Darc Mind - The Cellar Session

Darc Mind is my favorite MC-DJ duo. There is nothing else in hip-hop quite like the combination of Web D's beats and Kevroc's rhymes. How curious then that one of their best known songs, indeed their only single ever pressed, wasn't produced by Web D, but by New Jersey's Nick Wiz. When I spoke with the duo about this record, Web said, "Originally on Loud, we had a single deal. They was afraid of us. They didn’t know what to do with us ... They did think our sound was a little rough around the edges, so they sent us to Nick Wiz, and we did the single for them, which was 'Outside Looking In.' They put it out there for radio release. It was almost like a promo. They never released it in the stores or nothing like that. It was mad copies pressed up and they promo’ed the shit out of it."

As so many copies were pressed, the single isn't too hard to find, and in addition to radio and album versions of the song, it contains the instrumental and acapella tracks. Any Kevroc acapella is a thing to behold. Recently, however, it was revealed that these aren't the only versions. In 2025, Nick Wiz included an alternate mix of "Outside Looking In" on his Cellar Selections Volume 11 compilation. When I first heard this, I immediately lost my shit, getting so excited I somehow convinced myself there were actually different lyrics on this version. There aren't, but it's still very dope. Anyway, I'd resolved to do a post about it sometime, and when that time came a few days ago, I went looking for the song again only to find that it's actually not the only Nick Wiz-produced Darc Mind track available. 

In fact, the very first installment of Wiz's Cellar Sounds compilation series, released back in 2008, includes an otherwise unreleased Darc Mind song called "We In This." Additionally, Cellar Sounds Volume 5, released in 2017, has another unreleased track called "Femme Fatale," and Cellar Extras Part 3, from 2019, has an alternate take of that song. While there isn't any information available on these recordings beyond the compilations' limited credits, all of them are dated to 1996, the same year that "Outside Looking In" dropped. So, while Nick Wiz did not immediately respond to a request for comment, we can likely infer that the songs were recorded in or around the same time as one another, perhaps during the same session(s). Could it be that all of these songs were tracked as potential singles, and that a version of "Outside Looking In" was eventually chosen for release? 

If this was the case, I think everyone can agree that out of the three songs, the choice most faithfully represents what we've come to appreciate as the Darc Mind sound. It might not be the darkest of the bunch, but it is the most Darc. As for the others, "We In This" seems to recall the '80s basement parties Kev rocked in his youth, with one of its verses later appearing on "U Da One" off Symptomatic of a Greater Ill, while "Femme Fatale" appears to be a noirish take on "Fine Brown Frame" from Bipolar, with an extra verse and alternate hook. What did Nick Wiz's producorial role entail? How did it align with Web and Kev's vision? We may never know. Regardless, Darc Mind was here.

Rakim's Games of Death & Life

In 1996, Shaquille O'Neal released his third rap album, You Can't Stop the Reign. Say what you will about Shaq's rap career; the album included a song with Rakim. And while Ra is technically the featured artist on "Game of Death," he essentially runs point, turning in not just a 16, but also a second eight-bar verse as well as the song's hook. Basketball-reference-laced "Punisher"-era bars abound — e.g., "Thoughts of torture terrify your team in the tournament" — as Rakim and Shaq execute a hip-hop tribute to Bruce Lee and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's famous fight from the 1978 film of the same title. Ironically, if not self-referentially, Rakim also used a basketball metaphor nine years later in his last lines on a song called "Game of Life." The track, also featuring Ice-T and Chilly Mac, appeared on the soundtrack of 2005 documentary Slippin': Ten Years with the Bloods. The film was co-produced by pioneering MC Kurtis Blow; hence Rakim's line, "First let me bust another verse for my man Kurtis Blow."

Bonus materials: Rakim's song "Welcome to the NBA" from the videogame NBA 07 (now retroactively included in LIRR's Rakim Soundtrack Work playlist) and a clip of Bobbito Garcia recalling a pickup game with Rakim and his friends from Long Island.

