Lord Finesse- You Know What I'm About

                   When I was a teenager probably about 15 or 16, I remember buying Mixmaster Mike's Rescue 916 Mixtape. I was heavily into collecting tapes at that point and this was a particularly cool piece of Hiphop history. The tape itself was a cool purple color, a professionally printed insert with some cool artwork. I believe I picked it up at Gramaphone records on Clark St. in Chicago. My father would be kind enough to drive me downtown so i could pick up the latest Hiphop/House/Dnb tapes. There was also a little stand up by the front counter where there were all these elaborate rave fliers that you could take. This was right at the peak of the Chicago rave scene....bout 97'/98'. The fliers were often huge, colorful, and attention grabbing....needless to say I started to collect them and became obsessed with Rave and Hiphop culture. Unfortunately I was still too young to attend the events....but i sort of lived vicariously through tapes/fliers/ and internet shit like usenet groups and listserv email groups.

Anyways, back to that purple Mixmaster Mike tape. This was my first exposure to turntablism, and i couldn't get enough after I heard that. There is overall a bit more of a focus on the tracks then the scratching which wasn't typical for a turntablist tape back then. The song selection was immaculate and I've spent a bit of time trying to develop an accurate tracklist for the tape. This Lord Finesse cut was one of the standout tracks, simply because of how fucking hard and rugged it is. Rough beat and straight to the point battle lyrics....Finesse was certainly nice and criminally underrated in the scheme of things. Real Hiphop heads know the deal tho. The one thing that kills me is that I don't have these tapes with me today, except for a few of those random promo tapes that Gramaphone would turn around and sell haha. At least my Claude Young tape made it.

Freddie Gibbs and Madlib - "Pinata"

So I stumbled upon one of these videos when I was fuckin' around on youtube. I was captivated by Madlib's minimalist production filled with simple smoky soul loops and straight to the point, hardrock lyrics. The videos managed to stand out and be even somewhat disturbing despite consisting of oft-used rap video cliche's like kitchens full of yayo and guns galore.....coupled with the violent lyrics dealt over serene soundscapes.....this Freddie Gibbs record amounts to a diamond in the rap rough that rises above  many other records of late. Maybe it's the level of realism in the sounds and images presented....making you think that Freddie has actually done the shit he raps about and that's why it has such a visceral effect. Either way this record is almost like a movie in the way it entertains, spinning tales of a non-repentant crook deep into the game....knowing that the end is coming soon but wanting to go out fucking with a fistful of dollars and a blunt.

Back Down

Hey there,

This is Charlie Night Owl.....I've been going through a lot IRL and haven't been updating for the past months. I came back here today and realized that there a still a lot of people coming through and checking the blog out, more than I thought. This motivates me to start posting new content, especially since I have a lot of down time at my disposal right now. Look for new shit coming real soon, got a couple things cooking in the kitchen.

Stay tuned.