The Stoned Ape & Clint Howard's Super Rappy Vinyl Sub Thing

[Clint Howard]

So I thought I'd start this over here and see if I'm not a complete luddite::

I will post all the info that I think is relevant from the old thread:

Hey guys, so @Clint Howard and I have been talking a bit for a while now about starting our own label which caters pretty specifically to throwback rap albums.

In case you didn't know @Clint Howard is a moderator over on r/HipHopVinyl which is a very active subreddit dedicated to rap releases. And I personally deal with New Orleans rappers on a day to day basis, with a main focus on merchandising & distribution.

We believe that just with our list of connections and group experience that we could make some amazing projects a reality; and finally get that (insert amazing CD only release here) on vinyl for the first time.

We don't want to throw out any artists names, but if you follow my history at all you know I have a big focus on Pre-Katrina New Orleans rap, and I have gotten the okay from quite a few about doing re-issues.

The main problem moving forward is proving that there is a market demand for this type of music. A lot of it will be stuff the majority of even the most deep-cut rap heads have never heard...but in my opinion those are the best ones, and the ones that truly deserve to be highlighted.

Also, some of you may not know this about me, but any project I work on, I make it a huge imperative that the artists are getting paid fairly for clearing these releases...whether it's a t-shirt or a re-issue of any format. I really believe direct artist engagement is important.

I personally also believe that potentially the most important aspect of these old releases is the history, most of which is poorly documented, if at all. So to me this would be an amazing way to fill in the gaps of history regarding some of these more underground releases from the 90's-Early 2000's.

So yeah, before I start rambling too much, that's the gyst.

And some questions for y'all.

1. What kind of albums would you like to see from a Throwback Rap Subscription?

2. What kind of extras would you like? (T-Shirts, Listening notes, posters etc.)

3. How important do you feel the historical aspect is? Would you be interested in direct artist interviews detailing each release (when possible)?

4. In general what would you want to see out of a club like this.

@Clint Howardfeel free to budge in here and tell me you disagree with anything said here, and also offer up your vision for what this could be, and the challenges we will face along the way.

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if I'm talking dream projects type stuff for me it would include stuff like: unreleased / super rare East Coast golden era hip-hop.. think stuff like Godfather Don, Phill Most Chill, etc; unreleased Good Life / Project Blowed material ... really anything they have from the Good Life era would fit this especially the few that did get proper release as well; Early Living Legends stuff like comurshol or even like the Log Cabin record; early Cash Money / other indie New Orleans / Southern rap records.. I defer to my man @The_Stoned_Ape for a lot of those but even stuff like the early 8Ball & MJG records I think would be a great pick; and hey, why not some great Canadian rap too like Da Grassroots or Maestro or Mathematik..

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Those are the kind of things that I think we're trying to do.. so a little bit across the board..
A. Quality has to be good.
B. Artist must approve of release.
C. We have to keep those (and preferably all of our releases) extremely limited.
D. Artist gets a fair cut of the profits

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Right now, I have access to an unreleased Death Row album that was recorded in the 90s by an East Coast artist. Has a feature from Canibus amongst a few others and I believe production on one song by Dre? Would there be interest in this as an initial release?

And I think that sums up most of what me and Ape have put forth so far. I urge everyone else to answer Ape's questions over here or maybe cut and paste them from the other place before they go?

 

[Woob_woob]

4. In general what would you want to see out of a club like this?

Personally I'm looking for a steady stream of mostly hard to find hip hop albums from all styles of the genre. Extras are nice but not important. Record quality (music and sound) is most important.

 

[Clint Howard]

4. In general what would you want to see out of a club like this?

Personally I'm looking for a steady stream of mostly hard to find hip hop albums from all styles of the genre. Extras are nice but not important. Record quality (music and sound) is most important.

I think the plan right now, at least, is to do like a one-sheet with each release.. basically the same as old promo one-sheets, giving you a little bit of history of the artist / scene / context / etc.. this is one of the things we're still working out but I'd like to think we can have it for the first release. Might just be written by myself or Ape or whomever wants to contribute until we can pony up some money for a rap scholar or something?

 

[Dead C]

Here's my cut and paste from that old place...


