What do I know about Lawrence, Kansas - other than how terrified I was as a child to witness its nationally-televised dramatized nuking? Not much. But I understand that people out there dig their soul music. And their BBQ. Stackswell, BSears and myself will be indulging in lots of both this weekend. It's on!
Thanks to Hsulu for passing along this highly entertaining vid of Jesse West explaining the art of chopping samples. The dude's still got some heat! (For real - peep what he does with "Misdemeanor.") Makes sense, since at West's Bronx Fire Academy, "Everything [they] do is... FIYA!!!"
J-Rock has a pretty cool new website up now featuring the story I wrote for Wax P a few years back on J, his classic album Streetwize, and the LP's executive producer Jeff Murphy (the real life inspiration for the single, "Neighborhood Drug Dealer"). Very flattering, tho I kind of wish they had gotten my name right. (Hey, misspelling a name with three letters ain't easy, but somebody's gotta do it; this woulda never happened on K-Solo's website.)
New edition of "Spine Blowing Decisions" available here. Mostly ancient school & late '80s personal favorites, amongst other things, including but not limited to:
This program also features a couple of heretofore unreleased treats that should (hopefully) be seeing official light of day any minute now. Enjoy!
So ego trip has been busy with a few things in the works. The most immediate of which is a documentary film series we're guest curating - with the help of the homie Andreas Vingaard - at the Maysles Institute in Harlem USA. Three evening programs over three months - the last Thursdays of January, February, and March. All of the programs are hip-hop related in some fashion; all feature one highly influential and renown piece of work paired with one that is rarely screened publicly. We kick things off a week from Thursday with 80 Blocks From Tiffany's (1979), director Gary Weis' chronicle of the real life characters of the Savage Skulls and Savage Nomads street gangs, and other members of the SBX community. If you've never seen it, it's an indispensible peek into the environment that spawned hip-hop's eventual creative explosion. Portions of it are on youtube:
I'd never heard of this film until Lord SHR broke out his OG VHS one day at the crib some years back. It's since become regular viewing around the et HQ. Worth seeing for the re-enactment scenes alone (there's one in which the crew acts out a burglary to the strains of Chico Hamilton's "Conquistadores.") And there's a cool block party scene set to Chic's "Everybody Dance." 80 Blocks is paired with Steve Goodman's Shotgun (1982), which ought to provide a very interesting contrast. Both filmmakers will be in attendance, as well as Ponce Laspina, former 5th Division President of the Savage Skulls, and Detective Robert Werner of the NYPD, who is prominently featured in 80 Blocks. So we'll have some discussion about the films afterwards - something youtube clips definitely cannot provide. You can pre-order tickets here. So show your support!
Red Greg comes highly recommended. A plethora of his heralded disco & soul mixes are available here. The other two guys DJ-ing aren't too shabby either. Plus they'll all be playing OG vinyl (this means something to some of us). And though the event is not a formal benefit, wine & beer bar proceeds b/t 7-9pm will be going to Unicef for Haitian earthquake relief. The venue will also be accepting suggested donations to Unicef for those who wish to help but don't wish to drink. Like the flyer says, no school or work Monday, so even hermits like yours truly can make it.
And while we're on the subject of giving, please also be sure to check the soulstrut.com Heatrocks For Haiti benefit record auction, as well as a similarly minded endeavor going on over at waxidermy.com. Bid on quality, rare records that have been donated for the cause. If you win, you're not only doing the right thing and sending money to help in the relief effort (via the charity of the seller's choice), but you get some cool music to enjoy as a bonus. If you bid and don't win you're still helping to raise more money. So there's really no excuse not to get involved.
