300 lbs. Of Herb Chune:420 Special

Yesterday I took part in the 420 Cup. A local version of the Cannibus Cup, held in good old Ocean Beach. While I spun tunes for 3-4 hours, I had to judge 7 strains of the bombest herb I've touched this year. While I voted for the Godzookie strain (I shit you not, it's really the name), some other strain won the cup, and not suprisingly I can't remember the name of it. Seedless Clothing pulls through some crazy shit sometimes.
Then I played a party till 4:20am at the Chinatown lofts with the Voz Alta Family. Cumbias, Hip-Hop, Reggae, and mad spliffs were going down. These cats really know how to have a good time.

For this months installment, we are going to step away from the world of Reggae music for a minute, and go back to a time when I was learning to roll blunts, learning the difference between High Grade and Low Grade, and listening to Weed Anthems. When I was a Junior in High School, I attended the Soul Assassins Tour, at Starlight Bowl in San Diego's Balboa Park. My partner and I found a sack of Chronic on the floor, saw Funkdoobiest, House Of Pain, and Cypress Hill. I seem to remember at the end of the show, everyone rushed the floor area, people started rushing the stage, and I saw Everlast put his big ass shelltoe in someones face. Great show.

Here are some of my favorite herb tunes from the era.


Cypress Hill-I Want To Get High
Cypress Hill-Stoned IS The Way Of The Walk
By far one of my favorite Hip-Hop groups of all time. West Coast Stoner Gangster Music from LA. The first two albums were the soundtrack to my High School movie. Produced by DJ Muggs, who is a Grandmaster of the SP 1200, the beats have the eerie crunch of the samplers low bit sounds, and give the album the ultimate Stoner Rock punch.


RBL Posse-Dont Give Me No Bammer
Around this time, I only knew Mexican herb, with the exception of what people called "Skunk". After I started getting my hands on better herbs, people started calling it the "Chronic". Money was not in abundance, but I began to see the big difference between High Grade, and Bammer. Bammer was what was affordable, and it was everywhere. Now, I won't even buy herb if it's Bammer. I'd rather not smoke.


DJ Quik-Tha Bombudd
This is one of the first Hip-Hop Herb Tunes I can recall, and invokes a likkle Reggae vibe. Very much a novelty tune, I had no idea at the time that the herb I was smoking while singing along to this tune was not the Bombudd. Actually, I was smoking Bammer.


The Pharcyde-Pack The Pipe
If any group out here on the West Coast was an indicator of the changes inHip-Hop to come, The Pharcyde was it. Real Hip-Hop from Los Angeles that didn't have to be Gangster to knock. Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde was always in rotation, and evokes so many old memories when I hear it. Pack The Pipe, and toast to the good times.


The Alkaholiks-Mary Jane
Before we move away from the West side, I can't move on without dropping the Liks on here. True, the first album "21 & Over" evokes more memories of Malt Liquor in the park, that memory is not complete without the smell of Herb burning in the air. In the spirit of Rick James, the Liks deliver their love song as an ode to Marijuana. Their first album is by far their best, and still holds firm as one of my favorite Hip-Hop albums of all time.


Redman-How To Roll A Blunt
The East Coast herb movement, if nothing else, spawned the worldwide Blunt phenomenon. When Redman was featured in High Times, with a tutorial accompanied my step by step pictures on how to roll a blunt, everybody and their mom was trying their hand at it. All the cheap cigar manufacturers found new life, in this young market that really had no need for the cigars guts. Redman has mad herb tunes, and I could post a whole entry on just his Herb tunes. Certified Herbman Classic.


KRS-One-I Can't Wake Up
This tune, from the Teacha KRS-One, is not so much a tune singing the virtues of smoking herb, it's more of a play on the imagination. KRS's little anecdotes for each hip-Hopper of the day lends extra laughs to this already comical concept. Pure Classic.


Channel Live-Mad Ism
One more for the BDP Posse. This time KRS is alongside Lyricists Channel Live. Once again, all we do is Spark Mad Ism.

