Troubadours: The Blinding Sun Mission
Originally Posted April 11th, 2011
It’s Thursday night (4/7/11) and for the first time I’m about to check out a “cypher” session in downtown Frederick. While this is a first time experience for me, it’s common business for Blinding Sun Records , Frederick’s only locally owned and focused record store that has been hosting impromptu Hip-hop cypher sessions for about six months now on Thursday nights. The crowd is a little smaller than normal on this particular Thursday night, but the participants are nonetheless focused and actively participating in a lively circle fueled by local DJ Minus Nine. At the close of the evenings cypher I caught up with co-organizers Jamie Waller, co-owner of Blinding Sun Records and Frederick’s own Matt Rempe aka DJ Minus Nine and got the nitty-gritty on creating a positive local Hip-hop scene, Blinding Sun Records, and collecting vinyl. Check out the interview below and remember Record Store Day is right around the corner!
BB: So, here we are wrapping up another great Thursday night at Blinding Sun Records. Why don’t you introduce yourselves and tell me a little about your background and influences?
Minus Nine: My name is Minus Nine, 27 years old and I represent Makeshift Deluxe and the Action Figures which are crews from Frederick and Baltimore. I started doing hip-hop when I was about 17 or 18, about 10 years now. I’m influenced by all ranges of music from soul and jazz to rock and roll and anything really. Hip-hop was something I picked up when I was younger, mostly Break Dancing and it progressed and I started to DJ. I started writing rhymes when I was about 13, but I felt DJ’ing more and I moved toward producing. Now I can do all three.
Jamie: Jamie Waller, co-owner of Blinding Sun Records. I sell records. I’ve been a fan of music since I was little. Hardcore bands. Break Dancing. Personal interests, life, everything just kind of fell together and that’s how I ended up here.
BB: You both organize the cypher sessions on Thursday nights, how did you two meet?
Minus Nine: Randomly! One day I came into the store and let him [Jamie] know who I was. I didn’t introduce myself as Minus Nine, I was just like my names Matt and I do this and that and I could tell by the look on his face that he runs into people like that all the time, so I gave him a CD of my stuff and he was like alright your legit. We kind of connected from the first time we met and from then on it just progressed and turned into a friendship and now a partnership.
BB: So, then you thought of this idea to have Hip-hop cypher sessions at the store?
Minus Nine: We started to do that just for the sake of people who I know are out here that enjoy music and who are interested in music but don’t have an outlet for it. So, we put this together and figured it would benefit the store by bringing people here but at the same time it would give kids something to do rather than get in trouble or be on the streets doing dumb stuff. It’s beneficial for the whole city and not just a certain selection of people.
BB: You’ve probably covered this in other local interviews, but what inspired you [Jamie] to open a record store here in Frederick?
Jamie: I moved to Frederick about 2 years before the store idea even came about. It just came out of a necessity not to have to work for someone else and do something that I enjoy doing and make a living out of it.
BB: How do you go about obtaining records since most of your vinyl collection is used?
Jamie: I’ve been here almost three years now, so anybody that has records pretty much knows to come here to sell and trade. Besides that… networking, trading with other dealers, going to record shows, and some internet sites. Really, just finding people selling records where ever.
BB: It’s definitely an art and a challenge all in the same to find valuable or collectable records in decent listenable condition.
Minus Nine: I think there is still a society of “diggers” from the 80’s and 90’s eras. The art has been passed down to very few people, but there are a lot of people looking for “that” record. Like you said not all the records are quality, so it’s hard to find one of those records let alone one that’s playable. It’s like an underground society really.
BB: I recently got into collecting records myself, but I found it was frustrating to collect anything considered “classic” or even items 10/15 years old because you start dealing with reprints and damaged products.
Jamie: The downside for items 10/15 years old is that you’re looking for records that were put out in time when vinyl wasn’t the main form. By about ’87 people stopped producing vinyl in mass quantities. So everything from 87 on up until about 2000 is near impossible to find. It was put out in maybe 500 or a 1,000 copies. Think about how many people are in your town or even your high school alone, there’s probably 1,000 people in your high school. So, in the whole country or world trying to find one of those 1,000 products is almost impossible sometimes.
