Dj Melo just might be the 45 king of Phoenix. The one thing I do know is that his 45 game is to be taken seriously, VERY SERIOUSLY. I love rockin parties with this dude and i'm honored to be sharing the decks again with him at his weekly 45 party at Jobot Coffee Shop in DTPHX. Party starts at 8pm-11pm. Stop thru!
I never thought I would own this Nas 45 because not only is it rare, it's SUPER expensive when it does pop up. I paid more then I wanted to but not nearly as much as the $150-$250 i've seen it go for in the past. "Hate Me Now" is on the flip side.
I was at a party in Los Angeles several years ago where Dj Rhettmatic, Dam-Funk, and Dj Scratch all rocked 45's. When Scratch went into his rap set he pulled out this super rare gem and showed the crowd the picture sleeve. By the response , you could tell that no one in the room had seen it before. I've seen this sell for up to $300 but not to worry, I paid a LOT less.
This was one of my favorite groups from the 90's. I loved everything about the Afros and never knew that this 45 existed until recently. It's a U.K. release and apparently there were lots of rap 45's released over there that were never released in the United States. This is a really cool addition to my rap 45 collection.
Previously released on 12" back in 2007, Sputnik Brown's cult classic "U Havin' Fun Yet?" (featuring Oxygen on vocals) was well received worldwide by hardcore underground Hip Hop fans. The 7" also has an instrumental edit PLUS a bonus 16 from Oxygen live from the legendary "Squeeze Radio" show with Sucio Smash & Timm See on WKCR 89.9FM recorded in 2006.
The B-side track "Idealism" features vocals from Oxygen backed with Edan on the turntables from their practice session back in 2012 for an in-store at NYC's Academy Records. This has never before been released in vinyl format. It was only available via handmade CD's and cassettes.
Grab yours before they are gone, never to be repressed again. Get it below:
People are going crazy over these bobble heads from the folks over at Funko Pop. In fact, you can find just about anyone from the entertainment industry being immortalized in these mini plastic colorful figures. I'm not one for trends but I think these recent releases are worth some shelf space. Who knows, maybe i'll take them out of the boxes and have a Paisley Park vs. Brooklyn battle. I wonder who would win?
I'll be in downtown Los Angeles on 3-17-19 for the 11th Anniversary of the Beat Swap Meet. Please stop by the Jamille Records booth and check out our official record release party for our latest 7" from Sputnik Brown/MC Oxygen "U Havin Fun Yet?" single. Oxygen will be at the show as well and he'll be performing this new track and some other classics so come check us out! We will also have the guys from Crates Records hanging out with us and they will be slinging that black crack as well. I'll also be selling rare mixtapes from the likes of Roc Raida, Z-Trip, JUICE, Jazzy Jeff, Dj Hollywood, Lovebug Starski, Dj Clue, Just Blaze, plus Stretch & Bobbito show tapes and some gangsta random rap cassettes as well. The record show starts at 10am. Holla at us!
The day started with the "Darrell D Record Swap Meet" & Bar-B-Q.
While we were outside slingin records, these guys were inside on the decks.
Make no mistake, the computer was only there to record the sets. This was strictly a vinyl only party!
We finished the day with an all-star line-up of talent. Check it out.
FatLip
Fact
Darrell D
Dj Swamp, FatLip, Dj Twist, Sergio
It was a good day. Can't wait for the next one.
I would like to give a super special shout-out to this lovely lady right here. This is Tianne Pitz. She is responsible for all of the pictures on this post as well as many others she has contributed to past posts. Thanks Tianne!!!
Oxygen has been a part of Hip Hop culture since he was a short stack in the 80's back in Long Island. All these years and many many projects later he is still active and when he's not rocking the mic you can catch him wrecking the 1200's all over the country. I finally got a chance to holler at him and get the lowdown on his latest upcoming vinyl release. Let's go!
Darrell D- Ok, let's start at the beginning. Tell me about your early childhood.
