Haul of Records

The Beatnuts - Intoxicated Demons: The EP (1993)

In 1993, I would learn The Beatnuts would release music of their own.

A DJ friend of mind had the Props Over Here 12” and I was immediately intrigued.

I was just thrilled there was another East Coast hip hop team putting out product.

Their affiliations with artists/crews I respected and admired made me a fan and eager for their full-length.

Although I was happy I would own Props Over Here with their full-length album, No Equal had no equal to me and it was a source of disappointment to not see it on the 1994 CD track listing.

Nas - Illmatic (1994)

Nasty Nas, as I knew him in 1991, dropped the hottest verses of the songs he featured on. My quest to own Main Source’s Breaking Atoms stemmed from hearing its album cuts as well as my desire to have Live at the Barbeque within arm’s reach. Back to the Grill Again broke my heart because it proved 3rd Bass was no longer. I took comfort in the fact that Nas was on MC Serch’s roster. The Zebrahead soundtrack gave us Halftime, reaffirming my love for East Coast hip hop. After those three singles, I was convinced that a full-length Nas album was gong to be incredible. The Source confirmed my theory.

At that time, Illmatic was the only album I had seen receive the coveted classic album status from the magazine. I can’t speak for anyone else but I’ll say that seeing hip hop’s Bible in magazine form give Illmatic 5-mics got me shook. All I knew was that I had to hear and most surely buy that album by all means necessary.

As I mentioned in my Beatnuts blog post, I bought their CD in 1994 over Nas, Organized Konfusion and Jeru the Damaja’s albums when presented with the choice. There was no doubt that I would own them all eventually but I knew I had to get myself a copy of Illmatic even if it meant paying more for it or waiting longer to do so.

Ghostface Killah’s Child Play, Tupac’s Dear Mama and Memory Lane are among my most sentimental songs in hip hop. If Dubny had chosen Memory Lane, I would have lost it. He didn’t, however, and I don’t fault him for choosing Represent. No one can fault him for choosing Represent.

I had been planning a post about Illmatic since late 2011 but never got around to it. That moment among the three of us convinced me the story would have to be told. There are not too many albums, at least hip hop wise that can unite cultures and generations like Illmatic. As different and individual as we three are, there was no debate as to the greatness of the album.

Record Rehab Revisited

I blogged about how I was becoming immune to the record on vinyl bug. I named that piece Record Rehab.

That kind of thinking can lead one to feel a certain way about vinyl and result in selling up to three crates of records. I know from firsthand experience. Prior to discovering Montreal's Death of Vinyl record store in 2007, I trimmed down my collection. I sure as hell have brought home the three crates and more in the last few years.

At that particular point of writing the Record Rehab blog post, I wasn't hungry to buy records. I used to wish I’d find at least one record that interested me when I would go to a store and eventually lost that anticipation. My rationale was that I have a lot of records and most of them haven’t been heard yet.

It made me wonder why I’d be seeking more when I could probably be very surprised by my own collection. I have heard people talking about trimming down their collections and that brought me to ask myself some questions. If push came to shove, which is my most prized record on vinyl? Which are my prized records on vinyl? How many do I really need to own?

I finally learned that I can’t own or play all the music in the world. It’s starting to come together.

I had thought about cutting back, downsizing and curbing my appetite for records on vinyl since starting this blog. After the two major Montreal record conventions each year, some intense crate-digging episodes during a handful of trips to New York and a few trips to Toronto in recent years, I've been forced to review that stance.

Record conventions like the WMFU Record Fair are right up my alley. There's a beauty in racing against the clock with more choices in records than humanly conceivable and hopefully remembering where/when/how you found those records before the vendors pack up at the end of the night.

The bi-annual Montreal record conventions, including the Puces Pop Record Fair, have been very good to me as well. On many occasions I come back home with a bag bursting with beats. I have found a number of wishlist records as well as others I didn't expect to see.

A local record vendor told me how much he admired my restraint where record hunting is concerned. That's an interest comment to make about me because for someone who practices restraint, I leave record conventions with my bag at the breaking point. I claimed to have wanted to cut down my record buying but have brought home multiple copies of records which I already owned and gave up years ago! What kind of restraint is that?

There are so many records & choices in this world that it can be easy to go overboard.

History has a way of repeating itself. I'm a vinyl man to this day but these days I gotta streamline the collection a bit. Pray for me!

My name is DJ Solespin and I love vinyl!

New York is the Crate Digging Capital of the World

A trip to New York for me is like a pilgrimage to Mecca especially when records are involved.

My cultural and spiritual home of New York is the most influential city of my life even more so than my own hometown.

Big Apple digging in the crates most usually results in me being face-to-face with one of my best finds of the year and highlights of that trip.

In 2010, I brought back nearly 2 crates of records from that New York visit.

I probably brought back the same amount in 2011 but the difference was that I found want-list albums and sprung for records that were a bit more expensive, along with some reissues.

The closing of Bleecker Bob's Golden Oldies is a loss of a record store option but there are still more than enough spots with mind-blowing finds.

I can easily make myself at home in a New York record store discount section and find great gems.

There is such a surplus of records in New York that one most often leaves behind a great deal of 12" singles or albums that otherwise may have been brought home if there were more time, money or luggage space.

I always look forward to my next New York record shopping excursion.

Nas

I remember Nas from his early 90s debut on Live at the Barbeque and Halftime afterwards.

