Dakah Hip Hop Orchestra

Dakah Hip Hop Orchestra

"Wow!...you know this is me right here! Yo, can I borrow it?" - Lee

"Of course G, I trust you..." - SA

"...can I have it??..." - Lee

(gives off that laugh of his)

DJ Spanish Aztec had a lot of records. From time to time I borrowed a few singles but there was one record I just had to have if not AT LEAST dub from SA's stash and that was the Dakah Hip Hop Orchestra LP.  One of the illest Side A's and B's right here...a Hip Hop orchestra going through Roots & Gang Starr classics.  Starting with one of my all time favorite by The Roots ((Act Too, Love of My Life)).  

A shout out to the spirit of SA.  Had it not been for him, I may have never heard this record...not like this. This was one of those "wait til' you see what I got" phone calls when he checked his mail.  It was also the only LP from his stash that I borrowed and dubbed in its entirety from my turntable into my PC's sound card. Being kinda tech illiterate in 99', it took a lot of trial & error figuring out how to dub first into cassettes then finally into digital when my brother's God parents bought me my first PC a few years later.  A lot of questions no one seemed to have an answer for, Google searching, software downloads, and Radio Shack RCA cables until I finally rigged my set up to capture the sound I wanted off the needle... all the way to the end of the center plate.  

Even the silence of a vinyl record sounds like something. 

Check out this interview with Double G of the Dakah Symphonic Hip Hop Orchestra by Corry Banks for the BBoy Tech Report.  A great place to start to learn more about Dakah: click here

Here is a great video with Geoff 'Double G' Gallegos:

Keywords + Tag = Dakah Hip Hop Orchestra | Geoff Gallegos | Double G | vinyl | DJ Spanish Aztec | interdependence | Corry Banks | orchestra | Hip Hop | classic | symphony | wax | digging |The Roots | Gang Starr | LP | DJ SA

Things Fall Apart

The Story Behind the 5 Covers of The Roots

Things Fall Apart with Art Director

Kenny Gravillis: click here

This week listening to one of my favorite albums of all time, The Roots Things Fall Apart. Here is a story of the cover art by Kenny Gravillis by Richard Dryden at Complex. 

Senior year theme music, ((Double Trouble)) in the 99'.

Vinyl in the Sun City

All That Music

Vinyl in the Sun City

Check out a recent article by Halima Mansoor about vinyl sellers in El Paso, Texas, click here.

Helen Folasade Adu

Folasade

One of these days... I'm going to make a mixtape for Dad.  Call it Songs for My Father.  I inherited my love for Sade's music directly from him and everything about my Dad's 80s character.  Pops blended really well into just about every decade.  His experience is a musical timeline.

The photos on the Diamond Life vinyl cover is handled by Chris Roberts.  Sleeve design by Graham Smith.  When I think of this record I think of my old radio comrade Steph aka Moleman who put me onto Stuart Matthewman's Cotton Belly CD when we were live on air.  He's the sax and guitar on Diamond Life and a lot of soulful music that really defined my own music experience and what I like... going back to the songs of my father with Sade.

I'm looking forward to the day I begin the Songs for My Father mix.  Not to mention the Folasade Tape I've always wanted to assemble.  All Sade.

DJ Spanish Aztec

DJ Spanish Aztec

I'm signed up for a digital MP3 list-serve called MP3Waxx.  A lot of rap audios arrive through the list-serve, mostly mainstream with a couple of gems.  Each time I check out the MP3Waxx emails, my old friend DJ Spanish Aztec crosses my mind.  He'd often go through a bunch of list-serves and record pools he was a part of to round up what he wanted to put people on to. He was gracious enough to share those audios with a lot of people including me.  He did this for years.  Below are some words I wrote shortly after his funeral three years ago.  It talks about SA's love for music... whether vinyl or digital, his archive was deep.  I plan on assembling tracks from these record pools and maybe starting up a newsletter listserve to share with whomever wants free access to music.  All of these audios are sent out from the labels or people that represent their promo teams.  They're already available online for free.  If you're an eMCee, beat maker, musician, one of those folks that works at a label or just interested in having someone hear out your music, email repshowhost@gmail.com.  I recently got a volume started up of a few mainstream tracks I downloaded from MP3Waxx.  What I'm interested in doing though is combining the mainstream with the independent.  My heart is into underground but I listen to everything... this is what DJ SA was all about too whether he was just hanging out listening to music with you, at the radio station, or out dj'n somewhere.    

In the future I plan to use this blog to document DJ SA's story.  When he was alive we got the chance to sit down and talk about his life everything from the ups and downs.  He let me write about his experience at the time for a short story I was putting together for one of my English classes at NMSU.  We recorded his story on cassette tape in audio... hours of conversation starting with his born day.  I put some pieces of the memories he shared for the short story I wrote for class.  I plan on returning to that story, including those cassette tapes I have.  Blogger seems like a good permanent platform that's not behind something you need an account to access like FB or Tweet. So I think it's the best place where I can "archive" something like this without it getting lost in the world wide mix.  That's the plan.

If you're interested in a digital download of some music, email repshowhost@gmail.com. I'm calling the digital collections Mp3oBOX... the Mr. Postman Volumes.  We on volume 1 right now.  It's mostly all mainstream stuff that sounds pretty good but in the future there will be more variety.  Maybe it'll turn into something else we can connect to interviews to educate people on what's out there with links to support what these artist have for sale  In a simple way... just MP3, download, play.  Nothing else to it, no theyTunes, streams, nothing like that.  Just simple... MP3, download, play.  

Here's the write up about my good friend  It was posted online at the time but the whole site was removed about a year later when I decided to turn it into a blog.

Dedicated to SA. Peace.

