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Official Mr Bongo 7” Hip Hop Reissue.

Craft a record iconic enough and, no matter what you’ve sampled to make it, you’re destined to be sampled more yourself. It helps if you’ve got Rakim’s voice, of course. When he and Eric B went into Power Play Studios in New York in 1987 to record ‘I Ain’t No Joke’, their next move was highly anticipated due to the critical success of the duo’s first record, ‘Eric B. Is President’. Rakim was already seen as a masterful MC with a distinctive slow, baritone flow and seamless access to a rich vein of words not often heard in hip-hop.

People’s first exposure to this track was on the landmark ‘Paid in Full’ album, and it was clear this had the potential to jump off as a single. The repetitive, simply scratched sample of ‘Pass the Peas’ by the JB’s was an infectious ear worm that needed a truly strong MC to stand up to it. He did more than that – here Rakim spun timeless lyrics and lines that would go on to be sampled and referred to dozens of times down through hip-hop history. He took one of rap’s great instrumentals and wrestled it to the floor.

Of course, you can’t have Eric B & Rakim without Eric B. The DJ gets his time to shine on the flip, and while he isn’t a man renowned for his dexterity and turntablist skills, the track still knocks. Maybe it’s because Eric B has already realised what many would come to work out later: If you haven’t got Rakim on your record, at least scratch his vocals. This re-release comes with a brand new cover utilising some of Dan Lish’s trademark artwork.

While it’s undeniable that Eric B & Rakim crafted and concocted classic after classic back in the Golden Era of the late 80’s and early 90’s, very few of their records could ever be classified as ‘dancefloor fillers’. But that’s exactly what ‘I Know You Got Soul’ was.

The duo’s third single was released at a time when their debut LP, 1987’s ‘Paid in Full’ was already being hailed as a gamechanger. Rakim’s smooth but sombre flow had introduced new phrases to the hip-hop lexicon, while the barrage of James Brown samples had declared open season on the Godfather of Soul’s back catalogue.

There were already stirrings of a backlash from the more frequently sampled artists at the time this came out, and the fact that it took not just its main hook but also its title from Bobby Byrd’s James Brown-produced 1971 single was almost like rubbing salt in the wound. The hip-hop fans and the dancefloor didn’t care – this played all summer long in 1987, elevating the group to a Soul Train performance.

Only months after this dropped, the UK collective M|A|R|R|S turned Rakim’s “Pump up the volume” line into the basis of their own hit. Pop will eat itself.

The original 7” was released in a no-frills generic sleeve – this re-release comes with a brand new cover utilising some of Dan Lish’s trademark artwork.

Ragga jungle french label Psychodynamic continues his crusade to the loud master sound !!
Inviciting Chopstick Dubplate, Mr Williamz, Cutty Ranks, Dub Pistols... bloody bigh fat sound here !!

Massive repress !

Splendid prod from the Vinyl Bleu recordshop in Millau. With a Techno opening turning mordern hardtrance the record chain tunes to get harder and harder till the last tune, a pure jewel of a kind from Fraktal Tribe....

Liveset tribe mental sound...

No Repress 300 copies productions.

We were first introduced to Marumo’s ‘Modish’ album via DJ Okapi's amazing resource the ‘Afrosynth’ blog, which archives South African bubblegum/disco from the 80s & early 90s. Aside from this blog, this music would otherwise remained unknown outside of South Africa, apart from the most hardcore of digger and record collector.
‘Modish’ was originally released on Spades Record in 1982 and was recorded by producer West Nkosi, who was a member of supergroup ‘Mahlathini & The Mahotella Queens’. He worked with the big hitters in South African music such as Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Teaspoon & The Waves, Patience Africa and many more. Marumo were made up of a group of musicians from the Athlone School for the blind in Bellville, close to Cape Town. The band members, John Mothopeng, Munich Sibiya, Simon Falatsi and Marks Mbuthuma, had previously played in the groups Batsumi, All Rounders and The Orations and came together to record this versatile album. It covers a wide number of genres from Sotho soul, Mbaqanga, disco-funk, gospel & spacey-synth slow jams.
Flash forward 30 or so years later and lost dead-stock copies of the album start to appear and Marumo’s music begins to be heard across the world in the DJ sets of Motor City Drum Ensemble, Invisible City Editions, Floating Points, DJ Okapi and others.
We included the afro-disco-funk beauty of 'Khomo Tsaka Deile Kae?’ on our Mr Bongo Record Club Volume Three compilation, but felt ‘Modish’ needed to be available and heard in it’s entirety. We hope you enjoy!

With the original UK 7” of this release now as rare as hen’s teeth, and with the group having recently ‘reformed’ for one last album together, the Mr Bongo replica re-release of this 1990 masterpiece by Gang Starr couldn’t be more timely.