Minus Nine: yeah, and in Europe and everywhere overseas, vinyl is still big. It seems like it’s about a decade behind over there, cat’s are still mostly in the U.S. 90’s era of hip-hop and really all forms of music. Cats that kind of fell off in the U.S., you might be wondering what they’re doing, they’re overseas getting money right now. The times change, everyone has to adapt, and I feel like vinyl is slowly making a comeback because it’s “retro” now.
Jamie: It’s definitely come back. You can go into Best Buy and see new releases, go to Wal-Mart and see reissues, even Urban Outfitters sells records now. Kind of makes me mad. I mean, what are they doing even selling music?
Minus Nine: Hot Topic’s been holding it down for a while though. They had records when I was in like 9th or 10th grade.
Jamie: Yeah, they did have a small section, but they are actually moving out of it now. They’re one of the few stores moving in the opposite direction.
Minus Nine: I don’t think it was ever selling well back then, but I did pick up a few of my first NAS records out there.
Jamie: Hell Yeah, for a minute Hot Topic was a spot to find dope vinyl because no one else was carrying it.
BB: Record and Tape Traders used to be in Frederick.
Minus Nine: There was Record and Tape Traders, but yeah they fell off.
Jamie: It was mostly garbage anyway in the last few year and the prices were ridiculous. I remember I bought my copy of Speakerboxxx and The Love Below from them and they wanted $45 for it.
Minus Nine: The only place in Maryland that is actually consistent with records whether it be reissues or originals is Joes Record Paradise in Silver Spring.
Jamie: What about Blinding Sun?
[Group laughs]
Minus Nine: I’m talking about record stores other than Blinding Sun. Joes has managed to stay alive through all of the changes and shout out to my man TECK, Head Resonators, he’s the manager and that dude knows everything there is to know about music.
BB: Getting back to Blinding Sun, can you tell us a little more about the Hip-hop scene here?
Jamie: As far as records go, I’m really the only person in Maryland that carries new Hip-hop records and actually focuses on bringing good Hip-hop here. The Sound Garden and others just bring in whatever, they are a big record store so they have to carry a wide variety. If you compare my Hip-hop and Punk section to their section, I’d say theirs might be bigger but I have the quality. Having the background, I know what people are listening too.
BB: How about the cypher sessions, do you get the same regulars in here or a variety of participants?
Jamie: It varies.
Minus Nine: Typically, we have about 30 people in here. Sometimes you’ll catch a couple younger kids who you have never seen before, sometime a random person will pop in for a minute and they might not rap but they will stand in the back for a while, but we have a pretty consistent following. There is always that life issue, so people can’t always come to the record store and do their thing, but were here every week.
BB: What’s been one of your favorite moments so far on Thursday nights?
Minus Nine: Every Thursday is my favorite. Just the fact that in this little town you can do something and people appreciate what you’re doing for them. That’s a good feeling. You don’t run into that every day and it comes from all facets of Hip-hop, cats that are into newer stuff and cats that love the older stuff. It’s interesting to see how the times and music have changed and how people adapt to the changes or progress with it.
Jamie: I’m a little different, because I definitely don’t support a lot of the changes in Hip-hop. Not all the changes have been positive, so I like what I like. As far as the cypher goes, the moments for me that actually make it worthwhile is when I see everyone’s head in here moving and everyone’s on the same page feeling that moment, that’s what’s cool for me.
BB: You guys are one of the few Hip-hop outlets in town correct?
Jamie: The only.
BB: If you could create your perfect Frederick Hip-hop scene what would that look like?
Minus Nine: I don’t think there is a such thing as a perfect Hip-hop scene. You need all aspects from people that love Hip-hop to people that hate it. Most of the time, I feel like the city of Frederick is wide variety of haters. There isn’t a lot of support out here. People will hate on you for the simple fact that you’re doing something they can’t do or don’t have the devotion to do, but that’s how the world is today. You see some of the greatest genres of music go away, like soul turned R&B, the whole sound changed. Classic Rock used to just be rock. So, everything changes with time.
BB: So, you hope Frederick keeps evolving on its own?
