next, from the rather long titled 'Susan Sings Songs From Sesame Street With The Children's Chorus' LP it's Susan (a.k.a. Loretta Long) with 'ABC Song'. Starts our standard, then morphs into a funky alphabet extravaganza. Loretta has quite a sweet voice and the band totally get busy.

The Brady Bunch released an LP called 'The Kids From The Brady Bunch' with a few suprisingly funky tracks, the best of which is the awesome 'Drummer Man', quality stuff with an wicked heavy break at the start.
Talking of drumbreaks, it's The Mike Curb Congregation with 'Mickey Mouse March', that break is off the fucking hizoock dun. It's a nice joint overall anyway, but that break just kills it. Another BBC LP in the U.K. 'Best Of Disney Time', 20 pence from a charity shop if I remember correctly.

The next four tracks are unknown to me, well, I know the name of the tracks, but I have no idea who the artist is, if anyone out there can help with information on these four I would greatly appreciate it.
'Baa Baa Black Sheep' is here, this version is pretty basic until 1 minute 20 seconds, when it breaks down into a headnodding piece that will make your toddlers bounce.
'I Can Fly' is another one by an unknown artist that I found on the net, It's got some nice flutes, and it's got 'Fly' in the title, so it can't be too bad.

'Period Portrait 1' I have no idea about whatsoever, I can't find any info anywhere, but it's a funky jam with driving rhythms and percussion. This one I would particularly like to know about, as I would love to hear what the rest of the album is like.
Finally, a couple of tracks from an unknown childrens exercise LP. The first part is funky enough, but it's the second part that I really dig. Drums, bass & piano in perfect funky harmony, plus that "Down, Bounce, Bounce, Up" shit is mad dope. Sounds like somebody should have sampled it, but I haven't heard it used anywhere.

Strictly Business presents -
Strictly Kids

Banana Splits - Doing The Banana Splits
Banana Splits - Soul
Banana Splits - The Loving End
Bob & Merry Chimbel - Find Your ABCs : R
Bob & Merry Chimbel - Find Your ABCs : T
Bugs Bunny - London Oh London
Harrell & Sharron Lucky - Carpet Drill Team Routine
Harrell & Sharron Lucky - I'll Walk On The Line
Harrell & Sharron Lucky - Pease Porridge Hot
Harrell & Sharron Lucky - The Body Clap
Joe Beard - It's OK To Say No
Leo Muller - Papa's Got A Brand New Bag
Leo Muller - The Party After Landing
Playaway - The Party Is About To Begin
Playschool (Lionel Morton) - Fearless Fred's Amazing Animal Band
Playschool (Malcolm Carrick) - Come To The Shops
Playschool (Rick Jones) - Bang On A Drum
Ragtime (Miss Sponge & Mr Jelly) - Motorists Are We
Susan Sings Songs From Sesame Street (Loretta Long) - ABC Song
The Brady Bunch - Drummer Man
The Mike Curb Congregation - Mickey Mouse March
Unknown - Baa Baa Black Sheep
Unknown - I Can Fly
Unknown - Period Portrait 1
Unknown - Unknown Childrens Exercise Tracks

Password - defandstupid

Next up, something controversial.........

"Tear It Up Drummer Man"

Lords Business

Yes yes y'all, Strictly Business live is back again & in E.F.F.E.C.T.
First off, this is what our super duper promoter has to say -

Lords of the Underground Live in London!
The most intimate gig of their 20th Anniversary Tour

On Saturday the 15th September the good guys from the ‘golden era’ of hip-hop will grace the Silver Bullet stage as part of their 2012 20th Anniversary Tour. Don’t miss the most intimate gig of the decade- as the Lords land in this 200 CAPACITY venue for one night only. Tickets will fly so form an orderly queue. Let me introduce ya’ll to the fabulous 3…

Newark, NJ's Doitall, Mr. Funke and Cleveland-native DJ Lord Jazz released their debut album, Here Come The Lords back in 1993 with production handled by Marley Marl & K-Def.The album featured five charting singles, including the group’s signature song, "Chief Rocka". After a successful launch the trio went on to release Keepers of the Funk, Resurrection and House of the Lords.Though their name might imply violent gangsta rap, Lords of the Underground match socially conscious raps with hard hitting beats. Together their union has become part of Hip Hop History. Hear their NEW SET live, loud and clear – with support from DJ DISTER, DJ SNUFF & female DMC finalist IVY FEED.

Word to that Hayley, you get mad props girl.

