L The Head Toucha – The 1997-1998 Demos EP (2013) (FLAC + 320 kbps)

So let’s travel a few hours by car North East of NYC. Worcester, Massachusetts apart from being a rip-off of a city in the West Midlands, was home to both aspiring MC Larry Ansah aka L the Head Toucha and DJ, producer, digger and all round Hip Hop junkie DJ Shame. Shame had been spinning since 1984 when he copped his first pair of decks (Technics SLQ200x) at the age of 16. There had always been music and records around him at home. His dad played the keys and his grandfather was a trumpet player and both paid the bills with their skills. After hearing “Rappers Delight” at a local roller rink in the early 1980’s he knew he wanted to create Hip Hop music. He copped the Korg Super Drums drum machine in 1986 and with his updated deck set up (he graduated to the trad 1200’s 6 months after getting the SLQ’s) he began to put his ideas down.

In 1990 he started to get involved with college radio after his boy Jamieson Grillo, who had a show on WRBB at Northeastern University, invited him to spin. He would end up working on the show for 5 years during which time he ran into a plethora of dope Hip Hop artists. Tribe, Serch, Showbiz & A.G. and Black Sheep all blessed the WRBB show but when local Boston act Ed O.G. and Da Bulldogs came by the show to promote the “I Got To Have It” single in 1990, it would ultimately lead to the formation of the production crew the Vinyl Reanimators. Several weeks after they appeared on the show, Shame linked up with the group again and they took him to their producer Joe Mansfield’s crib to hang out. The two hit it off straight away through a mutual passion for beatmaking and digging and they started working on a couple of projects together. The final member of the three man VA crew, Sean C moved from Cape Cod to Boston around 1993. Shame had met Sean at Jamieson’s crib in NYC around ’91 and as with Joe Manfield, had found a bunch of stuff in common >> Dope records + Hip Hop music!!

Shame got his first taste of having his own production on wax in 1992 after winning a Tim Dog dog remix competition that Ruffhouse had set up to promote the “Bronx Nigga” single. He entered his remix, won first place and received a Numark dual CD player as well as getting his remix on wax (which is now a tough piece to find yo!). His next production on vinyl, credited as Shame, but under the Vinyl Reanimators banner, was Scientifik’s “Jungles Of Da East” joint in 1994. It was just before the Scientifik joint dropped that the Vinyl Reanimators formed. All three dudes, realising their individual talents, combined their skills and teamed up to create a production team. They went on to produce and do remix work for The B.U.M.S., Raw Produce, Virtuoso as well as “releasing” a whole load of “remix” white labels!!

In Worcester, during the mid 90s, a group of cats would hang out at Shame’s spot, smokin, drinking and freestyling over instrumentals and breaks that he’d cut up on the decks. One time, Shame’s boy, a local beatmaker called Diamond T (no relation) brought with him an 18 year old MC who he’d been making some beats for. This cat L sounded nice, if a little Buckshot-esque! It wasn’t for a year or so that the rapper and Shame hooked up on a music tip and the “Too Complex” single was recorded. L recorded several tracks with the VA crew and 6 of these previously unreleased joints appear on this record for your listening pleasure. This dude shoulda definitely blown up at that time and this project, if released off the back of the “Too Complex” joint would have surely caused a devastating tsunami on the underground Hip Hop scene. Better late that never.

A1. It’s All Over
A2. Rain
A3. Dead Man
B1. Sesame Street Hood
B2. Shady Niggaz
B3. All In Together Now

Download:

FLAC – Wayshare

320 kbps – Wayshare