April Record Shopping at Amoeba in Hollywood, Part Two.

Amoeba is essentially a time warp. I have been in no other record store in the past 15 years that is so busy, has so many employees working, and is filled with so many people who seriously give a shit about physical media. I was in the VHS section upstairs and a guy looked in my basket and said that I got a sweet deal on the $1.99 Jane's Addiction "Classic Girl" CD single I was picking up. I told him I used to have it in high school but lost it somewhere along the line; he said he still had his from the same time. And then I told him how I liked the single because it has the "LA Medley" on it, which is one of my favorite tracks of theirs. And then we went our separate ways. And it was pleasant. And then I bought some VHS tapes.

Here's the other stuff I bought:

Daz Dillinger - Retaliation, Revenge, and Get Back (1998)

I've had my eye out for this one for like a decade. My friend lent me his 2-LP copy right after it came out and I got hooked on "Oh No," which is one of the greatest West Coast rap songs ever. He eventually retrieved it and though I've had a digital copy, I'd been wanting the wax back. Just watched a copy go for $28 on eBay. I got this one for 10.

True Love - I'm Bustin' Out (1988)

Wasn't gonna pay more than three bucks for this, and I didn't have to. My man's gonna love you up real good, girl. There is also a song on this LP called "You're So Fat."

Salt N' Pepa - "He's Gamin' On Ya" 12" (1991)

Back of this is just the Juice soundtrack cover but with no lettering. It's pretty sweet.

Kid Sensation - "Skin 2 Skin" 12" (1991)

Girl, Kid Sensation's gonna love you up, too, but it's gonna be a whole lot less romantic. Seattle's own, struggling to find his lane in the early 90's. Still decently dope.

The W.I.S.E. Guyz - eF yoU eN Kay E (1989)

Sealed. I had never heard of these dudes and the music's not quite as serious as that cover. Very '89. This video is ill.

Future Flash and King M.C./The Future M.C.'s - "State of Shock Rapp"/"Erotic Rapp" 12" (1984)

I grabbed this just to hear how blatant the Price bite is, and boy, is it just rap karaoke, but hey: it was 1984 and everybody was still getting this all together. The "State of Shock Rapp" is the same deal: straight cover of the original with rappin'. I knew the Future M.C.s sounded familiar to me, and it turns out I have one of their other records. It features a cover of "Take Me With U." Safe to say they found their niche.

Queen Latifah - All Hail the Queen (1989)

I've never heard this record aside from maybe the few singles. Queen Latifah can rap, man. And she's repping the original Flavor Unit on this one. She's a STRONG woman.

Oaktown's 3-5-7 - Fully Loaded (1991)

This was the second and final full-length from Sweet LD and Terrible T, and it's dipped in 1991. In their defense, they were proteges of Hammer, so it wasn't like they weren't blatantly going for mainstream success. I bought the 12" single for "Turn it Up," the lead single from this album, at some point in the last year or two. No telling how many high school dance routines have been performed to that one.

That was it for records. Here are the cassettes I picked up:

Some interesting stuff. I always thought "emotion lotion" was a Mr. Show joke, but apparently it is also an album by a band called Top. Or maybe it's both. I dunno. That Master Charge tape is crazy low-fi lean rap from Dallas and it is flat-out amazing. I can find no trace of it online. I think that King Missile promo tape might have the original title that contained "coming" before its removal before wide release. Also, this tape, in particular, is notable:

I bought this cassette for two reasons: First, the combo of that cover and the promise of a song called "Black Leather Maniac." Second, because I noticed Deen Castronovo played drums on it. He recently got let go as the drummer for Journey after a long time, but before that he played with a ton of people, like Bad English, and before that he grew up in Oregon and played in a Portland metal band called Wild Dogs. I passively collect local Portland music on vinyl, and I've got the first two Wild Dogs albums.

Turns out Dr. Mastermind is none other than Matt McCourt, the lead singer of Wild Dogs, and this was his project following the dissolution of that band. And I found it on cassette in Los Angeles. It's these cosmic connections we make, by brethren.

And yes: "Black Leather Maniac" is sweet.