I Can't Believe How Dope I Am!

                       

12:48am Feb 15th...My man Tony Rotton aka Blak Twang hit me with the message "Tim Dog dead for real??!!"
A minute on Google confirmed it all. It's sad. Rest In Peace Tim Dog.
While I'm up I feel like I should write a little something about my memories of the man that had the killer verse on the Ultramagnetic MC's classic 'Chourus Line'. It's a record I remember well. I'm pretty sure I first heard it on Westwood's Capital Rap Show and I'm also pretty sure that I bought my copy from Reds Records in Brixton.
Tim came in HARD on that song...."AHHH ISSSHT!!!!" I can remember dissecting the whole tune virtually line by line with my boy Taiweed. Back then we'd talk about every dope hip hop release and give them all our own critical beatdown. I can remember dj Pogo cuttin' the hell out of 2 copies almost every time he was on turntables, radio or club. He'd do double-ups of the James Brown grunt on there and totally destroy that shit! I remember lending my copy to my boy T Hakeem and him giving it back months later with food filled  fingerprints on it!!! I can remember Max and Dave releasing the 'Dope Jams' compilation album and featuring it on the line up of dope jams! I can even remember rhyming at Notting Hill carnival and spitting some combustible flow pattern, and having DJ Jay (Trouble Rap) come up to me after to tell me how dope I was and that I sounded like Tim Dog on Chorus Line! Those were great days I tell you. Great.
A few years later I was settled into my gig co-hosting Choice FM's flagship hip hop show 'Friday Night Flava' with dj 279. One of his scheduled guests that particular Friday night was none other than Tim Dog himself. This was probably around 94/95 because 'I Get Wrecked' with KRS1 had finished doing the rounds. He came into the studio and was surprisingly cool and humble for a man that almost singlehandedly started the East Coast/West Coast beef!
He was pretty funny too and to be honest seemed a million miles away from the Bronx N***a he was on those classic tracks even though he was promoting the Snoop Dogg diss 'B***h Wid A Perm'. I guess a few days after that meeting I found out that he was due to do a few shows too while he was out in Europe and UK dj legend Cutmaster Swift was lined up to spin for him. The crazy part was that Tim Dog had no copies of his own records to perform with so I was asked to loan my personal copies of Tim Dog's records to Tim Dog for his tour! How dope is that! 

"Whoooo, hot damn I'm great. I'm on the Chorus Line...."

Just Hangin' Out : The Large Professor Story

How should I start this? How should I begin?
Okay, for all you hip hop vinyl junkies like me, here's the one about how I got my hands on a copy of the 1st Main Source 12" 'Think'.
Back in 94/95 I was at Cutmaster Swift's house one evening, a bunch of us just chilling watching him practise and make beats. The phone rings and Swift starts talking away to somebody on the other end of the line, after a while he says "Dionne says wassup" I'm like, "Dionne?" Swifty says "Dee 2", Oh okay, I getcha. I jump on the phone "Hey Dee, how's it going out in NYC?" "It's cool, things are moving. A bit slow, but it's still better than being in the UK! I'm coming over for a visit soon though. I'm actually at Paul's house right now working on some music." "Paul who?" I ask. "Large Professor Paul" she says. I gotta admit I was little shocked at how casually she dropped that reference to the man who produced the classic Breaking Atoms! After being silent for the respectful amount of seconds, I get what alcholics often refer to as 'a moment of clarity' and ask her for a favour. "Dee, since your coming over (and I'm always looking for a way to get my hands on classic hip hop music) can you ask 'Paul' if he's got a couple copies of 'Think' spare?" I heard her call over to him and make my request and get a muted "word, no doubt" in reply. "Thanks for that Dee, see you soon, Peace." I swear, less than 6 weeks later I see Dionne coming towards me while I'm spinning at Flava Of The Month down at The Boderline and she hands me 2 sealed copies of 'Think'.

Bonus : "My Name Is The Large Professor, You Got A Problem...?"