Stretch & Bobbito Show "June 15, 1995"

Dipping back into the well for some Stretch and Bobbito, this one was recorded on this day in 1995 with guest features from AZ, Special Ed and The Killer Team. The playlist that night included tracks from Mobb Deep, Finsta Bundy, Method Man, KRS-One, AZ, Grand Puba, L Swift of Natural Elements, Mic Geronimo, Heltah Skeltah, Rakim, Raekwon, Mad Skillz, Inspectah Deck, The Notorious B.I.G., Junior M.A.F.I.A., Bushwackass, Special Ed, Powerule, Ten Thieves, GZA, The Roots, Common and more. I've probably said it before but I generally don't post many episodes of Stretch and Bobbito, because often the tapes are mislabeled and I dislike passing off misinformation (although I'm not perfect and it does happen!). This one looks and sounds clean, so let's take it back to the 1-9-9-5...

Stretch & Bobbito Show "March 16, 1995"

March 16, 1995... this is the first hour of Stretch & Bobbito's WKCR radio show, which featured The Roots, Smif-N-Wessun and Buckshot kickin' freestyles, as well as tracks from Tha Alkaholiks, Double X Posse, Showbiz & AG, Boot Camp Clik, and Junior M.A.F.I.A.. The additional audio from the night isn't included in the Mixcloud link below, but the second hour featured another freestyle from Smif-N-Wessun and Buckshot, plus tracks from Heltah Skeltah, Half A Mil, Buckshot, Mic Geronimo, and more. Full disclosure: I wasn't sure what to post today; it was a busy day on my end, so I took a short cut with this one. I hope that you enjoy it nonetheless. Props to UnikOne for the second link.

Stretch & Bobbito "February 23, 1995" (Big L & Jay-Z Freestyle)

Many came before them, but no show continued to entertain like Stretch & Bobbito. With raw underground flavor, guest freestyle MCs, and gut-busting humor, they controlled college radio and broke some of the most impactful artists of our generation. "Fuck Seinfeld, we all know who runs things on Thursday nights from sundown to sunup," said The Source in '98. Today marks 26 years since Big L and Jay-Z blessed the mic with their infamous freestyle session. I'm sure it was less remarkable to Stretch & Bobbito at the time, but it is now legendary as new generations of fans get hip to the archives of their shows, and as Jay-Z became arguably the greatest MC in hip-hop. Not to mention the untimely death of one of Harlem's greatest lyricists, Big L. Lines like, "The last thing you want with Big L is a fair one / 'Cause in a street brawl I strike men like lightnin' / You seen what happened in my last fight, friend? Aight then," from L and "Me and L put rhythm on the map, so give him his dap / And me, I just take mine / Gimme those, gimme this, gimme that—fuck that!" from Jay-Z, set the mood for the night. Jay-Z was virtually unknown and L's debut album Lifestylez Ov Da Poor & Dangerous would drop a month later. Below is the full freestyle from the show (the extended 10-minute version), and below it is the second half of the show (2.5 hours long), which features Funkdoobiest, JuJu, and Gangsta Boogie. Dig into it below, and if you haven't already, hit up the archives for Stretch & Bobbito's recent release, "Freestyle EP," which includes a condensed version of the freestyle, as well as other rare 90s freestyle gems. Rest In Peace, Big L.

Stretch & Bobbito Show (The Fugees & Pete Rock, 11/30/95)

This set is partly from a 27th generation copy of an Underground Flavas tape out of West London, and partly from a rip which had been shared on the web a few years back [and subsequently been deaded in terms of linkage]. We’ve bumped the EQ in Izotope, compressed it a touch and tweaked it for your listening pleasure. This show is a great example of why Stretch is held is such high esteem by his peers within the industry as well as the listeners, he may have been a DJ and a host, but the actual mixing, blends and turntable based doo-dads are tight like duck-butts throughout this show. No gobble! As well as the great music and tight mixing, this vintage classic includes Pete Rock and 2/3 of The Fugees up in the studio as well Jansport sponsored classics. The mix includes tracks from Das EFX, Blahzay Blahzay, Jamal, Mic Geronimo, Lord Finesse, Mobb Deep, Redman, Busta Rhymes, INI, Real Live and so much more. - via RandomRapRadio. Much love to Stretch & Bobbito...

Stretch & Bobbito + The M19s Band "Freestyle EP" (EP Stream)

In FREESTYLE EP 1, Stretch and Bobbito pay homage to their past while simultaneously transcending to the present. Using cutting edge technology to create a cappella versions of iconic live performances from their legendary 1990s radio show, the duo has digitally remastered, as well as enhanced, the original recordings of freestyles by Biggie, Big L + Jay-Z, and Method Man + Ghostface Killah. Additionally, they took these isolated vocals and created remix versions by layering in new background instrumentals featuring original music played by their band the M19s Band, which Stretch then sampled and looped. Ultimately, both the original ‘90s versions as well as the remix versions reach unprecedented new ground in the merging of beats, rhymes, life and technology!

