Let me kick some ballistics

Now, we're not really in the tradition of reviewing other blogs around here, but a blog dedicated to old vinyl rips and rarities should keep its readers informed of exceptional content elsewhere on the internets, no? To that effect, I recently learned about a great blog called Normal Bias, which, not unlike DJ Stretch Armstrong's Konstant Kontakt blog, is offering mp3 rips of old college and other independent radio shows. The curator apparently has a whole fuckload of tapes from his radio-listening and radio-hosting days, as well as a smattering of demos. Great site.

Normal Bias's material spans the majority of the 1990s and hits on a bunch of genres, but I'd like to focus on the WPRB rap shows from 1990-92. Now, many of our readers are probably familiar with 103.3 WPRB, Princeton University's radio station. WPRB's signal reaches Philly and NY, and can thus be heard by our entire staple of contributors. Despite the fact that WPRB is affiliated with the hoity-toity Princeton, it's actually a pretty damn good radio station- informed by the scenes in New York and Philly. Numerous respected colleagues in the Philly area have passed through there.

Take a listen to Normal Bias's selection of WPRB rap tapes to hear appearances and drops from luminaries Ed Lover, Cosmic Kev (of Power 99), Jay-ski, KRS-One, listen to on-the-spot reviews of movies of the time (Boyz in the Hood), hear from NJ-PA-DE-NY acts now lost to history and Dollar Bins and catch jams from Main Source, X-Clan, Masta Ase and more. It's college radio, so don't expect insane mixing or anything, but do expect to be taken on a journey through time. GREAT SCOTT!!!

The two WPRB shows featured on Normal Bias are Club Crush (1990) and Raw Deal (1991-92). I'm not familiar with either of these shows, having grown up far away from WPRB's range, but the shows hearken back to a simpler time. Not only does it recall a time when you could just loop a sample the Honeydrippers and talk about your haircut but it also reminds me of my days as a DJ at the now-defunct WHRC in Philadelphia and my guest forays into the studios of WRCT in Pittsburgh and KWUR in St. Louis. Being a college kid rocking wax on college radio is about as fun as it gets.

For Philly rap afficianadoes, there is also a rip of a 1990 WIBF Krush Radio show with Mike Elliot, who along with the legendary Lady B later founded Strictly Hip Hop, by some accounts the first national hip-hop magazine.

So be sure to DL these WPRB shows, and dig around the blog for more oddities and rarities.

[NormalBias.org]
[NormalBias.org : WPRB Hip Hop shows 1990-92]
[NormalBias.org: WIBF Krush Radio 1990]

Shout to Digs Darklighter for putting me up on this cool discovery. If you don't know about Digs, read about him in URB Magazine here and keep your ear to the ground for some simmering Apt One - Digs Darklighter collabos in the works.