Library of Vinyl Experience

Insane news of Guru’s coma today threw me for a loop. I thought there would be a lot of people out there in shock and figured it might help to hear some of the old tapes from before things got complicated. For those needing an update, the whole history has been recounted today by Dart Adams.

Here again (but this time set to video Ken Burns style) are the tapes Keith sent to Magnus at the Lecco’s Lemma show on WMBR in Cambridge in 1986. Among all the tapes in the boxes, he had the most by far (maybe next to DJ Prime – a strange coincidence actually). Its a sad day in Boston hip-hop whenever one of our own gets felled for any reason. Hopin’ for good outcomes and listening to these tapes is helping. Hope it helps you too. We know Guru always had Boston in his heart and recent years proved it. Peace.

Here are two of the tracks

Epitome Spree

Take a lesson

P.S.
SUCH great news that he pulled out OK. Man, I was praying hard in my way over here and I know a lot of others were too. Hopes for a fast and full recovery and many more years of dopeness! WTF?!?!?

Short notice but I wanted to shout about a benefit tonight for DJs for Peace (a new initiative being brought to you by local peace/hip-hop activist Cindy Diggs). As a local DJ/Peace and Global studies graduate and Cindy fan I am definitely there. Not only that but the lineup looks amazing.

Here are the deets. But even if you can’t go, send some love Cindy’s way. She is doing amazing work as always.
______
Every year since 2006, Peace Boston has premiered their promotion for the year in celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday dubbed by Peace Boston as The Ultimate Peace Weekend. This year is no exception.

On Thursday, January 21, 2010, The DJs for Peace – seventeen of New England’s best – will light up the wheels of steel, demonstrating the art of DJ battle and old school tribute as a benefit for youth fundraiser and danceoff The Beantown Bounce IV!

This year’s spin-a-thon will take place at Club Choices, 379 Somerville Ave, Somerville MA and is 21+

The event will feature special guest performances by DJ Act One’s breakdance crew The Krazy 88’s; Boston Music Award winner Lisa Bello; and a Run-DMC Tribute with DJ Cruz featuring Big Scythe and Visionary Da 3rd. Other DJs on deck for this occasion: DJ Black, DJ Daz-One, DJ Def Stef, DJ Dex, DJ Dru Nyce, EJ Spin, DJ Greg G, DJ Inkognito, DJ Jon Jack, Killer DJ, DJ Knucks, DJ Lil Nes, DJ Nestle Quick, DJ Val Beatz, and DJ Vixxx. Chip Greenidge will host.

The first forty-five patrons will receive a free gift from Peace Boston.

The Day of the DJ Meet & Greet at 7PM (for DJs only)

Guests are encouraged to dress for the occasion to win the Best of the 80’s Dress Contest and to participate in the 80’s dance competition.

Doors open for the public at 7:45. Show starts at 8:01 PM.

Admission is just $10. Guests may also purchase a copy of Peace Boston’s youth and anti-violence programming benefit CD PEACE IN THE STREETS for an additional $10.

Presented by The Knights of the Turntables and Peace Boston

For more information contact:
peaceboston@gmail.com

I took a week or so off since the Beantown Beats and Rhymes fest, but here are the links for the last day finally.

Part A 3-4pm
Part B 4-5pm

Its all up at WZBC for a bit longer, but grab it while you can. Thanks to Chris Faraone for comin’ by on the third day and bringing some of the latest local heat and classics from the last decade. I gotta confess, I spent much more time digging into the early years and left a lot of the more recent stuff to future efforts.

I also have to thank Brick Casey again for coming down on the second day. As we were getting packed up I was snapping shots of the tectonic layers of local music history captured on the densely stickered, tagged and postered walls of WZBC. Among the Bentmen stickers and band posters from the 90s, there was the original Street Poets poster tacked up on a wood paneled wall next to an old milk crate. Apparently, Casey has been subliminally promoting down at ‘ZBC since the mid 1990s. Who knew? And who put that poster up?

Thanks again to Scott for having us down and to Brian for manning the decks!

