Thoughts From The Rap Nest
vol022-038
Thoughts
Update from last weeks post. Stevie’s eye graft on her right eye was successful and the cryotherapy on both eyes to remove hairs growing inside her eyelids and damaging her eyes was successful. She is recovering nicely and despite looking like she lasted a round with Mike Tyson in his prim, she is doing great! Thanks to everyone that reached out with some well wishes for Stevie.
Last Friday the Ugsmag Canadian Crossword Puzzle in the second issue of the Ugsmag print edition took over the rap chat. I had started it the night before while finishing up the TFTRN post. I was thinking maybe I could bang it out quickly. Boy was I wrong, the next thing I knew 45 minutes went by and I was scrambling to get the post up and get to bed. The first 20 or so were straightforward, then the next dozen or so were pretty hard and then I hit a wall on the last dozen. Noblonski started posting in the rap chat he was working on it and was sharing his frustrations with clues and answers and was completely overthinking things. This was exactly what I was doing so I shared in his pain and frustrations he was going through. This continued for the rest of the afternoon.
I got home after work and with some clarity was able to knock a few off. I then had to take my dogs for a walk. Upon returning I immediately went upstairs and continued to work on it. I knocked a couple more off and was down to 3-4. I was beginning to get extremely frustrated. We shared the ones we were struggling with in the chat and most of them were different. We gave each other vague clues that were really not that helpful, haha and only added to the frustrations we were feeling Noblonksi kept knocking ones off the list and was catching up. I am sometimes ultra-competitive when it comes to the weirdest things, so I had to be first to submit mine to Ugsmag for verification. There is a QR code you can scan in the magazine and it tells you the first 5 people to send in a completed and correct picture of their puzzle would receive a prize pack from Ugsmag. The prize is secondary to being the first to finish. I kept grinding away looking at various CD’s on the shelves for inspiration. I shared my frustrations with the chat. I thought about giving up but as soon as I thought about it I would figure one out. I finally got down to one. I was way overthinking it. Finally, I looked at a different section where I had older Canadian Rap releases, and the answer was staring me right in the face. I finally got it! It was complete. I felt like a huge weight had been taken off my shoulders. I felt like I could finally breathe. I took a picture of it and sent it to Ugsmag to verify. I was the first to get a completed and correct one it.
Big shout out to Noyz for creating a challenging, frustrating, fun and a rewarding crossword puzzle. Shout out to the Rap Chat homies for enduring Noblonski and my madness and obsession with this crossword puzzle. Shout out to Noblonski for also completing the crossword which was especially impressive for someone from Berlin. If you have the magazine there are a few prize packs left so I would encourage you to take a shot if you go the guts! Copies available HERE!
The homie Noblonski has some CD copies of his classic Waveforms up here and there is a link for a special vinyl pressing HERE!
The homie Id Obelus has a few copies of his Place Pieces on CD up for sale now!
Incase you missed it A7pha II dropped on vinyl limited to 300 copies for pre-order lat Friday. It features the track Self Serving which is only available on the vinyl or cassette. If you are sitting on one the tapes and looking to sell it let me know as I have a good homie looking for one. it is a long pre-order with shipping slated for May 2023 so you will have to hang tight for this one. Vinyl copies of Buck 65’s King of Drums and the Billy album are also still available THERE as well
The homies, The Gumshoe Strut and Yy are Turn The Gun and they are back again with a special P.S. Redux version of their instant classic Perpetual Survival. Available tomorrow on limited edition cassette HERE!
About the album
Release date: November 25, 2022
Turn The Gun (Yy and The Gumshoe Strut) are back again with ‘P.S. Redux’ - a fresh take on their 2022 album, ‘Perpetual Survival’. More than a remix project, ‘P.S. Redux’ was built around the vocal stems and is a complete reinterpretation of the original album. It offers a whole new soundscape which boasts more knock and more sizzle than its predecessor. The artists put their experience on full display as they weave through a cohesive head nodding collection of songs that are both reflective and relatable.
Urbnet is running a 30% off deal until December 1st on all releases on their site. This is a great opportunity to save a few bucks and grab the newest from the homies Fresh Kils and Swamp Thing. Use code FALL2022 at check out to get the savings.
If you missed last nights episode of Third Verse the homies at UGSMAG are back and got your back! Episode is now available to stream and download HERE!
The homie Hobs StayBusy on the production on this one has teamed up with Boxguts on the mic and by Taebo Manuhs on the cuts on the leads single Light Em Up from the forth coming album Royal Water dropping on CD and Digital December 2nd! Check out the track and video!
