The Q-Tip Mix (Side A and Side B) brought an e-mail request (thanks, Matt) for a song called Sh.Fe.MC’s, a collaboration between De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest. It just so happens I have that puppy on vinyl on a De La EP called Clear Lake Audiotorium, which, in its original form (clear vinyl), was limited to 500 pressings. If Wikipedia is to believed (and, come one, I believe EVERY word on it), I have a bootlegged copy of Clear Lake because mine is on black vinyl. (And I probably was ripped off: I still have the receipt with the record – $25. Ah well. I was young and naive.)

Either way, the EP features four songs from De La’s great Buhloone Mindstate and two extras: Sh.Fe.MC’s and Stix & Stonz, featuring Grandmaster Caz, Tito of the Fearless Four, Whipper Whip, LA Sunshine and Superstar.

Nothing quite brings me back to such a time of music discovery as hearing De La and Tribe together. These guys were IT, the pinnacle. I went crazy for a time in the early-mid 90s, getting my hands on anything I could by these two groups – CD singles, cassette singles (ahem, “cassingles”), 12″ vinyl, anything (even bootlegs, apparently). And it was all far too sentimental to ever get rid of. So to have someone years later ask for it really makes me proud to be the pack rat that I am when it comes to music.

And to think I saw saw them live in 1993 (with Souls of Mischief) really blows me away more than 10 years later. Ah, stories for the grandkids.

De La Soul (feat. A Tribe Called Quest) | Sh.Fe.MC’s