Peace to the Bean in 2010.

pace

Thanks to Brick Casey (aka Polecat) who braved the snow storm yesterday to come down to WZBC and talk to us about the 1990’s scene in the Bean. Casey came up in the 4 Corners neighborhood of Dorchester and released a couple of early 1990’s underground gems under the name Polecat. Out Ta Flip is one of my personal faves. The Ruffa Mix features the gravelly Buju-style vocals of Dorchester’s own Ruffa and hints at the deep roots of the ragamuffin hip-hop sound in the Bean. More on that today as we round out the last of the 1990s and head into the Oughts and beyond. Happy 2010.

Here’s the audio from yesterday (Part A Part B).

P.S. Although it wasn’t snowing in the studio, I was sure dressed for it. Maybe I need to get a new hat too.

Happy holidays all. Here’s a new mix of Boston scratch classix to help you ring in the New Year. While I don’t normally include so many other people scratching on my mixes, that’s kind of the point with this one. You can probably hear the ones I added because they tend to stick out rhythmically (OR at least, that’s how I hear them). The thing begins with a Ronnie Ruff track “It Comes From Boston” which I only found a few months back.

Its already a future scratch classic for sure! I can throw up a set list, but maybe its more fun to guess and dig?

Here’s to more peace, love, unity and havin’ fun with the Beantown massive in 2010!

Boston Scratch Classix Vol. 1

Its finally here. The day the book drops. I am heading over to Beat Research soon to celebrate with the Beantown massive and wanted to put up the article before I do.

There is so much to say about this piece of work that I can’t even really begin. It took longer and was harder than I ever could have imagined. But it was also the highest honor to be asked to write the first real academic piece on Boston’s hip-hop history. What would you say? Its a complicated tale to say the least. Well, this is what I came up with.

A few words of introduction are clearly in order. First, thanks to everyone who opened their lives, collections and memories to me. I could not have done it without you. Second, I know there are certainly going to be some errors, omissions, thoughts about other angles to highlight, etc. I welcome your suggestions (post them up here) and hope I can update this in a second version, later works, etc. This is certainly a first pass at a lifelong project. Finally, you may notice that the article leaves a lot of the recent history (and people) out. That’s not because I see it as less important, interesting, etc. Just that I had a chance here to tell some tales that have not been told, reach some people that are harder to reach, and dig a little deeper into the past. I also wanted to celebrate a scene that I have loved and been around (but not quite in) for my whole life. So, that’s what I did.

There are lots of things I would do differently if I could. But most of it, I would do the same way again. Visiting Rusty and Spice at Touch. The trip to Maine to see/hear the Lecco’s Lemma archives and talk to Magnus my old friend. Checking in with Skippy at his last remaining store and asking him about his first memories. Reconnecting the electro sounds coming out of Boston in the early 1980s to the birth of hip-hop. A lot. Anyway. I hope you enjoy reading it half as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Here it is with respect to all of you who lived it the first time around.

Hip-Hop in the Hub: How Boston Rap Remained Underground

For those of you who can afford the $165 price tag (nah, I don’t get any) its also available in the massive comp Hip Hop In America: A Regional Guide.

Thanks of course to Mickey for all the hard work putting out this massive compendium and inviting me to be part of it.

Lecco’s Lemma Mega-Mix

This Monday, November 30 I am honored to be playing the Beat Research night over at the Enormous Room in Cambridge with fellow hip-hop scribe Brian Coleman. We will be celebrating the release of the book Hip Hop in America: A Regional Guide, in which my article on Boston’s early hip-hop scene is appearing. The book technically drops that very day and this will be a chance for me to share all the musical treasures I uncovered along the way.

This is an enormous honor for me and I have to thank all the folks I talked to for sharing their stories and setting me straight about others. I’ll be posting the article on the 30th so you can all give it a read. In the strange economy of academic publishing, the book will likely be too expensive for most of my friends to buy. But since I was not getting paid anything to do it (thank UMASS for keeping my lights on), I at least negotiated to keep the rights so I can use it for other purposes (such as sharing with you).

In the meantime, Chris Faraone did a nice piece in the Phoenix this week shining some light on the tapes and the show Monday. Thanks! I wanted to follow up with some audio from the archive and some additional pictures. The mix above is a collection of some of the tapes I captured in a sleepless night up in Magnus’ lab two summers ago now. I included some of the station IDs and began the mix with an iconic first interview with Guru (then Keithy E) and Mikey Dee. Perhaps this was Guru’s first on air appearance! In the interview, Magnus asks why he has not heard of them before and seems genuinely impressed with the tape while the phone rings off the hook in the background. It sounds like a beautiful time in the history of Boston rap. Come on down Monday to hear more.

