The homies at Audio Recon have done it gain releasing the second-best Serengeti album, Don’t Give Up on vinyl for the first time. The best being Dennehy of course. This sleeper within his catalogue really didn’t get the shine and attention that is rightly deserves. I must thank the homie Noyz 319 for putting me on to this album. There are a few records left for preorder now so do it before you regret it forever and pay double on the resale market.
Mixtapes, in an era before file sharing, streaming and other types of digital music tom foolery, the mixtape was king. Mixtapes were an important way to hear music presented in a creative way. They also exposed you to a world of music you might not have heard otherwise especially with turntablist and break tapes. I still have a super soft spot for the classic New York style mixtape. One of my all-time favourites in this category is from the Canadian Mixtape King Mastermind - Something For Dat Ass ‘95 Tape 1? (the second number got cut off) It’s the classic formula of using a and b sides of 12” from the same artist on the same tape. It is a perfect blend of classic 1’s and 2’s and really sums up this era perfectly. I listened to this tap so much for like a 5 year span.
I really enjoyed making mixtapes personally. I think that slowed as hip hop evolved, the jiggy era took over, and indie rap records I was interested in were not easy to dj in a classic sense. Crack downs on piracy didn't help either.
When I was away doing my QL3 Medical Assistant Course one summer when I was in the Army, the homies Factor and Innate, this was a weird combination of people to do a split mixtape and I am curious how it came together, mailed me a one off mixtape they made me called the Innate Factor. It was such a nice thing to receive and it got a lot of play in my walkman on my down time. I was on what was often referred to as a “coffee course” as it was a lot of academic classroom setting learning. It was such a nice change of pace from Basic Training that is for sure. Anyways this was such a nice gesture from them an it meant a lot to me.
Epic took a trip to the Bay Area and he copped me one of the greatest mixtapes DJ Q-Berts Demolition Pumpkin Squeeze Music. This tape is an all timer front to back and set a high-water mark for turntablist mixtapes.
soso fka Sol akaThe Solvent Abuser set the mark high locally with his Slight Of Hand mixtape that was a masterpiece in my mind. The perfect combination of turntablism, breaks, production. soso has always been a genius at everything he does but especially hip hop in general. Like graffiti, beat making, turntablism, and rapping the best at them all. Serious heavyweight shit!
soso and Epic teamed up for a split mixtape and released it shortly after I had met both of them. It wasn’t tilted, it had blue labels with side A saying DJ Sol and side b saying DJ Epic. This tape featured my rap group (I was the DJ) Basemental State which was M.Phasis and Acrobatik aka Acro (Rest In Peace) so it holds some extra sentiment for me. We lacked production so never got anything out there.
I am not really trying to say anything other than I really liked mixtapes and they were super fun to make and getting the Pro-V mixtape that I talk about below got me thinking about mixtapes today. I think I need to make a mixtape soon.
Record One
Pro-v – Canadian Heritage Vol.1
I almost missed out in this tape. I saw Pro-v post about it, and I messaged him but he said it just sold out. I let him know if he restocked, I wanted one. He made an instastory that it was available at Beat Street Records, so I instantly grabbed one. This tape does an incredible job of capturing what I would call the Much Music Rap City era of Canadian mainstream underground rap. It features classics from 1994-2003 and features a who’s who of that era. I am extra excited that it features some of the biggest francophone songs of that era.
It also comes with a really dope booklet that has pictures of each of the records used in the mix and is like a trading card with artist name, discography and a did you know. I played this last night front to back on Third Verse last night. As I was talking about, “the did you know”, I read Saukrates and it said he was the captain of his hockey team growing up In Edmonton Alberta which was surprising to me and set the Third Verse chat into a frenzy, as there are a couple people that grew up in Edmonton and all of us had never heard of this before. Some internet sleuthing produced some evidence he in fact did grow up in Edmonton. Anyways this tape and companion book are the best and I would highly recommend it for any fan of this era of rap music.
Record Two
Tough Dumplin - Foundation For Better Lyrics
After hearing Tough Dumplin on the Type A Records Compilation Welcome To The True North I was super excited to see there was going to be a Tough Dumplin solo album. Tough Dumplin not only has one of the best rap names in history, he also has one of my favourite voices and styles. It is super classic Toronto Much Music Video Rap which is one of my favourite eras. However this is an update version that is both fresh and classic. I ordered this from Beat Street with the Pro-V tape and I am so glad I did. It is even better than I had anticipated. It has some serious jams on it. The World Ain’t The Same is my jam. A super retrospective track with a slamming beat. Like I just keep picking up the needle and dropping it at the beginning over and over. It is that good. I really missed rap like this, “like how many mc’s must get dissed, I might just call your name to finish my list”. So dope. I am glad Tough Dumplin is back on the scene and better the ever!