In Memory of DJ SA

October 22, 1968-March 6, 2012

Thinking of 2012 and the meaning of HHA (Hip Hop Alumni) I want to dedicate this site to Joseph Troy Candelaria, who a lot of people, including myself, called DJ S.A. (Spanish Aztec, Still Alive, and a few other acronyms he told me about).  DJ SA passed away this year.  SA’s life revolved around family, his friends, and his two Technics turntables and the new digi-wax setup he was starting to get down.  One of the things I appreciated most about the brother was his passion for music which was a lot like mine.  He had a lot to say about it, and more than that, he had a lot to share.  Thinking on the end of this year, and time throughout the first decade of the millennium, I appreciate having had the chance to get on air with SA, to check him out at a few of his events, and also for his help for a couple times I needed a DJ.  He’d come through and represent straight out of love.  It wasn’t easy for SA to get around, but he never hesitated when I reached out.  I also really appreciated SA’s exchange of music.  I like to think I’m up on a lot of stuff and when I first got to know SA and his interest in music, I was hype to put him on to what I was listening to.  But from the jump, it was never just me telling him about the music I had, it was him telling me.  He always had a top 20, 30, or 40 new joints he had to talk about.  “Yo, listen to this G…” he’d say on the phone.  I’d be on the cell my ear pressed up against the phone speaker and he’d ask… “You know who this is?....”  I’d say, “Naw…Who is it…”  And he’d laugh. 

For a Doujah Raze record that I’d pass to him, he’d put me on to Y Society, and then I’d go back at him with some Pharcyde/Space Boogie X records, and he’d hit me over the head with some DJ Skratch Bastid.  It got to a point where I was receiving data discs from the dude every time we’d get together… “check this out, check that out”… “listen to this, listen to that”… “check out this old mix I did back in like, I don’t even remember (97’ or something)”…  And me being who I am, I couldn’t put my appreciation for this dude into words.  And beyond that, the hospitality of him and his wife, and young B, was bar none.  It wasn’t just about what I was listening to… this dude was always asking if I had eaten yet, or if I was hungry.  And by no means did SA have a lot of loot, but he treated you like he did, sometimes spottin’ a meal at a restaurant and just lookin’ out overall, whether it be music, food, or a prayer while one was going through their own challenges with health or life in general. 

This post is for somebody I think of every time I’m listening to music by myself.  Just today I was going through some files and found a digital vinyl recording of a record he had lent me that I dubbed from the Dakah Hip Hop Orchestra.  I’mma miss all them boxes SA had in his living room that towards the last few months before he passed he never got the chance to share.  It was a bunch of music that him and his fam had recovered from his old days diggin’.  And what’s crazy is he usually has no problem showing you everything in the stash, but all them boxes he took home from EP was just too much.  In my mind I think of the Liquids Swords record he had flipped his hands through and a lot of Funkdoobiest stuff and crazy remixes that I couldn’t wait for him to share once he started to feel better and out from under the weather. 

There are a lot of songs, a lot of old mixtapes, CDs, tapes of recorded shows, that I look forward to going through some day just to share.  Cause that’s what dude was all about.  Getting people to hear that new, or old, instead of the same ole’ … So yeah, when I think of HHA (Hip Hop Alumni), I think of dudes like SA.  Who in their own way contributed a lot… And when you get around to learning about where he came from, what he had experienced, and survived… it’s  real interesting story when it comes to what Hip Hop means to us, whether we’re on our own, with our family, or with others.  Whether you be an MC, a beatmaker, a DJ, or an educator.

With much love, respect, and rememory of the big homie, DJ SA.

Nina Simone 1969

Nina Simone 1969

It was the Train of Thought record by Reflection Eternal that put me on to Nina Simone.  The turn of the century introduced a lot of classic records, and one of my favorite songs on Train of Thought was ((Four Women)).  Before he starts rapping Talib talks about the Nina Simone original ((Four Women)). 

I can't remember where I found the LP To Love Somebody.  I have very few Nina Simone records on vinyl.  This one is the first Nina LP I've ever found and its definitely up there as one of the worst cover designs I've ever seen for such a great record.  I love every minute of it.

Here's a note on the back of the LP cover by Claude Hall.  Also noticed the album features Weldon Irvine, Jr. on the organ.

"In the mansion of the mind, where a song feeds only on the nebulous winds of imagination and emotion, Nina Simone walks in musical grandeur where few others dare stray.  She can be warm and tender, or she might turn into a storm of anger, boiling in the fury of the song.  Yet she is so great she communicates human understanding and affection for her fellow beings even while she attacks the towers of Wrong or Prejudice lyrically."

Beautiful.

Keywords + Tag = Nina Simone | To Love Somebody | Weldon Irvine | vinyl | Talib Kweli | Hi-Tek | RCA Records | lyrical | Claude Hall | Four Women | records | wax | digging | Revolution | The Times They are A-Changin' | music | soul | Hip Hop | 2000 | 1969 | organ | vocalist | singer | classic

MC Zoolor's (Viva Cugat!)

MC Zoolor's (Viva Cugat!)

I picked up the Viva Cugat! LP by Xavier Cugat at All That Music.  This record was solely responsible for setting off The Lee Jun Fan Tape, a mixtape project dedicated to Bruce Lee that I put together.  I was looking for a "cha-cha" sound as reference to what I read about Bruce Lee being a really good dancer.  I read somewhere that he taught people how to cha-cha as he made his way over the Pacific to the \/\/est side of America.  Whether or not that is true, what's special about this record is the sound of certain instruments similar to sounds I've heard in some of Bruce Lee's films.  On the Cugat record, certain breaks sounded like someone was hitting two ends of nunchuck together in a hallow room.  It's real amazing.

