On the Wire - Hip Hop Chart - 1986

1. Masterdon Committee "Get Off My Tip" / Profile / Duke Bootee
production / Craig Bevan/Bootee mix / Latin Rascals edits
2. Steinski & Mass Media "The Motorcade Sped On" / Tommy Boy /
engineer Craig Bevan
3. Skinny Boys "Rip The Cut" / Warlock
4. Tackhead featuring DJ Cheese "Is There A Way Out?" / On-U/World
5. K.Rob "I'm A Homeboy (clean version)" / Profile / Duke Bootee
production ft DJ Cheese / Craig Bevin / Latin Rascals edits
6. Schooly D "Gangster Boogie" / Place To Be
7. Duke Bootee "Broadway" / Beauty And The Beat / Duke Bootee
production / Craig Bevin mix / George Tashiro edits
8. Biz Markie "Make The Music With Your Mouth" / Prism / Marley Marl production
9. Original Concept "Pump That Bass" / Def Jam
10. Frick & Frack "Shouldn't Have Done It" / Romil Records / Marley
Marl production



 Archive Words and Sound from Engineer Culf on the flight deck of OTW

Here's the tracks from the On The Wire Hip Hop chart of 1986.  Almost no intermediate chat.  I suppose if I'm just copying these off the cassette recorded at broadcast, I could just get the original tunes(got maybe half of them, and YouTube can supply the rest) and re-create it, but then we'd miss the classic OTW drops in between.


Original tape is a pretty muddy recording.  Not much I could do to replace the missing treble but Icdropped out a bit of bass and boosted the treble a little to make it a bit brighter, at the cost of a bit
more hiss.


I know the drum patterns to these almost 100%.  Was never so good with the raps though.  Not too bad on "I'm A Homeboy"  cos it has some great lines.  "And by the way hey, I'd like to say, you can hear my bass thumpin' five blocks away".  Word!


There's a bonus bit of Steve talking about the then in-production and unnamed "football tracks" from Sherwood, which turned out to be Barmy Army “Sharp As A Needle” and “The Game”, which I kept.


Tracks countdown:


10. Frick & Frack "Shouldn't Have Done It" / Romil Records / Marley
Marl production


(this stuff is really fresh!)


9. Original Concept "Pump That Bass" / Def Jam


8. Biz Markie "Make The Music With Your Mouth" / Prism / Marley Marl production


(a squid eating dough in a polyethylene bag is fast and bulbous)


(hop forward, hop back, hop hop hop)


7. Duke Bootee "Broadway" / Beauty And The Beat / Duke Bootee
production / Craig Bevin mix / George Tashiro edits


6. Schooly D "Gangster Boogie" / Place To Be


(i'm the god of hellfire, and i bring you……)


5.  K.Rob "I'm A Homeboy (clean version)" / Profile / Duke Bootee
production ft DJ Cheese / Craig Bevin / Latin Rascals edits


4. Tackhead featuring DJ Cheese "Is There A Way Out?" / On-U/World


(properly of course this should be Fats Comet & DJ Cheese "King Of The Beat", the sleeve for "Mind At The End Of The Tether" being designed assuming the B side of the track would be a dub or alt mix of that track, before it was ditched for the main side of the unreleased Fats EP.  What a good decision that was, or KoTB may never have come to light for years other than being live.  Would love to hear if Adrianor Kishi remembers the story around that)


(Steve talks about Barmy Army and Tackhead football tracks to come)


3. Skinny Boys "Rip The Cut" / Warlock


2. Steinski & Mass Media "The Motorcade Sped On" / Tommy Boy /
engineer Craig Bevan


1. Masterdon Committee "Get Off My Tip" / Profile / Duke Bootee
production / Craig Bevan/Bootee mix / Latin Rascals edits



Good showing there for Marley Marl, but it's clear Bootee and his
regular collaborators Bevan and Latin Rascals came out on top this
year for dynamite productions!


Cheese's stock was also high this year; 1986 was the year he won DMC
World DJ Championship with this routine: https://youtu.be/K_Wn-eWxsXU.
In Cheese's performance, he liberally scratches "It's time" from
Hashim "Al Naafiysh", he also used this trick on one of the other
tracks on the unreleased Fats mini-LP.  One of the other tracks in the
EP has bits of "Here Comes That Beat", heard in Pumpkin and the
All-Stars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5nQ-ZRCjms.  He also has
some of the Run DMC that was on Fats DJ's Dream.  Finally, KoTB itself
appears in: https://youtu.be/9yEJJ5cuIRs


For interest, the rest of the tape has: Bag Bobby Jimmy Jam, “Living
In The World Of Hip Hop” (MC Shan), “Rockchester,” then a version of
Age Of Chance "Kiss" that I spent years never finding, turns out to be
this one: https://www.discogs.com/Age-Of-Chance-Kisspower/release/596665.
“The Game” (Tackhead Political dub), what sounds something like Front
242, and that scratch mix promo version of “Fire” by Sly & Robbie, CJ
Mackintosh maybe?