 

M.J. Rap / Billy Jean Knows You've Got Soul

In 1988, a house music label by the name of T.K.L.S.T. Production issued an unofficial white label featuring a Michael Jackson "Megamix" of several of his biggest songs. Bootlegs like this were not uncommon in the record club days of the 1980s. They'd sometimes include mashups and remixes, which often went uncredited as was the case here. Flip this 45-RPM record over and you'll find a track innocuously titled "M.J. Rap." But don't let that misnomer fool you, as this is not Michael Jackson rapping. In fact, it's one of the most perfect blends ever committed to wax: a mix of Eric B. & Rakim's 1987 single "I Know You Got Soul" and Michael Jackson's 1982 Grammy Award-winning hit, "Billie Jean." How perfectly do these songs align? So much so that eight years later, in 1996, another house music label called Cluedo? Records put out another version of the blend, with the much more descriptive title, "Billie Jean Knows You've Got Soul." While both are absolute body movers, there is a notable difference between the two. Where the first track slows the "Billie Jean" instrumental to match Rakim's vocals, the second instead speeds them up to keep pace with the music. Additionally, the first record was put out by a U.S. label while the second comes from the U.K. As for the DJs behind these blends, your guess is as good as mine. Regardless, both blends are well worth a spin and available via the following YouTube streams thanks to some generous record owners.

 

Centa of da Web - Beyond Human Comprehension EP

Execute command. Materialize avatar. Download itinerary. Charge phaser. Open portal. Enter portal. Traverse wormhole. Exit portal. Seal portal. Access itinerary. Pinpoint target. Port pin. Identify target. Execute target. Assess timeline. Identify contamination. Update itinerary.

Want to know what sci-fi-inspired underground hip-hop was like back in the mid-'90s? You don't have to hack autonomous computers sending shooters back in time at the behest of defunct message boards. Atoms Family's Cryptic One dug up a grip of his group Centa of da Web's Beyond Human Comprehension cassettes and CDs, and posted them on his site. You can also name your price below.

Recorded, I believe, in Da Cryptic One's parents' house, this EP sounds like decades of hip-hop's past and future folding in on themselves in a Westbury basement. Peace to Cryp, Molecule and Whichcraft for opening the portal. 

Brothers of the Mind - 1992-1996

There are a ton of '90s rap acts that released killer singles but never dropped an album. NYC duo Brothers of the Mind just might be the quintessential '90s rap act that never dropped an album. Consider their names. Brothers of the Mind consisted of DJ Krazy Kraz and MC Lyrical Freestyle. I rest my case. 

That being said, their music, while very much of its era, also holds up exceedingly well today and not only because '90s rap has come back into vogue. Krazy Kraz and Lyrical Freestyle were clearly skilled in their craft, which would explain why, according to Kraz, in April 1992, renowned DJ, engineer and producer Pal Joey judged them best out of 85 acts he auditioned for a deal. 

The group released two singles, both produced by Pal Joey and recorded in his Astoria studio, The Temple. However, apparently they did a lot more songs with Joey than that, as, in 2010, his Foot Stompin Records issued a compilation of 15 Brothers of Mind tracks Pal Joey produced between 1992 and 1996. In addition to showcasing the unsung talents of both Krazy Kraz and Lyrical Freestyle, the project demonstrates that Pal Joey clearly knew his way around a rap tune. It's likely Kraz also had a hand in the production, as he worked as an assistant engineer and co-producer with Joey during the time these songs were recorded (you can also hear Kraz scratching on a bunch of instrumental 12 inches Joey dropped in this period). Regardless of who did what on which beat, it seems the project was very much Pal Joey's baby since he still put it out 14 years after the fact. Eleven years since then, it's my pleasure to share it here with you.

Pal Joey's Mid-'90s Hip-Hop Mixes

Joseph "Pal Joey" Longo's name rings loudest in halls of house, but the Central Islip raised, SUNY Farmingdale educated DJ has never been shy about his hip-hop roots. After coming up making pause tapes, he was present for the recording of many a classic as second engineer at Power Play Studios, went on to produce for the likes of Boogie Down Productions and even claims to have done demos with a young Nas. Below, four hip-hop mixes from 1993, '94, '95 and '96, all taken from Pal Joey's Mixcloud page. If you're unfamiliar, definitely check that out along with his online "diary."

One Single, Many Sides: A Closer Listen to Burnt Clique's Dipladoekisss / Wild Wild East

Before delving any deeper, due credit must be given to the always dope HipHop-TheGoldenEra blog, whose coverage of "Wild Wild East" brought Burnt Clique and their sole single to my attention in the first place. Reading about and listening to J-Boogie the Journalist, Capital the Crimelord, and S-ON the Terrible, I thought I recognized at least one of the Burnt Clique members from somewhere, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it, so I kept digging.

As the post linked above explains, Burnt Clique dropped their debut single on Blank Records in 1996. As far as one can tell, it's also their only single. Burnt Clique also released The Album on CD in 2004, but without any audio floating around at present date, "Dipladoekisss" and "Wild Wild East" would appear to be the only tracks you can hear from them, a shame as they only leave the listener wanting more.

