Thoughts
I am usually pushing hard to get this out Thursday night. Sometimes I have a bunch of stuff written and other times not much. This week presented a new challenge I have a show Thursday night. So here I am finishing this up on Tuesday night so it is is ready to post Thursday. I am super excited for the show! It is a Factor Chandelier Time Invested II release party featuring some of my all time favourites Ceschi and Myka 9. I have not seen these homies since before the Pandemic in the fall of 2019. This is only my second show this year and first since April. I am really excited to rock it with the homie Rove and to see Ultra Magnus and Mickey O’Brien as well. More on that next week.
The Compact Disc (CD) is seeing a nice resurgence and getting those lazy news interest clickbait stories that cassettes have had the past couple years and vinyl has been getting for the past decade. I used to hate CD’s, like really hate CD’s. They never appealed to me. They just didn’t feel hip hop in the way that tapes and records did. I felt like the CD was faking the funk. They were not as portable as they were marketed to be either. I know the discman and car players really came a long way in shock absorbing technology but they take up quite a bit of room when transporting in the car and those CD binders were a nightmare as they scratched the shit out of your cd’s and made them less playable. Just ask the homie Id Obelus about his cd binder regrets. Also, for storage they take up a lot of room on the shelf. Like more then tripling the same amount of real estate than its counterpart in vinyl. The worst are the slimline CDs, although they take up way less room on the shelf, they lack a spine with the album information, so it makes it more difficult to find and sort through. My preference is the jewel case then the digipack when it comes to CDs.
As I age, I have developed a new appreciation for the CD. I have bought and inherited way more CD’s in the past 5 years then I have in my entire life previous.
The cd is way cheaper to ship. Shipping prices continue to rise and make vinyl a tougher pill to swallow. Shipping tapes is also hit and miss and sometimes can be very expensive. I am also writing as a someone who makes 80% of their purchases from the United States. I am used to paying shipping prices but they are starting to really hit hard as of late it seems. Like, to a point where I will pass on something as a result or at least give a second thought and regret it haha. The cd thanks to its compact size, can often be shipped as oversized letter mail and it is very economical.
One of my biggest regrets was not buying CD’s through the late 90’s to mid-2000’s. There were so many incredible albums only released on CD in that era. Now to try and rebuy them, many are quite expensive on Discogs. I was reviewing my Discogs purchases and 6 of the last 10 have been cd’s and the other 4 were vinyl. This was surprising to me. For the longest time it was only vinyl.
Now as the CD gains resurgence I have noticed many artists and labels drop them completely opting for only offering vinyl and cassette physical options. I bet there will be a sharp reversal with the resurgence of this medium.
At CFCR they have three single track rack mount cd players to use to play music on in addition to the Turntables. Minidisc player, aux cords, and cassette deck. I really like using the cd players. In the Rap nest I have two identical 5-disc cd changers. When I was looking for a couple cd players originally I wanted single tray players, but they generally are higher end and command a higher price on the used market. I opted for the 5-disc changer because they are in abundance in my area, and they are generally cheap to pick up. Playing cd’s on the radio is the best, they have track listings, and they are easy to cue up, they have time counters. The time counters are awesome as you know how much time you have left in a track as opposed to these goofy colored records with grooves from the other side that are hard to tell where one song starts and ends. The CD offers a real convenience and precision that is lacking in other physical formats when playing music on the radio.
Nineteen your old me would be dissing 44-year-old me for not only adopting the cd but for championing it. Epic is always a little ahead of the curve and he has been championing the CD for the last 5 plus years hard and even before that. I was like no way the CD is wack, but I think the Pandemic has changed my outlook on this and he has helped convince me that they are a soon to be rediscovered gem.
Shouts to the homie Noblonski for dropping a new Pen Thief RecordsLabel sampler CD this week. I am really excited for it as the track listing looks really dope! It features a couple of tracks from the Saskatoon homie Grainbin one where he raps and the other instrumental. They are super dope! Grab something else from the shop while you are there to spread that shipping amount out!
