I don’t weep and I don’t sleep (word to Scarface) but I still somehow missed The Meaning of Dope, the hip-hop blogosphere’s latest find, until OG blogger Noz of Cocaine Blunts and Mixtapes linked to it in an old post. Turns out TMOD is run by members of Toronto’s Fameless crew, who hold it down with fairly regular parties at the west side’s own 751.
Being part of the solution to blog culture’s link-jacking involves — among things like making small mountains of rare remixes available — posting up VHS copies of Snoop Doggy Dogg rocking an Arsenio Hall Show crowd with “Who Am I (What’s My Name)?” and also rocking … a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey? In LA, so you know it wasn’t even a Hello Cleveland–style bone-throw to the locals? The campaign to nominate Snoop for Canada’s Walk of Fame starts here. But only after we put TMOD in first.
And in the same post, TMOD redirect us to the jokers over at It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold This Sac, who have a find of their own — U Got Ganked, a Dr. Dre mixtape from the Rodium swap-meet days back in ’88, where N.W.A. came to be. If hearing a pre–Chronic Dre quick-mixing MC Lyte, Biz Markie and DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince doesn’t sound worth seeking out, maybe you deserve to get ganked. (www.themeaningofdope.com; www.tinyurl.com/snoop-dope)
MP3S OF THE WEEK
Ted Leo And The Pharmacists, Rapid Response EP: In response to the violent reprisals dealt out to protestors outside the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Ted Leo quickly recorded and released the Rapid Response EP, from which all proceeds will go to Democracy Now! and the Minneapolis chapter of Food Not Bombs. It’s a pay-what-you-can scheme with prices starting at $4 US. (www.tinyurl.com/rapid-leo)