Lecco’s Lemma Lives

Those are big words for sure. But in this case, it has to be true. Last summer, while sorting incoming records at the old lab, I flipped past  this copy of Ofra Haza’s Galbi 12″. As it was heading for the “sell/trade” pile (I already have a few), something caught my attention. The record sleeve seemed a little thick. There was clearly something else in there. “Hunh, might be worth keeping her promo shot/press kit, plus, it has an old WERS stamp on it…,” I was thinking as I removed the printed material inside. Then I fell over.

After a year digging into the basement of Boston hip hop looking for its origin stories, my personal grail had escaped me.  I knew that The Source magazine started in Boston (in the Cambridge dorms at Harvard to be precise) and I really expected to run across an old copy. Indeed, lots of folks reported having copies way back when (before the move, fire, robbery…) but I never was able to track one down. Until now. In the most random way imaginable.

Here, in a record I was about to throw away was a copy of The Source, Vol 1, No. 2, November 1988! Not only was it  still stapled shut but it started right out with a list of “hot picks from streetbeat” (presumably a reference to the weekly rap radio show run by David Mays Jon Shecter on Harvard’s student radio station WHRB). Also, nore the appearance of the local classic TDS Mob track Dope For the Folks along with a pile of golden age gems from national acts.  This amazing bit of Beantown hip-hop history was delivered in a way that only the vinyl gods could have organized. It also put a beautiful bookmark on the end of my year-long quest for the foundations of Boston hip-hop. Grail. Check.

I’ve been digging through the tapes and found a good one. This is some audio of Magnus on a later incarnation of Lecco’s Lemma on WZBC in Newton. Not sure of the date, but it was post 1988 (it starts with Cold Lampin’ With Flavor). I also love that it was sponsored in PART by a grant from Mattapan Music…right there in Mattapan Square!

I’ve edited it a bit to focus on the talking (sorry Magnus) and one track from the mix that is not available elsewhere. Can you get to this? The Willie…Alexander…Rap. Yup. Once and former member of the later Velvets and Boom Boom Band leader, Gloucester’s own post punk magnate did a rap tune that was hyped by Magnus on ZBC way back when. Not only that, he just released a new/old record.

Here’s the review from the recent Noise.

[snip]
WILLIE ALEXANDER & THE BOOM BOOM BAND
Captain Trip Records
Loco Live 1976
16-song CD
Those unfamiliar with Willie should know he graced Boston stages playing Boston rock ’n’ roll when even dinosaurs like myself were playing Little League. I mean, this dude was in one of the last lineups for the Velvet Underground! It’s an honor to review a still-playing legend and I’m very glad this didn’t fall into the hands of some fool like Zortar’s hands. This CD was recorded at two Boston clubs—the Rat (there’s even a song called “At the Rat”) and the Club. The sound is great and the selection of songs is pretty representative. Younger folks expecting an early punk sound might be put off by Willie’s sometime falsetto and keyboards, but like most early Boston rock, his style is more garage than punk and he was one of the earliest and best of the time.

Willie Alexander & the Boom Boom Band play sloppy, eccentric, creative, rockin’ Boston music and you can’t go wrong with the lyrics from my favorite “Pup Tune”—“Your dog swallowed another pair of panties, she puked them up in the hall, they’re in a ball now.” (Slimedog) [snip]

Locos Lemma Lives!

I am happy to report that my article on the history of Boston’s early hip hop scene is coming out this November in the book Hip Hop in America: A Regional Guide. Stay tuned for some more on that. In some final back and forth with my editor on the page proofs, I got a question on the accuracy of the following statement:

Ed: Pacey, is this right?

“pg 210: MC Keithy E of the Gang Starr Crew’s departure for Brooklyn, NY (along with Gangstarr name) was a formative story for the Boston hip-hop community. His subsequent success with DJ Premier is the stuff of legend. However, because Guru did not regularly refer to his Boston roots in those early days, some folks back home felt the city had lost an opportunity for national recognition that it deserved.”

Although I am not in love with the grammatical construction here (too late for changes), I told my editor that I had gotten this sense both from interviews from and being around on the sidelines at the time – but that I couldn’t be sure. I also said I’d double check with two local beat researchers who know a little about this stuff. The replies back made me feel more confident.

