Vinyl Esquire "The DJ Eclipse & DJ Riz Episode" (Podcast)

Vinyl Esquire is the DJ podcast that uplifts the DJ culture and honors our DJ legends. DJ Rip interviews the most influential DJs in the world so listen and learn their history! In this episode, DJ Eclipse and DJ Riz are his highly esteemed guests. They talk their Sirius radio show, Rap Is Outta Control, as well as Crooklyn Clan, Fat Beats, DJ Premier, Brooklyn Slum Lords, Party breaks and more! There's a ton of unique history shared, listen to two of the best break it down for you below. Past episodes have included interviews with Scram Jones, DJ Skribble, Spinderella, Nasty Nes, DJ Scratch, DJ Tony Neal, Davy DMX, Pete Rock, The Arabian Prince, The Egyptian Lover, Supreme La Rock, DJ Cut Creator, DJ K-Def, DJ Lord Jazz, DJ Eddie F, Mantronix, DJ Chuck Chillout and more...

DJ Eclipse & DJ Riz "MF DOOM Tribute" (Mix, 1/3/21)

DJ Eclipse and DJ Riz paid tribute to the late great MF DOOM on their Sirius radio show, Rap Is Outta Control. When I thought about all the DJs that would come out of the shadows to post their mixes in support of MF DOOM, there were only a few that I was certain had represented from day 1, and among them was certainly DJ Eclipse. Sure, you can dig into the archives for a lot of DOOM-related content, but for now, you'll definitely want to dig into this 2-hour tribute mix, which was recorded live on January 3, 2021. MF DOOM's memory will live on forever, click play and you'll hear all the reasons why. Props to Lucas for the updated link on MixCloud; the link I had was removed. RIP!

DJ Riz & DJ Eclipse "The Halftime Show" (March 18, 1998)

Taking it back to March 18, 1998... this is DJ Eclipse and DJ Riz at The Halftime Show on 89.1, WNYU. They ran through a bunch of underground gems that night. You'll hear tracks from Big Kwam, Dilated Peoples, Gang Starr, Dynasty, Showbiz & AG, Mood, Nightbreed, All Natural, Das EFX, Laster, Numskullz, Missin' Linx, Black Attack, DJ Honda, Thrust, X-Ecutioners, Jigmastas, Canibus, Network Reps, Consequence, Raidermen, Siah & Yeshua DapoED, Eminem, Juice, and more! Eclipse and Riz have always played that raw, underground shit. Listen to a great show, compliments of DJ Eclipse...

DJ Riz x DJ Eclipse "Fly Fishing, Vol.5" (Mixtape)

DJ Riz and DJ Eclipse of the legendary Halftime Radio Show have joined forces to release "Fly Fishing, Volume 5" from Chopped Herring Records. With DJ Riz on Side A and DJ Eclipse on Side B, the mixtape features tracks from Meyhem Lauren, Doz Funky Baztardz, Shylow, Afiliashun, Cenobites, Junclassic, Class A Felony, Da Bruze Bruvaz, Nomaads, Brothers G.R.Y.M., Wiseguys, Horror City, Jazz Spastiks, Beneficience, Da Last Future, Masta Ace, Big Tabb, Definite Vacation 4 Suckas, Thirstin Howl III, 5-Elementz (R.I.P. J Dilla), Too Poetic and more! The cassettes were limited to 150 copies. DJ Eclipse and DJ Riz have always been known for supporting dope independent hip-hop, so it makes good sense to link with Chopped Herring for this mix tape. Hear Volume 5 below...

DJ Riz "In The Mix" (Mixtape, 1997)

Peace to DJ Riz, happy to see him & DJ Eclipse back on air together up at E's SiriusXM show "Rap Is Outta Control," every Sunday 10pm-12am EST on Hip Hop Nation. Take it back to '97 with this DJ Riz classic casstte mix. Forget a tracklist, enjoy the shout-outs instead, "Fat Beats (the whole f#ckin' crew), Funkmaster Flex & the Flip Squad, N.Y. Live (89.1), Mayhem, Sunset, Guy, Martin, Big "A", Rotate, A.Vee, Sizzahandz, Wildman Steve, Jeff Foss, Wax Axer, Erez, Necro, Non-Phixion, Stretch, Bobbito, Rub, A-Train, Red Alert, Clark Kent, Richie Rich, Dice, Scratch, Majesty, X-Men, Joie, AV8 Records, Spinbad, JS, Mighty Mi, Don Lou, Oakland "Raiders", Ed Powers and all the dirty debutantes, Baby's Got Back Series, The AVN Awards & all the porn spots that are left in NY. Keep supporting the lovely filth!!! Peace to Canarsie BK!!!" Much props to DJStepOne, who already had the links. #NSFW

