In today’s world, with Nano iPods and miniature portable DVD players flooding the market, it is rare that one comes across something like this. A superb product that incorporates state-of-the-art technology with yester-year’s musical medium. When one thinks of, “on-the-go” portable tunes, it is safe to say a miniature vinyl player would not top the list of efficiently portable products. This assumption being made, it is interesting to note that NUMARK has done just that.., with the introduction of the NUMARK PT-01 Portable Turntable. While the apparent sales of this unit have included the recreational record connoisseur for use in the home, I would recommend the PT-01 to a different type of audiophile completely. I would venture to state that this portable player was created mainly with the crate digging DJ in mind.

While most good record stores, especially those specializing in the hip-hop and electronic genres, possess convenient listening stations on-site, there are many that do not. The PT-01 comes in very handy when perusing through the used section at the local vinyl dive (with permission from the establishment first of course). With both 3/4” and 1/8” headphone jacks included, and a huge power cell the holds 6 D batteries (the PT-01 also includes a 12v AC power source), devoted DJ’s can seek out those undiscovered hooks, breaks, and drums without disturbing other patrons. Where this unit truly shines, however, is in those dusty and dark back-corners of thrift stores and garage sales. Every crate-digging DJ knows exactly what it feels like to look at a huge stack of vinyl and think to themselves, “I just wish I could listen to all of these records so I would know what to buy!” Of course you end up going home with 5-10 records, and crossing your fingers that the gods of wax have smiled upon you. These frustrating days are over once you have the PT-01 at your disposal. The size of the PT-01 itself is perfect, measuring 12”x12”x4”, it fits into any crate or record bag perfectly. I do, however, have some reservations about recommending this unit for use as a standard player in the home.

The PT-01 does offer some very unique and convenient features, but it is also lacking some key elements which may limit the ability of the player to function effectively as a home unit. There is no stop/start button, which means that to stop the record from spinning the tone-arm must be lifted and placed back on its mount. There is a way around this problem, and that is to use the on/off button on the side of the player. This can be done to stop the record while leaving the needle in the groove, but I don’t know if it is recommended by the manufacturer. The tone-arm is also light and short, and therefore difficult to pick up without skitting it across the record. If you are the owner of the player it is not recommended that guests and friends attempt to operate it, or you may end up with some scratched records. Another negative aspect of the player is stability.

Unlike the heavier more solid make-up of its brothers and sisters, the PT-01 is light, which makes it great for portability, but very susceptible to jostles and bounces. You do not want anyone dancing near the player while it is in use, unless it is on a very stable surface. The PT-01 does have 33, 45, and 78 rpm speeds, which is nice, but the pitch control (+/- %10) is fairly useless since I would recommend highly against using this player for actual DJing. The PT-01 is fairly expensive, ranging from $80 to over $100, and that is why I would recommend purchasing a standard record player of the same quality if it is to be used primarily as a home stereo addition. The PT-01 does have RCA jacks which makes it a possible home stereo component, but I would limit that to only the occasional vinyl listener. Overall I have been very impressed with this product and would judge it as follows.

Portable unit for crate digging DJ: 9/10
Home stereo use: 3/10

In the spirit of eccentric, yet accessible 35mm film cameras, this month’s review is another from the Lomography camera collection: the Fisheye. This camera boasts a 170° field of view (greater than the human eye) and almost all the components are constructed from plastic except for the glass lens (almost all other Lomo cameras have plastic lenses). It is a fully manual camera with the exception of the flash that takes one AA battery.

Shooting photographs with the Fisheye is pretty straightforward, aside from a couple of quirks. Its super wide-angle lens does not display the telltale fisheye distortion through the viewfinder, so you can’t view the effect until you get your film developed. At the same time, it doesn’t make sense to rely on the viewfinder since the lens itself is so large that it occupies almost half of the viewing space rendering it almost useless except as a rough idea of composition. The other problem with the camera is that its flash works sporadically. There is an orange cue light on the side of the viewfinder that indicates when the flash is charged, but occasionally the flash fails to work. When working properly, it is not ideally suited for dark conditions (shows, night), unless the subjects are within about 6 meters of the lens.