Now, this the deal.
The Lords hit hard in the early/mid 90s and their debut LP was an undisputed banger,
Everybody knows 'Chief Rocka' cos that joint is crazy dope to this day.
The crew has without doubt paid their dues over the years , but now they're back back with a new LP produced by the god known as Marley Marl.
So you can't go wrong, you'll get to hear all the fresh Marley joints, plus all the classics like 'Chief Rocka', 'Funky Child', 'What I'm After', 'Here Come The Lords, e.t.c.
Now, as it says above, we only have 200 tickets, and a large amount have been sold already, so get here now & snap 'em up while you still can, also check the Facebook page here.
Personally, your boy Flair loves to see a good hip hop show in a small venue, it's dope to be up close & personal, the Silver Bullet has a wicked atmosphere and I can assure you that the Lords will tear the roof off.

Take a behind the scenes look here as they prepare their 20th anniversary album.

For a little taster of what to expect...........



"Here Come The Lords"

We Mean Business !

   

This coming Friday, the 17th of August, Strictly Business live is kicking the fuck off again, big cat style.          

Once again we will be tearing the roof off the Silver Bullet - Finsbury Park, London N4 2DH.        

 This time we have seven straight hours of the dopest hip hop for you.   

Click here for more details.        

Peep the flyer above for details of who we have playing, you should know by now to only expect the freshest stuff from Strictly Biz.
Some superb MCs & DJs will be in the house, plus a little extra flavour.
Also, the man Obba Supa isn't mentioned on the flyer, but he will be in the house. If you haven't seen him before then you really don't want to miss out.

Turn up early & hang out with the crew over some barbequed goodness, (from 7pm onwards).
It's only a fiver to get in & we're opposite the Finsbury Park tube, well easy to find.

Check out some of the acts we have lined up.





"Strictly Business I'm Quickly In This"

Strictly Gems pt III

 

Righty right, this part III of our ongoing Strictly Gems series.
Some incredibly good stuff once again, you only get the dopest of the dope here.
In fact, fuck that, Strictly Gems are some of the finest compilations that you're gonna find anywhere !
They are the shit !

This time around tracks include -

Did I hear you say you wanted more James Brown samples over heavy drum machines, oh good ! Well, you get plenty of that with 'Classical' by the Busy Boys, yes it's dope, yes the rhymes are def, yes he does say "Suckers who diss, when I get pissed I start nobbing 'em", yes I am aware that it doesn't mean the same thing here in the UK, yes I still think it's funny.
Next up is the incredibly heavy 'Go G. Whiz', by Captain G. Whiz (obviously), the intro is some of the hardest shit i've ever heard. The drums bang like buggery & the rhymes are awesome, "To make it sound even liver turn the bass up louder".
Bit of a strange one next, it's Charlie Brown & The CB Girls with 'You Can Make It', now i'm not gonna say that Charlie is the nicest MC i've ever heard, but he sounds like he's enjoying himself. The reason this is here is really the drums, although it does seem to have plenty of charm.
Our man Charlie reckons that he's a millionaire so I doubt he gives a shit what i think anyway, although this was the mid 80s, so hopefully he invested well. Rock on Charlie (& your mum).

Then it's Divine Sounds with 'Me & My Posse', another one of those mid 80s crews from the 'only recorded a few tracks but were bloody dope' genre. Representing Bedford Stuyvesant , these dudes had a bit of success, but they should have been bigger. This, & (almost) all of their tracks are top notch, and one of them is called Disco Richie ! Mad props.
The legendary Marley Marl & the Juice Crew make an appearance here with the absolute classic 'Juice Crew All Stars', You really should know this joint already, featuring Kool G Rap, Craig G, Glamorous, MC Shan, Tragedy & Roxanne Shante ! The precursor to 'The Symphony', this track is very good indeed, the beats are fat & all the rhymes are on point. Oh my goodness !

James is back again (like the Kule MC) on the Legion Of Doom's 'Live Bait', a proper treater of a tune, samples popping off all over the place. The intro reminds me of hours spent smoking & pressing MPC buttons, which brings me to my man EveR. Homeboy, you really need to be reading that instruction manual. Anyway, 'Live Bait', wicked stuff.
With some of Flair's favourite shits it's MC Shan with the phenomenal 'Juice Crew Law'. Shan sets it straight over a beat that's more ridiculous than Boris Johnson, this whole ish is crazy hard & Shan is as his best. Shout to Skar on this one, I know you love it.

Next it's MC Tony Rone with 'I'm Just Rappin', well, Tony claims that he's just rappin', but he also appears to sing on the chorus, I presume it's him because I would be shocked to find that they got someone in to do that. Singing aside, this is a groovy number & anyone familiar with 'Look Around You' will probably find it amusing.

