#Indie rap

[naylasavannah]

Front Yard Function

My first performance on a Holiday Shout out to Gmoe

[randomvarious]

1998 San Francisco Playlist (YouTube)

Really ain't nothin' like the city of San Francisco when it comes to the music. The hippie-psychedelic Haight-Ashbury vibes of the 60s ended up getting baked into the cyber-psychonautic underground rave scene of the 90s; there's been a whole bunch of house music; a rich folk tradition; Bay Area hip hop developed into its own oft-overlooked entity; a pretty deep pocket of turntablism; and, of course, plenty of indie rock too. Quite a mix of scenes, and I'm obviously missing a bunch too!

So this week I'm giving you all something that feels like a long-forgotten CD that some college kid who was attending school in San Francisco may have burnt back in 1998. It's an eclectic, completely underground mix of electronic, hip hop, and a little bit of indie too; and it's been collecting dust at the bottom of a drawer now for over 25 years!

We kick off with a dubby deep house remix of Paris' A Reminiscent Drive's "Two Sides to Every Story" by SF native Charles Webster—14.4K plays on YouTube across a handful of uploads—and then we follow that up with a mix of UK group Globo's "Breakdown" by legendary breakbeat/trip hop pioneer Jack Dangers of Meat Beat Manifesto, who started calling the Golden Gate City his home in 1993—under 500 plays on that one as of right now. A little after that we get more breakbeat from a *very* obscure duo called Astralabe, whose cinematic, tribal-psychedelic masterpiece, "Guimbri Dub (Self-Cremating Fire of Passion Remix)," appears to be the only song that they ever released, and is included exclusively on an uncredited DJ mix called The Vertical Iris; currently sitting at a measly 92 plays.

Then on the hip hop side of things, we have some lo-fi dustiness from Double Life and Raw B called "Cycles of the Mind," as well as a 7-plus-minute medley by Sacred Hoop, DJ Marz, and Z-Man called "Not Our House," which I think can only be best described as Tony Hawk Pro Skater soundtrack vibe. Those songs have 28.8K and 6.6K plays, respectively. And then for some killer turntablism, we've got a few tunes, including something from DJ Badrok called "1-800-Coming Correct," which has a little under 400 plays.

There's also a fat, buzzy bassline drum n bass remix by a guy named DJ Abstract of "Dukes Up," the original version of which is by someone who simply went by the name of W, that has a little over 6.5K plays (sorry about the super annoying part at the end of it 😕); and a couple tunes that show the versatility of a dude named Cole Marquis, whose solo indie folk tune, "48's," only has a little over 140 plays, and his much peppier, college/indie rock, keyboard-aided bop, "Dirt Bike Rider," by his band The Snowmen, has a little over 170 plays.

This playlist is ordered as chronologically as possible.

Reminiscent Drive - "Two Sides To Every Story (Love From San Francisco Remix)" Globo - "Breakdown (mixed by Jack Dangers of Meat Beat Manifesto)" Daisy Glow - "Right On! (User Friendly mix)" Astralabe - "Guimbri Dub (Self-Cremating Fire of Passion Remix)" Rasco - "Cordless Mics" Cole Marquis - "48's" Double Life feat. Raw B - "Cycles of the Mind" Live Human - "Almost Live" Sacred Hoop feat. DJ Marz & Z-Man - "Not Our House" DJ Badrok - "1-800-Coming Correct" Apollo, Vinroc, Shortkut & Richness - "Live at Cue's" W - "Dukes Up (DJ Abstract's One A.M. mix)" Snowmen - "Dirt Bike Rider"

And here's a list of the compilations and mixes that were used to put this thing together:

Club H Vol. 2 by Harry the Bastard (2000, Statra Recordings) The Chemistry Set (1998, Hypnotic Records) The Vertical Iris (1998, ZoëMagik Records) Observation of Ruins (1998, Baraka Foundation) Cleaning House: A Devil in the Woods Compilation (1999, Devil in the Woods) Cue's Hip Hop Shop Volume One (1998, Dogday Records) Eclectic Electric (2000, eMusic)

And this playlist is also on YouTube Music.