Minus Nine: I hope so and actually not just Frederick but everywhere.
Jamie: I kind of feel that what Matt and I are doing is moving into that direction of a perfect Hip-hop community. We do the ciphers. We’ve done a beat battle and we’ll probably do more of those. We put on the John Robinson show at Café Nola back in March. We have shows coming up all through this summer and past that I’m pretty sure. People actually want to come to this town and perform, but what we learned from the John Robinson show is that people enjoy it and want to see more of it.
Minus Nine: There’s no guarantees out here and it’s a tough business to begin with because the age difference between cats that grew up listen to Hip-hop and older folks that have always disliked Hip-hop immediately cause friction. Police don’t like it. City officials don’t like it. They all assume that because its Hip-hop related it’s going to be violent and there is going to be a lot of criminal type people there and that’s not always the issue. If you think about a Hip-hop show in the early 90’s which was predominantly black with maybe a handful of white kids and a Hip-hop show now a days, its seas of white kids with a couple black folks and that just shows you how much times have changed and how much Hip-hop has influenced white people. The fact that those kids love Hip-hop, their parents have no time for it whatsoever and I’m sure there is a lot of kids who want to come to the cypher, but their parents won’t let them because they have preconceive notions about what a record store was like in the 70’s and what people do at record stores.
Jamie: I kind of see Hip-hop as being two parallel lines in a way. When Hip-hop came up in the 70’s and 80’s it was this underground new thing, then someone saw it as a way to make money and capitalize on it by turning it into a fad. Then it became more about fashion and partying than the actual music and message. That’s actually one of the reasons I deal in vinyl, besides some CD’s that you can’t get anywhere else in the county pretty much, if you’re listening too or buying vinyl then you actually want to listen to the music.
Minus Nine: It’s not just background noise. The worlds all drive-thru now. When I was a kid you had to physically go find what you wanted, now you just type it in to Google and find whatever you want.
BB: I don’t know, there’s a good and bad side to that. When I was kid, I wasn’t even really aware of sub genres of music because I didn’t have many outlets to find non mainstream artists. Now days, I learn a lot about music and artist through the internet.
Minus Nine: It’s good in the fact that if you’re an artist trying to break out you open yourself to a worldwide fan base on the internet, but it’s bad because the market gets flooded with people who think their musicians. Anybody with a MySpace or Facebook page is a rapper now. It’s one of the hardest times in music history to become what you want to become.
Jamie: Google and YouTube are cool for finding really obscure stuff that you know you’ll never be able to find in print.
Minus Nine: Like I was saying before, the movement in Europe and Asia is going to continue for a long time because they actually feel the music and live in the culture. There isn’t much culture over here. It’s a few cats in small towns that are doing what Jamie and myself are doing and we do it because we love it and it feels right to us. It’s hard to make a living here, but shows like the John Robinson show we put on at Café Nola that was so packed they ran out of cups twice and had to stop letting people in a few times open up opportunities. Even John Robison said after the show that he didn’t know where he was but that Frederick had it going on. To hear someone from Jersey who has been in the business for like 20 years is remarkable. I know a lot of cat’s who say they know about Frederick and won’t waste their time coming here for different reasons.
Jamie: Hip-hop is the most underappreciated genre in this town.
Minus Nine: Hip-hop in general is underrated. People think what’s on MTV or what’s on the radio is Hip-hop. It’s not. Hip-hop is a culture, rap is a music genre. There’s a fine line between the two.
Jamie: You can even see it in some of the kids that come in here. You can tell the dudes that want to experience what’s going on and you can see those dudes that just want to be Lil Wayne. We try to support the culture.
Minus Nine: I just want to see the kids progress and every time I’m here if someone needs help with something or needs some advice, or asks me what they can do better, I’m more than willing to help, but they have to want it. I’m not going to hold their hand. I’m not going to chase them down and ask them if they practiced their rhymes.
BB: It’s definitely a valiant effort that you both got going on here at the store.
Jamie: It was really a blessing that Matt and I ever even got linked up.