The most frustrating problem with this Lomo is film loading. It is by no means quick or particularly simple, even if the film perforations are lined up properly. Instead, guiding the film by hand and winding the leader around the spool will load the film properly, but this method is not practical (especially when copious volumes of alcohol have been ingested). With these problems aside, the best features of the Fisheye’s wide-angle lens are the 3” distance at which subjects can be placed in front of the camera, remaining in focus. Objects with straight edges and right angles will also accent the fisheye effect nicely. In general, Lomo’s Fisheye is a great gadget, ideal for candid shots and its size is ideal for a medium sized purse or backpack.

Play safe!

(Blue Note, 1972)

Download: Ethiopian Knights Sampler MP3

A lot of People ask me where they should start digging, some names to look out for or whatever; “show me some dope shit Gaff” “I don’t know what has breaks” etc. So here we go, each issue I’m going to show you a dope record from my collection that you may come across and that you should buy by all means necessary (whether you’re a producer, dj, music lover, or looking for some new sounds just beyond the hip-hop spectrum to get into). Of all the popular categories, people seem dumbfounded when it comes to jazz breaks, so I’m going to start out with this record.

I would say that Donald Byrd’s Ethiopian Knights album, recorded over two days in late August, 1971, is one of the illest records you will ever see. There is no marketable, catchy song on this; it was strictly for the young generation of street cats. You will find only 3 songs on this album; “The Emperor,” which is over 15 minutes long, and to round out side one, “Jamie,” only 4 minutes. Side 2 is one long ass jam called “The Little Rasti” which is almost 18 minutes long. That’s it. Nothing made for the radio, nothing for the Jazz Fanatics at the time, just Ghetto Funk. Ike Turner and Boris Gardner both had songs called “Ghetto Funk”, and while Ike’s sounds ghetto, and Boris’ is funky this album should be the definition of Ghetto Jazz Funk. It says on the back cover that all the songs were composed by Byrd himself, although, in a recent interview Larry Mizell says he helped out on this, very likely, adding that particular “Mizell funk” sound to the two long jams.

To start out the album comes Wilton Felder’s (of the Crusaders) Bass on the track “the Emperor,” so dope a real hip hop head needs to sample it to be rapped over. Recently DJ Cam did a “remix” of the song on a Blue Note revisited album, but anyone could flip that bass, and it’s still never been rapped over that I know of. In the sound clip I play only the beginning of this song (the first minute), but all the players just take turns soloing over the whole beat, steady 4/4 rhythm all the way through. I didn’t include “Jamie” in the sound clip, but as “The Emperor” winds down, the 2 songs mix together and I find “Jamie” more of an outro that mellows you out after being sonically smoked in the face by the previous track. And if you’re still in the mood for more of what you heard on side 1, it gets even badder for Side 2.

“The Little Rasti” starts out with some drum hits and percussion for over a minute before kicking into a nasty break by drummer Edward Greene. Matter of fact, light up some green for this track and kick back because that’s probably what was going on at this session, and a “Little Rasti” that doesn’t smoke trees has only a couple years to go before he does. So really, why hasn’t anybody just straight looped this beat? On the sound clip I cut the break back in again so you can hear how ill that bass comes over top of the drums, so “ghetto serious” it makes one wonder “what’s the deal with this little Rasti anyways?” The song has a dark feel to it, these dudes are getting DOWN, and after everyone gets a turn (I edited the soundclip forward’s to William Henderson the 3rd’s piano just for some freshness) the song takes an outro with Byrd, Greene, and Felder taking you back to your crib after this look into what their vibe is all about in the early 70’s. “Yo guys, thanks for the head trip!” it’s intense. This album was produced by George Butler, who must’ve been thinking “how the hell am I going to market this?” the whole time. On the back cover is a poem by Bill Quinn, an Instructor at Howard University who worked under Byrd in the Dept. of Jazz Studies there, called; “THE MUSIC”, which to me, REALLY describes the music with lines like:

“The music puts brass on his knuckles
As he wails on those chumps cheeks
But afterwhile it gets hard to hit ‘em
‘Cause all he can see is brown smileyes
And the red line in that goddamned budweiser sign”

That’s gangsta.

