Weekend at Diggedy's - Volume 75
The 75th WAD arrives on the eve of the end of HHK at the Knitt...
It's been a pleasure and an honor to rock this venue over the past two years...It has played host to many a legend in all musical genres...
It has always held a very special place in my heart....
What's that?? Time for a Diggedy story?!?!?! OKAY!!!
Summer of '96.. I'm 18 years old.. Last week before I head off to college for my freshman year.. The Roots are having a 3 night stand at the Knitting Factory.. Get tickets to the first show.. Something like $12.. Talk about getting your money's worth.. The Roots played for a good 3 hours with my groupie *ss in the front row.. Towards the end of the show, Rahzel is doing his thing, when he holds out the mic and says "who wants to rhyme".. This kid jumps up and raps.. Leaves.. Again, "who wants to rhyme".. Now at this point, you could count my public appearances as an emcee on one hand.. Freestyling in public? Forget about it.. I had zero intentions of going up there.. My d*ckhead friends grab me, and shove me up on stage.. So there I am.. Roots crew.. Rahzel.. Black Thought.. Thought goes to give me the mic, stops, looks at me and says "are you gonna kill it?"... It's been 12 years, so over time in my mind my response on that stage was "oh no doubt".. I'm sure in actuality was more like "i'll try".. Band starts playing..I start kicking the first written I ever wrote... "Spontaneously I come bust on the scene/Back in the saddle like Autry comma Gene/Every bar is crucial or the verse becomes tainted/if a pic......" Now, what was supposed to come out of my mouth was "if a picture's worth a thousand words my lyrics must be painted".. That's not what came out of my mouth, though... Wanna know what did? The gum in my mouth that I completely forgot I was chewing on because I had no idea when I unwrapped it 20 minutes ago I'd be on stage shortly.. The gum fell squarely on the mic... What do I do? Freeze? Try and finish the verse? Run off the stage never to be seen again? Cry? All of them were a very real possibility, but it ended up being a turning point in my life.. I just started freestyling off the top and ended up getting love from the crowd.. I'm confident in saying that it was probably my worst freestyle ever.. I started off by saying "the gum fell out my mouth I'm so embarrassed/and I've never sexually harrassed a girl.." I kept going.. Probably tried to rhyme "orange" with "bicycle".. But at the end of the day, I was incredibly proud of myself.. Not an HHK goes by where I don't think back to 18 year old Diggedy on that stage with the Roots 12 years earlier..
And so tomorrow night I.. You.. All of us.. Get to live it one more time.
I know I can't wait.
And on that note, the choice cuts for this Friday, November 14th...
Royce Da 5'9" - "Shake This"
http://sharebee.com/442d56f9
Other Guy and Wex are reading this right now going "I knew he'd post this".. Why? Because I have been playing it and talking about it every hour on the hour since my boy Hiram hit me off with it a couple of days ago.. Primo's on the beat.. The track is just bananas.. I think I might like it more than "Boom".. Hard to compare the two.. "Boom" is a certified classic.. I just think this is a different side of Royce and Primo absolutely murdered the beat.. Download it!
De La Soul - "I Am I Be"
http://sharebee.com/9cf73a42
My favorite group.. My favorite song of theirs.. My favorite line: "And if I was a rug cleaner, betcha Pos would have the cleanest rugs.. I am"..
Big Daddy Kane - "Stop Shammin'"
http://sharebee.com/16232bea
Of course I had to post a Kane song, what with his big 20th anniversary show tonight at BB King's.. Your boy Diggedy will be in the building.. Come by and buy me a drink...BB's can be expensive! This is off of Looks Like A Job For... I thought this track was DOPE as f*ck.. Love that bassline..
I hope to see you ALL tomorrow.
Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn I take..... with me the memories.........to BE MY SUNSHINE.... after the rain.....
It's so hard.....
to say goodbye.....
to HHK (at the Knitt).
Peace!
It's been a pleasure and an honor to rock this venue over the past two years...It has played host to many a legend in all musical genres...
It has always held a very special place in my heart....
