The Limits of the Internet and Baltimore Club Music

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I have a great deal of faith in the limitless abilities of the internet to illuminate all kinds of darkness. But when it comes to baltimore club music, this thing has failed me. People talk about it, but where do you download it? Whenever I'm in the DC-baltimore area I love listening to 92Q, but what about when I'm not? Where's my streaming alternative? C'mon Soulseek, give me something other than "Let's Get High" and "Watch Out for the Big Girls."

Right now I decided to listen to some records that I bought on a whim a few years ago. So one is "There's Some Whores in this House," which is frankly represented as a baltimore club song. Well, it's got a 1992 copyright date on it, so I doubt it. And the other side is an *extraordinarily* gay song called "Tony's Bitch Track." Somehow this is mindblowing. I know it shouldn't be, but it is.

Why didn't you prepare me for this, internet?!

― Chris H. (chrisherbert), Thursday, 21 April 2005 06:38 (twenty years ago)

I mean, I knew that it was "house music" and all, and I've been hearing the god damned Perculator since the beginning of time. But understanding "Whores in this House" is the context of Tony's Bitch Track is really challenging me.

― Chris H. (chrisherbert), Thursday, 21 April 2005 06:41 (twenty years ago)

R.I.P. Ms.Tony

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 21 April 2005 11:51 (twenty years ago)

technics has a website where you can buy mix cds. plus, if you go to the other baltimore thread i think he even leaves the phone number of his store on there. so, getting the music isn't that hard. unless you just wanna download it. i can't help you there.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 21 April 2005 11:58 (twenty years ago)

the hollertronix guys made a decent b-more club mix. go buy that. You really don't need more than one cd of the stuff anyway

― Christopher R. Weingarten (whineyg), Thursday, 21 April 2005 16:12 (twenty years ago)

oh c'mon don't buy a Hollertronix mix. ugh. on Gov't Names I link 2 sites of Bmore-based DJs that sell mixes, the aforementioned Technics and K-Swift:

http://www.baltimoreclubtracks.com/

http://www.clubqueenkswift.com/

― Al (sitcom), Thursday, 21 April 2005 16:25 (twenty years ago)

that's by Frank Ski, and it's a very early Bmore club track, according to some the very first, and it does date back to the early 90's or maybe even the early 80's.

― Al (sitcom), Thursday, 21 April 2005 16:27 (twenty years ago)

have they ever referenced baltimore club music on the wire? i know they had stringer talk about how he hated go-go to some dude up from dc (this was their way of letting us know he was evil).

― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 21 April 2005 16:30 (twenty years ago)

oops that last post was supposed to be in response to Chris H.'s Right now I decided to listen to some records that I bought on a whim a few years ago. So one is "There's Some Whores in this House," which is frankly represented as a baltimore club song. Well, it's got a 1992 copyright date on it, so I doubt it.

― Al (sitcom), Thursday, 21 April 2005 16:31 (twenty years ago)

woah - the frank ski?

― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 21 April 2005 16:31 (twenty years ago)

supposedly club music has been featured in the background of scenes in The Wire on multiple occasions, but I don't have HBO so I don't know firsthand.

― Al (sitcom), Thursday, 21 April 2005 16:32 (twenty years ago)

haha, that go-go bit was funny.

and no, the wire hasn't dealt with b-more clubs at all. maybe the fourth season will be about the cutthroat world of SLINGING VINYL!!! (w/ guest appearance by will oldham)

― Jams Murphy (ystrickler), Thursday, 21 April 2005 16:33 (twenty years ago)

blount - yeah, that Frank Ski! I think I was explaining in another Bmore club thread a week or two ago -- Frank moved to Atlanta in 98, but before that he was big in Bmore radio, was the first DJ to bring NY and Chicago house to Baltimore in the late '80's and played a big role in early Bmore club.

― Al (sitcom), Thursday, 21 April 2005 16:33 (twenty years ago)

one of the main reasons I feel so deprived by not having seen The Wire is that I want to spot all the cameos by local rappers (Skarr Akbar, Ammo).

