Thoughts From The Rap
vol022-027
Thoughts
***lots of photos you will not see them all in the email so to view click in it and got to substack to read this weeks.
Rap Radio, the holy grail of hip hop. When I was young, one of my favourite shows was A Different World and I thought Dwayne Wayne with his flip up shades was the coolest person in the world. He was smart, charismatic and everything I thought was cool. There was an epsiode where he hosted a college radio show and I think that was the spark for me that I wanted to be a radio show host. On a side note I thin Sinbad’s character was the imperious for me pursuing a a job in residence andtThe whole show is probably one of the reasons I pursued academia and completed a Masters Degree. You probably couldn’t tell based on my writing but I swear I am a strong academic writer. I really want this to read as my inner thoughts so that is the style I write in. Anyways this weeks TFTRN is not an homage to the TV show that probably had the biggest positive impact on my life. It is about my love of Radio.
All I ever wanted was to have a radio show on college radio. The College part eventually came true, but not in Saskatoon as it does not have College radio it has a Community Radio station called CFCR 90.5 FM. I first went went to CFCR in the fall of 1996 and it was magical. CFCR at the time was located in a basement of a building on 3rd Avenue in Saskatoon that was lit with shitty fluorescent lights and had a wide staircase that led to the basement. The space was pretty shitty, but so awesome and cool and I actually really miss it. The record/cd room was amazing and filled with so many cool gems. The station has gutted a lot of it over the years with sales etc. as many artists and labels only service stations with digital files. My ethos is to always play physical format music on the radio. I have always been fortunate and not having to rely on promos to play on the radio and I think that is why the shows I have been involved in have been so strong.
The old station is where Knowskills showed me the ropes on his show called Trunk Of Funk The Vinyl Frontier that he started in 1994. He started on Sunday Nights midnight to 1:30 am. I used to stay up and throw a tape in or listen and be exhausted for High School Monday Morning. It was so exciting discovering rap on the radio in Saskatoon in the 90’s. This was the first rap radio show I ever heard and it was absolutely mind-blowing. We would talk about the next day at school. I remember hearing songs that were not just the videos you would hear on Rap City and it was so exciting. The show at some point changed days and time slots to Wednesdays from midnight to 1am then 10:30pm to midnight. When I came in the mix it was 10:30pm to midnight and a few years later we moved to the 9pm to 10:30pm time slot. Once I went once, I just invited myself back and kept going. There is nothing that would stop me from going to the radio station. It was and continues to be the best part of my week. Rap radio means pretty much everything to me.
Knowskills eventually let me program a half hour and showed me how to run the boards, talk on the mic and line up the carts. I really miss the carts. The carts as they were called, were 8-track tapes that had the commercials recorded on them. They were in a wall mounted 8-track tape case that housed like 70ish or so carts. You would grab the carts you need from the commercial breaks and load he first two in the machines. the machines were these silver rectangular boxes that you inserted the 8-track into the front and then you pressed a button to play them when it was time. We put the rest off the carts on top of the players and would play one, then play the next removing the the previously played one and inserting the next one and repeating that process playing the 3-6 commercial that were programmed. Playing the carts was always one of my favourite parts. Now you just drag files and drop them into a real player type device and press play and turn up the line on the board. It is super practical and easy but it is super depressing for a physical format person like myself.
We eventually started hauling turntables down and a mixer and Knowskills built these wooden flight cases that we left at the station so we could raise the hight of the turntables. We would take turns djing each taking a half hour or more depending on who was there. It was a rotating cast of myself, Knowskills, soso, Innate, Epic and a few years later Factor would come down and cut his teeth. At some point around 1999 we updated the name of the show to Third Verse inspired but Charizma and Peanut Butter Wolf’s track That’s Word where Charizma says “Third Verse, two from the first” we adopted that as a catch phrase adding “Last from the worst”, and implying we were actually the best. Best tag line in the game.
