The Weekly Coos

You have to love it when you search through YouTube and find an account full of treasure; I was fortunate enough to have the time for a deep dive and discover the account Young-M, which contains freestyles from the likes of DJ-Self, Funk Flex, Ron G and Stretch and Bobbito, giving us some sweet lyrics from the dome, and lost tracks that fallen by the wayside like a Redman and Eminem collab for The Nutty Professor II. It all happened when I chose to look up some classic freestyles done during the Drama King’s reign in the 2000s and from Ludacris to Dipset and Black Rob, the music just flowed through them; it feels like looking at a time capsule, where sensibilities weren’t as aware and accepted as it is today — talking about the misogyny and homophobia with their rhetoric — if that can get set aside, you’re going into a capsule where bars were more potent in identity than making a hit pop songs, despite artists still making popular records for the radio. It showed audiences and fans a duality in their craft, where the essence of the culture hasn’t left them, even when you hear them vocalizing a poppy hook elsewhere.

The “bars,” a concept used by the terminally online to continue the dispute in the Kendrick / Drake beef when they should sit back, relax, and listen to Swizz Beatz introduce Cassidy to Kay Slay and the audience before a microphone gets slaughtered. Or even go back to the 90s, before my consciousness, and hear Smoothe Da Hustler live with Mister Cee or Pharaoh Monche with UK DJ, DJ 279. The collection is thrilling and a feeling as I am writing these names found amongst the videos. It’s more than just freestyles, as I’ve noted; we have tracks like “Philly,” a Kobe Bryant-led posse cut from his album that got shelved, tracks from Agallah, whom heads would know for the production done for Diplomats, Sean Price, and Saigon. It’s worth digging and exploring from what you vibed with.

Young-M isn’t some savior, but being the quiet user it is, the views speak for themselves. These days, you won’t see Kool G Rap’s freestyle with DJ EFN have plays like that when it isn’t something beholden to an immediate radar, considering the influx due to the advancement of tech. Here, you can find Foxy Brown and Gravy (possibly known by some readers for playing Notorious B.I.G. in the film Notorious) delivering some rhymes bouncing off verses. There is a distinct art to it that encourages as a part of the culture, and we see it to this day with freestyles with FunkFlex or at Power106, amongst other mediums we have available outside of XXL. Though sparse, the account has some stuff dating back to the late 90s; however, what it becomes, more importantly, a time capsule of tracks lost because of an artist’s clout at the time, like Marc Live in 2004, with a stone cold 50 Cent feature or when Angie Martinez was rapping and we got that fuego with “New York, New York” alongside Prodigy. There is so much, but what makes it more rewarding is the audio quality. It’s like going back in time and hearing through speakers from your $50 stereo.

Though I was too young to remember much, growing up around cousins who were teens at the time in NYC allowed me to have more of a worldview, and I became a fan of DJs like Clue and Kay Slay at the time, and retroactively others like Stretch and Bobbito and Mister Cee. My cousins were there in the moment, having their moment in the sun with the radio being a source for music outside of CDs, thus the plethora of freestyles and tracks, feeling a treasure trove that keeps growing. From what I can read, this person is all about music and lost tracks that may have flown by us after years of consuming new music, especially when the sound has grown past the rudimentary boom-bap and jazz or hardline piano riffs on a street beat that drips of darkness. If you’re interested, just dig, and hopefully, you’ll find some saved videos to replay or download as the chest is ever-growing.