Thankfully, the post linked to J-Boogie's Facebook page, where we find the rapper today continues to release music under his given name, Jay Hill. Moreoever, he continues to rep Long Island, with anthems such as "Long Island State of Mind" off his 2013 mixtape, Strong Like the Island I'm From (the title referencing a Posdnuos line from "The Bizness"). Jay has most definitely updated his sound since 1996 — check out "No Benefits" released just a few days ago, for example — but the unmistakable voice and talent he showcased on "Dipladoekisss" remain sharp as ever. As nice as this was to hear, though, I wasn't sure it was ringing the same bells that I thought I'd heard on first hearing Burnt Clique, so further I searched.



And as it turns out, Capital the Crimelord actually has connections to two of Long Island's most prominent artists, Biz Markie and R.A. the Rugged Man. In talking about his song, "Stanley Kubrick," off Rawkus' popular Soundbombing 2 compilation, R.A. told Rap Genius, "The real producer of that beat is Capital the Crime Lord, out in Long Island." Indeed, you can hear Cap's name shouted out on the song. R.A. Continued: "[Capital] was a big rapper, one of the better rappers in my neighborhood growing up. A little white, Italian and Puerto Rican kid, he rapped on Biz Markie's album. His name's Capital T. He rapped on I Need a Haircut. He rapped on Diamond Shell's album. He was a really, really good rapper/producer, you know?" Well, if we didn't, we definitely do now. In addition to appearing alongside Biz and Biz's brother from Brentwood, Diamond Shell, on 1991's "Take It From the Top," Capital T raps with both of them on "Bugged Out Day at Powerplay" off Diamond Shell's 1991 album, The Grand Imperial Diamond Shell. How's that for some history? Actually, there's even more...

Capital the Crime Lord did more than produce for R.A. the Rugged Man. He also lent vocals to a bonus mix of Rugged Man's 1996 single with Sadat X, "50,000 Heads" and provided scratches on R.A.'s 2001 single, "Don't Wanna Fuck Wit," featuring Havoc. And not only that! Seven years back, while promoting his Legends Never Die album, R.A. did a reddit "Ask Me Anything" session in which one participant asked how he developed his flow or if it came naturally. Rugged Man responded, "nah.. when I was like 12 my boy Capital the Crime Lord was older than older than me and told me yo! you got an ill rhyme but you dont got no flow. And we sat in his basement rocking to beats and he taught me how to flow like a pro and ever since I was obsessed with improving on it." So, Capital T the Crime Lord not only appeared on multiple tracks with Biz Markie and produced one of R.A. the Rugged Man's best known songs — he also helped teach R.A. how to rap!



It's amazing how much history can be connected to one 12" VLS. Maybe that's why it fetches up to $150, but more likely it's just because the raps and beats contained therein are every bit as fiery as the sticker would have you believe. Here's hoping that The Album surfaces sometime soon along with more from Jay "Boogie the Journalist" Hill, Capital T the Crimelord, and S-ON the Terrible.

Busta Rhymes, Notorious B.I.G., Roc Marciano, J. Dilla - "Modern Day Gangstas"

Busta Rhymes, Roc Marciano, Knowledge the Pirate, and Rockwilder
(presumably backstage at Highline Ballroom),
December 26, 2017, via KP's Insta.

Strap in because there's some history behind this one ... or just scroll down to the track. Story goes that the original version of Busta Rhymes and Notorious B.I.G.'s "Modern Day Gangstas" aka "Dangerous MC's" aka "The Ugliest" was recorded over a J. Dilla beat in 1996 for Busta's debut, The Coming, but was shelved because Biggie went hard at Pac in his verse (like borderline self-incriminatory hard), and Bus didn't want to get mixed up in the beef.

Puffy retained the masters, because he's Puffy I guess, and then released a remix of the song over a Nottz beat on Notorious B.I.G.'s posthumous 1999 album, Born Again. This version featured Snoop Dogg and Mark Curry, whereas the original Dilla version features Busta Rhymes affiliate Labba. (Peace to The Lost Tapes for shedding light on the above back in 2014.) There's also a 12" promo release of "Dangerous MC's" on Bad Boy, featuring Mark Curry, Snoop Dogg and Busta Rhymes, with "Who Shot Ya" on the b-side. Discogs doesn't give a date for this release, it's not up on YouTube, and I'm not cracking the seal on my copy, so who knows when that came out or what it sounds like. Alas, none of these versions, as far as anyone knows, featured Roc Marciano.