Third Verse is now in its 26th year broadcasting on CFCR 90.5 In Sasakatoon on Wednesday night 9:00pm to 10:30pm CST. I am a volunteer like all hosts at CFCR. It is a people powered radio station servicing the under-serviced and empowering many marginalized voices in our community. At one time Rap was under serviced and on the fringes before becoming the world dominating juggernaut that it is today. However the rap played on Third Verse is generally underrepresented in society and we are proud to champion that rap music and share it with the people each and every week.
CFCR being a community radio station we rely on various methods of funding to maintain the diverse programming that you have come to know and love. We are in the middle of our annual funding drive called FM-Phasis. It makes up a significant portion of the operating budget each year and the funds for the most part go towards tangible ways of improving broadcasting and the listening experience.
So please DONATE and use show code 5-13 so they know you love and support Third Verse. Like Devon The Dude says, “Anything is plenty man”. Thank you so much for your continued support of Third Verse and for those with the means your finiancial donation.
For more information and details about FM-PHASIS 2022 please click HERE.
Missed this weeks Third Verse the homies at Ugsmag have you covered.
So back in 2016, I got a message from the homie Jared about the possibility of syndicating Third Verse on UMFM 101.5. UMFM is the campus radio station of the University Of Manitoba in Winnipeg Manitoba Canada. I was super flattered and excited at the opportunity. After some discussion I proposed recording a unique show for the the Sunday 10:00pm - 11:00pm time slot and You Know The Rules was born and aired on the UMFM airwaves for the first time on September 11, 2016. This past Sunday I celebrated 6 years and 312 episodes! I can’t believe it has already been 6 years as it seems like I just started doing it. I am finally fulfilling my dream of a college radio show. I took the name from a 1998 track called The Rules by Krondon where on the hook they cut up You know The Rules. I loved this 12” so much when it came out and I just felt a connection to those cuts and thought it woods be perfect. It is the first song I ever played on the show. One time B. Dolan asked me when he was on Third Verse what the first song I played was and I unfortunately had no idea so I made a point in remembering this one.
I really love the challenge that recording a show in the Rap Nest presents. The challenge is what to play as I have access to my entire music collection and often I get bogged down in looking through my collection rather than recording the show. I try and make it unique from Third Verse although there is always some overlap in artists each week I try not to overlap songs but that happens. It is the best part of my weekend and I often do it early in the morning either Saturday or Sunday.
I want to send a mega heartfelt birthday shout out to my partner Karlie who’s birthday is Friday. Not rap related but we are going to see her favourite band The Eagles who are in town this weekend to celebrate.
Record One
Myles Bullen - Mourning Travels
I have to thank the homie Id Obelus for putting me onto Myles Bullen. I originally thought Myles was from The Pacific North West but was gravely mistaken as Myles is from Portland Maine. I instantly fell in love with the honesty in the delivery of the words he is rapping. The lyrics are both simple and complex and delivered in the most beautiful way. Healing Hurts released 2020 was my introduction and a perfect introduction Still Be Friends is one of the most beuticful apocalyptic tracks ever recorded. Painting a picture of negative climate change “tragic and romantic at the same time, I guess. Hope my last kiss isn’t with this apocalypse.” are words that really resonate in this current climate. I am a big Billy Woods fan and there is a really dope track that he features on called Billy Woods. There styles fit perfect together. I really hope they make some more music together in the future. Once again the only negative thing is they was put out on coloured vinyl but once again I will overlook and close my eyes while I listen and pretend it is standard black.
Record Two
Degiheughi - Endless Smile
I had never heard of Degiheugi until Nolto started talking about him and mentioned that he was doing a song with him and ended up doing one solo track and two other versus on his 2010 release Abstract Symposium which was released to vinyl for the first time in 2021. Endless Smile was orginally released in 2015 but this is the 2021 vinyl release. This record is mostly instrumental but there is one song on each side that features vocals. Those vocals are courtesy of Ghostown, Andrre & Astrid Van Peeterssen, Josh Martinez and Ceschi. I really like the format of one track with vocals per side as it really fits nice with a double vinyl release and makes for a really nice listing experience as the vibe is pretty laid back and it is perfect to listen to while reading or writing as it doesn’t require a keen sense of attention. I mean that in a complimentary way. A great album front to back. Only complaint, you guessed it. Coloured vinyl.