― Al (sitcom), Thursday, 21 April 2005 16:34 (twenty years ago)

haha i'm totally gonna start flooding v103 with requests for "there's some hos in this house"

― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 21 April 2005 16:36 (twenty years ago)

So who is this Frank Ski? "Tony's Bitch Track" is pretty good. It's a guy talking over a house beat about how he'll steal any woman's man, and his favorite drink is ball sweat. It's just weird to me that such a gay song could be the originator of the "there's some ____ in this house" (hoes, whores, player haters, etc) formula. B'more club is so macho these days.

― Chris H. (chrisherbert), Thursday, 21 April 2005 17:25 (twenty years ago)

he's the big morning dj at v103, which is the biggest radio station in atlanta

― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 21 April 2005 17:26 (twenty years ago)

By the way, here's the "songs from the wire" album: http://www.baltimoreclubtracks.com/vinyl.htm

― Chris H. (chrisherbert), Thursday, 21 April 2005 17:35 (twenty years ago)

download some dj technics & dj cornbread

― ivy (ivy), Thursday, 21 April 2005 18:20 (twenty years ago)

But understanding "Whores in this House" is the context of Tony's Bitch Track is really challenging me.

the originators like Ms. Tony def. had the gay house element, but over time the music eventually spread to straight club scene and the lyrics followed suit.

― Amon (eman), Thursday, 21 April 2005 18:24 (twenty years ago)

turntablelab.com

― firstworldman (firstworldman), Thursday, 21 April 2005 18:47 (twenty years ago)

I wish I could give specific reccomendations of what to buy that's available online but I have a really broad it's-all-good attitude to this stuff. after a few years of only listening to it on the radio 5-7 nights a week, I just in the past year started pretty much buying any and every club mix I see.

― Al (sitcom), Thursday, 21 April 2005 18:49 (twenty years ago)

yeah, when i was in philly i would buy anything. i would end up with mix cds with lots of the same tracks on them, but i didn't care.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 21 April 2005 19:22 (twenty years ago)

i have at least 4 full-length technics albums and some singles too and i love them all. i like all those guys. my fave track of all time is probably "The Love Theme" by DJ Class. I've played that thing a 100 times.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 21 April 2005 19:25 (twenty years ago)

yeah I have no problem having multiple mixes with the same song, since sometimes one mix has a very short version of the song or other songs mixed into it prominently, where other mixes have a fuller better version. and yeah while they're not all created equal, there's really no 'bad' club producers, at least none that I would avoid, just some I would look out for more than others. I love the Rod Lee mixes that are 2/3rds his own tracks (compared to other people's mixes that are merely 1/3rd Rod Lee tracks).

― Al (sitcom), Thursday, 21 April 2005 19:30 (twenty years ago)

"he's the big morning dj at v103, which is the biggest radio station in atlanta"

DJ Frank-ski used to be on Baltimore radio in the 80s and 90s(and was briefly on DC radio in the '80s too I recall). I used to love hearing his evening radio mixes back then.

― steve-k, Thursday, 21 April 2005 19:32 (twenty years ago)

and try finding info on baltimore club stuff on the internet in 1999! there was next to nothing. unruly had a website that was just their LOGO for years. i had to write stuff about it just so i could find something when i googled! okay, that part isn't really true. but it is kinda. there is talk on the wire message board about club music. i think that's where i saw an obit for ms.tony.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 21 April 2005 19:49 (twenty years ago)

Is it me or did the prices for those b-more club mixtapes just go up? I don't remember them being over 10 bucks before....

― Lethal Dizzle (djdee2005), Thursday, 21 April 2005 20:01 (twenty years ago)

it's diplo's fault.

― firstworldman (firstworldman), Thursday, 21 April 2005 20:03 (twenty years ago)

haha not exactly. local producers (especially the big dogs, i.e. Rod Lee and Technics) have been known to drive up the prices because, well, they have a monopoly and they can.

Seward OTM, the amount of stuff online now is way more than even a year or two ago, let alone 5. I totally know what he means about writing about stuff just so there's something to Google, esp. when I write about Baltimore hip hop.

― Al (sitcom), Thursday, 21 April 2005 20:06 (twenty years ago)

I've even read a Rod Lee interview where he talks about how overpricing 12"s actually increased the demand/interest.

