In the spirit of back-to-school week – we felt the urge to share a small handful of records that elicit that feeling of learning, bettering one-self, and/or reminding the world that you’re back and ready to roll for the new school year (for scholars of all ages!). This @officialblackalicious LP is a lesson in poetry and word play, and a reminder that hip hop is beautiful. 20 years later this 2xLP still holds up and is still very relevant and necessary. – Rick⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
As we discussed during episode 12 of The Fox Crate Podcast (link in bio), Electric Circus has aged nicely since its release back in 2002. Sonny makes the case for it being Common’s most slept-on album, and also his best full-length album. With production from @questlove and @jamespoyser, including J Dilla and The Neptunes – this album was ahead of its time, but one that we loved from day one. The amount of talent on this record is crazy. @common has a new record dropping at the end of this month, and one that we fully anticipate grabbing on wax. #hiphopvinyl#electriccircus#underrated#common⠀⠀⠀
Shout out to @wax33rpm for hosting this year’s #baseballvinylchallenge2 – our contribution was to challenge folks to feature a walk-off song they would play after hitting the game winning HR. This was a no brainer for us, as Primo Rick’s Kirk Gibson banger got overruled by The Kid, aka Ken Griffey Jr, and his famous walk-up song – “Hip Hop Hooray,” by Naughty By Nature.
Before the NBA became synonymous with Hip-Hop, there was a hall-of-fame center-fielder playing in Seattle, who made baseball look and feel cool. Griffey Jr. brought all the swag – from wearing his hat backwards, to his gold-glove defense, and that silky smooth home-run swing. He’s the reason I became a Seattle Mariners fan (still am today), even though I grew up in L.A. 🤷🏻♂️ – I was at his jersey retirement ceremony a few years back and it was one of the best sports-related moments of my life. Also, shout out to the @seattlemariners for being one of the first franchises to introduce batters with a walk-up song. Even though the challenge called for a “walk-off” song – it’s all the same to me because anytime Junior came to the plate, chances were that ball was leaving the yard. Salute to “The Kid” for being one of the greatest to ever do it 👏🏼 #letthekidsplay#sodomojo#truetotheblue
Congrats to all the Toronto/Canadian folks out there for dethroning the champs and getting that first chip. May I suggest “B-Boy Stance” as your official celebration anthem for the parade. Before Kawhi – there was T-Mac, Vinsanity, Bosh, and DeRozan. Well before Aubrey, aka Drake, there was Kevin aka Kdash. K-os is a cat that was 💯 ahead of his time as an indie hiphop artist who has the lyrical, singing, and musical chops to hang with anybody. I remember when he dropped “Heaven Only Knows,” – shit blew my mind 🤯. This dude was rapping and singing (I mean really singing though). He’s from the north and has been reppin since day one – so shout out and salute to @kostelevision⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Before we move forward into 2019 and keep sharing our wax – we wanted to make our own Top-5 of 2018. This doesn’t mean these records were the best 5 albums released (digital or on wax), but instead they’re just five of our favorites. So here it is…
This dude Protoje brought the 🔥 with his 2014 Ancient Future release…but in 2018 he took it to the next level with his follow-up, A Matter of Time. The production is top notch, courtesy of one of the best in the game today – Mr. Winta James, and the overall vibe is a masterclass blend of roots reggae, hip hop, and soul. Don’t just take our word for it though – go drop the needle on the opening track, “Flames” – orchestrated by the Matt Jones Orchestra, and you’ll see what we’re talking about.
First off, shout out to SF’s @originalsvinylfor giving us a genuine “what the fuck is this?!” moment back in early Nov of ‘18. The “this” we were asking about happened to be a beautifully crafted, curated collection of tracks courtesy of @ghostmcgrady . The landscapes painted by the beats and samples on this record are 💯 certified fresh. Although this release dropped in late 2018, it’s gotten plenty of spins to make it into our top five. #vibes
Coming in at numero tres is this great “debut” double LP by @brandoncoleman . It’s a fresh throwback and feel good funk/r&b/soul record that we just wish had been dropped before the summer. No worries though, as we’ll be putting this instant classic in rotation for many summers to come. Coleman’s vocoder game is strong and @brainfeederrecords continues their 🔥 streak of releases.
This collaboration project @augustgreeneband had been years in the making it seems, and damn was it worth the wait. One of the most underrated to do it (IMO), Lonnie Lynn @common gets busy on the mic – and when you got his rhymes accompanied by the talents of @robertglasper and @karriemriggins – you get a hiphop record that becomes timeless even when the subject matter is as current as anything else out there. We had to wait a minute for the record to drop on wax in 2018, but it’s one that we’re glad to own.
There could only be one for 2018 and we had to go back to @leonbridgesofficialsophomore release, Good Thing, to find it. As we highlighted last year, many folks were caught a little off guard with the flip of the script from his debut album – but damn does this album hold water. This LP still has all the feels of yesteryear a la Sam Cooke, but the production value of today’s music (in a good way). Hats off to @rickyreed for steering the ship.
Here at The Fox Crate, we can always appreciate when an artist brings a fresh take to an original piece of art. Well that’s usually the case anytime Amerigo Gazaway gets cooking on some conceptual collabs with some of the greats. This record featuring Yasiin Bey(Mos Def)x Marvin Gaye was dropped as the sequel to Vol One, The Departure, and it picks up the magic right where he left off with the first record. We are highlighting The Return first though, mainly because of our own “return” to the fold ? #remixalbum
2006 Original Pressing
The last day of the challenge called for the last album released by an artist, band, or MC before their untimely death – well this album was about 75% complete when J Dilla passed. There’s not enough that could be said about his contributions to hip-hop.
2003 Original Pressing
In my(Primo Rick’s) humble opinion, @madlib is the greatest hip-hop producer. Look up any record with a Madlib feature, and it won’t be a coincidence that it’s one of the best tracks on the album. So they opened the Blue Note vault for him? Yeah, sign me up! #thegoat