Sandpeople - Sandpeople Present... (2006)

 

This week's post comes courtesy of a great request from Dimxsk - Sandpeople's "Present" compilation from 2006. 

"Present" is a Japanese released compilation from the NW Sandpeople collective that served as a sampler of the group's output up until that point (in addition to some tracks from upcoming projects.) The project has tracks from the group's previous crew albums as well as tracks from solo/offshoot projects. Notably, the project also contains some radio edits up front in addition to three tracks that you can only find on this release.

One of the exclusive tracks is called "Out of My Head" and is a solo Gold joint, likely meant for a solo Gold album that was intended to drop much sooner than his actual solo album debut from 2011. The other two tracks, "Chunky Salsa" and "Def Shepard," are tracks from an offshoot collabo duo between Al-One and Jon The Baptist known as "Soul Shepards." The Soul Shepards had a planned album (the inner notes to this CD promote it as upcoming,) but it unfortunately never dropped. Jon The Baptist ultimately got kicked from the group which may have added to the issue (and years later Al-One found himself in hot water with the crew too.) I'm not sure how much of the planned album actually got recorded but if there's any more tracks out there, I hope we get them someday. We got a complete unreleased McJameson album out of the blue earlier this year - so who knows?! 

Various members of the Sandpeople have said that another crew album is not gonna happen. Mo-B and Ethic retired. Gold, Sapient, Al, and Only have all been very quiet in recent years. Spark lives in Hawaii now I believe. $imple has made a pretty prolific comeback in recent years with some great music (though it's not typically what you'd think of as Sandpeople.) Iame moved across the country and has been steadily releasing music (vocal and instrumental) as Wool See. Illmaculate, now in LA I think, is of course the biggest name amongst the crew and has been doing bigger battles, writing for commercials, and putting out solo music of his own. Hopefully one day we can see the SP unite one more time. 

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Notes: 

- Saskatoon and Side Road member Rove drops his new album "Poke The Bear" today. The feature list is ridiculous and includes Ceschi, Myka 9, AJ Suede, Mickey Avalon, Sole, 2Mex, Awol One, Giovanni Marks, Mestizo, Moka Only, Thesis Sahib, Noah23, Gel Roc, Staplemouth, MC Homeless, Jihad the Roughneck MC and more. 

- Earlier this week, Epic dropped his first official single in a long while entitled "Lawson." The single is produced by Maki and features the B-Side track, "It Is What It Is" featuring Gregory Pepper and produced by Aries. The songs are part of a vinyl release set to drop later this year on El Gran E Records. 

Super Happy Wax Records - The North West Compilation One (2006)

 

This week's late post comes from one of my favorite piles of things to collect - northwest compilations. And this one, from 2006, has a pretty fitting title: "The North West Compilation One" from Super Happy Wax Records.

Super Happy Wax was a Portland label/store from the mid-late 2000's that seemed to have really got going once Northwest Order started slowing down. They put out some records from Smoke, Nite Owls (Mr. Hill and Barfly from Oldominion,) and Clockwerk (Iame/Goldini Bagwell from The Sandpeople.) I perhaps remember them most for their online store and message board from back in the day where you could cop some now NW gems and interact with other NW Hip Hop junkies. 

"The North West Compilation One" was a label sampler that Super Happy Wax would give away with online orders (I think you could buy it separately for like a buck.) The act list includes Cool Nutz, Grayskul, DJ Wicked, Abadawn, Santotzin, Cancer Rising, Mo-B, OnlyOne, Soul Plasma, and many more. Unfortunately, future installments of the compilation series never came to be. Thanks to the legendary FTD scene group for the rip! 

The North West Compilation One

NOTES:

- Check out the new Gumshoe Strut EP that dropped today, "NT2D," HERE. MC Homeless, Nolto, and Chaps make appearances. 