Once you cop this record you will find that while you may not always be in the mood for it, it makes a mood for you, and is perfect for playing both sides straight through.

The Gaff’s 10 other Blue Note records that anyone who is into breaks and beats needs to own (from 10 different lead artists) are:

1. Lou Donaldson - Hot Dog
2. Grant Green - Carryin On
3. Ronnie Foster - Two Headed Freap
4. Bobbie Humphrey - Blacks and Blues
5. Horace Silver - Total Response
6. Lonnie Smith - Move Your Hand
7. Candidio - Beautiful
8. Ronnie Laws - Pressure Sensitive
9. Eddie Henderson - Sunburst
10. Reuben Wilson - Blue Mode

Some of these guys are really hard to choose, especially Lou, Grant, Lonnie, they have sooo many good records, you really can’t just single out one record, and this was going to be a top 20 list, but I narrowed it down to 10.

Introduce yourself, what are your rap affiliations, etc.?

Well hello there, my name is k-the-I??? To most I’m known as kiki (this is where I got my emcee name from). As for affiliations, my crews would be, NMS, TFD, Komadose, The Lost Channel, Angry Space, Avant Guard, Youth:KiiLL, and Dysfunktional Ikonz.

Which city do you rep?

I rep Cambridge Mass man, all the way, for those who don’t know where Cambridge Mass is, it’s the city with the best schools in the world, a.k.a. Harvard, and M.I.T.

It seems that lately you are gaining momentum as far as popularity and building your fan base goes. Tell us about your career up until this point?

Well I jumped on the scene really in 98-99 with a very weird but different sound I would say, but I’ve been rapping since 7th grade, 1992.

From freshman year of high school to my senior year I teamed up with a bunch of my friends from my neighborhood to make the super group known as Question, we were the Wu-Tang of mass basically. 8 humans, 7 were emcee’s 1 was a producer, but basically we we’re the bullies, or like my man Vyle likes to call it the cypha bullies, we were the kids that ripped everyone one in battles and all that but that stopped after high school once we noticed we needed good songs as well as being able to freestyle/battle.

In 99-2000 I dropped an EP titled “Forgotten Realm” it was an EP mainly to shop around and get some shows, so sort of like a press kit to get my name heard.

Shortly after that a lot of people started emailing me showing interest in my music but this still wasn’t enough, so in 2002 I joined a group called The Lost Channel, a crew of talented artist out of Cambridge, and I also formed with other groups, Distorted Megabytes and Dysfunktional Ikons. A few months later we (the lost channel) teamed up with another crew called Komadose (based out of Martha’s Vineyard Mass), from there on, it was on…

Soon after teaming up with Komadose now making it Komadose/lost channel we dropped a compilation titled “Beta One” and that kind of made the underground flip I don’t think people in the underground were expect kids from Massachusetts to bring it like that, the record was raw and melodic at the same time plus trippy, it helped me gain tons of attention, enough attention to get me a deal with Beyond Space Ent a label who realized my first solo attempt titled “Me, Myself, K-The, 3rd Person -I???” This gained me a lot of support.

I attempted to contact Mush records, at this time a label based out of Chicago and see if they’d be interested in helping me take it to the next level. So I sent them forgotten realm my first EP, they liked it and ask me to send more music, I did, they also liked it but didn’t think I was ready just yet to be released to the world and they offered me some advice which was to get my name out there and sell cdr’s post on forums etc…

So around this time I started hitting up forums and all types of web sites to come listen to my stuff being that I have music online now, in 2004 my homie bigg jus formerly of company flow invited me to come to Atlanta to record a song with him and orko called “Ha Ha Ha (x4) to later be released on the first NMS record titled “Woe to Thee O Land Who’s King Is a Child released by Big Dada, a European based label who’s recognition has grown, this was a perfect opportunity to get my name out there and that it did.