Mr. Mayhem & DJ Riz "NY Live Radio Show" (Jan. 15, 1997)

From the archives of DJ Eclipse comes another classic NYC radio show from the '90s. This show features "90 minutes of NYUness right here with this Mayhem/Riz joint. At the 11:22 mark, DJ Scratch gets on to do his thing for a few songs. Totally murders KRS "The MC" at 20:39. Riz jumps back on at 33:00 to finish out the show, but not before some dope verses from Aasim D'Xplicit (58:12)." Just hearing the name Aasim D'Xplicit brings memories of those Loud Records days when they dropped "The Set Up" and Aasim's track "Fly Shit" was one of the greatest standouts on the cassette. He signed to Loud Records at any early age thanks to their A&R Schott Free. With an obvious influence by labelmate Big Pun, the few records we heard at the time were phenomenal, but unfortunately a full-length was never released by Loud. He bounced around doing a bunch of mixtapes and signed with Puff to Bad Boy in 2004-2005. His debut album "The Money Pit," was released on the label with little-to-no-promotion, aside from a few clippings of him hyping Puff's album ("Press Play"), which he was a featured on as a writer. There's a bunch of solid mixtape content out there if you can dig it up. In the meantime, dig into this radio show from January 15, 1997; NY Live with Mr. Mayhem, Sunset & DJ Riz on 89.1 WNYU. Much respect to DJ Eclipse.

DJ Riz "5 Minutes of Funk" (Video)

DJ Riz puts it down on the turntables as a guest on Funkmaster Flex's latest viral web-series, 5 Minutes of Funk. True hip-hop heads know how nasty DJ Riz has been since the early days of College Radio, MC Serch and more. DJ Riz touches the original samples, manages to pay tribute to DJ Premier and Guru of Gang Starr, and puts it down for the culture all at the same time. Shouts to DJ Eclipse; I trust they compared sets before they blessed it, lol. Let us DJs have this moment! Other originals represent tracks from De La Soul, Das EFX, Jay-Z, Frank N Dank, Ed O.G., The LOX, The Beatnuts, Group Home and more ... DJ Riz put it down real mean on this one, watch below...

The Halftime Show "Method Man & Redman" (11/18/98)

Big up to DJ Eclipse, this is 89.1 WNYU, The Halftime Show, on November 18, 1998 with DJ Riz & DJ Eclipse, featuring special guests: Method Man & Redman. In November '98, Red & Mef would have been on their second 'Month of the Man' campaign promoting Method Man's 'Tical 2000: Judgment Day' and Redman's 'Doc's Da Name.' The original campaign was run back in '94 for 'Tical' and 'Dare Iz a Darkside' through Def Jam and they have been going strong ever since with solo and collaborative releases. From DJ Eclipse: "Riz setting the show off and me getting on around 77 minutes in like usual. Mic break at 46:19 and again at 121:37 with guests Redman and Method Man. Not too much talking and then straight to the freestyle (125:07) with Red, Meth, Mr. Loose and La The Darkman. 20+ minute freestyle session right up to the end of the show." They played great underground records throughout - as always - so you'll wanna click play and enjoy the dope 2-hour show below...

The Halftime Show "The 14th Anniversary" (March 7, 2012)

DJ Eclipse uploaded the audio from the 14th Anniversary of The Halftime Show. The date was March 7, 2012 up at 89.1FM WNYU and the audio represents a look back at some of the highlights from the earlier years of the show - including freestyles from Akinyele, A.G., Arsonists, Big L, Cage, Dilated Peoples, Dynasty, Eminem, Fat Joe, 50 Cent, Ghostface Killah, Godfather Don, Hieroglyphics, Method Man, Natural Elements, Non Phixion, Outsidaz, PMD, Q-Tip, Ras Kass, Redman, Royce Da 5'9, Street Smartz, Talib Kweli and more. Peace to DJ Eclipse, DJ Riz, DJ Skizz & Petey Cologne. Listen below...

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!