B: I would agree with that. Guru didn’t start mentioning Boston until early/mid 90s on tracks like “The Planet” (on “Hard To Earn”). I don’t remember him mentioning Boston on the first 2-3 albums, altho I could be wrong…. a lyric check would confirm that. He didn’t pretend that he grew up in Brooklyn, but at the same time he didn’t continually give shouts to Beantown in Gang Starr’s (vs. Gangstarr Posse’s) earliest years once he went to NYC and hooked up with Premier.

W: I’d agree too, though perhaps a lyrics scan of those first albums would be worth it.

While I was feeling confident enough to go to press, the fact that both suggested I check his lyrics left me feeling curious (and wishing I had thought of the idea months ago!) As soon as I had a few hours, I decided to answer the question properly.

Using two of the many rap lyric websites,  I collected all the available lyrics for the first three Gang Starr albums. Then, using a simple search (crtl+f) in MSWord, I counted the number of references to Boston, its neighborhoods and icons (like sports teams, etc).

As I read through Guru’s early lyrics, the pattern seemed pretty clear. I had remembered his frequent Brooklyn references on the early records, but had forgotten about the New York homage Place Where We Dwell. In addition to including shout outs to all the boroughs, the track is built on a bed that includes the oft repeated chant “Go Brooklyn” — over, and over and over. Reading the frequent New York references, my Beantown blood bubbled a bit and I became curious what the actual ratio of Boston to New York references was in these early Gang Starr songs. Did Guru simply fail to mention Boston much or did he actually use New York as his lyrical home base?

To figure that out, I counted the number of references to New York (its boroughs and icons) in Guru’s early lyrics. I also noted that in Place Where We Dwell, Guru actually mentions Boston as one of many east coast cities, none of which live up to Brooklyn (which he finds to be “the best”). I read this as a mildly negative Boston reference and thought I needed to subtract something from his Bean reppage for that.

So here are the results:

Songs: 43
Boston: 2
“Bean”: 0
Boston Teams: 0
Other Boston towns: 0
New York: 7
NY boroughs: 27 (in Place Where We Dwell alone. Total Brooklyn = 16)
Boston Disses: ½
NY Teams: 0

Looking at this data confirms my sense that in the early years Guru used New York (and particularly Brooklyn) as his rhetorical home base. While it resolved my editor’s question,  it doesn’t speak to the deeper (and perhaps more controversial) question about how Guru’s Boston references compared to those of other early Boston rappers. How do we know that ALL early rappers didn’t reference New York a lot? How do we know that Guru was different from other early Boston rappers in his lack of Bean reppage?

Just to be extra careful, it seemed worth comparing Guru’s stats with some iconic early Boston group. You could pick Edo, sure, but that seemed too obvious (and less controversial somehow). I chose the The Almighty RSO.

To compare the extent to which Guru and RSO “Repped Da Bean” required calculating the average number of Boston references per song for each artist. Given the historical competition between New York and Boston, I also decided to include a negative value for references to New York. Finally, it seemed important to include a negative value any direct Boston disses (which I count more in the negative than a Boston reference in the positive). Therefore:

RepDaBeaNdex = (# Boston References / # Songs) – (# New York References / # Songs) – (2 * Boston Disses)

Let me say a few things about this measure. First, while its obviously insane, it actually represents a pretty straightforward way to quantify the extent to which a given artist’s lyrical content represents a given location. You could substitute any location for the ones chosen here, right? It also leaves something/s out and makes some assumptions, like all measures.

It leaves out context (or at least leaves it up to tht researcher to decide – and explain – what words constitute references to a given place). For example, in Positivity, Guru shouts out Damo D-Ski. Does this count as a Boston reference to you? (It did to me, but we could argue about how “strong” a Boston reference it is.) If you wanted, you could modify the index to count only strong references, etc. That’s up to you!

Finally, since Boston and NY have had a longstanding rivalry that is tangled up with the origin stories of hip-hop in the Bean, I decided to subtract references to NY from the BeaNdex. Does this seem right? Hell, it does to me. I also set it up so a diss of Boston takes away more from your BeaNdex than a simple Boston reference adds. That’s another judgment call, but hey, if you don’t like it, make up a new one. That’s the way research works. Eh? I have already received some suggested modifications, which I can post later.

With this index in hand, I returned to the web to collect data on RSO (who had far fewer songs transcribed, so I was happy for my BeaNdex). Here’s the RSO data.

