I’m embarrassed that I’m late to the game (no pun intended) on Random, a Philly-born emcee/teacher who has called Phoenix home for about four years.
In 2007, Random released Mega Ran, an album inspired by the video game Mega Man, complete with 8-bit beat samples from the game. That earned him a letter (on MySpace, no less) from the game’s publisher, Capcom, that Random assumed would be a cease and desist. Quite the opposite, actually: Capcom offered him an official license. As Random told Wired in 2008, “I really thought they would be livid that I had bastardized their tunes, but they really were supportive, and I thank them for that.”
Continuing the tradition, Random (aka Mega Ran) teamed up with producer K-Murdock of Panacea and released Forever Famicom in July, a 14-track ode to the Nintendo games of our youth.
I spent countless hours on the Nintendo – mostly playing RBI Baseball and Tecmo Super Bowl (with some Double Dragon and Contra thrown in there) – so I appreciate the inherent nostalgic value here. But Mega Ran’s ability to weave clever storytelling makes it more than a trip down memory lane.
After about three dropped calls in a failed attempt to record using Google Voice, I scrapped that plan and typed as fast as possible to keep up with everything Zilla Rocca had to talk about – from the pitfalls of the scene in his hometown Philadelphia to his love of noir fiction to 5 O’Clock Shadowboxers, his long-distance collaborative project with Douglas Martin. Between some random ellipses and shorthand I can’t remember, the gist of our conversation is spelled out below.
If you haven’t figured it out by now from this week’s posts, Zilla Rocca and Curly Castro are playing Hidden House Friday night (that’s tonight) with Random. Cover is a mere $5, so fork over your weekly allowance for taking the trash out and come have a good time. From Zilla’s description, their show is not to be missed.
Ever been to Phoenix?
No, never been. Only been to Vegas and LA out there.
For people who have never been here, I’m always curious: What’s Phoenix look like in your head? Like a hybrid of Raising Arizona and then The Tao of Steve. It’s either a crazy bugged-out Mad Max desolate area or kinda cool spaced-out interesting place where people drive motorcycles and play a lot of outdoor Frisbee.
What’s the Philly scene like?
The hip-hop scene is comatose. It’s a nightmare. It’s strange. … Philly used to be really vibrant and full of cool stuff around the beginning of 2000. The neo-soul thing – we were the place to be.
Even after that, in 2002-2003, there were live hip-hop bands, spoken-word dudes, slam poets, that was really bubbling, too. They were performing at really cool places. Problem was, all these venues started closing and promoters started moving on. I got in the scene around ’05 and even from ’05 to now, it’s just a ghost town. There’s nothing exciting. Everyone is playing to their base and their corner and their little neighborhood and circle of friends. There’s no reason to leave your house to watch anybody, nobody is transcending or doing anything different. … It’s a mess. There’s really nothing. Even guys known nationally, they’re not here, they’re not playing here.
Philly is where people go to get comfortable. It’s very nice and very comfortable. … No one wants to be into stuff. There’s a lot of posturing and a lot of conditional love. It’s really bizarre. I don’t really concern myself with the Philly scene anymore. … It’s strange. I’ve just seen it devolve in the last three years. Now, the only thing I do in the city is non-traditional stuff – art galleries, art festival or play with a band. I don’t do rap shows. I’m done with that stuff. You’re playing for the same people. You’re playing for other rappers.
It’s not an inspiring or welcoming, bubbling scene. But then people want to own it; people want to be king of Philly, but nobody cares outside of Philly. I’m surrounding myself this year with really cool and interesting people that have nothing to do with hip-hop – a drum-and-bass dude and graphic-design guy and comic-book geeks. If I’m gonna stay, I need to maximize my surroundings. There’s no musicians, no rappers that inspire me in Philly, but not a lot of rappers that inspire me in general.
What is inspiring you?
I’m reading a ton of comic books and more crime-based noir – Raymond Chandler, pulp-heavy books, Ed Brubaker. There’s different stories about people in disastrous situations and how they deal with it. I like that stuff.
How did you meet Random?