What's that?? Time for a Diggedy story?!?!?! OKAY!!!
Summer of '96.. I'm 18 years old.. Last week before I head off to college for my freshman year.. The Roots are having a 3 night stand at the Knitting Factory.. Get tickets to the first show.. Something like $12.. Talk about getting your money's worth.. The Roots played for a good 3 hours with my groupie *ss in the front row.. Towards the end of the show, Rahzel is doing his thing, when he holds out the mic and says "who wants to rhyme".. This kid jumps up and raps.. Leaves.. Again, "who wants to rhyme".. Now at this point, you could count my public appearances as an emcee on one hand.. Freestyling in public? Forget about it.. I had zero intentions of going up there.. My d*ckhead friends grab me, and shove me up on stage.. So there I am.. Roots crew.. Rahzel.. Black Thought.. Thought goes to give me the mic, stops, looks at me and says "are you gonna kill it?"... It's been 12 years, so over time in my mind my response on that stage was "oh no doubt".. I'm sure in actuality was more like "i'll try".. Band starts playing..I start kicking the first written I ever wrote... "Spontaneously I come bust on the scene/Back in the saddle like Autry comma Gene/Every bar is crucial or the verse becomes tainted/if a pic......" Now, what was supposed to come out of my mouth was "if a picture's worth a thousand words my lyrics must be painted".. That's not what came out of my mouth, though... Wanna know what did? The gum in my mouth that I completely forgot I was chewing on because I had no idea when I unwrapped it 20 minutes ago I'd be on stage shortly.. The gum fell squarely on the mic... What do I do? Freeze? Try and finish the verse? Run off the stage never to be seen again? Cry? All of them were a very real possibility, but it ended up being a turning point in my life.. I just started freestyling off the top and ended up getting love from the crowd.. I'm confident in saying that it was probably my worst freestyle ever.. I started off by saying "the gum fell out my mouth I'm so embarrassed/and I've never sexually harrassed a girl.." I kept going.. Probably tried to rhyme "orange" with "bicycle".. But at the end of the day, I was incredibly proud of myself.. Not an HHK goes by where I don't think back to 18 year old Diggedy on that stage with the Roots 12 years earlier..
And so tomorrow night I.. You.. All of us.. Get to live it one more time.
I know I can't wait.
And on that note, the choice cuts for this Friday, November 14th...
Royce Da 5'9" - "Shake This"
http://sharebee.com/442d56f9
Other Guy and Wex are reading this right now going "I knew he'd post this".. Why? Because I have been playing it and talking about it every hour on the hour since my boy Hiram hit me off with it a couple of days ago.. Primo's on the beat.. The track is just bananas.. I think I might like it more than "Boom".. Hard to compare the two.. "Boom" is a certified classic.. I just think this is a different side of Royce and Primo absolutely murdered the beat.. Download it!
De La Soul - "I Am I Be"
http://sharebee.com/9cf73a42
My favorite group.. My favorite song of theirs.. My favorite line: "And if I was a rug cleaner, betcha Pos would have the cleanest rugs.. I am"..
Big Daddy Kane - "Stop Shammin'"
http://sharebee.com/16232bea
Of course I had to post a Kane song, what with his big 20th anniversary show tonight at BB King's.. Your boy Diggedy will be in the building.. Come by and buy me a drink...BB's can be expensive! This is off of Looks Like A Job For... I thought this track was DOPE as f*ck.. Love that bassline..
I hope to see you ALL tomorrow.
Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn I take..... with me the memories.........to BE MY SUNSHINE.... after the rain.....
It's so hard.....
to say goodbye.....
to HHK (at the Knitt).
Peace!
posted by Hip Hop Karaoke :: NYC at 11:35 AM
2 Comments:
. . . and yet another reason why Diggedy is my hero. . .
My favorite line too! I used to sell Persian rugs, so it holds an extra special place in my heart, but even without that, come ON. ¿Who reps themselves like Pos? Nobody.
Oh, and ¿what´s with the upside-down question mark? I´m in Limá, Peru, that´s what.
Can´t wait to hear all about Saturday...
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