MPS (MIXTAPE PRESERVATION SOCIETY HOUR 39)

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For Labor Day weekend this year Wendy and I were invited to my friend Eric Hammes' house to celebrate his annual birthday/backyard jam celebration. As usual, the man set up a tent next to a fire pit in the back with all his musical gear hooked up and let anyone who wanted to jam take up an instrument and get down. I was smart enough to pull out my new iPhone and record snatches of the jams as Eric collaborated with fellow musicians and had a grand ol' time.

Eric is a hard guy to pin down but after many attempts to get the man to sit down with me and do a podcast, I finally prevailed. He is always busy with music, whether it's his own material or any of the various gigs he has around town as a musical director, low-end bassline deliverer, or open-mic-night manager. I was able to corner him for a few minutes at The  Mousetrap in Broad Ripple where he and a collective of jammers known as the Fam Jam get together weekly for some tasty riffage. Sometimes the party atmosphere spilled over into the interview, as evidenced in the fourth part of the interview where some revelers can be heard drowning us out as we speak; other times, it was business as usual, with Eric taking time out to confer with fellow Fam Jammer/From Another Mother bandmate Shaan France about who was supposed to be on stage next (it also happened to be Shaan's last night as a Jammer as well, so we got him to say a few things for us)...

I also continue my discussion with longtime compadre Nick Culp in a segment we call "Some Ill Shit". This time we focus on the cheesier aspects of gangsta rap, how videos shaped the burgeoning landscape of Golden Era  hip-hop, and what suburban kids made of such provocative acts like 2 Live Crew and Public Enemy. He and I just love to reminisce about the glory days of early rap music, and we compare notes on our respective experiences growing up in the age of hip-hop.

I hope you all enjoy this installment of MPS. Make sure to leave comments and give feedback!

00:00 Intro/Eric Hammes interview Pt. 1
08:40 Watermelon Man*
13:10 Eric Hammes interview Pt. 2
19:02 Live @ Backyardapolooza*
23:00 Eric Hammes interview Pt. 3
28:08 Little Faces
32:30 Eric Hammes interview Pt. 4
35:35 Spoken segment
39:06 Some Ill Shit w/ Nick Culp:
           --Suburban Kids
           --Yo! MTV Raps
           --Friday Night Videos
           --"You're corny!"
           --NWA < Ice-T < Schooly D
51:02 SVU Pusha/End of the Hour

*= recorded @ Eric's House Labor Day 2018

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