TheMeaningOfDope

When this clip entered our office we were all blown away by the rarity of this brand that no one east of Portland, Oregon had really heard about.  Mix in the fact that Craig G drops some science as the sponsored rapper in the clip and it started to take on legendary status.

We had only scratched the surface on what, in a hot hip hop minute has restructured our entire thought process behind Michael Jordan, Rob Strasser (Nike VP) and your new favourite vintage sneaker brand, Van Grack.  The sneaker conspiracy so juicy we traded both of our unopened copies of Sir Ibu’s, The Piece Maker to bring it to you first.

First off, press the play button and let this amazing commercial, shot during the golden age of rap endorsements play.  Craig G, 1989’s version of a Jadakiss or Nature was cold ripping the game.  A mean freestyle rapper who parlayed just that into two legendary singles both produced by Marley Marl, Droppin Science and The Symphony.  Interestingly enough Craig signed a deal with Van Grack a from the West even though most of his fan support was in the tri state area.

Now to the nitty gritty.  Van Grack had been building an empire for years prior to the below seedy series of event in 1988.  A huge women’s collection and contemporary shoes program for the ‘yuppy’ had pushed Van Grack to huge selling years.  Think Ewing brand from 90-93.  Van Grack had one problem – the athletic shoe market.  They had not found a way to break Nike’s stronghold on what had become the most lucrative slice of the footwear market, basketball sneakers.

From a far Nike looked like a well oiled machine, with record sales numbers in both there apparel and footwear divisions.  Design, Marketing and Athletic scouting were all making the right moves at the right time, but trouble was a brewing in the highest ranks.  Rob Strasser – former VP for Nike had become disgruntled with the way Phil Knight was running the show. Behind Knight’s back, Rob struck a deal with Peter Moore – owner of Van Grack to form a new hip hop/basketball division under the Van Grack banner.  The two had courted Mike’s agent David Falk for month’s on a possible contract, and as a last bid invited MJ and Falk for a game of 9 hole and number crunching on the day that Mike was to unveil the Jordan III to the world.

What makes this so amazing is the fact that not only was an upstart company trying to steal Mike away from Nike, but during the release of if not the most, one of the most sought after and legendary shoes ever created.

Obviously Mike didn’t take the bait, he walked out on the proposed deal to make him a Van Grack endorsed athlete.  Arriving 3 hours late for his press conference in LA for the Jordan III.  The video above is probably the clothing and hip hop composite that would have gone along with MJ’s own Van Grack gear.  Could there possibly be prototype Jordan Van Grack samples in the back of Rob Strasser or Peter Moore’s garage?

Big ups to House on the footage.

Drunk and smiley Common Sense was the shit!  Look at how casual his demeanour is with the most annoying video show host ever.  His boy’s name is Ron in case anyone was wondering.

This is part 1 of post-concert interview footage from the aforementioned show with Common Sense, The Beatnuts, Boogiemonsters, and Troubleneck Brothers.  Unfortunately the ticket stub below is wrong since Artifacts were replaced on this date, ah well.  I still paid $15 for one of the dopest shows in 1995.

I was a major Com Sense stan at the time, Ressurection is still one of my favourite albums of all time.  So during a break in the show, the homies and I yelled at him to tell us what H.E.R. stood for.  He might have just made it up, but he told us on the mic that it was Hip-Hop’s Essence is Reality.  I was geeked!

This is a VERY rare itinerary from the “Chronic Tour” featDr.Dre,Snoop DoggPound,RUN-DMC,Boss and Onyx. Oh yeah, did I mention it was sponsored by St.Ides?? Nuff said.
I was gonna scan the inside, but there was too many crazy numbers (IE-Suge Knights management, Hotels,etc) that I’m not sure are still active or not, so I decided to not bother. Let’s face it: I’m way too lazy to edit the numbers out, but you get the drift.

Casual-”I Didn’t Mean To” Comic Book (1994)

I don’t think I know anybody with this.I DO however know that there was
also a Dream Warriors one and an Extra Prolific one. Shit is hilarious. Peep the rest…

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If you didn’t already know, someone by the name of Kyu once said, “Cassingles are the shingles”. Word ‘em up. This here is the cassingle of “Protect Ya Neck”. I copped it in 93 while on a trip to Yonkers with my family. It features the bloody version of “Protect Ya Neck”, as well as the Home Grown version of “Method Man” which has an extra verse of Meth dropping some more seemingly nonsensical rhymes. I got love for him, but damn, what the hell is he talking about on that tune??

