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Skatemaster Tate?

lasoulsupplylasoulsupply 11 Posts
edited April 2010 in Strut Central
Any old school LA cats want to fill us west coast newbies in? Been hearing about dude for-ever, and usually from the deepest cats in LA. As an ex skater gone digger I'm blown away by the connections I find and how deep homie seems to have been with the funk/soul/breaks before almost ANYONE.I hear he supplied all of the sample sources for Cypress Hill's 1st, had a legendary after hours at a diner in Hollywood, had a pro model on Madrid...??? I used to trade with guys in LA, when I lived in the midwest in the mid/late 90's and this cat was already a legend.
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  • djannadjanna 1,543 Posts
    I deejayed with him at Punky Brewster's 21st birthday. Cool dude.
  • lasoulsupplylasoulsupply 11 Posts
    hell yeah... more info like that!!! please!
  • johmbolayajohmbolaya 4,472 Posts
    Tate was one of those guys who seemed to always be around in the L.A. scene, was known amongst the rap kids and the skateboarder dudes. In the late 80's/early 90s', that was a contradiction to what hip-hop was about at a time when the focus was still very much NYC, with the West slowly rising pre-The Chronic[/b]. Tate did video shows, I don't know if he had a hand with the Slammin' Rap video magazine but I still have that poolside interview he did with Tairrie B. Even though Tairrie B. is remembered by a select few, Tate treated her like a special guest and not as someone who was an outsider, someone who was terrible, or someone she was not. When he interviewed others, it was always with the utmost respect, kind of like a hip-hop Dan Cortese (which sounds corny, but Tate often went on location when YO! and "Rap City" were still locked in the studio.)

    It would be easy to say that Tate was ahead of his time, or that people had to catch up to him. West Coast norms were unheard of outside of the West Coast, and now Lupe Fiasco is considered revolutionary because he skates and reads Tokyo Pop?
  • SIRUSSIRUS 2,554 Posts
    I deejayed with him at Punky Brewster's 21st birthday. Cool dude.
    the halloween episode of punky brewster freaked me out as a child.
  • SIRUSSIRUS 2,554 Posts
    i remember that interview with him in not about a salary. dude was talking about his collection of old school rapp records.
  • deathvalley90210deathvalley90210 398 Posts
    sk8 tv

  • lasoulsupplylasoulsupply 11 Posts
    More full circle - Lance jr comes into the shop to dig for 45s! We just picked up Skatemaster Tates old hip hop collection. ILL!!
  • 4YearGraduate4YearGraduate 2,945 Posts
    Where's your shop?
  • GuzzoGuzzo 8,611 Posts
    Where's your shop?

    on Adams betwen Hauser and Fairfax
  • GaryGary 3,982 Posts
    I'm guessing it's 5654 West Adams la ca 90016
  • 4YearGraduate4YearGraduate 2,945 Posts
    I'm on a phone, sorry y'all

    Scott, that you? I been meaning to come through there
  • mrmatthewmrmatthew 1,575 Posts
    one of my first vinyl buys after getting turnatables and a mixer was SMT lp.
    Can't quite remember the name, but i recall there being a song on there about "truck jewelry" and it attempted to explain exactly what "truck jewelry" was.
    I still dont know what "truck jewelry" is/was.
  • tripledoubletripledouble 7,636 Posts
    sk8 tv


    yo!!!! besides being some funny shit....dude on the right has gotta be one of the killers from Scream!!!
  • dukeofdelridgedukeofdelridge urgent.monkey.mice 2,453 Posts
    maybe Skatemaster Tate was ahead of his time on that horrible truck testicle front too...truck jewelry? No idea.

    Records LA is great. My dad's hit it like five times, he really loves it. Reading about Lance Jr in there buying 45s is great too, as (in more cipher-close-eningness) I just broke out a bunch of old skate mags and read the Lance Mountain Pro Spotlight (like 15 pages, SO GOOD), and remembered that he collected Stiff Little Fingers records...

    I'm looking to get back down there soon.

    soulstrut is rad.
  • deathvalley90210deathvalley90210 398 Posts
    sk8 tv


    yo!!!! besides being some funny shit....dude on the right has gotta be one of the killers from Scream!!!