Classic Material
Eyedea & Dj Abilities – Road Mix
Back in 2003 I was a broke University Student nearing the end of my undergraduate studies in Education and Kinesiology. I was living with the homie DJ Innate and in a two bedroom apartment across the street where Epic eloquently stated “Rob worked at the Subway inside the Mac’s”. Rob of course being Muneshine. The Creative Difference Tour was announced and the closest stop to Saskatoon was in Missoula Montana. It is a 1035 km drive or about 11-12 hours depending on stops and customs etc. There was some talk of going down for the show as the lineup was one for the record books with all the Living Legends, Eyedea & Dj Abilities, Busdriver, Xololanxinxo, and Omid. This was a dream lineup for me and not one I wanted to miss. If at all humanly possible I was going to find a way to get to this show. So I started talking to the homies to gain interest in going. Factor was automatically down and offered to use his Ford Escort Wagon. So, we had a whip and were off to a good start. I think we asked all the homies, and I don’t remember the reasons etc. but Chuck Luggage was one the only one on the first ask that said he was in. The date got closer and Friday night arrived. We had to leave some time Friday night to make the show. I think we set a deadline of leaving by 2am to try and get us there by 4pm that afternoon. We needed a fourth person to make it work financially. This was an era before everyone had cell phones and you could send a mass text message out asking people. Time kept doing its thing ticking away. Factor, Chuck Luggage and I started calling people early in the evening. We made call after call asking people if they wanted to go and we got sorry I can’t or I would love to but can’t with every call we made. Things were looking super grim, and it really looked like we’re not going to go.
I called Factor and we had a disheartening conversation as it was becoming apparent that we were not going to be able to go. I think the clock passed midnight and we were trying to think of someone we had not asked. I am not sure who mentioned it but someone said we should ask Coach. Coach was a younger hip hop head who Chuck Luggage coached in High School Football at Bedford Road Collegiate in Saskatoon. I knew him but not super well though, but he was cool, and we were desperate. I don’t remember who called him, but the call was placed sometime around 12:30 am and he answered. We asked him if he wanted to go see all those artists and he said yeah for sure. When is the show he asked? We said we need to leave in like an hour and a half as it is in Missoula Montana. He said cool I will be ready. I couldn’t believe it. We had our fourth and we were actually going to go to this show.
We then scrambled to pack and get ready to leave. Factor picked me up and we grabbed Chuck Luggage and Coach. We drove through the night to the border and arrived at the border sometime between 6 am and 7 am, however we did not realize it was not a 24hr border crossing. We approached the border crossing, and it was staffed but we were told it was not open until 7am. So, we said we will wait, and they said you can’t wait here. We drove back a couple km’s and waited on the side of the road for like an hour give or take. We then went to the border they asked all the questions they ask and Chuck Luggage had oranges and gave them to the Customs Agent and he said these are American oranges and gave them back which doesn’t make any sense but we got across without incident and any delay so we took it and continued on our way.
We made it to Missoula around 4:30pm and went and found the venue as it was on campus. We were humming and hawing about getting a hotel or not or sleeping in the car or driving home after the show. So, we kind of just kicked it and walked around the town and did the usual killing time before the show type of thing. We went early and waited in what I think was the Student Centre for the doors to open as the show started 8pm sharp. The doors opened and we went in. Factor and I had toured with Busdriver so we knew him as well as you can know Busdriver, and we knew the Mystik Joureymen as I had dj’d for them once before and factor had brought them down for a show and recorded songs with them. We linked up with Busdriver and he introduced us to Omid and Xolanxinxo. I hit it off with Omid and we had a great chat about rap and stuff.
Just as everything was going smoothly I don’t remember the details exactly but there was some sort of drama. I think Chuck Luggage came up to me and was like Sunspot wants to fight Factor. I was like WTF? So I went over to see what the commotion was. Sunspot was livid. I was like hold on here what is going on? Without getting into any details there was a complete misunderstanding on Sunspots part. Factor straight up stood his ground and said his piece and walked away. I talked with Sunspot for a while and confirmed what Factor had said and we hashed it out. I also walked away after a while. About a half hour later Sunspot came up to me and Chuck Luggage super sheepishly and gave us a 1/8th of weed and offered an apology and wanted us to relay that to Factor. We obliged and spoke with Factor and after a few minutes the misunderstanding was squashed, and things were all good and have been ever since. Just a random misunderstanding. I don’t think any of us smoked weed so I think we ended up tossing it on the way home.
The show was incredible. Everyone killed it. One of the things that stood out in my mind, and I can always picture Asop The Black Wolf grabbed one of the stage monitors which was really large and put it on his shoulder like a boombox and rapped his verse. It was nuts.
After the show I had the opportunity to talk with Eyedea (Rest In Peace) and he heard we drove like 13 hours to see the show and he gave me the cd to listen on the way home. We had a short and good interaction. Xololanxinxo offered a place for us to crash in their hotel room floor which was incredibly generous. However, we were feeling wired from the show and decided to drive back home. We hit the road and took turns sleeping and driving. This was one of the most whirl wind through cities, shouts to Afu-Ra, road trips I have ever taken. We were so fanatical about rap in that era that it just seemed like a normal thing to do. I am glad we were like this. It made for a lot of great memories.
I don’t remember much about the drive home, but I do remember getting home around 6 pm that Sunday evening and being exhausted and content. I went to bed as I had 8:30 class the next morning. One other thing of note, I think on the drive there were going up a large incline and the roads were slippery. I was driving and the back end of the car fishtailed and were drifting around the corner going up the incline. A semi-truck was in the other lane coming toward us. We were all like holy shit we are going to die. I remember Chuck Luggage saying he was staring face to face with the bumper of the semi-truck when we miraculously caught some traction and I was able to pull the car of the slide and we missed colliding with the semi by inches. To this day no one knows how we were able to get out of that collision but we are all very thankful.
-chaps