So you've got about 66 minutes of some pretty obscure 1998 San Francisco underground music here, the likes of which I don't think anyone else besides that hypothetical college kid that I made up before would ever put together 😁.

Going back to the 70s next week with an update to a genre playlist that I haven't touched in a *very* long time 👀.

Enjoy!

More to come, eventually. Stay tuned!

Like what you hear? Follow me on Spotify and YouTube for more cool playlists and uploads!

[haveyoulistenedtothisalbum-poll]

Tracklist:

ANGEL 9 • Demonslayer • TALKIN IN MY SLEEP • Racer++

Spotify ♪ YouTube

[wicked-scorpius]

Wicked is out!! New single out just in time for Halloween!! 🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃

[da-ill-spot]

Music Video: Tunnel Rats - Tell It

[haikumixtape]

[sanaamakes]

stream the official release on spotify

[naylasavannah]

Funky Fake

Liner Notes

Artist Bio

Nayla Savannah

[freshdotdaily]

As I recall, we recorded this at Converse Rubber Tracks in like 2013-2014 probably. I wanted to add more to it and get it mastered and crispier sounding. But as I listen back to it now, I like the gritty unfinished Lofi element it has to it, feels like a mixtape cut off an old DJ Clue tape.

As two enlightened black men from Brooklyn public housing who made it past 25 years of age to thrive and create art, there's much to celebrate with this track. I titled it "War Elephants" because Hannibal of Carthage crossed the Alps on Elephants and stomped on many an enemy head in war and this felt like that kinda proclamation.

He might hate this story, but the first time I saw exQuire rock, was at Bowery Poetry Club. His skinny jeans ripped that night mid-performance because mans was going HARD and rapping for his life on that tiny stage. It left an indelible mark on me. He gave me a copy of his mixtape on CD. The cover was a collage of all his influences, like comics, wrestling, rap, etc. I still have it.

The next time I seent duke was in Pathmark (RIP) on the late night and bruh was acting kinda suspicious so I figured he was shoplifting lol. He later told me he was just nervous. To meet me? I really am just a project baby from Fort Greene who be rapping so when anyone tells me they were geeked to meet me or my music had ANY impact on them, it throws me for a loop. But, I paid attention to brody because I knew what time he was on. Vibes don't lie and him (and SickSentz) were making moves around the city & country. This video is like from 2013. Crazy that's 10 years ago, right?

If you know him as an artist in the mid to post-blog era NYC rap scene, he quickly rose to rap prominence off a Mishka-assisted single that boasted one of the hardest remixes feat. the long-heralded return of indie rap OG EL-P. That rise included a record deal, a single with Gucci Mane, and a host of other things. During this time, I faded to the back to focus on myself and my event series brand. But despite where HIS lengthy accomplishments in music took him, whenever brody & I crossed paths, he always acknowledged my skill, my influence, and my accomplishments. I did a lot for the culture in my hometown to little or no recognition and definitely no pay or recompense. Especially when ppl blow up, they tend to forget all the ppl who they rocked w/ on their ascension. So when people who are doing good in this culture acknowledge ya boy, it holds weight, cuz a nigga was really outside giving many folks the blueprint before I faded to black (that's a Jiggaman reference right there lol). Peep my tiny cameo in this video at 5:01.

It's dope to be appreciated after dipping & returning. Shouts to BMB Spacekid who used to send me beat tape after beat tape and this one was on it. I played beats for eXquire and I skipped this one, but he asked me to run it back, and picked this one to my utter surprise. The rest is history.

Here's a flick of me, eX, MURS, and El-P

Feels right to let this one loose. Enjoy. Support if you can (it's $5) If you can't just share it. Thanks!

[randomvarious]

Lootpack - "Weededed" (1999, Hip Hop)

"My new year's resolution? Persist to end all wack MC confusion."

