Browsing “The Bassment Series”

The Bassment is a weekly article bringing you coverage of the best in Hip Hop and Electronic music from around Vancouver. Weekly interviews, event coverage, album and concert reviews that show how awesome our city’s electronic and hip hop scene really is. If you think there is someone or something that needs coverage in this city in regards to the Hip Hop / Electronic community then get in touch with us.

Vancouver’s own Jeff Spec will be performing in North Vancouver at Narrow’s on December 5th and at The Media Club in Vancouver on December 8th as VIA (not vancouver is awesome) Rail presents ‘The Train of Thought Tour’. The tour, which lasts a month and will see Jeff and his fellow artists from east to west, is sponsored by VIA Rail, a sponsor of the Juno awards. Canadian artists alongside Jeff Spec (from 2nd left to right) are Hip-Hop veteran Timbuktu, SOCAN award-winner Muneshine, and Juno nominee Ghettosocks. I got a chance to do a Q and A with Jeff about the tour and his new album Specnology.

Photo: Courtesy of Artist

How did you group up with your fellow travelers?

I met all of the guys at various times but earlier this year I was in the studio with Muneshine, and we started talking about what it would take to make a full Canadian tour come together for a hip hop artist, and were on the same page that having a group of artists with networks in the different regions was key.  Between the two of us, Ghettosocks and Timbuktu, we span the bulk of the country so working together on this has been really effective.

How did you come by getting such an awesome tour sponsor as VIA rail?

VIA Rail actually has a long history of involvement with Canadian music, and is a major sponsor of the Junos. The VIA Rail sponsorship was arranged by Ghettosocks. He was nominated for a Juno for his album “Treat Of The Day” this year. He performed at the Juno Chairman’s reception and had the opportunity to make a connection with VIA Rail, and the rest is history…

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The Bassment is a weekly article bringing you coverage of the best in Hip Hop and Electronic music from around Vancouver. Weekly interviews, event coverage, album and concert reviews that show how awesome our city’s electronic and hip hop scene really is. If you think there is someone or something that needs coverage in this city in regards to the Hip Hop / Electronic community then get in touch with us.

We’ve featured Jaykin before on VIA but here is his appropriate debut in The Bassment. Just back from a trip to Japan, Jaykin released Sneakers & Video Games II some months back this year. A continuation of Sneakers & Videogames I, it contains no less than 5 songs that are part 2′s to songs on S&VG I. In a world of a million MCs, Jaykin calls himself Vancity’s Nicest, raps about Galaga, Capcom, Nippon, and V.A.N. life over synthy beats and scapes and aims to be more than an MC.

Sneakers & Video Games II stream
Sneakers & Video Games II download

Photo: Ian Azariah

Re-introduce yourself for The Bassment

JayKin real name is Jaakan. Van is my home and l love God, Sneakers, Video Games and obsessed with Japan. I’ve been doing this on a serious note for 4 years.

Your latest album is Sneakers & Video Games 2 and there are also 5 songs that are part 2′s to songs that were in Sneakers & Video Games 1. Tell us about the the part 2’s.

I really wanted to keep it all connected since there was a part 1 and part 2. A lot of artists have sequel albums but never really have sequel songs continued from the last. I find it keeps the listeners interested to check back on whatever song it is. Back to the future effect.

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The Bassment is a weekly article bringing you coverage of the best in Hip Hop and Electronic music from around Vancouver. Weekly interviews, event coverage, album and concert reviews that show how awesome our city’s electronic and hip hop scene really is. If you think there is someone or something that needs coverage in this city in regards to the Hip Hop / Electronic community then get in touch with us.

“I make beats and I ride bikes” was something Syavash Yorish (aka Savage Beats) used to say.

About a year after hearing that line a few times, studio founder Justin Jung got into a bit of a bail out on his bike, complete with separated shoulder and minor concussion. The first person he hooked up with out of the hospital was Savage and the line he used to say resurfaced in Jung’s wobbly noggin. Then after apparently having a “wild moment of enlightenment like the part in Back to the Future when Doc Brown suddenly realizes that he can make time travel possible with the flux capacitor,” Beats & Bikes was about to become a real deal. Fast forward to today, Justin and Syavash got something unique to add to the Gastown/Chinatown/DTES’ ever burgeoning community of new cool stuff. Beats & Bikes is where beats and music are produced and fresh carbon chain bikes can be copped. Beats & Bikes. Get it?

All photos by Boon

Introduce yourselves:

SAVAGE BEATS: I go by Savage Beats. Real name Syavash Yorish. Born and raised in Afghanistan, I moved to Canada in 1990. Fell in love with hiphop in the 90′s and never looked back. Started with b-boying with Contents Under Pressure. Later, started producing music with DJ Flipout. Never looked back. Fast forward to 2000′s, I had a vision of a studio / bike shop since I’ve had 6 car accidents and gave up on cars and fell in love with bicycles. To me, they are freedom. Every sense possible. All I did was make Beats and Ride bikes. Never looked back. Less than 1 year, we give you Beats & Bikes. The rest speaks for itself.

