Old Bootleg Tapes and Sources

[unheard78]

Going back to 99, anyone here have the bootleg of the 13 track sampler for Nas' I Am that leaked and caused him to change the album completely? I'm doing some research on the tracks and want to confirm the track list and whether any of the versions are different, but apart from the Death Of Escobar bootleg, I can't find much, most likely since so many of those tracks ended up on The Lost Tapes.

To go back a little further, I've read about people getting tapes of KMD's Bl_ck B_st_rds around 94 or 95 in the UK from a guy that claimed to work for Elektra/Warner, along with other people having underground copies, and that these copies sounded a lot better than the version Doom officially released. Anyone still have one of those tapes or a rip of it? I'd love to check it out, but I'd also love to hear your story about how you got it.

Finally, I read that the version of InI's album that leaked way back is a little different than the version Pete Rock released, possibly different from the BBE version. Can anyone elaborate?

It's so hard to find some of those early 90s and 2000s net boots these days, especially after they get an official release of some kind, even if the official is different. Makes me think back to that second (really third) Clipse album and how the version that leaked about a week before release had Sam Jackson samples in one track that got removed from the final. Too bad.

Thanks in advance.

[bbatson1]

The nas i am that i have had since back then is this.....

1. fetus
2. find ya wealth
3. blaze a 50.
4. project window
5. poppa was a playa
6. U Gotta Love It
7. Daydreaming
8. Sometimes I Wonder
9. Nature Shines
10. Drunk By Myself
11. You Wanna Play Rough
12. ? some skit where nas is like "I want to live.. please jesus just give me a chance..."
13. Amongst Kings

[Stieflkater]

The INI has the interludes and a little different sequencing while the BBE version supposedly has wrong pitches.

Would love to hear that 94, 95 Black Bastards Tape with better quality.

[unheard78]

The nas i am that i have had since back then is this.....

1. fetus
2. find ya wealth
3. blaze a 50.
4. project window
5. poppa was a playa
6. U Gotta Love It
7. Daydreaming
8. Sometimes I Wonder
9. Nature Shines
10. Drunk By Myself
11. You Wanna Play Rough
12. ? some skit where nas is like "I want to live.. please jesus just give me a chance..."
13. Amongst Kings

Any chance you still have this version?

[fatboybrandon]

I'd like to see the Nas sampler. There version of I Am leftovers I have are all on separate 12"s bought back then. The KMD stuff sounds interesting as well.

Here's Grap speaking about the InI album. He says none of the ones out are the real version that he will eventually release:

http://scrunchface.bloggerhouse.net/?p= ... _sfs42.mp3

Pete Rock spoke about BBE's fradulent ways on this podcast, he said he spit in the ace of someone at the label for the unauthorized release of his music:

http://www.nahright.com/news/2008/05/22 ... an-epstein

[Stieflkater]

Pete Rock is a has been that's holding back dope music similar to fucking Marlon.

The INI that is out there was supposedly supplied by some engineer from Mount Vernon. So I don't know what the fuck Grap is talking about. Another man that takes decades to do something.

Maybe we ll get a SOS Set with 101 different Grap tracks on 7 Inch....

[bbatson1]

unheard78 i have the cd around here somewhere. I'll look for it. I have a nas i am og tape around here somewhere (i think). I looked a bit last night but I couldn't find it. I'll look again for it the next day or so because if I remember correctly that's the really real shit from back then.

[unheard78]

unheard78 i have the cd around here somewhere. I'll look for it. I have a nas i am og tape around here somewhere (i think). I looked a bit last night but I couldn't find it. I'll look again for it the next day or so because if I remember correctly that's the really real shit from back then.

Cool and thanks bbatson1!

[unheard78]

Thought it would be interesting to note, found an article from 99 about the I Am leak as well as Mobb Deep's Murda Muzik. Here's the cache link:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/s ... clnk&gl=us

[unheard78]

So I'm waiting to hear back from bbatson1, but has anyone else seen variant track listings for that I Am preview leak? On top of that, anyone know about the RNS scene version of the album? It's a significantly different track listing from the commercial version as it has Nature Shines, the After Life skit and Amongst Kings on it, despite otherwise being mostly the finished album. It doesn't sound mastered either. Any ideas?

[unheard78]

This is a continuation from another topic I started about albums that leaked way before their releases and better source tapes, but I'm writing here purely about Nas' I Am and the original bootleg tape from 99. bbatson1 is looking for his copy of the tape or CD, but does anyone else here have a copy? He provided a track list but I've seen a bunch of variations around and want to get as close to the actual track list as possible.

I've been hunting for the promo leak in a few places and most of the time it leads back to the Death Of Escobar bootlegs, since there were quite a few with some of the same tracks along with other ones. I'm trying to get a version I saw online today with an interesting track list. Anyone know anything about this version?



