Thoughts From The Rap Nest
Vol022-019
Thoughts
When there are no grocery stores in a geographical area of a City it is often referred to as a “food desert”. Growing up in the Prairies in the 80’s and 90’s was like living in a “rap desert”. You had to work really hard to be a rap fan in that era. Rap seemed like a world away. Like I remember stumbling upon an airing of Style Wars on PBS tv in the early 90’s that rocked my whole world. Things like that didn’t happen very often in my neck of the woods. The rap selection of tapes when I started buying rap tapes at the Sam The Record Man was like 3 rows deep, maybe like 30 albums. We were luckier then some and had most of the big releases of that era. Rap on CFCR was still a couple years away. Paul Kell who hosted the Crack House in like 1992 on CFCR went on to make this hip hop documentary 5 Sides Of A Coin.
He left Saskatoon as many did in that era for larger urban cities like Vancouver or Toronto where hip hop didn’t seem a world away. Magazines were such a lifeline, especially the Source Magazine, Rap Sheet and Rap Pages. They were available at specialty magazine stores and became good sellers. We would scour the magazines and dream about the albums in the adds or that were featured in articles. It was both good and bad because we knew these albums existed but we couldn’t get them in our stores. It was really frustrating. People who were lucky enough to travel would bring back albums from the states or larger centres in Canada. M.Phasis’s mom would travel to the States often for hair conventions and would always bring back a stack of tapes with her for M.Phasis. It was so exciting because she would grab cassette singles and full albums and he would have them months before they were available in stores in Saskatoon.
In High School I discovered an independent record store called Records on Wheels witch shortly after I found out about them turned into Rockin Rod’s Records which was owned by Ron Spizziri who hosts Nightwaves which is CFCR’s longest running specialty music program. I would ask him if he could get all sorts of albums that we had seen in various magazines. Eventually he just let me read the distributor lists he had and I would tell him what to order and he would order it for me. However, you never knew if it was going to come in or not. I would get the homie Funky to drive me downtown every Tuesday to see what would come in. It was such a crap shoot. Like somedays it would be a dozen tapes and other days one or none. I was always nervous hoping I had enough money to get that weeks haul. It was a lot of fun in a sense because you never knew what you were going to get each week. Funky had a killer sound system so driving back to our end of town with new tapes was always the best. It is weird because it is still somewhat hard to get the music I want but it is just done differently now on the internet.
It is no secret. I have been a huge fans and supporter of Ugsmag since its early days. Wether it being a supporter of the website in the early days through the online store, the message board or doing interviews for the online magazine. I have been lucky enough to be involved and be great friends with founder Noyz 319 now known as 319 Heads but always just Noyz to me. I have really cherished our friendship throughout the years and I was fortunate to be able to visit him in Edmonton, Cincinnati, Laredo and Austin over the years and the best was when he lived here for a couple of years. I am also really lucky when he comes back to Canada to host him at my place. He is one of the best people around and an insane supporter of Hip Hop over the years. He hit me up a while back and said he was going to make Ugsmag a quarterly print zine and was wondering if I wanted to contribute. I was so excited as I knew this had been a dream for many years and so wild that in a digital age he was going to take the leap and throw it back to the print era. Please support this project if you have the means to do so!
I want to gift a couple copies to a couple of readers. So the first two people that email chapsisrockinit@hotmail.com me their name and shipping address will receive a copy in the mail. Offer open to US/Canada shipping adresses only.
The show this past Thursday , Tine Invested II relaxes party with Factor Chandelier, Myka 9, Ceschi, Ultra Magnus and Mickey O’Brien, was really fun. We had a nice party Friday night and I was able to chat and hang with so many homies Shouts to Kitz Willman for coming down from Winnipeg and Kay The Aquanaut from Victoria for the show and for the hangs! It was great to catch up with so many homies this past weekend including Ceschi, Rove, Factor, Nolto, Mock, Dren, Nolto, and Coombs to name a few. I got a banner made for the crew and got a photo with the crew who was at the show except Nolto as he left early and got the homies who were around and involved in the project to sign my copy of the crew 12”.
Crane City Music has a great deal on some of Seattles best indie rap right now with 25% off all vinyl with the code SUMMER22 at check out. Check it out!
I want to thank each and everyone of you that takes time to read these thoughts each and every week. Whether you subscribe, have been here since week one, or this is your first week. I really appreciate your time and your feedback! I have received some really nice messages from some of you and those messages are the best! Thank you!