JUSTIN: Justin Jung aka “Jungle”, was born in Vancouver and spent most of his early youth in Summerland, British Columbia. Small town hopping, BMX jumping, skaters vs skids, boarders vs two plankers, punk vs metal, VCR’s, VHS, cassette tapes, Apple 2e’s, MTV and Nintendo video games were few of the things that shaped Justin’s identity and fascination for life and the arts. Jump to 1992 and Jungle is at the top of his class as a student in The Art of Rebellion. “Greetings Vancouver, I’m gonna take a shit on you!” He’s leaned up against his ’72 VW Ghia in the parking lot of Burnaby Central High with hair long, cap on, plaid jacket, jeans baggy, and a cig burning in his mouth… Say hello to the Golden Era, in beautiful Vancity and the place he now calls home.
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The Bassment is a weekly article bringing you coverage of the best in Hip Hop and Electronic music from around Vancouver. Weekly interviews, event coverage, album and concert reviews that show how awesome our city’s electronic and hip hop scene really is. If you think there is someone or something that needs coverage in this city in regards to the Hip Hop / Electronic community then get in touch with us.

This week I talked community with another one of Vancouver’s Hip Hop collectives. A group that is so aptly named Hip Hop Vancouver. The organization and website have sought out to improve the interconnectedness of the hip hop artists and fans in this city. Through artist pages, which include events and videos, and up to date news on what’s what in Vancouver, the website provides a way for visitors to track the Vancouver scene. Now with many videos filmed for their HHVtv and for KOTD(king of the dot) there is even more content to keep you up to date. Here is a bit of what we talked about.

Who started HHV?

We don’t want to claim we started HHV…we feel like it was started by all those dudes that were doing it back in the day and many of whom are still very much a part of the scene today.

What was the idea behind it?

At the time we started out and up until the site was live, if you googled ‘vancouver hip hop’, all of the search results were for dance classes or clothing stores. Pass Da Mic went off the air and then Futility Records messageboard shut down. There was nowhere left online to discuss local hip-hop. The idea was to build a self-fuelling website for the scene, that would offer value to both fans and artists.

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The Bassment is a weekly article bringing you coverage of the best in Hip Hop and Electronic music from around Vancouver. Weekly interviews, event coverage, album and concert reviews that show how awesome our city’s electronic and hip hop scene really is.If you think there is someone or something that needs coverage in this city in regards to the Hip Hop / Electronic community then get in touch with us.

Fortune Soundclub has brought new life to a previously dead area. The club which was formerly the Royal Unicorn has just celebrated 2 years of music and entertainment. Owners Garret (Gman) and Rob (Rizk) wanted to bring back sound to a club scene that took quality of its music for granted. With the help of staff and the proper promoters Fortune has grown to one of the most successful and popular clubs in Vancouver. I sat down with Gman and Rizk to talk about their vision and accomplishments.

Tell me how you got into throwing events together.

Rob – I was involved in the Hip Hop Culture and all the elements of it. That was my introduction into the music scene. Slowly I started throwing parties. Garret was doing his own thing at the time. We had an opportunity to do something together so we joined forces and did something together. It was called El Famoso and it took place at The Red Lounge. That was nearly 20 years ago.

Garret – I started a distribution for clothing first. I wanted to promote the brands that I was doing. Basically decided to throw a party in Vancouver, before I met Rob. Threw a massive party that became this big warehouse party. I promoted the brand. I put the logo of the brand on the flyer and thats how I started with the parties. So I continued throwing parties and at the same time trying to build my distribution which is a skateboard/streetwear lifestyle division. I am still doing that today and that has always been the main focus. A year or two in to throwing the parties I needed a partner because I was working a lot with my distribution and wasn’t able to make some of the late nights. So I talked to Rob and asked if he would be interested in partnering up for this one club night. We were both doing parties separately on the side. Then we did that one together and we have been doing it together ever since.Over 18 years.

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The Bassment is a weekly article bringing you coverage of the best in Hip Hop and Electronic music from around Vancouver. Weekly interviews, event coverage, album and concert reviews that show how awesome our city’s electronic and hip hop scene really is.If you think there is someone or something that needs coverage in this city in regards to the Hip Hop / Electronic community then get in touch with us.

To be a good battle MC one must have a strong understanding of the language. It is therefore surprising that for one of Canada’s best battle MCs english was not his first language. After feeling at home away from home in the hip hop culture of Canada Junk made a name for himself as a strong and skillful linguist when it comes to the art of MCing. When he was only 15 and living in Nelson he sold 3000 units of his album “Iron Soul Poetry” as part of the group Carpe Diem. His now solo projects “Radio Soap” and “Too Broke To Buy Beats” exemplify his ability to stand out on his own. With successful battles and competitions in Vancouver, Toronto and Paris, France, this young MC now has a lot to look forward to.

Photo: Joel Levy

How did you get into Hip Hop?

I was living in Germany at the time. I lived in Italy and Germany back and forth until I was about 8. Just before I left to come to Canada with my Mother my older cousin got me listening to NWA, Icecube and Westside Connection. Hip hop was really blowing up over there (in Europe) at the time. Right away I got in tune with the people that were listening to Hip Hop here. I couldn’t understand the language at first but I identified with the lifestyle and culture.

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