Also in 2004 I was on a record put out by 2nd records titled “Isn’t This Enough” a Stacs of Stamina record.

In 2005 I was approached by Mush to release some records, so in 2005 I got signed by Mush. My record for them is titled “My Broken Love Letter.” A record about love, emotions and my past endeavors with the female race, consider it my “emo record” haha.

In 2005 I also got picked up by a German label called Shadow Animals and they’re working on getting record pressed real soon being that it’s finally complete this record is titled “3 to 3 million robots to command (symbiosis inside never never land)” which features my DJ Shortrock all over it.

In 2005 Subversiv released “Farewell Archetype” me and Kaeoflux had a song on there but it was a remix to our Komadose song “The Cessation of Samsara” (Dark Nights remix by Orphan)

In 2005 I’ve been picked up by 6months a label owned by Anticon’s own Sole, I’m still working on this record, but I appeared on jdwalker’s record off this label titled “Them Get You, Them Got You.”

In 2005 Scott Da Ross of Endemik released a record featuring me on it’s 7” title “They Made Me Do It.”

In 2005 I also record a couple of songs for Hoverocks compilation “Hoverock presents Kite Crucifix Beyond: Valium 1”

I have a 45 being dropped by UK based label called Filthy Habits and an instrumental record coming out on Net31, the instro record is called “Drowning the Puzzle.”

Nasa (ex Def Jux member) picked me up as well, uncommonmusic.net

In 2006 I’ve been picked up B.E.A.R a subtitle digital label.

In 2006 I also appeared on the second NMS release titled “Imperial Letters of Protection” on this record I have a solo song called “Hold the Atmosphere.”

In 2006 Shadow Animals released “Winter Collection 2005” me and shortrock have a song on there titled “Applesoup” taken from our soon to be announced release of our shadow animal’s record.

In 2006, “We Are” the first Uncommon Records compilation to be dropping which I’m on and the whole SMI crew (Masai Bey, Zesto, Tracy Jones, etc…) as well as Dig Dug.

This is where I am now.

Do you still keep in touch with the people that you first started rapping with?

Yeah, I always keep in touch with everyone I’ve done music with.

Your style is very original. Are there any points, etc… that you are trying to get across through your music?

Well basically I always have messages in my songs, sometimes the message is graphic and sometimes the message is political and righteous either way, I have a huge imagination.

You seem to know a lot of fans/artist personally in the indie rap scene. Is this important to you?

I feel it’s very important. You kind of want to know your fans and I’m a nice person anyway so this is how I am with everyone, friendly. So weather you’re a fan, artist or anything, if you’re cool, it’s real easy to become my friend.

You have been to Canada a couple times if I’m not mistaken. How would you describe Canada and it’s rap scene?

I actually used to date a girl from Canada, she was real close to being my wife, I’ve actually been to Canada millions of times, I got a lot of family there. I’ve performed in Guelph and North Bay Ontario with my good friend Noah23, it was awesome. I’ve also performed in Halifax with Recyclone, put on by Scott Da Ross. From what I’ve seen and noticed Canada got an awesome scene with cats like Thesis, Noah23, Stigg of the Dump, Sixtoo, Buck 65, Esthero (I love this girl), Recyclone, Killer Jewel, etc… the list goes on.

What do you make of the many divisions in rap?

Well hip hop is based on a clash of music, you sample for 1, some sing/rap, it’s endless, some chose to rap about money and be jiggy, some want to “keep it real” so I try not to thing much about the divisions of rap.

What would you be doing if it wasn’t for rap?

Going to school, or teaching by now, somewhere in Japan.

What was your last day job?

Landspeed Records, a distribution company based out of Boston.

