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Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Can You Dig It? Vol. 32: Brian Coleman


Name: Brian Coleman

Claim to Fame: I'm the author of Check the Technique: Liner Notes for Hip-Hop Junkies



and Rakim Told Me.



I'm also President of Charles Bronson fan club, the Massachusetts chapter.



Representing: I've been in or around Boston and Cambridge, MA since “Girls I Got Em Locked” hit.



I grew up all over the Northeast, in almost too many spots to name. I will say that I am the rare dude who has legitimate and deep-seated New Jersey Pride.

Years in the Game: I've been collecting wax since about 1974, starting with my Spinners “Rubber Band Man” 45, with unnecessary accumulations starting around 1992.

Best Digging City or Town: Geez, that’s a tough one. Fall River, MA and Providence, RI back in the ‘90s were dope as hell. There weren’t many collectors working the scene back then and they weren’t a long drive for me and my man Tim Haslett (R.I.P.).



Outside of Hartford, CT had some wild spots too. And don’t get me wrong, Boston has always been good to me, but as any digger knows, you need to troll the out-of-the-way spots to really hit the jackpot.

Most Prized Piece of Wax: Probably my copy of Afrika Bambaataa “Death Mix.”



If I had an original copy of Rammelzee vs. K-Rob “Beat Bop”, that’d be my most prized. Dare to dream.



Favorite Album Cover/s: Moondog Moondog



Frank Zappa Hot Rats



Alice Coltrane Journey to Satchidananda



Joy Division Unknown Pleasures



Public Enemy It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back



Mantronix The Album



Curtis Mayfield Curtis



Black Flag My War, or any Raymond Pettibon Black Flag cover, for that matter.



Schoolly D Schoolly D (especially back cover)



Dollar Bin Miracle: Disco Dave & The Force of the Five MCs “High Powered Rap”



and Mr. Sweety G “We Want to Get Down”, which are both on Mix Master Mike and Disco Dave Records. They were $.49 each at a spot in Connecticut.

Total Records Owned: Somewhere between 8,000 and 9,000, and maybe 1,200 45s. I haven’t counted in a while and I gave a bunch to the Library of Vinyl Experience (LOVE) a couple years back. I have plenty, I’ll say that.

Best Digging Story: Back at the Roosevelt Hotel in NYC in the ‘90s I had a copy of the Jungle Brothers “Beyond this World” on top of my pile of wax and this dude walked up to me, looked me in the eye, and just tried to grab it.



The weird thing was that he kept looking me in the eye the whole time, with a look like “What? Everything’s cool, just chill, I deserve this record.” After about 30 seconds of our tug-of-war, I just punched the dude in the chest and he let go instantly and walked away very calmly. The weirdest thing to me was that it wasn’t that rare of a record. Maybe that’s why he gave up so easily.

The Roosevelt was pretty intense back in the day, dudes weren’t fucking around and it was a real cut-throat type of scene. I stopped going after a while, because it wasn’t that fun. I was always more of a fan of finding shit in out-of-the-way spots for low-cash. I don’t think I’ve ever paid more than $30 for a record and I’m proud of that. For me, just owning a dope piece of wax isn’t the most important thing, it’s how it got to you.

To find out more about Brian Coleman, visit his MySpace page. For more about his essential books on classic rap records, click here and here.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Egypt

In seven hours, I'm boarding a plane to go here...



Don't expect shit in terms of posts while I'm there, I'm leaving the laptop alone for the next eight days. As I sit here loading my IPOD (I only have a 2 gig one), I've painstakingly handpicked each selection with the utmost care. Some Mr. Dibbs, a bit of Cosmo Baker, The Brief Encounter, etc. etc. One name that is taking up quite a bit of space is a cat named Damu The Fudgemonk. I forget where I first heard of dude, but holy shit is he killing it on the beats tip.

I particular, I'm feeling his Overtime album, which you can download for free, compliments of Damu, by clicking here.

Songs like this have had me doing a whole hell of a lot of rewinding.

Pulse (Official Mix)- Damu The Fudgemonk



What I like about Damu is that he has a throwback vibe that doesn't sound stale or dated. If his output thus far is any indication of what is to come, I'd say Damu is a name you better get familiar with.

Anyhow, I gotta get my shit together and head out for Cairo! To everyone who has been checking the blog as of late, THANK YOU. Wherever you are at, I appreciate you stopping by to show love.

New Neil!



I haven't been this excited about a mix tape in a while. The first Sweeet is one of my all-time favorite mix tapes. I can't say enough good things about it. Here is a snippet of the sequel, compliments of Neil himself. Right click to save.

Sweeet Part 2 Snippet

Monday, March 9, 2009

You In God's Hands Now...



"You in God's hands now, keep a place for me kid."- Nas from "We Will Survive"

This is awful. I'm trying to do a Biggie post and DivShare is acting up on me.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Can You Dig It? Vol. 31: Noz

Name: Noz

Claim to Fame: I DJ’d poorly for a while in high school and college. I never really got good at it. I was alright and I had good records, but it never really materialized for me. I did a radio show too and that’s actually where Cocaine Blunts and Hip Hop Tapes started. The fifth anniversary of the blog just passed, so I’ve been doing my blog for most of my adult life.