For those of us who weren't there but think we know our sh*t, it's tempting to (erroneously) assume - between the Octopus, UBB, and Super Disco Breaks comps - that we know everything everyone was playing at jams back in the original school era. The more I get into it, though, the more impressed I am with how deep those dudes regularly got with theirs - way before so-called "beat digging" as a post-1990 practice came into being. When this monster anthology of live tapes came out a few years back I was admittedly kind of pleasantly shocked (tho I really shouldn't have been) when I heard Jazzy Jay doubling up on S.O.U.L.'s "Soul" at a Zulu Nation park jam from 1979(!). (And all this time I thought Frankie from Soul Kitchen was the man for playing it right after Done By the Forces of Nature dropped. Well, Frankie's still the man. But like I've said before, the pioneers were pioneers for a reason.)
Anyways, the above Arthur Prysock 12 is not elusive by any means. It's probably sitting in the cheap bin at every record shop downtown as I type this. Maybe that's why no one ever bothered to put it on a comp. But it is apparently an unheralded favorite of those from the OG BX era, and with good reason. The song itself is not something you'd ever play in full, but the break towards the end is great. I just dig the way it comes in - the orchestra hit, the way the strings hang on for an extra bar. If you happen to have the good fortune to be playing this when Jazzy Jay is nearby (even if he's outside smoking a cigarette), be prepared for him to Spidey sense that the record is on, and involuntarily jump behind the turntables to take over. Such is the power of Beat Arthur.
Coming up this weekend. The only other time Mr. Mark James guested on one of my nights a few years back, he rolled through with a gym bag packed with nothing but breaks. No sleeves, two copies of everything, the records all lined up so all he had to do was reach behind him into the bag and grab the next two, and keep the beats rocking. Sorta like this:
At our behest, he also put a little all 45s set together in advance of that night, which may or may not have served as the prototype for this youtube classic:
Whenever I'm feeling uninspired about whatever, watching the above six minutes of Handytrax mixing magic never fails to rejuvenate me. I recently noticed that Mark uploaded a two-part sequel. Different beats - largely his own more recent productions - but real similar in spirit. (And with Double J on the intro.) Those look suspiciously like his custom-made 45-sized Serato control records.
It probably goes without saying that 45 King is one of my all-time favorite hip-hop producers. Even the stuff featured above reflects some of the signature characteristics of his best known stuff (e.g. "The 900 Number," "Hard Knock Life") - a locked in pocket groove, and a sense of humor. The following also certainly falls into that category (and makes me wish he'd done more with the Roc during those pre-Kanye & Just Blaze years):
Most underrated aspect of 45 King's career: his rhyming. "45 King Kick It" from the Test Pressing LP is an underground classic. So is "The Free Style" with Marky Fresh off the "900 Number" EP. No one ever talks about this one even though it's the flip to "This Cut's Got Flavor." So simple, but so dope.
I got no clue what Mark has planned for Saturday. (When I spoke to him earlier this week he advised that I simply play "bullshit" before he spins to ensure the best reaction to whatever he comes up with.) But if it's any combination of the above I think we're looking good. In fact, if he simply walks through the door and cracks that infectious grin we're still good.
Some discussion yesterday of hoarding on the blackcrack list prompted Pittsburgh record dude (and Jerry's Records star employee) J. Malls to share the above. (No disrespect to Mr. Weber, but I gotta take issue with his classification of Lionel Richie's solo albums as "soul music.")
For a more artful take, the homie Zimmie put the above vid together from when I was in Steeltown last year.
This may seem illogical, but I believe the best way to prune down the collection is just to go out to record stores regularly. When you see all the stuff you haven't played in a while sitting out there selling for chump change, it's much easier to differentiate between essential useless records and just plain useless records.
The great Willie Mitchell passed away today. I was gonna post his slept-on five dollar funk bomb "My Babe" in tribute, but the always on point Funky 16 Corners is already on the case. What can anyone say about Mitchell's work that hasn't already been expounded upon by soul fans and rock critics alike over the past four decades? One can almost invariably recognize one of his productions from the first bar (if not the first note). That's a good thing. Because Mitchell's classic Hi Records sound - the fragile strings, bubbling organ, economic rhythm guitar, and rock steady pulse - may very well be the most reassuring sound in soul music history. Easy listening in only the best sense. These are a few of my favorites overseen by the man, the legend. Rest in peace.