I decided to Audio Scribe this record.  The Audio Scribe process pertains to records I've identified in my stash that hold a lot of weight or purpose to my life.  As I was going through the transcription process I had my little brother recreate the cover art.  I thought the name he signed below at the time was hilarious.  He go by MC Zoo.  On the piece its signed MC Zoolor's.  

Our nephew gets down with the artwork too.  We'll see if he's interested in hooking us up with some LP recreations some day.   

Here's a quote from the LP cover about Xavier Cugat...

"Cugat's long and fabulous musical journey had its beginnings in a cafe in Barcelona, Spain.  There, in the twenties, he was found playing the violin by the great Italian tenor, Enrico Caruso.  So impressed was the world-famous opera star by what he heard that he retained the young fiddler and took him on a tour to America.

In the course of their joint travels, Caruso discovered that young Cugat's talents reached into areas other than music.  The youngster handled a drawing pen as skillfully as the violin bow.  Since Caruso was himself an amateur artist, the two amused themselves on their journeys by drawing caricatures.  Cugat's caricatures have since appeared in many of the country's large circulation magazines, among them Life."

Child of the 80s - For Danielle

Child of the 80s - Chapter 1

For Danielle

Danielle aka 'D'.  

Our b-days are separated by two days, same year, 1981.  Aries!

Child of the 80s Chapter 1 Mixtapes

Original (Lee aka repshowhost) | Belinda

#HHbeAtz10

hiphopalumni.com/hhbeatz10

#HHbeAtz10

I was inspired early on by a love for beats.  At the turn of the century having access to Hip Hop vinyl, for me, was all about the instrumental versions.

Before that... when I arrived to college, the internet was just starting to pick up.  I heard about Napster but knew nothing about the internet, computers, or downloading.  In 1999, I didn't own a computer yet and knew very few people that did.    At the computer labs on campus I'd click Netscape and wander the world wide web reading whatever.  Using search engines I ran into a few corners of the web that had information about Hip Hop music.

In middle and high school, my Hip Hop collection was built from what I picked up exchanging cassette tapes with classmates, from the tapes my father brought back from his deployments overseas, from what I saw on BET's Rap City with Big Lez & Joe Clair, or YO!MTV Raps with Ed Lover & Dr. Dre... or from the few times I had enough to buy a tape or CD from a local music store or the flea market, and from rip off CD subscription plans like BMG and Columbia House.  The extent of my family's vinyl collection was the Soul that survived the CD wave now stuffed in a closet space and underneath the bed.   

Fast forward time, back to the college computer lab freshman year and I discovered a webpage called Da Vault that had a catalog of instrumentals and unreleased tracks. The guy running the site made about $15 per CD (money orders only).  I'd learn what a rewritable CD was through Da Vault but still had very little knowledge about the digital mp3 and how accessible it was.  When I was at the computer lab I spent a lot of time searching Da Vault's catalog, learning about some of my favorite Hip Hop songs without words, just beats.  I recall wondering where and how he was able to get all that music on one CD.  Prior to that time, the only way I knew you could make a copy of something was to do it on cassette.  The extent of how I shared music with people was all about filling up both sides of a 90 minute Memorex cassette tape.

My first Hip Hop 12-inch single w/ instrumentals was Ras Kass ((Jack Frost)) w/ B-Side ((Anything Goes Remix)) that I found at an Albuquerque record shop along with a compilation vinyl by The Originators that had a Big L track I wanted.  This was the beginning of a beat budget and an 8 year journey doing college radio.  Doing radio gave me access to more music than I ever knew existed.  I'd spend hours at the radio station.  Even managed to finesse my way into working on staff as a music director just so that I could have access to the promos coming in the mail.  Through the radio station I picked up the halves on digital media and editing.  Started learning about record pools and charting and picked up a lot from the collections of other radio personalities that would come through.  I also built a lil' web space for myself around 2000 called leehiphopshow.com.  Got a lot more familiar with the net too discovering sharing platforms like SoulSeek and online music stores like SandboxAutomatic, Dusty Groove, and spaces like Turntable Lab that always had serious supply of instrumental vinyls from some of my favorite producers.  That was my sole purpose for getting a set of turntables and other equipment I'd need to extract audio onto tape and later on into digital form.  Whether it was for talk overs or freestyles live on air, or to listen to for school work, or simply for my every day soundtrack, thinking through my headphones...everything I was learning was all for the BEATS.  Early on, it was instrumental LPs like Madlib's The Unseen, everything and anything by J Rawls, Pete Rock, the Liquid Swords Instrumental LP, of course J Dilla, everything by The RZA in the 90s, Mobb Deep (Havoc), all production out of QB, down south music from Dungeon Family & Organized Noize production, Death Row's music (Dr. Dre, Snoop), DJ Quik, MC Eiht's producers, and the genius of projects like Illmatic.  It got to a point where the only reason I wanted to make sure I kept my grades right and not lose financial aid, was so that I could continue participating in student radio and having access to free music.  One of the first online radio programs I set up was a strictly beats platform called InstrumentalLive365.  There was also an entire semester where I had the opportunity to host an instrumental only radio slot.  Also figured out how to setup automation so that towards the end of the night and on into the early morning, if you put on 91.5 FM, you were hearing nothing but BEATS.  Learning what I knew at this point about digital media and editing, I stuffed the radio station database with as much music as I could for anyone to access and play.

HHbeAtz10 is basically a homage to the Hip Hop instrumental.  It's my current top 10.  A charting of official Hip Hop projects without words.  It's a focus on today's Hip Hop beatsmiths.  I'm planning to do some interviews through twitter.com/hiphopalumni (@hiphopalumni) when I get the chance.  Plan to also post a few interviews I've done in the past with beat makers.  Will plan on posting thoughts on the latest projects I'm #listening to and keeping the top 10 as up to date as possible.  I want to send a shout out to my boy Dune and the Fresh Produce Online radio show, which is where HHbeAtz10 is inspired from.  If I thought I knew a lot about Hip Hop beat makers before, the Fresh Produce program put me on to a whole other world of beat makers out there.

