things and time will tell.

The Roots – Things Fall A Preview MCA Records – MCA4P-90170 Cassette, Promo, US, 1999 info Why this tape? It made me nod my head (and maybe even crack a smile) at the end of a rough week. There are a hundred pointless promo records, tapes and CDs for every one that has a buried gem on it, but every now and then you find a treasure. Things Fall A Preview  is one of those free cassette tapes you used to find given away in record stores to promote a new release. In this case, it was to boost the Roots' fourth album, 1999's  Things Fall Apart . Instead of the usual 20 second snippets of songs on a tape that you'd throw away after one listen, we're treated to something special here. The tape is a full "best of The Roots" style DJ mix spread by legendary DJ and fellow Philadelphian, Jazzy Jeff. Yes, that one. If you only know him from sitcom cameos or Parents Just Don't Understand , take my word that DJ Jazzy Jeff is the real deal. (Also: don't front on Pare...

KRS-One (as Big Joe Krash) – Break The Chain, Vol. 1 No. 1 Marvel Music, Inc. – [no cat. #] Cassette, EP + Comic Book, US, 1994 info Last year I said something about a certain hip-hop meets Marvel comics TV show that was so out of my dreams that someone could have made it up just to mess with me. File this in that same folder: KRS-One and one of my favorite comic book artists teamed up to make a hip-hop, after school special style, comic for the kids, complete with a cassette featuring three all-ages, Return Of The Boom Bap  era Boogie Down Productions tracks that you've never heard. Almost has to be a story designed to send me on some e-bay/discogs wild goose chase... Except it's true and I just got my hands on a copy that's been sitting in someone's closet unopened for the last 28 years. 1994: record producer Marshall Chess (ex-of Chess and Cadet Records) somehow pulls Kris and brilliant cartoonist Kyle Baker into a Marvel Comics deal to produce an educational comic...