Various Artists
Just Payin' the Rent:
Amoeba Music Compilation Vol. II

LABEL: Hip Hop Slam
RELEASE #: 16
RELEASE DATE: November, 2000
CATALOG #: HHS-021
FORMAT: CD

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This second compilation in the Hip Hop Slam/Amoeba Music collaboration series is another richly diverse offering of (primarily) Bay Area musical talent. The compilation's nineteen tracks include hip hop (Slumplordz, Bachelors, B.L.A.C.K., Two Man Band, DJ Zeph), electronic (Halocline, Afrocubist, Ska Boys, DJ Fear), rock (pre-teens, Gods Hate Kansas, Dealership), country-rock (Drive By Truckers) and "other" (O-Type, Crack Emcee).

DJ Sushi
The Lost Dub Plates EP

LABEL: Kawaguchi Kut Records / Hip Hop Slam
RELEASE #: 17
RELEASE DATE: September, 2000
CATALOG #: HHS-018
FORMAT: Vinyl LP & CD

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The Lost Dub Plates EP by the late Japanese DJ Sushi compiles eight tracks from his extremely rare dub-plate recordings from 1997 and 1998. Often describe as "difficult" and "elusive" DJ Sushi was a creative, strong-willed loner who believed solely in the art of the turntable. He stubbornly shunned the whole concept the whole concept of DJ as celebrity (he never allowed his picture to be taken) and detested what he saw as the commercialization of scratch music. Undoubtedly with his skills DJ Sushi would have easily been a champion battle DJ but he vocally refused to ever enter any DJ battles. "It's an art, not a sport," he told Giant Robot magazine in 1998 in his only published interview. A little over a year later he tragically took his own life. Ironically for one who shunned public attention, Sushi has garnered more than his fair share of it since his death, including an Internet based rumor that he didn't even exist and that it was Qbert or Kid Koala or Eddie Def who made his music; all of which has been denied by these DJs and whose callousness has been criticized by both Sushi's widowed mother and fellow Japanese DJ Krush who appears briefly on the EP.

Shiggar Fraggar 2000

LABEL: Hip Hop Slam
RELEASE #: 18
RELEASE DATE: November, 2000
CATALOG #: HHS-016
FORMAT: CD

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Featuring emcee UB along with DJs Shiggar Fraggar, Flare, Disk, Disk's Ugly Grandpa, D-Styles, and Golden Chyld and Ngobility from the Finger Bangerz. This live radio recording marked a return of Shiggar Fraggar after a few year absence. Also featured is the bonus ol' skool Shiggar Fraggar Show! Vol. 5 outtake track "Africa, Antarctica, & Your Moms House" featuring Mix Master Mike, QBert, Shortkut, Apollo, Disk, Shiggar Fraggar, and UB40.

Eddie Def
Open Your Mind (Wax People II)

LABEL: Hip Hop Slam
RELEASE #: 19
RELEASE DATE: July, 2000
CATALOG #: HHS-019
FORMAT: CD

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Eddie Def is known by most for his membership of the Bullet Proof Scratch Hamsters, the Space Travelers, and El Stew and his appearances on the Deep(er) Concentration compilations.

His first two Hemp Lords were recorded in '96 and '97 at his Mission District Cheap Recordings Studio (his living room). Hemp Lords III: Sample Jerks was recorded in '98 after his relocation from the Mission to Mayberry. Ironically since his move from the noisy city to the quiet sunny suburb of Mayberry Eddie's music has grown much darker and more intense (tracks: 20, 21, 22, and 23) with more of a hard"hamster scratchy" feel.

Eddie Def's history: As a teen growing up in the San Francisco Mission district Eddie Def, when not running with his 15 member crew MDC (Mentally Disturbed Children, Mission Dope Crew, or Mad Drinking Crew), was at home practicing on the turntables. In the following years he cranked out literally hundreds of mix-tapes, flexed his battle skills, and hooked up with DJ Quest and DJ Cue to form the infamous Bullet Proof Scratch Hamsters crew who made their mark on the DJ world in 1993 when they released their battle break record Hamster Breaks I, which broke the usual tradition of how break records should sound. By linking the scratch sounds together like hip hop battle phrases with other sounds and music Hamster Breaks was tailored strictly for the scratch DJ to use in battles.

