Heavy vibes. 1993-1996… I never smoked sherm, we just got high as hell and played these songs at Darmel’s house while we were cutting class. Certain lines on this record that actually had specifically to do with tripping balls on PCP never the less echoed our experiences then just dealing with extremely strong weed…

Now this reminds me of running around North and West Oakland, East Bay summers, the Festival At The Lake, getting too bombed out and barely making the scene, 51 bus rides, underground shows that were hot as hell (wearing a hoodie, natch) and reading liner notes for lyrics on a rap record (a rare occurrence). I love the backdrop of a sunny day in West Oakland, the victorian houses falling down slowly.

Meanwhile, down at Anthony’s house

I stayed up until 2 am listening to (and taping) the epic Hobo Junction vs. Heiroglyphics battle. One of these days I’ll do a post on that… maybe I’ll be able to find the complete transcipt I almost finished for Oliver’s post on SoulSides.

In the meantime, let me highlight a great post by my mans and them Andrew Noz from Cocaine Blunts on the 90s West Coast Underground Rap Scene, and particularly this excellent comp/mix that it includes. I’ve been jamming this crazy and having wild flashbacks, so dig out your baggy Polo khakis, jansports, and tampa cigarillos and enjoy.

The Guidelines: A West Coast Indie Rap Compilation ‘94-’00

^^download there^^
I think Andrew nails it pretty well. He is DEFINITELY MISSING SOME KEMETIC SUNS though (lol).  Peep MURS and 3MG “Sundazed” FTW; I had been needing a good rip of that. My tape unravelled long ago, and I’m only partially talking about a 90 minute cassette. “Open your mind and close your eyes, now tell me what you see”. That’s a pretty good summation of the vibe at that time.

Like the homie Scarub said, it was a style back then…

Peace
Jonny

This goes out to my homie Drez, who’s holding it down on the west coast and documenting so much of this lowrider culture.

The thing that gets me about this song is, it’s so broad – it can speak to you no matter what you’re “about”. I played this for a gay friend the other day and he got goosebumps. Of course, the songwriter (Tommy Chong!) was referring to his racial make-up as he was dating, according to him, mainly black girls at the time. But it’s an enduring classic that holds as much specific meaning for me as it did for so many back in the 60s and 70s when it was first a hit.

Enjoy…

Go get Adobe Flash Player!