Thoughts
Going to have a bit of shorter edition this week as I was away last weekend and had a special assignment pop up to help out one of the homies finish up a project, that I know a lot of you will be excited about. As a result I didn't have the usual time to put into this weeks TFTRN. I almost wasn't going to put one out this week but I dug deep and put this together. I hope you enjoy it!
Well, that Bandcamp Friday hurt. I sort of stuck to and by sort of I mean not really at all to my plan. In the end I said “yolo” and bought a couple extra things. I hope everyone else got something they wanted and supported the labels and artists they wanted to. I don’t think I could sustain a Bandcamp day that strong anytime soon. Also WTF the Canadian dollar sucks. It has not sucked like this since I was a teenager. Shitty exchange rates are the worst and so frustrating combined with increased shipping rates It is getting real out there. Also I got hit wth an unexpected duty charge on a preorder from France back in may that just arrived. I have not been charged with a duty charge in a minute. Gotta charge it to the game I guess. More about that release later.
I got shows!!! If you are in Saskatoon I am rocking at two shows this weekend. The first is Friday night at Amigos. It is in Celebration of the new album from Parab Poet and Zhe The Free along with Saskatoon OG Eekwol and Saturday night at the Black Cat Tavern with the homies Kitz Willman, Nolto and T-Rhyme. Going to be great weekend you won’t want to miss.
Missed last nights Third Verse episode? Ugsmag’s got you covered. Steaming NOW!
Record One
Wordburglar - Burgonomic
The latest album from the homie the Wordburglar might just be my favourite of all of his. I really enjoy Wordburglar albums but i think this one has the best prodcyton from to back, it features his best writing, and his best grouping of topics to date. Standout tracks like Woolco Tapes, CDS are Back and Sega Was Bad are all Wordburglar at his finest. One of my favourite things about the Wordburglar is he makes so many things of years past so interring. I might not even be interested in the subject he is rapping about but you better believe after the track I am checking it out. The album also feature quite possibly the best and definitely the most creative posse cut I have ever heard called Wanna Be On My Posse Cut? featuring Jesse Dangerously, Moka Only, Timbuktu and Touch. It is so good. The cd also features a 24 page booklet of art and lyrics. It is really incredible and worth picking up just for that. I really hope this gets a vinyl press at some point. I would even take a coloured vinyl pressing as it is that good.
Record Two
The Dereliks - Broken Cyphers The Anthology
This is an all timer for me and one I have been eagerly anticipating since the pre-order dropped on my birthday back in May from Diggers Factory in France. Months later it became available on the Dereliks bandcamp page. The Dereliks are right up there with The Mystic Journeyman and Bored Stiff as far as all time favourite West Coast Underground rap groups from the Bay Area for me. As soon as I heard the classic A Turn On The Wheel Is Worth More Than A Record Deal album I was hooked. That is an all-time record for me. There is something magical about the Dereliks. They are that perfect combination of beats, rhymes, voices and styles that are often imitated but never duplicated. The track Phrase That Pays sums up this era perfectly. The plight of the “real” mc to garner the ears of the masses. It is an ode to the underground and the challenges associated with being who you are and maintaining your integrity in world that doesn't value it. I wrote about this release in a previous TFTRN and the excitement I had then has only increased as the record is finally here. It is a beautiful 4 x LP release and I couldn’t be anymore happier with it. I do wish there was more historical information and pictures and stories etc with it but that is my only complaint. Also the 4 x LP gatefold is super annoying to take the records out but it is still incredible.
Classic Material
Style Wars
I have always had the utmost adoration and respect from the world of graffiti. It has always fascinated me to no end. There was no graffiti in the hip hop sense when I was growing up in Saskatoon. Tagging, bombing and some early pieces started to emerge in like 1995 or 1996. My graffiti world existed in the covers of the Source magazine and the little attention they gave it, like it did for so many others who grew up in cities, towns and communiites in the middle of nowhere. The moment it really caught me was stumbling on to a viewing of Style Wars on PBS in like 1995. I was reading through the TV guide and stumbled on the words “Style Wars”. They jumped off the page on the listings because it looked like “Star Wars” in my head and something that I would be interested in. I read the description and I honestly wish I remember exactly what it said, but I can’t. I can picture the listings and the words and that it was on at 6pm my time which would have been 8pm prime time in Detroit. Our American cable feed was out of Detroit. The reason I loved the Detroit Tigers as a kid so much. It was on channel 6 on Thursday. I don’t remember what day of the week I read the TV guide on, however I knew there was no way I was going to miss it. I recently learned that Style Wars was a PBS documentary which really goes to show youth power of community and public broadcasting.
