The Difference
The Sure Shot ShowI know everyone has special memories of Randy and the time spent with him. A few personal encounters I can recall involve getting some of the records that shaped the person I have become musically and personally. Randy only suggested the best music to his friends and customers at Sound of Market. Here are 6 of my favorite pieces straight from my vinyl library.
A soulful and exciting listen all the way through but contains club anthems as well. I don’t know how Louie Vega and Kenny Dope have stayed motivated to make the beautiful club music they’ve made since 1990. Joey Blanco used to put me up on the early Louie Vega productions I needed to know about back in the 90s when I first began getting into house. By the time, Elements of Life came out, I was pretty much sold on anything with the Masters at Work stamp on it but Randy did hold one of these for me when I kept asking about Brand New Day and Cerca De Mi. I eventually did find the 12″s of both of those but it was real tough for a minute.
When he turned me onto this, for some reason I was completely ignorant to the years of production Kevin Hedge and Josh Milan had been putting in since 1984. I was aware of Wishing You Were Here and maybe one or two more joints but when Natural Blaze and the 12″ for How Deep Is Your Love found its way to the Sound of Market shelf, it changed the way I listened to house music. Randy was adamant about getting all the 12″s in addition to the album so I could have the dubs and beatapellas etc. He was right. I beat these records to death in Miami and so on.
Pretty much every joint on this album is a house club anthem. From Men From The Nile and Never Forget (When You Touch Me) to Tribute by Soul Ascendants, I’ve ripped the roof off of many parties using joints from this album. Randy was particularly fond of Closer I Get by Marie St. James and although he sold me the 12″ way before I got this comp., it being on here was one of the selling points.
There was a time when you couldn’t swing a dead cat (where did this expression come from?) without stumbling upon a new Miguel Migs remix. In the late 90s and early 2000s, I was buying like 2 or 3 Naked Music 12″s a week or so it seemed anyway. From Blue Six’s Music & Wine and Sweeter Love to Monique Bingham’s Pure, I’ve made a lot of parties real sexy with this collection. Randy really knew the DJs he had a relationship with and which types of records each of us liked to play and collect. He wasn’t just moving music to please the distributors. Knowing Naked Music was my ish, he’d sometimes put a couple pieces aside for me if he knew I’d be in. At the time, I felt like Naked Music would be around pushing 12″s forever and now in hind sight, since things have changed so much, these are some real jewels in my collection.
Back when Sound of Market had the backroom filled with hip-hop, soul, and gospel, I used to visit that section first to see what bootlegs I could get my hands on or new obscure hip-hop stuff I could find out about. In ’99, I was searching for some new ish to put my ears on and Randy suggested picking up the Soundpieces record. I had never heard of Lootpack, Quasimoto, or even Stones Throw at the time. I was somehow completely out of the loop. Back then there was a policy against opening full albums to play in the store. I trusted Randy’s taste and opinion so much, I didn’t question whether it was worth the 15.99 or whatever it costed. I just copped it. It introduced me to the legacy of Madlib and Stones Throw. I’ve been hooked ever since and even became friends with all the guys from Lootpack to this day.
I was living in West Philly at the time, newly married, and without realizing it, still cutting my deep house “teeth” so to speak. Then I find out about Osunlade. I think Rader Du was the first record I heard from Paradigm. I wasn’t in the know regarding Wunmi or even that much afrobeat existed beyond Fela and Tony Allen. Between Randy Flash and Rich Medina, the lessons were constantly on. Randy told me I was messin up by not having it in my collection. Blackman, Rader Du, Ocho, and The Deep became regular plays at our BODYROCK party.
I just wish I would have told Randy how much of an impact his suggestions made on my taste, style, and sensibility as a DJ in Philly. We sometimes take people around us for granted as though we know we’ll see them next week and be able to tell them that important thing next time we talk to them. It’s unfortunate, however, that sometimes that time doesn’t come. I can’t stress enough to tell people they matter while they can still hear it.