20 years ago this very day marked the start of a legacy.. by this time i've already grown out of the sk-1 keyboard and I was plottin on my pops sk-200. looking back i never realized exactly what i was getting myself into; until now. with 88' just beginning, i've began to dig into my parents record pile even when they warned my not to touch the records... those who know me well are aware of the ass whoopin i got for scratching the hell out of MJ's Thriller album.
every day after school i would come home, watch Video Music Box and then get to the beats.. i used to sneak a pile of records into my room, grab the cords out of my toy chest and hook the turntable to the sk-200.. the first record i've ever sampled was a joint from some disney record.. the jungle book to be exact. the drums were kinda weak on the sk so i snatched the bass and snare from this Bloodstone record... being that the sk-200 only holds 4 samples i only was able to chop 2 samples for the rhythm.. then i got smart. with 2 tape decks, i recorded the drums with the samples on 1, and added more samples on the other.. took me hours to sync them both together... sheer fuckin genious
as the years went on i took a liking to music other than hip hop.. listing to artists like The Stylistics, Ohio Players, The Persuaders, Temptations and Bloodstone gave me more of an ear for sampling.. without a dollar to my name i began saving lunch money in order to buy records.. i remember one day going to Vogal's in easteick. old dude behind the counter was shocked to see an 11 year old asking for cuts like The Spinners and Delfonics.
fast forwarding to my teen years..... this was a time i was kinda deep into my record collection.. after weeding out all the records in my moms collection, I began buying more for myself.. now i was exposed to the ills of amerikkkas society and i did it for a purpose.. still with no money in my pockets i took a job as look out boy in order to support my habit.. i think i was worse than the fiends because i worked to build my record collection. after shit fell apart i was about 56 records deep of my own plus the 30 something records i jacked from moms. not only was i sampling, i was listening and diggin the vibes of generations before me.. the 90's introduced somthing new to my ears.... jazz. still I listened to the classic soul joints but it was cuts from the likes of McCoy Tyner and Donald Byrd that filled my ears... that shit was straight fire. i remember days at my nigga Rob's house diggin thru his pops collection listening to shit like The Heath Brothers, Coltrain and Billie Holiday. not knowing if it was the combination of the instruments or just the spontaneity of jazz itself that drew into this artform, i was hooked. by this time I no longer had the sk-200 and I was making beats with my cousin Ryan. a few weeks into 95 i took a long walk, not knowing that i was soon to come across a pile of records that was thrown out a few blocks away.. that shit made my day. the fucked up part is that it was a rainy day and i made 2 trips back and forth just for 2 crates of records.. 2 fuckin crates, hell yes it was worth it. time past and i began to find more crates that were thrown out within the hood.
in retrospect, all the shit i went thru with records were ridiculous but it was worth the trouble, time and effort.. i gained and lost alot of my collection over the course of those many years.. from vinyl crackin to niggas jackin my stash, i found time to replace what was once lost.. the worst thing to do is to let another crate digga borrow records. in the end i cant complain because i am the same way.. about 1/4 of my collection was jacked from other diggas like myself.. too many records to keep up with, i began to say fuck it and move on.... between 2005- 2007 i've spent close to $4000 on records alone.. out of that 4G's i spent about $1000 on 3 classic jazz albums at an auction... damn right i will out bid u nukkas if it's worth it... those are collectors originals, autographed in mint condition still in the original cellophane rapper... not sampling those...thats a no no. this day in time I look at my collection and say damn, because 20 years ago i wouldnt have realized that i would not only sample from these records, but they will become my listening pleasure as well... as long as there are crate diggas vinyl will never become extinct... yall CD and MP3 muthafuckas need to take note.. there's alot of history in diggin and this is my story.......ya digg
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