The now-legendary duo of DJ Premier and Guru dropped this at the height of hip-hop’s sampling of jazz, which had led to a creative leap forward for the genre. Yet while others plundered in the dark, this instant classic wore its influences on its sleeve and paid verbal homage to the musicians they were sampling. The “melodious funk” of “Thelonious Monk” gets namechecked, while the track samples two of his records, including 1958’s Bop gem ‘Light Blue’.

While both versions presented here have common elements, the ‘Movie Mix’ – so-named for the song’s appearance on the soundtrack to Spike Lee’s mythic jazz biopic ‘Mo’ Better Blues’ – goes in a few different directions to the ‘Video Mix’. Rather than just drop in an instrumental for the B-side, DJ Premier instead shows his versatility by switching up the base track (Kool & The Gang’s 1971 ‘Dujii’) and layering in other samples. In more ways than one, his virtuosity here echoes the improvisation of a jazz musician, akin to Denzel Washington’s Bleak in the movie.

Of course, he’s not the only show in town. The late Guru’s voice is as mellifluous as an instrument itself here, his potted history of the genre and the artists of jazz delivered with his own unmistakable cadence. Without this record, would he have gone on to make his ‘Jazzmatazz’ projects.

‘Visions’ is a new collaborative album from BADBADNOTGOOD co-founders, Matthew Tavares and Leland Whitty. The Grammy Award winning, multi-platinum producers have been performing and writing music together for 10 years. They have achieved international acclaim with BADBADNOTGOOD and Tavares’ recent solo single ’Self-Portrait’ has been championed by tastemakers such as Gilles Peterson and Benji B. ‘Visions’ is the latest upshot of their incredibly fruitful partnership.

Recorded in Toronto, it was produced by Tavares and Whitty - with Tavares also mixing the album and arranging strings. After a three-week writing period it was played in its entirety in one continuous studio session; almost all the tracks on the album are the first take. Tavares is on piano and guitar, Whitty on saxophone and flute. The rhythm section of Julian Anderson-Bowes on bass and Matthew Chalmers on drums completes the players. They make an impressive collective and are performing at the peak of their powers.

Conceptually the album is a canvas for a combination of composition and group free-form improvisation. Tavares and Whitty are the sole composers, but with some tracks collectively improvised, there is also a group dynamic running through the album. The outcome is a sublime melting pot of modern jazz, impressionist classical music and Arthur Verocai-esque arrangements. It is a sound that is hard to date; it is certainly of the now but is also reminiscent of a lost classic. Similar to the process of its creation, the optimal listening experience for ‘Visions’ is in its entirety. As a coherent body of work it draws the listener in with waves of intensity and crescendos that release back into tranquility - there is both darkness and light in the album’s narrative arc. There is also rawness and honesty to the music, which makes it feel like an intensely personal and intimate offering.

It is hard to think of many 7” singles where both sides are as heavy as this one! "Change The World" & "Try, Try" were released in 1977 by 'Solat', a Dutch-based funk group made up of Surinamese and Dutch-Antillian musicians.

Formed after ex-band members of Reality/Tony And Reality; Eddy Veldman, Franky Douglas, Ivor Mitchell and Glenn Gaddum teamed up with singer Billy Jones, Solat went on to release two singles for Poker records. With it's crossover nature, it pleases disco, funk and modern-soul collectors and DJs alike, plus due to only been released in the Netherlands, the record has now become an extremely sought-after item with a high price tag to match.

Both amazing cuts are aimed straight for the dance-floor, but retain conscious and positive messages that are as relevant now as they were back then. 'Change TheWorld’ is an anthemic feelgood disco funk gem, whilst 'Try, Try ‘ is reminiscent of a Mizell Brothers golden-era production.

Mr Bongo present a replica edition with dinked centre- and original cover- and also label artwork, for all to enjoy!

The Star Beams album is a bit of an enigma. When we first came across their epic dance-floor monster 'Disco Stomp’ it was on a Disco Calypso compilation, so we assumed it originated from the Caribbean. Years later we worked out how wrong we were and that this nugget was actually from South Africa and taken off an ultra scarce album on JAS Pride records from 1976. The next problem was tracking down an original copy and we don’t think we’ve ever seen our Bongo team member Gary Johnson as happy as the day he turned up clutching a copy under his arm. 'Play Disco Specials' was produced by Ray Nkwe who also worked with Mankunku Quartet and The Soul Jazzmen, with all writing credits on the album going to Ray, the recording credited to engineer Robin Ritchie and the artwork to Carol Knowles. Other than this, the personnel of the record remains a mystery, but sometimes a bit of mystery is a good thing. Aside from the disco-jazz-funk of 'Disco Stomp’, which has found it’s way into the DJ sets of Theo Parrish, 'Play Disco Specials’ will appeal to fans of The Star Beams South African contemporaries The Drive, Batsumi and Pacific Express.

"Mr Bongo" is proud to present three unique reworks of Kit Sebastian.
Each of the producers featured in this package created their own
interpretation of the 'lo-fi-hi-fi’ originals and have taken the duo’s
sound into bold new directions. When it came to choosing who should remix Kit Sebastian, Natureboy Flako (Flako/Dario Rojo Guerra) was a producer at the top of our list.

