Here’s a beat I can never get enough of. Fortunately for me, the instrumental for the track officially released as “Dirty Ryder” was omnipresent on the mixtape circuit for the latter part of 2001, and well into 2002. Of course it was usually listed as either ”Training Day” or “Shoot the 5;” I mean, what kind of Parlé featuring Eve kind of song title is “Dirty Ryder” anyway? This version of The Lox street single, taken from DJ Absolut’s Heart of the City mixtape, features 3 verses by Sheek, with SP the Ghost holding down the hook, as well as contributing some creative adlib sound fx. Known as “Head Shots,” it’s essentially an alternate take of “Dirty Ryder” using the same beautifully sparse DJ Shok soundscape. My internet research informs me that Shok has since found religion, really the only direction one can go after producing a record as brutal D-Block’s “Monday Night Football.”

Sheek Louch - Head Shots (Feat. Styles P)