Bandcamp Friday was another great one for me personally. My wallet not so much so. Just the way it goes. These are the things I scooped and wanted to shed some light on incase the went under your radar as I know Bandcamp Friday’s can be overwhelming to say the least with the barrage of emails and social media posts. In no particular order.
This is the first record I bought for Bandcamp Friday. I think it actually dropped right after I published last week TFTRN. Now I am not really at all familiar with WhoIsLouis but I know that this is a really meaningful record for all those involved in releasing it for this special 10th Anniversary first time to vinyl release. I do know that, “Audio Recon would not exist without our fallen brother, the legendary mc/producer Jason Mann aka WhoisLouis RIP 1981-2018”. Check this one out.
The classic first time to vinyl release of Mestizo and Mike Gao’s Blindfaith was my most anticipated release going into Friday. Anything Mestizo does is an instant cop for me. This album is incredible and I can’t wait to revisit it on vinyl for the first time. I added the Curly Castro as an add on it was discounted and I had been meaning to grab it for some time. Curly Castro is quickly becoming an instant cop artist for me. I am loving everything he is doing these days.
I didn’t scoop this on Bandcamp Friday because I didn’t know about it. I did pick one up over the weekend though so I thought I would throw it in here as a bonus. Some Winnipeg hip hop flavour! Shouts to Nestor Wynrush for hipping me to this release.
Now I am conflicted in posting or mentioning this next release. Out of respect for the homie Thomas Quinlan who dropped this on his label Hand’Solo Records I thought I would go ahead. I know he is a subscriber and reader of this each week. He often sends email responses to things I mention and I really appreciate him for doing that and for all the amazing records he has dropped on his label over the years. I really appreciated this drop in the email that was sent out about the record, “Aging finally gets the vinyl treatment, and it's on black vinyl to appease Chaps. If you know, you know.” If I could accomplish only one ting with this news letter it woudkl be for all records to be -pressed on classic black vinyl. If you are wondering, I did cop this album. C’est la vie.
Well as soon as I published this last week Nolto posted in the chat he dropped this single last week. I meant to ask him which is the original as they are all Remixes? The homies really did an awesome job in remixing this one! Shouts to the Saskatoon Rap Rap Music homies Grainbin, Noblonski, Dren, and Pasquale that all killed it on this one. All so unique and provide a different vibe for the track. I heard there may still be a remix coming from The Gumshoe Strut at some point. Fingers crossed on that for sure. Dren knocked it out the park with the cover on this one. After Nolto rushed this to release last week, there were some conversations about the possibility of releasing a physical of this. So be on the lookout for that.
I am celebrating another radio milestone of sorts this coming Sunday as I will be celebrating my 7th year and 364 episodes on the UMFM airwaves with my show, You Know The Rules. A big thank you to the homie and Station Manager Jared McKetiak for reaching out 7 years ago and asking if I wanted to syndicate Third Verse on UMFM. I was like how about I just do an original show? The rest is history as they say. It is such an honour to be on the airwaves in such a special place like Winnipeg. I need to get back and do an in studio show soon. Extra shout out to the homie Nestor Wynrush for helping to facilitate the show coming into existence.
Missed Third Verse last night? Well you are in luck! 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.
I have been posting the records I have been playing the last few weeks for my You Know The Rules show on my Instagram. I have has some real good engagement form artist I have tagged and some good reposting, so hopefully that translates into some new ears. 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
People Of The Sun - Self Titled
On Saturday after watching a matinee screening of the the classic Wizard of Oz , my partner and I headed Downtown to see the progress on a large mural project the homies Mock and Evak were working on. After our visit we stopped in at the Vinyl Exchange and I was looking through the Rap records and I pleasantly came across this album. I had wanted to get one and I was hoping to get one hand to hand or locally at at record store. The People of the Sun are a large collective from Regina Saskatchewan. The group features two MCs, two Singers, a Drummer, A Bassist, A Guitarist, and an Organist. It is funky and exactly what you would expect from a live band hip hop project. The homie Infored is one of the mc’s in the band. This is great festival music. My jam is The People’s Anthem.
Record Two
Eligh - Halo Boy
I have been sitting on this record since Summer Fling maintaining my social media ban for it until it is released. Well it has been out for a minute now so the coast is clear. This album is super dope front to back and actually is not what I expected going into it at all. I thought it would be more polished and have bigger pop commercial sound. Instead it is the record I wanted but didn’t expect. The record is full of chopping, incredible features and melodies galore. I love the trading off of versus on Origami and The Wound between the featured artists and Eligh. This is so refreshing and something I consciously didn’t know I missed so much. This is a top ten release of 2023 no doubt. Shouts to the homie and Saskatoon Rap Rap Music crewmate StapleMouth for absolutely crushing it on The Wound. I really hope there is more Eligh and StapleMouth tracks in the future. I really love them on the double time drum and base break down in the track. My jam is tied between Origami and The Wound
Classic Material
A Thin Line Between Love and Hate - Movie
The mid to late 90’s were a field day for music from the motion picture releases. The landscape was filled with them. They were often disappointing for the most part but there were always gems on them. This one features one of my top all time favourite songs on one of these soundtracks. It is the classic from the legendary west coast legend Ganjah K (RIP). The track Love Got my Mind Trippin’ is a certified banger.
One of the homies bought this soundtrack on cassettes, I think it was my homie Kelly and we listened to it in repeat in Funky’s 1970’s Mazda with the two 12” Rockford Fosgates in the trunk. This song hit so hard. It still hits hard. Maybe the hardest. I Picked up a saw cut promo cd copy at some point one the years and I scooped two copies of the promo sampler 12” that had this song on it from the homie Dj Neoteric when he was liquidating his rap records.
This one sample the classic Al Green This isn’t sample snitchin so like my man Nestor Wynrush says, “calm your horses Mr. Alan Pitts”. It isn’t sample snitchin’ because it is cleared and credited in the liner notes. I might be in the minority on this take and it may come across as a hot one but the only reason people care about any of theses old songs for the most part is because hip hop made them cool. I will take that take to the grave. Most of these jams would have fallen into relative obscurity if not for hip hop culture and digging culture. One of hip hops greatest gifts to the world is it exposed generations of people to a wide variety of music they would otherwise not have been exposed to. This is one of the great examples.
Ganja K has always been a favourite of mine even though he didn’t release a lot of music commercially. He wrote rhymes for RBX, he is the originator of the Chronic and a famous Dr. bit that shit from him and Mean Green. Ganja K was always one of my favourites on the Heavyweights posse cuts. He always steals the show.
Ganja K is featured on my favourite track, A Real Freestyle, from Volume 10’s Hip Hopera. If you are unfamiliar with this album give it a listen as it changed hip hop history and Ice Cube as a rapper. Listen to this, then listen to West Side Connection. You will see what I am saying.
Those are just a few of my favourites versus and tracks of Ganja K’s. I wonder how things would be different if he dropped the Chronic before Dr. Dre did. It may not have mattered but it also might have changed the course of rap history as we know it. I guess we really will never know but it sure is fun to think about it.
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