The Roughneck Jihad is back with another one and this one under the monikor Judas Brutus with producers Architect (who you may recognize from the Homeless Derilex) and producer and triple threat DJ, MC and Producer Drasar Monumental. I really hope this sees a vinyl pressing. I listened to it while working on this and its is so good. I am sure it will see vinyl as almost all of Jihad’s releases find their way to vinyl at some point.
Record One
Billy Woods - Aethiopes
Well this one was well worth the wait and I am glad that I missed pairing not the with Church release pre-order that dropped the same day, or I wouldn’t have this yet. Money comes and goes but Billy Woods records are forever. They are timeless and grow finer with age and every listen. I only have a few listens through this and it is already emerging as my favourite Billy Woods album. The album flows so nicely from track to track. All tracks are produced by Preservation and the production is wild and so good. There are some insane features on this one and the track Heavy Water is contender for best posse cut of 2022 as it features some real heavyweights in Mike Ladd, Breeze Brewin and El-P. I didn't know how bad I needed this track in my life. This is giving me the same feelings that hearing End To End Burners did for the first time. This one will go down as an all timer for sure. Shouts to Billy woods for adding the letter A to one of the labels on the record and including an insert with a number divided into A and B side track listing so I can decipher what is what. Also props for the classic black vinyl pressing adding to the timelessness of this release.
Record Two
Stacs Of Stamina -Cashew Fenny
First off, shout to to Dren for lacing me with this and dropping it off the other day! it was a great surprise. This is not a new release by any means as it was released in 2002 but it has been on my long list of thing to grab on Discogs so you can understand my excitement when Dren dropped it off. I honestly don’t know a lot about Stacs of Stamina other than they are from Sweden and Marcus Graap who is in World After 4/02 and Zuchini Drive and featured on many Shadow Animals releases is in the group. This album is super dope!
Thank you very much Dren for this one!!!
Classic Material
King of The Prairies Rap Battle
Saskatoon like many other cities at the time Saskatoon was not immune to the aftermath of the movie 8 Mile. Battles were plenty. I had cut my teeth in many cyphers in the late 90’s with the homies. Epic, M.Phasis, Profs 52, Acro (RIP) and others. We used to freestyle all the time. I would always take a turn when the music was passed or in the cypher circle outside a club or show. Some of the time we just freestyled and sometimes we battled each other. I have never fancied myself as an MC in anyway. I just liked to do it because it was fun. I know I am not a good mc in my definition of good mc but I always just tried to be myself on the mic. Originality in style voice was critical to not getting dissed in those days.
Before a lot of the shows at The Odeon we used to go to this pub across the street to drink called O’Sheas. That was the classic move in those days. I didn’t get to do it a lot as I was often performing, but on this night I had a window before the battle was to take place to relax and get my head right into battle mode. I know this is going to sound cheesy and cringey, but I really felt like Eminem when he was in the bathroom in 8 Mile nervous and puked in the sink before going out to the stage. That is how I felt sitting at the bar across the street walking the fine line between a nice buzz that will help me in the battle and getting too drunk which would ruin my performance in the battle. I found the sweet spot that night and had just the right number of beers. I am not sure why this one felt different than those others as my anxiety was high going into it. It could have been the large crowd of 800-1000 people, or it could have been my feelings of being unprepared as I had not been cyphering as much as I used to.
I gathered myself as it was time to head across the street for the battle. I was freestyling to myself to get ready. I was feeling good the ideas were coming so I was feeling confident. I am not sure who I drew in the first round. I didn’t recognize the kid; I didn’t know his name and I am not sure If I ever saw him again. In that era there were always a few out-of-town MC’s that came as the prize money was pretty good. It was a traditional format of two rounds over rap beats. I don’t remember who went first. I think I went first then he went, then I went, and I think the battle ended after that. I am not positive though. Honestly, I don’t remember anything about most of the battle. I do remember him going and clearly it was the first time he ever rapped on a microphone on stage. He didn’t know how to hold a microphone or to project his voice, and he mumbled an inaudible verse. He lacked confidence and I turned full apex predator Wolf on him. I dropped the following: “No one in the place heard a single word you said. I can beat you with two words, You’re Dead”. I also dropped the mic after which is a dick move to abuse the equipment like that but sold the point. The crowd went insane. I have never heard a crowd that loud for something I did. I had a lot of homies in the crowd, and they were going nuts. I don’t know if he rapped again or walked away but the battle was over. I was good at winning a round in every battle I entered but I usually lost a close one in the second round. I lost in the second round that night. I really thought I won but that is how it goes. This era of rap battles was fun in Saskatoon. Attendance was high for these events and there were good bragging rights for the winners.
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
Aethiopes is a classic for sure!