BB: Well, you guys have been great giving me the inside deal on Hip-hop here and everywhere. Why don’t we close by naming one or two of your favorite Hip-hop artist or artist who you think my readers should be familiar with.
Jamie: I’m biased to say my group, but I’ll give you a past rapper or mc that I think you need to follow. By far is Rakim . If you don’t know who he is you have no business being in Hip-hop. You could say the same thing for Big Daddy Kane , Kool G Rap , KRS-One . Locally, one of the most talented guys I’ve come across is a guy named Oddisee from DC who lives in Brooklyn now, but honestly this guy is taking Hip-hop to a whole new level. It’s rewarding to see some one local get some recognition. Kev Brown is another one of those cats whose been around for a while and finally getting a chance to shine.
Jamie: Were actually trying to set up a show with Kev Brown.
Minus Nine: Or anybody from the Low Budget Crew . As far as big music goes…
Jamie: Dilla
Minus Nine: Yeah, J Dilla is huge. He’s got his own following worldwide. I would say right now in Hip-hop music, that dude…
Jamie: Jay Electronica
Minus Nine: Yeah, I’d put Jay Electronica up there.
Jamie: He’s that dude that hasn’t really made an official release yet, but the buzz around him is so huge that when it drops he’s going to make millions. I’ll say most of the stuff on Stones Throw Records , they do Hip-hop, Soul, Funk and they are just innovating in throw back styles.
Minus Nine: I’m going to shout out a DJ and producer. In addition to Rakim, if you don’t know who DJ Premier is then you might want to get your head checked and then go to your nearest record store.
Jamie: and I’ll say Minus Nine, as far as producer/DJ’s go, he’s going to be like one of those Kev Brown/ Oddisee type dudes and I would say that even if he wasn’t my homeboy because I’ve heard his stuff and I’ve heard a lot of garbage out there too. He has talent.
BB: Great suggestions guys, anything else you want to say?
Minus Nine: I just want to say, check out Blinding Sun Records. Don’t hold yourself back if you’re afraid or if you’ve never touched vinyl, don’t be afraid to come in. Thursday night ciphers from 7pm – 9pm every Thursday. Jamie will be here. I will be here. Come in and have a good time.
It’s Thursday night (4/7/11) and for the first time I’m about to check out a “cypher” session in downtown Frederick. While this is a first time experience for me, it’s common business for Blinding Sun Records , Frederick’s only locally owned and focused record store that has been hosting impromptu Hip-hop cypher sessions for about six months now on Thursday nights. The crowd is a little smaller than normal on this particular Thursday night, but the participants are nonetheless focused and actively participating in a lively circle fueled by local DJ Minus Nine. At the close of the evenings cypher I caught up with co-organizers Jamie Waller, co-owner of Blinding Sun Records and Frederick’s own Matt Rempe aka DJ Minus Nine and got the nitty-gritty on creating a positive local Hip-hop scene, Blinding Sun Records, and collecting vinyl. Check out the interview below and remember Record Store Day is right around the corner!
BB: So, here we are wrapping up another great Thursday night at Blinding Sun Records. Why don’t you introduce yourselves and tell me a little about your background and influences?
Minus Nine: My name is Minus Nine, 27 years old and I represent Makeshift Deluxe and the Action Figures which are crews from Frederick and Baltimore. I started doing hip-hop when I was about 17 or 18, about 10 years now. I’m influenced by all ranges of music from soul and jazz to rock and roll and anything really. Hip-hop was something I picked up when I was younger, mostly Break Dancing and it progressed and I started to DJ. I started writing rhymes when I was about 13, but I felt DJ’ing more and I moved toward producing. Now I can do all three.
Jamie: Jamie Waller, co-owner of Blinding Sun Records. I sell records. I’ve been a fan of music since I was little. Hardcore bands. Break Dancing. Personal interests, life, everything just kind of fell together and that’s how I ended up here.
BB: You both organize the cypher sessions on Thursday nights, how did you two meet?
Minus Nine: Randomly! One day I came into the store and let him [Jamie] know who I was. I didn’t introduce myself as Minus Nine, I was just like my names Matt and I do this and that and I could tell by the look on his face that he runs into people like that all the time, so I gave him a CD of my stuff and he was like alright your legit. We kind of connected from the first time we met and from then on it just progressed and turned into a friendship and now a partnership.
