Apr
More #recordstoreday loot. William Bell $3 lovin’ on borrowed time and ‘you don’t want a man’ which is 'forgot to be you lover’ but disguised as a different song.
Apr
My #recordstoreday joy thanks to @flyingoutmusic been wanting this #leroyburgess jam for a while now
Apr
Does this give me a free pass for #recordstoreday
Apr
#jdilla #bobmoog #durhambulls #soundwave #returnofthemecca
Nov
Leonard Charles from She’s So Rad has done the first remix for Zackey Force Funk’s new record “Chrome Steel Tiger”. Word to Jellphonic for the drum inspiration.
Jul
Tango - Album Sale over at bandcamp
We are having a big ol’ mid winter (summer) sale over at our bandcamp site. Enjoy! https://shessorad.bandcamp.com/
Apr
This video is a dream come true for me, thanks to all involved!
Apr
Today I have the honour of presenting to you the “She’s So Rad - Breakout Remix E.P.”… http://shessorad.bandcamp.com/album/breakout-remix-ep
In today’s digital world my record label “From The Crate Records” is barely keeping it together. We started as a vinyl only label in 2003 and have had to progress with the times to accommodate trends and progressive musical models based on the surreal development of the internet.
In 2003 I was a hip hop nerd. I owned an MPC2000, I made cassette tapes and minidisc recordings of my favourite hip hop records and samples and traded them with one of my great friends, Kutcorners, who at the time was living in Vancouver. I was in love with the sound of Madlib, Jay Dee, Talib Kweli and Pete Rock. One night whilst at our band Opensouls’ DJ’s house http://harlindavey.tumblr.com/ Harlin Davey he played me the wildstyle movie. This is me being very late to the party but I had constant “Lightbulb moments” throughout the film. I heard not only elements from some of my favourite artists, Common, Mos Def, Pete Rock but I also was blown away by the party scene’s, the freshness, the hype, the energy, the creativity, the breaks, the funk. Of course I immediately put the wildstyle soundtrack at the top of my record collecting list (it is a secret list).
Between 2003 and 2013 I plowed through a million recreations of myself searching for the truth to my own music, apologies to the people I produced on the way that I inflicted my searchings upon and also no apologies because you got 100% honest intent from me on EVERY record I produced. Somewhere along the way the connection between boogie and hip hop showed up, I think I can trace it back to a Pete Rock lightbulb moment with D Train. I got obsessed with Boogie but couldn’t make it for the life of me, it sounded out of time, not funky (totally removes any boogie from the music) and generic so I shelved my Boogie days and thought I would never attempt it again. In 2013, thanks primarily to Dam Funk, Jellphonic and Kutcorners I fell in love with Boogie once again. Dam Funk gave me the “do not give up, just smash it as hard as you can” feeling. Jellphonic gave me a renewed love of the funk and how minimal music can be so funky. Kutcorners showed me how to make funk in a modern situation and how a DJ really does it (we make this music to dance to, if there is one thing Kutcorners does with consistency it is service a dance floor). A few others came along and gave me some confidence in my music. Kenji Sakajiri from Wonderful Noise Records in Japan really stood behind this music I was making and Recloose showed up at a recording session and threw down some super funky saxophone which evolved in a youtube boogie party between him, myself and Ben Lawson (Red Bull Studios, Auckland, Engineer)
So that is the birth of the She’s So Rad (Special Disco Version) - Last Dance E.P. Now comes the remix E.P.
One day whilst throwing some guitar and bass at a P Money track I played Pete my track “Breakout”. His response went something like this “You should get a rapper on this”… I was like “Great idea, would love to do that.” In the past I have had trouble getting rappers to work on my music as it has, I’m guessing, been to busy, too harmonically dense or not funky enough to work with a rap. Anyways, Pete says “I think Grandmaster Caz would work great on this beat.” It took me a couple of seconds to flick through my memory banks (excuse my ignorance). “Grandmaster Caz, Wildstyle, Cold Crush Brothers” Pete says. I kinda go dumb looking and go “That would be a dream but I have no idea how to even start making that happen.” Pete says “I’ll send an email.” haha… that easy!!!
And it was a series of two emails and I was suddenly emailing the “Robert Johnson” of Hip Hop, the guy that was there when this all began, the guy that is still actively involved in Hip Hop in NYC. And guess what? He replied to me saying my beat (Breakout) was “FIRE”. Cue good feelings and confidence in own self boosted 10 fold.
Chain of events
Rap gets done
rap sounds amazing
Caz asks if there is gonna be anyone else on the track
I haven’t thought that part through really so I have to hatch a plan. My plan is, who in world do i want to hear alongside Grandmaster Caz. Well, I had a world of options but there was two people that screamed out to me as perfect, Vancouver based MC JayKin and Aotearoa’s funkiest and self proclaimed “no-body fresher than me” Coco Solid. Why these two rappers? JayKin has been one of my favourite MC’s since I first heard him work with Kutcorners. he has a unique flow that is so necessary with rap. Coco Solid is a legend, her work with Parallel Dance Ensemble is so hot, she has been holding it down, consistently from the time I started making Hip Hop, her choice of beats is so fresh and creative. Turns out both artists are fan’s of Grandmaster Caz (haha, show me an MC that dislikes wildstyle I dare you).
End Of Part One.
Peace,
Leonard Charles
Apr
Who better to get on the mic over one of our songs then Jay Kin - one of Vancouver’s most unique flows, Coco Solid - New Zealand’s freshest, funkiest rapper and Grandmaster Caz, one of the pioneers, one of the longest serving artists in Hip Hop… It’s an honour for us to work with all three of these rappers. Peace… Jeremy, She’s So Rad, From The Crate Records.
“Its hard to describe the constant outpouring of love and respect that I have witnessed for Caz over the two years that it took to make our movie. Caz has been described as The Robert Johnson of rap; very little recorded music by Caz exists due to him being stuck in a restrictive deal for 20 years. The esteem in which he is held by his peers is quite extraordinary. When we interviewed Eminem for the movie he asked me ” Is this the same film that Caz is in?“ I said it was and he said "Dope - let’s do the interview!”
- Paul Toogood Producer of Something From Nothing: The Art Of Rap
Dec
Leonard Charles goes Cassette
Leonard Charles is gonna be going out on cassette very soon via a brand new label called Become Eternal… Stay tuned!
She's so Soundcloud
