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@randomwaxmag

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journey through the record rooms captured
by award-winning photographer @igorleonidovic

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Mike D 5D — Thank You

We all know the Beastie Boys story. When MCA passed in 2012, Mike D and Ad-Rock made the tough call not to push on without him and there’s been no new music from either surviving Beastie since. Until now.

Thank You is Mike D’s first ever solo album, recorded with his sons Davis and Skyler and their band, now going by Mike D 5D. Not a Beastie Boys record but built with that same „fuck around and find out“ spirit that made the Beasties special in the first place.

I have every Beastie Boys album in my collection, but this is only the fourth LP of theirs (in any form) that I could buy on release day (I was born in 1988) and I really hope it’s not the last.

This record just sounds so fresh to me. It’s fun, it’s playful, it’s got that eclectic energy jumping across genres the way only Mike D can pull off. I love it so much.

Thank you, Mike D! Can’t wait to see you live in Cologne.

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2024 and 2025 gave us something rare: two full-length pairings between hip hop royalty MCs and their all-time favorite legendary producers. Common & Pete Rock. Nas & DJ Premier. Two different decades-long friendships, finally turned into complete albums.

The Auditorium Vol. 1 dropped in 2024 is produced entirely by Pete Rock. The two first linked up nearly 30 years earlier on Common’s 1996 diss track “The Bitch in Yoo”. Common himself said it felt like a dream come true, that Pete Rock’s beats and scratches took him to a place where he could just MC freely — like he was home. Guests like De La Soul’s Posdnuos, Bilal, and Jennifer Hudson round it out.
The album earned Grammy nominations.

Nas & DJ Premier’s Light-Years carries the same energy! 20+ years of chemistry finally becoming a complete project, boom bap in its purest form.

For me, it’s The Auditorium that wins this battle. Not because of the beats or bars alone, both records are dope, but because I simply connect more with late Common than with late Nas.

Two icons, two legendary pairings, one personal favorite.

Which one wins for you — The Auditorium or Light-Years? 👇

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Big L — Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous (1995)
Harlem’s finest. The only album he got to see released. 🕊️

Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous is Big L’s debut studio album, released March 28, 1995 on Columbia Records, recorded primarily at Powerplay Studios in Queens, New York. Produced by Buckwild, Lord Finesse, Showbiz and Craig Boogie. Lord Finesse put him on, brought him into D.I.T.C., and handed him beats that let his killer punchlines and wild bravado run wild.

“MVP,” “No Endz, No Skinz,” “Street Struck” — a mix of humor, shit talk and felonious flows that still sounds dope decades later. “Da Graveyard” and “8 Iz Enuff” are two thunderous posse cuts, the former featuring Grand Daddy I.U. and a young Jay-Z (for me it was first time, when I heard Jay Z verse).

I think I was 11 when I first found a bootleg Big L tape. By 13 I had a bootleg copy of this album on vinyl — as a kid, I had no idea bootleg vinyl even existed, I just thought it was og record. It’s a bit sad that the sound quality on this new pressing isn’t great. This album deserves a proper reissue done right, and I hope one day we finally get it.

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Big L & A.G. — Live From Amsterdam (2003)
+ Signed photo by Lord Finesse, AG and OC.

The last time we heard Big L rock a stage. Ever.

Live From Amsterdam is a live album recorded on October 8, 1998, featuring Big L and A.G., released in 2003. It was recorded at the Melkweg in Amsterdam, as part of the 2-year anniversary of Fat Beats Amsterdam — with a short set, since they weren’t the only act performing that night.

The record captures live versions of Big L & A.G. tracks, plus an a cappella and an unreleased verse from Big L’s debut Devil’s Son. It’s one of the last documents we have of him on a stage, in his element, doing what he was born to do.

Raw D.I.T.C. energy from start to finish, Roc Raida holding it down on the wheels. Classic.

RIP Big L, RIP Roc Raida.

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J. Cole — 4 Your Eyez Only (2016)

During recording, Cole rented a house in an affluent North Carolina neighborhood to write and record, but neighbors called the police, suspecting the house was being used as a drug den, resulting in a SWAT raid that found nothing but a recording studio. That inspired the single “Neighbors“😂

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Cypress Hill — IV (1998)
Cypress Hill’s fourth studio LP.
Production was handled entirely by DJ Muggs, with guest appearances from MC Eiht, Barron Ricks and Chace Infinite. “Dr. Greenthumb,” “Tequila Sunrise,” “Audio X” this record is loaded with classics.

