Among the hot new vinyl arrivals into Amoeba this current week is the new 180 gram double vinyl reissue of the Gang Starr landmark second album; Step In The Arena 2LP that features not just an expanded double black vinyl pressing but also two bonus tracks ("Credit Is Due" and "Check The Technique  (Remix)").  This early nineties golden era album from the power duo of producer DJ Premier  and the late great emcee Guru is one of those perfect albums with every song a true hip-hop classic with examples including the single "Just To Get A Rep" (scroll down to see this song's music video as well as others from the album).

"Mad brothers know his name" raps Guru (Gifts Unlimited Rhymes Universal) over Premo's trademark production on "Just To Get A Rep." The song was released as the first single from the album by Chrysalis/EMI  following the album release with "Who's Gonna Take The Weight" on the B-side of the 12" single. Other well worn Step In The Arena  tracks include the mellow, chilled out "Lovesick" whose numerous samples include Digital Underground's best known song "The Humpty Dance," the heavily politicized "Who's Gonna Take The Weight?," the killer "Street Ministry,"  "Check The Technique" and Step In The Arena 2LP's title track. Knowing how quickly quality vinyl reissues of albums like this tend to get snapped up by crate diggers, my advice is to order your copy ASAP of Step In The Arena 2LP.  Meantime scroll down to peep those music videos of tracks from the album.

Frequent in store performers / friends of Amoeba Music DJ Quest & both his Bullet Proof Scratch Hamsters (BPSH) and Live Human crews along with multiple members of the Horizons Unlimited youth non-profit, community outreach DJ Project crew will present a special Turntable Jazz Jam Session this weekend. Happening tomorrow/Saturday (June 29) afternoon at San Francisco's Intersection For The Arts (1446 Market St.) the free, all ages event (with complimentary snacks and soft drinks) runs from 3pm to 7pm. More info on venue here.

A multifaceted affair that will be part jam session, part BPSH documentary screening, and part record release party for DJ Quest's brand new (download only) electro-flavored album Biotronic the event will feature many friends of Amoeba Music. "Between performing solo, with Bullet Proof Space Travelers, Live Human, with Z-Man as well as with the DJ Project I've performed at Amoeba probably ten times in all over the years," DJ Quest told the Amoeblog today. At tomorrow's event his two musical partners in the pioneering turntable jazz trio Live Human, bassist Andrew Kushin and percussionist Albert Mathias, will be performing and improvising as both a duo and with a myriad of different turntable artists.

1: The Grouch Unlock The Box White Vinyl 2LP (HHV.de)

2: Ras G Down 2 Earth, Vol. 4 vinyl LP (Ghetto Sci Fi)

3: clipping Face vinyl LP + cassette (Deathbomb Arc)

4: Dibia$e Bonus Levels vinyl LP (10 Thirty/Fat Beats)
 
5: Injury Reserve Injury Reserve also avail on vinyl/LP (Loma Vista Recordings)

Initially unveiled back in December The Grouch’s is now available as a double vinyl Unlock The Box White Vinyl 2LP set via European label HHV.de. The twelve track album from the Living Legends member include “Unconditional (feat Rio Amor),” “Feel Alone,” “Fish Fly (feat Keili Love)” and “Good Gold (feat Myka 9).” Other new hip-hop releases to arrive into Amoeba this current week include Los Angeles producer/DJ Ras G's Down 2 Earth, Vol. 4 vinyl LP (Ghetto Sci Fi), clipping Face vinyl LP + cassette (Deathbomb Arc), and LA beat scene vet Dibia$e's Bonus Levels vinyl LP (10 Thirty/Fat Beats). Also new to Amoeba's shelves this week is Injury Reserve’s self titled new album whose Amoeba review describes the Arizona indie rap trio as pushing “the boundaries of hip-hop on their innovative, excellent self-titled full-length…..” and recalling how “the band got their start playing basement punk shows and there’s definitely a correlation in terms of ethos and aesthetic. Throw some jazz-funk melodies in the mix, get weird on some experimental moments.”

A longtime subject of the Amoeblog as well as a frequent contributor to the Amoeba website blog dating back over a decade, the Berkeley based artist/activist Leroy F Moore Jr checks in with updates on the latest projects by the tireless founder of the Krip-Hop Nation. Just back from a tour of the East Coast, that included Krip-Hop Nation being invited to Crip-Comic Con at Syracuse University, Moore reports that the Krip-Hop Nation (the collective of worldwide disabled hip-hop artists he founded over a decade ago) is going strong, very strong. “[We’re] doing some real shit on an SSI budget,” he laughed. Back in February Leroy made history when Poor Press published the first ever Krip-Hop Nation Graphic Novel Vol. 1.

Semi-autobiographic the 1980’s set graphic novel tells the tale of “Little Leroy [who] has a physical disability and walks with a walker and always coming to a cypher in the Bronx from CT. by Greyhound but he is too scare to enter the cypher so the young Black brown teens aka artists used him to be a look out for police. Flash-forward to 2018’s Krip-Hop Superhero, Black teenager girl, Roxanne, who uses a wheelchair that unfolds into the elements of Hip-Hop every time she stops that attracts big crowds. Roxanne escapes police.”

The final US 2019 DMC Regional DJ Battle in advance of the upcoming 2019 DMC US Finals, that was held recently in the Bay Area, exemplified two major points. First it demonstrated just how much the level of turntablism skills has steadily risen over the decades in the prestigious long running DJ battle organization that formed way back in the (pre-digital era) 1980's. Secondly the 2019 DMC Bay Area Regional, held at the Uptown in Oakland on May 26th (where the 2019 DMC US Scratch Finals were also held), spotlighted the progressive changes to the meaning of “Regional” DMC DJ battles; in an age when air travel has become relatively cheap and competitors are hungrier than ever for a chance to qualify for a coveted slot in the DMC US Finals; happening September 8th 2019 in Denver CO.

Traditionally limited to competitors from corresponding geographic regions, the modern era US DMC Regionals have a distinctly more national flavor as they routinely feature out of state competitors alongside local turntable talent.