This elusive mix came exclusively on a 7″ giveaway with Record Mirror Magazine on the 24th September 1988.

This version, entitled the ‘Original Rap Version’ is misleading, since 2 versions were released of Megablast on 12″ under the same moniker yet were different mixes to this one. So far, it has not turned up on a 12″ and seems exclusive to Sure Beats 1, the 7″ discussed here.

This song was posted on YouTube to help research for a book project entitled ‘Yo Derek Rock the Beat – The Top 100 UK Rap Records 1987 – 1993’. All profit will go to The Alzheimer’s Society in honour of Capital Radio jock Mike Allen who now has sadly succumbed to this disease.

Here we salute this version, from here on in, known as Megablast ‘Apache’ version. With DJ D-Zire on the scratches, and studio trickery from Rico Conning, Pascal Gabriel and Tim Simenon.

‘Megablast’ is featured in the forthcoming book, currently being written and researched.

Yo Derek! Rock the Beat is an affectionate look at what the UK’s golden era of rap music now means to a generation of ‘40 somethings’ (showing my age!). Featuring a mix of record reviews and interviews with some of the leading exponents who made these records – emcees, DJ’s and producers – as well as the fans, graphic designers and those pioneers who played these records on the radio.

Yo Derek! Rock the Beat is at heart, a definitive, chart-like countdown of the top 100 12 inch UK rap records,… recorded and released between 1987-1993 which has been curated by the people that love this music. Over the past 2 years, this Facebook page has invited the fans, the faces and the frontrunners from this formative era of the UK rap scene to post and critique their favourite records released during this period, which has then been distilled into the 100 essential records that will make up the book.

Carried home in plastic bags from both urban and suburban record shops some 25 years ago, these records are now coveted by fans and are subsequently traded for vastly inflated prices on forums like eBay and Discogs. In recognition of this passion this book is not simply just a critique of those records but an acknowledgement that each and everyone of them holds a musical memory from yesteryear, and is the soundtrack to lives lived through a passion for rap music and hip hop.

It is intended that after production costs, any profits will be donated to The Alzheimer’s Charity, following the recent sad news that much loved former Capital Radio DJ, Mike Allen, has recently been diagnosed with the disease. Mike was responsible, along with other radio disc jockeys such as Tim Westwood, Dave Pearce and Stu Allen, for giving the hip hop explosion from America an audio platform via UK commercial radio back in the mid – eighties, providing a window for a generation of excited teenagers to discover rap and electro music and the disciplines behind the hip hop culture. Fitting then, this book celebrating memories, may indeed give some support to a wonderful charity, fighting a war against a disease, that by its nature, seeks to rob the individual of these precious things.

The author, Mark McDonald, experienced this golden age of UK rap music first hand some 27 years ago as a teenager involved with graffiti art and also an ardent music fan – recording radio shows, collecting records and obsessing over music magazines; which he still does to the present day. Mark is currently researching and writing this book and lives in Hertfordshire with his wife and two children.

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