He came up to me three years ago at this place Medusa Lounge. I hanging out there one night and he came up and was really cool, really personable. I got his CD. It was decent. I remember randomly see that album cover in random places, just out and about, and I thought, “There’s that guy.” Then he moved, I think, three years ago. I did one session with him a year and a half ago. He’s really personable, really cool guy. He found his niche with Capcom video-game dudes and really just killed it.
He was in the scene for years and years, so for him to exploit the opening in the marketplace, that’s fantastic. He’s just a great guy. It’s good when you see people like him make it. I think this is first show I’m playing with him at the same time. I’ve always missed it. Everyone always loves his set. It’s the first time I’ve ever played with him.
How did the Shadowboxers project come together
I was writing column for Jeff (Weiss) and would do it every month or so. Douglas (Martin) was hearing my stuff and was a commenter because he really enjoyed it. He got at me and said, “I made a track and I hear your voice on it.” I had it for like a month. I told him, “I’m just kinda stifled, you got anything else?” He was like, “I just made something.” It was High Noon. Whoa, oh my God. That song just pulled out this whole other side of me. … It was tapping into something I forgot about for years.
Douglas sent me a few more tracks and they have these interesting titles for songs – it was like a puzzle. It was like what is Weak Stomach, and Eric Lindros? … And it kind of developed into this thing. His stuff is really challenging. Some songs I would do in two days and some I had for three months. He pulled out this whole other thing in me I didn’t know I had. It was so organic and dope.
It’s an Internet story of success, I guess you could say. It just became this thing and everyone I played it for liked it. It wasn’t divisive or weird or scary. And I’m like, “I’m onto something here with this.” So let’s put out the record and get a publicist, shoot some videos and do some promo. It’s really refreshing. I’ve done so many albums and groups and projects and EPs under various names and this works, this is what I like. I’m comfortable with this. I don’t hear anyone making beats like this. I can’t mail it in when I do stuff with Douglas. It pushes me. I like that. I don’t like making same songs or writing same rhymes or making same albums.
He cracked that door open. He didn’t even know. I didn’t even know. This feels normal, feels comfortable. Like putting on old jacket again.
You’re meeting Douglas for the first time this weekend in LA, right?
I’ve never spoken to him on the phone. Everything is e-mail, or texts every once in awhile, Twitter. I’ve seen him progress and do other stuff that’s interesting. He’s a really dope rock writer. I’m like, “It’s time to make some more beats.”
You have a new Shadowboxers album in the works? Kinda like piece by piece. We have two songs in the can now. I gotta wait on him for whenever he feels compelled. I’m an artist of many whims and transitions. He used to do singer/songwriter lo-fi folk at first and then, probably around ’07-’08 started doing Shadowboxers beats like crazy. … I try to be cool with it and give him his space. I’m sure we’ll hang out and talk about this stuff.
So you guys are just exchanging the music via e-mail? Yeah and Douglas doesn’t give any notes. He trusts me to do what I want. He just gives me a starting point and it’s up to me to figure out what it’s about. None of it is on a whim. Not with his music. It’s very moody. I know it kinda sounds lame, but I have to be in certain places to write to what he does. His music kinda tapped into that.
There’s definitely a distinctive style and theme to the album At first when he sent me stuff, I wanted it to be separate from other stuff I was working on – more free-flowing, free-creating and I didn’t know what the hell it was. I would just write all this stuff down. That’s why I like guys like Raekwon and Camp Lo. Just sayin’ stuff that sounds really cool. I’ve always been attracted to rappers like that. So I was gonna make this a free-form thing. After I did it, Jeff said we needed dialog to tie the album together. All pieces of dialog and themes are from the movie Blast of Silence, a 1961 pulp noir movie. I became infatuated and was reading up on noir and Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. I’m into look of pulp art. It’s really gritty – thes eedy underbelly of the ’40s and ’50s. I thought, “Jesus, I could just do this all the time and make it this one thing and not try to be everything or industry.” I’m not trying to compete with Mickey Factz or Wale; I don’t really want to. We started calling it “noir-hop” on press releases. Noir is everything: suspense, sex, danger, crime, loneliness, alcoholism. The language in it is so good. It’s slang. And that’s hip-hop. Hip-hop is slang. I started shooting photos all dressed up like detective or hitman. I’m trying to make it this very specific thing. And when I’m on stage, it’s that.