Record One
Mc Homeless X Kool Keith - Aliens 12”
A proper 12” single record in 2022 is not something I would have thought I would have seen. With the cost of vinyl and production lead times it seems like it is prohibitive in every sense to make a 12” single. I gotta give major props to the homie Mc Homeless for having the guts to do this and executing it flawlessly. I remember earlier this year when he hit up the chat for some beats for this project and the homie Rove who is of course the second biggest Kool Keith fan I know stepped up and dropped a heater in the chat that was perfect. Being the second biggest Kool Keith Fan I know is saying a lot because I am homies with Weezil. Then a remix was born and the homie Noblonski dropped another heater. I love the difference in vibes of both beats. Both Producers did an incredible job on the beats on this record. This record is the best and the cover art is next level incredible and worth buyinhgthe record for. Shouts to Dave Varney for the beautiful illustrations. I am not sure how to describe the style but I love whatever it is. The Remix also features Seth On Graysons ST and the homie Epic. Both kill it as per usual. I really hope Mc Homeless and Kool Keith make another track together and make a second 12” that would be super sick. The preorders all sold out but watch out for copies as they come out of distribution.
Record 2
CVE - Chillin Villains, We Represent Billions 1993-2003
This was such nice surprise release. I got an instamessage from the homie Trylemma Friday May 6 at 6:19 alerting me to a preorder for a CVE album on vinyl. I was no way and asked for a link and I preordered it asap. Thank you homie! I Immediately sent a text to Rove with the link letting him know about it and I think I also sent a message in the Crew chat to alert those who may be interested. I was super excited. CVE does not have many vinyl releases. It has my two favourite tracks on it, Bring It On and Calistylics so I was super excited. CVE are legends in so many ways so it is nice to have a nice vinyl anthology of some of their tracks on vinyl. Mega shouts to Nyege Nyege Tapes for making this a reality and putting it out!
Classic Material
Heiroglyphics - Last One (go the length) 12”
I think the year was 1998. This 12” was out but the 3rd Eye Vision LP was not out yet and both were were released in 1998 so I am pretty sure it was 1998. We cought wind that Hieroglyphics was playing in Calgary at the legendary Republik Nightclub which closed in 2015. I bet we learned about it in the Ugsmag Message Board. Anyways as soon as we heard it was happening we all knew we had to be there. It was billed as the whole crew and I nielvely assumed it would be everyone because I didn’t really understand rap shows and border issues then like I do know. It was pretty much the entire crew Del, A Plus, Jay Biz, Casual, Opio, Pep Love, Phesto, Taja, Domino, DJ Toure and I believe one more member but I can’t remember who but I think it was Snupe. I for some reason remember there being 11 people on stage when they performed but I can only remember 10 as 8 of them signed my 12” and all of Souls Of Mischief were there so through the process of elimination I am pretty sure that was all who was there. I don’t seem to have a show poster to flyer for this one either so I can’t reference that.
Calgary is one of the shittier drives from Saskatoon as the highways suck and there is no direct way. It is not too far at about 6.5 hours but it is a drive I never enjoy and I really prefer to drive somewhere vs flying. I am not really sure who I drove up with to be honest because it seemed like everyone was at the show. I think I rolled with soso, Knowskills, M.Phasis and Funky but I also remember Epic and Innate being at the show as well so we must have taken multiple vehicles. We stayed with soso and Kowskills’ homie Richard Willgar (sp) who had a spacious condo not to far from the venue. I had met him a couple times previous when he lived in Saskatoon. Anyways there was a massive blizzard that night and as the show approached we were all worried about it being canceled or Hiero not making it due to the snow. I remember being so excited and nervous just hoping the show would happen. I was so into Hiero at this point and it was the perfect time to see them for me. We had made it to Calgary before the snow hit so we were good on that front.
We ventured off to the venue. I remember we walked and the snow was up to our knees. It was nuts. I was like there is no way this show is happening. We got to the venue and everything seemed fine. I honesty don’t remember if there were any openers at the show. For some reason I think Calgary’s Endangered Species may have performed. I think I talked to IP about it years later and if I remember correctly he said they opened. I wish I had a better memory of this show like details of tracks and stuff but I don’t. I remember having the time of my life though. I don’t think I was drinking but I can’t even rememeber that or use that as an excuse. They did all the hits and all the songs I wanted to see. They hung around after and sold lots of great merch and I got 8 of them to sign my 12”. I was so excited. It is weird what parts of shows I can remember and what parts I can’t. I have some vivid memories of the show kind where we stayed, walking in the knee high snow and of Hiero all on stage at the venue. But outside of that I got nothing. No memorable conversations with any of the artists. They were stoked I had the 12” though and were happy to sign it. Again I am super happy we went to this show.
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