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I own two copies of this album, one for each cover. The original one of Eminem on his former front porch, was the first one that I bought on 5/23/00, the day that the album was released (the other other one of Em crouched, surrounded by pills, I purchased for $1 a couple of years ago at Book Off, just to add to the collection tbh). The hype going into this album was insane. I was finishing up the 9th grade and Eminem was everybody’s favorite rapper leading into MMLP. I was extremely jealous of my friend who had the album one week before it’s official release date. When 5/23 finally came, I went to The Wiz after school and stood on the longest line I ever had to endure in that store. I bought the album, raced home, unwrapped the CD and played it out loud on my computer. I was hooked. Til this day, MMLP is my favorite Em album. All my friends and I could talk about for the remainder of that school year was MMLP. One day “Kill You” was your favorite song, another day “I’m Back” was your favorite. Looking back it amazed me how a group of Asian, White and Hispanic kids bonded over the insane ramblings of a Midwestern White rapper, but that’s the power of Hip Hop.
- Part of the Nation by Chan (Signed by Chan) PlatanoPeddler – My Rap CD Collection
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Back in 2004, the UGHH online store used to sell signed copies of The Official Bootlegs EP and Part of the Nation by Boston/New Jersey rapper, Chan (also known as Snacky Chan). Originally, Chan was an underground Asian rapper who was affiliated with DJ Supreme One and Akrobatik. He even appeared on the cover of Detonator Records Vol. 1, alongside other underground rappers C-Rayz Walz, Breez Evahflowin and Akrobatik.
I bought both CD’s off the strength of “Big In Japan” featuring Boston underground veteran, Reks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5JLWyEZuZA
I also saw Chan live as a special guest at Jin’s birthday concert on 6/4/05 at the original Knitting Factory in Manhattan.
Eventually, Chan left America and pursued more lucrative opportunities as a member of K-Pop group, Uptown:
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I didn’t get this EP signed (I bought it years later for $1 at Book Off) but I attended the record release show at SOB’s in NYC on 8/3/10. Black Milk, L.E.P. Bogus Boys and some others opened for him. Angela Yee (currently of Power 105’s The Breakfast Club) hosted the event.
*Angela Yee hosting.
*Daru Jones, who is currently the drummer for Jack White, used to be Black Milk’s drummer.
*Spaced out pic of Black Milk performing.
*Statik Selektah DJed for Gibbs during his set.
Gibbs did songs from the EP and his previous mixtapes. He didn’t really have any special guests apart from L.E.P., who came out and performed “In My Hood” with him. Still, he killed it and had great energy. I also got to meet him after the show, seemed like a down to Earth person.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjGYmP4-mKU
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On June 9, 2015, Underground/Battle Rap veteran, PH (formerly known as Pumpkinhead), passed away at the age of 39. I had heard some of his work prior to this album but this was the album that made me a fan. It was released in 2006 and was produced (almost) entirely by Marco Polo. Rhymes are on point, production’s on point. PH and Marco Polo were in rare form. If you haven’t heard his other albums or haven’t seen any of his battles, I highly suggest checking this album out first.
My personal favorite track has to be “Authentic” featuring DV Alias Khrist (think an underground, Brooklyn version of Nate Dogg).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqLk95Ynqdc
I actually met PH after a Ghostface Killah concert in Prospect Park, Brooklyn back in 2012. As I was leaving, I saw him and PackFM chilling. I gave them both dap and kept it moving.
I also saw Immortal Technique bring out PH as a special guest at a 2012 concert. They performed “Peruvian Cocaine” alongside Diabolic and Poison Pen. I recorded that moment on video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgtM90WgTf4
Rest In Power, PH.
EDIT 8/1/15:
On Sunday, 7/26/15, The Rock Steady Crew held their 38th Anniversary show. A tribute was done in honor of PH. It included Jean Grae, The Bad Seed, GMS, Blitzkrieg, Wild Child, Mr. Medaphor, Immortal Technique, PackFM, Tonedeff, Diabolic and Poison Pen. PH’s wife, Shawntay Ocascio, and their two sons also appeared onstage. She’s pregnant with their daughter. It was very sad to see Shawntay onstage crying. I’m not going to lie, I felt like shedding a tear myself. However, her sons had a lot of positive energy and you can tell that they’ll help her get through this rough patch. As usual, I recorded the tribute in three video clips.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUdFLF6oC7U
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This record is significant to me for two reasons. First, it was one of the first underground Rap albums that I ever heard. Second, it was one of the first two albums that I purchased at Fat Beats NYC (the other being Jedi Mind Tricks' Violent By Design). Back then, I was a huge Necro fan. His shocking content appealed to my “teenage angst” (Liotta laugh). I eventually grew out of his music but I still enjoy this record for what it is. My favorite track from here is “Underground”, although “STD” is the first Necro track that I ever heard/downloaded. “X-Mas Freestyle” has a special place in my heart though for the fact that I played it out loud in my high school English class for an oral presentation on Shock Rap. I started talking to the class about Necro and described him as an up and coming Jewish rapper out of Brooklyn (this was 2000 or 2001). One of the Jewish girls in my class was so excited to hear about a Jewish rapper that she couldn’t wait until I played his track. So I played her “X-Mas Freestyle”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cecvEkmwYVM
and her face went from ecstatic to disgusted in a matter of seconds. That was true for the rest of the class as well. It was one of my finest high school moments in my opinion.
