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As hip-hop buyer for Amoeba Music in San Francisco Luis (who  spins at parties under the name DJ el-S) is always on the go and always listening to new hip-hop music. Throughout a typical hectic day at the Haight Street store,  he deals directly with artists,  orders from distributors, and even finds time to price the  San Francisco Amoeba's extensive used vinyl hip-hop section.

Consequently Luis knows his hip-hop music: inside and out. So I was real happy to catch up with him recently to hear his views on music, his personal favorites, a good place to grab a bite near Amoeba, and find out what the Top Five Sellers at Amoeba Music San Francisco were this past week?




 
       Hip-Hop Top Five at Amoeba SF:
     
       1) T.I. vs T.I.P.
       2) Beastie Boys The Mix-Up
       3) Pharoahe Monch Desire
       4) Jaylib  Reissue
       5)  The Block Report  DVD (see video clip below)





AMOEBLOG: Most popular reissued hip-hop album/CD in stock at Amoeba?

LUIS: the Jaylib re-issue...though Traffic Entertainment Group has put out some old Cold Chillin albums with lots of extra goods...very interesting.

Never in a million years did I think I would ever go to a New Edition concert.  But there I was, at the Gibson Amphitheatre all in the mix with the New Edition fans. The audience looked what I imagined what my twenty-year high school reunion would look like. I was in junior high when “Candy Girl” came out and in high school when “Cool It Now,”  “Mr. Telephone Man” and the other NE classics came out. I've told my young friends who are into the whole 80’s retro culture and  lucky to be no more than a child during that era, that the eighties were not kind. Not only were the clothes, haircuts and the music hideous, growing up in the conservative Reagan era was no fun at all. It was Punk Rock and Hip-Hop that got me through the eighties because for me, 80’s pop culture was as Joe Strummer referred a "hamburger culture.”  I felt I was force-fed mass marketed pieces of garbage and told it was nutritious. During the eighties, I felt empty and hungry for more, much more.


Still, I had a soft spot of NE because buried underneath the 80’s gobble-goop production were great R&B songs. Their songs I imagined could have been performed by the likes of Smokey Robinson or The Temptations. Even when Ralph Tresvant would break out into his primeval raps, it wasn’t much different from the breakdowns of the Motown and Stax artists of the past. The fruit never fell too far from the tree as far as NE was concerned.

It was the complete line-up for New Edition at the Gibson, the OG’s and the replacements. For the most part the guys looked great and sounded flawless. All the guys hit the stage running, minus one Bobby Brown. Everyone was anticipating the unpredictable Mr. Brown’s arrive. Was he going to be performing tonight? No one seemed to know. In my mind if he didn’t show he wouldn’t have been missed. Johnny Gill, who replaced Bobby brown back in 1987 sounded better than Bobby in his prime. They did all the NE big hits in the beginning, before they broke into Bell Biv DeVoe songs as well. It was then that Bobby Brown came out. The audience went crazy. There was a 40ish women seated behind who let out a big scream when he came out, like as if she was in junior high again. Her friends laughed at her when she did this. She screamed to her friends:

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