Oxygen- I grew up in Long Island New York in a neighborhood where a lot of your notable rap artists are from. I grew up around Rakim, Groove B Chill, and Too Poetic. Poetic lived a couple of houses down from me. They were a lot of my influences for me being involved in hip hop. It was just something in the air at the time.
D- When did you first get exposed to rap music?
O- There were these guys that would set up on the next block from where I lived. They were called Fantasy Inc. They were my sisters age, 5 years older then me. They would bring out turntables and throw block parties. Some were dj's and some were mc's. My main influence from that group was one of my sisters best friends. His name was Greg Rawls. He let me touch his turntables for the first time. I was 13 or 14 years old. From there it was on.
D- Where did you go from there?
O- When I was around 16 or 17 we started Hype Sounds Productions. That was around 1988. At first it was a whole crew of us but ended up being just me and Cut Wizard Albee. He was a dj/producer and had all the early samplers, drum machines, and digital delays. That's when I first got real serious about music.
D- What did you guys create?
O- Our first song was called, "We Got The Hype Sounds". That was in 1987 and was the first song I wrote. That song went through a lot of remix stages before we got to the version that was actually on our demo tape. Then in 1988 we did "Mastermind's In Effect".
D- I first heard of you when I picked up the "Gone Diggin" 45 at Big City Records in Manhattan back in 2010. I had heard of Sputnik Brown but didn't own any of the music. How did you guys form?
O- Around 90-91, another guy from my neighborhood was a well known rapper by the name of Musa. Me and Albee met producer LB Bad. LB was working on beats for both of us. We were all friends and LB Bad had connections in the music industry. I eventually moved away to North Carolina. It was years before I moved back and Musa moved to Brooklyn and was still doing music. We kept in touch throughout the years and when I moved back in 2004, Musa and I reconnected and started recording. The song "U Havin Fun Yet" was the first song we did. It was the song that started Sputnik Brown because we weren't a group yet. Musa and his cousin Tres Best had another group call House Of Reps in 96. Musa and E The 5th were both school teachers in the city and were making beats and working on their own material. We all joined forces as one big family united and became Sputnik Brown.
D- What lead to your record deal?
O- This dude named Sucio Smash was friends with Bobbito and when Bobbito stop doing his radio show on 89.9 WKCR he gave that time slot to Sucio. His show was called Squeeze Radio. He invited us to his show and it was the first time our entire crew came together in one spot. We all knew we wanted to form a group. We came up with the name Sputnik Brown not long before we did the radio appearance. We did a freestyle on the air and thats when Sucio told us he wanted to sign us to his new label High Water Music. We were the first to be signed to his label. That was winter 2006. Then in July or August of 2007 the 3 song 12" was released.
D- "U Havin Fun Yet" is being re-released. How did you make this happen?
O- Demand. Out of the 3 songs on the 12","U Havin Fun Yet" got the most play from people and radio. For years lot's of dj's wanted it on 45 and it took me years to finally decide to release it again. One reason was because I didn't want to devalue the 12" version but now it's time to put it back out and give it new life. The 45 will also feature the instrumental version and the B-side has the song "Idealism" with me on the mic and Edan on the turntables.
D- How did you and Edan hook up?
O- Me and Edan got together for an in-store performance at Academy Records in Manhattan back in the day. I told him I never got to perform a lot of my stuff from the 80's so we came up with the idea of him cutting on the turntables and me rhymin, you know, on some hip hop flavor since it was going to be live. After the in-store, we went on tour in Europe and put it in our set. We recorded the practice session at his place before we did the in-store and before we performed it on tour, that's the version you hear on the 45.
D- When will it be released?
O- We are currently taking pre-orders for an early March 2019 release. Also, Jamille Records is releasing it and we will be doing our official record release at the Beat Swap Meet in Los Angeles on March 17th. Stop by the Jamille Records booth and i'll also be performing at the show as well so we hope to see you there and we'll have special colored 45's and other limited Oxygen merchandise exclusive for this show only!