I’m not much of a multi-media beast; I just try to do my blogs. I did the column at XXL for a while, I’ve done a lot of freelancing for various magazines like Vibe, and I write some reviews for NPR.

Representing: I grew up in New Jersey. I live in DC now.



Years in the Game: I’ve been buying records for 13 or 14 years. I started when I was 12 or 13. Back then I wasn’t deep into it; I was going to flea markets with my parents and buying James Brown 45’s. I really got into digging when I came to DC to go to school. DC circa 2001 was just incredible for buying records. I was bringing 50 to 100 records home from flea markets on a regular basis, and they were really good records. I was kind of blessed to come down here during a time like that.

I was DJing off and on between ’01 and ’05. I never really did it heavily; it was mostly my radio show or the occasional house party for a friend. I never felt called to DJ. My crates are too specific. I don’t know if people really want to put up with the music I want to play.



Best Digging City or Town: DC is the only city I’ve ever lived in. I grew up in Jersey and I would go into New York, Philly, and Trenton, but you need to live in a city to really know the records. In my experience, DC is the best, but if I had been hitting Philly as hard as I hit DC, I might have done better. I don’t know.

There was one flea market in particular that me and a half dozen other dudes would hit up twice a week. It wasn’t like there were too few records to go around, we’d all get there and then go home happy. Nobody really sells records there anymore. We’d go on Thursdays and Saturdays. Thursdays I had a morning class, so I’d have to lug a crate of records with me to my class. I’d just sit there and put my feat up on them. Everything now is pretty much done in DC as far as casually buying records. If you’re not doing house calls, you’re not finding records.

There are a couple of dealers who have tapped out all the flea markets. I’ll go to a flea market now and see crates of records in one of the dealer’s trucks. When I ask about taking a look at them they’ll say, “Nah, I’m saving these for so and so.” I don’t understand that at all. I’ll buy some records too. I buy a lot of bullshit rap and weird records which most people wouldn’t want to look at anyway.

I’m not going to complain about Ebay because I’ve made a lot of money and gotten a lot of great records off of Ebay. At the same time, it’s made it so that dealers are less a source of information and merely a source of records. They don’t have to have any knowledge of what they’re selling. That’s a big problem. It makes it hard for people who are just trying to casually buy records that they know about and care about. Whatever…it was fun while it lasted.



Most Prized Piece of Wax: Probably the very first indy Scarface 12”, which I put up on my blog a little while ago. It’s a self titled 12” and it came out before he signed to Rap-A-Lot. I actually got that one off of Ebay, so there isn’t an exciting story behind it.





I have this one joint that I love; it’s my favorite record that I’ve found in the last few years. It’s a 45 by a fool from New Orleans called MC J’ Ro J’. The cover is a goofy picture sleeve 45” and it’s basically proto bounce backed by brass band samples. It’s a ridiculous record. The guys talking about “leading raps second lines through the French quarter.” Other than those two, I don’t really know.



I don’t usually think of records that way, I don’t really single them out. At the end of the day, my most prized records aren’t unknown grails or $500 joints; they’re stuff like Curtis Mayfield Live. To me that is a prized record that I couldn’t part with.



Favorite Album Cover/s: I’m still pretty geeked off of Pen and Pixel. Most of that stuff didn’t come out on vinyl, so I don’t know if it even counts. I’ve seen Pen and Pixel covers that are pineapples surrounded by gold and money stacks.



Or two dudes riding a bra strap through the clouds.



To me, the creativity of that design company is one of the greatest things in the history of the world. They did thousands and thousands of covers, so you’re always finding bizarre new shit like a dude riding a Cadillac past Pluto. These are actual covers. I’m not making this up.



People on the internet are always siked off of Big Bear. Big Bear only scratches the surface of the Pen and Pixel madness.



There’s one site I linked to on my blog and it was something like 40 pages of Pen and Pixel, and that didn’t even scratch the surface. They put out so many covers during their four year reign. I think there was some kind of falling out with them; I’m not really sure what happened. They kind of disappeared around 2000-2001, which is a shame. Pen and Pixel truly was the greatest design company in the history of hip hop.

I can’t really follow that up with anything. Other than Pen and Pixel, I don’t know. There are lots of classic album covers. I was just looking at Terry Callier’s What Color Is Love cover with the naked chick smoking a cigarette.



That’s a fantastic cover, but you can’t really put that next to dudes riding a bra strap. At the end of the day, if your choices come down to a really sublime photo verses Photoshop madness, you know where you’re going to go.

Dollar Bin Miracle: I found Keefy Keef, Keith Murray’s first record, sleeveless in a thrift shop for fifty cents. It wasn’t even in a crate of rap music; it was amongst the usual random assortment of thrift store records.



I rarely pay a lot for the big money rare rap records I find. I usually find them for a dollar. I found two Paul C produced records by Sport G and Mastermind for ten cents each, which was pretty cool.



It all starts to blur together after a while. I’m not paying more than five dollars for most of the records I buy. Unless it’s something I really want on Ebay. Most record stores are going to pass on the stuff I’m looking for and just put it in their dollar bin.