Who would have known he would record a modern day hip hop classic in 1994 with Illmatic?

Perhaps those that oversaw the album’s creation knew but the masses weren’t in the know until the album hit the streets. The Source gave it the first 5-mic rating that I was aware of and I didn’t fault them.

I hadn’t heard lyrics from an MC like him since Big Daddy Kane, Lord Finesse or even Rakim. I think I pinned my hip hop hopes on him until I heard It Was Written. He had moments of brilliance like I Gave You Power but overall it was an album designed for commercial success.

Nas is too hard to ignore from making anyone’s best MC list regardless of my tuning out for a few years.

The Suite Delight - 2014- 05-27 by Dj Solespin on Mixcloud

The Suite Delight - May 27, 2014 Playlist:

1. Quantic & Anita Tijoux - Doo Wop (That Thing)
2. Sola Rosa - Turn Around Ft. Iva Lamkum (DJ Vadim Remix)
3. The Seatbelts - Cat Blues (Mr. Scruff Remix)
4. James Brown - Funky Drummer
5. The Cactus Channel - Wooden Boy (Part 1)
6. The Roots – Don't Feel Right feat. Maimouna Youssef
7. J Dilla (aka Jay Dee) - Love Movin' feat. Black Thought
8. Nas - It Ain't Hard to Tell
9. Termanology - How We Rock Feat. Bun B
10. Marco Polo - Lay It Down Feat. Roc Marciano
11. Buff1 - Never Fall feat. Black Milk
12. The Extremities - New Season feat. Ohmega Watts & Moka Only
13. Lords Of The Underground - Tic Toc (Remix)
14. Lone Catalysts - The Ultimate (Kev Brown Remix)

The Suite Delight - April 8 2014 Playlist:

1. Big L - Put It On feat. Kid Capri
2. Common - Resurrection
3. O.C. - Time's Up
4. Big Pun - Super Lyrical feat. Black Thought
5. 2Pac - Ambitionz of a Ridah
6. Jay-Z - This Can't Be Life feat. Scarface
7. Gang Starr - Just To Get A Rep
8. Nice & Smooth - Early To Rise
9. The Beatnuts - Off The Books
10. Cypress Hill - Hits From The Bong
11. Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth - Mecca & The Soul Brother
12. Black Moon - I Got Cha Opin
13. Smif-N-Wessun - Bucktown
14. Nas - The World Is Yours (Remix)

The Suite Delight - April 1 Playlist:

1. James Last - Inner City Blues
2. Scrimshire - All I Do feat. Stac
3. Aloe Blacc & The Grand Scheme - The Dark End Of The Street
4. Greenwood Rhythm Coalition - Guajira '78 (Colman Bros. Remix)
5. Omar - Ghana Emotion (Una Mas Trio Remix)
6. Bob Marley & The Wailers – Get Up, Stand Up (Thievery Corporation Remix)
7. Mo Kolours - Bomptious (Shafiq Husayn Remix)
8. Fashawn – The Ecology
9. Jazz Spastiks - Move (Remix) feat. Apani B Fly
10. Moka Only - More Soup feat. MF Doom
11. Fat Joe - John Blaze Ft. Nas, Big Pun, Jadakiss & Raekwon
12. Jadakiss - Why (Remix) feat. Styles P, Common, Nas & Anthony Hamilton
13. Naughty By Nature ‎– Guard Your Grill (Smooth Mix)
14. EPMD - Total Kaos
15. Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Robes feat. Earl Sweatshirt & Domo Genesis

The Suite Delight - February 25, 2014 (2) Playlist:

Nas - It Ain't Hard To Tell (Large Professor Remix)
Diverse - Uprock
Jay Dee - Pause feat. Frank-N-Dank
Strong Arm Steady - Questions
Souls of Mischief - That's When Ya Lost (Remix)
Soul Khan - Knuckle Puck featuring Koncept, 8thW1 & Homeboy Sandman
Quasimoto - Rappcats, Pt. 3
Supastition - Yada Yada
Murs & 9th Wonder - Murs Day
Mobb Deep - Win or Lose
Wale - Um'Ricka feat. K'Naan
K-Solo - Letterman (Pete Rock Remix)
The Extremities - Cold Cheese
D-Sisive x Tone Mason – Maybe I Will feat. DJ Grouch

Bleecker Bob's Golden Oldies

New York 2011 was not quite the highlight I hoped it would be but it gave me great chances to do some record crate digging.

I learned early that I wouldn’t be able to check out the WFMU Record Fair. After two consecutive years of WFMU Record Fair, the separation anxiety was a slightly bitter pill to swallow. I was forced to make do with any and all record stores I could visit during my time in New York.

I remember saying that I was going to use restraint and discretion where my record buying was concerned. I believe that subconsciously the lack of WFMU Fair made me seek comfort in as many vinyls as I could find.

In 2010, I brought back about 1.5 crates of records from that visit. I probably brought back the same amount in 2011 but the difference was that I found want-list albums and sprung for records that were a bit more expensive, along with some reissues.

I played Peter Parker snapping photos with the good graces of the stores who remembered me from the last few years.

These photos are from the first record store I visited upon my arrival in New York 2010 & 2011.

I was devastated to find out that Bleecker Bob's Golden Oldies closed. I was not too happy to hear that news because it is a loss of a New York record store option.

Bleecker Bob was opened incredibly late even by my standards but was great for passing time before going back to the hotel to sleep. I miss the store for the memories and most importantly the records.