Hi I'm Zernell. Grimy is my record label and clothing line.
Crate Diggers is my record fair.
I'm Theo Parrish, I represent Sound Signature and Wildheart Recordings.
My name is Marcellus Pittman and that is What's in My Bag.
What do you represent? I mean, what, what, what...
Why you fuckin' with me man?
My favorite hip-hop duo in the world. Rest in peace Guru.
Yes.
This is the best Gang Starr album, period, in my opinion.
In his opinion.
This is the best one.
'Step in the Arena?'
No, this, 'Hard to Earn.' This is the best one to me.
These haters can say something else, but this is the best.
I'm gonna hop in. This is dope. This is recent.
This has been in my car for the past two weeks. I'm putting this at everybody.
Everybody needs that.
Respect to them, they... wow. Wow. That's all I gotta say.
Pete Rock. Can't go wrong with Pete Rock.
Can never go wrong with Pete Rock.
The first... what was this, Petestrumentals. Cold.
Nasty, yeah.
I'm imagining this one's just as cold. And I aint even heard it yet.
Shout out to my man John C.
Yeah, speaking of hip-hop backgrounds
these three gentlemen we're in a group that Mr. J Dilla was about to produce
called Homegrown. And they met me when I was working at a record store by myself
and I started to poison them with the dirty nightlife music
Come hang in the dirty basement.
His brother worked on that and that's how that's working. Rest in peace JD.
I'm an old Chicago dude
so, this Blue Magic... I gotta take it out the sleeve to get the glare off of it.
This is Blue Magic.
This was it. 'Welcome to the Club.'
Oh yes.
This was house music before it...
Had a name.
Before it had a name.
'cause we didn't walk around saying, "I'm gonna go hear some house music." No.
We went to go follow certain DJs and certain places where the music was
and it was ours.
The ratio of how it is now, y'know, the only black people in house parties are in the booth
or at the door. It was the other way around.
It's amazing that our sanity's still intact to watch a door like that
because, y'know, we're from America and America's racist. That's how it is.
But, going back to this old Chicago, Welcome to the Club.
This was it, this was raw hearty favorite.
Yeah, I got Melba Moore. The cut on this album is 'Your Sweet Lovin''
80s boogie tune. Badness right here.
Loving it. Pick this up if you can find it.
Dopest... let's say house
dopest house producer.
Larry Heard.
Dopest ever. Ever.
In fact, we can almost say we're all doing his music. If you're making modern stuff.
He was the first to do the acid stuff and do the quote-unquote "deep" stuff
and everybody bit after that.
Yes.
What you see up there?
And it's forty bucks too.
What is it? Uh-oh.
Sylvester Johnson. I need that in my life.
Where? Where?
Right there, that 'Foxy Brown.'
Ohh.
Yes.
That a part of my What's in My Bag. I need that.
You wanna pull it down?
Yes, please.
I had to call my boy up in Chicago
and he's saying you need to buy whatever comes out, this band is bad
called The Universal Togetherness Band. It's on Numero.
I'm biting. I want that too.
We all wanted it but there's only one copy
I'm gonna jump onto this. Labelle prior to her going solo.
There's certain songs that I listened to as a kid, as a young DJ
that kind of touched my soul, that kind of make you have feelings.
That's what music is supposed to do is to make you have feelings.
Right, right.
And this 'What Can I Do For You' by the Labelles
that's a serious, serious tune.
All of their albums are fantastic.
so each one of their albums has a song that's sentimental to me but 'What Can I Do For You' is it.
I had the honor of working with one of the guys that produced this album
one of the Mizell brothers. This is Johnny Hammond 'Gears.'
There's a cut on here called 'Los Conquistadores Chocolatés'
that busted my head. It was the first time I heard
a jazz/record in an environment, a dancing environment.
In Chicago, you basically were given no respect if you cannot play moving music.
Like if you could just blend mixes nobody cared.