I don’t have discipline all the time to be in character, but when I go on stage and write, that’s when I become this thing, this character or this noir detective. I went to the library today and got this Chandler book. I just engulf myself in it and digest it and give it what it needs to be. Guys that rap about drugs, those guys lived it. They know the emotions and how it feels. So I’ve been leading like a purposeful pulp life … it’s kinda like research. I just like doing this in general. Now it became my life. Before it was just a way to write a rap record.
Give me an idea of what the live show is like Just to tie it all in, what we’re doing is very specific. Had to really sell the imagery behind it and have some of voiceovers in between songs or before first song. … We’re just trying to give people an overall picture and feeling instead of me just rapping over an album. I want people to be weirded out at first or maybe they think it’s ridiculous or a gimmick, but maybe by end, they’re like, “Oh, this is cool.†It’s more exciting to have to get dressed up and I have to go to drycleaners. It’s more fun, like going on date with girl for first time. You gotta make sure you look right. This is new – no one’s done this. So how do we do this and people kinda understand what it is when we’re finished? We want them to be disoriented at first.
Are you worried that the imagery might distract from the music? That’s fine. Most rap shows are terrible. I don’t have a band. I have nothing else for people to put eyes on. If they never heard your stuff, they’re going to give you the first song and tune you out. If images are cool and beats are cool, then they’ll give me shot. People have no choice but to watch.
I know, these are all California artists, you say. But cut ’em some slack: These are Phoenix first-timers. Don’t think I’ll let them leave the desert without educating them about Bombshelter DJs, Supermarket, The Shop, Blunt Club, Universatile and more (over some Four Peaks brews, of course).
You can stream the mix below, download it at Mixcloud or you can download it as one MP3, with two bonus tracks: West Indian Rum by Curly Castro (which he’ll debut live on Friday) and It’s Always 5 O’Clock Somewhere by 5 O’Clock Shadowboxers off the Broken Clocks EP.
If nothing else, I implore you to at least check out Mix Tapes by the Nonce. If I’ve told you once …
Str8 Westcoastin’ Mix tracklisting: 1. Zilla Rocca’s Hellafied Intro
2. â€Mix Tapes†The Nonce
3. â€Exploits and Glitches†Nocando
4. â€Critical (Madlib Remix)†Zion I f/ Planet Asia
5. â€Killin’ It†Tha Alkaholiks f/ Xzibit
6. â€Made N*****†2pac f/ Outlawz
7. â€Ditty†Paperboy
8. â€Doggy Dogg World†Snoop Doggy Dogg f/ The Dogg Pound
9. Curly Castro’s Brooklyn Dodger Lament
10. â€Still Cruisin’†Eazy E f/ The Game
11. â€Place of Birth†Planet Asia
12. â€Mr. Dobalina†Del Thee Funkee Homosapien
13. â€Tell Me When To Go†E-40 f/ Keak Da Sneak
14. â€She Swallowed It†N.W.A.
15. â€Soul On Ice (Diamond D Remix)†Ras Kass
16. â€Otha Fish†Pharcyde
The 48th installment of I Used to Love H.E.R., a series in which artists/bloggers/writers discuss their most essential or favorite hip-hop albums and songs, comes from Curly Castro, the Philadelphia-based emcee who will be appearing with Zilla Rocca and Random on Friday at the Hidden House, where he will unleash a solo set and perform with Zilla as 5 O’Clock Shadowboxers. Check the new track, West Indian Rum, which Castro will debut on Friday.
Being asked to reveal the most influential Hip-Hop albums of my lifetime, the answers are almost infinite. So I decided to lessen the “Atlas pressure” on my shoulders, and focus on two albums that fortified and evolved my Past + Present styles of Rhyming.
Now I am a Brooklyn-raised 80’s baby. So i was present as the Hip-Hop lexicon was in its genesis. All the Top-to-Bottom pieces on the entire Subway system, the B-Boy exhibitions on every corner, and the new and fresh sounds coming out of Boomboxes as they pass each other on the block made up my New York state of Mind. And no release in the 90’s signified all those elements more than Funcrusher Plus, Company Flow’s LP.
