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. 

DOWNLOAD

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. 

Iame - Rare And Unreleased (2009)

 

Today's post comes from Sandpeople's and Oldominion's Iame (aka Wool See) and his elusive "Rare And Unreleased" from 2009.

"Rare And Unreleased" was a physical-only exclusive made by Iame and handed out to "street members" who helped promote shows at his tour stops at the time. The CDR consists of an exclusive remix and six tracks hand-plucked from various projects. Nothing extremely special, but cool to have for collectors.

This is a UGDN rip, done by, I believe, the great DonLuc. Enjoy!

DOWNLOAD

New Music: Wool See - Podcasts Vol. 1

 

As my Northwest is currently on fire, I thought I'd highlight some fire from the Northwest (#bars.) Wool See is the one man band moniker of Iame of the Sandpeople/Oldominion (originally from Oregon, now residing on the East Coast.) Over the past weeks, Iame has been releasing tracks on his Youtube page that serve concurrently both as songs and as mini-"podcasts." This six-song release, which is currently free to download on his Bandcamp page, collects the first set of these tracks. 

Ever since covid broke in the U.S. this year, Iame's Twitter page has been a great source of both information and coping in relation to the crazy 2020 that we've had thus far - from the coronavirus, to the racial unrest, to the upcoming presidential election cycle, to the fires that have me wiping my eyes. His "podcast" series builds upon this by transforming his tweets, and greater overall thoughts, into (self-produced) songs. 

For those who shy away from the preachy (which includes myself generally,) no need to fear here. Iame approaches the topics with a sense of humility and even humor at times, while still making sure that lasting political and social points are made. And the songs hold up as songs as well, with some infectious electronic glitchy production and some pretty catchy hooks - which is all super impressive considering that a couple of these joints are 100% freestyled off the top! 

For those looking for another friendly voice in a weird era, check out "Podcasts Vol. 1" (again, available for free download) HERE.