Drum Chops
Yes, y’all.
Couple of quick-quick things…
Live Convention kicks off in Toronto on Thursday. If you can make it, you’ll see me at all of the events. Follow Live Convention on IG for the schedule and all of the details. Most importantly, I’ll be selling records at the Record Exchange on Sunday. It’s going down at 468 Queen Street West, starting at noon. If you pay a few extra bucks, you can get early admission at 10:00 AM. I will be bringing copies of some of my albums (on vinyl) including Super Dope and King Of Drums. But here’s the deal: copies of King Of Drums won’t be cheap. Only a very small run was pressed. I only have a few copies myself. And copies have already sold for $200+. I may only be able to scrounge two or three copies. They may be a bit pricey but I can guarantee you that their value will only increase. If nothing else, you can think of it as an investment. I’m considering digging some other assorted gems out of the vaults. Come say hello if you’re able. It’s going to be bananas. There will be elite record-sellers there from around the world. You’ll see copies of records you’ll never see again.
Check it out - I did my first interview in about eight years with my old friend Vish. You can check it out here.
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Progress is being made on the next Buck 65 album. I’m structuring the beats now and the wheels have begun to turn on writing lyrics. I’m thinking this album will be more bass-heavy than the last two. I’m getting into bass! It’ll make mixing trickier but I’ll deal with that. I’m still targeting Halloween.
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Apropos of nothing, I had a thought the other day. I think all of the problems of the world - today and throughout history - may boil down to one simple problem: we as people are bad at explaining things. I don’t know. Maybe it’s not quite that simple. But I think we’ve messed up a lot of stuff due to our inability to explain things well. And it seems to me that the smartest people often the worst of the worst at explaining their ideas.
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Nerd alert: I’m pretty amped for tonight’s episode of Ahsoka (episode 5).
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I assume y’all have heard my friend Controller 7’s most recent album (with Video Dave), ArticulatedTexTiles. If not, for some insane reason, add it to your collection immediately. It’s a beautiful-beautiful thing. And if you love De La Soul (I know you do), the song “ThePlugTune” may make you shed a tear.
Another quick thought on the hip hop history I’ve been consuming lately… The prevailing narrative is that producer Marley Marl (maybe my all-time favorite) was the first to make beats with sampled drums. The song everyone points to as the very first is “Marley Marl Scratch” by M.C. Shan, which came out in 1985. It’s a dope song. Check it out.
But here’s the thing that everyone seems to forget somehow - the song “Roxanne” by UTFO came out the year before. That beat was made with chops of the song “Big Beat” by Billy Squire. Credit for production and drum programming on “Roxanne” is assigned to Full Force. Marley has told his story of chopping drums many times. But I can’t say I’ve really heard the story of how “Roxanne” came together. Especially as far as the sampling is concerned. A couple of the guys from UTFO have already passed away. I pray that the story is preserved before it’s too late. I’ve been deep into hip hop music since very close to the beginning. I can’t recall too many songs that generated more widespread excitement than “Roxanne” by UTFO. Perhaps it hasn’t aged the best but it’s a crucially important piece of hip hop history.
Until the next!