From the audacity of Bad Touch Example to the illuminati-infused Population Control to the mastery displayed by The Indelible MC’s on The Fire in Which You Burn, Funcrusher Plus echoed dystopian/steel-sharpens-steel/NY Babylon Hip-Hop. I was into many a conspiracy theory and Co-Flow brought paranoia home with a pipe Bomb. The scissorhands cuts of DJ Mr. Len, the Graffiti-soaked lyrics of Bigg Jus (Lune TNS), and the Bombsquad-esque/Mantronix sound of El-Producto, made Company Flow the ultimate justification of my late 90’s Emcee-ing.
Co-Flow made it alright for me to rhyme on syllable overload, to drown my lyrics in New York Newspeak, and be part of the “Independent as F*ck” generation.
Fast-forward to now, as we witness the birth of Nu-Gangsta: Shabazz Palaces. I discovered the Gypsy Hip-Hop of Seattle’s Shabazz Palaces through their first video for Belhaven Meridian. It is an homage to the film Killer of Sheep by Charles Burnett, and features a selection of their records from their two debut EPs.
The track that stood out immediately to my rhythmic sensibilities was played during the opening of the video: A Mess, the booth soaks in palacian musk, palaeer in vintage LRG, yes pure NS, uppowndet watermelon lips beat. The lengthy titles alone signify the inherent DOPENESS of the release. The biggest record to drop in 2010 (my honest opinion) parallels my own musical evolution. The “Nu Gangsta” motif exhibited by Palaceer Lazaro (formerly Ish of Digable Planets) & partner Palaceer Doug-e is a testament to DIY ethics. And focuses on the Music above all Else.
The lack of interviews, the stubbornness of not naming the musicians involved, the staunch stance to not take redit for the Solar-powered Phunk work, all coalesce to bring that “Nu Gangsta”, that adrenaline shot to Hip-Hop’s limp arm. 32 Leaves Dipped in Blackness… will bust your lip if you are not careful while listening. This is not your brother’s Hip-Hop, it’s your Godfather’s. It’s Bambaataa in a time capsule, accidentally cracked while digging for ancient Egyptian artifacts. It’s Pure Uncut Dope.
Thank you to Kevin and SoMuchSilence.com. I will be performing in Phoenix on the 24th of September at the Hidden House, alongside 5 O’Clock Shadowboxers & Megaran (Random). Hope to see some of you readers there. Won L.
~Castro
We got a flyer now, so you know it’s official: I’m teamin’ up with Al Page at the Hidden House, one of my favorite weekend spots in the Valley, for a Friday night of live hip-hop that stretches from Phoenix to Philly.
It’s a reunion of sorts: Transplanted Philadelphia emcee Random, who calls Phoenix home now, on the same bill with a couple of his hometown homies – Zilla Rocca and Curly Castro. Phoenix singer MysticBlu is on the docket, too.
If the 100-degree weather in late September doesn’t floor Zilla and Curly, then the cache of Four Peaks beer I have in holding will serve as a fine welcome to our city. As it stands, Curly is slated for a solo set, followed by a performance as 5 O’Clock Shadowboxers, the long-distance collaboration between Zilla and Douglas Martin.
It’s gonna be a great night, and I hope anyone in the Valley reading this can make it out. I’ll have some goodies all week about the show. In the meantime, check the links for some essential listening and peep the video of Random on The Train Tracks below.
I picked up Freddie Gibbs’ Str8 Killa EP over the weekend while I was in Los Angeles, and I’m kicking myself for not knowing he played Fat Beats on Friday night as part of the store’s swan song.
I’ve had time to give the EP only one proper spin, after first getting over my initial shock that the standout Crushin’ Feelin’s didn’t find a place on the new release from its mixtape predecessor, Str8 Killa No Filla.
There’s still plenty to go around on Gibbs’Str8 Killa, including the final track, Oil Money, which features an all-star cast: Chuck Inglish of the Cool Kids, Chip Tha Ripper, Bun B and Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys, who sings the hook but doesn’t make an appearance in the video below.