However by the time most people had caught on to who exactly the Bullet Proof Scratch Hamsters were, they up and changed their name. In 1996, with DJ Marz now in the lineup, they became the Space Travelers and released the double-vinyl Hamster Breaks: Vol. 3 1/2 (Note: Hamster Breaks II is coming soon).

One confusion that Eddie is eager to clear up is the industry use of the term "hamster" as in "Hamster Switch" or "The Hamster Cage" , etc., which first appeared on a Vestax mixer in 1994. "We get embarrassed when people said we created this style. We never designed it," says Eddie. "The companies just started to use that term; hamster." One of those companies was Numark who coincidentally now Eddie and fellow-Hamster DJ Cue have endorsed (FOR THEIR HAMSTER SWITCH).

Various Artists
Turntables By The Bay Vol. 1
(all that scratchin'
  is makin' me bitch)

LABEL: Hip Hop Slam
RELEASE #: 20
RELEASE DATE: February, 2001
CATALOG #: HHS-020
FORMAT: Vinyl LP

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Turntables By The Bay Vol. I (all that scratchin' is makin' me bitch)—the first vinyl release in the 3-part Hip Hop Slam DJ compilation series of Bay Area DJs—features both live & studio recordings, some brand new and some previously released tracks. Spanning five years (1995-2000) of Bay Area DJ history, all but one of these ten tracks (#3) are available on vinyl for the first time ever. The Groove Robbers feat. DJ Shadow's brand new "Flashback" was recorded especially for this collection and marks both a return of the Groove Robbers name (back from the early-nineties Solesides days) and also a slightly different direction for DJ Shadow, especially for those just familiar with his Endtroducing... album. "3PM Migraine" introduces Oakland's previously unknown DJ Stoic, a prime example of one of the legions of supertalented "bedroom DJs" from the Bay and beyond who for years have been quietly devoting themselves to art of the turntable. Peanut Butter Wolf's classic "The Chronicles (i will always love h.e.r.)" demonstrates the longtime Bay Area artist's skill as both a DJ and a producer and is taken from the equally classic album Return of the DJ Vol. I. Released back in 1995 by Dave Paul's San Francisco BOMB Hip Hop label, Return was the first ever all DJ/scratching compilation and today reads like a who's-who of the world's top turntablists; including Wolf, The Beat Junkies, Cut Chemist, Z-Trip, Invisibl Skratch Piklz Mixmaster Mike (solo) and Rob Swift.

"Turntable Circumcision" by D-Styles & DJ Flare is taken from the Shiggar Fraggar 2000 (CD/VHS) and showcases both DJs' turntable skills. But what's so amazing about this cut is that it was recorded live in one take with absolutely no overdubs or studio trickery. Likewise for Mixmaster Mike's short-but-intense live "Battle For The Mind" and also the Invisibl Skratch Piklz' "Insect Mind Numb"—both from the legendary all-live The Shiggar Fraggar Show! Vol. 5 (May 1996) when the (now defunct) Invisibl Skratch Piklz' lineup was Q-Bert, Apollo, Shortkut, DJ Disk, and Mixmaster Mike. Four years later on July 1st, 2000, the day of the Skratchcon2000 DJ conference & the Thud Rumble DJ concert, the Invisibl Skratch Piklz called it quits as a group.

The breakup of ISP left the Bullet Proof Space Travelers (originally the Bullet Proof Scratch Hamsters and later The Space Travelers) the longest running Bay Area DJ crew. Today's BPST lineup includes DJs Quest, Eddie Def, Cue, Marz, Richness and emcee Eddie K. "Quest Represent" by DJ Quest (also a member of Live Human) is produced by Eddie Def. It originally appeared on Def's 1997 Hemp Lords II: Wax People cassette only release and later on CD on the 1999 Hip Hop Slam release Wax People. Eddie Def also co-produced and did all the scratching on "All That Scratchin' Is Makin Me Bitch." A collaborative effort with Oakland's DJ Killahoe it is taken from the Pirate Fuckin' Radio 100 compilation. Also from that same CD is "Killer Cali Cut" by the BPST's DJ Marz. It can also be found, in a slightly different version, on his 1999 Brain Language CD. Like DJ Marz, who shows no discrimination between so called "rap" and "hip hop," engineer/DJ Stevie K also has equal love for West Coast gangsta mob, as displayed on his "Young Mixdown." DJ Stevie K, who made a name back in the early/mid nineties entering numerous Bay Area DJ battles, originally released this track in 1995 on Closed Caption's The Harvest when he was the producer with the now defunct Oakland group.