Doo Wop – The New Testament

DJ Doo Wop is a legend in mixtape circles. A member of the Bounce Squad, Doo Wop delivered all of the latest and hottest tracks with each of his tapes and pioneered the freestyle intro. The New Testament is pretty thick with Queensbridge locals, but the rest of New York City get’s it’s shine too. Something that you need to understand about what Doo Wop and the rest of the major mixtape DJs like Clue, Tony Touch and more were doing back in 1996 was that they were providing a direct feed into the raw talent of the New York streets. Nowadays artists produce their own personal mixtapes that they work on for months even years before releasing them. Doo Wop and co. were making connections and running up on all the labels for the latest hits (usually white labels) to deliver a new tape every couple of months. That’s a massive achievement when you realise that this was the very earliest days of internet and mobile technology.

So, running through the tape tracklist, as I mentioned earlier Doo Wop’s New Testament is pretty QBC heavy with Mobb Deep, Capone, Noreaga, Tragedy Khadafi repping the Bridge, Royal Flush and Mic Geronimo repping Flushing Queens. There’s even a collabo between the Infamous Mobb and basketball star Shaq O’Neal in there! Queens aside, 1996 was also a strong year for rap crews such as the Boot Camp Clik (Heltah Skeltah, OGC…), Def Squad (Erick Sermon, Redman, Keith Murray, Jamal…), Bad Boys (Puff Daddy, the Lox, Mase…), Flip Squad (Busta Rhymes, Rampage…), Harlem World / Children of the Corn (Big L, Mase, Herb McGruff).. The list goes on. All those crews meant a ton of great work in the recording booth and a healthy level of competition to get representation on the monthly mixtapes. Doo Wop’s New Testament is a true testament to the overall talent New York was displaying back in the day.

Find out more about Doo Wop with these mixtape memories from the boys over at Nah Right.

Side A

Intro – Doo Wop / The Bounce Squad
Downtown Swinga II – MOP
Wildflower – Ghostface Killah
Hell in Harlem – Mase / Big L / Herb McGruff
Luchini – Camp Lo
It’s in the game (NFL) – Method Man
Yeah – Keith Murray / Busta Rhymes / Erick Sermon / Jamal
Wild Cowboys in Bucktown – OGC / Sadat X
All about the Benjamins – Puff Daddy / The Lox
Far away – Hurricane G / Busta Rhymes
Illiodic Shines – Royal Flush / Mic Geronimo
Legal Money – Shaq / Mobb Deep
Feel the vibe – Frankie Cutlass / Rampage / Doo Wop / Heltah Skeltah

Side B

Thug Paradise – Capone / Noreaga / Tragedy Khadafi
Iced Down Medallions – Royal Flush / Noreaga
Broken Language II – Smoothe Da Hustla / Trigga Da Gambla
That’s how it is – Redman
Walk with a limp – Lord Tariq
Love LOD – Keith Murray / LOD
Faster blade – Ghostface Killah / Raekwon
Get the money and dip – Rampage
Crucifix for 96 – Busta Rhymes
New Jack City – MOP
Make a move – Trigga Da Gambla
Nighttime Vultures – Mobb Deep / Raekwon
Extortion – Mobb Deep / Method Man
Can’t hold me down – Puff Daddy / Mase
To my mans – Keith Murray