You got the master tempo, you got the master music presentation
we're talking about jazz, funk, all these other genres because
that was what a professional did.
That was the first time I ran into the idea that I put the record on and I didn't understand why this was sweet
'cause when I put this on, it was just like flutes and all this beatless stuff
I can't mix that.
but it wasn't until I listened to the record and let it play
and then I heard when that DJ
where he brought that record in
because he had enough sense, he knew it so he waited
until it was time to bring that record in, if the song had movement
that means knowing your records. This song taught me that part about selection.
That's the number one part of DJing, know your records.
Gotta know your records.
This one, I have no idea what's on it.
What?
I see this all the time, and now I can finally take a listen to it, see what it's all about.
This right here is 'Attitude, Belief, and Determination.'
It's a Chicago record, original. Can't find the original. $5,000.
This was reissued by my homeboy Zapp
and it's a beautiful song. Ten minutes long, beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.
Where'd you find it at because I need one.
Me too, I want it.
I seen at least four.
Ok then you got one left in the store, 'cause all three of those are leaving with us.
That's a no-brainer. That's no-brainer.
I need that in my life.
Yeah, that's 100 bpm. Beautiful. No, it's beautiful.
I guess we can piggyback into this one. Stephanie Mills.
This record kind of was a crossover between
disco and... I hate to say that word.
I know. I know what you're saying. The true definition of what disco is
which has nothing to do with the term that was lapped on to it
because that was applied after the fact.
In the moment of the disco thing was a catch word for when white people stole funk from us.
And they figured out the axiom and they kept doing it, right.
You had the bell-bottoms and the John Travolta and all that, but this one
was right when those companies started producing in that direction but they had a real singer.
Stephanie Mills.
Yes. So this this right here
Right on the edge of that.
was a crossover between that. So it was electronic and it was live instrumentation
This was one of the first records that kind of marriaged that together.
I could be wrong but from my knowledge, that's what it is.
and it's a beautiful song
And she still got it.
Still got it. She's still doing it. Still doing it.
Stephanie Mills, 'You Can Get Over.' Put it in your bag.
Chi-town man right here. Donny Hathaway.
Me personally, the cut on here that bust people's heads
that just is probably one of the best live recordings of an audience, of a crowd that was reacting to an artist
is his version of 'The Ghetto.' It's crazy.
The way that they react and the way that he gets down is just... it's phenomenal.
This is standard fare. If you don't know Donny Hathaway
know Donny now behind that one. Know it.
Should we talk about this one?
Yeah, why not?
Here, I'll let you talk about that one.
Does anybody know
where is Annie Mae today?
People in Chicago who know be laughing back home
What're you talking about?
Natalie Cole, I always thought she was like a real cheesy singer, right.
Every once in a while they'll get a song written for them
and it'll just be so on point and so felt and so produced.
The one on here is 'Annie Mae' and it's just talking about a streetwalker.
Natalie Cole wasn't necessarily a message artist
but to me, this is the song that gave me a lot of respect
but beyond that, in Chicago, in the 80s, this was a major tune.
That was house.
Major tune.
That was house.
Major tune.
When house was what you were.
It wasn't music, it was what you were, what you wore, how you dressed
how you danced, what you listened to.
We talkin' 'bout the 80s, we talkin' 'bout gangs, we talkin' 'bout Chicago
you think it's bad now, it was bad then. This is the results of that.
It was worse then, just wasn't televised.
Just wasn't televised at all
So you're talking about... you need to be identified as something other than
someone claiming either Vice Lords or Folks.
So how you could identify yourself, you had your box haircut, hoop earring
and you always had your headphones in, squawking by
This, this is one of the jams.
I think I'm gonna end on 'Annie Mae.'
That's a good one to end on.
'Annie Mae.'
Oh no worries, thank y'all
Thanks for the patience and everything. It was kind of a motherfucker getting here.
We drove up on sidewalks and shit. Crazy.
See? He thought I was joking.
Nah, he wasn't joking.