DJ Stretch Armstrong, me, and my brother Crazy Legs at the NY Nations documentary screening.
Some, or many, of you may remember the heyday of me and Stretch Armstrong’s radio tenure on WKCR 89.9FM NY from 1990 to 1998. For the Source Magazine’s 100th issue, they voted us the #1 Hip Hop Show of All-Time. We introduced the world to the following unsigned artists: Nas, Biggie, Wu-Tang, Big Pun, Mobb Deep, Hieroglyphics Crew, Organized Konfusion (Monch’s first group), Company Flow, Big L, Cam’ron, DMX, and Jay-Z before he had an album deal. The first time anyone heard them live on radio (usually with their fingers on a pause button recording a cassette tape), it was while listening to us. I could go on with 30 other names, too, but you get the point.
Since this is the 10th year since we broadcasted together, there have been talks of a reunion concert in honor of our ’90s work. I can’t say who the artists performing will be yet, but very soon that will be in writing and on this blog. Let’s just blurb that it will be some worthwhile cats you haven’t seen rock together in a long, long time if everything goes to plan. In the meantime, you can hit up Stretch and catch old shows, freestyles, etc. at www.konstantkontakt.blogspot.com or www.myspace.com/stretcharmstrongandbobbito
Stretch and I buggin’ out in the WKCR studio back in ‘94.
January 19th, 2008 at 11:32 am
Reggie MIH Peters says:
Bob:
Please keep us posted on that event. I would love to be a part of it. A lot of people don’t know that Ritchie Colon was part of the Dyckman crew long before he became Crazy Legs.
Peace,
MIH
January 19th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
chris says:
whenever it is, wherever it is, I AM IN THERE.. i started listening in 1991, and never stopped.. never missed a thursday unless u guys just were not on.. best radio show of all time for my money and just thinking about it makes me giddy..
cant wait..
January 19th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Bakar says:
Whoa, looks like you guys really went separate ways with the hairstyles - Stretch looked like he gained hair, and you went the opposite way. Heh heh heh.
January 19th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
CasUno says:
Damn, Stretch been in an aging chamber since last ‘we” left him?
More greys than a negro league baseball team yo….
January 19th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
strillz says:
Hey chris you got tapes?
And to the funny guy- grey hair has been my friend since I was 18. But that was funny. What’s funnier is that the week Bob I met, he cut off all my hair which was long, and left with a low Caesar.
January 20th, 2008 at 1:44 am
Jaquam A.K.A. jaysmoove says:
wasn’t yall on hot 97 too ? i got one of those big L freestyles on my i pod from when he was on your show it was crazy ! how i know all dis and i’m only 19 man it must be my love for hip hop
January 20th, 2008 at 1:50 am
illest says:
ahh definitely there. been listening since the beginning. i was just playing a show with rosie perez up there and then natural e freestylin. yo stretch needs to keep coming with the shows on the blog. shit is love. and i cant stop rockin the beef and brocs. i need like 2 more pair.
January 20th, 2008 at 2:36 am
chris says:
unfortunately, i lost almost all my tapes in a fire back in 2003.. i still have a shoe box and a dutch box of tapes in storage that were not in the house at the time.. prob about 40 0r 50 i managed to salvage through the years.. some are from the wynu show with mayehm and martin moore and sunset.. got a few wild man steve and riz shows as well, but its mostly stretch and bob.. i been meaning to digitize them for ages, but like cas, i dont own a tape deck at the moment, so not sure when i will be able to do it..
fortunately, i have gotten many many of my favorite songs from those days in .mp3 format, as well as many freestyles.. that coupled with stretch putting up shows has def held me over.. everyone should check stretchs blog, its fantastic.. i wont up songs here for obvious reasons, but if bobbito doesnt mind, and someone would like some freestyles, ill be happy to oblige..
i just loved it cause they always played shit that i wanted to hear, and then they would also play demos and rare remixes that were just not anywhere else.. they cared enough to help ppl and to expose their music to the world.. its was a beautiful thing man..
two fav songs i ever got from stretch and bob, which i never would have heard otherwise have to be:
terror green- 45 stitches
mekolicious - hope the world dont stop
plus all the freestyles.. endless dopeness
one thing i did loose was a freestyle by agent 106 whom i never heard off, which was unreal.. if anyone has that, ill give them 50 bucks.. lol a rass kass freestyle over da ranjahs street life is another lost gem..
got me straight reminiscing here..