Keeping true to the original, whilst leaving his own stamp on the
track, his mix adds break-beat drums and middle-Eastern guitar riffs
that transform the track into a more cinematic piece. It sounds to us
like the music from an exotica dive-bar scene in a David Lynch film -
which of course, is a very good thing.

Producer and DJ Baris K, who was behind the awesome 'İstanbul 70'
series (re-edits of classic Turkish gems), takes ‘Durma’ in a very
different direction. Totally reconstructing the track, his remix has
flipped the original and totally run wild.

The results are an epic left-field electronic workout. By bringing the spoken-word vocals to the forefront and giving the track a darker industrial vibe, it wouldn't sound out of place bouncing around the walls of a Berlin basement club at 5am on a Sunday morning.

The paring of Kit Sebastian and Halal Cool J grew after DJing together
at the alternative Great Escape party at the Mr Bongo HQ in May 2019.
They share a love for dusty old psychedelic Turkish records. Halal Cool J (aka Aly Jamal/Don Leisure) has released records on First World and is a co-member of Darkhouse Family with Earl Jeffers.

For his interpretation he has delivered a mix-tape-collage with a hip-hop aesthetic, and rather than focusing on remixing a specific song, he has cut and paste his favourite elements of tracks taken off the band’s 'Mantra Moderne’ album. Available in 2 limited-edition, hand-numbered sleeve designs.

To call Marcos Valle 'a legend' of Brazilian music is much more than just easy press-release hype. As singer, writer, musician and record producer, Marcos has played an integral role shaping the sound of the country’s music from the 'golden era' of the 60's and 70's, through to the modern day. Alongside his brother, Paulo Sergio Valle, they have penned a huge catalogue of classic songs, not just for themselves but for other greats such as Elza Soares, Astrud Gilberto, Claudia to name a few.

‘Braziliance!’ takes things back to the early heady days of Marcos’ career with the bright and optimistic sound of Rio's Bossa Nova scene. It includes an instrumental version of ’Crickets Sing For Anamaria’ or 'Os Grilos’ in Portuguese, which would also be re-recorded with vocals. Though only in his early twenties at the time, ‘Braziliance!’ depicts very sophisticated production for a musician so young. Recorded in 1966, produced by Louis Oliveira and Ray Gilberts with arrangements by the very talented Emir Deodato, the album was released on Warner Bros. Records.

The artwork presents a very clean-cut, wholesome looking Marcos but darker things were around the corner for Brazil. The ‘Tropicalica’ movement was on its way and about to shake thighs up both musically and politically.
Unlike some of his Bossa Nova contemporaries, Marcos continued to stay relevant, surfing the changes and adapting to the musical developments that culture and society projected and needed, without comprising his art. Under exclusive license to Light In The Attic Records & Distribution, LLC | Mr Bongo Records.

Our much in-demand series of classic Brazilian 45s are back!

Featuring a vibrant new design, we’ve curated yet more wants-list regulars and unearthed fresh finds from Brazil that are destined to become collector’s items in their own right.

Mr. Confuse returns with a new funky 7" on the afrofunk tip.
'Spinning Around' kicks off with heavy funk drums, afro horn stabs and a driving mean Farfisa organ that really keeps you moving till the end. On the flipside 'Against All Odds' offers a driving bass line, raging brass and clever breaks – a breakdance sure shot! Make sure you check out the music video of 'Spinning Around' and don't miss this release on Confunktion Records as the 7inch vinyl version is limited to a 150 Units. ... Be quick on this one!

Mr. Collage’s debut solo album “Layers” takes a traditional Hip-Hop approach, utilizing samples as well as recorded instruments. “Layers” is a sonic painting consisting of dusty vinyl memories and future plane tickets. Funky beats and basslines, afro percussions and a second-hand synth are layered to complete the musical background of the album.

Is that all? Def not! The album features some very talented artists from the USA, Australia, Spain, Greece and Belgium. The rappers Nico The Beast, S Squair Blaq, Mic Bles and 1989TRE get funky on Collage’s beats and lady MC Amira Lacrima with her mellow raps gets into a story telling.

Soul comes strong in the album too with Lady EMZ cherishing life over a Northern Soul-inspired beat and Mantique spicing up the funkiness with her deep voice. Not to mention vocalist Lisa Spykers adding an extra R&B/Soul vibe by joining forces with 1989TRE.
On the wheels of steel, the IDA World Finalists - Fly Immigrants (DJ Mysterons and DJ Hypercutz) and the heavy artillery of scratching of Mind The Wax, DJ Moya take care of the scratches in the album.

Layers will be released on vinyl by label Mind The Wax in December 2019, and includes 11 tracks.

Repress

Mr. G embarked on his first US tour in 2019. The result has been a ton of new inspiration, after which he wrote ''The Alien With Extraordinary Abilities''. PG062 is a collection of six versatile tracks ranging from thumping G sound House / Techno to hazy works of ambient textures.