Personally, I love this idea.

1.) What kind of artists? I'd really like to see what you both come up with, to be honest. I'd be down for a truly curated experience from people who actually give a shit, like I know you both do, rather than a club simply looking to branch out with a new genre, yet not really doing anything too interesting with it and keeping it kind of surface level and redundant.

A grail for me is Season Of Da Siccness, because I'm from the west coast and was kicking it around sac-town when a ton of Blackmarket shit like C-Bo and X-Raided were being bumped like crazy. It soundtracked that city. That being said, what spoke to me was that local pride, grimy and unique to that area. I'd like to see that treatment given to various other scenes that have been under represented.

Other southern stuff I'd be down for is some 8ball & MJG or Tommy Wright III. Also acts that, for one reason or another, got less hype than their associates like Mia X and Fiend, or someone like La The Darkman.

2.) Extras? Not sure. I mean, I like extras, but @Skalap makes a good point about not needing the extra costs. Posters might be cool. Shirts definitely would. But maybe a good move would be to offer bundles and/or those items individually

3.) Historical aspects are important to me. That's what I want from this, something that shines a light on these artists. Artist interviews would also be great. I've done a number of them myself, over the years, including this one with EL-P, so I'd even be down to help at some point if it cane to a point where it would actually be helpful.

4.) What I'd want is to know you believe in what you're doing and to feel like everything that I'm getting is from people that care about the work, care about the artists, and care about bringing this stuff to a wider audience because it deserves it. I want to support something that's passion and quality first. You get it out to the right demographic and the financing will come. I want to hear artists that were/are doing the exact same thing.

 

[Clint Howard]

Here's my cut and paste from that old place...


Personally, I love this idea.

1.) What kind of artists? I'd really like to see what you both come up with, to be honest. I'd be down for a truly curated experience from people who actually give a shit, like I know you both do, rather than a club simply looking to branch out with a new genre, yet not really doing anything too interesting with it and keeping it kind of surface level and redundant.

A grail for me is Season Of Da Siccness, because I'm from the west coast and was kicking it around sac-town when a ton of Blackmarket shit like C-Bo and X-Raided were being bumped like crazy. It soundtracked that city. That being said, what spoke to me was that local pride, grimy and unique to that area. I'd like to see that treatment given to various other scenes that have been under represented.

Other southern stuff I'd be down for is some 8ball & MJG or Tommy Wright III. Also acts that, for one reason or another, got less hype than their associates like Mia X and Fiend, or someone like La The Darkman.

2.) Extras? Not sure. I mean, I like extras, but @Skalap makes a good point about not needing the extra costs. Posters might be cool. Shirts definitely would. But maybe a good move would be to offer bundles and/or those items individually

3.) Historical aspects are important to me. That's what I want from this, something that shines a light on these artists. Artist interviews would also be great. I've done a number of them myself, over the years, including this one with EL-P, so I'd even be down to help at some point if it cane to a point where it would actually be helpful.

4.) What I'd want is to know you believe in what you're doing and to feel like everything that I'm getting is from people that care about the work, care about the artists, and care about bringing this stuff to a wider audience because it deserves it. I want to support something that's passion and quality first. You get it out to the right demographic and the financing will come. I want to hear artists that were/are doing the exact same thing.

I hope we get to the point that people trust us to curate it for them and hell, if we get enough support to do it.. I'm all on board. There's a quote from Prince Paul on his Prince Among Thieves liner notes that really hit me when I read it originally and still rings true to this day and how I view the artists/rappers that I want to work with and to paraphrase him, it's something to the effect of "The rappers on this album may never be in the Billboard Top 10, but they're in my own Top 10 and I think everyone should give them a listen." Those are the kind of artists that I'd like to put out records with/for.. maybe not necessarily my own top 10, but important, underrated albums from all over that everyone should give a listen to.

Definitely agree on the 8Ball & MJG (I'm hoping Ape has some connect to them hopefully but Suave House was also pretty big so I don't think it'd be that hard to track down the masters for those early projects either. Tommy Wright III as well, and I have connections to the Wu so I can reach out and see if La The Darkman has any 90s unreleased material/albums. I mean, some of these might end up being EPs ... are people ok with that?