BB: So, then you thought of this idea to have Hip-hop cypher sessions at the store?
Minus Nine: We started to do that just for the sake of people who I know are out here that enjoy music and who are interested in music but don’t have an outlet for it. So, we put this together and figured it would benefit the store by bringing people here but at the same time it would give kids something to do rather than get in trouble or be on the streets doing dumb stuff. It’s beneficial for the whole city and not just a certain selection of people.
BB: You’ve probably covered this in other local interviews, but what inspired you [Jamie] to open a record store here in Frederick?
Jamie: I moved to Frederick about 2 years before the store idea even came about. It just came out of a necessity not to have to work for someone else and do something that I enjoy doing and make a living out of it.
BB: How do you go about obtaining records since most of your vinyl collection is used?
Jamie: I’ve been here almost three years now, so anybody that has records pretty much knows to come here to sell and trade. Besides that… networking, trading with other dealers, going to record shows, and some internet sites. Really, just finding people selling records where ever.
BB: It’s definitely an art and a challenge all in the same to find valuable or collectable records in decent listenable condition.
Minus Nine: I think there is still a society of “diggers” from the 80’s and 90’s eras. The art has been passed down to very few people, but there are a lot of people looking for “that” record. Like you said not all the records are quality, so it’s hard to find one of those records let alone one that’s playable. It’s like an underground society really.
BB: I recently got into collecting records myself, but I found it was frustrating to collect anything considered “classic” or even items 10/15 years old because you start dealing with reprints and damaged products.
Jamie: The downside for items 10/15 years old is that you’re looking for records that were put out in time when vinyl wasn’t the main form. By about ’87 people stopped producing vinyl in mass quantities. So everything from 87 on up until about 2000 is near impossible to find. It was put out in maybe 500 or a 1,000 copies. Think about how many people are in your town or even your high school alone, there’s probably 1,000 people in your high school. So, in the whole country or world trying to find one of those 1,000 products is almost impossible sometimes.
Minus Nine: yeah, and in Europe and everywhere overseas, vinyl is still big. It seems like it’s about a decade behind over there, cat’s are still mostly in the U.S. 90’s era of hip-hop and really all forms of music. Cats that kind of fell off in the U.S., you might be wondering what they’re doing, they’re overseas getting money right now. The times change, everyone has to adapt, and I feel like vinyl is slowly making a comeback because it’s “retro” now.
Jamie: It’s definitely come back. You can go into Best Buy and see new releases, go to Wal-Mart and see reissues, even Urban Outfitters sells records now. Kind of makes me mad. I mean, what are they doing even selling music?
Minus Nine: Hot Topic’s been holding it down for a while though. They had records when I was in like 9th or 10th grade.
Jamie: Yeah, they did have a small section, but they are actually moving out of it now. They’re one of the few stores moving in the opposite direction.
Minus Nine: I don’t think it was ever selling well back then, but I did pick up a few of my first NAS records out there.
Jamie: Hell Yeah, for a minute Hot Topic was a spot to find dope vinyl because no one else was carrying it.
BB: Record and Tape Traders used to be in Frederick.
Minus Nine: There was Record and Tape Traders, but yeah they fell off.
Jamie: It was mostly garbage anyway in the last few year and the prices were ridiculous. I remember I bought my copy of Speakerboxxx and The Love Below from them and they wanted $45 for it.
Minus Nine: The only place in Maryland that is actually consistent with records whether it be reissues or originals is Joes Record Paradise in Silver Spring.
Jamie: What about Blinding Sun?
[Group laughs]
Minus Nine: I’m talking about record stores other than Blinding Sun. Joes has managed to stay alive through all of the changes and shout out to my man TECK, Head Resonators, he’s the manager and that dude knows everything there is to know about music.
BB: Getting back to Blinding Sun, can you tell us a little more about the Hip-hop scene here?
