Thursday, September 23, 2010

Artist: Skratch Bastid (feat. John Smith, Pip Skid), Album: Taking Care Of Business, Song: I Ain't Lazy

"I ain't trying to get thrown in the can like Pepsi."  In 2005, Skratch Bastid, a DJ from Halifax, teamed up with Pip Skid and John Smith from Peanuts and Corn Records in Brandon, Manitoba, to release one of the greatest Canadian hip hop albums that no one likely heard.  No disrespect to these guys though because they are as good or better than anybody in the rap genre.  If you enjoy old school rap and maybe the Beastie Boys, you will definitely find these guys entertaining.  Skratch Bastid is world renowned and does hundreds of shows a year.  His work is all over You Tube and worth checking out.  Aside from being an absolute whiz on the turntables, he really knows his music and mixes a lot of various styles into what he creates.  He also produced Buck 65's Situation release.  Pip Skid and John Smith both started their careers in the early nineties.  Pip was actually a member of a hip hop band called Farm Fresh.  Both are still active today and the label, Peanuts and Corn, now appears to be based in Vancouver.  You can follow these two guys at http://peanutsandcorn.com/.  You can follow Skratch at http://www.skratchbastid.com/.  The release, Taking Care of Business, isn't widely available.  Amazon has used copies between $40 and $90.  Your best bet is to buy it for $10 at Skratch's website.  Depending on the quality/bit rate you want, you might actually be able to download it for free there as well.  You can watch the video for I Ain't Lazy on You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aPpc8vR-lM).  As always, you can hear this song and others that I blog about each day on Live 365 (www.live365.com/stations/raisedoncndnradio).  Thanks for reading and enjoy!