Thoughts From The Rap Nest

vol023-78

Thoughts

So on our walk today after work with my two dogs, Mick & Stevie and my partner Karlie, we found a sweet little black Pomeranian mix type dog. He ws full of energy and very friendly. He was running in a very busy street and we were concerned, so we calmed our dogs down and he came over and I was able to pick him up. He had a collar on, but no tags. We walked around with him and couldn’t find anyone looking for him. I carried him home which was only a couple of blocks. We got him some water and he played with our dogs. We checked the local internet spots and put up some ads. We called the Vet college and they said we could bring him in to see if he had a microchip. We drove him to the vet college and at this point we were talking and decided his name would be “Roger”. He didn’t have a microchip but he got some treats from the Vet College. We drove home and decided we should drive back to where we found him and see if anyone was looking for him. We saw this house and the car door out front was open and the front door was open and we thought that might be it. There were some people delivering flyers and we asked if they knew of anyone looking for a dog and they said yeah the people over there. We parked and there was this little girl about 10 or so on the sidewalk. We asked her if she was looking for a dog and she said, “you found my dog?”. We got out of the car and Karlie gave the dog to the little girl and I yelled to the people I heard in the back alley calling out for a dog. They came to the front of the house and were reunited with Gus. I was super happy for them that they found their dog but I was a little sad as I was starting to imagine a life with “Roger”. So that took up a few hours of my evening so this weeks newsletter may be a bit shorter than early anticipated.

I recently got the newest edition, vol. 1 issue 7, of the The Undrgound Vault - An Underground Hip-Hop Monthly by Alex Kuchma and it is an undertaking and a half. Words cannot even do it justice. It is now a 159 page book. It once again blows me away that one person can put together all the content for this every month. There are a few historical interviews from the vaults that were added at the back of this one which is really cool as it brings to light some stuff that appeared on YouTube or in audio only and bringing it into the print form for the first time. It is a smaller book style which is easier to handle and read which is cool. The are printed on demand which is also a really nice feature so they can’t really sell out. There is a lot to digest in this one and It will take me some time to work my way through it but I am excited to. Congrats homie on taking it to the next level and closer to your original vision for this monthly! You should grab this right now if you already have not!

So awhile back the homie Ear Kanal who I am sure most of you are followers of his instagram account. If you are not you should be as it is really awesome. He posts really nice write ups about really awesome records. He made a post about where to get blank tapes. I sent him a message and link to grab tapes at Duplication.ca. He was appreciative and offered to make me a mix tape. A true to the word old fashioned mixed tape. I was pretty excited about it as he has super dope taste in music and our interests in rap music have a lot of common ground. I have had the tape for about a month and it is super awesome. It is a perfect mix and accomplishes all the things that a really good mixtape should. The flow and sequencing of the songs is perfect. Thank you homie for the wonderful and thoughtful gift!

Missed Third Verse last night? No cohosts, buts still a great show this week and as always Ugsmag has you covered once again to stream or download NOW! Catch Third Verse on CFCR 90.5 fm in Saskatoon, SK every Wednesday 9-10:30pm CST. Stream online via CFCR.ca or Radio Garden.

As always the last 10 episodes of my other weekly radio show You Know Know the Rules on UMFM in Winnipeg airing every Sunday night 10:00pm -11pm CST. Episodes available NOW!

Record One

Quelle Chris - Deathfame

This was honestly becoming a record that I thought would never show up. I would message Noyz every once in a while and be like have you received this yet or have an update? It was already in stores and preorders had not shipped yet which made an already tenuous relationship with pre-orders even more frustrating. I actually only preordered this one in December because I read it was shipping then as it had been on preorder for like 9 months already so I thought I was being slick and would cop it without the wait. The wait though for this however long it ended up being was 100 percent worth it just for the track Alive Ain’t Always Living which is one of the realest tracks that hits all to close to home in these modern times, as times become harder and harder for more folks. It is just a perfect song in so many ways and maybe the best song made in the last 5 years.

Record Two

Homeboy Sandman - Still A Champion

I didn’t preorder this one because I figured it would be around and I would scoop it closer to when it ships. It dropped and I didn’t have it yet. I was looking into shops that sold it so I could avoid Mello Music Group (the label that put it out) because of the before mentioned delays in the Quelle Chris record. I didn’t want a repeat of that process. It actually worked out great for me because Rove accidentally ordered an extra copy and posted in the rap chat that he had an extra one for sale. I texted him immediately laying claim to it. It was a win win type of situation for sure. Homeboy Sandman can do no wrong rap wise in my book. I love his everyman approach to rap and the rawness and realnesss of the content of his lyrics. He also has one of my favourite voices and delivery combos that is on par with that of the legendary Guru (RIP).

Classic Material

Vestax PMC-06 ProA

If you read my Thoughts From The Rap Nest: Dj Mixer Migrations in Ugsmag issue 004: the fourth line, then you know my affinity for this mixer. I said in the piece, “I also can’t help but think about a mixer I wish I had, the Vestax PMC-06 Pro. I’ve always wanted one and I think I’ll finally add a used one to my collection.” Well I can finally say that I made good on that statement and I added one to my collection. I spent a couple months looking on eBay for the perfect one at the perfect price point. I finally found one and pulled the trigger on it. It was about 210$ CAD shipped from Japan which was a great deal.

I placed my order and waited to receive shipping confirmation. I sent a message after about 5 days asking when it would ship. The seller responded that they found sone issues with it and were inquiring about getting it repaired. They then sent me a message stating it was not in working order and needed repair but the parts were scarce. They offered a refund and I accepted the refund. Now the hunt was on again. I found one at a cheaper price but it was missing a fader cap and a monitor crossfader cap. Not a huge deal as I had some extra color caps kicking around. It was a 164$ CAD shipped from Japan. I got it in two days via Fedex. I was charged 18$ CAD duty/tax on it which seemed really reasonable. It was a little dirty but the faceplate was clean. When I say clean I men it had all the markings and labels intact.

When I got home I pulled the caps off, took the faceplate off and washed them. I also took out the crossfader that was in really good condition and cleaned and lubricated it. I pulled out my OG Vestax 05-Pro and swapped it with my new 06-Pro and hooked it up. The mixer had that classic patented Mixtick proprietary click when you toggled the crossfader on and off. That sound is like music to my ears and every DJ reading this right now of a certain vintage can hear that exact sound in their head as they read this. I am so happy that I finally secured one of these for my collection and it is so fun to use and brings back a lot of memories of just starting out DJing and using some of the homies 06-Pro’s.

Closing Ramblings

As always, thank you for reading and for the feedback!

**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