Thoughts
Been another week with some less than positive news. My puppy Stevie has another issue with her eye and is likely going to have a graft surgery next week. Please keep her in your thoughts this week! She is such a special little puppy and may favourite cuddler.
The homie Rove sent out an exciting update via his bandcamp email this week. I thought I would share it here as some of you may have missed it and there is some really exciting news. I have heard most of things he is working on and I can tell you they are incredible! 2023 is shaping up to be an incredible year for Rove coming off the success of his debut release If Not Now.
Yooooo. Thanks for the support on If Not Now. I really appreciate it. Just a heads up about some things in the works. Another fun 12" will be dropping in the near future with production I did for MC Homeless and Kool Keith. This will be a follow up of sorts from our first collaboration "Aliens" (repress available soon for this with a pink variant cover).
I am wrapping up production on a great project with Id Obelus and Awol One. The Fresh A.I.R. (Awol One, Id Obelus, Rove) EP will be dropping on vinyl in the new year and will be available via Audio Recon so stay tuned.
My second album, yet titled, is well under way with 1/3 of the tracks complete. I hope to have things finished up early new year with a release late spring/early summer.
Thanks for the support! Word up!
Another super dope drop from Serengeti on Audio Recon. This one is a 2 track 7” produced by Danny Chaimson with additional production by Packy Lundholm. Se
The Gumshoe Strut has been next level productive over the past few years. He once again dropped a super dope remix project right after I published this newsletter last week. Featuring remixes of tracks by sign one, MC Homeless, Chadio, Myles Bullen, Th’ Mole and a couple of his own tracks. Be on the lookout for a couple upcoming cassette drops from The Gumshoe Strut!
New video and 10” record from The Codendants. I am really excited to see what the future brings for the Codefendents. I really hope they are wildly successful with this project!
Get Dead do the ultimate collab with crime wave progenitors Codefendants. Side A is a proper intro to the genre-fluid stylings of Codefendants (Fat Mike, Sam King, and Ceschi Ramos' new output), while Side B flashes two new bangers from punk-rock faves Get Dead.
4 Song - 10" Vinyl
Track Listing
1. Abscessed (Baz Mix)
2. Suicide by Pigs (10" Version)
3. Safe Places
4. Pepperspray (Chris Dugan Mix)
Cop the split vinyl at the Fat Wreck Chords webstore now!
Third Verse is back on Ugsmag after a two week hiatus as Noyz returned to the land snow fo’ sho. If you missed last nights episode it is available to stream/download NOW!
The homie Id Obelus dropped a print on demand CD called Place Pieces. It bring stpgether some really dope previously released tracks in various formats. These are some of my favourite Id Obelus tracks. Rumour has it he is also going to add the print on demand vinyl as well. I am going to wait for the vinyl and cop both to save on shipping. Link to the CD is up NOW! Well the wait was not that long and a vinyl version is AVAILABLE
I finally have have a copy of the print issue of the Ugsmag issue 2. Noyz visited Saskatoon last weekend and it was super awesome to see him again as it had been a few years. Noyz is one of my favourite persons in the whole world! I was so excited for his visit as I got to see him along with a lot of other great homies this weekend. It felt like the most normal weekend that I hav experienced in the past couple years. It was a much needed reprieve from all the things going on these days. Homies are the best! The magazine is incredible once again! I have not fully digested it yet and i am looking forward to doing so this weekend with some black coffee. I am really looking forward to finishing the Canadian Rap Crossword puzzle in the back of this issue. (I spent 45 minutes on the crossword. I have like 10 to go. It is pretty hard. Not sure I will be able to figure it out. Good luck!)
Record One
Sole & Dj Pain 1 - Post American Studies
The last half decade in my opinion has a been Sole’s best. I think he has really grown as an MC and really found a way to balance subject content, production and style perfectly. I think his output has been incredible but it seems like many of his fans are still focused on his earlier works. Don’t get me wrong, many of those works are seminal and transformational, I think his contemporary works may be even more important. The social commentary is perfectly presented with slamming production. It is a perfect harmony and blending of the two. The Collapsing 20’s might be one of the most most important rap songs of the last decade. This record is tied for me with MFBX as my favourite Sole albums. I know that sounds like a bit of a hot take but I think they are his most complete polished works. He has some better singles in his catalogue but no albums as complete as these.
