Kapone "Who's Blowing Up Far Rockaway Queens" (1994)

This was one of a small group of records in my collection that I was convinced no one else knew about...'til I saw it on Vinyl Addicts. Since I started this blog up, I've tried to avoid posting records that I knew were available elsewhere, as I'd rather try to complement the work other people are putting in, rather than ignore/overlap/overrun it. However, since the audio has been down for a while (and I don't think the complete 12" was ever up), and since it's a dope record that isn't too easy to track down, here it is:

Kapone "Who's Blowing Up Far Rockaway Queens" 12"

This is one of the first true "indie" records I came across (in '95), and it helped convinced me to snatch up pretty much every indie record I came across for the next few years (much to the delight of my credit card companies). If you haven't heard this cut, it's raw as f*ck...true NYC-indie-banger. A simple stomping drum break complemented by some strings samples, while Kapone (yeah, I didn't know either) rhymes about where he's from. The vocals aren't mixed so well, which just adds to the cut's rawness factor, its main appeal.

The flip-side contains a few curious cuts; I never really felt them, but I know some heads might. "Never Slumber" might work with another MC, but after hearing "Who's Blowing Up Far Rockaway", the beat on "Never Slumber" was waaay too happy for my taste. "In the Mix" is more of what you'd want to hear from Kapone; dark, banging beat playing the back while Kapone rips some thug shit.

Includes the three cuts mentioned, as well as the instrumentals for "Who's Blowing Up" and "Never Slumber".