XXX

Sonny James — Thu, 17 May 2012 17:08:26 +0000

Last night was the cats meow at PROPS. Big shout to Rich Medina, Akalepse, DJ Phsh, everyone at LPR, and my friends in NYC for coming out to party with the kid. We definitely had a blast and if I didn’t drink so much, I’d still have the recorded mix from last night to share with all of you. Fail. Anyway, tonight the fun continues at Cheerleaders with yours truly alongside my brothers DJ Aktive and DJ Dozia. Details below. Hope to see some of y’all in the place to be!

Tonight! PROPS NYC

Sonny James — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:56:46 +0000

Tonight I have the honor and pleasure of rocking the popular NYC staple, Le Poisson Rouge. The party is called PROPS and is thrown by Rich Medina and Akalepse. Looking forward to seeing my New York friends tonight as we bring in my birthday in style. lol

RIP MCA of the Beastie Boys

Sonny James — Fri, 04 May 2012 18:51:13 +0000

One of the most legendary, innovative, and talented groups in hip hop is The Beastie Boys. For the past few years, one of the founding members, Adam Yauch aka MCA has been fighting a battle with Cancer. Unfortunately, today the news was announced that he lost the battle and passed away. We lost an icon. From Paul’s Boutique and Check Your Head to The Hot Sauce Committee albums, The Beasties have stayed ahead of the game. Man I’ll miss these three together. RIP MCA.

Record Store Memories #2

Sonny James — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 17:50:39 +0000

Back in high school, I used to leave Bartram High a couple hours early to go to work everyday. When I changed jobs and had time to blow between school and work, it was a regular occurrence for me to hit up The Philadelphia Record Exchange with my weekly check. It was located on 5th right off of South Street in Philly. They had a separate shop strictly for Jazz which may still be open if I’m not mistaken. The main store, however, carried it all from hard to find rock gems and hip-hop 12″s ex-DJs would bring in when clearing out their basements to classic R&B albums I would see in my parents closet as a child, all located in the back room. Most of the time I went, there would be people picking through the rock stash leaving me plenty of room in the back to sort through crates and crates of hip hop and R&B vinyl. During the religious period of my teenage years, I was forbidden to listen to rap and therefore 80% of my music collection was disposed of or sold in 1994. (My collecting started in 1985) Once I removed the “shackles,” I had the task of recollecting many of my prized pieces. The Record Exchange digs were like therapy for me during that period because of the seclusion in their back room as well as the fact that I could replace so many records for less than 10 dollars. I’m thankful I had the chance to spend so much time in there and get to know the guys who used to work there who seemed to have a grip on every piece still sitting in the store. They could even recall how long ago certain records were sold as plenty of times I spent my last dollar and had to return a few days later looking for pieces I left behind.

I bought the Onyx record not for the Live!!! single but for the Kill Dem All joint by Kali Ranks on the B-Side. Back when house parties were the only parties I could get into, this was a regular play and I always wondered where it was from. These two joints are on The Show Soundtrack but the Kali Ranks song never appeared in the movie.

The Gil Scott-Heron, Pieces Of A Man album was bought because I was familiar with Home Is Where The Hatred Is and The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. This album made me fall in love with the Lady Day and John Coltrane track which had a Drum N Bass type of rhythm even back in 1971. It predated anything classified as Jungle and subsequently caused me to buy anything with Gil’s name on it.

Record Store Memories #1

Sonny James — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 18:51:20 +0000

Upon organizing records lately, I began reminiscing about digging and recalled some of my favorite places to buy records. Ya know, back when buying records was a regular occurrence for every DJ out here. This first place I thought of is in the unlikely city of Amhurst, Massachusetts. I was on tour with my mellow DJ Center, B-Ski, Baba, ADM, and MF Shalem. Underground hip hop east coast tour at it’s finest, we were really heavy into digging back then. B-Ski was familiar with all the shops in Mass from spending so much time there years ago and he took us to Mystery Train for a 5 hour long shopping fest. This store was a place I came up on tons of 45s for like $.50 and $1.00. A couple are pictured below. They had so much James Brown, Prince, Bill Withers, MJ, and random joints from the 80s and I remember the 45 stash being extremely dusty. I was filthy leaving there. It was the one thing I remember about Amhurst and I don’t think I’ve ever returned. Come to think of it. considering that trip was back in 99, I’m about due for a visit while they’re still open.