Total Records Owned: I’m probably down to 2500 now. About half of that is stuff that I hope to get rid of at some point. My main goal is to be able to fit my collection into one IKEA unit. Then again, I’m always buying stuff. I’ve cut down my collection over the past few years, but not as much as I’d like to. I don’t want to be one of these dudes with 20,000 records. I’m not keeping albums with one good song on them. To met, that’s a waste of space and money. I’ll put the one song I like on my computer and sell the record if the rest of it sucks.

Best Digging Story: I don’t have many crazy stories about major come ups. I’m not out there doing the house calls and networking. I’d rather put that effort into writing. I figure that I can be networking with record dealers and old ladies or I can be networking with artists. I tend to choose artists. With records, I’m pretty much only doing flea market, thrift store, and record store type shit.

I do have one really weird story from a house call that’s worth sharing. This ones tough…I don’t want to give away too much about this particular dealer because he’s a really nice guy. Anyway, I went to this one dealer’s house and we ate fried plantains after I looked through his records. When we were done he was like, “I just got a hot tub. You should call all of your buddies. We can have a little party.” Keep in mind this guy is something like 60 years old. I was just like, “Um…no. I’m just going to back out slowly and take my records.” It’s kind of embarrassing now that I think about it, but yeah, that’s my story (Laughs).



It was strange. I still see the guy around sometimes. The last time I saw him he was talking about how Michael Jackson should go to Thailand if he wants to be a pedophile. He was like, “You can’t do that man, unless you’re in Thailand.” I just told him, “No, you can’t do that anywhere; I don’t care where you go.”



I don’t want to throw him under the bus; I’ve gotten great records from that man. He’s just a little bit eccentric.

To read some of Noz's essential insight into the wild world of forgotten and under appreciated music, click here. His CBRAP blog is without question one of the best music based sites on the web.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Fun DMC



Hot damn I like the idea behind the song "Gamin' On Ya" by People Under The Stairs. I saw these dudes live on my 19th birthday, right before leaving for college, and they absolutely killed it. If I remember correctly they were touring with DJ DP One and El Da Sensei. One particularly memorable part of their show consisted of them wheeling out an original Nintendo and using the sounds from the video game to make a beat.

"Gamin' On Ya" executes the video game sample idea flawlessly. It is the perfect length and utilizes some tight sample change ups to keep the listener on their toes. Thes One and Double K also do a great job of dropping verses that evoke nostalgia for the good ol' days when a great weekend consisted of ordering pizza and playing video games 'til 5 a.m. with your boys.



In addition to "Gamin' On Ya", the rest of Fun DMC, PUTS most recent effort, is really solid throughout and well worth picking up. To cop that shit, click here.

To download "Gamin' On Ya", use the link below.

I Wanna Be Free



Talk about modern SOUL. "Free", the intro track off of Soul Food, is a a somewhat forgotten but essential part of Mr. Cee-Lo Green and Goodie Mob's catalog.

Listen and download by using the link below.

Let's Talk About...



One of the best album covers ever?

Monday, March 2, 2009

Trey Told 'Em Reeemix


I Believe (Trey Told Em remix) - Simian Mobile Disco

Girl Talk and Frank Musarra, also known as Trey Told 'Em, absolutely 187 this remix of Simian Mobile Disco's "I Believe". More proof in the pudding that Girl Talk is a real talent and not just a one trick pony.

Flannel Forever



I'm constantly flipping through my vinyl and CD collection to find stuff to write about. Today I dug out my No Alternative CD to write a brief post about The Beastie Boy's live version of "It's The New Style". No Alternative was a 1993 alternative music compilation sold to raise money for AIDS awareness. I bought the CD in late elementary school, sometime around 1996. I was a member of BMG's Music Club (remember those days?) and copped it during one of their crazy sales.

"It's The New Style (Live)" is a pre-Mixmaster Mike creation that features some great live doubles provided by DJ Hurricane. Recorded live on a Tascam MSR 16 in Dallas, Texas in late 1992, this song still sounds as fresh as ever.



It's got that unmistakable Beastie feel to it, and I love the way they let the beat breath for nearly 30 seconds before they start kicking their verses. Short but sweet, this is essential listening, even for non-Beastie fans.



or

It's The New Style (Live)- The Beastie Boys

After listening to The Beastie Boys track I decided to revisit some other tracks on the album that caught my eye. The first one I played was Uncle Tupelo's "Effigy". Originally performed by Creedence Clearwater Revival, Uncle Tupelo successfully made a cover that is on par, if not better, than the original. While I personally like 90's "alternative" music, a good percentage of it doesn't quite translate like it used to. This song, however, sounds even better than I remember it sounding years ago.



Uncle Tupelo is a band that, according to my friend Wikipedia, is known as "one of the founders of the alternative country genre". They are also well known for spawning the bands Wilco and Son Volt.



or

Effigy- Uncle Tupelo

As a bonus treat I've included the hidden track from my version of No Alternative, "Verse Chorus Verse" by Nirvana. This is an often overlooked track by one of my favorite bands.



or

Verse Chorus Verse- Nirvana