6/6/19

Kaleber - Rather Be ft. Shea O.D.

Some Caribbean flavor from the Wyandanch MC.

Bolaji - In Demand Demo

Known for releasing a coveted "fast-rap" single on Zakia Records, as well as his work with the High Council collective, Bolaji is an interesting character from Long Island hip-hop history to say the least. He came out on Eric B & Rakim's first label, sounded almost like a cross between Ra and Big Daddy Kane, grew up around Freddie Foxx (who one of his sisters dated for a time) in North Babylon, and was rediscovered after some 20 years thanks in part to Dope Folks Records, which has issued several EPs worth of previously unreleased material from the MC.

At least some of this music, it seems, was originally intended for an album called In Demand. In a 2010 interview, Bolaji told Jesse Serwer: "We recorded a whole album with 12 songs at Chung King Studios, which was going to be called In Demand. [Zakia] spent some money. I can’t say we were totally jerked because if we told [Zakia owner] Robert Hill, 'We need some bread, when are we going to start seeing some money?' he would just dig in his pocket and break us off. I can’t say that I didn’t get nothing. Over the two years we was running with him, he was giving us money. I’m sure we were entitled to more. I should have appointed somebody that knew better. I took the contract to a lawyer that wasn’t an entertainment lawyer. I didn’t know the difference between entertainment lawyers versus criminal lawyers versus paralegals. I was so excited to be getting to where I was going as a rapper that I let the important things get by. But that forced me to to learn how this business really works. So, we didn’t release anything else off that album because while we were waiting, he closed up shop."

In addition to being able to hear a number of these tracks on the Dope Folks records, you can now stream or download what appears to be the original In Demand demo, a six-track tape clocking in at nearly 30 minutes, which was posted to Soundcloud by user Hidingplaceplce. Speaking of Soundcloud, you can also find some newer music from Bolaji here.