Before streaming put every song at our fingertips, portable CD players were the ultimate way to take music on the go. Find a hip hop head from the late ‘90s or early 2000s, and you can guarantee they had a Discman tucked inside their Jansport. Whether it was a brand new album from Tower Records or Wherehouse Music, a CD swiped from a homie’s Case Logic, or a burned mix packed with heat, carrying a stash of CDs was essential. Flipping through someone’s CD book was like reading their music DNA—instant respect if their collection was solid. In this article, I take you back in time to look at portable Sony Discmans from the 80s, 90s, and 00s. I think this will definitely take you down a walk through memory lane…
Read moreDJ Quik - Safe + Sound: 30th Anniversary of a West Coast Classic Rap Album
DJ Quik’s Safe + Sound turns 30 this year, and it still stands as one of the smoothest, funkiest, and best-produced West Coast rap albums of all time. Back in ‘95, the hype was real… Quik had been quiet while MC Eiht took shots at him, only to break his silence with the legendary diss track, 'Dollaz & Sense.' That moment set the stage for Safe + Sound, an album that blended live instrumentation, polished storytelling, and Quik’s signature G-Funk style. From the moment I cracked open the CD case to the first playthrough, this record was unforgettable. Three decades later, it still holds up as a defining moment in West Coast rap.
Read moreThe Making of the Album: YOU OWE US WITH INTEREST
Tonight you'll finally hear the full length album from Fashawn and ProducerTrentTaylor. But the story leading up to how we got here is nothing short of amazing... Peep the story here we took a feature from Fash and turned it into a whole project. YOU OWE US WITH INTEREST is almost here fam...
Read moreSkateboarding at the 2024 Olympics
Minna Stess in her backyard in Petaluma on July 22, 2024, before heading to the 2024 Summer Olympics (Gina Castro/KQED)
Y’all ready for skateboarding this year in the Olympics? 2024 Olympics from Paris, France is here and street skating will again be another position to see a lot more people come into the hobby. This year just feels different. Nyjah Huston is amped to do better than 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. But you know Yuto Horigome has something to say about that. Let the games begin!
Read moreScarface "Mind Playin Tricks '94"
If you think you’re the only one going through shit, you are wrong. We’re all going through shit but the important piece is to talk to your friends about your struggles. Together we can conquer these issues and gain a better perspective on this journey called life.
Read moreMAC MILLER - COME BACK TO EARTH
i’m going through shit… you’re going through shit… your homies are going through shit… we’re not alone. hoping my story helps you in some kind of way.
Read moreTHE RAP GAME IS CRAZY RIGHT NOW
The rap game has been wild this year. We got Kendrick, Cole, and Drake battling for who’s the top dog while Diddy and everybody around him are crashing. ScHoolboy dropped a great album. Kanye is sitting on a groundbreaking album with 2 more Vultures on the way and his solo project. His daughter, North West is even getting in the game with her debut album dropping later this year. Metro Boomin and Future got another one dropping this week… Will we see Kendrick featured and giving Cole the ether? When is Pusha T dropping? What about JID? This is about to be a good year for our ears.
Read moreTHE PORTABLE CASSETTE PLAYER
Would you believe me if I said that the cassette culture is growing? Would you believe me if I said that top artists are now manufacturing small runs of cassette tapes again? What if I told you that two companies have released brand new portable cassette players in the last couple of years? Well that is what’s happening. Cassette hype is picking up a lot of steam and the analog feels they provide take both teens and adults in their 40’s and 50’s back to their music collections.
Read moreBROTHA LYNCH HUNG - 24 DEEP
In 1993, I first heard Brotha Lynch Hung’s track “I Had 2 Gat Ya”. I was 13 years old and had just finished rec hoops and needed a ride home. My older brother’s friend Stefan was our referee for basketball and I always just admired his style and swagger. He gave me a ride home that Friday and introduced me to a song that would own my life in late ‘93. His system sent chills to my core when I heard Lynch start rapping and that beat straight KNOCKIN in Stefan’s system… Brotha Lynch had officially arrived on the scene and I had a new rapper alter ego to sink my teeth into.
Read moreTRAVIS SCOTT: SHAPING SOUND & STYLE
Love him, hate him, or indifferent, Travis Scott is having his moment. The momentum seems like it started back in the beginning of the summer when Travis steps out on the red carpet in a new pair of unidentified sneakers at the Cannes Film Festival. No one knows what they are, but the sneaker community has heard rumors of “no new SB from Travis” and “no more Jordan Lows”. But the brown and black shoe had the Jumpman silhouette and of course the backwards swoosh. Social media was on fire when we thought we might have gotten an early look at the new Travis signature Jordan.
Read moreWHAT KICKS YOU ROCKIN THO?