    yeah, it's matthew lillard. based on imbd, it looks like he changed his name sometime between his appearance in "ghoulies III" and "serial mom."
  • dirtydirty 93 Posts
    I had a record back in the day by him called "justice to the bass". I used to also watch sk8 tv but I remember thinking that dude was mad corny. Cool to hear a different side of him though.
  • hogginthefogghogginthefogg 6,098 Posts
    I heard that Tate showed Muggs how to use a sampler. Not sure if that's true, but I do know he sold weed to Cypress Hill.
  • SIRUSSIRUS 2,554 Posts
    I heard that Tate showed Muggs how to use a sampler. Not sure if that's true, but I do know he sold weed to Cypress Hill.
    that influenced them more than sampler knowledge.
  • DeeRockDeeRock 1,836 Posts
    Here's a breakdown for you new jack toys that are a bit confused. Before the internet and you tube etc. Shit would slowly make its way around the world but somehow get twisted. Like telling a story to ten people and its a slightly different story by the time the 10th person hears it. Truck jewelry was actually Trunk jewelry. In NYC in the 80's they rocked the fat gold chains, huge medallions, four finger rings. The shit was so large you needed a trunk to put it in instead of a jewelry box. Therefore it was referred to as Trunk jewelry. By the time the term hit the west coast it was suddenly truck jewelry. Because it was big and huge like a truck. The east coast also, coined the term Dookie rope for a fat gold chain. By the time it hit the west coast it was Donkey rope. just last week this girl sent me a flyer for her going away party and it said "Outtie 5000". I asked what the hell was that supposed to mean. She said I'm outta here! I told her no! The correct term would be Audi 5000. An outtie is a belly button. She said I was trippin'. Well little did she know she was wrong. I had to tell her the 80s hip hop slang came from the cars Audi 5000's. She didn't get it. But there ya' go kids. You can view some pics here: http://supremelarock.blogspot.com/2009/06/trunk-jewelry.html
  • lasoulsupplylasoulsupply 11 Posts
    The weed helped.
    but how many dj's could drop 'sexy coffee pot' in 91?
    damn, most of us were in diapers. Dude was on the forefront of the spirit that SoulStrut seems to have been founded on.

    ... being from the midwest I got to see a lot of slang get heavily twisted. Some of my white trash bretheren got hip hop shit so backwards. Hurry'n home to watch 'Yo MTV Raps' didn't quite do it alone.
  • BreezBreez 1,706 Posts

    but how many dj's could drop 'sexy coffee pot' in 91?
    damn, most of us were in diapers.

    Damn son, (no pun intended) this means I'm old enough to be a lot of you young dude's father. That explains a lot.

    WOW!!
  • funkyexamplefunkyexample 915 Posts
    Having the same namesake, I learned about dude REALLY early on even on the east coast. I am pretty sure I first saw his video on Pump It Up.

    I finally met SM Tate when he opened up one of the nights of the Product Placement tours at the knitting factory in 02 or 03. Josh was asking him about some of the 45s he had been playing. One in particular is the vocal sample/interpolation that salt n pepa used for Push It, which the name is escaping. But I felt geeked cause I actually had the record. Some funky rock record.

    I was a tiny bit disappointed when he told me that his real name wasn't Tate. But I have always

    He does get a name drop in Cypress Hill's 'Phuncky Feel One' where they say, "Like a fatty joint, straight from the brother Tate."
  • lasoulsupplylasoulsupply 11 Posts
    hell yeah!

    but can't blame homie on the name tip.
    gangsta 101 #1, don't use your real name. different slant on herb in the early 90's, even in cali.
  • tripledoubletripledouble 7,636 Posts
    i love when terms get institutionalized just plain wrong. you cant play football in the street in philly without some kid yelling "out of balance! out of balance!"
    you idddddddddddiots!!!

    remember the white cop on SAnford & Son?
  • Ayrotollah77Ayrotollah77 415 Posts
    Man I remember Skatemaster Tate from Thrasher Mag in the late 80's early 90's..Never knew he dug..Dope!
  • rawyouthrawyouth 112 Posts
    Didn't he press up that white label boot of the Professor & The Efficiency Experts 45? That had to be early 1990's at the latest. Always wondered about him just because of that.
  • SnagglepusSnagglepus 1,756 Posts
    I was a Sk8 TV addict. The show was corny as hell but it was about skateboarding and was therefore a must watch. Always dug Skatemaster Tate on there.

    I have a 12" of his kicking around. I'll have to pull it out and have a listen tonight. I remember there being a song on there that I knew from Public Domain or Ban This. Oh those were the days.
  • lasoulsupplylasoulsupply 11 Posts
    oh yeah, found the song on youtube. (the vid doesn't start til 20 seconds in)

    It was used for a mini ramp session with young bucks in one of those P.P. vids... forget which one. I think it was 'Ban This'. That secion of the vid really featured the mid-period S.Peralta cut and paste/collage choppy edit style that we all sorta liked and sorta hated.

  • SnagglepusSnagglepus 1,756 Posts
    oh yeah, found the song on youtube. (the vid doesn't start til 20 seconds in)

    It was used for a mini ramp session with young bucks in one of those P.P. vids... forget which one. I think it was 'Ban This'. That secion of the vid really featured the mid-period S.Peralta cut and paste/collage choppy edit style that we all sorta liked and sorta hated.

    Yep ... Ban This. Couldn't find a Youtube, but it starts at about 11:30 here:

    http://www.skatevideosonline.net/skate-videos/69/powell-peralta/ban-this/

    And the editing is ridiculous. Apparently they thought skaters were bored with watching anyone on the flatbottom of the ramp. Cut that useless footage out!
  • Mongo_SladeMongo_Slade 999 Posts
    Didn't he press up that white label boot of the Professor & The Efficiency Experts 45? That had to be early 1990's at the latest. Always wondered about him just because of that.

    Yeah, according to legend, Tate received the original Stanson plates from Motorcycle John in payment for helping MJ move all his stock from L.A. to Merced. I remember the first time I visited the Merced spot-- back in 1992 or so-- seeing a bunch of Tate's 4th & B'Way stickers around.
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