One of the more enlightening and interesting conversations I’ve had with any musician was an all-too-brief chat with Columbus, Ohio-based emcee Blueprint when the Paid Dues Festival hit Arizona in 2007.
If you’re not familiar with his work, you have no excuse now: Blueprint put together a 17-song best-of collection, which he’s made available as a free download. The collection pulls from his solo work and collaborative efforts, including Soul Position with RJD2.
Once you’ve digested that, you can move on to another project he just released, Blueprint Who, an EP that pays homage to/samples The Who.
Below you’ll find two tracks off the best-of compilation, which you can download in full here, and a video for Dream Big off the Blueprint Who EP.
The 47th installment of I Used to Love H.E.R., a series in which artists/bloggers/writers discuss their most essential or favorite hip-hop albums and songs, comes from Paul Edwards, author of How to Rap: The Art & Science of the Hip-Hop MC, a 340-page book containing analysis, advice and guidance about, well, rapping, culled from interviews with more than 100 emcees. For his entry, Edwards picked five of his favorite tracks by emcees he interviewed for the book, which has a companion YouTube channel that features fascinating audio clips from his interviews.
How to Rap (Chicago Review Press) is available at bookstores and Amazon. Soak up the book’s website and read an interview with Edwards – who holds a master’s degree in postmodernism, literature and contemporary culture from the University of London – at the Amoeba blog.
Big Daddy Kane – Set It Off Kane is one of my favorite MCs and the first verse of Set It Off is probably my favorite verse of his. It’s a master class in MCing coupled with a great beat, so you can’t really go wrong. I think if you’re a student of MCing you could study this track alone and learn so much. Amazing rhythms, vocal projection, breath control, clever lines, the works.
It used to be standard on golden age Hip-Hop albums for an MC to just go on a rampage for at least one track, just showing off techniques, usually at a fast pace, too. Tracks like Set It Off, Kool G Rap’s Men at Work and Rakim’s Lyrics of Fury.
It would be dope if more newer MCs would try that – even just one track on the album where there’s no chorus, just relentless lyricism. I think it has to have a fast pace and really be crammed full of flows and witty lines with an energetic delivery to work though, otherwise it can just sound like a slow, lazy 500 bars worth of nothing!
Check out this clip where Kane talks about how he wrote Set It Off, mentioning that it’s his favorite of his own tracks. Also, if you weren’t up on the original meaning of “freestyle,†Kane explains that, too. So now you know!
Pharoahe Monch – Simon Says This is a great combination of beat, chorus, and verses – everything fits. I like that it’s in the guise of a big single with a big chorus, but he also slips in extra levels of complexity.
He does the “NY city-gritty-committee-pity†run of rhymes at the end of the chorus and the “some might even say this song is sexistest†part is both witty (commenting on his own chorus within the song) and intricate flow-wise at the same time. And all on a hit single!
One of the things I really miss from back in the day was that you could have hits with big choruses that also had hard beats and stellar MCing on them – songs like Simon Says, Hip-Hop Hooray and Night of the Living Baseheads come to mind. Wu-Tang’s Triumph was a hit and it didn’t even have a chorus. Today it feels like you either make a huge, simple club hit, or you stay underground and get complex. But it’s definitely possible to do both and I think that’s the ideal kind of Hip-Hop single.
Check out Pharoahe talking about writing the song:
Das EFX – Mic Checka This is another great example of a single that had complex flows and styles and was still a big track – it had a lot of clever references in there as well.
I think some of the punchlines in the track are similar to what is popular today, except Das EFX would flow rings around a lot of today’s popular rappers. I think many of the guys today underestimate the average fan’s ability to keep up with a complex flow and feel that they have to talk slowly over a track so that you’ll hear all the clever punchlines.
I don’t think you have to sacrifice interesting, intricate rhythms just so people can hear the line really clearly. I definitely know I appreciated hearing the mad styles Das EFX were kicking first of all and then I caught all the references on repeated listens—while some of the stuff today doesn’t grab me initially like that, so I’m not even bothered about checking out what they’re saying. Today’s guys have some very witty punchlines, I just wish they’d marry that to a high technical level of flow more often.
