Magnetic Memories
PROTOTYPE - Collaborative Screen-print Series.
Maybe it was the soundtrack to an era, reminds you of someone, blew your mind, or opened up new musical worlds… In an increasingly intangible era this print-project ‘records’ then celebrates and shares that music and the deep memories it brings us.
01. Nas ILLMATIC
Greg Lakin
April 19th 1994. I'm 18 and have been a hip-hop fan since Run DMC’s ‘Walk This Way’ came out when I was 11. An extraordinary debut record is released from a 20 year old rapper from Queensbridge. It starts with echos of his breakthrough verse on Main Source's Nautilus sampling track ‘Live at the BBQ’, along with atmospheric sounds of New York trains and the Wildstyle break from the classic NYC graffiti movie. The introduction neatly puts the listener right onto his doorstep. What follows are 9 classic rap tunes, deep and intense. His flow uniquely effortless, his voice achingly cool, cigar-rough yet merlot-smooth. It sounds like a veteran's work.
Most impressive of all is how Nas poetically illustrates street life in a dangerous NYC housing project, with such detail, intelligence and realness. It’s what I found so exciting 28 years ago and still do today. 39 minutes, 10 tracks, no filler, no skits, only one guest MC and produced by 90s beat royalty: DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Large Professor, Q-Tip.”
It's a perfect hip-hop record. The fact that Nas achieved this at 20 years old continues to blow my mind.
02. Getz/Gilbero 1964
David Pharo
I first heard this with zero context when a housemate pulled it from the sleeve and put it on.
He handed me the cover saying something like: ‘It’s in Portuguese a lot but it’s amazing…’
I’m glad that I wasn’t around through the era that made muzak of the Bossa Nova sound. Even now I was tempted try and style it out as a guilty-pleasure and cite something electronic (the impressionable twenty-year old me would have) but, the sound of the vocals, the rhythms, guitar and sax always seem to melt my head and take me away.