CLASSIC DRUG REFERENCES VOL.1

"Though he’s best known for being a phenomenal mixing engineer, Chav is a talented producer and musician in his own right. Over time he’s passed me music here and there, sometimes in collaboration with others and sometimes him alone. “When The Time Comes” is from the very first batch of music he ever sent me, maybe as far back as 2008. The zip he sent had hard beats and song-ready compositions but I always found myself going back to this one track. 

In under two minutes, with minimal instrumentation and no vocals, Chav creates a bittersweet world I still get lost in more than five years after first hearing it. There was a version of this with a woman singing but my friend Laith Majali convinced me this one was stronger."

- sweeney

http://classicdrugreferences.bandcamp.com/

MIKE CHAV - WHEN THE TIME COMES

"I’ve known Knxwledge since before the x. I remember a young dreaded beat-maker working the graveyard shift of a dead-end job in Philly hitting me through his AIM app on his Sidekick. He does what he wants how he wants and on the low, he’s one of the nastiest cats on the beats. We’ve had a few firsts together and I love dude like a brother. 

Blu is as skilled as any rapper out today. I often think that folks en masse won’t fully appreciate what he contributes to the art of MCing till he’s through. I met him through an interview back in 2006. Fate and circumstance have crossed our paths several times since. 

We were actually roommates for a small stretch of 2009. One day, inside a modest two-story home atop Mount Washitaw in Los Angeles, we were going through the few crate of records I owned. I pulled out the European bootleg to Bilal’s Love For Sale I bought at Poo Bah Records a few months prior. 

“Daaamn, G! how much you want for this?” 

I didn’t know what to answer. I loved that album too much to price it. Then a lightbulb went off, “I’ll trade you.” 

“Trade me what?”

“A song. I’ll give you the record and you let me put out a song of yours.”

Blu laughed, gave me a pound and without a word took the record into his room downstairs next to the garage." 

- sweeney

http://classicdrugreferences.bandcamp.com/

BLU & KNX - TIMEJUSS

BLU & KNX - DRAGINBREFF

"Ras_G and Zeroh were one of the last additions to the puzzle. I first met _G in the MySpace era,  looking for interesting folks to interview for my blog. I was spending a few weeks in LA before heading back to school in San Diego for the fall. I messaged _G and asked for an interview. He succinctly accepted, asking only that I bring trees. I met him at Poo-Bah Records in Pasadena and drove him back home to South Central before our interview and an intensive crash course in backwoods. 

I heard of Zeroh during the time of his G7 University project. I was unexcited by new MC’s. After spending the preceding years listening to rap cats like Blu, Danny Brown and Jay Electronica, I was increasingly underwhelmed by most new cats I was hearing. However, from the first time I pressed play on “Peace and Light,” Zeroh held my attention and commanded my respect. Some cats spend a career trying to master their voice and delivery in a way that is intrinsic to this young Jedi. 

Towards the end of production on this project a song I’d planned to include fell through. I was stressing. I took a trip to LA hoping to find a solution. I paid another visit to _G at Poo-Bah’s and serendipitously he began telling me how he was finally warming up to working with MCs and was particularly excited by Zeroh, calling him a new-age Divine Styler. He passed me a very rough mp3 of a track the two had done. Zeroh’s vocals were deep in the mix but felt perfectly at home. A short conversation later and problem solved."

- sweeney

http://classicdrugreferences.bandcamp.com/

RAS_G - YUMSHIT (BEATTAPE VERSION)

ZEROH & RAS_G - YUMSHIT

"When this project began I instantly knew I wanted to involve Pablo. Andrew Lojero connected us and we linked like old friends. Pablo's vault of unreleased and unfinished songs is vast, several tunes were at one time set to be pressed on wax for this project but it wasn’t until the 11th hour, on a visit to Ras_G’s SpaceBase that we decided on “Disappear Without A Trace.” 

I took Pablo over to SpaceBase to meet and build with _G after “Yumshit” was already locked in. _G went through some of The ASP’s latest cuts as we went through some backwoods. Eventually  _G passed the auxiliary cable to Pablo, who humbly pulled out his third generation iPod and started going through some sketches. After he was through, I remembered I had some of his music in my phone. I plugged in and started playing my pablo playlist. When the demo version of “Disappear Without A Trace” came on _G started nodding along. As the track faded out, _G looked over from his green chair, unrolled backwood leaf in hand and in a low baritone said, “seven inch?” 

Pablo and I looked at each other and it was like we had the exact same thought at the exact same moment."

- sweeney

http://classicdrugreferences.bandcamp.com/

PABLO YGAL - DISAPPEAR WITHOUT A TRACE

"Danny was my longshot for this project. By the time I got moving on this he’d already signed with Fool’s Gold and was about to drop XXX, which would establish him as one of the fiercest MC’s out. I emailed and DM’d to no avail. One day I decided to try something really crazy and picked up the phone and called him. The stars were aligned and a rapper actually answered his phone. In all of two minutes he agreed to cut a track. I emailed him a .zip of beats I’d culled from the homies and about a week later I got a sendspace link entitled “SWEENY SONG.” He had taken a Mndsgn beat and absolutely ripped it to shreds. It’s been so long since he cut it that it now sounds like vintage Danny to me, which of course I love. I fixed the typo in the title and ran with it."

- sweeney

http://classicdrugreferences.bandcamp.com/

DANNY BROWN & MNDSGN - SWEENEY SONG

"As with Danny, House Shoes was my introduction to Quelle. In the same Barham apartment where he introduced me to Danny, Shoes let me hold two CD-R’s over Christmas 2007. The two jewel cases had drawn-on paper sleeves, one of them read Blue Mondays and the other was personalized to Shoes. I was floored. This guy sounded like nobody else. He could do straightforward rappity-rap, introspective and emotional joints and apparently made beats too. 

Life kept moving and one day I got word Quelle had moved to Oakland, about two hours away from where I lived at the time. I reached out and it was like reconnecting with an old friend from high school. We did hoodrat things together on both sides of the Bay Bridge and once in a while he’d play me some rap music. 

I knew I wanted Quelle to be involved with this project and it didn’t take much convincing to get him on board but it did take a minute to settle on the right song. Initially I was going with a lo-fi joint called “Sugar Honey Iced Tea,” which to date it’s still one of my favorite pieces of music Quelle has ever produced. Unfortunately Quelle had an accident in Chicago, where he lived when he cut the track, which lead to the loss of much music, including the track I was hoping to secure. 

We were about to abandon the idea just as Quelle discovered Knxwledge and Dibia$e and began to cut records with them. some of those songs would end up on the first volume of 2Dirt4TV but that was just an aperitif, Quelle actually finished the better part of an LP helmed pretty much entirely by Knx and Dibi. Unfortunately, a series of derailments and delays has kept that album from seeing the light of day but I managed to get Dibia$e and Quelle’s consent to use “Quantize” for this project. I’m very happy I waited because I consider it to be one of the best tracks Quelle’s recorded."

- sweeney

http://classicdrugreferences.bandcamp.com/

QUELLE CHRIS & DIBIA$E - QUANTIZE

https://www.classicdrugreference.blogspot.com

CLASSIC DRUG REFERENCES VOL.1

classic drug references