Now we all know that the 'Funky Worm' has been caned, but a quarter of a century ago heads were new to that particular joint. I'm not sure who rocked it first, but the Ministers Of Black must have been fairly early on with their dope 'Step In My Office. It's a chunky beat rocking over that classic Ohio Players sample and best believe that it's a winner.

Next up we have the comeback king Phill Most Chill with the booming 'That Girl', the classic EP that this joint comes from is absolutely some of my all time best, all the tracks are the shit but I went for this track as it may be slightly overlooked due to the crazy goodness of his other joints.
Phill (a.k.a. The Soulman) is back on the scene & is dope as ever, but Strictly gems is all about the 80s, so check out the man back in the day doing his thing, honestly people, this track is realllllllly fucking good.

Then we have one of the greatest of all time, the legendary Kool G Rap with another Strictly Business fave Roxanne Shante on 'Deadly Rhymes'. Now, I haven't bothered to look this up but it sound to me as if G Rap wrote Shante's rhymes on this one because it's probably the best shit she ever kicked. This is on some heavy ish, wicked funky beat & ferocious rhymes.

The next gem joint is the vinyl debut of Ice Cube & is also produced by Dre. It's 1986's 'She's A Skag' by the Stereo Crew. Some fairly early west coast ign'ance, it's not the finest track you'll ever hear, but I wanted to throw a few curve balls into the mix with this edition of Strictly Gems, and it's not a particularly well known tune so I chucked it it, hope y'all dig.

The incredible TDS Mob make another Strictly Gems appearance with the ultrafresh 'Crushing 'Em', One of my top crews of the 80s, just wish they recorded more tracks. 'Crushing 'Em' crushes all competition, everything about it is hard, so many classic lines, TDS Mob in effect.

Known to my crew as the 'Frankenstein' break, 'Misdemeanor' by Foster Sylvers is an awesome track and the next joint is based around it, it's the amazing D.O.C. with 'It's Funky Enough', you can't go wrong with any of the tracks on his incredible 'No One Can Do It Better' LP, but right here you're getting the one I play the most when i'm DJing, again produced by Dr Dre a few years later than his exploits with the Stereo Crew (& the brilliant but freaky World Class Wrecking Crew for that matter). The D.O. to the C. was a tremendous MC & wrote some dope rhymes for others, but here he is at his best, and yes. It is funky enough.

Next up, from Boston it's the Top Choice Clique with the top quality 'Peace Of Mind', this jam is damn funky people, MC Jawn P is well on the ball with the rhymes on this one, plus the beat & cuts are dope, proper essential track, Top choice no doubt.

Then it's "Philly's first Rap Supergroup" - Tuff Crew with the obese 'Let It Rip', from their first superb LP 'Danger Zone'. Now, everything this crew recorded way crazy hype, the MCs were all ultra skilled & the beats are heavy & chunky. 'Let It Rip' is just a li'l taster of the amazing Tuff Crew, so hunt down those LPs, plus the top notch EP 'Phanjam' with the Krown Rulers.

We all know Diamond D from his amazing debut LP, but before that he was Master Rob's DJ in Ultimate Force. You probably know the crew from the classic 'I'm Not Playing', but they recorded a dope (unreleased) LP including the joint we have here - 'I'm In Effect'. It's a nice joint, and I do believe that at 3:50 Rob says 'Kiss me on the nob'. Maybe that's why Diamond dipped to go solo.

Continuing the trend with Strictly Gems & the 'Songs with rum old keyboard bits' genre we have Versatile Sounds with 'Like This', it takes a while for the MCs to kick in, but when they do we get some nice 80s rhymes over (I think) a Linn drum machine while the DJ gets fresh in the background.

And the last joint for this volume of Strictly Gems is the amazing Witchdoctor & The Dominating 3 MCs with 'Rock The House', another wonderfully heavy track with super rough drums & fly as fuck rhymes. "The power of the microphone is mastered by few" & these boys certainly mastered it dunny. Another time i'm gonna say..... Peep the album, dig it out, the sleeve is amazing.