I put a VHS tape in the VHS player in anticipation of recording because who knew how ro set a VHS to record something. Not me anyway. They had an in studio introduction like they did for most features and asked viewers to dioanta end thanked them for their donations so they could air quality programming like this. I really didn't understand PBS at the time and what it meant. I just knew that it had This Old House with Bob Villa and was on every Saturday morning in my house. Finally, they cut from the studio and the opening scene where the subway cars are approaching along an s curve and you can hear the sparks, and screeching of the wheels on the rails in the dark and there is one light that is illuminating the subway car as it went by and you got a glimpse of the side of the train as the music builds to a crescendo and then cuts to Duster painting a wall and a bunch of trains with block buster top to bottoms rolling by, graffiti writers, break dancers and rappers before the narration hits. This is truly what dreams are made of. I get goosebumps just typing this and thinking about it. This was at that time and remains to this day the greatest sight my eyes have ever seen. Just realizing this intro in my mind as i recall it from my memories takes me right back there to seeing it for the first time in 1995 as a 14 or 15 year old who was obsessed with rap. This was a world I had only ever read about in magazines and one I had only dreamed about in my mind. That first viewing literally changed my life. I knew at that moment I wanted to participate in this culture. I didn’t know how, but I knew somehow or someway I would.
There are so many countless lines and quotable in this movie. My all time favourite that I say very often and if you know me have heard it a lot. “This is it!”
I had bought a double DVD set in 2003, at I believe Beat Street Records in Vancouver. I have watched this dvd easily over 30 times since I bought it. It honestly, never gets old or tiring for me. The are a lot of bonuses included in this set. Over 23 minutes of original outtake footage, feature commentary and interviews with Tony Silver and Henry Chalfant, a “destroy all lines” 30 min loop of 200 whole cars and burners, artist galleries and interviews in more. This is one of the best DVDs I have ever bought.
Rove made on of my all time dreams come true. In 2019 as part of Summer Fling he showed this at the iconic Broadway Theatre in Saskatoon. He had been in touch with Henry Chalfant who was the co-producer of the documentary about setting up an authorized screening in Saskatoon. That screening was the closest I have come to recapturing the feeling of that very first viewing on PBS in the basement of my childhood home. What made it all the more exciting was watching it in a theatre filled with graffiti writers. People were quoting their favourite lines making it a lot of fun. It was like going full circle with this film.
I teamed up with the homie Noyz (319Heads to the rest of the world but always Noyz to me) to recreate this poster where we Featuring a spoof of a classic 1980s NYC anti-graffiti campaign “Make Your Mark in Society. Not on Society.” Noyz is the best because I come up with all types of ideas and he is always so supportive and lends his incredible talents to bring them to life. The "Take it from the Chaps, graffiti is for chumps” poster is availible in the UGSMAG shop if anyone is interested. On a side note we took names of historical Saskatoon politicians and one overzealous graffiti cop to make up the “Mayor’s Task Force On Graffiti” like in the original poster. Tiffany Paulson was a city councillor who was very outspoken about graffitis so she made the poster, Don Atchison was the mayor at that time and Lee Jones was an insane cop who’s insane paramilitary tactics used to catch graffiti writers made him both legendary and public enemy number one.
There is not a lot that can be said about this film that hasn’t already been said our written about. Lots of people say songs or movies or shows have been life changing events. I am not sure if this is a life changing piece of art for me or not, but I sure as hell can tell you that it was life affirming.
Closing Ramblings
I have two shirts up at Stylesmakefights.ca One for my radio Show You Know The Rulesdesigned by the homie Aiden Searle and the other for my dj crew The Stone Cold Party Rockers with the homie Rove designed by the homie Awol One. Also the homies at Audio Recon have some dope shirts too
I host two weekly radio shows Third Verse on CFCR 90.5 fm in Saskatoon Saskatchewan every Wednesday 9 -10:30pm CST and You Know The Rules on UMFM 101.5 in Winnipeg Manitoba every Sunday Night 10-11pm They are pretty great and you should check em out.
Also i got some cool shirts, poster and hats in the Ugsmag Shop if you want that fly shit.
**legal disclaimer all records and songs were run through the RAP NEST 5000 SUPER ANALYTIC COMPTROLLER MACHINE that is certified by the I.A.A.R.R.A (International Association of Analytical Rap Recordings Analysis) in layman’s terms, it means the machine is never wrong.
Catch you next week with more thoughts from the rap nest.
Peace
-chaps
Hey Chaps. New reader here, ended up binge reading all of your posts and will be here to stay. It felt a little vicarious, like living another life I never had. Also I've barely scratched the surface with Canadian rap so thanks for all the introductions.
Style Wars is the shit and everyone should watch it. Twice, at least.