Check out how Dray from Das EFX keeps his flow interesting:
Royce da 5’9†– Boom Royce is one of the newer MCs who I think has a very strong grasp of flow, especially with making whole lines rhyme and keeping it tightly in the pocket. He doesn’t do crazy rhythms like a Tech N9ne or Das EFX, but he keeps it at a level of complexity where the flow is interesting and sophisticated. He sounds great over a Primo beat and I think he’s the kind of MC that up-and-coming artists would do well to study – he’s an MC first and foremost and he respects the craft and the pioneers.
Royce talks about today’s MCs and older MCs:
Tech N9ne – Welcome to the Midwest Tech N9ne is like a mad scientist of flow, and the first verse on this track is just insane. He’s got a lot of crazy verses and styles, but this track stands out to me in particular.
In this clip Tech explains his process for coming up with flows … it’s like a variation of Jazz scatting, but with the rhythms ramped up to a hundred.
I think by encouraging new MCs to study and find out about the different creative processes, MCing can keep expanding. I think the love for the art and the respect for what has been created and mastered so far is key, and I think Tech N9ne is an example of someone who has put in the work to gain mastery of the craft. Even with songs of his that I’m not crazy about, I can still hear the level of technique and mastery in his writing and delivery and I’d like to see more people with his talent pushed to the fore.
On his sophomore release, Everything Changed Nothing, up-and-coming L.A. rapper Trek Life reps his home city to the fullest, with at least three songs – one appropriately named So LA – serving as obvious odes to the City of Angels.
But Due West is a little different, a thoughtful narrative that steers away from cliched shout-outs and instead gives listeners “a good perspective on the black migration to Cali,” Trek says.
“I’ve always wanted to get into the history of Cali more and more since it seems like, from a rap perspective, Cali (LA specifically) only really goes as deep as the early 80’s.”
The chorus-less track rides a soulful horn loop – courtesy of Oddisee, who produced the album – as Trek reels off an inspiring verse that doubles as a history lesson.
Read more on Trek Life at the LA Times (natch) in a Q&A with Jeff Weiss, who turned me on to this great album.
The 46th installment of I Used to Love H.E.R., a series in which artists/bloggers/writers discuss their most essential or favorite hip-hop albums and songs, comes from Chris DeLine, the man behind the long-running and rather prolific (not to mention excellent) blog, Culture Bully. Chris shares with us “a few songs that helped shape my interest in hip hop.”
Maestro Fresh Wes – Let Your Backbone Slide
I don’t remember where or when I first heard it, I just remember that Let Your Backbone Slide has practically always been a part of my life. From what Wikipedia tells me the song was pretty popular state side as well as in Canada, but living north of the border for the majority of my life I can tell you that it stands as one of the few non-Tragically Hip songs that I can think of to be celebrated on such a level. Think Funky Cold Medina x Wild Thing in terms of its chances of being played at a party.
Coolio – Fantastic Voyage
Coolio came along at a time when I had practically zero interest in hip hop – for the most part I practically only listened to dance music; there were some exceptions like the Spin Doctors, Counting Crows & Aerosmith, but nine times out of 10 that’s what was in the cassette player. I was somewhere around 10 or 11 years old when Fantastic Voyage came along and at the time it was the playful (and sexy) music video which complemented the funky bounce of the song that really hooked me; something that was repeated on a similar level (sans sexy) with Coolio’s equally enjoyable 1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin’ New) in 1995. I remember that I kept this tape in the drawer of my desk rather than putting it on the self with my other music for fear that I’d somehow get in trouble if one of my parents saw the parental advisory sticker on the cover. Not that they were particularly interested in browsing through my music collection, but when you’re 10 and you have something that has a sticker on it explicitly warning parents about its contents, the item carries with it some sense of danger. Regardless of what kind of fame-whore, Juggalo wannabe Coolio’s evolved into, if it weren’t for tracks like Fantastic Voyage I would likely have never gained a similar ear for like-sounding rhymes and beats.
