On Hip-Hop and Crate Digging

I first fell in love with hip-hop music when I was in high school. My friend gave me a mix tape of his favorite  hip-hop tracks. Up to that point I was into what you might call 'Dad Rock'. You know, AC/DC, Boston, and ZZ top. I never really understood what hip-hop was all about because the only hip-hop I was exposed to was on MTV and that to me was garbage. But the cd he gave me forever changed the evolution of my musical tastes. The cd didn't sound like any hip-hop that I had heard before. It had something that mainstream rap was missing. It had soul.

From then on I have been an avid supporter of hip-hop culture. When I say culture, I mean the 4 elements of hip-hop. These 4 elements are Dj-ing, MC-ing, Breakdancing and Graffiti art. I love every aspect of the culture but, of the elements, the art of DJ-ing and more specifically record collecting are the focus of my passion.

From its inception Hip-Hop music was produced by sampling break beats and other elements of old vinyl records and rearranging the sampled sounds into a new musical track for MC's to rhyme over. The production process and technology have changed over the years but the principles of sampling remain. The art of looking for rare records to sample or "crate digging" as its called, has made way for a revitalized vinyl market once thought of as a dead media. These days if you were to step into any used record store or thrift shop you'd be guaranteed to find at least one person hunched over a milk crate full of dusty old records hoping to find that one rare record that no one else has. Sometimes that peson in the record store is me. There is something about finding music on vinyl that is oddly gratifying. In this digital world where our entire music library exists only in a digital space there is nothing better than physically having a piece of music that you can hold in your hands.

 I have spent more time (and money) than I would like to admit scouring basement rooms of record stores for vinyl and from what I have learned over the years is that it takes a keen eye and ear to find decent records among the stacks. Having knowledge of all types of music other than hip-hop helps immensely. This need for a cultured ear has shifted my musical tastes even further from what it was as a fledgling hip-hop listener way back in high school. Nowadays I am into collecting and listening to records from specific labels such as Blue Note, Verve and Stax, but it goes beyond that. My current favorite record store find is a little gem by the name of "Switched on Bach". As you probably have guessed, it is the music of Bach but composed using entirely Moog Synthesizers. It's odd at first but a second listen will have you hooked.

If you are interested in buying a record player (they can be found for cheap on craigslist) and starting a record collection of your own I would strongly encourage you to do so. This hobby is only as expensive as you make it and you can find good records at Amoebas for sometimes less than a dollar. With vinyl prices as low as they are you can afford to take a risk with a record you wouldn't normally buy. So what if you bought a record you didn't like for buck. Now you know what not to buy and making mistakes will only sharpen your crate digging instincts.

Thats all for now. Catch me Thursdays at Noon on ksfsmedia.net/radio for 5th Element Radio.

--Ryan
Twitter: @Bair_clause
Vine: Bair Clause