Thoughts
Well Hip Hop turned 50 last week! I generally have Buck65’s radio The Drive on CBC on the radio in my living room after work. On Friday he had a special show where he gave a nod to hip hop and ran through a bunch of classic jams year by year in a mega mix fashion with tidbits of information during the transitions. It was really dope, but also made me feel old as the music of my youth was being curated on Canadian Public Radio. It is wild to me, and hard to process at times that this music that was rooted in outsider culture, that I fell in love with as an adolescent and that occupies most of my thoughts and time now dominates the world in ever way conceivable.
I could not in my youth have conceived that as 45 year old, I would be sitting on the couch on the edge of my seat listening to the radio play all these classic songs that I grew up with and listened to on repeat. I think this is truly a sign of aging. When the music of your youth recieveing national radio play is one of those tall tale signs that you are now old. It was an amazing trip down memory lane and then Buck switched things up land played some Canadian underground gems in Frek Sho’s Patience, Sixtoo’s The Fourth Line, mcenroe and Birdapres’s Break Merchant, and Moka Only’s More Soup to name a few. It was the perfect way to end the radio program. It was great to hear some of the homies get some recognition for their contributions to this culture on such as momentous occasion.
I owe everything, all the good and the bad in my life to this music and culture. It allowed me to travel even if it initially just within the prairies and then beyond to the United States and Europe. I have been able to participate within the culture pretty much on my own terms. I took all the words and ethos of being independent believing in yourself and your crew from the the Living Legends and Bored Stiff. I took being yourself, unique and finding your own voice from De La Soul. I took fighting for injustice in all forms from Public Enemy. I was radicalized and further explored workers rights, economic systems, socialism and more by the homies Pip Skid, Gruf the Druid (Fermented Reptile). Those are just a few of the important things I was exposed to as a youth and took to heart and used as the foundations to develop my worldview and character. I am who I am because of this music and this culture. I have amazing meaningful life long friendships and relationships with people all over the world because of this music and culture. I owe everything to the music and culture in one way or another. Thank you hip hop and happy Birthday!
There was some sad news that broke last week and it hit me like a lot of the homies like a ton of bricks. The homie Avatar transitioned last Thursday. I had the opportunity to kick it with Avatar on a couple of occasions. The most memorable was at a house Party at his place. I rolled with Matre and when I got there I was immediately welcomed to the party and made to feel easy and at home by Avatar. He gave me a CD copy of his album Deus Ex Machina and it became a real favourite of mine. He was just a really good person and that wanted the home team as the say to win. He had time for people and put people first. My sincere condolences to his family and to all the homies affected by his passing. Rest easy homie.
If you are able to donate his family has a Go Fund Me right now to help with expenses associated with his passing.
Missed Third Verse last night? Well, you are out of luck. You can look at the records above and imagine what it sounded like or what songs I may have played. Noyz hasassured me it will be back up there next week.
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
Dreadnots- Past lives vol 1
This is a live radio performance recorded on 10/06/2005 in Pittsburgh PA on WRCT 88.3FM. I wish live recording were more prevalent in hip hop. I am guilty of this as there are lots of shows where at their conclusion I said to myself I wish I would have plugged a laptop into the board and recorded that show. The Dreadnots have become one of my favourite groups over the past few years. Somehow they went under the radar for me but I am glad I finally caught up. The album gives the listener in my opinion never have seeing the Dreadnots live ,what it would be like to see them live. What they are about really comes across in this performance and I am glad it was recorded. Shouts to Audio Recon for dropping this one on CD.
Record Two
Skech185 & Jeff Markey - He Left Nothing For The Swim Back
I was not really all the familiar with either Skech185 or Jeff Markey but a release on Backwoodz Studioz was all of a cosign that I needed to pick up this record. I had an idea of what I thought this record would sound like and it pretty much was spot on. The sound that is emerging from the BackWoodz label is one I have a lot of time for. I know it is not for everyone, but when it clicks you are a fan for life. Western Automatic Music Parts 1 and 2 are incredible songs. These tracks require multiple listens to pick up on the nuances, and references buried within. Every listen I pick up something new and I love rap music that does that for me. There is room in my world for rap music that requires active listening as well as that which does not. Active listening in my world is always reserved for the confines of the Rap Nest. I really like this album and I like more and more with each listen. Extra bonus points for the classic black vinyl.
Classic Material
Phil Crumar - As It Goes 12”
This Record dropped in 2000. I had never heard of Phil Crumar before or since this 12”. Well that is not entirely true I of have a Phil Crumar full length CD from 2002 called So Unique. I got this CD from Knowskils when he gutted his music collection. The CD is super dope and I am so happy that I have that CD because it is so good. Around this time, Sandbox Automatic was the dominant web store for hip hop music. It was prestigious to have something listed on the store. It was a real achievement and a sort of we made it kind of cosign moment. I know this kind of sounds silly in 2023 to say, but I can assure you it was a big deal then and something people set out to achieve.
Around this time they started adding real audio clips for things. This was one of the early records that had an audio clip added and I am sure thankful that it did. I must have listened to that real audio clip 100 times before I finally made an order from SandBox that had this in it. I remember reminiscing with the homie Jahill from Regina about listing to this track on Sandbox over and over and we would talk about how dope it is.
I still no nothing about Phil Crumar. The record was recorded in San Francisco so I always assumed he was from San Francisco or the Bay Area. He is responsible for all the production except a lapsteel guitar t on the track Cornerstone. He has cuts from Rob Swift and Dj Marz which was a selling feature for me when I bought it. The production is incredible. It has a vibe similar to Fog. I have never actually googled Phil Crumar to see if he has made new music or to learn anything about him. I honestly think I like the mystery in not knowing anything about him other than the very limited information on the back of the 12” and the back of the CD booklet inside the CD. Okay I caved a bit and I checked the stream flows and the there is a Phil Crumar & the Wonderfuls album from 2009 called 5 Seconds on Spotify. It is definitely him rhyming. Okay, this may have opened a rabbit hole for me. Now checking Discogs for this album. Unfortunately no such luck, just the 12” and the CD I mentioned before are listed. Well that was a short lived rabbit hole.
This is one of my favourite records and one that it seems that not a lot of people are familiar with. I am not sure how you can listen to it outside of owning the CD or record. I did some quick searching and it yielded no results. It is kind of cool in 2023 that there is still music that is not readily available at your fingertips unless you own a copy. I would suggest owning a copy of this record if you already don’t.
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