2. Agreed on the extras.. I think if we do them, they're separate or offered as a bundle but not necessarily a defining part of the original sub.

3. This is doable.. I already spoke to the Death Row artist I mentioned before about giving me some rundown on each of the tracks.. who was there, who produced them.. funny stories from that era.. can definitely do an interview with him for sure. and most of the artists I've dealt with in the past would happily do interviews for projects and usually would sign records/posters too.. so I expect these all to be options available to us for releases.

4. Again, couldn't agree more. And I think both myself and Ape fit the bill. I just hope there are enough people out there with open ears, hearts and wallets to help make this happen. I think realistically speaking, we'd need probably about 100-120 or so people to sign up to really get the process moving a lot more forward. Both Ape and I have money to start pressing the records but I know with some of these artists, they need at least a bit of money up front and if we can cover that (and pressing costs too) with a pre-order, that would be great for everyone involved. Obviously, this is a point that needs to be worked out thoroughly.

So what do people think? This is definiteyl the kind of feedback we'd like to see more of here!

 

[Chucktshoes]

I’ll be honest, I’m not a big rap guy, but if y’all do 8ball & MJG, I’m fucking there.

 

[Clint Howard]

I’ll be honest, I’m not a big rap guy, but if y’all do 8ball & MJG, I’m fucking there.

I'd really love to do Comin' Out Hard and/or On The Outside Looking In .. and considering Suave House licensed those out to German labels way back when, for what I have to guess was fairly limited pressings.. .I feel like those are both very doable. Definitely two releases I'd like to work on.

I'm curious as to why them of all people? Hah, I mean.. they're great but out of all the potential records we could do, that's the one that would hook you?

 

[Chucktshoes]

I'd really love to do Comin' Out Hard and/or On The Outside Looking In .. and considering Suave House licensed those out to German labels way back when, for what I have to guess was fairly limited pressings.. .I feel like those are both very doable. Definitely two releases I'd like to work on.

I'm curious as to why them of all people? Hah, I mean.. they're great but out of all the potential records we could do, that's the one that would hook you?

Comin Out Hard would be a dream. A good buddy of mine works for Select-O-Hits. I’ll check in with him to see if he has any contacts with Suave House.

 

[Chucktshoes]

I missed the question in second half, lol. Like I said, I’m not a deep rap guy but I moved from South Dakota to northeast Arkansas between my sophomore and junior year of high school in 94. I spent that summer running around smoking pot with my uncle (who is only 6 years older than me) and listening to Comin Out Hard on cassette.

Also, anyone who has seen me get hyped about the Stax VMP releases knows how much I love my city. I’m all about Memphis music. You wanna hook me into something normally outside of my wheelhouse, make a Memphis connection with it and I’ll check it out.

 

[Clint Howard]

I missed the question in second half, lol. Like I said, I’m not a deep rap guy but I moved from South Dakota to northeast Arkansas between my sophomore and junior year of high school in 94. I spent that summer running around smoking pot with my uncle (who is only 6 years older than me) and listening to Comin Out Hard on cassette.

In that respect, I'm really jealous of a lot of Americans exposure to the different regions prior to them becoming national acts. Up here in Canada, it was extremely rare to see southern rap in stores outside of maybe Geto Boys and Outkast until Master P / Cash Money sorta took over. So it was just damn near impossible to find, let alone hear, any of those early Suave House records.

And even worse, the few people who may have been serviced these southern records just didn't play them. Not to shit on Toronto or our scene but we've always had a hard-on for New York and want to be NY so most of our early influences were New York and from our heavy Jamaican population. Like, I found a sealed On Top Of The World at a record show two years ago from a local radio DJ's collection.. like he didn't even crack it open.

 

[Skalap]

So I thought I'd start this over here and see if I'm not a complete luddite::

I will post all the info that I think is relevant from the old thread:







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Right now, I have access to an unreleased Death Row album that was recorded in the 90s by an East Coast artist. Has a feature from Canibus amongst a few others and I believe production on one song by Dre? Would there be interest in this as an initial release?

