DJ Rectangle
Ill Rated / Vinyl Kombat

Listening notes

DJ Rectangle's Ill Rated / Vinyl Kombat was released in 1997 on a self-distributed, no-label basis, carrying no catalog number. The release was issued on CD and brings together two distinct mixtape programs under a single package: Ill Rated and Vinyl Kombat, each subdivided into a Side A and Side B, reflecting the structural conventions of cassette or vinyl tape culture even in a digital format.

Ill Rated runs 25 tracks across its two sides, opening with a brief intro before moving through a range of material whose track titles suggest the genre breadth confirmed by the release's listed classifications: Bounce, Conscious, Gangsta, Hardcore Hip-Hop, and Hip Hop. Individual track durations on Ill Rated are relatively compact, with most falling between one and four minutes. Titles such as "Freestyle," "Playas Anthem," "Wessyde," "Real Hip Hop," and "I Got 5 On It (Remix)" appear across Side A and Side B, the latter closing out with "Gangsta's Paradise" and "Da Ladies."

Vinyl Kombat follows as the second program, extending to 29 tracks across its own two sides and pushing the combined release to 54 total tracks. Its Side A includes multiple entries simply titled "Freestyle" alongside titled cuts such as "California Love," "Woo Hah!! Got You All In Check," and "Shot Callin' Big Ballin'." Side B closes the package with tracks including "Shadow Boxin'," "Boom Biddy Bye Bye," and "Special Live Performance," the final entry clocking in at 1:18.

Taken together, the two programs represent a substantial body of documented material from DJ Rectangle dated to 1997, self-released outside any label infrastructure. Fact checker should verify track attributions and confirm whether track titles reference original compositions or source material.