Record One
Pip Skid - Really Nice Day
Pip is pretty much one of my favourite rappers and people of all time. The music he has made over the years really has had such a positive affect on my life. He made me question privilege, what it means to be white in a Black Art, capitalism and so much more. Really Nice Day continues in this direction. I love What Are You Working On, as it makes me smile because that colloquial saying is often used in a sense of how are you doing, what are you up to and similar things like that. It is also super annoying to be asked that as it really puts you on the spot. I am guilty of asking it and participating in this social exchange so that is why I really like this jamb. This album is the best front to back and you should grab one asap. Only negative thing I can saw about this release is that it is a slimline cd. My least favorite physical format.
Record Two
Linqua Franqa -Bellringer
I am not sure how I discovered Linqua Franqa but I am super glad I did. I am also super glad I finally picked up this record. I have been listening to it for a minute in the whip on the stream flows. It bangs in the big speakers in the back of the wagon. The beats are super dope. I have no idea who Reindeer Games is but they make great beats. The album features additional musicians on the bulk of the tracks too which makes for some really great music. My jams on this album are Growth I and Growth II. This album has the same vibes that I felt when I first heard Public Enemy’s Apocalypse 91. I highly recommend checking this album out.
Classic Material
Kirby Dominant - Microphone (u can’y handle one) 12”
Now this song is an all timer of all timer rap songs. It is underground perfection. It features Eclipse 427 on the rhymes and production. I know that Passenger 5150 really resonanted with a lot of fans but for my money Microphone is the best! I heard this through Factor. He had this 12” before I finally got a copy and he had the CD. Rapitalism: The Philosophies of Dominant Pimpin is one of the albums I wish I collected CD’s for. Huge regret not getting this cd when it came out as they are pricey on Discogs. I need to reach out to Kirby and plant the seed about about getting a vinyl pressing of this album going. Maybe I need to reach out to the homie Id Obelus at Audio Recon about a drop.
Anyways, the first time heard this record was in the OG Facotor G Studios when it was in his bedroom. I spent a lot of hours in that room. Scratching, rapping, listening to rap music and others record. So many amazing times. Nolto often talks about this era fondly as we would hang together and work on music together unlike now where we work together but seperatly. I really miss those times but it is hard to find 5 or 6 hours a few times a week to kick it in the studio. Now things are more focused and when you have time you just go to work and get things done. I miss listening to demos and new beats or the previous nights recording session in that studio. I spent a lot of my formative hip hop years in my early 20’s there. I used to be a Dr. Pepper fiend. Had to give it up a few years back to avoid diabetes. In the heyday though, Factor and I would ball out in his Ford Escort Wagon listening to this album a lot and I would always put on Microphone and we would hit up 7-11 for a Super Big Gulp or Double Gulp and some nachos and cheese and then ball back to the studio. I loved those Sev runs. They were so exploratory when it came to music and also just fun. I didn’t have a whip in those days. Factor had a woofer in the back so it made it really fun. A couple years ago I got a VW Golf Sportwagon and I had to get some woofers in the back to try and recapture some of that era. Factor and I have balled around town a couple times since and sort of replicated those old days. The only difference now is he is playing me unreleased jams he has produced and new projects he is working on.
One of the best things is that at the time we were listening to this 12” Kirby was a big Joni Mitchell fan and dreamed of coming to her hometown of Saskatoon. That always blew my mind. He sort of strong armed his way to Saskatoon and I am glad he did as we have been great homies ever since and he has spent a lot of time here over the years and I have been very fortunate for that. The Mystik Journymen were coming to Saskatoon with Eligh and Kirby was super good homies with them and he caught wind of this and had PSC strong arm Factor in to brining Kirby down as well or they wouldn't come. Not the coolest move at that time but in retrospect it was the best move for so many reasons. Kirby became family and crew and an adopted son of Saskatoon and the Hip Hop Scene. He embraced the City, the winter and all of us and the rest is really history.
He signed this 12” for me. He was like “Chaps, it doesn’t say you RAG, it says you are a G”. We laugh about this from time to time.
Closing Ramblings
I have two shirts up at Stylesmakefights.ca One for my radio Show You Know The Rules designed by the homie Aiden Searle and the other formy 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 new 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
I can't wait to get my hands on that 'zine, and not just because my shit is in it!