DOWN BY LAW / SUBWAY BEAT(KENNY DOPE EDITS)

TRACKLISTING : A - Down by Law (Kenny Dope Edit) B - Subway Beat (Kenny Dope Edit) As pieces of musical curation go, Kenny Dope™s reimagining and reediting of the Wild Style breakbeats is outstanding. While the music from the ˜Wild Style™ OST is truly seminal, the story behind it is even more fascinating. Underneath the voices of important rappers from hip-hop™s first wave  Cold Crush Brothers, Double Trouble, Rammellzee, Busy Bee and more  were a selection of backing beats that have underpinned and influenced a whole lot of hip-hop ever since. It would be easy to mistake them for genuine breakbeats dug out of crates, but they™re not. Overseen by hip-hop impresario Freddie Braithwaite  better known as Fab 5 Freddy  in collaboration with Blondie™s Chris Stein  the songs from the Wild Style soundtrack are all unique creations intended as a homage to the early breakbeats. Drummer Lenny Ferrari  who had played for Aretha Franklin before emerging on the punk scene  and bassist David Harper played many of the iconic grooves, two somewhat forgotten participants in shaping a legendary sound. They  and Chris Stein  weren™t even in the same studio at the same time. Kenny Dope, a long-time fan of the music, later acquired the original reel-to-reel tapes from Charlie Ahearn, the film™s director. Using the Wild Style breakbeats  many just a minute or so long  he transformed them into longer edits that give them more room to breathe. ˜Down by Law™ and ˜Subway Beat™ are two of the most famous, breakdance classics that summon up visions of graffiti™d trains speeding through the South Bronx.