Finally, anyone know where the RNS scene version I Am came from? It leaked about a month before retail and has Nature Shines, After Life, Amongst Kings and some other variants. It also doesn't seem mastered. Any ideas? Track list for it is below.

[bignormy]

Those don't even look close to what I remember. I remember copying the mp3s to cassette, I wonder if I can find it...

I found a tape that isn't what I remember; it has
1 - Fetus Belly Button Window
2 - Nas Is Like
3 - Small World
4 - Money Is My Bitch
5 - Project Window

But I'm certain there were more songs, and that Nas Is Like wasn't on it.

While I was looking I also found my cassette with the aesoprock mp3.com demos. It's a trip, that was before I had a cd burner, when I ran out of hd space I had to copy to cassette.

[madstadik]

I have that rns rip. i thought the cassette had the afterlife interlude and amongst kings on it. I also heard it was a european pressing. Also apc released what they claimed was a retail rip of i am but it had a lot of the scrapped tracks on it (og fetus, stay schemin etc) im wondering if thats the bootleg we were all coppin my senior year of highschool. Those were the days. No more advance cd's and mad early leaks lol

[madstadik]

Ps lol @ "find ya health"

[madstadik]

http://www.mp3scene.info/releases/626/n ... -1998-apc/


Peep that

[bignormy]

http://www.mp3scene.info/releases/626/n ... -1998-apc/


Peep that

that looks about right

[unheard78]

Oh yes, that's the one! Thank you!

[unheard78]

So I found a version of the original APC release, though it seems like someone swapped the version of Fetus for the one on Lost Tapes. Anyone got the whole thing, or at least the original 160 version of Fetus?

[madstadik]

I have it dunno when i can up it but i will soon. It fails crc. I believe the .sfv is fake

[HipHopInfinityRIPLOL]

i might be able to fix the crc but only if i have the original sfv

[Stieflkater]

Nas-Unreleased_Vol._I-Bootleg-2001-CMS_INT

Does somebody know the tracklist of this one?

[unheard78]

I have it dunno when i can up it but i will soon. It fails crc. I believe the .sfv is fake

Thanks madstadik. Don't worry about the sfv or crc, I can work with them if you send the files.

[unheard78]

I got it all together and here's a link, though the .sfv doesn't match for the first file. Still, everything looks right.

http://we.tl/x4c7iJJ8Kd

Hey HipHopInfinity, I don't think the .sfv in this archive is fake. Think you can fix the crc?

[HipHopInfinityRIPLOL]

the sfv is fake so i don't have anything to work with.

[madstadik]

Yeah that would be appreciated. I think that rip is as close to the real promo sampler as ur gonna get. I have the rns rip of the press copy of mobb deeps murda muzik. The version the source reviewed has promo drops tho lol. I miss those days

[unheard78]

The sfv is fake? That's really too bad. How can you tell though?

Anyway, like you said madstadik, I think that's as close as we're going to get. I've got that version of Murda Muzik too. Now if only I could find one of those better tape rips of KMD's Bl_ck B_st_rds that were going around in the mid-nineties. The officially released version is way too rough sounding.

[HipHopInfinityRIPLOL]

few clues, the instant tip off is the date and program that was used to generate it which is found inside the sfv which says 2007. also, the mp3s are tagged with id3 tags that weren't in use in 98. if you don't care about crc errors, album shoudl be perfectly listenable.

[bignormy]

I wonder where I downloaded it back then. Probably 'cipher divine', remember that website???

[bignormy]

The sfv is fake? That's really too bad. How can you tell though?

Anyway, like you said madstadik, I think that's as close as we're going to get. I've got that version of Murda Muzik too. Now if only I could find one of those better tape rips of KMD's Bl_ck B_st_rds that were going around in the mid-nineties. The officially released version is way too rough sounding.

I had a decent black bastards dub, I can try to find it and rip it sometime. I don't really remember what was different, I think the track order was definitely different; I never thought much about it being rare or interesting after the official release.


What other weird stuff was there in the '90s? I remember a few mp3s from Rakim's The Master that were even worse than the final versions. One with Ini Kamoze. I had someone burn a CD with that and some other loose mp3s for me.

Too bad I didn't have a newer computer or CD burner in those days. I'd still have the original I Am mp3s and such if that were the case, as well as those aesoprock ones I am still confident that I have a full cassette with the original I Am advance mp3s, probably at my parents'

[bbatson1]

So I found a version of the original APC release, though it seems like someone swapped the version of Fetus for the one on Lost Tapes. Anyone got the whole thing, or at least the original 160 version of Fetus?

i found my 160 version of fetus from the apc release (and the whole apc release). This is without a doubt, imo, the original 13 song i am. Now that I saw this I can pretty much say for sure this how i remember it. I wasn't sure why that other list I had posted had Nature Shines on it. But this (the APC) is the orignal for sure imo.