And I think that sums up most of what me and Ape have put forth so far. I urge everyone else to answer Ape's questions over here or maybe cut and paste them from the other place before they go?

Cut/Paste from the other forum:

Thanks @The_Stoned_Ape and @Clint Howard for this. I am with you.

1. What kind of albums would you like to see from a Throwback Rap Subscription?
>>> Every important album, popular/classic or not, from the mid-80's to early 00's. Don't focus only on New-Orleans rap though. I believe that there are plenty of fantastic records to be shared from this specific area but I want to discover underground releases from all over the country, and why not from other countries?


2. What kind of extras would you like? (T-Shirts, Listening notes, posters etc.)
>>> I don't want extras at all. It will only increase the price with stuff I do not need. See answer 3.


3. How important do you feel the historical aspect is? Would you be interested in direct artist interviews detailing each release (when possible)?
>>> This is VERY important. Interviews, historical context, names of other figures linked to the artist/band/label picked are very important to understand why this or that record is essential. This would be the real added value and could be put together in a booklet.


4. In general what would you want to see out of a club like this.
>>> A closer contact to the artists. For example, once the record is announced I would like an AMA with the artist/band picked.

Oh, right! I thought the extras were part of the subscription. I am ok to pay $25 for the vinyl (or even more, since I am in Europe) but probably not $40 (or more) to have an additional t-shirt I don't want. I am sure you would sell these t-shirts to other people though. In believe that there is a market for that and, you're right, it's very positive from a business aspect.

I am in with the zine idea as long as I can keep it in the record sleeve. I love the listening book we have with the Classics track but hate the size (Experience Unlimited's booklet size please, even more if you may want to add photos)

Exactly this. You guys may have noticed that I buy everything from labels like Analog Africa, Ostinato Records, We Release Jazz, Superfly Records, etc... I don't like everything I buy, from a musical point, but I LOVE how they are passionate and how, more than selling music, they SHARE what they love. I never bought a record I hated, there is always songs I like/love but the booklets with the story and pictures behind every record/band/music are truly amazing. If you guys are able to release these records with the same passion and love, I am all with you.

 

[Believer101]

followed this thread so if something important is announced I can actually see it.

 

[The_Stoned_Ape]

I made it, and we will make this happen! Have faith in the process.

In the short term, would any of y'all have interest in a cassette re-issue?

 

[Believer101]

I made it, and we will make this happen! Have faith in the process.

In the short term, would any of y'all have interest in a cassette re-issue?

I havent used a tape in like 20 yrs lol so I dunno.. Maybe id buy one for someone else

 

[The_Stoned_Ape]

I havent used a tape in like 20 yrs lol so I dunno.. Maybe id buy one for someone else

What if we sold it to you in a bundle with a fairly nice modern cassette player? So that way you could start buying more cassettes? I saw the label Fantastic Damage do this once and thought it was brilliant.

 

[Believer101]

What if we sold it to you in a bundle with a fairly nice modern cassette player? So that way you could start buying more cassettes? I saw the label Fantastic Damage do this once and thought it was brilliant.

You know how expensive it is to mail shit internationally lol Cool idea for the rich peoples tho

I use to love my lil walkman thing haha

 

[SherlockOhms]

No interest in tapes at all I'm afraid.

I literally just use digital (streaming or d/l if I'm djing it out) or vinyl

 

[Skalap]

I made it, and we will make this happen! Have faith in the process.

In the short term, would any of y'all have interest in a cassette re-issue?

I have no interest in tape.

 

[The_Stoned_Ape]

Fair enough! The people have spoken! Only reason I ask is I know a specific artist who really wants to do some tape re-issues, ones that I myself would love to own. But I continuously tell him how small the market is on newly pressed tapes.

 

[Believer101]

Fair enough! The people have spoken! Only reason I ask is I know a specific artist who really wants to do some tape re-issues, ones that I myself would love to own. But I continuously tell him how small the market is on newly pressed tapes.

if its dj paul/juicy j and they want to repress them old tapes (but remastered) then Id move heaven n hell for that lol only cause the tapes out are in desperate need of remaster and I doubt anyone will ever buy and remaster those on vinyl EVER