To the Hip Hop instrumental chefs, thank you.  Ya'll are Hip Hop's pulse and the inspiration for MC's that got something to say, especially for those that speak from the heart.  Hip Hop beats are conversations, a lot of questions and answers.  Deep stories that many of us have memorized only to revisit time and time again.

Wish I knew how to make beats.

Introducing HHbeAtz10.

Check twitter.com/hiphopalumni #HHbeAtz10.

The first top 10 is featured in the image above and include:

Pete Rock - PeteStrumentals2

Large Professor - Mega Philosophy

IV the Polymath - When and Where

Damu the Fudgemunk - Public Assembly 2

Kev Brown - Brown Album Instrumentals

The Beatfonics Crew - Beatxploitation, The Blacktape Vol. 7

Apollo Brown - Thirty Eight

J.Rocc & Med - Theme Music Instrumentals

Crown City Rockers - Earthtones Instrumentals

Klaus Layer - For the People Like Us

More projects currently under review.  Within the week will definitely add the Lord Finesse SP1200 Project.  And next listen, Drasar Monumental & Ayatollah...

  

Child of the 80s - For Belinda

Child of the 80s - Chapter 1

For Belinda

An original from the 80s era.  Shout out to Belinda.  The photo features B' diggin' in Hollywood circa 1980s with combat boots!  For the story on the mix including track list click here.

To receive your copy of the mix send an 80s picture of yourself and some back story to repshowhost@gmail.com.  Include first name.

2015 LHHS Charts 10 | #LHHS10

 2015 LHHS Charts 10 | #LHHS10

It's been a while since the last LHHS Charts update.  A busy start to 2015 but never too busy not to put on some new music to start a day or close the night.  It's February 2015 now, and after hearing the latest from Raw Poetic and DJ K-Def from ReDefinition Records I felt it would be a good time for an update.  Their record, Cool Convos in Quantum Speech set off 2015 for me.  In thinking about that, it also had me reflecting on what came out at the close of 2014 that I've been listening to lately.  

This begins with talking about Good Morning Vietnam III, The Phoenix Program by MF Grimm and Drasar Monumental.  For me, I'm not sure I can be convinced of a better 2014 record than GMVIII.  Whether we're talking about wordplay, production, the creative process attached to this record as the conclusion of a trilogy, and everything else connected to why we consider what we consider great or better than the other... for me this record is in a Hip Hop conversation of its own, that perhaps is better left for people to listen to and absorb over time, rather than expecting for others to pick up on it.  I don't know.  What I do know, is as I change my top records list for LHHS (featured to the left of this write up), I got GMVIII above it all.  I can't even think of what it's going to take to replace this record from that spot.  While I listen to everything as its own project, if I'm asked, "what was your favorite record of 2014..."  I'm going with GMVIII.  Let's see what 2015 delivers. 

The next record is from an MC that deserves continuous praise and that's Junclassic.  Especially in his involvement with producers and what he's connecting through his music.  On his latest masterpiece, Words are Weapons, we got Maniac on the beats.  This record waste no time from one track to the next and with each feature.  Everything about it to me, is dope.  And if its your first time listening to Junclassic's music, its a perfect place to start as I encourage that listeners retrace their ears back to a discography worth listening to, sharing, and talking about.  Jun's also hard at work with the visuals providing fans with his physical presence if you look him up on YouTube.  

Other records I've enjoyed include the remix project by Ali Shaheed Muhammad with Souls of Mischief on the There is Only Now, originally produced by Adrian Younge, who's also attached to the real dope Phryme record between the legendary production of DJ Premier and Royce Da 5'9.  In addition, really loved the interview on The Combat Jack Show with J Cole and what we learned about his latest effort with the 2014 Forest Hills Drive record. Other mentions that I want to get into include what I've been hearing from MC Melodee of La Melodia through multiple projects she put out in 2014 including the Crunch Time EP and of course the Zion I crew who's latest EP The Sun Moon and Stars is on my list to check for.  People been active these days on EP projects.

On top of that, I missed out on a lot of other records I hope to hear soon.  But this is where I'm at for my charts and what I've enjoyed in the past few months.  You can see the lists to the left of this message (scroll down).  Having just got my hands on the Lord Finesse SP1200 Project, Large Pro's touch on the Mega Philosophy record, Apollo Brown's .38 project, and one I've got on repeat by the incredible production of IV the Polymath, When and Where, I've decided to separate a top 10 exclusively for instrumental projects called #HHbeAtz10.  I've accumulated a few projects to kick off the top 10, including some incredible work I've been listening to via the Fresh Produce camp with the Beatphonics crew.  

This post if anything, is also a note of thanks to all artist, groups, producers, eMCees that continue to bless our troubled times with the peace, joy, and creative therapy of music.  As Malcolm X said, "history is best qualified to reward our research"... this includes our music.   

Peace.    

Tapes & Wires Mixtape Series | repshowhost

Tapes & Wires

The Mixtape Series

I've been reppin' The Wire since episode 1 when it premiered on HBO.  I was in the formative years of my undergrad life living in the dorms resident halls at NMSU... I recall being the only one in the lobby with my bag of McDonald's during my summer & winter employment as a resident advisor anticipating the next episode off the TV attached to the upper corner wall.  

It's a brilliant show and something I found out about watching The Corner series, which involved Charles S. Dutton (who I was big on during the years of the TV show Roc and several films like First Time Felon & Convicted starring Omar Epps)... The Corner was pre-Wire with writing from David Simon and Ed Burns and my introduction to several cast members I was able to identify later on in The Wire.  Before that my interest in The Corner was locked in when I found out Sean Nelson was one of the leads.  I knew of Nelson through his debut in the classic film Fresh.

