Vinyl Me Please Rap & Hip Hop

I’m running a Debut Carbon with an Ortofon Blue through a Pioneer Elite receiver and floor standing Pioneer speakers. Certainly not a crazy audiophile rig. It just sounds so blah to me compared to almost any other record in my collection that I can think of. Not trying to be hyperbolic, just disappointed
 
wingclipper said:
I’m running a Debut Carbon with an Ortofon Blue through a Pioneer Elite receiver and floor standing Pioneer speakers. Certainly not a crazy audiophile rig. It just sounds so blah to me compared to almost any other record in my collection that I can think of. Not trying to be hyperbolic, just disappointed
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I have the same cartridge, maybe my sutherland insight and rogue audio amp are cleaning things up a bit for me... or i'm just old and don't hear very well anymore. :ROFLMAO:
 
wingclipper said:
Spun PE. Really one of the most disappointed I’ve been in the sound of a record. That is not how PE is supposed to sound. The CD from back in the day had such a powerful sound. Quiet and muffled is not how PE is meant to sound.
I have to turn this up to levels that my neighbors would call the cops on me for with other records to even come close to that signature PE punch.
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bdrummond said:
THANK YOU! Glad to have some confirmation that I'm not crazy.
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My copy of PE arrived yesterday. I put it on immediately hoping against hope that the bad reviews were exaggerated. I'm afraid I experienced the same thing. Static from the beginning of and throughout track A1. But the most disappointing was the lack of separation and punch in the overall sound.
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
Oh we know. I am from Pontiac, IL which is about 100 miles south on I-55. We all say “you guys” and drink “Pop” but Chicagoland residence still treat anyone south of I-80 as a downstate bumpkin. My estimation is anything south of Springfield on down is where Illitucky starts. You begin seeing more St. Louis Cardinals hat than Cubs and hearing people say “y’all“ or “I reckon”or “worsh”.
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Being a South suburban Chicagoan myself (Flossmoor), our cut off for being considered bumpkin territory was Crete Monee. It's funny how we all have our different demarcation lines in Illinois.
 
walkingdogs said:
Being a South suburban Chicagoan myself (Flossmoor), our cut off for being considered bumpkin territory was Crete Monee. It's funny how we all have our different demarcation lines in Illinois.
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Yeah, I think Illinois, starting in Chicago and radiating outward; goes Urban > Suburban > Rural Midwestern > Rural Southern. I grew up in the rural Midwest but we resented being grouped together with the Rural Southern part of the state.
 
My copy of PE had to be turned up. It sounds good at the louder than normal volume.

Fight The Power seems to be lacking the punch I've always associated with it. Then again I'm not blasting it out of a boombox and I think Spike made a point to overpower every scene it was featured in on Do The Right Thing.
 
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I got my copy of Fear today. Gave the first side a quick listen. Definitely has surface noise at the beginning. I even gave it a quick wash, no change. The volume issue doesn't bother me, seems fine.
Some of you know I worked for PE, so I asked if they had any input into this release. Doesn't look like it. But I'm told that they contacted Mofi about doing a version of Fear, they said we'll see. Right now, PE working on a digital deluxe edition of Apocalypse 91 for the 30th anniversary. No physical release though 😕.
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Just did a few quick needle drops on PE and Wu and my replacement ATLiens.

My replacement ATLiens is much better, but I can still hear the distortion in the right channel on the beginning of side D. Doesn't really bother me much on this copy and it's much shorter than my original one.

When I listen for it, there's the same distortion in the right channel on side A of Wu, but super faint. If I wasn't looking for it, I probably wouldn't have noticed. I have a bigger issue which is the bass seems to be distorted at times on the kick. I gotta check my setup though as I've had similar issues on a couple of records in the past that I've been able to rectify. I also need to compare it to my OG vinyl copy and the CD version.

PE is quiet as everyone has noted, but the mix seems to be the same mix that I've always known this album have. I have an early 90s CD copy (this one) and did an A/B and the VMP copy is fairly similar but very slightly improved. It sounds like a lot of late-80s-very-early-90s rap albums (Bum Rush, Nation, ATCQ's first album, Jungle Brothers' albums, BDP). I just did a quick check on Spotify, and it does seem to sound different so maybe there are better masters out there than what I'm used to - will have to do a longer comparison. Don't know what the mastering details for the VMP was, but maybe they just used an existing print? 🤷‍♂️
 
That said, I may sub again for Clipse, but going to cancel my membership between now and then or just sub for Classics. This past quarter has been...something.
 
NewsFedora said:
I'm in for all three, I think. Three 6 is more for the missus, but we both dig Clipse and RZA.
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I thought about RZA, but I don't think I'll lose sleep over not getting it, especially not getting a noise filled copy of it.

I'll always be down for Push.

Three 6 I am very blase over.
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
The only one that would make me wanna sign back up again is Clipse and I already a copy that probably would not be as good as a properly pressed VMP 2xLP version but I don’t have faith that their pressings won’t have some sort of production defect.

So with that, I am out until VMP get their shit together.
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Yeah I’m really torn at the moment. Classics are always great, but nothing besides Clipse feels like a must have for me this coming quarter.

And even then, it’s a crapshoot if it’ll even be a good sounding pressing with zero issues. I’m on the fence on whether or not I’ll re-up.
 
Three 6 is cool, I'll never spin it so it's a pass but appreciate they are doing a Memphis rap record

The Clipse... I'm glad people are happy about this...for me, I'm not into repeats when there are so many great or overlooked rap records they could reissue, it seems like they really don't know much about rap music which hopefully will be corrected going forward when the new person takes over... whenever that is!

As for the RZA, I'll have to revisit this, all I remember is the track "Domestic Violence" was rough back in the day and I can't see it aging all that well...also Bobby Digital in an analog format....
 
bdrummond said:
I am shocked as a Canadian to learn that DC and Maryland are considered "South".
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I would not call DC/MA "south". VA yes. This mostly splits along the civil war lines. Which is why e.g. Texas is not often lumped in with "the south" even though geographically it's south. (of course texas is so large it kinda counts as southwest, midwest and mexico too.)
 
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