Peep the production credit on the back:
“Produced, Mixed & Arranged by Prince Rakeem for Wu-Tang Productions” - I love it.

- Protect Ya Neck Bloody Version

- Method Man Home Grown Version

And how brothers want it? Wit salt or butter? Motherfucker.

Back in ‘94, I was a 13 year old shorty splitting TTC bus tickets in half and taping them to dimes so they wouldn’t flip when I dropped them in the pay slot to get on the train. Living in the west end you never really saw a lot of dope writers. The Source was your source for what was poppin’ in the graffiti world unless you were spending most of your time downtown, in which case you started to get familiar with who was nice with it and who was just around for a few months bombing here and there.

There was a spot on Queen Street back in the day, just west of Aritzia and east of the Black Bull called, Number 6. The shop, run by Matt Robinson and Lena Kim was later relocated and renamed, “Delphic”, but even back then had some dope shit, including the first version of Style Wars on video that I had ever seen. This issue of Xylene magazine is something that I cherished growing up, as it gave some promise that there were dudes on the west coast of Canada just as hype about this Hip-Hop shit as I was, (big up Figure IV and the Rascalz crew, once again).

There was probably a whole shit load of hot shit in that spot that I was too young to even fathom, and for all I can remember this was the only thing I could probably afford. But I’m telling ya’ll, that Sunglass Hut that replaces that old shop ain’t got shit on what it used to be.

The inside cover was tagged a year later by Toronto Legend, Duro The Third.

Hey superfan, where were you when the man was still alive?

This flyer here is for what was said to be the first show that the late legend J-Dilla ever played in Toronto at a venue called Roxy Blu, (which I don’t think even exists anymore). The series entitled, “Doin’ It” put on by R.E.M.G., brought every hip-hop fans favorite producers to the spot to rock the crowd on some dj’ing shit. Everyone from ?uestLove to Ali Shaheed Muhammed rocked Doin’ It, but this was the first one that I remember attending.

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Long before iTunes, MySpace music pages and Napster, there were about 3 ways to get your filthy little paws on dope music before the other kids in your class without having to cop the rest of the bullshit album:

1) Stay home on Saturday afternoon and sit by the radio, hand on the dial, soon as you hear it pump up the volume… and don’t forget to press play and record on your tape player to get your advanced copy of shit that won’t hit stores for another 2 or 3 months. Shout out to Maxell cassettes.

2) Go to Play De Record, Traxx, or to see Apple (Toronto heads know what the bizness is) for the newest S&S, Clue, Ron G, Tony Touch, etc, etc, mixtapes for the “Exclusive - sclusive - lusive - sive” shit that you would later dub for half your homies. Shout out to Maxell cassettes.

or

3) Find a shop that sells “Cassingles”. Yeah, I said it. “Cassingles”, the fine inventive product of merging the words “cassette” and “single.”
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10 to 15 years ago, “Swag” wasn’t something that described how much charisma you had, it didn’t determine your style, demeanor or the presence that was felt when you stepped into a room. It stood for something else. It stood for, “Shit We All Get”. And gotdamnit I loved getting some S.W.A.G..

Just in time for TheMeaningOfDope’s first S.W.A.G. post, the good people at NahRight dropped an ad that Lil Wayne has done for J. Prince’s “Strapped Condoms”. We’re sorry Weezy, but nothing comes close to the promotional handouts for Big Pun’s debut, “Capital Punishment” that hit streets nearly 1 decade ago.

Street level marketing in Hip-Hop is nowhere near this hot anymore.

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The other day I was rapping to some kids about this MeaningOfDope shit, and my boy T-rexXx started going off on how a lot of these younger Wu fans weren’t able to take in the impact of 36 Chambers when it dropped. That sound of Bring The Ruckus and Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthin Ta F Wit, was mind boggling and grimey beyond anything we had heard before. He talked about rocking the fronts with the fangs, letting his hair out, and roaming the blocks with bats, and a look of amazement and near confusion seemed to glaze the faces of these younger cats like we were whilin’ just speaking on it.

There’s a definite disconnect when it comes to the Wu era and who the majority of their fanbase is represented by these days, and while we love that the kids are realizing that Wu-Tang is for them, there’s not much we can do to help them re-live the experience of waiting to see Ghost without the mask, Meth dropping Tical, ODB on some solo shit, and the release of the highly anticipated “Purple Tape”, other than continue to share our stories and tell them like it was.

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