420 Bonus Chune


Black Sabbath-Sweet Leaf
Nuff Said...

Mavado Endorses Obama???

Not sure the Obama camp wants this endorsement, but this is well wicked!

Politrix as Usual-04/08

Food for Thought: Mexico, Canada, and USA, coming together to create one larger body of land under one government. "One bank, One Army, One center of power." The North American Union (or, get used to it, NAU), and the Amero are part of a grand scheme that consolidates power over an entire continent.

Right now, mad powers are at work to build a mega border across the entire Mexican/American down here from Cali to Texas. The border to top all borders. Not the case on our Northern borders, yet all three countries are apparently unifying. So why would so much emphasis be put on building a complex border system, when the goal for the near future is a borderless system underneath the umbrella of the NAU? If we are moving towards unfiying, why is this "Wall" being built at the same time? Our gated community that will import cheap labor, yet attempt to keep deny entry to those who carry a chunk of the machine's maintenance.

Choose your own conclusion, but it looks like we are building a country sized Ghetto. (Berlin?)

War-The World Is A Ghetto


Food for Thought: Power to which people? All power to all people? Or is it reserved for those who are created from the same bloodline? (See Illuminati if you got some time to kill, and some time to create your own theory).
Bush, Cheney, Obama share same bloodline

Be forwarned my fellow Americans, all is not as it seems.

Leo Graham-3 Blind Mice

It took a lot longer to build Rome than to burn it...


Max Romeo

Max Romeo-No Peace

Jump It Like You're Out Of Time...

ROYAL JELLY PLAYLIST 3/31/08

March 31st 2008

In The Mix: UNITE

On The Mics: MARCUS BLACK, JESTER, UNITE

Foundation

Vin Gordon-Red Blood

The Silvertones-Midnight Hour
U-Roy-Midnight Hour
The Techniques-You Don't Care
Derrick Harriott-Solomon

3Blind Mice Riddim
Leo Graham-3 Blind Mice
Dillinger-Ensome City Skank
Buju Banton-Cowboys

Culture

Demarco Better Jamaica
Chezidek-Far-I
O'Neil Peart-Change
J Will-Ganja

I Love Riddim
Million Stylez-Oh Jah Jah
Ziggi-Need To Tell You This
Anthony B-Can't Stop The Fire
Luciano-Jah Deliver Us From Evil

Pure & Clean Riddim
Munga-They Don't Care
T.O.K.-Why Are We Fighting
Turbulence-Hold Firm

Kingdom Riddim
Collie Buddz-Let Me Know
Chezidek-Call Pon Dem
Jah Dan-Mountains To Climb

TOP 5

5. Tarrus Riley-Protect Your Neck
4. Erupt-Click MY Finger
3. Busy Signal-No Go A Jail Again
2. Doh-Serani & Bugle

1. Mykal Rose-Shoot Out Remix Ft. Damien Marley

New Dancehall

Shoot Out Riddim
Mavado-Life Of A G
Busy Signal-Knocking At Your Door
Demarco-Duppy Know Who Fi Frighten

Trouble Mekka Riddim
Delly Ranks Ft. Demarco-Anthem
Vybz Kartel-Smoking Everyday
Shema-I'm Bad

Night Creature Riddim
Anthony B-Dem A War
Munga-Gangsta Name
Deva Bratt-Night Creature
Einstein-Rest It Pan Dem

Black Velvet Riddim
Mr. Evil-Look At Me
Elephant Man-Smoke Everyday
Wayne Marshall- Strictly Weed
Damien Marley-Real Friends

Pon di Edge Riddim
Einstein-Black Rain
Busy Signal-Wine Pon Di Edge
Demarco-War Dem All Day & Night

Jermaine Riddim
Vybz Kartel-We No Tek Talk
Black Rhyno-Story Go A Town
Deva Bratt-Pellet Pellet
Aidonia-Dem Fraid A We