Much respect and thanks to Stretch & Bobbito. Photo by Janette Beckman...

Stretch & Bobbito + The M19s Band "No Requests" (Album Stream)

Stretch and Bobbito’s debut album No Requests explores the legendary club DJs’ vast musical knowledge with covers of songs directly from their record crates! Featuring the M19s Band, a live band of elite hand-picked musicians, the gatekeepers of ‘90s Hip Hop step outside their foundational genre base to produce Latin, Afro-beat, Samba, Jazz, Reggae, and Soul reinterpretations of dance floor bangers—ranging from popular to rare and obscure—which loosely depart expected structure and create new nuances to familiar tunes. The group also offers original compositions along the sonic journey. All tracks have one goal in mind: GROOVE! You can order the album on CD, Vinyl, Cassette and box set via Fat Beats, but in the meantime, stream the LP below...

Stretch & Bobbito Show w/ DJ Eclipse (December 5, 1996)

Here goes about 3 1/2 hours of a 4 hour show from 89Tech9. Stretch wasn't there and DJ Eclipse was on the substitution. Bobbito played demos for the first 35 minutes or so and then hits the mic (36:29) to make announcements and recap. Eclipse gets on right after that (40:47) and plays up until next mic break (89:08) with guests Ak Skills & Big K.O. (Tru Criminal). Bobbito bugs out with them for a few and then Ak sets off the freestyle session (90:42). After that segment is done, Eclipse gets back to playing more joints (114:44) up until the tape runs out. Sounds like E may be missing a demo or two possibly at the beginning of the show and then missing some stuff at the end, too. Enjoy...

Stretch & Bobbito "Live On Air, Volume 1" (1996)

You'll probably notice that I haven't really posted many Stretch & Bobbito shows here on the site. I have in the past, I know, but either they'd get taken down or I couldn't guarantee the accuracy of the dates, quality or track lists, etc. I remember when Fat Beats used to ship the cassettes with the proper j-cards and air dates, but there's just too much online now. This tape, however, had separate artwork and an appealing list of tracks, so I did want to share it with y'all.... On Stretch's birthday in '96, he was live on Hot 97, alongside Flushing, Queen's Royal Flush, and Da Bush Babees. You'll also hear tracks from MF Grimm, Akinyele, Shabaam Sahdeeq, Thrust, Gauge The Mental Murderah, Heltah Skeltah, Company Flow, Money Boss Players and more. HBD, Stretch! Enjoy.

"Off The Dome Freestyle Compilation" (1994)

I came across this tape on Mixcloud, it was uploaded by the reputable RandomRapRadio and is called Off The Done freestyle compilation '94. The freestyles are all from the world famous Wake Up Show with Sway & Tech out in California, and Stretch & Bobbito's show in New York City. The blurb says the project was homemade by Amad, props to him for putting this compilation together. The tape features freestyles from Large Professor, O.C., Tha Alkaholiks, Artifacts, Saafir, Kurious, Masta Ace & Lord Digga, Wu-Tang Clan, Ras Kass, Kool Keith & Godfather Don, Supernatural, Guru, Jeru The Damaja, Akinyele, Del The Funkee Homosapien, Organized Konfusion, and more! A fun tape to throw on and just bug out to! Reminds me how much everything changed after the internet and camera phones got big. Artists couldn't tour with the same one or two freestyles, it was either go off the dome or have more rhymes in the chamber. But back then cats at least had bars! Right?!?!

89.9 WKCR: The Unreleased Show (August 10, 2000)

Another gem from the OG, DJ Eclipse; 'The Unreleased Show' from August 10, 2000 on 89.9 WKCR (CM Famalam Show). DJ Eclipse's description: "Although not technically a show from the 90's, this show from 2000 was 4 hours of unreleased gems many dating back to the 90s. Riz and I subbed for Bobbito who wasn't there, but left us with Lord Sear as well as What? What? (Jean Grae) and Mr. Len for comedy relief (63:57). Riz set off the first hour of the show with promo only vinyl releases (not commercially released). Then after the comedy break I played 3 hours of demos (71:00). This was before Serato and even CDJ's so all demos were played one after another old school style from tapes and cds. Some sound great and some sound like 100th generation dubs. Some of these have since been released, but many still have not. Last mic break at 230:47." You'll hear tracks from Noreaga, R.A. The Rugged Man, M.O.P., Organized Konfusion, Buckshot, Pete Rock & CL Smooth, AZ, O.C., Scientifik, Nas, Biggie, and so much more; check out The Unreleased Show below. Thanks, E!