Fast-forward to December 8, 2017. Roc Marciano Tweets, "Please tell my big bro @BustaRhymes to please find his unreleased song with biggie smalls on the dilla beat with my verse on it." Shortly thereafter, DJ, producer and friend of the late J. Dilla, House Shoes implies that he has the unreleased song in question.

Sure enough, five days later, Shoes kicks off the December 13, 2017 edition of his dublab program, Magic, with a track he lists as "Biggie Dilla Busta Rhymes ft. Flipmode – Modern Day Gangsters / Dangerous M.C.’s." The full program is available to download. All I did was cut out the first song, using Audacity. Stream/download Busta Rhymes and J. Dilla's "Modern Day Gangstas" ft. Notorious B.I.G., Labba and Roc Marciano below.


(P.S. It has been suggested, due to some differences in volume between the Roc verse and the rest of the vocals, that this track was Frankensteined using several different versions of the song. Note the DJ Kay Slay drops over Roc's verse and DJ Whoo Kid drops over Big's, which support that theory, as the Dilla version without Roc appeared on Busta Rhymes and DJ Whoo Kid's Surrender mixtape. But do you really care?)

***Update 2/13/20***
Roc Marciano's manager, Jazz, confirms on Twitter that the Roc Marciano verse comes from a DJ Kay Slay radio broadcast, hence the drops. He adds that it was played only on the radio and did not appear on any Kay Slay mixtapes.

***Update 4/14/21***

Props to Civilian3030 for pointing out that because The Coming was recorded before "Hit 'Em Up," it's highly unlikely, if not impossible, that "The Ugliest" was recorded for those sessions. Alternately it could have been intended for When Disaster Strikes or perhaps another project altogether.

Knowledge the Pirate - Buried Treasury

"While Trump tweeting quotes from Mussolini / Shit I'm trying to raise my Kundalini." Those lines, juxtaposing fascism and Dharma, have won Knowledge the Pirate some well-earned praise since Rosebudd's Revenge dropped. His "No Smoke" verse, clearly a show stopper, is in point of fact just the latest in a string of solid contributions to Roc Marciano projects, following "Didn't Know" and "Drug Lords" from Marci Beaucoup; "Slingers," "Shower Posse," and "Ten Toes Down" from Pimpire Strikes Back; and "Not Told" from Reloaded. Add on the non-album cut "Her Vice" and the Ricky Dubs feature "Shot A Man," and you've got a nice playlist of Marciano-Pirate collabos.

Nice indeed, but these hardly represent the complete discography of Knowledge the Pirate aka Knowledge, an MC whose work dates back to the mid-'90s. Knowledge previously shed light on his history via a 2013 interview with the Village Voice, in which he discussed early come-ups via big-name affiliations such as Teddy Riley, The Neptunes and Will Smith. (The picture above was taken on the set of Men In Black, according to Knowledge's IG.) Though it provides a decent overview of Knowledge's first forays into the recording industry, the story fails to mention any of his early recordings by name.

With the recent news that a video for "No Smoke" is on the way (preview it here), I figured now's a good time to dig and see which rare Pirate jewels we might unearth. Using a few of the names mentioned in the VV interview, I combed Discogs and YouTube for previously unheard Knowledge the Pirate songs and came up with five tracks, including one solo cut and four guest features, which I compiled into the playlist streaming below. While you listen, note that the earliest of these tunes dates all the way back to 1994, making Knowledge's debut as much as three years older than "The Prophecy," Marciano's first appearance on wax.




1. Knowledge The Pirate - Am I The Blame (2010)
2. Will Smith - Act Like You Know [add'tl vox by Knowlege] (Born to Reign, 2002)
3. Mike E - Before We Get Too Close ft. Knowledge the Pirate & Queen Pen (Master Plan, 2000)

4. Knowledge the Pirate - Ahoy! (Harlem World Order, 1999)
4. Nutta Butta - Freak Out Remix ft. B.B.O., Knowledge the Pirate & Teddy Riley (12", 1998)
5. Wreckx-N-Effect - Criminal Minded ft. Knowledge & Rugged Baztud (Raps New Generation, 1996)
6. Wreckx-N-Effect - Something for da Radio ft. A-Q, Badd Newz, Knowledge & Rugged Baztud (Raps New Generation, 1996)
7. Wreckx-N-Effect - Sucka MC's ft. A-Plus, Knowledge, Nutta Butta (Raps New Generation, 1996)
8. Blackstreet - U Blow My Mind ft. Knowledge (Blackstreet, 1994)
9. Blackstreet - Baby Be Mine ft. Knowledge (Blackstreet, 1994)

EDIT (8/8/18): Discogs updates have allowed me to add four more tracks to the list. I also removed "The Point" as Knowledge's voice is impossible to pick out, and nobody has confirmed he's actually on there.