First group of Madlib's to officially release anything. This song features a helium-infused vocal effect that may've inspired him to start rapping under his Quasimoto alter-ego too.

[mywifeleftme]

234: Black Star // Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star

Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star Black Star 1998, Rawkus

Fair warning about the review ahead:

Remember dial-up modems? I croak as my dentures slide down my throat and prolapse my anus. I grew up in a pretty rural part of Ontario, so when I made a conscious effort to get into rap in the early ‘00s at age 17 or so, I was stuck downloading 72MB .rar folders off music blogs that would take 6 to 10 hours on our rickety 56k modem. We only had one phone line, so I would do the bulk of my downloading overnight, hoping that the connection wouldn’t blip out while I slept and leave me with a useless partially downloaded version of like, King of Rock or Straight Out the Jungle or whatever. Money for CDs was limited by my let’s call it principled abstention from getting a job, but when I could skip enough lunches to get a wad of cash together it went right to the music section at whatever big box store I could get a ride to. The first rock and metal CDs I bought in my early teens were predictably humiliating (e.g. Godsmack, the second Buckcherry record), but I was pretentious enough by the time I had my rap phase that my first picks were actually pretty tight: Public Enemy’s Fear of a Black Planet and Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star.

I had been trying to get a grasp on rap by downloading the canon in chronological order, but because I bought Black Star during this stretch I actually heard it at the same time I was listening to the golden age records it evokes—“Definition” and Boogie Down Productions, “A Children’s Story” and Slick Rick, De La and Tribe and Mos and Talib all in conversation. Nowadays, I tend to be skeptical of artists that pound their chests about being “old school” while aping well-worn trends, but everything comes together so well on Black Star: two emcees just old enough to be the little cousins of the first wave of true rap stars who want their own turn at making music in a style that had already moved on. With the confidence of prodigiously talented young men, they forced that closed door open just wide enough to create what might be the last masterpiece of its branch of the hip-hop family tree.

As of 2023, Mos (now Yasiin Bey) has now released more confusing press releases about his various retirements than great albums, and Talib Kweli is best known for sweatily harassing women who criticize him on Twitter, but Black Star catches each at the height of their abilities, rhyming like visionaries about real shit over tracks that turn the memory of classic beats into myths and ancient mating calls. Was any golden age track closer to the poetic soul than what Mos, Talib, and guest Common do with DJ Hi-Tek’s “Respiration”? Do any feel more true to the spirit of Toni Morrison or Amiri Baraka than the 88-keys-produced “Thieves in the Night”? As young people often do, the Black Star crew looked at a period not more than five to ten years past as though it were time out of mind—but something in the intensity of their nostalgia, the size of the legend they built up in their minds, gave them the space they needed to create a record the equal of their great forebears.

How it happened, I’m not quite sure: it seemed like there were a hundred emcees in the Rawkus orbit who could absolutely rap their asses off, and some talented producers to boot, but you can count on three fingers the number of truly essential LPs that came out of it (I’ll pause here for somebody to lose their shit over my downplaying Pharoahe Monch’s Internal Affairs). But, for a little while anyway, Mos Def could walk on water with a mic in his hand, and he softened Talib’s energy just enough that the uncontrollable torrent of the man’s flow was briefly channeled into a machine of balance and grace. I could listen to the way they pass it back and forth all my life, and I likely will.

234/365

[sad-drake-lyrics]

there's nothing to be afraid of gonna get through the night without you

[wicked-scorpius]

Song inspired by Eminem's If I Had & Rock Bottom. My new single is out now, check it out on Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music, YouTube music, Amazon music, and more!

[da-ill-spot]

New Music: Mister CR - Mister CR Is Back LP

Big ups to the fam Mister CR. The veteran Los Angeles MC just dropped his new LP, “Mister CR Is Back.” The album does run quite long at 28 tracks, so I have yet to get through all of it.

But salute to this brotha for the work put in. He’s definitely been staying consistent for quite some time now. Stream above and support with a download of $7!

[haikumixtape]