Record Two
Double Nice - The Last Dig
I was super excited when word of this release surfaced a a year back or so. A single emerged and a full length was rumored to be coming at some point. I still believe there is word of this finding it’s way to vinyl and I hope it is easier to track down then the tape. Both Buck 65 and Birdapres who make up Double Nice have been slanging the one of 30 copies made at record shows/conventions the attend. Birdapres one of the owners and people begins the Record Nest is a master of Records like Buck 65 is the King of Drums. This is a dream team up and something I never would have imagined happening and especially in 2022. It seems that anything is possible these days so I should not be surprised. I was fortunate to track down one of these tapes, 20/30 to be exact. This album is in the same vein as King Of Drums but with some raps by Birdapres. Lechez Les Ballons and Don’t Dig With Sip are my jams on this one. So many classic drums and samples on this one!
Classic Material
Maestro Fresh Wes - Symphony In Effect
I honestlly don’t remember the fist time I heard this album. I really can’t think of the fist time I heard Maestro Fresh Wes at all. That is really strange to me because I have lots of super meaningful Maestro Fresh Wes memories and experiences. I think it was hearing it on PolyTel’s rap compilation series. Let Your Backbone Slide was featured 1990’s Rap Traxx 3. It was the lead track on the A-Side. I don’t even think I knew he was a Canadian artist at the time. I do remember how good the song was and how it was one of the best songs on compilation amongst some hip hop giants in De La Soul, Sir Mix-A-Lot, Beastie Boys, Digital Underground and many more of that era.
I have the album in two formats CD and Cassette and I used to have the vinyl but it got mixed up in some records of M.Phasis’s uncle DJ Cool Curt along with his sophomore album The Black Tie Affair. Curt who was the first hip hop DJ I ever met was also one of the coolest people around. He was my first football coach in High School and the first person to ever give me any tips and encouragement on DJing. I am not sure what happened to his record collection when he passed. I am guessing his kids in Edmonton inherited it or maybe M.Phasis has it. I don’t know and I never asked about it as it seemed so inconsequential to ask about it and to try and get my records back given the circumstances. Curt used to come to football practice decked out in the freshest Major Damage clothes and looked like all my heroes in the Source magazine. He was a man of great stature and he didn’t say very much very often, but when he did you listened to every word. He was really funny and an incredible athlete. He used to invite me and M.Phasis to play football with his friends. One time he caught a cleat in the face and it basically ripped his cheek under his eye off and you could se the ligaments and bone underneath. He was an avid rugby player and unfortunately suffered a paralyzing injury that ultimately lead to his passing years later. He was one of my biggest influences as a grade 9 student and pretty much inspired me to DJ and pursue hip hop.
I am not sure the exact year but I was living with DJ Innate and I was In my second last or last year of undergraduates studies at the University of Saskatchewan. The years would have been 2003 or 2004. (edit the year was 1999 as per the signature I found on the Built To Last LP I had signed at the event. This date also makes Chuckluggage’s encounter at Zombies possible. I was not living with Innate in 1999 but did in 2003-2004) It was late spring and Innate came home and said that Maestro Fresh Wes was singing autographs at the mall. I was like oh word we should go. There is a Canadian clothing brand called Roots, that was doing some major rebranding and trying to garner a younger market share and they started sponsoring and using famous Canadians in their marketing and Maestro Fresh Wes was one of them. He was signing autographs at the Midtown Mall at the Roots store inside. The day arrived and I think it was a 4pm signing as he was in town for a show that night with pop boy band 98 Degrees. I had never seen Maestro Fresh Wes Live but the concert was expensive, money was tight and there was no way I was going to a 98 Degrees concert. A side note the homie Chuck Luggage was working at Zombies as a door guy and Nick Lachey came through that night.
We lived downtown at the time (not true) so we were in walking distance (we likely both loved at home in the North End of Saskatoon then and he would have driven me in his Honda Accord) of the Mall and headed down early to go to the signing event. We packed up some records to get signed. I packed up three records. With Symphony In Effect, The Black Tie Affair and Built To Last in hand we walked down to the mall. The Roots store is/was three shops in from the main doors. After walking in, we were surprised by both the size of the line and the demographics of the line. The line was comprised of 50 plus pre to young teenage girls. It was like they were lined up to meet 98 Degrees and not Maestro. We walked to the end of line. We were kind of embarrassed waiting in that line as we were super out of place. People walked by and stared at us like we were some losers. We laughed about it. The line moved pretty slow. Most of the people in line had no idea who they were in line to meet and just got in line because others did. Maestro signed Roots cards for most of the people in the line. Finally our turn came and as soon as Maestro realized we were rap fans there to meet him and get records signed he lit up with joy. He was so happy to see us and graciously took time to sign all our records. We talked for a bit until he had to go to sound check. It was such an awesome experience. He told us we really made his day and the signing worth it. That was the first time I met Maestro but definitely not the last and I have seen him play and talked to hi a number of times since. Maestro is such an awesome person, just someone you really cheer fro and are excited when good things happen for them.
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