DJ Riz "Live From Brooklyn" (Mixtape, 2006)

One of the best samples sets ever: filled with rare soul, funk and rock breaks mixes. In Riz's own words: "First, I want to shout out all the original record diggers all over the world who have worked hard to solidify their record collections. Especially the DJ's that have spent hours digging through dark and dirty, rat infested, water damaged basements looking for that one rare record. Live From Brooklyn is dedicated to all the crate diggers at the record conventions and everyone hitting up those dollar spots. These digging adventures have given birth to some of the worlds greatest DJ's and producers in the music game. Much respect to all of you!" - Crooklyn Clan's DJ Riz. 

New York Live, WNYU (April 10, 1996)

"Here's a little more then half the show from this night. Luckily I have all the guests. The X-Men are introduced on the first mic break (5:12) and then proceed to get busy. Roc Raida goes first (7:13) then Rob Swift (11:08) and finally Mista Sinista (18:21). After their sets they get on the mic and discuss a little of the history of the X-Men as well as their new VHS release "X-Ercize" put out by Fat Beats (24:02). DJ Riz gets back on afterwards and plays some more new joints up until the next mic break (53:18) where Mayhem announces INI is about to get on, but not before Pete Rock gets on the wheels for a bit (56:37). INI finally join in (68:05) with an interview and freestyle and then the show goes right into Lace Da Booms (80:37) who closes out the night." - via DJ Eclipse. Listen below...

Wildman Steve & DJ Riz "The Hip Hop Spot" (1/23/95)

Wild Man Steve jumps on the mic at 34:37 and talks a little before introducing Smif-N-Wessun at 36:38. Smif-N-Wessun come back again at 50:18 and then get into a freestyle at 54:41 along with their man The Mighty Mateen. In between all this, Riz gets busy with joints, and before long Steve is back (96:25) to chop it up some more and introduce Parallax (Ei8Trak) who shows up again at 112:10. Listening to these shows is sort of like the prequels to most people's career. We all know most of these artists now, but back then a lot of these groups were just starting to make a name for themselves. Like Steve asking Smif-N-Wessun "who's Mr. Walt?" (54:06). We've come a long way. Props to DJ Eclipse once again for the audio, 90.3 WBAU (January 23, 1995). Dig into it below...

The Halftime Show "Eminem & Royce Da 5'9" (September 23, 1998)

"Here goes another Halftime show from '98 with guests Eminem and Royce Da 5'9" (85:53). Short interview right into the freestyle session (if only cats today were as hungry as the 90s generation). As usual, Riz sets off the show lovely and then half way through I get on to finish up. Always good listening to the mic breaks to see what was going on during that time (i.e. Tramps shows, Fat Beats in-stores, new mixer...thanks Fat Beats!). So much good music played!" - via DJ Eclipse's Mixcloud.

The Halftime Show "Non Phixion, Arsonists, Big L" (Aug 19, 1998)

"This show had mad guests this night. After a short interview (53:58), Non Phixion, Arsonists and Necro hit the mic for an ill freestyle session (62:45). Then a little later A.G. and Ghetto Dwellas get busy (101:49) leaving it to Big L to close it all out (112:16). Even hearing Q-Unique talk about his MC battle at Club Vinyl (51:45) is dope when he runs down the list of emcees that made it past the prelims (i.e. Pumpkinhead, Poison Pen, etc). These shows captured the essence of what was going on in NYC in the 90s. #RIP Big L #RIP Party Arty" - via DJ Eclipse. Listen to this classic show below!

DJ Riz & DJ Eclipse "The Halftime Show" (3/4/98)

"Here's the 1st ever episode of The Halftime Show. Riz & I stepped to Lynn Gonzalez who at that time had the Wednesday night slot and asked her if she wanted to join forces. After some initial hesitation she agreed and thus The Halftime Show was born. Unfortunately, Lynn wasn't able to make the show, but in her place was T.O. Sweet who had his own show on WNYU. Listening back the show was definitely a little rough around the edges, but we made it work. Riz spun the first half of the show, I spun the 2nd half. We had A-Butta and L-Swift of Natural Elements as our guests, which led to a couple dope freestyle sessions (96:16 & 104:25). Mr. Len from Company Flow was hanging out with us in the studio as well. This was before Serato and CDJs so every time we had to play an exclusive we would have to stop the mix to throw on the dat. A lot of the music played represented what was also going on at Fat Beats at the time. The good ol' days." Peace to Eclipse!