House Of Pain feat. Guru – Fed Up (remix) When I was in grade school I was on a competitive hockey team; I think I played for three or four seasons until my family had to move and I ended up quitting (I thought we moved for financial reasons … which we did, downsizing in many aspects of our life … so I told my parents I just didn’t want to play anymore. Years later this came up in discussion and apparently we weren’t hurting to the point where I had to quit. A shame in hindsight). One of the best memories I have was the team dynamic that was shared for a couple of seasons. While players moved up and down divisions based on their skill level, for at least two of those years I played with the same core group of kids. Never underestimate the power of winning to bring people together. Our warm-up music was made up of a selection dance music tapes … which in retrospect is absolutely ridiculous when you think about it … then again, acts like 2 Unlimited offered some pretty ill jock-jams back in the day. One of the favorites that came out of this was House of Pain’s Jump Around; or at least the edited version that we had on our K-Tel Dance Mix ’93 tapes. A few years later I was becoming increasingly interested in music and finding out what else was out there. The local library had a scattered selection of CDs to browse through so I typically ended up just snatching a dozen or so at a time, regardless of whether or not I knew what they were, and taking them home for a listen. On one trip I picked up House of Pain’s last album, 1996’s Truth Crushed to Earth Shall Rise Again. Granted, most all of it went right over my head and to this day I couldn’t tell you what the record sounds like … with one exception, that is. The remix of Fed Up really hit a spot with me then, and remains one of my favorite House of Pain tracks to this day (though in all honesty, the list of my favorite House of Pain songs isn’t a lengthy one). The song was also my introduction to Guru.
Beastie Boys – Root Down (live at Tibetan Freedom Concert) In 1997 I wasn’t old enough to gain a knowledgeable understanding of what exactly was going on in Tibet, or why musicians were lobbying for Tibet to be free (whatever that meant), but I was old enough to recognize that the lineup on the three-disc Free Tibet collection was sick enough to pony up the cash for. In retrospect there are far more bands on the 36-track mix that I’m interested in now than I was then … for those who aren’t familiar I’d recommend checking it out as the lineup offers a great cross section of musicians from that period. Despite the laundry list of fantastic musicians on the comp., back in ’97 I ended up spending quite a lot of time with Beasties & Root Down. The version might not be too different from the original, but the variation caught enough of my ear that it led me to spend a lot more time with the group. For a number of years Intergalactic was practically my favorite song, and strange enough, I might not have been so attracted to it had I never stood in a music store wondering what the hell Tibet was.
Funkmaster Flex & Wu-Tang Clan – Lay Your Hammer Down When I was in high school things weren’t really working for me: I didn’t particularly care about my grades, sports failed to hold my interest and the relationships I had with other kids were becoming increasingly superficial. I had heard about a program you could go into to work rather than take classes (essentially I’d go to school half the year, work the other half), and given my options I took that route. I went to work as a cook and for a couple years I met some ridiculous characters. That said, I was turned onto some great music along the way. Punk, rap & rave were key practically every day in the kitchen (oh, and James Brown… a lot of James Brown), and it was during this phase that I really latched on to Wu-Tang; I was familiar with the group before, but hadn’t really ever listened to any solo albums to that point. For the next couple years I remember Method Man being my favorite MC & Ol’ Dirty Bastard remains to this day one of the all-time greats in my book. While songs like Triumph and Protect Ya Neck are some of the best around and Bring The Pain was my favorite at the time, it was tracks like this Funkmaster collaboration that led me to dig a little deeper into the archives.
Now I am a Brooklyn-raised 80’s baby. So i was present as the Hip-Hop lexicon was in its genesis. All the Top-to-Bottom pieces on the entire Subway system, the B-Boy exhibitions on every corner, and the new and fresh sounds coming out of Boomboxes as they pass each other on the block made up my New York state of Mind. And no release in the 90’s signified all those elements more than 
The track that stood out immediately to my rhythmic sensibilities was played during the opening of the video: A Mess, the booth soaks in palacian musk, palaeer in vintage LRG, yes pure NS, uppowndet watermelon lips beat. The lengthy titles alone signify the inherent DOPENESS of the release. The biggest record to drop in 2010 (my honest opinion) parallels my own musical evolution. The “Nu Gangsta” motif exhibited by Palaceer Lazaro (formerly Ish of Digable Planets) & partner Palaceer Doug-e is a testament to DIY ethics. And focuses on the Music above all Else.