Classic Material
No album to jog the memory this week. Just some random thoughts about CFCR.
In looking through the archives I came across a show poster a while back and I kept it on the radar. I think this week is a perfect week to talk about it. I don’t have many details and the pictures I am going to share may or may not have been from this event although I think a couple are. This show took place at the Basement which was a venue operated by the Saskatoon Jazz Society. They were fro a minute in this era conducive to renting the venue for hip hop shows but the scene was very young and full of anti-establishment energy so venues often got damaged, vandalized, and tagged up. The bathrooms were always the hardest hit it seemed which made sense. One of the worst parts of being a promoter is paying for venue damages when you already didn’t make anything at the end of the night after paying out there artists, venue rental, sound etc expenses.
The Basement or as it was also known as the Jazz Basement in its original location in the basement of 245 3rd Avenue South before if moved into the central Post Office building on 4th Avenue was an incredible venue. The fact that it was in the basement and had low ceilings and was kinda run down but not really run down made it a classic venue. There is nothing better then walking down stairs to a venue and you hear the bass and the music gets louder as you get closer to the bottom of the stairs. It is a magical experience that is so insignificant but totally significant and lasting at the same time. It is that magic that rap music can spark.
This show was a CFCR fundraiser. It was a multi-genre show featuring two other bands; The Trainwreck Endings who I have no recollection of and the Junior Panthers who I only know played a lot of shows in the local scene. I am not even sure what genre of music they played. The event was called “It Came From The Basement Part II”. The most perplexing and maybe interesting part of the flyer is how we were listed on it. “Microphone and Turntable Fun by Hosts Of Third Verse and Members of the Beatcombers and Offbeat Soldiers. Now I was a Third Verse Host, A Beatcomber and part of Offbeat Productions so I definitely know I was there. I know Knowskills was there and would have Dj’d as he was a Third Verse host and Beatcomber. He also most defiantly got us the gig and he was the one who came up with the description on the flyer as that his his personality written all over it. Innate who was also a Third Verse Host and Beatcomber would have been there and DJ’d as well as soso who may have or not have been a host at the time but was for sure a Beatcomber would have DJ’d and or rapped. I am going to say M.Phasis was there as well as he was a Beatcomber and I am positive he would have rapped at this. As far as Offbeat Production crew I am thinking it was Factor and Kay Aquatic now known as Kay The Aquanaut both would have performed.
The show was also all ages and licensed which was somehow possible in this era along with beer nights which I am sure I will get into at some point as there were many hip hop events centred around a beer night. A beer night would be like all you can drink for like an hour early in the evening or until the keg is tapped for like 10$. You would often get in line get your beer and head to the back of the line and drink your beer while waiting and repeat the process until the keg was tapped or the clock expired.
I really liked shows where we got to play in support of something especially CFCR. I played at a really fun event that the station did called Febrewary. They did it a few times and I played the last one February 28th, 2020 which was the second last show I played before the Pandemic hit with the last being a house show with Parab Poet the next night which happed to be February 29th as it was a leap year in 2020. I hope the bring that event back in 2023 and I hope I get a chance to play again.
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
Dope as always homie! ❤️
A great read as always, homie. Even though you drop these on Thursday night, yours is one of three newsletters I look forward to reading on Friday. And congrats on the You Know the Rules anniversary! When you mentioned it at the end of this week's show, I was like, "What?!?" Man, time is merciless.
I missed the days of Hip Hop 101/201 and The Dope Joints on UMFM, so when your show was announced, I was super-stoked. You're the keeper of the flame that they lit back then, f'real.