Fat Beats Is Done
DeeRock
1,836 Posts
??????
DeeRock
1,836 Posts
Comments
http://www.xxlmag.com/online/?p=88817
Noz wrote something thoughtful about the closing: http://tumblinerb.com/post/972721373/breaking-news-fat-beats-closes-remaining
so true.
TOO SOON
amir
good thing it's not completely gone then. i assume they'll keep their online store open??
I'm surprised the shop here on Melrose lasted as long as it did. it seemed like it was on life support 2+ yrs ago.
One my first trips to New York, I happened on them when they were in some lower level painted-over concrete type space . I bought a promo copy of Return of the Boom Bap and Sly and The Family Stone's Stand! and went back every time I visited. I want to say there were more records in that basement space than this past spring, but I would be embellishing...you get my point still.
Some years later me and one of the staff at the LA store got into it with some random customer about GZA. It was no thing at all to fall into a friendly back and forth even as a tourist. Kinda hokey, I know, but this is what good record store memories are made of.
I don't live in the same cities, but I am sad.
Brick and Mortar music stores are so rare anymore..I mean basically you get by on selling mostly used product or it just doesnt work.
I remember fat beats ATL...
The store has a long and rich history though..
This space would go on to become Bobbito's Footwork.
They opened the final year I lived in Atlanta--I used to go there all the time on my lunch hour.
One memory that stands out just for being ridiculous:
This dude was asking if they had a certain record in stock. The girl who worked there responded that, while they didn't, she had a personal copy she'd received as a promo that she would give to him.
He then put his hands together in prayer position, looked at the ceiling and said "give thanks, give thanks"
Yo, when the person who was generous enough to give you the record is standing right there, why are you thanking unseen divine forces?
Melrose has always had a high turnover rate. Whenever a store moves in that I like, it's always goone next time i check. It's kinda fun for me to look at the stores and predict how long it will take for them to go. It kinda saddens me too. Thinking about all the money lost on their dreams, but fuck it. That;s the game.
FatBeats has been a pillar though.
Melrose has particularly been hit hard by the recession, though. Some days it really does look like a Wasteland down there. No pun intended (smfh bsides) :lol:
I have a relative who used to do this all the time.
He would open xmas or bday presents, then thank god for the gift. I never once received a thank you.
He would also pray for something (like living room furniture), tell everyone at church that he was praying for living room furniture, then when someone would say 'we just bought some new furniture, you can have the old set, he would praise god for answering his prayer. Then he would tell everyone for weeks that he prayed for living room furniture and god heard his prayers and gave him living room furniture. I guess god is so busy answering the material needs of millions of american fundamentalist that he can't be bothered with addressing war and world hunger and homelessness.
Sorry for the rant.
RIP Fatbeats retail, and all that.
that store was kinda fresh but the one time I went in there I was greeted by a moron of an employee. Dude was really really dumb and had like zero customer service skills. didn't sell me a shirt because he wasn't sure if there were any more and he didn't know if he could sell the one on display.
Such a shame about the stores. A lot of history happened there, can't say that i've copped much current rap on cd or records these days though.
I still remember when Ed Wong of Sandbox first took me down to that OG Fat Beats space. Man, I feel fucking old right now.
I have to say: I absolutely hated the Melrose location. It was in one of the most soulless parts of Hollywood (which is saying a lot) and just seemed like a complete 180 from its original location on Vermont.
:long:
More of an aside on LA than a comment on the demise of Fat Beats...while I agree that Melrose blows, LA is so spatial heterogeneous - full of interesting stuff in places I wouldn't have expected - that I could always find a way to stop off at Fat Beats en route to something else when I needed to...so I didn't mind it's location. Like, when I was going to the record shops near the 10-405, Fat Beats was directly en route from my place. But I never went to the original location on Vermont, so maybe it also lost something about the shop itself in the move.
I'd glad they're going to continue with the distro (and the online shop)...don't forget that they put out the Roc Marcy album this year. For better or worse, they've always given some shine to less commercial releases.
For a minute circa late 90s they had sealed dead stock of some really good 80s 12s - Lord Shafiyq, Kings of Swing on Bumrush, Lazy Laz on Bumrush etc. all pretty much priced at regular retail - 5.99.
Divine Force "Holy War" and Hot Day "Go Queensbridge" too, iirc.
Yup, those too. And at the old location I remember walking in on a Friday once when Eclipse had just put a few sealed copies of Latee's Wake Up on the wall rack - leftovers from the Wild Pitch days. Still only 5.99.
It did. It was a whole different vibe when Fat Beats was in the X-Large store bitd. Then again, it was a whole different vibe bitd. No disrespect to anyone, but the Melrose store always had kind of a clinical feel to it and was never quite the same once they moved.
Anyone remember the spot up the street from Fat Beats that had used records? It was right on the corner but I can't think of the name.
Shit, this made me think about Pedro's and "The Breaks", too. We might need a whole other thread for that.
I heard about that warehouse score. Not all those made it to la but I caught a couple of those.
On a semi related note, CLos, I believe the former manager of fat beats LA has been selling off his collection. Went to his house and picked up a few items. Nothing crazy but still cool.