But this one carries something deeper for me. When I moved to Germany 25 years ago, all I had with me was a shoe box full of bootleg tapes and this was one of them. That’s what I listened to in those first uncertain months in a new country. Later, when I was 13, I bought my first ever official CD - and it was a Cypress Hill album.

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Mayer Hawthorne — Where Does This Door Go

Where Does This Door Go is Mayer Hawthorne’s third studio album, released July 16, 2013 on Republic Records.
Pharrell Williams and Jack Splash handled a big chunk of the production this time, and the shift shows immediately Hawthorne stepped outside the vintage Motown box he’d built his name on and let the sound breathe into something more modern.

PS I think I heard Lamar for the first time on this record 🥹

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Dilated Peoples — Expansion Team (2001)

L.A. underground at its absolute best.

Expansion Team dropped October 23, 2001 through Capitol Records — the follow-up to The Platform, and the album that took Dilated Peoples to the next level. Produced by group members Evidence and DJ Babu along with Alchemist, Joey Chavez, Da Beatminerz, DJ Premier, Juju, and Questlove, with guest appearances from Black Thought, Beat Junkies members, and the Likwit Crew.

Alchemist’s “Worst Comes to Worst” utilized a vocal sample from Mobb Deep’s “Survival of the Fittest” and a musical sample from William Bell’s “I Forgot to be Your Lover” — and it became the anthem of the album.

When it dropped I was 13 years old, and I can still remember recording “Worst Comes to Worst” straight off Viva TV onto VHS 😁

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Hyphen Dash is a jazz fusion project from Kyiv, Ukraine. 16 tracks of contemporary jazz, jazz fusion and instrumental hip hop.

This is late-night music in every sense of the word. Warm, melancholic, endlessly deep. The kind of record that sounds different depending on what time you put it on.

Hyphen Dash has been steadily building a catalog that deserves way more international attention. Coming out of Kyiv and making music this beautiful while the world around them burns.

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Finally here!!!!!

Mobb Deep — Hell on Earth, 96.

Queensbridge at its darkest, produced entirely by Havoc, with features from Nas, Raekwon, Method Man and Big Noyd. Most groups buckle under the pressure of following up a classic. Havoc and Prodigy doubled down.

Havoc experimented with his production style — sampling pianos, string sections and film scores to build something that felt less like a rap album and more like soundtrack. Prodigy rhyming on another level.

Rest easy, P. 🕊️

I had this classic only on CD, it was always hard to find on wax.

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Westside Gunn x Conway the Machine x Alchemist - Hall and Nash 2 signed by Westside Gunn and Alchemist.

Hall & Nash 2 was originally recorded back in 2016 and intended for release in 2017, but got shelved after the duo signed to Shady Records. On December 29, 2023, Alchemist dropped it as a surprise Christmas gift to the fans, calling it a collector’s item for the day ones. And that’s exactly what it is.

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MF Grimm — The Downfall of Ibliys: A Ghetto Opera (2002)

One of the wildest stories in hip hop history. And one of the most overlooked albums ever recorded.

In 2000, MF Grimm was facing a life sentence. After posting a $100,000 one-day bail, he spent those 24 hours recording The Downfall of Ibliys. Just one day. One opportunity. And somehow, he created an underground classic.

Produced primarily by MF DOOM (as Metal Fingers), alongside Count Bass D and Dr. Butcher, the album is deeply personal and cinematic. It weaves together themes of crime and punishment, revenge and redemption, faith and survival.

The contrast is what makes it so powerful: warm, soulful, often playful production paired with stories that hit hard. Grimm casts himself as Ibliys—the Arabic name for Satan—and delivers a true “ghetto opera,” filled with tragic characters, moral conflicts, and unforgettable storytelling.

Thankfully, Coalmine Records gave this masterpiece the reissue it deserves. If you’ve never heard it, you’re missing one of underground hip hop’s hidden gems.

PS. Sorry for different audio, I couldn’t find it on instagram.

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