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Looking Back: Soulman World of Beats

GuzzoGuzzo 8,611 Posts
edited March 2013 in Strut Central
http://www.samplehead.com/worldofbeats/

I remember looking at these articles when I was just beginning to look for records and just being in awe, trying to remember names mentioned of artists, totally identifying with hating newfangled rap music in the "jiggy" era. I did a google search for something or other this weekend and came across vol. 10 of the series (hi Big Chan).

Had a total backpack and cargo pants flashback and wanted to see what the strut thinks about these 13 years after the fact. Have these aged well, anybody else remember filing the term "library records" in the back of their mind?
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  Comments

  • BeatChemistBeatChemist 1,465 Posts
    I wasn't up on these bitd... Thanks for posting Guzzo! Gonna dive into them this afternoon
  • strataspherestratasphere Blastin' the Nasty 1,035 Posts
    I have WOB and thatrealschitt.com bookmarked on my computer and my phone. I never get tired of visting them.
  • tripledoubletripledouble 7,636 Posts
    these were the best!!!
  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    Break Genesis
  • Possum SlimPossum Slim 353 Posts
    Remember these getting mentioned a lot in Big Daddy at the time. Good to see them again.
  • SIRUSSIRUS 2,554 Posts
    Jonny_Paycheck said:
    Break Genesis

    yeah, big time for me. a lot of knowledge. kinda wish soulmane would show up again and start war vs madrill pt. 2
  • OkemOkem 4,617 Posts
    Is Soulman still about or in contact with people?? Last time he was on the strut he was talking about selling off his 'beats' collection and putting out folk inspired mixtapes.
  • DJSORCE1DJSORCE1 25 Posts
    He did an essential Xmas mix a few years ago.

    Has anyone here every checked out his Bariton Tiplove project? J-Zone put me on to it. Haven't heard the entire thing, but what I've listened to is wild. J-Zone said that to him, the production was as good as early PE/Bomb Squad stuff.

    Sorce-1
  • kalakala 3,361 Posts
    og internet beat digging 2.0 foundation essential isms
  • The-gafflerThe-gaffler 2,190 Posts
    That dude's cassettes definitely motivated my ass as a young high schooler to get out there and look for more.

    He hasn't been on here in a while..

    :hayek:
  • Controller_7Controller_7 4,052 Posts
    I miss Phill on here.
  • jamesjames chicago 1,863 Posts
    Soulman's shit was hugely influential on my writing and my outlook, and I don't think he's ever gotten the credit he deserves as a writer and as an idea man.

    He was once of the first guys--if not thee first--that I ever saw writing about the multi-dimensional role of records in the life of a digger/sample nerd. Like, "Top Ten Rock Breaks To Catch" was cool and all, but shit like "Top Ten Records To Clean The House To," or talking about his wife and kids and their impact on his records, was really eye-opening. Framing these records in that way, contextualizing beat-head shit within real life, was something that you never saw getting articulated at that time.

    I mean, maybe a lot of people had those kinds of thoughts individually and internally, but to see them 1) on paper (RAPSHEET, motherfuckers--I'm old), 2) available for purchase in places where "the culture" was all but non-existent (shout out to Reid-A-Book tobacco shop/newsstand in fucking red-clay half-horse Anderson, South Carolina), and--most importantly--3) conveyed with clarity and juke and good humor, all of that was galvanizing in a way that is tough to make folks these days understand.

    Soulman forever. Whatever he's up to these days, I hope he's doing all right.
  • DJ_EnkiDJ_Enki 6,473 Posts
    james said:

    Soulman forever. Whatever he's up to these days, I hope he's doing all right.

    He and Paul Nice are making records--Paul on the beats, Soulman on the rhymes. He sounds like he's having fun with it, which is dope.

    And yes, WOB was the shit.
  • tripledoubletripledouble 7,636 Posts
    yeah what Enki said!
    support Phills projects! hes been putting out a lot of records the last twelve months.
    hes got a new one with Mr Fantastic
  • youngEINSTEINyoungEINSTEIN 2,443 Posts
    SOULMAN is the moses of beat digging as we know it.

    peace, stein. . .
  • DocMcCoyDocMcCoy "Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
    He needs to write a book about his experiences at the ground zero of rap. That shit is Library Of Congress-level important in cultural terms, and it ought to be put down in a more tangible form than just a few infrequent blog posts and a series of influential articles in an obsolete rap mag. Dammit, if I had the cash, I'd finance it. In fact, if every rap producer that ever owed a hit to a record they bought from Phill were to contribute, a Kickstarter page would be a shoo-in.
  • Campag_RecordCampag_Record 238 Posts
    tripledouble said:
    yeah what Enki said!
    support Phills projects! hes been putting out a lot of records the last twelve months.
    hes got a new one with Mr Fantastic

    Yep, looking forward to receiving the new Mr Fantastic release...sounds great.





