Rebirth Of Slick

It is a pretty rare occasion for me to listen to hip hop these days. At one point, I enjoyed the style, but it all got old rather quick, and at the end of the day, I just prefer guitar riffs over sampled beats. However, it seems that once a year, when the weather is warming up, and we move from Spring to Summer, I'm hit with the urge to dust off some old hip hop CDs that I have on the shelf and chill.

Earlier this year, I was heading out for a 10 mile training run, and I wanted something fresh for my playlist...something to take my mind off the miles, and I could just lose myself in the music. It was going to be a great Spring morning, and I thought that hip hop would fit the mood and do the job. I added an album from Digable Planets and A Tribe Called Quest to my phone, popped in my earbuds, and started running.

Those albums, with their jazzy beats and old school flows were perfect for what I was looking for, and set the pace for a nice relaxing run. I loved it so much that I was soon checking what vinyl options were available.The original 1993 vinyl pressing for the Digable Planets album, Reachin' (A New Refutation Of Time And Space), was averaging in the $100 range, and I wasn't interested in going that deep, but I found that preorders were up for a reissue on colored vinyl, and I quickly placed my order.

I was riding a hip hop high when I placed the order, and had ideas that it was going to be my music of choice for my runs...but that only lasted a few days before I got bored, and I was back to a punk rock playlist. Still I'm glad to have this record in the collection, as it is probably in my top five favorite hip hop albums of all time.