Jamie: As far as records go, I’m really the only person in Maryland that carries new Hip-hop records and actually focuses on bringing good Hip-hop here. The Sound Garden and others just bring in whatever, they are a big record store so they have to carry a wide variety. If you compare my Hip-hop and Punk section to their section, I’d say theirs might be bigger but I have the quality. Having the background, I know what people are listening too.
BB: How about the cypher sessions, do you get the same regulars in here or a variety of participants?
Jamie: It varies.
Minus Nine: Typically, we have about 30 people in here. Sometimes you’ll catch a couple younger kids who you have never seen before, sometime a random person will pop in for a minute and they might not rap but they will stand in the back for a while, but we have a pretty consistent following. There is always that life issue, so people can’t always come to the record store and do their thing, but were here every week.
BB: What’s been one of your favorite moments so far on Thursday nights?
Minus Nine: Every Thursday is my favorite. Just the fact that in this little town you can do something and people appreciate what you’re doing for them. That’s a good feeling. You don’t run into that every day and it comes from all facets of Hip-hop, cats that are into newer stuff and cats that love the older stuff. It’s interesting to see how the times and music have changed and how people adapt to the changes or progress with it.
Jamie: I’m a little different, because I definitely don’t support a lot of the changes in Hip-hop. Not all the changes have been positive, so I like what I like. As far as the cypher goes, the moments for me that actually make it worthwhile is when I see everyone’s head in here moving and everyone’s on the same page feeling that moment, that’s what’s cool for me.
BB: You guys are one of the few Hip-hop outlets in town correct?
Jamie: The only.
BB: If you could create your perfect Frederick Hip-hop scene what would that look like?
Minus Nine: I don’t think there is a such thing as a perfect Hip-hop scene. You need all aspects from people that love Hip-hop to people that hate it. Most of the time, I feel like the city of Frederick is wide variety of haters. There isn’t a lot of support out here. People will hate on you for the simple fact that you’re doing something they can’t do or don’t have the devotion to do, but that’s how the world is today. You see some of the greatest genres of music go away, like soul turned R&B, the whole sound changed. Classic Rock used to just be rock. So, everything changes with time.
BB: So, you hope Frederick keeps evolving on its own?
Minus Nine: I hope so and actually not just Frederick but everywhere.
Jamie: I kind of feel that what Matt and I are doing is moving into that direction of a perfect Hip-hop community. We do the ciphers. We’ve done a beat battle and we’ll probably do more of those. We put on the John Robinson show at Café Nola back in March. We have shows coming up all through this summer and past that I’m pretty sure. People actually want to come to this town and perform, but what we learned from the John Robinson show is that people enjoy it and want to see more of it.
Minus Nine: There’s no guarantees out here and it’s a tough business to begin with because the age difference between cats that grew up listen to Hip-hop and older folks that have always disliked Hip-hop immediately cause friction. Police don’t like it. City officials don’t like it. They all assume that because its Hip-hop related it’s going to be violent and there is going to be a lot of criminal type people there and that’s not always the issue. If you think about a Hip-hop show in the early 90’s which was predominantly black with maybe a handful of white kids and a Hip-hop show now a days, its seas of white kids with a couple black folks and that just shows you how much times have changed and how much Hip-hop has influenced white people. The fact that those kids love Hip-hop, their parents have no time for it whatsoever and I’m sure there is a lot of kids who want to come to the cypher, but their parents won’t let them because they have preconceive notions about what a record store was like in the 70’s and what people do at record stores.
Jamie: I kind of see Hip-hop as being two parallel lines in a way. When Hip-hop came up in the 70’s and 80’s it was this underground new thing, then someone saw it as a way to make money and capitalize on it by turning it into a fad. Then it became more about fashion and partying than the actual music and message. That’s actually one of the reasons I deal in vinyl, besides some CD’s that you can’t get anywhere else in the county pretty much, if you’re listening too or buying vinyl then you actually want to listen to the music.
Minus Nine: It’s not just background noise. The worlds all drive-thru now. When I was a kid you had to physically go find what you wanted, now you just type it in to Google and find whatever you want.
BB: I don’t know, there’s a good and bad side to that. When I was kid, I wasn’t even really aware of sub genres of music because I didn’t have many outlets to find non mainstream artists. Now days, I learn a lot about music and artist through the internet.
