Thoughts
I am pretty excited as the homie Noblonski is making his way to Saskatoon and arriving tomorrow night ahead of Summer Fling on July 21 & 22 here in Saskatoon. I am really excited to finally meet Noblonski in real life and to kick it and get to know him over these next couple of weeks. I believe he is staying with me for the first part of his stay and then shuffling over to Nolto’s as I welcome Id Obelus to take his place. It is really great and makes me very happy to be in a position to welcome the homies in to my home. I took some time off work as well and I am really looking forward to that. I have been rebuking my home off and on over the past 6 years and I gave a big push to finish off a bunch of stuff prior to Noblonski’s arrival but I ran out of time and things as they do took longer to do. Noblonski will be cohosting live in the studio two episodes of Third Verse while he is here and I am really looking forward to that. Maybe he will have to co author TFTRN while he is here to as well as as my other radio show, You Know The Rules. I am sure there will be lots of Rap related things going down. I am really excited to finally meet him and get to know him in real life.
The homie Kitz Willman’s Grim Errands is now available for order on CD! Pick it up now along with one of his really dope new T-shirts!!
Missed Third Verse last night? Ugsmag has you covered once again to stream or download NOW! Catch Third Verse on CFCR 90.5 fm in Saskatoon, SK every Wednesday 9-10:30pm CST. Stream online via CFCR.ca or Radio Garden.
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
Serengeti- Derek
This was a really nice surprise release. I didn’t think it would see a vinyl release but then again it is The Geti King and everything in his catalog seems to find its way to vinyl. After hearing Derek In Paris on the Denehey album, I should have know that this character would be expanded into a full project. This is again another shining example of the genius that is Serengeti. I am super thankful that the good folks at Audio Recon dropped this on vinyl. There are still a handful of copies available if you missed out.
Record Two
Young Fathers - Heavy Heavy
I love the Young Fathers and they continue to make incredible music. I am a bit late in picking this one up as I got it a couple weeks back actually from a local brick an mortar record store which was a nice treat. I think I was waiting for it to appear locally as most of their past albums had shown up in record stores in Saskatoon. it is always a bit of gamble in doing that but sometimes it works out in your favour. They have such a unique style that is really captivating and reminds me a lot of all my favourite things about the Lytics. My jam in this album is Holy Moly. I love the energy and build of the track. It gets me fired up!
Rap Shirt
A double dose of Bored Stiff this week!
Classic Material
Bored Stiff - Explainin’
This is one of my top five favourite records all time that I own. I loved it from the instant I heard it. I wanted it so bad and yet it was unattainable to me at the time. This was 1995/96 and I had first heard it from Shrmpy of the Isosceles. He had a copy of the vinyl. I was fortunate enough to get a dub of that album. It was in my walkman for months and months. I honestly never get tired of listening to it.
What is appealing to me the most is the authenticity of the lyrics. It was relatable on so many levels much like the Mystik Journeymen was with the underground, independent and creative narrative. The lyrics were like guidelines and a foundation that I built most of, if not all of my rap ethos on. People often say that records change their life, I don’t know if this record changed my life, but it reaffirmed everything I was already thinking about rap and what it could be when it was done from the heart. It summed it all up nicely in a way that I could not articulate at the time.
Fast forward to around to the summer of 2004. I was taking two of the easiest summer classes I could take to finish the requirements for my degrees and apply to graduate at Fall Convocation. I think I just got a new credit card or extended my credit limit . I was always window shopping at the various hip hop online stores of that era. I was like many loading up carts and dreaming of buying records. I happened to be checking the various sites and while on Sofarwest.com I noticed they started to carry some used items. I looked through them and came across two records I wanted really bad. They were Bored Stiff’s Explain’ and Young Joseph’s Summer Fling. The site only took PayPal. I didn’t have a PayPal account, so I set one up and linked it to my credit card. The records were both super pricey even by today’s standards. They were 50$ USD each at the time. The Young Joesph did not hold it’s value as you can get one for as little as 12$ CAD plus shipping on Discogs and Bored Stiff is fairing little better at about 30$ CAD plus ship currently. I don’t care. These records were so hard to get for me and they were both worth every penny I didn’t have at the time.
I bought a CD copy at Fifth Element on a baseball trip to see the Tigers play the Twins in 2009 at the Metrodome before it closed. I was with my Brother and Nolto’s brother. I had set the goal that I wanted someone on our trip to catch a home run ball. We bought seats in left field for the the 3 game series. I have been a Tigers fan since I was a little kid and they have always been one of my favorite teams. I have a rule when I go to MLB games to always cheer for the home team unless the Tigers are the visiting team. Anyways as the weekend went on there was not a ball hit to us. It was the Sunday game, the last of the series and the Tigers were hitting in the top of the ninth. There was a family that had been sitting beside us but had left because the game was in hand for the Twins. This was key to what would occur next. I generally wear my glove at the game if I feel I have a shot at a baseball in my seats or for protection if I was sitting down the line before they put in the extended netting. Brandon Inge had come up to the plate. I heard a crack and I could tell he got a hold of it. I stood up and was like holy shit this is coming near us. I continued to track the ball and moved a couple seats over, the seats previously vacated, and I made a back handed catch. I had done it! I caught a MLB home run. I grabbed the ball out of the glove and since I was wearing a Tigers Jersey I was booed by the crowd it was such an exhilarating experience. A life long dream come true.
A vinyl reissue on double Vinyl with the instrumentals? Sign me up and take my money. Like I have said I am not a variant chaser for the most part but there are always exceptions and this was one of them. This reissue dropped for the 20th Anniversary in 2015 and was an instant cop for me. To have all the instrumentals to this album was priceless in my eyes.
If you have never checked out this album, do your self a favour and do so now, you will not regret it I assure you.
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