After finishing the final season of The Wire, I decided to return to the beginning and just lock in on each episode, chop up the dialogue and re-articulate the mood & tone through mixtape form, blending in & out of dialogue from the film and dialogue that connected with my own community, the drug war, and of course the messages & tones of Hip Hop, Jazz, Soul, Blues, spoken word, and any genre that was included in the film's soundscape.  My goal at the time as I arranged episode.1 was to create a Tapes & Wires series for each episode (one mixtape per episode).  And as the world binges on the HD Wire marathon currently being televised on HBO, I wanted to document this mixtape and share the tracklist on the web.

Until episode.2 through 60, stay tuned and follow updates at the HHA twitter.com/hiphopalumni and of course the Tape Decks blog here.

Tapes & Wires episode.2 in progress...

Keywords + Tag = The Wire | David Simon | Ed Burns | The Corner | Charles S. Dutton | HBO | Fresh | Sean Nelson | First Time Felon | Convicted | Tapes & Wires | episode | Stringer | McNulty | Avon Barksdale | D'Angelo Barksdale | Kima | Herc | Carver | Special Agent Fitzhugh | Wee-bey | Lieutenant Daniels | Deputy Ops | Operation Diesel | Bodie | Wallace | Bubbles | Johnny | Baltimore | El Paso | It's All in the Game

#kruxlife KRUX 91.5 FM Archive / New Mexico State University

#kruxlife

KRUX 91.5 FM

New Mexico State University

With more than a hundred cassette tape recordings of the KRUX 91.5 FM years 2000-2008, I've decided to make the Hip Hop Alumni (HHA) Soundcloud page home for recordings and clips from the show to include interviews, freestyles, rotations of specific songs, microphone time, shout outs, playlist run downs, jokes, debuts, drops, and anything else I can find going through tapes.  We will archive the recordings on Soundcloud.  I may also create a backup online to avoid the audios being removed or blocked for any reason.  We start with the Carlos Andres Gomez recording of 'Wordsworth'... a poem that was laid down over a lanline phone conversation after poet Monte Smith connected us to the opportunity.  You can hear the 'Wordsworth' piece at the link below and above.  With each update we'll also load up the MP3 download.  You can peep updates at Hip Hop Alumni's twitter.com/hiphopalumni page by searching #kruxlife. 

We weren't the first Hip Hop show there nor the last.  If you have recordings, especially sessions from days past (as I know there was a Hip Hop radio slot in the early 90s) shoot me a note at repshowhost@gmail.com.  Would love to listen and work on adding other recordings to the archive.

For anybody familiar and those that aren't... KRUX is a special place.  The only radio station around, other than Street Beat in ABQ, New Mexico where the rules of rotation are determined by the disc jockey themselves.  Our antenna's reach wasn't very strong but once the web stream opened up a lot of folks got the chance to be heard from all around.  The station has a lot of life because of the opportunity it presents to the student body and with that it has a really cool history too, though we don't know much about it.  Perhaps that'll be something I can use this blog to document if I get the chance to dig into past archives, articles, or anything that might be on record of KRUX's beginnings. 

#kruxlife

KRUX 91.5 FM Archive / Soundcloud: click here

Carlos Andres Gomez Rotation 'Wordsworth': Download / MP3

The Representation Show October 29, 2004 Playlist: click here

Waxpoetics Issue No. 1 & 2, The Hunt for the Quarterly Journal

Waxpoetics Issue No. 1 & 2, The Hunt for the Quarterly Journal

During a Friday Rep$hop radio show on KRUX 91.5 fm that I hosted with Stephon aka Moleman, he had a magazine.  He mentioned there were copies of the Waxpoetics issue over at the local Hastings that I should check out.  By this time (2004 or 05') I had grown exhausted of magazines like the Source and XXL.  Also lost touch with other subscriptions including Slam Magazine.  I could never figure out which issue they were on since the dates were always ahead of when I got them.  In one of their issues they explained why, but as a student with a changing address every four months, I got disinterested trying to keep up on my Slam reads, monthly, bi-monthly or whatever schedule they were on. 

Enter Stephon's recommendation of Waxpoetics.  

When he first told me about the magazine, I let time pass considering I'd already given up on magazines unless there was something unique about the cover story that related to stuff I collected.  I accumulated tons of Slam issues since 92', and sliced up my Source magazines to decorate dorm rooms and ceiling tile with Rawkus and Infamous promos when  ((Quiet Storm/White Lines)) dropped, followed by Prodigy's solo H.N.I.C... I also scissored and taped up anything else that I could detach from magazines like the Source that had already become publications thickened by paper commercials.  Music television had experienced a few deaths by this time and the digitization of music as we knew it started to takeover like track two from the Blueprint. 

I don't remember which issue it was from Waxpoetics that stopped me in my tracks.  I just know the rotation Steph and I traded live on air between our .45, vinyl, CD, digital collections reminded me of what I was reading in Waxpoetics.  It was a crate digger's publication, and an opportunity as a reader to anticipate and collect something again...  the stories in the publication were a perfect blend... each with its own music playing in the background of the reader's imagination.  

So I subscribed. 

About a dozen issues had already passed when I finally got on.  So in addition to getting on track, I started to dig into back issues of what I missed during those Rep$hop semesters... With each publication that came in, I'd reach back and purchase an issue until I got to no. 2.  I remember a time noticing no. 1 & 2 available on the Waxpoetics website and thinking there was no way I was going to pay a $100 for a magazine... I thought maybe someday I'd find the issue on another site like Dusty Groove or somewhere else... something had to come up to avoid digging too deep into my pockets.  