EDIT (3/28/23): The Nutta Butta track disappeared from YouTube so that's gone for now, but I also found out that "Ahoy!," which I previously thought was an unreleased loosie, was on DJ S&S' Harlem World Order album and added that here.

Hyenas In The Desert - Can You Feel It CDS

The Can You Feel It CDS is one of those rare singles that includes so many unique recordings it might as well be called an EP. Hyenas In The Desert were of course the Long Island horrorcore rap group signed to Chuck D's Slam Jamz label. After the group, which consisted of Lakeview MC Kendo and Freeport producer Gary G-Wiz, disbanded, Kendo went on to release a solo album as Kendo The Almost Famous (also on Slam Jamz). A full decade before that, though, the Hyenas dropped this, their third and final release. Notably, the CD version includes a Chuck D-voiced interlude and two radio appearances that aren't on the VLS. Stream "Hyenas Live From New York With Funkmaster Flex" below and download the Can You Feel It CDS here.

Darc Mind - Outside Looking In 12"

Released on Loud Records in 1996, Outside Looking In was the first and only single Kevroc and X-Ray Da Mindbenda put out under the name Darc Mind. It's also the only Darc Mind song that isn't produced by Ray "X-Ray Da Mindbenda" Davis — Nick Wiz is credited as producer, mixer and engineer. Perhaps most notably, it contains the only known Kevroc acappella track, which is a jewel unto itself by virtue of the MC's vocal range. Stream that below and download the Outside Looking In 12" here.

***Update 5/7/26**

Above I'd mistakenly stated that "Outside Looking In" is the only Darc Mind song not produced by X-Ray da Mindbenda. Clearly, at this point, I hadn't heard the Nick Wiz-produced "We In This," which dropped in 2008 but was recorded around the same time as "Outside Looking In," perhaps even during the same session(s). In the years since this post went up, Nick Wiz has put out yet another Darc Mind song as well as alternate version of it. Read more about all of this in my recent post, "Darc Mind - The Cellar Session."

De La Soul & Nas - BBC Radio 1 Freestyle (1996)

Yesterday, De La Soul dropped a new track they did with Nas to continue building buzz for their Kickstarter-funded album, And the Anonymous Nobody. Though the song's great in its own right, it won't be included on the upcoming project. Regardless, that's where all De-La-related attention is focused right now, so it's only mildly surprising (if not further indicative of the modern music press' shortsightedness) that most hip-hop sites that posted the track yesterday failed to link to or at least mention this timeless recording of Nas, Pos and Dave sharing the mic on Tim Westwood's Radio 1 Rap Show back in 1996.
It's rare to hear multiple generation-spanning and -defining artists such as Nas and De La Soul paired naturally in any setting; rarer still to hear them trading off-the-head freestyles. So stream their first recording above, their latest below, and yes, don't forget there's still time to contribute to the And the Anonymous Nobody Kickstarter.

Darc Mind - Antediluvian Vol. 2

Antediluvian Vol. 2 is Dope Folks Records' third release to feature the talents  of Kevroc and X-Ray Da Mindbenda, following Antediluvian Vol. 1 and the Legion of D.U.M.E. '94 D.U.M.E. EP, both of which are all sold out. Limited to just 300 copies, this one is likely to do the same, so get yours now while you still can. All six songs on here, four of which are from '96 and two of which are from '93, can be streamed below via Dope Folks' YouTube channel. Respect due to Darc Mind for archiving all this material and allowing it to see the light of day decades later, to Justin Perkins for remastering it, and to Dope Folks Records for continuing to put out previously unreleased hip-hop of the highest caliber.

Keith Murray - The Rhyme 12" Promo

Recorded in Dix Hills, NY and promoted as "The 1st clue from the upcoming album Enigma," "The Rhyme" is note-worthy for several reasons: 1) Eight versions of this single were released; 2) It features a remix by The Ummah production team (Q-Tip, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and the late J Dilla); and 3) It's ill! The version included in this post, JDCD-42405-1, is the 12" U.S. Promo, which is differentiated by the fact that it contains a radio version of the Erick Sermon-produced original "The Rhyme" and not the album cut "Yeah." The fact that The Ummah remix is called "The Slum Village Remix" leads me to believe that Dilla was primarily behind this beat. It definitely has his sound.
Download the 12" here.