Now here’s a treat. Philadelphia photographer, Dominic DiGiorgio has shared these classic black and white photographs with us featuring The Roots at the Do You Want More?!!!??! album release party at Tower Records on South Street in Philly, 1995.

If you’re interested in using or reproducing the photos, please contact Dominic for high-res, non-watermarked versions.

» Higher resolution version hosted at Vimeo

I was at the video shoot for this way back in 1998 with Mic Meech of the legendary Fightins Phillies blog. For years I wanted to see the final video but I just never caught it on any late night hiphop video shows.

But that changed last week when I randomly searched for it on Youtube and BOOM — There it was. And posted online just the month prior, no less! Nearly 15 years later (!!) I finally get to see it, and it doesn't disappoint.

One of the greatest Philly hiphop tracks ever, check out the official video for Rahsheed (aka Maylay Sparks) and Ill Advised's "1.9.8.6." below. And look for Meech and I somewhere in the b-boy crowd shot:

Between 1998-1999, I was a member of the Philadelphia-based group, BBR: Big Brother Resistance. We were a politically charged and socially-minded hiphop group focusing strongly on technology, the media, politics, and the control and abuse of information by corrupt corporations.

It was me on production as Binyameen and occasionally “Stinke”, and MCs Tim T and PCP. I produced all of the tracks and had a lot of “firsts” with the crew: First time in my own recording session in a real studio; first time on vinyl; first time paying my share of the rent with beats; first music video…It was a pretty prolific one or two years to be honest.

BBR would dissolve in 2000 but the label bandmate PCP created to publish the BBR music would continue well into the new milenium. That label was Arrakis Records and it was part of the Philly indie hiphop movement of the late 90′s and early 2000′s.

All that said though, I’d like to share the 15 track BBR Sessions as a free MP3 download:

» Download: The BBR Sessions (1998-1999) MP3 Album (320kbps, 105M)

Tracklist follows:

01. The 2nd Revolution
02. 2013
03. Briz Beat
04. The Girl Next Door
05. Goin Out to The Censors
06. Let Me Be
07. Newspeak
08. Porn Styles
09. Propa
10. Quake
11. Stereo Correct
12. Tee’s Break
13. Transient Groove
14. Verbal Leviathan
15. Whale Beat

That’s me on the wheels of steel playin the dope rooftop party!

This is a Philly-themed persona featuring the famous Rocky statue (as featured in the movie) and the LOVE Park sign.

Make sure you have Firefox 3.6 or higher installed (for Mac, PC or Linux). Then, click the link below to set the persona:

http://www.getpersonas.com/en-US/persona/137365

There was only one other photo I could find, courtesy of my homegirl Stef Tataz. Peep:

So there you go. Hope they come in handy. Felt like I needed to chronicle them somewhere.

See also:
• Miscellaneous Footwork Illadelph flyers courtesy dubplatestyles on Myspace.
• A sort of working version of footworkilladelph.com from 1999 at Archive.org

I received this album cover and email today from my homeboy Richie Dees back in Philly. Here’s his email:

Forgot I had this album. It features the smash hits “Tootsie Rock”, “Let Me Come Inside” and my personal favorite “Bubble Gum (I Chewz You)”. Its on TEC Records out of Philly which was located on the S.E. corner of 13th and Spruce streets in the heart of the Gayborhood.

Captain Sky is actually Chicago-born bass player Daryl Cameron who under the Captain Sky banner lead a group of revolving artists beginning in 1979.

Titles under Cameron’s belt include Pop Goes The Captain, The Adventures Of Captain Sky, 1980′s Concerned Party No. 1 [featured above in picture] and The Return Of Captain Sky in 1981.

That oft-sampled “Super Sperm” vocal clip in hiphop (Method Man, Redman, Sugar Hill Gang)? Yea, that’s Captain Sky:

Captain Sky on Soul Train? Oh yea, we got you:

Cream and Sugar:

The good news is Captain Sky is well represented online, as I managed to find his Wikipeida page, his Discogs.com profile, and this great background on Captain Sky.

How the movie Sky Captain & The World of Tomorrow fits into all of this, I am not sure. But thanks to RIchie Dees for sending in the pic.

This week I found a bag of RAP SNACKS featuring Bell Biv DeVoe on the cover. The chip flavor? “Back at the Ranch”!

Rap Snacks, like Chumpies before it, was started in Philadelphia. Created by James Lindsay in 1994 according to Wikipedia, the company is currently headquartered out of Greensboro, North Carolina. In 2007, Lil Romeo bought the company for an undisclosed sum.

Philadelphia still represents heavily on the company’s website, with the Philly skyline draped in plain view and pictures of Allen Iverson sprinkled throughout.

Here’s a scan of the back of the packaging, with a little description about BBD and record stores in Philly, Baltimore, DC and Los Angeles where to pick the album up.

Be sure to check out this dope photo gallery of the various Rap Snacks covers. And here’s a great article with Lindsay discussing the company’s genesis, and how Poor Righteous Teachers fits into the equation!

Be sure to pick up Reef’s new album, A Vicious Cycle in stores now and available on iTunes.

And of course, be sure to check out Reef on a song we recorded together earlier today also featuring Philly’s own, Maylay Sparks. Big tings a gwan!

Reef’s MySpace. Hit him up!