What bugs you the most in this world?

The American government, furthermore every government that treats there people like shit, believe me I pay attention to the world. Those in power usually destroy the nation.

Who do you make music for the most?

Really I make my music for anyone that wants to listen to it, and that’s that, if for some reason you’re feeling my music then I guess I’m making it for you.

Do you have any last words?

Yeah. Thank you Epic for interviewing me, it means a lot. And props to the homies TFD, NMS, Hoverrock, Milled Pavement, The Official, Broken Klutch, Jacques La Roq, Optimis GFN, Shortrock, V8, Vyle, Shadow Animals, Subversiv, JD Walker, Sole, Alias, Bremar, Someday, Recyclone, Endemik (Bleubird, Scotty, and Skyrider), Mush Records, Robert, AntiMC, Radioinactive, Existereo, Eliot Lipp, Leo123, Subtitle, Walter Gross, the list goes on…

Introduce yourself, crews, affiliations etc.

Yo this is soso of Clothes Horse Records and the world famous beatcomber crew (not actually that famous)… card carrying member of the New Democratic Party of Canada, CFCR Community Radio, AKA Gallery and Paved Arts.

You have just finished your 3rd project Tenth Street and Clarence, is there any meaning in the title?

The title refers to the place I lived while I was putting the album together. I lived there for about 3 years and it was the site of a period of change in my life. It was the first house that my girlfriend and I lived in together as a couple and marked my transition into adulthood…I know that sounds pretty gay. There were a lot of things happening around me and I feel like this album just starts to pull these experiences together — I finished university, facing massive student loan debts I started working at my first career type job, my mom lost her parents, my dad had a heart operation, I had to deal with being a partner in a relationship… just real life type shit.

Where do you draw your inspiration from when you write?

My work is based on personal experiences… depending on the nature of the project; I’ll use these personal experiences to put together songs that contribute to the work in some meaningful way.

You mention that you like old drinking songs, how have they influenced you and your music?

I was exposed to a lot of old drinking tunes as a child and to this day I find myself attracted to sad music. I like the raw, heart-breaking vocals on old cowboy songs. I appreciate their use of plain language to create these compelling stories of heartbreak and hardship… I try to use language in a similar way, using both very descriptive language — almost teetering on romantic at times — with a more unpolished vernacular (how many times was that word dropped in a rap song? a hundred?)

How did you get the name soso and what does it mean to you and say about you?

Back when I fancied myself as a bit of a graffiti writer, I used to go by “sol.” At some point I decided to abandon my stupid graff handle for something less rappy and perhaps more stupid… I came up with soso when we were sitting around the fire at a camping trip. The name fit my anti-posturing philosophy and I thought it would keep me modest. I remember you furious with the name change and swore you would never call me soso!

You have been receiving favourable reviews and charting quite well on campus radio. What does that mean for an artist like yourself?

It’s great… as an artist working on the peripheral, in some ways it validates my practice and gives me something to brag to my mom about. It’s encouraging to know that people are listening. It provides me with a tiny bit of leverage when I’m looking for distro or maybe a show or something. I’m not in a position to spend a lot money on advertising and promotion so radio play really helps get my album out there.

You have crafted your own unique style of hip hop how do you deal with the naysayers that say soso ain’t hip hop?

If I was sixteen years old I’d probably front on me too. I love hip hop. I’m at a different stage of life. I’m more mature. I don’t give a fuck about repping the elements anymore… this is not a “lifestyle” or a way of dressing. This is my life. I’ve invested everything into this music.

How have you grown as an artist and a person since Sour Suite?

I think getting a fine arts degree provided me with the tools to think critically about my music and gave me the opportunity to work and develop my craft. I think I’ve matured, I am more focused. I’ve improved my writing, delivery and production over the last 5 or 6 years… I still have a lot to learn.

What is your take on the Canadian Independent hip hop scene and where do you see yourself?

