MY TRIP TO THE BIG APPLE

WARNING: This is like the worst, most typical bullshit blog post ever. I just have nothing else exciting to write about yet. In better news, we are recording episode 2 of the podcast tonight! -- Mike

I went to nyc this weekend to hang out with my friend Sawyer and do some "I got my tax return and I'm hood rich" shopping. My first stop was See Hear, this zine store I remember from way back when zines were still thriving and stores could actually function selling them (so basically, before the internet ruined everything). They are apparently closed down, Which i Was half expecting, but the internet info about it being opened seemed pretty up to date, so that was a bummer.


Then I hit up Kim's Video looking for the one TV Carnage DVD I don't own (If you haven't checked out TV Carnage by now, you're wasting your life.), but they didn't have it because they're fuckers. Their record selection was also not doing anything for me. NYC has this trend of, no matter how stupid and worthless the record is in real life, if it's something a hip dork will want to listen to, it will be an insane amount of money. They had a used Jimmy Smith record I should have picked up in retrospect, but it was $9, which is a fair price, but judging how other stuff was priced, I just kind of assumed it was probably scratched to shit, and the condition of the cover made it seem like that was probably the case.


THEN I went to Other Music, which is a record store you may have heard of, as it has some sort of indie credibility for being a place that happens to have a decent selection of oddball indie music amongst other things, and the store is really kind of worthless ever since I stopped buying CDs, because their vinyl is overpriced, but this one time 7 years ago I found Pharcyde's "Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde" on double colored vinyl for $9 (and it holds a special place in my heart because it's where i bought the Quasimoto CD for the first time), so I still go there and normally always leave empty handed. This time was no different as far as their normal music selection was concerned, BUT they had a free box in front of the store with a bunch of rap 12"s in it. I was going to grab a chunk of them before I left but Sawyer beat me to it and was waiting outside already because he hates that store with a passion (I don't really blame him), but he ended up giving them all to me (plus the 4 I grabbed) because he didn't feel like carrying them, and he's not all that into rap music and I had a record bag with me already, so here's what I got:


Disturbing Tha Peace - Golden Grain (I will never listen to this)

Petey Pablo - Freak A Leak 12"

Ludacris - Chicken N Beer (I might listen to this)

Juelz Santana - From Me To U (almost a score)

Nas - Thiefs Theme 12"

Yin Yang Twins - Naggin 12"

Lil Wayne - Go DJ 12"

Clipse - Grindin 12" (I think i already own this)

Yung Jeezy - Thug Motivation (This would be a score if i didnt hate yung jeezy)

Twisted Black - Throw It UP 12"

Grit Boys - Fresh 12" (I hope this is the song im thinking of, that had a real stupid video)

Pitbull - sticky icky 12"

THEN we went to Generations, which is a mostly hardcore/metal/punk record store and another spot that's become useless to me since I stopped buying CDs, but they have a decent record selection except their new records are usually obnoxiously overpriced. They had the Billy Jack soundtrack for $2, but it was beat to shit, and I don't really need the Billy Jack soundtrack that bad. They also had the soundtrack to ROOTS, and I thought it was pretty funny ROOTS had a soundtrack you could buy. I bought the Anti-Matter book, which is a book collecting the interviews from this old hardcore zine called Anti-Matter. I'm sure you don't care.

Finally, I went to Fat Beats. not the original Brooklyn one, but the one in Manhattan. This was my first time going to Fat Beats (I know, I'm SUCH a poser never making the pilgrimage to the almighty Fat Beats), because usually when a store mainly sells rap music and it's famous and on TV and shit it's ALWAYS overpriced, but their prices were shockingly on point. Another funny thing is, anytime they show it on TV, they always make it look really hood, with a bunch of black dudes working there and DJing, but I guess if you go on the days they aren't filming Rap City or an MTV hip hop special there, there's two white rap nerds just like me or you wearing MF Doom t shirts working the counter and listening to J Dilla. I wasn't expecting to buy anything from there because i thought it would be expensive, so I ended up spending way too much unexpected money there that ended the record shopping for the day. I got:

Stark Reality - Now (pumped about this)

EPMD - Unfinished Business (Ravens Mack's favorite rap group. This was sealed and 10.99, so I'm assuming it's a repress, but there's nothing noting it's a repress and who would repress this anyway? Weird. 2.0 Guns n Roses dude)

Quasimoto - The Unseen (Previously owned on CD, but i stupidly let someone use it and never saw it again. I obviously have it in mp3 form, but i'm weird about not owning shit i really, really like, so i bought it.)

Madlib - Beat Konducta in India (I was pumped when I bought this on site, but I completely forgot that the CD version is twice as long, so now I'm kind of upset)

I went pretty Stones Throw crazy I guess. I also got the new issues of Waxpoetics and Stop Smiling. This has to be the most I've spent in real money on new music in one record store in a real fucking long time, which is sad, because it was only 4 records. I remember buying like $100 worth of CDs and records without thinking when I wasn't a grownup and had no bills. I still felt pretty guilty about spending the 50 or so dollars on 4 brand new records because i havent done it in so long.

As much as I love record shopping in THE BIG CITY, I am more of a bargain crate type of guy, and you don't really get that much bargain shopping done. I lucked out with the pile of free records, but like I said earlier, if something becomes hip because it was mentioned in Juno or Wes Anderson was talking about it in an interview or something, it will go immediately from the $1 box to the $10 box. I'm sure there's spots where I could catch a break, but the few I've been too had real serious garbage in their cheap bins. I remember Coney Island being succesful several years back for that sort of thing, but I am not travelling to Coney Island just to buy records. I'm rambling now, but I'm proud of my purchases.


Oh, I also bought my girlfriend expensive perfume because I'm a good boyfriend.

COMING SOON: The most ultimate ridiculous $20 Record Challenge EVERRRRRRR (AKA the least popular gimmick in Dumpin history)