Stories About Songs with Kevin Beacham Kevin Beacham

In part two of New Music Seminar MC Battle For World Supremacy, our last episode for season 2, we focus on the years; 1993 and 1994!

I recount the stories I heard about 1993 with MF Grimm, Mad Skillz, and the ’93 champion, Supernatural.

As for ’94, I explain how my writing for local Chicago publication The Flypaper, created a lane for me to have some “involvement” and a front-row seat to many of the key happenings at the seminar that year, including getting a chance to interview Bobbito Garcia, The Artifacts, Count Bass D, Hard 2 Obtain, Zev Love X, and Muddbones (Cage and Masai Bey) for an article in The Flypaper, which never came out, and ultimately inspired Caught In The Middle magazine, that I started planning with J-bird only weeks after the seminar. And, I share the memories of being at a showcase that had Indigenous Theory, Keith Murray, Rampage The Last Boy Scout, Notorious B.I.G, Craig Mack, and Original Flavor with Jay-Z. Plus, some insight on the actual MC battle itself, which was won by Judgemental from Chicago, who I was in town with. It’s an action-packed episode!!

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From approximately 1985 until 1994, the New Music Seminar MC Battle For World Supremacy was one of the most exciting and inspiring things for an upcoming MC, especially those whose styles were battle-ready, myself included.

Ultimately, this two-part episode is about how I went from an aspiring MC hoping to compete in the contest one day, which I never achieved but did find myself in the audience for the final one ever in 1994.

Part two focuses on the years of 1993, and especially my experience attending in 1994.

Part one focuses on my path to becoming a battle MC, including the Hip Hop scene in Lake County (North Chicago, Waukegan, and Zion specifically) circa '86-’90, which led to me eventually learning about the NMS MC Battle, and starting to rehearse for my chance to hopefully compete there one day. And, I also touch on the various stories and rumors I was hearing and reading about the early 80s/90s seminar events, and how that was inspiring for what I was doing as an upcoming artist at the time.
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From 1995-2002, I hosted/produced Time Travel Radio on WNUR FM in Evanston/Chicago. One part of the show was regularly doing theme shows telling the history of various artists.

In 1996, I did a spotlight show on The Jaz (a.k.a Big Jaz, Jaz-O) and his partner Jay-Z. Then, a year later, as he was promoting his second solo album, I did a Time Travel radio spotlight show on Jay-Z.

I was able to interview Jay-Z to get some historical info to use bits and pieces on the show, but I never shared the full interview until now.

In this 20-minute interview, at a critical turning point in his career, we have a candid conversation that covers a range of topics, including; early inspirations, battling LL Cool J, decoding hidden lyrics in his music, his relationship with Notorious B.I.G, what happened with his deal with Priority Records, his primary goals with his music, and more!

This interview also reveals where the idea for Jay-Z releasing acapellas of his music originated.

Be sure to listen to the previous two episodes, which tell the story of The Jaz & Jay-Z. I guess it’s the Time Travel Radio spotlight update…

Follow all of Kevin's work here:
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For part two of The Jaz & Jay-Z special, we continue to take a look at the greatness of The Jaz with his second album, and the follow-up EP, and as he transitions into the mid-90s, which also saw him take his production skills to the next level. I also touch on some of the styles that The Jaz was a pioneer in and/or helped popularize. And, all that leads into me getting a chance to meet The Jaz, and through him, Jay-Z, and the few interviews that followed to close out the 90s, including a useful idea that I randomly gave Jay-Z...
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The Jaz and Jay-Z are certainly each worthy of their own stories being told, but one of my favorite things is peeling back the layers of how various stories tie things together, and that's the adventure we begin here, in this two-part special that touches not only on the history of The Jaz and Jay-Z, but touches on some other key stories along the way, including moments with Fresh Gordon, UTFO, LL Cool J, Chubb Rock, Gary Byrd, Roxanne Shante, Choice MCs, and more....

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I was lucky enough to do street promotions in Chicago for Sha-Key's debut album, produced largely by Earl Blaize, as I was, and remain a big fan of that album, "A Head Naddas Journey To Aidi Skizm" ('94).
This is the story of that record, including input given to me from Sha-key and Earl Blaize to help fill in some gaps. it talks about her being signed to Imago Records, and what went wrong, as well as what happened next in her career, which included a transition into the world of tech, creating one of the earliest Hip Hop platforms on the world wide web, Guillotine Hip Hop.

Listen to the Sha-Keys lost classic "A Head Naddas Journey To Aidi Skizm" here:
https://redefinehiphop1.bandcamp.com/album/a-head-naddas-journey-to-adidi-skizm-digital-deluxe
Read Kevin's 2001 interview with Earl Blaize here:
https://medium.com/@kevinbeacham/a-unearthed-conversation-with-earl-blaize-of-anti-pop-consotrium-from-2001-4a53a9a21918
Follow all of Kevin's work here:
https://linktr.ee/kevinbeacham21
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https://www.instagram.com/stonyislandpods/?hl=en