Strictly Business presents -
Strictly Gems pt III

Aaron Dee & C-Nice - Dissasemble The Beat
Busy Boys - Classical
Captain G. Whiz - Go G. Whiz
Charlie Brown & The CB Girls - You Can Make It
Cobra MCees - The M Go
D.Moet & X-Calibur - Dance to X-Calibur
Deuces Wild -  Hard Is Hard
Divine Sounds - Me & My Posse
Fat Boys - Fat Boys Scratch (Remix)
Gangstarr - Movin' On
His Majesti  -  Armed & Dangerous
Juice Crew All Stars - Juice Crew All Stars
Kay Gee The All - My Record Is Hot
Legion Of Doom - Live Bait
MC EZ & Troup - Get Retarded
MC Shan - Juice Crew Law
MC Tony Rone - I'm Just Rappin
Ministers Of Black - Step Into My Office
Phill Most Chill - That Girl
Roxanne Shante & Kool G Rap - Deadly Rhymes
Stereo Crew - She's A Skag
Supreme Force - Handling Things
TDS Mob - Crushin' Em
The DOC - It's Funky Enough
Top Choice Clique - Peace Of Mind
Tuff Crew - Let it Rip
Ultimate Force - I'm in Effect
Versatile Sounds - Like This
Witchdoctor & The Dominating 3 MCs - Rock The House

 Password - defandstupid

So, that's it for this volume, hope y'all dig.
Sorry 'bout the host Repo, gotta sort that shit out.
What do you recommend thun ?

New dopeness coming soon, keep it locked right here.

"Let's Groove On, Cause It's Time To Move On"

Strictly Summer pt III

It's the third & final (for now......) installment of Strictly Summer.
The weather's still shit, but fuck it.

 Another selection of dope tracks.
This time around tracks include -

De La Soul are here with 'Sunshine', chopping up (I think) 'Blow Your Head' & giving us a nice old school style singalong chorus.

I had a fuck load of versions of 'Ain't No Sunshine' to choose from but I went with the fat Harlem Underground Band cover of this classic track. As sampled by The Beatnuts, Tribe & Ghostface amongst others.

Next up it's John Wayne & Johnny with 'Rain Fall Sun Shine', Now John Wayne is one of your boy Flair's all time favourite Jamaican DeeJays, he never actually recorded much but his tracks are absolute classics. Look out for the amazing 'Boogie Down' LP from 1983.

No summer selection could ever be complete without 'Everybody Loves The Sunshine' by Roy Ayers Ubiquity. I have no idea how many times i've heard this track over the years but it's a lot ! Listening to it now still sounds dope, it's been sampled by everybody ever & it's still THE essential summer joint.

Finally it's Yellow Sunshine with the awesome (self titled) 'Yellow Sunshine'. They only recorded one LP & split up when Dexter Wansel left the band, but what they recorded is the tits blud ! This track is crazy dope & is obviously essential listening. The break is incredible & has been fairly heavily sampled, it sounds at it's finest on 'Whirlwind Pyramid' by The D.O.C. Awesome stuff.

Strictly Business present
Strictly Summer pt III

Central Line - Walking Into Sunshine
De La Soul - Sunshine
Demastas - No Sunshine (Remix)
Harlem Underground Band - Ain't No Sunshine
John Wayne & Johnny - Rain Fall Sun Shine
Osibisa - Sunshine Day
Rockers Revenge - Walkin' On Sunshine
Roy Ayers Ubiquity - Everybody Loves The Sunshine
The Mighty Rudo - You Are My Sunshine
Yellow Sunshine - Yellow Sunshine

Password - defandstupid

"Groove On A Rainy Day"

Strictly Summer pt II

For our second Strictly Summer collection we kick off with a pair who seem to turn up on many a Strictly Business compilation, it's Asher D & Daddy Freddy with the simply titled 'Summertime'. It's Mungo Jerry-Tastic. "Run come follow we".

'Summer Kicks' is a classic track from B-Boy Records, if I remember correctly KRS One produced it. It's wicked and it's by Camden Crew.

Fantasy Three give us the even simpler titled 'Summer' - "Let's all have a hip hop summer!". Fair enough, I will then.

'Summer Madness' by Kool & The Gang is absolutely essential as far as summer joints go, so it had to make an appearance here. Lovely tune.

I went for the Main Ingredient version of 'Summer Breeze', it was originally by Seals & Crofts, obviously the Isley Brothers version is a classic too, but I went for this version cos it was sampled on Biggie's 'Things Done Changed'.

The Quincy Jones version of 'Summer In The City' absolutely needed to be here, it's a lovely track & has been sampled to death.

Strictly Business present
Strictly Summer pt II

Asher D & Daddy Freddy - Summertime
Brick - Summer Heat
Camden Crew - Summer Kicks
Fantasy Three - Summer
James Reese & The Progressions - Let's Go (It's Summertime)
Kool & The Gang - Summer Madness
Living Funk - Silver Black Summer Day
Luis Bagalov - Summertime Killer
Main Ingredient - Summer Breeze
Peanut Butter Wolf - Summer's End
Quincy Jones - Summer In The City
Roots Radics - Summer Dub

Password - defandstupid

"The Sun It Haffi Shine"