That day never came.     

So over the years I've kept up with my collection of Waxpoetics since issue no. 3.  I'm way behind on reading... some issues are still in the protective plastic they arrived when I pulled them from the post office box.  It took a resolution last year that I'd organize my reading routine and give myself more time to flip through pages of my books and magazines and listen to each track of my CDs, records, and downloads.  Otherwise, I'd miss out on what simply started to accumulate faster than I could keep up.   

So with a more patient and organized approach I'm finally reading my books & magazines, listening to my music and on occasion finding time to follow up with writers, artist, musicians, etc. to develop my own interviews, stories and write ups like the radio dayz.

Reading through issue No. 58 in its entirety, it made me think about those lost issues again... fast forward to this past month and I was able to locate issue no. 1 & 2 on EBay.  I've never used EBay to bid.  Never been interested in bidding as I don't trust the process it takes to try to outbid on a max amount you don't know.  Especially as the clock starts ticking.  But with issue no. 1 staring back at me through the laptop display, I decided to give the online bidding war a shot and won within the last minute.  I lost what became a ceiling-less dollar value for issue no. 2.  

When the smoke cleared, I did a quick search and found hope for issue no. 2 on Amazon.  By the next day my search for the lost Waxpoetics quarterly journals ended and I had both magazines ordered & on their way to a shelf that's been waiting for over a decade.  

This completes a Waxpoetics story I look forward to reading starting with issue no. 1.

      
Keywords + Tag = Waxpoetics | music | soul | funk | jazz | blues | Representation Show | Soul Session | Rawk$hop | Steph | Stephon | Moleman | Baron Von GuacaMølé | KRUX | KRUX 91.5 | radio | Andre Torres | The Source | XXL | Slam | magazine | publications | Hastings | quarterly journal | Hip Hop | reading | literature | music | story

Diggin' w/ Dune ((Trip 1)) / The Dig

Diggin' w/ Dune ((Trip 1))

November 22, 2014 marked the first of hopefully many diggin' trips with the homie/beatsmith Dune.  In the past, a majority of the time I went digging solo or picked up records when I was able to make a quick stop at a local Goodwill, music shop, estate sale, or word of mouth with people that wanted to give up their vinyl.

Diggin' w/ Dune is the first dig collab... the beginning.  We documented the trip through pictures and audio recordings at the Olde Post.  Working in the conversation with with what we decided to buy, I plan on piecing together an audio mixtape collage of Trip 1.  At the gallery link below you'll find shots of records we stopped to talk or joke about... While digging is of course a music thing, its just as much about the visual and what the covers communicate to us... whether it's a throwback to a show we use to watch or something nostalgic that reminds us of something else.  The search took time and was a cool experience collaborating with B.Dune.  Will post info about the mix once its available.  May take a while.

Diggin w/ Dune ((Trip 1)) Photos: click here


Follow Tape Decks's board Diggin' with Dune Trip 1 on Pinterest.

Keywords + Tag = B.Dune | Dune | New Mexico | The Olde Post | Rose | Roy Clark | Marvin Gaye | Camerface | Wizard of Oz | folk | soul | Scott | cha-cha | vinyl art | record cover | digging | record collecting | vinyl | wax | Herb Alpert | Al Green | Aretha Franklin | Miami Vice | Furious Anger | Shyheim | Big L | Pete Rock | Isaac Hayes | San Francisco | The Bay Area | Beatles | cards | card collecting | Steely Dan | Three Dog Night | Alice Cooper | Good and Dusty | Grandfunk Railroad | E.T. | DJ Digumsmak | DJ Q-Bert | Leon Redbone | Two Ton Machine | Chinatown | beat production | building | Ravi Shankar | Alex North | Lalo Schifrin | Richard Pryor | Walt Frazier | Pinterest | Sam & Dave | Teddy Riley | Teddy P | shamrock7 | Marty Robbins | Gloria Gaynor | Johnny Hoffman | Frederick Collay | Fresh Produce | Menace II Society | Burger King | Sonic | El Paso | Las Cruces | Alamagordo

Medley: SOUL MESSAGE - Diggin' w/ Dune November 22, 2014

Medley: SOUL MESSAGE

Going for a dig in the afternoon with my OGSV b.rother Dune.  To listen, I'm bringing along a favorite mixtape I put together about six years ago dedicated to the life of Isaac Lee Hayes, Jr.  It's part of the repshowdigital (RSD) file, subtitled Tape Deck Bound....the tape is split in two sides A & B and its tied together mostly by Hayes music and voice (interviews). The mixtape itself is titled Medley: Soul Message.  A long time fan of Hayes, I decided to arrange the music after finding out Hayes had passed away.

Included below... the covers with track list for both sides.

Keywords + Tag = Isaac Hayes | digging | New Mexico | B.Dune | ogsv | original soulverse | Isaac Lee Hayes, Jr. | Black Moses | Gil Scott-Heron | Sly & The Family Stone | Joe Bataan |  Nina Simone | The Dells | Shaft | medley | Soul Message | soul message | records | vinyl | documentation | history | Sly & the Family Stone | Marvin Gaye | podcast | Tape Decks | repshowdigital | repshowhost

Track-for-Track (TFT♪) Session: For What You've Lost

Track-for-Track (TFT♪) Session

For What You've Lost 

by Raashan Ahmad

In 2008, I took everything I accumulated during the college years in New Mexico back home to Texas and stacked it in storage.  Just a couple of years ago, my cousin's grandfather, with his bare hands as he would say (and show) built me a sturdy massive "vinyl" shelf from scratch painted black with multiple partitions where I could "organize" all my vinyl, CDs, and cassette tapes.  Before, all my music was stacked behind something, on top of something or inside of something... so the shelf acts as a space of access... a way to see what's there and to give those audios the light of day... especially now that I have the chance to pull out a record, reflect on it, and listen to it over & over & over again whether I'm in the car, at work, or exercising.  