- Some deep Project Blowed heads may be familiar with Naj Ahead (formerly N/A of Tha Lepht.) Guy has been dropping some really good instrumental and remix projects in the last handful of years on his Bandcamp and last week he dropped "Random Rap Remixes Vol 2" HERE. Check it. 

- And speaking of the Blowed, Abstract Rude just dropped his latest installment in his "Trax" series with "Making Indie Traxx: Dusty Pointy Fingers" HERE. He usually ends up printing CDs of these down the road for those who want to wait for the physical. 

- Also don't sleep on Bloomcycle's and Old Grape God's "I Turn the Room to a Lava Lamp," Riddlore's and Debmaster's "Unreleased Tracks," Nickel Hawkeye's "Becoming Unbroken," and El Gran E Record's (who is putting out a new Epic record this year) "Sampler (2020-2023)" which all dropped earlier this month. 

Trylemma's Favorite Summer Releases

 

Summer has come and gone, though not that it much matters in 2020. To "celebrate," here are my 10 favorite Hip Hop projects released between June 20-September 22 of this year. 

10. MILC & Lawz Spoken - Cocaine Cobra: Some real banger production from Lawz Spoken who is on a tear this year and while MILC isn't quite a Sandpeople level type puncher, he still more than holds his own on this album. Peep it! 

9. Only One - Project Mayhem: A nice surprise drop from Only, who brings some of the more clever, humorous punchlines that you'll likely hear all year. The album's closer with Sapient and Illmac, "Soap," is in the running for song of the year. Peep it! 

8. Juice WRLD - Legends Never Die: It took me a while to warm up to this as there's a lot of obvious posthumous production throughout this thing, but the songs as they exist are still solid and are a fitting tribute to Juice. Peep it! 

7. DJ NoWords & Ngafsh - Dynamic Duo: Not sure if I should be more thankful to Fsh for bringing NoWords into the game ore to NoWords for bringing Fsh back into the mix. Either way, this album absolutely proves how well the classic LA CVE sound can thrive in a new decade. Peep it! 

6. Nappy Roots - 40RTY: A dark melancholy yet optimistic album like only the Nappy Roots can provide. These days, it's rare for true vulnerability to be presented in a way that doesn't come across as corny or manufactured, but Nappy Roots have been doing it for multiple decades, and this is one of their best! Peep it! 

5. Pink Navel - Giraffe Track: A very cohesive and engaging coming of age album from Pink Navel, complete with lots of smiles and tears. The Ruby Yacht prince lays a lot of personal history on the table here and it's a fun ride throughout. There's also an accompanying book which should be fun to dive into... Peep it! 

4. Video Dave - Week 1560: Perhaps the most "summery" project on this list. Video Dave gives us a run through of his week in a very breezy fashion via raps and croons to soothe the soul. A wonderful debut for Open Mike Eagle's Auto Reverse label. Peep it! 

3. VA - RYD Radio, Vol. 4: The strongest installment of the RYD Radio series yet. Avocado plucks, over the course of the long compilation, a wide array of styles and sounds here, perfect for showcasing that battle rappers aren't all acapella bars. Lots of talent on this one, but Geechi Gotti might be the ultimate star of the show at this point. Peep it!

2. Illmac - SMMR: No one questions Illmac's pen, which is one of the strongest in the game, but musically, I find that he can often get a bit stale, almost robotic in his delivery. He changes all that up with "SMMR," however, really stepping up his flows, cadences, and hooks to large levels. The Sandpeople history track, "Forest Grove," is the cherry on top. Peep it!

1. Uggish - ...And Now to Learn to Fish: For the top spot, here's an album that really went way too under the rader. Uggish from Bi-Polar Bear delivers his (debut?) solo album in form of the soulful whimsical "And Now to Learn to Fish." Uggish's cinematic and reflective rhymes create an ideal end of summer album. Peep it! 

Here's to being alive this time next year! [Variex's "Struggle Sandwich" would have made the list, but it doesn't officially drop until October 2nd.]