Thoughts
Coming off the hot heals of Rove’s If Not Now release has me thinking about how we get into things. I mean some people get into participating in hip hop in one of the core four elements or even a multitude but over time usually migrate to the one they enjoy the most of have the most success with. The idea of being someone who can rock all elements at an elite level is few and far in between, I can think of some of the homies that are good or are world class at a number of elements but al four only the homie Parab Poet comes to mind when it comes to that conversation. I have noticed that there are certain types of skills that drive this achievement and one of the common denominators I see in a lot of these people is they are good at visual art. They are able to apply the skill sets that are required to be a successful visual artist and apply that to their craft or crafts of choice to learn and excel at them.
This has always fascinated me because I am not a visual artist and lack these types of design and art skills. Now this is purely anedoctal and observational on may part and may just be my skewed personal experience or bubble that I lining in but I really think there is something to this. Obviously there are exceptions to this and I know many but when i look for connections and commonalities this jumps out at me. So props to all the homies out there doing there thing and killing it! I see you!
Here is a little personal news. During the pandemic I caught the bug to write some rap songs and make a record. I reached out to the homie Dren to see if he would be down to produce it as I wanted that one producer cohesive vibe. He was down and a record was born. We just completed the mastering of which the homie sign one did an absolutely wonderful job of. Seriously he made me sound like a half decent rapper. Some of you may or may not that I made a rap album with the homies Factor and Forgetful Jones back in 2001 as part of a group called the CFCrew. So this isn’t a new process for me in a sense but it was over 20 years since I did anything like this. Anyways we are working on a release plan and I will keep you posted as we flush that out. Here is the cover with design and layout by Dren, Chaps burner by Rove, Dren burner by Mock, and photo courtesy of the homie Rolling Canvases. My vision was to pay homage to Saafir’s Boxcar Sessions so those that are familiar with the record will recognize the homage. Here is a sneak peak of our cover.
I host a couple of radio shows each week. Third Verse being one of the longer at running rap radio shows in Canada. I have been involved for the past 27 years. One complaint from listeners has always been where can I check a show that I missed? The answer has always been, well you can’t until now that is. Thanks to long time listener and friend of the the show 319Heads or Noyz to the homies, is hosting weekly Third Verse Episodes over at Ugsmag. Check it out if you missed it our want to recheck it!
Although I was unable to attend the Rove graf jam and release party held behind the Night Oven Bakery this past weekend in Saskatoon due to Covid. I wanted to share some pictures of the event. The rap jam unfortunately got rained out due to extreme Thunderstorms. Word on the Street is Rove is planning another party. So stay tuned. Albums are still availed and if you order from Rove he is throwing in some free copies of the debut Ugsmag Zine. Shouts to Rove for the Photos from Saturday’s event!
The homie Ceschi is dropping the preorder or This Guitar Was Stollen on Vinyl, CD and Zine tomorrow for Bandcamp Day. Check out Fake Four’s Bandcamp
Record One
Ecid - Zen Repair
I have been a fan of Ecid dating back to his album with Awol One and have been following his career and picking up some releases. I finally got to see him perform live in New Haven Connecticut back in like 2014 as part of an incredible show celebrating the release of Ceschi from Prison. One thing I really enjoy about his releases is that are self-produced. The self produced album has always been fascinating to me. I really like to hear how mc’s craft beats for their style and ones that bring the best out in them. It is incredibly insane to me but so dope. My jams are Life Time Contract, Brainless and 1-800-Zen Repair. If you are not familiar with Ecid, this would be a great album to get familiar with. Once again as you guessed it the only drawback on this release is it is not black vinyl.
Record Two
Height Keech and Darko The Super - You Gotta Have Friends
Once again coutesy of the homies at Audio Recon I have another incredible deal to offer you. This weeks deal is Height Keech I had already had this in my record profile feature for this weeks issue and then when i was sent the code I was like sick. Here is a great opportunity to add this to your collection at a nice discount. I was lat to theme with Darko the Super and even later with Height Keech but I am digging through their back catalogues and I am really beginning to get into it. It is better to be late to someones career then to miss it entirely. I like when I find out about a new artist I like and find out they have a number of past releases. Then the challenge is to track em down and hopefully they are available at a reasonable price. I think Darko The Super and Height Keech are a perfect rap duo. The jam of all jams on this one is the title track You Gotta Have Friends. The beat on this one is the ultimate smoothed out laid back in the cut type beat. The production handled by Height Keech is super good on the is album. Also It is on black vinyl so you don’t have to be embarrassed when you put in on when you have company over and looks so good spinning on the Tech 12.
Cop the album here and use code yougottahavethoughts and save a cool 40%
Bonus deal of the weak while you pick this up or something else you should cop Id Obelus - flyyourfavorite cd for 80% with code id47
Classic Material
Frek Sho - Kingpin 12”
The debut issue of the Ugsmag Zine had a really cool photo feature that documented one of the greatest entrances in hip hop that I have ever seen., It is the infamous entrance of Shazzam out of a duffle bag. I am so happy that Noyz captured it and shared it in the magazine. The one and only time I witnessed this was at a show at Zombies in Saskatoon. I believe the tour/show was in support of the Kingpin 12”. If my memory serves me correct the lineup for that show was Shazzam. Ismaila/Moceam, Gumbal and DJ Grasshopper. (I found he flyer and I am confusing multiple Frek Sho performances. The flyer I found has the show on Friday march 21, 1998 and the The Kingpin 12”/Tape came out in 1998 so the show was probably in support of the Frek Sho - Mocean CD.) Zombies was a small narrow venue and had a one-foot stage in the back of the main bar. I didn’t really know the Frek Sho guys that well, yet I think only having met once before but their music was extremely important to me, and their live show was next level.
I did not know about the duffle bag entrance. I remember Gumball who was a very large man walking into the venue with a black hockey back/duffle bag over his shoulder. I didn’t think much of it at first. I thought it was merch or luggage. He placed it on the stage and walked away. I am not sure how much time elapsed, but it was quite a while like 30 to 45 min that this bag was on stage. Enough time that you paid no attention to the bag anyways. The show started and the bag was still on the stage. Then all the sudden a gloved hand emerged; the glove was a white batting glove. I liked the trend of rappers wearing batting gloves. Believe it or not when I was 17-18 I would rock batting gloves to compliment the look I was rocking back then. That look needs to come back. The hand emerged and began to unzip the bag. It was incredible, as the bag began to unzip shazam emerged rapping. I was blown away. I had never seen anything like this on a stage before or since. Also in that performance during Kingpin they performed wrestling moved like body slams and suplexes throughout the venue treating it as their own wrestling ring. Those performances were legendary and whipped the crowd into a fever pitch.
I always here people say that if YouTube and or video they way it exists now on social media was around in the heyday of Grand Buffet then they would be huge and although I was never fortunate enough to see them live by all accounts I would agree. When I hear that, I can’t help but think how big Frek Sho would have been as their live show and antics were stuff of legends.
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