North American Adonis
And stuff
I wrote here a while back about the wonders of Scribble Jam in Cincinnati in the late 90s and early 2000s. I’d argue that in its prime, it was the greatest, most glorious hip hop event ever staged. Several years in a row, it was like the finale of the Wild Style movie spread across an entire weekend. The top DJs, MCs, b-boys and graf writers from all over the US and beyond would gather to showcase their skills and exchange ideas. And it happened at a time when hip hop was experiencing something of a renaissance. I really can’t put into words how exciting it was.
I went to Scribble Jam in 1998. I can’t quite remember if that was my first or second time going. A plan was made ahead of time to spend an extra few days in Cincy (either just before or just after the event) to hang out and do some recording with beatsmith supreme, Jel and the surrealist MC extraordinaire, Doseone (fun fact: Dose went toe-to-toe with Eminem in the ‘97 MC battle. Eminem advanced and then lost to the almighty Juice in the final).
We all crashed at the place Dose shared with Why?. For two days, we worked around the clock - Dose and I writing rhymes and Jel making beats. There was a frantic creative energy in the air. Dose and I were trying to out-do each other with the pen but even more so, we were trying to make each other laugh. Jel had not yet graduated to the MPC. I can still picture him sitting on the couch with the hulking SP-1200 on his lap. At the time, he was regarded by many as the master of that machine. There were limited records at our immediate disposal, so it was a bit like one of those ‘Rhythm Roulette’ videos you see on YouTube. It hardly mattered. Jel could make anything dope.
We didn’t have much in terms of gear to work with either. Dose and I recorded our raps with a cheap-ass RadioShack microphone. And we started laying tracks down on a waterlogged 4-track owned by Nosdam before moving on to a Roland VS-880 digital workstation.
After two whirlwind days of hardcore creation, we had an album’s worth of material laid down. We decided to call our monster North American Adonis. When it was time for me to leave, Jel said he’d spend some time making additions, editing and mixing and would send me a copy of the finished project when his work was done.
That day never came. Instead, I received a phone call sometime later with word that the VS-880 had crashed or that its memory was accidentally wiped. Whatever the case, the work was gone. Forever. Poof. And no-one had the chance to dub a rough copy before the crash.
I have heard that Nosdam still has the stuff that was recorded on his 8-track and that material may have circulated a bit. But the bulk of what we did - and what I remember being my favorite parts - was on that digital recorder.
I’ve lost work a few times in the years since 1998. I bet you’ve lost stuff too. You know how agonizing it is. This was the only time I lost a whole album. I think about it all the time. I wish I could hear that stuff again. I can only remember a few details. I honestly think it would have been an underground classic.
About ten years later, Dose, Jel and I joined forces for a song on one of my Dirtbike albums. That’s as close as we’ve come to an Adonis reunion. What could have been… The whole saga still causes me pain. Long live the North American Adonis.
In other news, it looks like the wheels have begun to turn on another Buck 65 album. In the last week or so, I’ve gone on a beat-making bender. I’ve made about 20 beats so far. I’m excited about all of them but - holy crap - one of them is the best beat I’ve ever made. It gave me a very excited feeling, right away. For a minute or two, I thought, “maybe I should sell this beat for a lot of money”. It feels like a classic-in-waiting. But I’m not going to give it away. It’s mine. And there’s another one that started out as an experiment that is really working out. I had to do actual math to figure it out. But it doesn’t sound weird - just incredibly hard. I expect to hammer away at the beats over the next few months at least. I’ve begun logging rhyme and song ideas too. I imagine I’ll start writing verses in earnest come spring. We’ll see how it goes. The fire is beginning to intensify. My goal isn’t just to top King Of Drums. It HAS TO BE the dopest hip hop album ever made. It has to be. God knows when or if it will see the light of day but that’s what I’m going after.
And here’s an exciting and beautiful thing: King Of Drums vinyl test presses! They arrived yesterday. Good sign that the records will be ready soon. If you haven’t pre-ordered yet, get on it. Last time I checked, there were only a few left. We’re only pressing 300 copies. Get it because it’s dope. Get it because it’ll probably be worth good money some day. Get yours here. You’ll have to scroll down a bit and then select ‘record’ next to where you see ‘style’.
Another quick thing - remember when I mentioned a while ago that I found a demo version of Man Overboard with no ‘old man voice’ and lots of flubs and mistakes and whatnot? I’m THINKING about throwing that up on Bandcamp sometime soon. So be on the lookout for that, I guess.
For the next post, I’m thinking about ‘getting granular’ with the song “Sleep Apnea”. It’s a pretty personal song, so I just have to decide if I’m willing to go there. If I chicken out, we’ll move on to another song with some good stories attached. There’s a bunch of them.
And I just remembered! Don’t let me forget to write about the Sleep No More album I made with DJ Signify. There’s actually a link between that album and “Sleep Apnea”.
Until the next…