Go Go Riddim
Collie Buddz-Rise It
Mr. Evil-Husslin
Tony Matterhorn-Tour Guide

Gear Box Riddim
Erupt-Click My Finga
Beenie Man-Buffer Zone
Blond Ras-Don't Run In
Deva Bratt-Bag A Talking

Mykal Rose-Real Jamaican
Alborosie-Ting A Ling

LAST TUNE
Pirates Anthem-Shabba Ranks

For more info on the show
myspace.com/royaljellyreggaeshow
jellyradio.com
Royal Jelly Playlist Blog

My Selecta: March 08

I'm going to take a moment to humble myself, and fan out real hard. This past month has been the memorable in years for my DJ career. I've done two very memorable shows, that are historical moments for me. I'm sharing this, more as a few anecdotes on DJing, instead of being boastful. Mainly because I know one of you can relate.


SISTER NANCY

You may have already seen my post, mentioning the Sister Nancy show we held right before New Years. Before the buzz had even died down, another promoter approached me about having my Sound play at the Reggae Wintersplash event at 4th & B, in Daygo. The promoters idea was to have an all night dance, since the venue was permitted to do afterhours. He wanted to put us on at 3am, and I told him I was concerned with playing that late, because I felt people would leave was the alcohol stopped flowing. He conceeded, and told me we would play right after Sister Nancy, with a scheduled set at 2am. Around the night of the show, I had been purging my itunes library into my Hard Drive, in an attempt to get an upper hand on this whole Serato/MP3 thing. Bottom line is I had only brought music for the set we were scheduled to play, and not the overstuffed library i usually bring with my laptop. Apparently I did not have enough foresight to conclude I would need anything else but my sets worth of tunes.

The promoter linked us witha little VIP booth for the crew, and when I got to the venue about 12:30am, we eased into the booth and let the smoke blow. Within 30 minutes, the promoter tells us Sister Nancy was not there yet, so he needed us to play earlier. I set up my stuff, and then my bredren Rock hits me up about running riddims for his set before Nancy. Of course that was easy, I loaded up his riddims, and did it. Before I could even start my own set, the promoter comes out on stage and says "I need you to play for Nancy too". I asked if she brought riddims, and apparently she had left them at the hotel. That's when the horror of my situation became apparent. Before I could even argue, they called Sister Nancy out on stage. Mind you this was a pure Sound System style performance, so no band required. I rapidly flew through what I had, and realized I only had 4 usable riddims in my selection. She knew the deal, and worked the crowd like a pro. When it came time to run the riddim called "Stalag", so she could sing Bam Bam, we ended up running the version for 10 minutes, doing different songs before she left the stage, and MURDERED Bam Bam for the encore. The whole show I was walking the line of disaster, and ended up pulling it off by the skin of my teeth.

I also used the Rane Serato mixer for the first time, and had no clue about switching between line and phono on this machine. I also had multiple USB dropouts during the performance, meaning the music would cut out in the middle of a song, and we would have to play it off as a wheel up.

Sister Nancy is a serious Professional Reggae Deejay. She handled the situation with such finesse, I couldn't help but be impressed. The historical moment for me, is that Sister Nancy's album "One Two", was one of the first reggae records I acquired for my set so many years ago. If you would told me then I would be supporting her stage show on the 1's and 2's, I wouldn't have believed you.

Sister Nancy-Dance Pon The Corner


EEK A MOUSE

Not a week goes by, and my old friend Rez from Seedless Clothing asked me to DJ at a reggae show going down at On Broadway with Eek A Mouse. At first I was just doing a set, but Rez then asked if I would play for Eek A Mouse. I said for sure, giving him the guarantee I could be ready with riddims for that. One thing I should mention, is On Broadway is a very upscale, mega club, and I had never made my way in there due to Dress Code enforcement, and steep drink prices. To hear that they were doing a Reggae show there, with a very loose dress code made me very curious as to how the night would pop.