- Who Am I CD/DVD by Cormega PlatanoPeddler – My Rap CD Collection
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Both of these projects are connected, at least as it pertains to me. Back in May 2004, Cormega did an album signing at Fat Beats NYC with Dona (a female rapper from Brooklyn he was working with at the time). I attended the event with a longtime friend. On our way up that famous Fat Beats staircase, we bumped into a friend of ours from Junior High as well as a girl who I knew from High School. This girl was on some hard shit in school but she was crying hysterically because she had just met Mega, lel. Anyway, for whatever reason, I didn’t bring all of my other Cormega CD inserts, I just brought the Legal Hustle insert which Mega and Dona both signed. Unbeknownst to me at the time, there was someone there who was filming the event for Cormega. As it turns out, this footage ended up as part of Cormega’s Who Am I DVD, which was bundled with his 2007 CD of the same name. In the footage, there is a younger, teenage version of yours truly with an afro. Catch me at the 22:40 mark and again at the 23:48 mark. Props to Rog815 for the video upload.
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I didn’t get this album signed but I did attend the official album release party at SOB’s in NYC. Jon Connor opened for Royce (he brought out Freeway) and a couple of other acts. Royce had DJ Premier backing him up on the turntables. For some reason, they were about an hour late even though I had seen them at the venue earlier in the day. That made the crowd boo both Royce and Premo. Despite the booing, the crowd lost their minds once Royce finally showed up and performed “Legendary”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2xlXrNB_EI
Royce also brought out his brother, Kid Vishis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCSiOdXJGTk
his Slaughterhouse crew (Crooked I couldn’t make it because of back problems)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JflnB8Jh7xc
Talib Kweli
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmB_001YUbs
and Pharoahe Monch and Jean Grae.
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See the Outsidaz annotations on this page.
- Night Life EP by Outsidaz (Signed by Pacewon) PlatanoPeddler – My Rap CD Collection
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Pacewon and Mr. Green made an appearance during Fat Beats NYC’s final week. They performed a brief set and signed autographs afterwards. I did record their entire set on video and it was uploaded to Youtube but Mr. Green asked me to take the videos down a couple of years ago, so I did. Green was all business and Pace was out of his mind (he kept telling everybody to suck his balls for some reason). He was probably high but he could still spit every bar perfectly during the performance. I was glad when he did “The Rah Rah”, my favorite song from the Night Life EP. Pace signed the EP, The Bricks LP and his solo debut, Won.
I took down my videos but apparently there are still some videos up of Pacewon & Mr. Green’s performance. Shoutout to TheLSC for this clip of “The Rah Rah”:
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On 5/19/04, KRS-One did an instore signing at Fat Beats NYC. It was for his newest album at that time, Keep Right. Keep Right officially came out in July of that year but KRS was on hand to sell advance copies. I didn’t buy one at the signing (I bought the official release when that dropped). At that time, I had a couple of KRS albums but the only one I could find in time for the instore was Return of the Boom Bap. Usually at these types of Fat Beats events, artists would get on the mic and spit some bars and then start signing albums. However, KRS said that while he thought about doing that, he instead felt that it would mean more if he spoke to us directly. He did so for about an hour. He was mostly talking about the present state of Hip Hop and where it’s going. He gave props to the Ying Yang Twins (which I think caught everybody off guard) and also gave props to Twista, whom he battled some years ago. The main thing that resonated with me, and this became even truer once Fat Beats closed down in 2010, is that us as consumers, should support the independent, mom-and-pop record stores. KRS said that if we don’t, we’ll end up regretting it. Kicking ourselves for not buying from these stores when we had the chance. He gave Fat Beats as an example and mentioned that when Fat Beats closes down, a lot of people will say things like “awww man, I wish I spent more money here and supported more”. When the store did in fact close down, that’s exactly what a lot of people were saying. Personally, I always supported Fat Beats- it was my go-to spot for underground Hip Hop. But not enough people did the same and the internet age really brought record sales down.
