DJ FORMAT vs. PHILL MOST CHILL – UK vs. PHILLY BATTLE

For those who may have missed it from the fall of 2013, me and my guy the omnipotent DJ Format did a nice little mix / battle for Ninja Tune‘s Solid Steel Radio Show pitting some of the UK’s illest random rap selections from the late 80’s – early 90’s era against a similar collection of gems originating from good ol’ Philly PA here in the U.S. of A. With Format repping the UK and me standing up for my city of brotherly love, natch. Although it was my job to make Britain look not so Great, I gotta admit Format pulled some serious heat out of those UK Hip Hop crates. I think I repped Philly pretty nicely with the obscure facemelters, though. You be the judge, who won the battle? Either way, when good rap schitt is dropped it’s a victory all the way around, and that’s what really counts.

Phill Most Chill twitter.com/PhillMostChill

Hip City Swingers _ I’m the Man _ B-Brothers Platinum Records
DJ Todd 1 _ The Jam _ Cut Up!
IBM Nation _ Brainiac _ Inner City Records
B-Fresh _ Watch My DJ Get Busy _ Raw Records
Courageous Chief _ Verbal Surgery _ Tirade
Phill Most Chill _ On The Hype Tip _ DWG
Plush Bros _ Back To The Lab _ Plush Records
MC Prelitique _ No More Lies _ Maine Records
Heavy Action _ He’s Treacherous _ Rough Cut Productions
Robbie B & Jazzy Jay _ Boogie Down _ R.B.A. Records
Legion Of Doom _ Live Bait _ Bill Collectors Inc.
Three Times Dope _ Improvin’ The Groovin’ _ Arista
Danger Zone Mobb Sqwad _ T.L. Back To Yell _ Sure Shot Records
AKR _ AKR Made It _ Park Place Records

DJ Format twitter.com/DJFormat4

Demon Boyz _ Lyrical Culture _ Music Of Life
Powercut Crew (feat. Mistri-D) _ God Made Me Funky _ Vinyl Lab Records
MC Mell ‘O’ _ Talk Dem Way _ Funki Dred
Gutter Snypes _ Flatline _ Liberty Grooves
Hijack _ I Had To Serve You _ Warner Bros
Krispy 3 _ Back It Up _ Kold Sweat
Unanimous Decision _ Simply Dope _ Kold Sweat
Son Of Noise _ Ill Justice _ Music Of Life
Bushkiller _ 92 Salute _ Danger Records
K.C.F Productions (feat. C-Madd E) _ Words ‘N’ Musik _ GTI Records
Dominant Force _ Criminals _ Gangster Records
MC’s Logik _ We’re On A Mission _ Submission Records
Shogun MC _ The Struggle Continues _ Blue Chip Records
Sunshine Power _ It’s Too Late _ Sing A Song Records

IT’S FORMAT Y’ALL… AND PHILL MOST Y’ALL

I’m slightly frazzled right now, what with handling a bunch of social networking and other online biz connected with my latest new release (seems I have a gang of ’em right about now), the 10 track full length lp by UK modern day legend DJ Format and myself, Phill Most Chill, titled “The Foremost” (get it? I knew you would). It’s been a busy day, but I’m more than happy to do whatever has to be done because I am freaking ecstatic about this album! Matt (that’s DJ Format to you) has been a beat making monster for years, and I can honestly say that in my honest opinion he honestly outdid himself with the beats on this record. Honest. 
Before I get superfluous with the superlatives, which I can do at times, let me just direct you to the brand spankin’ new promo video for the album, courtesy of the uber-talented creative folks at Paintshop Studio (and yeah, I’m really ecstatic about this video too!)-

Release date is October 28th, should be easy enough to find online but if you have any troubles catching a copy hit me up right here and I’ll help you out with that. And we are trying to promote the heck out of this jawn, so if any of y’all bloggers or websiters or radio show peoples is interested in conducting an interview you can contact me here or on my Facebook page and we’ll try to make that happen if at all possible. More info to come… right now let me get a couple hours of sleep before my brain explodes all over the inside of my skull like the batteries in my Columbia GP-3 did.

LATE SEPTEMBER HEADPHONE MUSIC

Haven’t done one of these in awhile (and looking at my blog stats it seems that the Headphone Music posts were some of the most viewed, I guess because the artists and / or songs featured in the content came up in more Google searches than your typical obscure THAT REAL SCHITT post). Anyway, let’s get to it as I let y’all know what I’ve been rockin’ on my iPhone and iPad recently (the stuff I don’t mind mentioning, anyway… yeah, I’m still on my Secret Squirrel / Morocco Mole for real)-

Soundsci – Soundsational lp – fantastic concept featuring only samples from obscure soul man Mike James Kirkland‘s “Don’t Sell Your Soul” anthology (music from back when he was doin’ it as the frontman for Mike And The Censations) and certified real-schitt bars courtesy of super rappers Soundsci. Really good rhyming and production on pretty much every single song- no fast forwarding necessary.
FIrst Words – All Day Breakfast lp – another great project from the producer who must never sleep Jorun Bombay. Feel-good rap schitt, like eating bacon for every meal. Another one where every song is nice but my joints would be “Bamtronix” and especially “Norma Loves Her Gin”.
Seeds Of Fulfillment – self titled lp – One of those little obscure albums in my collection that’s damn good but doesn’t get mentioned by many people. 70’s jazz with a smooth sound (as opposed to “smooth jazz” – there’s a difference), I just put it in digital form before I sold it and gave it a good listen probably for the first time in all the fifteen years or so that I had it. Might not be everybody’s thing, but this is the kind of stuff I play while I’m cleaning the house on a Saturday.
Total Experience – Contradiction
Superior Elevation – Don’t Let Go Babe
Diddy’s featuring Paige Douglas -My Special Love
Rabbits & Carrots – Soul Latino lp
Peter Wolf – A Change In My Life lp
Ghettosocks – Everyday Apocalypse featuring Timbuktu – Two of my favorite emcees ripping an insane track by The Process (Jonny Cuba and Ollie Teeba 2/5’s of the aforementioned Soundsci) totally to shreds. And thanks for the instro Ollie!
Kanye West – Yeezus lp – Yeah, I’m sayin’ it. I know a lot of people, be they mainstream or underground rap fans, are NOT feelin’ Ye’s latest experiment. For various reasons. I’m gonna tell you, I really believe history is gonna look at this album differently than people are seeing it / hearing it right now. Maybe I just like it when people make music that screams “I don’t give a F*** what y’all think about it!”, which Kanye clearly did NOT when he put out an album like “Yeezus”. And I respect when people have the courage to take music to new uncharted territories, and I ABSOLUTELY feel that Ye, with the very important help of the legendary Rick Rubin, did that here. Is the result something that you really want to listen to? I don’t know, maybe not. But I like where this record is coming from- time will only tell where it ends up going as far as history is concerned.
DJ Format & Phill Most Chill – The Foremost lp – oops, probably not supposed to mention this yet. Yikes! Oh well, y’all better get ready for it because it’s gonna be caving your whole world in very soon. VERY soon. Get ready. And in case you didn’t know already- DJ Format is a BEAST.
Kendrick Lamar’s verse that everybody was talking about on whatever that song was – Actually, no, this wasn’t in my headphones in mid- September or any other time. Just thought I’d mention it since everybody else had something to say about it- I didn’t want to be left out of the party. No dis to Kendrick, he’s a very talented dude (no old man hate here).