This coming Saturday will be somewhat of a bittersweet evening for me in Halifax. If you follow me around, you probably know that I love playing in my hometown of Halifax, and specifically in a building that I’ve played in intermittently throughout my career. 2037 Gottingen Street is the former address of the legendary Marquee Club, and currently a venue called the Paragon Theatre. Unfortunately, at the end of May, The Paragon will be closing it’s doors after a good run in 09/10/11. This will be my last show there.

It is most definitely the best place to see a show in Halifax – the room is the perfect size, sound system unmatched and stage well-placed. I have seen countless amazing acts, local and international, inside it’s walls and had many a great night, even on it’s better-than-it-sounds “Retro Night Wednesdays” back in the day. I’ll never forget my residencies there, the rap shows we used to put together, my video gigs this year, my grandmother dancing on stage, serving dogs & burgers at the “Bastid’s BBQ”s…. If you’re a Haligonian, you’ve probably got a lot of memories of your own.

The building has seen it’s ups and downs and closings and re-openings and losses-of-cabaret-licenses over the years, but it’s never really lost it’s charm. It’s always the place you want to see someone play in Halifax. It’s a shame to see it go under again; another blow to live music in Halifax, the heart of the fertile artistic soil of Eastern Canada. Sadly, I’m hanging up the headphones at one of may favorite venues of all time. Come out on Saturday night and let’s give it one last go. Here’s the Facebook Event, if that’s your thing. We’ll have a full audio-visual experience for you and we will be playing your favorite songs, new and ‘old’, until they turn the speakers off. Uknowhowwedo.

Here are a handful of clips from the venue caught on camera:

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2 Tuesdays ago, the Right Hono(u)rable Cosmo Baker posted another instalment of his great “Breakbeat Tuesday” column, this time from world renown DJ/beathead Seattle’s DJ Supreme. He tells a great story on coming up on one of hip-hop’s ‘holy grail’ records – a record that has stumped DJs and producers for years. “The Smiley Face Record”. Read it now.

Done? Okay. Read on. The hunt for the sacred record reminded me of the tales of a hunt for the same record from my good friend, hip-hop encyclopedia and personal music mentor DJ Jorun. Joe was one of the first people that taught me about samples and breaks (I remember he had Skull Snaps up on his wall when I first met him in 97/98) and has an ear that I trust pretty much more than anyone else in hip-hop. A true Sherlock Holmes of the game. I hit Joe up to share his story for all. Take it away, Joe.

(Read on for Joe’s story, and a song from his own 45 that was inspired by the find.)

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What would happen if George Michael (and perhaps professional saxophonist Sergio Flores) combined forces with the two greatest hip-hop duos to ever come out of the South? UGK and Outkast trade stories of love over a soothing, hypnotic rhythm, highlighted by the greatest melody ever blown. I apologize if this message gets you down. For special occasions only. Download available in the soundcloud toolbar for your pleasure.

–Artwork by Rhek (Sharks & Hammers)–

UPDATE: Clean version for Adult Contemporary radio also available: http://www.sendspace.com/file/rb89m7. Thanks for helping it reach #4 on the Hype Machine charts and giving it 65K+ plays on the Soundcloud player!

UGK, Outkast & George Michael – International Whisperer’s Anthem (Skratch Bastid’s Sexy Sax Mix) by Skratch Bastid

(April 1st update: Check out the whole show streaming here: http://radio3.cbc.ca/#/podcasts/CBC-Radio-3-Special-Edition/Hip-Hop-Summit-Live-Concert)

Maaaaan. I am still vibing off of yesterday’s CBC Hip-Hop Summit. Once in a lifetime, for real. For those who missed, it will be re-broadcast “on CBCRadio2 on Fri Apr. 1 at 6:30pmish. & the video’ll be up as of Apr. 4!” (via CBC Radio 2 Twitter). DO NOT MISS IT. To describe, briefly: Monday, March 28th, 2011 – In one monumental evening, CBC gathered Kardinal Offishall, Choclair, Michie Mee, the Dream Warriors, Rumble, Thrust, Red1 of the Rascalz, Cadence Weapon, Buck 65, K-Os, Shad, K’naan, Ghetto Concept, Reema Major and more (?!) for an event called the “Hip-Hop Summit”.

I captured the whole encore from my camera placed on my turntable. Here is the tail end of the encore freestyle performance and a surprise impromptu performance of the Canadian hip-hop classic – “Northern Touch” as seen from the DJ booth…

UPDATE: Check out the five-star review in Toronto’s EYE WEEKLY, and another nice review from the TORONTOIST. Here’s some more footage of the event: CBC Radio 2′s high-end production of “Let Your Backbone Slide 2011″ w/ Maestro, Shad, K-Os & Bastid, and a cool front row Northern Touch video courtesy of Peace Magazine:

2ND UPDATE: check out ALL of CBC’s great footage, via CBCRadio3′s Youtube channel. (Sidenote: the crowd does look reasonably tame in the videos. It was filmed in the afternoon/early evening to a studio crowd of 150 and people were in a bit more into taking it all in than getting involved on the dancefloor. The energy was great even still, and the crowd very receptive; it just comes off a little underwhelming in some of these videos. The energy climaxes at the end of the show with the Northern Touch performance, which was not planned by any of the MCs, and I think it was a great spontaneouscap to the end of a trip through Canadian hip-hop history. The photo at the top of this post was taken immediately after the final performance.)

Brand New!

Hot on the heels of his Juno win for Rap Recording of the Year, Shad and I present the internets with a little tune we like to call “Give You All I Can”. I’m really excited about this joint! First rap record that I have produced since Buck 65′s Situation album. What have I been doing?! We’re back baby!!!

Download here:
Shad & Skratch Bastid – Give You All I Can by Skratch Bastid

UPDATE: As featured on Nah Right, 2DopeBoyz, OkayPlayer, Kevin Nottingham and more blawwwgs. The internet!

Check a Shad freestyle session from my show @ The Drake Hotel Juno weekend here.