This week in Growing pains we get inside the head of Sydney badman Preacha. Preacha is also a good homie and i feel very lucky that he broke down some of the jams that helped to sculpt his varied musical leanings. For anyone that isn’t clued in to Preacha, he is one of Sydney’s upfront tastemakers, responsible for holding down presenter duties on FBi Radio’s “Low Motion” with partner in crime Max Gosford. Preacha has also played and regulated a bunch of the most significant bass parties across Sydney, as well as supporting all of your favourite internationals. For now let’s delve into some of the tunes that got him hooked.
Download: Kraftwerk – Pocket Calculator
This is one of my earliest musical memories that doesn’t involve Iron Maiden or Bon Jovi. My mum used to tape all the Godzilla movies for me when they aired on SBS and at the end of one of the movies (I think it was Godzilla Vs. Biollante) there was a whole bunch of weird music videos. This was one of them. I remember bugging out like “Who would make a song about a calculator?” but I couldn’t get the words out of my head. Plus I had one of those Speak & Spell joints that made the same kinda sounds. Still listen to this album all the time.
MP3: Eric B. & Rakim – Don’t Sweat The Technique
I first discovered this gem on the NBA Jam Session VHS tape around 93. This was the illest out of all the NBA tapes that were out back then because not only did you get all the highlights from the gods of that era but they were cut up with videos by Bell Biv DeVoe & Wreckx-N-Effect! That funky-ass baseline and Rakim’s delivery made this track stand out for me though. My brother Blake & I used to setup the Michael Jordan Pro in the lounge room, pop this tape in and get our Spud Webb on.
Download: Aphex Twin – Windowlicker
Now it’s like 1999, me and Blake are up late Friday night watching RAGE as per usual. This video comes on with 2 dudes riding in a drop top trying to run game on some females. Plus they’re cursing up a storm so I’m thinking this is gonna be some of the hardest gangsta rap shit I’ve ever heard. Then some creepy looking dude jumps out of a limo busting out some MJ type moves and the girls faces change to his! And the beats are like nothing I’ve heard before. My brother changed the channel and we just looked at each other like “What the fuck was that?!?” We flipped it back and now the girls have turned into grotesque monsters and the music is just blowing my mind. I couldn’t get the images and sounds out of my head for the rest of the weekend and I haven’t been the same since.
WATCH THIS CLIP!!
MP3: Pharoahe Monch – Simon Says
I think it was the October 1999 issue of The Source magazine the came with a little extra booklet of the top 25 Hip Hop Quotables up to that point. Included was Pharoahe’s verse from the classic Organized Konfusion track ‘Stray Bullet’ and even though I had never heard the song I thought it was the illest rhyme ever. So when I saw he had a solo album coming out I copped it as soon as it dropped. As soon as I popped the CD in the deck I knew I had made the right purchase. Up until then I was still jamming shit like 2Pac & DMX real hard but the ‘Internal Affairs’ album opened me up to the whole underground independent hip hop movement that was going on at the time. From then on I probably spent more time at Next Level Records than I did at school, spending all my lunch money on records. The whole album is dope but he flipped the Godzilla theme on this joint which kinda takes us back to where this little piece started. It’s all cyclical.
>>> This is also a brand new mix done be Preacha for the upcoming Mega festival OutsideIn. The mix covers a host of the artists playing on the day. Preacha will be holding down peaktime duties on the day. I would advise anyone who hasn’t got tickets yet to get their shite together before there sold out and you’ll be crying with regret.
Janini Panini
STOLEN RECORDS 