Red and Rugged

On 3/7/12 I posted only my third blog post onto this here blog. That post happened to be a post about R.A. The Rugged Man. That right there should show you that R.A. is one of my favorite rappers of all time.  In 2009, R.A. released this compilation of a bunch of unreleased songs or songs he had done with other rappers. This compilation has some of his early 90's work all the way up to some 2009 stuff. This thing has so many classics on it that it's silly. He has one of his first songs ever, Cunt renaissance with Notorious BIG, tracks with Mobb Deep, Kool G Rap, and alot more. He also has his track with Jedi Mind Tricks named "Uncommon Valor" which many hip hop aficionados claim to be one of the best verses in recent years. RA's verse on that track actually won several awards in 2006 for Verse of the Year in different hip hop magazines and websites. 

In 2009 I don't even think they released this on vinyl, and if they did I never heard about it or saw it anywhere. Anyways, when I heard they were going to put it out on vinyl this year with some limited copies on red vinyl, I was all over that shit. 

Apparently everyone is trying to kill poor R.A. I love the artwork on this album.

Concrete shoes baby! The theme continues. So far this year, R.A.'s new album "Legends Never Die" is  running off with my "Album of the Year" award. I don't know if any album, hardcore, punk, rap whatever can beat it. Check out one of my favorite tracks from this release, "Supa" below:

Whether you like rap or not, you cannot deny this man's skill. Rugged Man was even one of Biggie Smalls favorites. 

RSD 2013 Pt. 3: Thelonius Skull Crisis

Here are the left overs for my RSD 2013 buys. Here is the Thelonius King 7" by Blu. I wasn't really excited about this one as I haven't been very impressed by Blu's latest releases. However, I didn't even realize that RA The Rugged Man was on this track as well. What a pleasant surprise. In all actually, this single is a serious banger and Rugged Man absolutely murders his verse on it. Out of /700 on black vinyl. Glad I got it! Check out the video for it below:

Next was the Earth Crisis 7". I have never been a big Earth Crisis fan so I guess it's whatever. I'd rather have it then not have it, in case some day I suddenly get into Earth Crisis. Out of /900 on red vinyl. 

I almost didn't get this copy of the Misfits and Lemonheads split. The super tacky cover art really turned me off, but now I feel good about it. I must be honest with you, I have never really even heard of the Lemonheads. I was really impressed with their acoustic cover of this classic track though. 

RECORD STORE DAY 2013 WRAP UP:

I guess now that I look at the pictures of the stuff I got, it doesn't feel like RSD was all that bad. However, the day of was a pretty shitty experience. My frustration levels were off the charts. I essentially waited in the line above at Streetlight Records in San Jose, CA for almost 2 and a half hours by the time I paid and got to my car. RSD has become a big deal and brings every bozo out of the woodwork that never goes to a record store all year long. I would put my paycheck on it that probably 90% of the people in that line don't even own a record player or give a shit about any of the music. I saw flipper after flipper walking out with shit I wanted and it was just so frustrating. Now, I can either not go next year and boycott it, or I can show up hours early like other people do and be patient...

But to me, it is more about the big picture of how big vinyl collecting has become. I made a conscious decision over 10 years ago to buy strictly vinyl. At the time, I could walk into my local record store and find all kinds of great shit all day long for killer prices. Now, the prices on everything are through the fucking roof and it will only get worse. Until the fad ends and all these sheeple move onto something else that is. It just really saddens me that people have to take a good thing like this and turn it into a chance to make a quick twenty bucks. All that being said, my dumb ass will probably be in line at like 6am next record store day. What did you guys pick up or miss out on this year???

Rugged Man is very twisted, and very mad

Here is an old RA The Rugged Man single on Rawkus Records. This is unfortunately the only Rugged Man vinyl I have. All of his Vinyl is very rare and usually gets blown way out of proportion any time you see it on Ebay. For those of you that aren't familiar with RA you should really check him out. He was one of the first white MCs to really gain credibility in the NYC hip hop scene. This dude is an absolute beast, and even Biggie Smalls said that RA was one of the "illest ever". I stumbled on this in the dollar bin at my local record store. The album cover is a bite off "Basket Case" an awesome 80s horror flick, which makes this album cover even more awesome. "Rugged films"? I wonder if that influenced his name?

Here is a video for "A Star is Born" which is funny as fuck! In it he goes over a little history of his career, like getting signed to Jive way back in the day and then getting dropped and some of his legal troubles. This song is actually like 5 years old but he just made the video recently. This video is seriously so funny, my favorite parts are the white record executive saying "I'm practically black!" And Prince Paul next to him agreeing, RA at the end kissing the broom and when the white executive is ripping up the posters and then calls in ICP - "the real talent" HAHA. Must see!