January 20th, 2008 at 4:58 am
illest says:
chris… i got some shows ripped like when stretch wasnt there and bob was playing demos….i wouldnt mind posting some joints either
January 20th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Jeremy Ripley says:
I’m obviously from Wisco. so I savor any chance I get to possibly connect with awesome rap music. Blogs such as Konstant Kontact, Bust the Facts, Wake Your Daughter Up, and When They Reminisce have enabled me to find a lot of ill music. I cannot wait until this reunion of sorts goes down.
Chris and Illest-I encourage you both to post tapes if you got them. I am in no way deprived of good music, but like you guys said, Kool Bob and Stretch played stuff that no one else played, much less heard. I’m always amped when I hear a joint that I know I haven’t heard before…though I don’t really know who the artist/artists are, so I can’t find much else out about the song. It’s all good though.
January 20th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
chris says:
i wont post any tracks, because i am extremely against that. everyone should go support artists. however, as i said before, if bob doesnt have a problem with it, i will be more than happy to open up my freestyle vaults from their show and share some of them. obviously these were just artists going up to the show to rhyme, so to me that is not a song that was released for retail purposes.
if you are looking for some great hip hop songs/albums to purchase, that you might not be able to find on amazon or something, you can visit:
www.fatbeats.com
www.undergroundhiphop.com
www.sandboxautomatic.com
January 20th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
illest says:
i might post some shows and tracks. stretch and bob didnt have a problem with playing them every thursday night so why should I? that mekolicious track came out white label every though pete fronted by not putting the album out.
January 20th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
chris says:
yeah i think it did come out on white label with verbal murder and maybe something else.. not sure, its been along time..
as far as posting, i hear what u saying, but this is bob’s blog, and as long as he dont mind, ill lace heads with tons of flavor..
January 20th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
illest says:
true indeed its bob’s blog. i think it was how you feel with hope the world dont stop.
January 20th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
Bobbito Garcia a.k.a. Kool Bob Love says:
fellas-
share however you wish. back in the day, heads used to make dubs of our show and mail them all over the world, even to soldiers in the gulf war. my first visit to tokyo, we went to a record store, and they were selling 30 tapes of our show on the wall behind the counter. i do support buying the music so that they artists, particularly the indies, can get some income, but with regards to the freestyles, demos, etc. that stuff is timeless and valuable. repreciate everyone showing love. halalulu.
January 20th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
illest says:
aight good lookin bob. and ny giants ny giants ny giants!!!
January 22nd, 2008 at 3:26 am
Stretch says:
Chris - I have a great setup for digitizing tapes. In short, I can record 8 tapes at a time, and have knocked out several entire collections. Literally, I have digitized over 1,000 tapes in the last three year.
I know how precious these tapes are- that goes without saying- so if you’re into it, Id be more than happy to do your tapes. And that goes for anyone else too. I’m super passionate and about preserving tapes. Keep in mind that cassettes deteriorate over time, and the longer you wait, the crappier your recordings will sound.
March 4th, 2008 at 9:55 am
Nes says:
did u ever consider doing what stretch does with the music blog? people love hearing those old shows and demos and so forth.
March 7th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Rod_ONE says:
Damn,what can I say Stretch and Bob back together!? Don’t tease us with just one event! Been down since ‘90 & I’ve been fiending for that particular brand of Hip Hop since oh,’98! Hip-Hop itself NEEDS Stretch and Bobbito.You see what’s happened to the music since you left.Yo,anyone know what happened to the Rumpletilskinz? Cats were Ill.
Stretch, Bobbito thanks for help molding a kid’d musical taste.PEACE!!!
June 16th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
rav says:
im really pumped that they’re puttin on the show, even though i never listened to them while they were on air because i didn’t live in NY and i was only 3 when it started. but i downloaded the shows and listen to them religiously, stretch really puts together a good mix and features good artists.