New York, NY: DJ Rob Swift announced the “Roc for Raida” mixtape, which is dedicated to the memory of fellow X-Ecutioner Roc Raida (May 17, 1972 – Sept. 19, 2009). The mixtape highlights much of the great music Raida left behind when he passed away. Rob Swift also features the X’s Mista Sinista, Total Eclipse and Precision performing their own renditions of some of Roc Raida’s classic battle sets.

In Rob Swift’s new video, he explains the process behind the new tribute mixtape, including his use of audio clips from himself and Roc Raida telling the story of their friendship and their work together. The video also shows Swift recreating one of the routines on the mixtape live. Additionally, he explains the importance of the project, as net proceeds from the album will go to benefit Roc Raida’s wife, Tye, and his three daughters he left behind.

Rob Swift will release “Roc for Raida” on March 20th, as it will be the 21st anniversary from the time Rob Swift and Roc Raida first met at the 1991 East Coast DMC in NYC.

Rest in Peace Grandmaster Roc Raida.

Raida’s legacy Rocs on, thanks to Fluid Watches. Proceeds will go to his family, more info as it becomes available.

Hip-Hop autographs are something you begin to take for granted once you reach a certain age. When you are young, meeting the smallest indie rapper and having him even acknowledge you seems like the biggest deal in the world, but as you age, you realize most of these guys are just regular dudes. You become less star-struck, no matter who the artist.

Autographs were heavily used as a selling point for special pre-order offers during the heyday of indie rap retail, and to some extent, still are used today. These X-Ecutioners slipmats were given out by Loud in 2004 to promote their album, Revolutions. At the time, we were so jaded by the wealth of autographed items that had come through the shop, something like this hardly excited us.

Six years later, we see the value in what was once considered something to just add to the endless pile of promo vinyl, stickers, posters, and other schwag sent by record labels to entice us to play / sell their records. We lost Roc Raida in 2009. Today would have been his 38th birthday. In retrospect, a once insignificant promo item now holds tremendous sentimental value for this deejay.