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I think I first heard this at a party out in the North Bay. My homies out there always copped all the new mixtapes so every time I would trek up there to paint, I'd bring a few blanks and try to dub a couple while fools were sleeping off the night before. Apollo's "West Coast Gangsta Funk" was one that I was never able to secure a dub of, but knew it very well due to it's constant burn at crew functions. Eventually I stumbled across a copy (complete with the dope ass Dug One j-card) years later at Cue's. To this day I still get pumped hearing Apollo drop E40's "Practice Looking Hard" acapella over the GLP LP intro. That is some bay shit right there.
Side A
Side B
The "Off The Ropes" compilation CD that came with an issue of the late, great Big Daddy Magazine outta the UK was my intro to the P Brothers. That right there is reason enough to check it out. Speaking of P Brothers and intros, their (exclusive to this release) intro to the CD makes Fat Joe's "Yeah" the warrior call for all swamp dwelling Mantronix drum machines to be hurled through Marshall stacks the world over (check the Roc Marci drop). You would think it would be hard to follow such a bombastic intro (like the Bomb Squad hooking up the intro to a D'Angelo LP), but the crate savvy minds at Big Daddy hand picked some of the tastiest treats they were covering in the accompanying magazine and seasoned them with a liberal dose of UK tunes that were unheard by any of us in the states. The Paul Nice produced Biz Markie track has got to be Biz's best track of the 2K's. Rodney P's "Murderer Style" is like Robitussin drenched dancehall on dust. Shit is evil. Plus you get a bunch of tracks off limited 45's that have come and gone. Big Daddy eventually became Grand Slam which also included some dope CD comps, but died after a short run. Former editor George Mahood now runs the online shop Concourse Records.
Off The Ropes
Here's a nice megamix from 1988 on Megajamm Recordz by the mysterious "DJ Prince Ice". My money's on Prince Ice being fake name so King Tech and his homies (Mark 5 who produced a grip of tracks on Dre Dog's "I Hate You With a Passion" album and Big Ed who has a pretty eclectic resume) wouldn't get sued for pillaging all the tracks necessary to make "Dopemix Vol. 1". What sets this mix apart from other megamixes of the time is the sheer amount of scratching. This ain't no Latin Rascals tape splicing mix here, this is real DJs cutting wax over an unwavering 808 pattern. While it does include many megamix staples "Prince Ice" gets some dirt under his nails dropping snippets of Ice T's "Colors" and G Rap's "Poison". There is a distinct Bay Area sound to this mix that many listeners outside the 415 (I'm talking pre 510) may not catch. File this one next to your Flynamic Force and In-A-Minute Records.
Dopemix Vol. 1
Looks like all the links on here are dead after Zshare's crash a week or so ago. My original plan was to reup all the dead links when we reached 10K hits, but at this point I have neither the time or the patience to re-up the entire blog. If there's a post you missed out on and you want to request a re-up, post a comment and I'll get to those first.KRS One - Ah Yeah (Diamond D Remix)
I think I first heard this at a party out in the North Bay. My homies out there always copped all the new mixtapes so every time I would trek up there to paint, I'd bring a few blanks and try to dub a couple while fools were sleeping off the night before. Apollo's "West Coast Gangsta Funk" was one that I was never able to secure a dub of, but knew it very well due to it's constant burn at crew functions. Eventually I stumbled across a copy (complete with the dope ass Dug One j-card) years later at Cue's. To this day I still get pumped hearing Apollo drop E40's "Practice Looking Hard" acapella over the GLP LP intro. That is some bay shit right there. 