The Canadian indie scene is diverse… there’s good energy right now. There are a lot of artists working hard and releasing good music. I think we are starting to develop the infrastructure needed to nurture a bigger scene… there are more venues, promoters, artists, radio shows, etc. I like to think that I’m contributing to the success of our scene through my work with the Clothes Horse Records and Phonographique.

Who would you like to work with in the future?

Leonard Cohen

What are you currently working on?

Killing myself slowly, making poor decisions and collecting new material for the next soso project. Other than that, I have a handful of beats I put together for some of my favourite rappers including Ira Lee, Yy and Thesis Sahib… hopefully by stating it in writing it will force me to work on that project. I also started working on a project with Satchil Paige — he’s the illest!

strong>The Release of Recyclone’s Corroding the Dead World marked the first CHR release that you did not produce. How did that materialize?

I fell in love with Recyclone - Numbers. Pip Skid was living in Halifax and he introduced me to Jon…We had started working on our project, Stagnation and Woe, and Jon was looking for a label to release Corroding the Dead World. I wanted to expand the label and I thought it would be a good fit. I want to continue to slowly build the label and bring in new artists. We’re dropping Thesis Sahib’s new album HOWL this spring.

What has been your favourite hip hop moment or experience?

I used to love getting records in the mail. Getting my first test press was great. Sometimes when I perform certain songs like “Midnight Run” or “We Always Thought She’d be the First to Go” I get chills… I like that.

What is your favourite Beer?

Holy… this is like the “name your favourite hip hop album” question. You know me Chaps, I drink for volume, so I tend to go for the affordable easy-drinking lagers like GW Premium Light or Olympia. At the pub I gotta drink Leprechaun lager (cuz it’s so cheap) or maybe Alexander Keith’s. On dollar draft night I usually end up drinking Pilsner, but our local delusional-jiggy-rap-dj ruined that night so whatever. On a payday I might pick up some Heineken or MGD but those days are few and far between. When I’m in Winnipeg it might be Moose Head or those giant cans of Blue or Fort Garry Pale Ale. I like the 6 dollar 6 packs in Alberta — it was Lucky Lager or Crest. They had a bunch I can’t remember… drinking regional beers is one of the better things about touring. When I go camping I like to get fun old school beers like Calgary, Labatt 50, Boh or OV. I don’t knock back too many 40’s anymore, but my brother and I killed quite a few 40’s of Old Milwaukee way back when.

What do you like to do when you aren’t making music?

I like to scheme about music, cook, drink beer, do a little art, drink beer, gossip and scheme about music.

What are you listening to these days?

Today I listened to Matre - Struggle Music, Blockhead - Downtown Science, Cage - Hell’s Winter, I Self Divine - Self Destruction and the Epic & Nomad album!

What is the best hip hop performance you have ever seen?

My favourite show was either the Alkaholiks and Rascalz show here in 1997 or the Heiro show in 1998 in Calgary.

Why did you quit writing Graffiti?

There were a couple of contributing factors. I was getting old and I was losing my nerve for illegal pieces. I was doing legal stuff and that kinda made me feel like a herb. Once I started going to art school, it didn’t seem like “real art” which is totally fucked. I’ve always loved the “fuck you I’m gonna paint this whether you like it or not” attitude…

Who would win in an MC battle me or Epic?

Well it would probably start out as a friendly little battle. You would say “I’m in the place to be, you can’t see me” and Epic would come up with some funny lines about you liking the Browns or something. Then the battle would change sharply… you would pull out 10 years of dirt you’ve collected on Epic and kill him with personal attacks…

What do you like best about Saskatoon and Saskatchewan?

My friends and family live here. There are no earthquakes, hurricanes or volcanoes.

Do you have any last words or stories you would like to share?

I’m gonna be noyz’s best man so I think I’ll start sun tanning now so I’m really, really, really brown for the wedding. And I’m gonna use some of them white strips too… there’s nothing more pathetic than a really, really, really tanned man with yellow teeth. Holler if you hear me!