With all this talk of kids jumping on the ‘88 rap bandwagon, it seems strange that nobody has bothered to ask DJ Ivory his views on the whole phenomonen, considering his two Hear No Evil mixes seem to have had a such a large impact (I somehow managed to resist calling this piece “Speak No Evil”, as it was just too predictable). I spoke with him in September, and he had a lot of knowledge to share after twenty years in the game. Together with Paul S, the P Brothers have released the Heavy Bronx Experience series, worked with Cappo on his Spazz The World LP, teamed-up with Donald D for The Zulu Beat CD and most recently dropped a single featuring New York hard-rock Iman T.H.U.G. Combine that with years of putting it down with DJ sets around accross the globe, and there’s no doubt that these guys have been puttting in some serious work.

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Remember back to the days when annoying, gimmicky raps were flavour of the month? A time when groups like the Fu-Schnickens* were actually taken seriously, and you could dance around with a muppet in your video and still get respect (UMC’s “Blue Cheese”)? In a similar vein, Marley Marl unleashed the Lords of the Underground from his House of Hits, a NJ-based trio who shared The Pharcyde’s fondness for energetic, high-pitched vocal outbursts. Not only did they ruin some outstanding K-Def and Marley productions with their corny new-jack techniques, but they also managed to piss-off several key DITC legends. (more…)

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Not content with being the second greatest posse cut of all time (nothing’s knocking “The Symphony” off the top, sonny), Main Source’s “Live At The BBQ” is also responsible for launching the careers of Nasty Nas, Akinyele and…Joe Fatal? According to Grimm Reaper (bka MF Grimm), he and Fatal were driving to the studio when they were involved in an accident. I’m assuming somebody crashed into them, since Grimm ended-up getting locked-up for assaulting the driver of the other car. Fatal got released early, and was able to make the session, but Grimm was still behind bars so missed out on the recording. In a Source interview, Pudgee The Phat Bastard (who dropped a decent Trackmasters-produced album called Give ‘Em The Finger) later claimed “I wrote the second verse to Main Source’s “Live At The BBQ”-that’s MC Fatal’s verse. And I got no props. I wrote 16 outta 20 lines, and those were the ones that got Fatal props.” This is not suprising considering that Joe was primarily known as a DJ and producer. The point being, Grimm wrote a verse for “BBQ” that he never made it to the hotplate, so he decided to cook-up another two and put it out.
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The rise of the Rap Record Nerd has, not coincidentally, coincided with the invent of the “online shopping revolution” (aka Ebay). While it’s by no means a new phenomenon, it’s far more widespread than I had initially realized. Before the internet age you’d find poorly-dressed weirdos skulking around record fairs and second-hand music shops, armed with nothing more than a fax of the latest record prices from Japan. Knowledge of rare vinyl was a closely guarded secret, shared only with a select few, and many pieces on their wants list were near unobtainable. Travelling to other cities and countries was the most effective way to find those rare platters, unless they bought a retiring deejays collection. What many of these characters lacked in social skills, hygiene and attractiveness to women, they made up for in misguided dedication and pointless elitism.
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