Digging In The Crates - it's just as the name states. It's the art of scavenging. The bottom-feeders, the ones who search for scraps in the heap to find the gems. The rapidly disappearing art of searching for the dusties is as much a part of hip-hop, but in this day and age when everything is readily available at a few clicks of your keyboard, some may have forgotten when you actually had to put work in to find "joints." Now it seems as though I've been digging since forever - in a away we all have. But back in the day, when I first started DJing, for some reason I felt an incredible draw to find a way to fit old funk and soul records into my hip-hop repertoire. Initially it was the 45s of my moms that I found in my grandparents basement. Then it was dollar bin records at The Exchange. Before I knew it, I was a full on dusty crates aficionado, being known for having the "originals." That's never really changed I guess, just grown. But if there's anything that I appreciate, it's to be able to draw the parallel lines, to see the lines of connection, to see where we have come from, in order to see where we're off to.
There are a few people who definitely influenced me with my crate digging - King Britt who I met while I caught his eye while I was buying a Cymande record at the Odunde Festival (He asked me "Hey are you from New York,") DJ Jazz for staying one step ahead of me at all times, the god Joy who would bring records down from Harlem to listen to at smoke-filled sessions, Chino from Funkomart and Bob Dickie at 9th Street for always saying "No, you don't want that record, you want THIS RECORD." But above everyone probably my man Espo. He was the first guy to turn me on to the real serious Funkadelic records, and of course the one and only Gil Scott Heron.
Back in the day in Philly, Espo started a now legendary magazine called "On The Go" and he asked me if I would write for it. Jumping at the chance, I started a column called "Digging In The Crates." My man Ray Hayes came up with the name and, being that we all spent a lot of time around each other getting stoned and listening to old records incessantly, it definitely was a group collaboration. But being that I was a DJ, I spent every day of my life going to different shops and finding strange places to cop vinyl from, looking for anything that was groovy.
So I wrote the DITC column for the first few years while On The Go was based out of Philly. When I first started to visit New York I somehow linked up with my good friend Ben Velez. Ben was just like me - a digger. But he without a doubt ended up putting me onto so much more shit that I didn't even have a clue about. Ben eventually took over the duties of writing the DITC column and he took it to the next level.
So here they are, as much as I have. My scanner game could be a little more on point, but fuck it - this is it, from all of us involved, to all of you to enjoy.
- Cosmo Baker, Winter 2008
On The Go Issue 2, 1992
On The Go Issue 3, 1993
On The Go Issue 8, 1994
On The Go Issue 9, 1994
On The Go Issue ?, 1995
On The Go Issue ?, 1995
On The Go Issue ?, 1996
On The Go Issue ?, 1996
On The Go Issue 14, 1996
On The Go Issue 15, 1996
On The Go Issue 16, 1996
On The Go Issue 17, 1997
On The Go Issue 18, 1997
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