    WOB was one of the first things I checked when I got online....essential reading.
  • El PrezEl Prez NE Ohio 1,141 Posts
    Campag_Record said:
    tripledouble said:
    yeah what Enki said!
    support Phills projects! hes been putting out a lot of records the last twelve months.
    hes got a new one with Mr Fantastic

    Yep, looking forward to receiving the new Mr Fantastic release...sounds great.





    WOB was one of the first things I checked when I got online....essential reading.

    +1
  • DJ_EnkiDJ_Enki 6,473 Posts
    DocMcCoy said:
    In fact, if every rap producer that ever owed a hit to a record they bought from Phill were to contribute, a Kickstarter page would be a shoo-in.

    Hahaha, if he were a dick instead of, you know, a really cool dude, he could put pressure on them with some Mad Skillz "Ghostwriter" shit. "Y'all keep fronting, I'ma start naming names, you so-called diggers!"
  • DJSORCE1DJSORCE1 25 Posts
    Having Phil write a book is a great idea. I honestly wonder what kind of response a Kickstarter page would get.
  • BeatChemistBeatChemist 1,465 Posts
    The Strut has already birthed The Mop! You never know...
  • LokoOneLokoOne 1,823 Posts
    I used to buy Rap Sheet just for the WOB column...

    Had copies of those top ten lists copied and in my wallet

    One of my favourite columns was the interview with Diamond D... the competitive back and forth...

    I'm still wondering what that record with a train and break the Diamond D played Phill over the phone is....

    I was inspired and learnt alot from those columns....

    Would they be the first written pieces on digging to appear in magazines?
  • pcmrpcmr 5,591 Posts
    DJSORCE1 said:
    Having Phil write a book is a great idea. I honestly wonder what kind of response a Kickstarter page would get.

    great idea doc
    throw in a couple of hand sketched 12'' jackets and

  • Possum SlimPossum Slim 353 Posts
    Does anyone have a list of release dates for the CD comps and mixtapes?
  • MjukisMjukis 1,675 Posts
    I'd love to see more Phill in writing. A book would be great. I read WOB religiously after I discovered Soulman through his articles in Big Daddy. Without that Diamond interview, I wouldn't own the Sandy Nelson LP with "Mystery Boogaloo" on it

    Also, The Truth is Forever is a fantastic mix.
  • caicai spacecho 362 Posts
    I love his writing (and his posts on here) as much as the next person but has Soulman ever expressed any interest in writing a book? He rarely updates his blog. This kickstarter talk seems a little premature if he is not up for it.
  • DuderonomyDuderonomy Haut de la Garenne 7,789 Posts
    Like Paycheck said, for me WOB was Genesis, a trove of Knowledge. I took titles from WOB and hit the record fairs with Lists. Gave some of these to a dealer called Chris Energy, and he used to go to Sweden and dig through warehouses for some of those titles and more besides, and he'd keep beats aside for me in return.

    WOB ---> Crates List ---> Soul Strut
  • jamesjames chicago 1,863 Posts
    LokoOne said:
    Would they be the first written pieces on digging to appear in magazines?
    In the 90s, most rap magazines--and to a lesser extent, general-music magazines--had yearly one-page "Hey, did you know that a lot of your favorite rap hits of today are actually made from the vinyl records of yesteryear?"-type pieces (somewhere, I have an accordion folder full of them), but as far as quality, widely available, regular features, I'm pretty sure World Of Beats was first.
  • DocMcCoyDocMcCoy "Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
    cai said:
    I love his writing (and his posts on here) as much as the next person but has Soulman ever expressed any interest in writing a book? He rarely updates his blog. This kickstarter talk seems a little premature if he is not up for it.

    I've suggested it to him on at least two occasions on here, and he seemed a little ambivalent about it, if not necessarily averse to the idea. In any case, I expect his priorities lie elsewhere, and besides there's so little money in writing/publishing these days that he'd have to really want to take the time out of his life that something like a book would require.
  • MjukisMjukis 1,675 Posts
    LokoOne said:
    I used to buy Rap Sheet just for the WOB column...

    I'm still wondering what that record with a train and break the Diamond D played Phill over the phone is....


    From the description of how the music sounded, I've always suspected it was David Axelrods "A divine image", with Diamond giving it a fake name to throw people off. Unless Phill has an amazing memory though, it'll probably remain a mystery...
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