Songs counted: 7
Boston: 5
Bean: 1
Boston Teams: 1 (Bruins)
Other Boston towns: 6
New York: 0 (two men mentions by Mobb Deep guest Prodigy don’t count and one mention is King of New York ref, not a shout out really.)
NY Boroughs: 0 (Queens, Queensbridge both mentioned by Prodigy, from Queens)
NY Teams: What do you think?

While the pattern itself is pretty clear (fewer songs and many more references), I felt it was important to complete the process, so I calculated each artists RepDaBeaNdex.

Guru’s RepDaBeanNdex = (2/43) – (35/43) – (2*.5) = -1.76
RSO’s RepDaBeanNdex = (13/7) – (0) – (0) = 1.86

I hope you enjoyed this little exercise in hip hop statistics. Calculate an index for an artist or town you love and post the results and any modifications/suggestions. I would like to see one for Edo and other early Boston Groups. TDS? Top Choice? Brick records artists? Lif vs Akro! Not to start a war here, just diggin in the digital dustbin trying to get the story straight!

Oh yeah, and I’m a geek.

Peace to the Beantown MASSIVE! Leccos Lemma Lives!

GURU EXAMPLES

Positivity
[Guru]
So if you’re generatin positivity out there
You know that’s the move
Yo me and Premier, we always got positivity
DJ Tommy Hill, he got positivity
Damo D-Ski, got positivity
Brooklyn, the Boogie Down
All the boroughs.. got positivity
Boston, Philly, New Jersey, Houston
The rest of the hip-hop world.. got positivity
Peace

Premier and the Guru:
“I sound greater because I’m head of the comittee I chill in New York City, I’m witty, so get me To Brooklyn, so I can ill and peace no joke..”

The Place Where We Dwell:
(27 mentions of NY Boroughs and locations not including “NY” counted elsewhere)

New York, New york is where we live and we’re thorough
Never taking shorts cuz Brooklyn’s the borough
Peace to Uptown, to queens and the Bronx
Long Island and Jersey get as fly as they want
Where we rest is no joke
So let me break it down to sections for you slowpokes
Fort Greene, bedstuy, Flatbush, Brownsville
Crown Heights and East New York will be down till
Medina takes respect for the style’s we bring
Cuz in Brooklyn, we be into our own thing
Alantic terminals, redhook bushwick
Come to Brooklyn frontin, and you’ll get mushed quick
We ain’t just know for flipping and turning out parties
But also for the take no bullshit hotties
On the subject of blackness, well let me share this
Brooklyn is the home for cultural awareness
So in all fairness, you can never compare this
Some good, some bad. little hope for the weak
Dangerous streets and Coney Island Beach
All this included when you go for a tour
Some can get scandolous and outright raw
When you step, step correct and watch where you move
We pay dues so we ain’t trying to lose
Here in Brooklyn
The home of the black and the beautiful
For a ruffrap sound, ain’t a place more suitable
Other cities claim this, and others claim that
But let me give some props to the place where we be at
B-R-double O- K-l-Y-N
I came in for a visit and ever since then
I’ve been incorporated with select personel
Right here in Brooklyn, the place where we dwell

Way down in Brooklyn (3x)
Those who live in Brooklyn know just what I’m talking about

Verse two:

Peace to Boston, Philly, Connecticut, DC
All the east coast cities are fly to me
Peace to everybody down south and out west
But for me, Brooklyn, New York is the best
Don’t be afraid to venture over the bridge
Although you may run in to some wild ass kids
Take the j train, the d or the a if you dare
And the 2,3,4,5 also comes here
There’s so much to see cuz Brooklyn’s historic
Fools act jealous but you have to ignore it
So I just lounge wit the fat clientel
Out here in Brooklyn, the place where we dwell

Way down in brooklyn
You know the place…

RSO EXAMPLES

Forever RSO:
“You know this one gotta go out to them niggas up in Dorchester, Mattapan, Roxbury, South End, Columbia Point, JP”

Prodigy on The War is On:“…USA, New York City if you wanna be exact a soldier story from Queens if you look closer on the map…”
and later in same song…
“New York, Boston
yo, cross the tri-state
the five gates, word up
Queensbridge, the Infamous RSO”

5 Minutes of Doom: “I’ll be on some King of New York shit”