I always like showing up to parties with my homies just to see what gear people are rockin. There are some friends where I get hyped pre-party wondering what pair a certain homie will be wearing. Some show up with a crispy white tee while others flex with their kicks. I’m a bit inbetween and you can tell how I’m doing financially by what I’m rockin to the BYOB. New kicks on? Flex szn… The same kicks from ‘17? Struggle szn. But I’m here to see my homies up and be there for them when they’re down. Here’s an article for those that are creepin on ah come up.
Read moreTHE DEVIN BOOKER SIGNATURE SHOE
Big news for AZ sneaker heads. Devin Booker has signed an extension with Nike through 2029. The six year Nike extension continues the success he has had both on and off the court these past two incredible years. Arizona fans know what Booker means to the franchise. But what does he mean to the league and to the legacy of NBA greats. If you go to a Suns game, one name stands out above all else… It’s D-Book and the announcement of him coming out with a signature shoe has the valley of the sun’s streets buzzin….
Read moreAIR: COURTING A LEGEND
How do you decide what brand you spend money on? My brand loyalty runs deep and I’m opening the pockets for my man Michael Jordan. This is a story about the Jordan posters on my childhood walls, the frequent trips to Blockbuster to pick up those Jordan VHS rentals, and the songs I love that reference the GOAT. With Air dropping in movie theatres this week, I’m shining up all my banger J’s to stunt on all of y’all!
Read moreSOUND INVESTMENT: NOTHING ELSE PRODUCTIONS
This is a story about the sound engineer, Nothing Else Productions, Nothing Else Productions handled the mixing and mastering for the new EP from Murs x Wiardon called SPEAK N SPELL. The story about how Brandon met Murs is pretty cool and I thought the readers here would like to learn about it.
Read moreMID90s PRESENTS: SPEAK N SPELL
This is the story about how a corporate 9-5 guy like myself messed around and dropped a rap album. Murs is on the lyrics and Wiardon is on the beats. We got features from Larry June and ICECOLDBISHOP. The project is out now wherever you listen to music. Support good hip hop and the artists behind it all!
Read moreAND THE NIKES ON MY FEET KEEP MY CIPHER COMPLETE
Back in those days, kicks dropped during the week. Often on a school day. It was hard to be the first to flex a new pair of shoes. Two friends of mine cracked the code. In middle school, I had a friend whose dad worked at Foot Locker. I’ll never forget sitting in first period Science class and I see Frankie walk in with a pair of Jordan 6 Carmines on his feet. I had never even seen the colorway. The Infrared had come out In February of 1991. I knew the silhouette, but I had missed this colorway completely. Here he was rockin’ em on November 11th, 8:15am. The morning they released…. His dad would put the transaction through the register at 10:00 am when the store opened. But Frankie was flexing em THAT morning.
Read moreCUNNINGHAM, MCNABB, VICK, HURTS...
Randall, Vick, McNabb, and Hurts. 4 decades of game-changing QB play out of Philly and the Eagles are 1 win away from winning another championship for the city. As we all prepare for the Eagles to match up against the Chiefs, I wanted to go back through memory lane to watch old highlights of the Eagles’ greats.
Read more2022 RAP ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
I listen to a lot of rap music. I talk with people who like rap music I might not be up on. I try to keep an open mind and just appreciate good music . Don’t need to push songs into genres and sub-genres anymore. This is rap and hip hop music that I loved from this year. And if there are any songs released before this year that’s my bad… I make exceptions for some tracks that I help fill out the particular vibe I’m trying to capture. Hope you enjoy!
Read moreGETO BOYS "AIN'T WITH BEING BROKE"
I ain’t with bein broke!
Like my boy Willie Dee from the Geto Boys said, “I ain’t with being broke!” Needed to get this one off of my chest. Been in debt most of my life and I’m now starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Most of us are in debt because straight up it’s just expensive to live. Rent blows, gas is high, inflation is real, and even with all of that, you gotta just ball out sometimes right? Well that’s where I’ve gotten into trouble. Follow me as I tell my get rich quick schemes that have got me into nothing but trouble.
Read moreSABU AND ROB VAN DAM
In the late ‘90’s, professional wrestling had gotten a bit stale. Sure I watched WWE Monday Night Raw as well as WCW Monday Nitro but they just weren’t keeping me engaged like back in the day. Even as a wrestling fan I was starting to lose interest since wrestling wasn’t really the coolest thing to talk about in high school. So a few of my friends and I kept our love of wrestling on the low. Nobody needed to know that I painted my face at a WWF taping years back or still played with wrestling action figured here and there. But then around 1996 I started hearing about a 3rd professional wrestling league called Extreme Championship Wrestling. I have no idea how I heard about ECW because there wasn’t YouTube at the time. ECW was mostly heard by word of mouth through hardcore wrestling fans. To get my hands on ECW matches I had to hit the internet message boards and buy VHS tapes off of strangers all over the US. And that’s exactly what I did.
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