During the radio years, the goal was to stay current and to highlight albums we wanted a listener to anticipate & support.  With the process of CMJ charting, receiving promos, spending money on records we wanted, downloading, sharing back at the dorms... before half the year was up we had already ran through more than a hundred projects.  So today, with the Track-for Track (TFT♪) Session, as I'm listening to records collected throughout the years (and now), I'd simply like to take some time to document & share info on specific records.  Whether its stuff I read about in the liner notes, find on YouTube, or discover on my own through potential interviews... I thought it would be a cool to leave a digital footprint of these records on free access points like Blogger and Twitter, especially for the web visitor out there stumbling through search engines or for anyone else that's down to  check for something they haven't heard.  I'm a big fan of book projects like Check the Technique by Brian Coleman and been following magazines like Waxpoetics since their inception... so this is just a fan's way of digging in the crates and files and sharing these notes on the world wide web.  Note that TFT♪ will focus on records I got up there as timeless and won't necessarily focus on just Hip Hop or current music.  These may also not be records familiar to the common classic album conversations we have or hear over and over again (same records, same points).  I plan to cover records of any period and genre that resonate with me and that are pulled out of this shelf my cousin's grandfather built.  So it will be my intention to deviate away from records we know we love and can't stop talking about (insert any of the Nas, Dre, Biggy, Wu Tang debuts here).

TFT♪ is also inspired by the first record I wanted to talk about and that's Raashan Ahmad's For What You've Lost.  This goes back to discovering the Mission album in the old KRUX 91.5 fm Archive room, and learning about the Crown City connection through an aol friend, and on to following the music careers of all its members, especially frontline lyricist, Raashan Ahmad.  As I mentioned in conversation, every time I hear Raashan Ahmad rhyme, I'm reminded that I need to reassess who I consider my "favorite" MCs.  I think everyone should, especially if you haven't heard of Raashan Ahmad or the band members he rocks with.

  

For What You've Lost was a difficult record to come by where I'm located.  The Twitter feed of TFT♪'s first session will highlight a couple of notes about that including a track for track break down of the artist(s) featured on this record as well as anything I'm able to find online (including videos, interviews, sounds, etc.).

To view the For What You've Lost TFT♪ Session you can click on the Twitter link below.

For What You've Lost (TFT♪) on Twitter: click here

Follow Hip Hop Alumni on Twitter at twitter.com/hiphopalumni

Peace!    

Keywords + Tag = Raashan Ahmad | Beautiful Ugly | Crown City Rockers | Mission | For What You've Lost | Trad Vibe Records | Hey Now | Musicast Distribution | Rumble | Headnodic | Stro the 89th Key | The Procussions | Katrah-Quey | Aloe Blacc | My Imagination | Gift of Gab | Blackalicious | Rita J | Understanding | Moe Pope | Taku | In Love with Wax | Adam Theis | trombone | Count Bass D | Hip Hop Alumni | Tape Decks | LHHS | Lee | Sunshine | Sylya Nymoen | Mitsu | Capital D | moog | DJ Hahf | Noelle Scaggs | Paper Plane Project | Remember | Ragen Fykes | Caitlin Meissner | Pain on Black | Soul Square | Dominic Lalli | saxophone | Katra-Quey | Falling |  Moe Pope | repshowhost | These Foolish Things | Bay Area | Boston | San Francisco | California | international | Woodstock | The Feel Good

((Southsiders)) by Atmosphere / 1Track@aTime 7.12.2014

1Track@aTime 7.12.2014
((Southsiders))

Until the return of the Fresh Produce show I'd like to highlight the last 1Track@aTime rotation this summer back on July 12th which we designated for Atmosphere's latest off the Rhymesayers Entertainment label, Southsiders.  The track, same title as the album, ((Southsiders)) was the focus with another rotation ((Mrs. Interpret)).  Enjoyed the record, shout to the Co-Sign Collective.  Below included some info quoted from the MC, Slug on the promotional file... 

"I'm starting to think, what is a post family man?  What am I supposed to rap about now?  I'm sticking to my roots, rapping about what I'm doing, why I think about.  This record is - much like the other ones - a very detailed look at my life."  

This one's for Dune's 22nd mixlr show of the year. 

Keywords + Tag = Atmosphere | Slug | Rhymesayers | Rhymesayers Entertainment | Co-sign Collective | Southsiders | Mrs. Interpret | The Fresh Produce Show | Fresh Produce | Dune | 1Track@aTime | 1 Track @ a Time | Hip Hop | Underground | Ant | Anthony Davis | Sean Daley | eighth | album | 2014 | summer | May 6, 2014

((Get Hip)) by PUTS / 1Track@aTime 7.5.2014

1Track@aTime 7.5.2014
((Get Hip))

PUTS.  People Under the Stairs.  This duo consist of Thes One and Double K.  I first heard of this group during our early years on KRUX from co-host and college radio DJs like Justin aka Kooch and the 12s people brought into the booth.  This group, PUTS... man.  One of the all time greatest.  The best.  They're a duo to reference anytime we're talking about HH legends, especially out of the state of California.  During the early part of the millennium right around 9-11, I started learning about a bunch of groups from out West, like Cali Agents, a lot of the Good Life artist, Madlib and the Lootpack... everything off Stones Throw including my favorite from Declaime AndSoItIsSaid... Emanon, the BLX crew, 4th Avenue Jones, one of my all time favorite MCs ever...OMNI (from BLX), of course J-5, Aceyalone, all the Heiro crew, Zion I, and the list goes on and on and on... radio rotation of music like this was well represented on 91.5 FM at the time.  

