Wasting time with Jet

Hey...

Yeah, I know I haven't posted in awhile, what can I say? Nothing's happening.

I go to work, work the weekends, and Monday and Tuesday fly by like a blur...

"Gas, Brake, Honk...Gas, Break, Honk...Honk, Honk, Punch!...Gas, Gas, Gas"

Work's okay, but I've been having near-misses with the production. It seems like when we're almost out of work, a new case comes with 20-something boxes. But between 3 shifts and weekends, everything's being done at a quick pace. The first moment things dry up, Imma try to bounce, I need something STABLE!, this is good, but I'm STILL not promised tomorrow...

The only other thing I'm obsessing my time on is this Mix CD project.

I've been reliving the last 9 years through my music selection from back then.

As a poor black boy, recuperating his life back in 1998, I stumbled upon a fellow hip-hop head from Philly who went by the name of Eric Vanderslice (That has got to be the coolest last name I've ever heard!). He was just another crazy-ass country white boy who happened to know hip-hop from back to front. He respected the underground, and had a massive collection of rarities and b-sides, PLUS he had the equipment to make his OWN cd's (This being back at the dawn of the digital age of CD Burners and all that good stuff...).

We clicked right away and he asked me a favor in return for services rendered. He loved NYC Radio. But he lived too far to receive our beloved HOT-97. So he asked me if I could tape a couple of weekly underground shows that air on Sunday nights. In return he sent me upcoming and import albums that never made it to the stores. An early cut of Inspectah Deck's "Uncontrollable Substance" and female rapper Charli Baltimore's never-released first album "Cold as Ice".

After a while into the deal, I demanded more (His exclusives were running dry and I was providing blanks and postage!), I started asking him to make my "Train Tapes" (Tapes I listen to while riding the train...) into CD's

I had to get special 74 Minute Cassette Blanks because a CD couldn't be 2 hours (Which were my 120 minute blanks) and he made one a month. Each CD was like a time capsule to what was going on in the world, like listening to singles collection of a decade and remembering what you where doing when that song was on the radio.

Eric made my first CD in july, the tracklist was as follows...

Vanderslice Compliation I (July '99)

Created June '99

Tracklist:

1. Paint your Face (Lord Have Mercy)
2. Outro (La the Darkman from GZA Album)
3. Rec Room (Inspectah Deck)
4. Beneath The Surface (Genius and Killah Priest)
5. 1112 (Genius, Masta Killah, Killah Priest, and Njeri)
6. Stringplay (Genius and Method Man)
7. Mic Trippin (Genius)
8. Grand Prix (Inspectah Deck, U-God, and Street)
9. Show and Prove (Inspectah Deck)
10. Movers and Shakers (Inspectah Deck)
11. Lovin' You (Inspectah Deck and LA the Darkman)
12. Nightshift (Inspectah Deck)
13. Femme Fatal (Inspectah Deck)
14. Brooklyn Hardrock (Thirstin Howl III)*
15. Spit Fighters (Thirstin Howl III and Master Fu)*
16. Tight (Rah Digga)
17. Stand Up (Charli Baltimore and Ghostface Killa)


It was pretty much a test run to see how it would sound, naturally most of it contains tracks from the exclusive Deck LP, a few tracks from the latest GZA CD that was out at the time...

I dunno WHAT I was thinking with those Thirstin Howl III songs!

As time went by and my situation improved, I finally brought a Stereo Component CD-Burner for 289.00 (Which is like 500 dollars current-time!), it was around May 2000 (Yeah, I remember spreading my whole damn tax return on it!, LOL!)

So to cristen the machine and mark my independence, my first ever homemade Mix CD was...

Usagi's “Freedom!! Got my own shit, now Dog!!” Mix CD June 2000

Created June, 2000

Tracklist:

1. Best of Me (Remix) (Mya f/ Jay-Z)
2. Maccabean Revolt (Killah Priest)
3. Curtains (Rah Digga)
4. Dance Tonight (Lucy Pearl)
5. Case of The Ex (Mya)
6. Woke up in the Morning (Carl Thomas)
7. Laughing at You (Big Pun and Tony Sunshine)
8. Trippin’ (Lucy Pearl)
9. So Cool (Rah Digga and Carl Thomas)
10. I Wish (Carl Thomas)
11. View from Masada (Killah Priest)
12. Ride and Shake (Mya)
13. Without You (Lucy Pearl)
14. Emotional (Carl Thomas)
15. Mic-nificent (Canibus)
16. Hard Times (Killah Priest)
17. Man in my Life (Mya)
18. La La (Lucy Pearl)


A lot of Killa Priest, Lucy Pearl and Carl Thomas at the time, Mya's 2nd album was also floating out there at the time...life was going well...

Then when I got my own place, another CD marked the occasion...

Usagi's “Freedom 2!!! Out on my Own” Mix CD June 2001

Created June, 2001

Tracklist:

1. My Shit on the Radio (Nelly Futaldo)
2. Baby Girl (Nelly Futaldo)
3. I’m like a Bird (Nelly Futaldo)
4. Movin’ On (Mya)
5. Deep Inside (Mary J. Blige)
6. Problems (AZ)
7. How I’m Livin’ (AZ)
8. Music (Eric Sermon & Marvin Gaye)
9. Wooden Horse (Craig Mack)
10. (GangStarr)
11. What I’m here For (GangStarr)
12. Make ‘em Pay (GangStarr f/ Krumb Snatcher)
13. M.A.F.I.A. Land (Lil Kim)
14. Bittersweet Symphony (The Verne)
15. Someday (Sugar Ray)
16. Make an ode to the Broken Hearted (Sugar Ray)
17. Play Dead (Bjork)
18. Take on Me (A-ha)


I first got into Nelly Furtado, dabbed in some Sugar Ray, GangStarr was slamming at the time, you get the picture.

Going through the CD's I remember the exact moments that changed my life. Tracking down MOBY's music after looking for the song at the end of "HEAT", Obtaining Bjork's entire library just in time for "Dancer in the Dark"'s release, then going deeper, listening to the likes of Orbital, Underworld, Fatboy Slim, the Chemical Brothers...

I have over 300 songs on a 2GB chip and I'm only HALFway done and plenty of space...

I am restraining myself to listen to the damn thing during the day at work, but I waiting till it's completion...it's going to be awesome!

In other news, the online dating scene has some activity...once again from a bit of a far range...

I've made friends via AdultFriendFinder and WildMatch in Baltimore, up in Westchester at Dobbs Ferry and down in PA at Willow Grove.

Willow Grove seems the be the most serious prospect so far...to the point I'm almost considering a trip for the 4th of July...MAYBE!

With my Schedule I have a 3-day mini-vacation in the works (The 4th lands on a Wednesday and I have Mondays and Tuesdays off!), MOM is trying make plans to go to dayton but she doesn't want to do an 18 hour bus ride nor fly...

The only nearby Amtrak station is in Hamilton County in Cincinnati and it only arrives in the wee hours of the morning!

Aside from seeing that friend in Willow Grove, I might wanna try to see JOE in Jacksonville...I miss the damn knucklehead.

So, that's it for now...I would think of some other stuff to do for this blog, but don't know if it would be worth the effort...

I'll just keep hanging in there!

Peace!