The First Taste Is Free
The release of the Super Dope album is now just a few weeks away. Why in god’s name is this happening? Why now?
Well, it so happens that the release of the album falls almost EXACTLY 30 years after my very first release. A few days ago, I checked in with my A-1 from day 1, Jorun Bombay to verify. Although both of us had been recording and performing for some years at that point, our first release - as Haltown Projex - came out in May of 1993. I’m referring to the legendary Haltown Meltdown cassette. 30 years ago! So Super Dope is a nice way to mark and celebrate the anniversary. And this year, we’re celebrating 50 years of hip hop, which is a big deal. Super Dope is my love letter to the culture.
Now here’s the thing - I don’t expect Super Dope to make big waves. No one from the Complex hip hop media power rankings will take notice. I won’t really be doing anything to push the album. On the day of its release, I’ll post it on Bandcamp and that’s about it. Maybe there will be a bit of word of mouth and maybe we’ll sell a few hundred copies/downloads.
When I dropped a new album in the past, a whole team of people would spring into action. A publicist would set up interviews. Photographers would take pictures. Agents would book festivals and tours. Managers would submit the album for various considerations. I’m done with all of that. I’ll say anything I have to say right here. I’m not interested in performing live anymore. I mean, money talks, I suppose. If someone popped up tomorrow and blew me away with an offer, I’d have to consider it. That won’t happen though. At this point, there’s no town in the world where I could draw more than a handful of people. So any promotor foolish enough to try such a thing would lose their shirt. My whole operation is very small and simple now and I like it that way.
So I guess the question is - do I have any goals or hopes for the album? Not so much! It makes me happy, so mission accomplished. I really hope you like it. In the past, I dreamed of being seen by the hip hop establishment. I wanted to be seen as a valid and worthy contributor. I wanted to be part of the story. It never worked out. But I don’t want that anymore. It’s sad to say but the way I see it, the whole thing has been hijacked by corny people. The club is wack and I have no interest in being part of it.
But!! I know there are still a few people like me out there. I know I’m not the only one who still lives and breathes for the hip hop of the 70s and 80s and early 90s. I know that people like me miss and treasure those days and those sounds. Maybe I’m delusional (very likely) but I think Super Dope could bring a bit of joy to the old heads and the younger ones who are students of those eras. They’re the ones who will get all the references. They’re the ones who will fully appreciate the depths I went to making this album. So I’d like to share it with them, I suppose. Once it’s out there in the world, pass it on to someone who you think might dig it. And I’d love for some of the people who inspired me to hear it but I’m too proud to make those appeals.
As is the case with King Of Drums, Super Dope is LOADED with drum breaks from the deeps. I definitely take pride in my knowledge of breaks and the work that has gone into my digging. So I also like to think that the album would be a treat for diggers. A few weeks ago, I was thinking: how could I stir up a bit of interest in the album among fellow diggers? I came up with the idea of offering a prize to anyone who could name ten of the drum breaks I use on the album. But the only prize that would really motivate people is money, I think. If I had a grand to burn, I’d make the offer: a thousand dollars to the first person who can name ten drum breaks used on Super Dope! I’m fairly confident that no one would be able to do it (and I’m 100% confident that no one could name them all) but it’s risky, of course. And I still live by words that Daddy-O of Stetsasonic taught me many years ago: “Don’t let your mouth write a check that your ass can’t cash”.
I mentioned that I don’t want to perform anymore. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t want to interact and exchange ideas beyond putting records out. I was hanging out with Skratch Bastid a few weeks ago and he was telling me about how DJs have been using the Twitch platform in creative ways beyond playing live sets like they would in a club. He was saying that some guys are doing more casual things where it’s like a hangout with chatting and talking about records or whatever. That sounded kinda interesting to me. I haven’t thought about it enough to come up with any actual ideas. But if I were to set up some kind of Twitch session at some point, would you be down for that? Let’s poll it…
That reminds me. The results of the last poll are in. The VAST majority of you like being able to look over lyrics. And by a margin of 58%, you’d rather have the text to read than the audio file-thing I proposed. That makes sense to me. So I’ll definitely share all the lyrics for the Super Dope album here when it comes out. And maybe I’ll throw up all the King Of Drums lyrics at some point too.
And a correction to the last post: I wrote that I thought Vertices had a little over a thousand subscribers. I looked into it and it’s actually quite a bit less than that. But we seem to be gaining new subscribers every day. We’ll celebrate when we reach the magic number. 1000 subscribers was my goal from the start.
On a different topic, I was reminded of something embarrassing the other day when I was in one of my favorite record shops in Toronto. Years ago, I went in there with an assortment of my records and I asked the guy who ran the place if he’d be willing to sell them. He said sure and I was psyched because it meant I’d either make a few bucks or get some store credit. Well guess what. Here we are a few years later and not one of those records have sold. They’re still sitting there. I go to this shop regularly because it’s a good one. I’ve had good luck finding 80s hip hop records and a few nice drum breaks. But I feel a little embarrassed every time I go in because my records haven’t sold. Feels kinda loser-ly, you know? So if you’re ever in Toronto, do me a favor and pop into Invisible City in Chinatown and buy a friggin’ Buck 65 record. I think they’re in the “local” section. It’s one of the bins on the wall to the right when you walk in. It’s not about the money at this point. It’s about ridding myself of the embarrassment. Cripes. And have a good look around when you’re there. It’s a dope shop. I found these when I was in there a few days ago:
I guess that’s it for now. As a reward for reading all the way to the end of this post, here’s a demo version of one of the songs from the new album - “The Forbidden Words”:
I’ll get back to you again next week with more info and treats and whatnot.
Until then.