When it comes to People Under the Stairs... man... With 12 Step Program, this is their 9th record and I can't think of any disappointing PUTS albums...  It's not like some artist that experience sophomore slumps, or break up records, make up records, or those records that were caught in the creative lockdown of the "powers that try to be, but will never be" Hip Hop... PUTS music is simply dope.  When we talk about consistency... and the concept of creating from the core...that's what I hear when I'm listening to PUTS.  And if you've never heard of PUTS, you've got 9 albums to work with... so get familiar (doesn't count solo works/collabs, etc. when you start doing your research). 

You can hear rotation from the new record that ogsv brother Dune dropped on the Fresh Produce mixlr online radio program ((click here to listen)) ...peep the latest program Show#21 which broadcasted live July 6th.  You'll hear our 1Track@aTime rotation of ((Get Hip)) and what is the first single off the record ((1 Up Til Sun Up))...you can check out the video for the PUTS single on YouTube.

1Track@aTime's focus on PUTS was right on time for Dune to promote the upcoming event further North in Albuquerque, NM that will include PUTS, Lyrics Born, Afro Classics, and Scarub of the Living Legends... July 26, 2014 at Sister. 

Aside from that make sure to search the net, learn about PUTS through Google, YouTube the videos, interviews, and check the history...especially the PL70.net website to learn more about their mission and their approach to true independence from the corrupted music industry.  No other music has called to be independent from the traps of the music business like Hip Hop and I hope there is more to learn from Thes One's vision and artist that are connected to that mission.  I hope it lasts just as long as they have and that common fans out there come around to supporting these movements whether its through purchasing the music (whether hardcopy or digital), buying the merchandise, passing the word, checking for events, working the music into rotation somehow, TALKING about groups like PUTS and PL70.net, creating content around these ideas, etc.).

Set PUTS at no. 1 for the LHHS Charts this summer... the first time this has changed since Asheru dropped Sleepless in Soweto.

Peace.

Keywords + Tag = PUTS | People Under the Stairs | Thes One | Double K | California | Get Hip | 1 Up Til Sun Up | 12 Step Program | Michael Turner | Christopher Portugal | PeiceLock70 | PL70.net | Fresh Produce | B.Dune | Fresh Produce Show | Las Cruces | New Mexico | 1Track@aTime | classic Hip Hop | Los Angeles | eMusic | independent Hip Hop 

'The Good King' by Chris Rivers / 1Track@aTime 6.28.2014

1Track@aTime 6.28.2014
((Ain't Hard to Tell))

I signed up for DatPiff mixtapes last year to download the Busta Rhymes & Q-Tip, The Abstract & the Dragon mixtape.  I heard about DatPiff a while ago and most recently downloaded the app to my cell phone.  The app provides access to the audios that are available for download online (free) to stream through the phone which I've connected into an auxilary cable to the car stereo.  The app's first page opens with "Highlighted Mixtapes" and has other categories such as "Hot this Week", "Hot this Month", "Upcoming", and "All Stars".  For someone that spends at least 2 to 3 hours in their vehicle throughout the work week each day, its slowly becoming one of my first options when I'm looking for something to listen to either through Pandora, TuneIn Radio, Soundcloud, Slacker Radio, or The Combat Jack Show.

I've been listening to Chris Rivers' latest mixtape since mid-month June through the DatPiff app.  I accessed Wonderland of Misery last year after learning about Pun's son through one of the Hip Hop site's out there.  I learned of Big Pun's son through a clip on YouTube but these projects are my first introduction to the lyricism to the bloodline of a microphone master, Big Pun.   When I heard about the second installment I was looking forward to seeing what it was all about.  The first left a lasting impression... several tracks played like sparring match freestyles with a few tracks that demonstrated potential of the MC once referred to as Baby Pun.  Wonderland of Misery 2 has more structure, more depth, with several features from Chris River's camp, including feature by Hip Hop veteran MC  the Ghost, Styles P. 

Listening to Chris River's on tracks like ((My Ghetto)) and ((Toe 2 Toe)) with his partners and rhyme take me back to the lyrical exchange I recall from the early years of Terror Squad... just thinking back to the chemistry they had and getting the chance to hear the brilliance and power of a camp that was comprised of latinos & 100% Hip Hop.

In between the first mixtape and the second installment of the Wonderland of Misery, I started checking Chris River's on YouTube and the interviews to see what was next.  These two projects definitely set off what will hopefully produce an album, but as much as I've enjoyed these two mixtapes, I wouldn't mind a part 3, 4, and up.  As I mentioned to my brother B.Dune from the Fresh Produce Show, listening to Chris Rivers, one can only imagine the significance of being the child of someone as respected as Big Pun, and to be in a position where he can shape his own legacy for years to come.  In many ways, sons are an extension of what their fathers left behind, and with the way the music business is today, it's dope to listen to Chris Rivers as he continues to grow and create his own platform for himself, his team, and I would say what we remember about his father through the music.  I think he's the only one capable of carrying that from anyone else that was ever been affiliated with Big Pun.

For the 28th, for the first time on The Fresh Produce radio program through mixlr, I decided to submit a mixtape track.  From the Wonderland of Misery 2 we focused on my personal favorite ((Ain't Hard to Tell)) and added rotation of the mixtape's outro ((I Feel You)).  You can download the Wonderland of Misery 2 for free as well as his debut Wonderland of Misery.  I've included the download links below. 

Til' the next track, I want to leave you all with my all time favorite from Big Pun.  ((BOOMERANG))

Would be dope to hear Chris Rivers and Immortal Technique on the same track. 

Wonderland of Misery Download: click here

Wonderland of Misery 2 Download: click here

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