Minus Nine: It’s good in the fact that if you’re an artist trying to break out you open yourself to a worldwide fan base on the internet, but it’s bad because the market gets flooded with people who think their musicians. Anybody with a MySpace or Facebook page is a rapper now. It’s one of the hardest times in music history to become what you want to become.
Jamie: Google and YouTube are cool for finding really obscure stuff that you know you’ll never be able to find in print.
Minus Nine: Like I was saying before, the movement in Europe and Asia is going to continue for a long time because they actually feel the music and live in the culture. There isn’t much culture over here. It’s a few cats in small towns that are doing what Jamie and myself are doing and we do it because we love it and it feels right to us. It’s hard to make a living here, but shows like the John Robinson show we put on at Café Nola that was so packed they ran out of cups twice and had to stop letting people in a few times open up opportunities. Even John Robison said after the show that he didn’t know where he was but that Frederick had it going on. To hear someone from Jersey who has been in the business for like 20 years is remarkable. I know a lot of cat’s who say they know about Frederick and won’t waste their time coming here for different reasons.
Jamie: Hip-hop is the most underappreciated genre in this town.
Minus Nine: Hip-hop in general is underrated. People think what’s on MTV or what’s on the radio is Hip-hop. It’s not. Hip-hop is a culture, rap is a music genre. There’s a fine line between the two.
Jamie: You can even see it in some of the kids that come in here. You can tell the dudes that want to experience what’s going on and you can see those dudes that just want to be Lil Wayne. We try to support the culture.
Minus Nine: I just want to see the kids progress and every time I’m here if someone needs help with something or needs some advice, or asks me what they can do better, I’m more than willing to help, but they have to want it. I’m not going to hold their hand. I’m not going to chase them down and ask them if they practiced their rhymes.
BB: It’s definitely a valiant effort that you both got going on here at the store.
Jamie: It was really a blessing that Matt and I ever even got linked up.
BB: Well, you guys have been great giving me the inside deal on Hip-hop here and everywhere. Why don’t we close by naming one or two of your favorite Hip-hop artist or artist who you think my readers should be familiar with.
Jamie: I’m biased to say my group, but I’ll give you a past rapper or mc that I think you need to follow. By far is Rakim . If you don’t know who he is you have no business being in Hip-hop. You could say the same thing for Big Daddy Kane , Kool G Rap , KRS-One . Locally, one of the most talented guys I’ve come across is a guy named Oddisee from DC who lives in Brooklyn now, but honestly this guy is taking Hip-hop to a whole new level. It’s rewarding to see some one local get some recognition. Kev Brown is another one of those cats whose been around for a while and finally getting a chance to shine.
Jamie: Were actually trying to set up a show with Kev Brown.
Minus Nine: Or anybody from the Low Budget Crew . As far as big music goes…
Jamie: Dilla
Minus Nine: Yeah, J Dilla is huge. He’s got his own following worldwide. I would say right now in Hip-hop music, that dude…
Jamie: Jay Electronica
Minus Nine: Yeah, I’d put Jay Electronica up there.
Jamie: He’s that dude that hasn’t really made an official release yet, but the buzz around him is so huge that when it drops he’s going to make millions. I’ll say most of the stuff on Stones Throw Records , they do Hip-hop, Soul, Funk and they are just innovating in throw back styles.
Minus Nine: I’m going to shout out a DJ and producer. In addition to Rakim, if you don’t know who DJ Premier is then you might want to get your head checked and then go to your nearest record store.
Jamie: and I’ll say Minus Nine, as far as producer/DJ’s go, he’s going to be like one of those Kev Brown/ Oddisee type dudes and I would say that even if he wasn’t my homeboy because I’ve heard his stuff and I’ve heard a lot of garbage out there too. He has talent.
BB: Great suggestions guys, anything else you want to say?
Minus Nine: I just want to say, check out Blinding Sun Records. Don’t hold yourself back if you’re afraid or if you’ve never touched vinyl, don’t be afraid to come in. Thursday night ciphers from 7pm – 9pm every Thursday. Jamie will be here. I will be here. Come in and have a good time.
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