I spent the next week trying to track down Eek A Mouse instrumental versions. After doing a bunch of studying, I realized most of his big tunes were over more obscure Roots Radics riddims, instead of over big, more popular riddims. In fact, there weren't very many Versions of his tunes to found at all. San Diego is a HUGE Eek A Mouse town, and I wouldn't be able to pass off the wrong riddims for their favorite tunes. I immediately realized I might get stuck in another situation where I didn't have enough riddims. It took me talking to my man Eaz One in the Midwest, to realize I should call someone locally. I got a handful of viable riddims from my man Carlos Culture, and figured that was my best bet.

30 minutes before the Eek A Mouse is scheduled to perform, he calls me from the hotel across the street, and he kicked me down some more riddims for the show. Since I was fully stocked for the show, I was able to just enjoy myself, instead of worrying about it. What a good time that was. I got to mix up the tunes for Eek A Mouse, and see the show from a whole other vantage point. The highest points for me, were Eek A Mouse pulling out his first tunes he ever recorded. I had never seen that in the x-amount of Eek A Mouse shows I've seen over the years. When he called for the tune "Wicked Shall Not Reign", I got goosebumps as the bass came in. That's a tune that was released under his original name, Ripton Hylton. He called for a wheel up and explained to the crowd the history behind the tune, and ran it again. F'n wicked!

The historical part for me, came in two parts. Number one, you can't grow up in San Diego without being hit off with one of Eek A Mouse's albums. He is second only to Bob Marley in Daygo, and I've known his tunes front and back from real early. In fact, I was reminiscing with homie from High School, how we used to roll around with my friend's older brother J.G., bumping Eek A Mouse, and smoking herbs. This would have been 10th grade for me. Low and behold, when I knocked on Mouse's hotel door, the door was answered by none other than J.G., who apparently befriend Mouse over the years. It all seemed to come back around last night, and I'm still hyped.

Ripton Hylton-No Wicked Can't Reign

As you can see I'm a serious fan. You have to be in order to be a DJ.

Mikey Dread Bonus Footie

Mikey Dread @ Martini Ranch


Downtown Top Ranking Martini Ranch 2000 something...
Not much to see as far as darkness, but my hat pops up on the dancefloor a couple times.

R.I.P.
Mikey Dread

Thank You Mikey Dread

Mikey Dread's "Israel Style" is one of my favorite tunes of all time. In fact the whole World War Three album, which includes the tune "Jumping Master", is a genius piece of Roots Reggae work. Heavy on the dub, heavy on the drums and bass, and masterful in Mikey Dread's delivery of his vocals, the album cannot be touched.

I had a gig one night at the Boulevard Club in San Marcos, at a club where Junior Reid was performing. I had to play outside the whole time while the show was going on inside. The gig was kind of a drag, but turned around in the blink of an eye. I was playing Israel Style for the folks burning herbs outside, when low and behold Mikey Dread walks up to the tables. He asked if I was playing the tune because I saw him in the crowd, and I explained to him that it's a staple in my Roots selection, and I had no idea he was in the house. Mikey got a large smile on his face, and said Thank You. I reached out and shook his hand, and told him "No, thank you Mikey Dread!"


It's rare that an artist passes, and I actually feel it inside. I knew the situation was grim for Mikey Dread, after I heard of his battle with a brain tumor. Unfortunately yesterday, Saturday March 15th, he succumbed to the tumor, and has moved on. Of course he's not dead, by any means. With a catalog of great tunes like Mikey's, he will live on in the hearts of Reggae lovers forever.


For Mikey Dread's Bio Click Here



Mikey Dread-Jumping Master

Mikey Dread-Heavy Weight Sound

Mikey Dread-Heavy Weight Dub

Who Cork The Dance, one of my favorite Blogs, posted an old recording Mikey's radio show which was recorded Christmas 1978. You can check the blog, and download the show HERE



Michael Campbell A.K.A. Mikey Dread
1954-2008