1996 was a split into a dark timeline. That’s the year of the Telecommunications Act, when the FCC deregulated radio, lifting restrictions on how many radio stations a corporation could own within a single market. Clear Channel bought 'em all up. Clear Channel, the tiny name printed beneath all those colossal billboards ordering us to consume more garbage. Now they controlled the radio, took over our music.

For a while, there’d been some agreement between what was good and what was popular and acclaimed, especially in hip hop music. Tribe Called Quest, Wu-Tang, De La Soul, Public Enemy—these groups were on the radio. No more. Now it was Puffy all day every day. Hip hop music split then, one path heading down into disposable and crass pop territory, the other toward true school and “underground,” trying to preserve what had been so good and vital and what we all thought might continue forever.

Tonight’s show represents the tail-end of that second path. Instrumental hip hop from 2004. These may sound at times like lofi beats you can relax or study to, but they’re not. That music is derived from Dilla and his legion of imitators, our modern day smooth jazz. Tonight’s music is a dead end, the logical completion of a movement that had exhausted its forms, encased in thrice-smoked resin.

This music is bittersweet, aware of its mortality and what once was. When I got into collecting records in ’96, everyone used to tell me, man, you shoulda been here five years ago. Shit was crazy then. By ’96 the records producers sampled had all been found, and producers were digging deeper and into increasingly obscure territory to find new sounds. They moved past jazz, breaks, soul, r&b, rock, and into private territory, into anonymous sounds no one else wanted. This is music of a dwindling supply, a final gasp of fresh air before blinking out forever.

Live vinyl and cassette blends to melt the exoskeleton and see through your T2 frame. Broadcasting deep from the quasar mindpiece of DJ t.h.e.o.2 and his top knowledge on the phonograph. Excavating weak genres to reveal the real. All selections shall forever Bump & empirical empires shall forever Fall!

Entrepreneur and carnosaur, DJ t.h.e.o.2 was dubbed the “Prince of Records” in 1976 by Disco King Mario and helped invent the “deadly live wire” scratch technique. During the 80s, after gaining fame throughout, dealt with inner demons. Now, after 20 years out of sight & out of Mind, the Man is back, in Full Force & stronger than Ever! With over 2.6 million records, this Man is still the “Prince of Records!”