The Combat Jack Show "Stretch & Bobbito Episode"

For the latest episode of the Combat Jack Show, the crew brings out the legends of New York indie radio, Stretch Armstrong & Bobbito Garcia. The Stretch & Bobbito show lives in a special place in Hip-Hop history because it jumpstarted the careers of damn near every legendary MC to come out of the Golden Era of Hip-Hop. Kids like me stayed up late on school nights with our headphone jacks in & our fingers on record, then listening back to make a shopping list of what records to cop at the local record store that week. 20 years later, the internet still circulates copies of those shows from tape to MP3, and I still have the same feeling MCs had in the "Radio That Changed Lives" documentary when Stretch & Bobbito played them back their live freestyles from the 90s. It's great that their chemistry is still there, as well their warm sense of humor, and they still have a fresh perspective to offer all these years later! You'll wanna listen to this one, click play below.

The Halftime Show "Stretch & Bobbito" (9/23/15)

To kick off their promotional campaign for their upcoming movie "Stretch & Bobbito: Radio That Changed Lives", the duo came by The Halftime Show to talk about the documentary and everything KCR related. As soon as the two of them were in the place together and we turned on the mics it was 1994 all over again. Jokes were flying, phone calls were taken and info was shared about the history of their come up. Even after Bobbito left, Stretch stayed and we had another discussion about his career as a DJ and the decline of his interest in the music that was being made in the late 90s, early 2000s. I also played all 90s Hip Hop on vinyl and incorporated another WKCR alum, DJ Homicide aka Hungry Jack to help out with the instrumentals. The documentary is amazing and for information on it's release as well as anything Stretch & Bob related you can go to HERE. - Eclipse.

Fondle 'Em "Fossils" (Mix by Dwarf, 2013)

Uploaded to Soundclouded and credited to Dwarf, this is a solid mix of tracks from the Fondle 'em Fossils days. The mix has tracks from independent, underground greats like Siah & Yeshua dapoED, MHz, Da Nuthouse, my family The Juggaknots, MF Grimm, DJ Eli & Shan Boogs, J. Treds, Mr. Live, The Cenubites, KMD, Rok One, MF Doom, The Arsonists, Lord Sear and more! Listen to the mix below...

Stretch & Bobbito "The B-Side #2: DJ Premier & Jeru" (1996)

Bobbito has said, "The B-side show, if I remember correctly, only happened these three times. It was sort of an experiment to get me and Stretch on more prime time, during Angie's weekday evening slot. It went over well with everyone. It was kind of like a showcase of anticipated albums from artists who were known from our corner of the world. I think that'd be like 8pm to 9pm? I don't really remember (the time slot). Our Sunday, 'Boogie and the Barber', show on Hot 97 was from 11pm to 1am." This - right here - is the second show, with DJ Premier and Jeru The Damaja as guests, promoting their second collaborative album, "Wrath of Math," in 1996 on Payday Records.

Artifacts "Unsigned Hype" (The Source, 4/93)

"Straight from the brick city of New Jerusalem (Newark, NJ) is a young duo named Artifacts that is more than ready to drop bombs. MCs Tame and El Da Sensei are already well connected in the rap game. Does the Pack Pistol Posse ring a bell? Yeah, that's right; they "rock ruff rhymes" around the way with Tame's cousin Redman. You might even catch a similarity in their rhymes ... Tame and El started staking their claim in the underground last year when they first called up the Stretch Armstrong college radio show in New York and won an over-the-phone rap contest. Since then Stretch, Daddy Reef and Bobbito have had them up a few times to wreck shop on the airwaves. Artifacts incorporates classic B-Boy flavor into their lyrics. Train yards, third rails, mad color tips, black books, and backspins are common topics." Cont'd below + an added 8-minute freestyle...

A couple other heads looking out for the Artifacts are Sadat X and Lord Jamar of Brand Nubian. Jamar produced a song called "Wrong Side of the Tracks," featuring Lord J vocals on the chorus, and both Brand Nubian brothers collaborated with the Artifacts on "Check The Fine Print," a bangin' upbeat track with a lyrical buckshot to so-called righteous MCs with "white hoes in their videos" and a verbal assault on the ex-Brand Nubian member. T-Ray (who produced "Not Gonna Be Able To Do It" by the Double XX Posse) did a track called "Wicked Lyrics" where Tame and El kick just that. Although they had some serious help on the production side, they show and prove skills of their own with some pre-production material. Overall, Artifacts represents real hip-hop on its way up from the underground." - Unsigned Hype, The Source (April, 1993). (Updated, freestyle audio added).