― Al (sitcom), Thursday, 21 April 2005 20:09 (twenty years ago)

i gotta big up my pal cosmo baker again, cuz he turned me on to that stuff in the 90's and he was playing it in new york, philly, and vegas(!) way back then too (he had a gig at the hardrock in vegas for a while. he said every time he put a club track on people would go insane.) and i think he was the person who brought technics to new york to spin for the first time, but i could be wrong about that. or maybe you can blame him or something. i always wanted more people to hear that stuff, but at the same time the regional thing has its advantages. being below the radar (*sample-wise*, you know?) and all that. outside of philly, i never knew anyone who listened to it until i started hanging out on ilm. and, like the person who started this thread has said, it isn't the easiest thing to go pick up at the store unless you live in philly/d.c./baltimore, so it is still kind of a niche thing. oh, but my point was, cosmo is tight with diplo and that whole crowd and was just as responsible for getting non-local ears buzzing with the sounds. he has been spinning it for years.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 21 April 2005 20:13 (twenty years ago)

Yeah no kidding, its like that lil keke quote, "living like dr.'s" i think that living comfortably and selling locally is like the ideal spot for an artist to be in, you know?

― Lethal Dizzle (djdee2005), Thursday, 21 April 2005 20:19 (twenty years ago)

i really did think twice before i wrote my village voice thing on baltimore trax. for real. cuz i knew that i wanted to bring up some of the motown/60's stuff being used at that time, but i didn't want to blow it for anybody! but, in the end, i couldn't stop myself. the stuff i was hearing was too incredible for me to keep a lid on it.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 21 April 2005 20:30 (twenty years ago)

yeah the use of samples is really big sticking point in what's keeping it local and underground. I'm sure the whole scene has been brainstorming for years about how to blow it up without getting all kinds of sued. still, there's a pretty sizeable percentage of tracks that rely on original lyrics and programmed beats/melodies rather than breaks and samples. but if club music went big/legit and that was the only stuff they were able to hear it would be a very incomplete picture of what club music is.

― Al (sitcom), Thursday, 21 April 2005 20:34 (twenty years ago)

I live in Philly. Where should I go to buy this stuff?

― Chris H. (chrisherbert), Thursday, 21 April 2005 20:36 (twenty years ago)

still, if rappers can sell tens and hundreds of thousands of mixtapes full of unlicensed samples and remixes, the sky's the limit really. (xp)

― Al (sitcom), Thursday, 21 April 2005 20:37 (twenty years ago)

"I live in Philly. Where should I go to buy this stuff?"

Armand's on chestnut has always had vinyl and CDs. you have to ask for the cds sometimes. they used to be behind the counter. Funk-O-Mart used to carry CDs too. Don't know about now. I'm a year and a half gone from Philly. Jeez, almost two years!

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 21 April 2005 21:03 (twenty years ago)

I've never heard of anyone finding any of this stuff in chicago, but if someone does, let me know. (Or cleveland, for that matter)

― Lethal Dizzle (djdee2005), Thursday, 21 April 2005 21:04 (twenty years ago)

eight months pass...

I'm diggin on BMore Gutter Music right now. I haven't heard much else so I don't know how it stacks up. The LaCrate set seems more solid and well mixed, but the LowB set, in spite of its sloppiness, is more fun.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Thursday, 12 January 2006 04:28 (twenty years ago)

Why not buy some mixes from the sites Al linked to upthread? I've had a very good hit/miss ratio with those.

― deej.. (deej..), Thursday, 12 January 2006 05:04 (twenty years ago)

I also found this internet radio:

http://sc2.audiorealm.com:11928/

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Thursday, 12 January 2006 05:11 (twenty years ago)

This radio is killin it.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Friday, 13 January 2006 05:46 (twenty years ago)

two weeks pass...

Yo! If you wanna check out the newest Baltimore Club producer, go to:

http://www.myspace.com/clubking412

Leave some comments in the blog section if you are not a member of myspace!!!

Bless!

Phinesse

― DJ Phinesse, Friday, 27 January 2006 16:28 (twenty years ago)

Hey, if your write for a magazine in the entertainment or music section, I am looking for reviews of my material. Please contact me so we can discuss the possibilty of you doing a review of my material.

http://www.myspace.com/clubking412

Thanks.

Phinesse

― DJ Phinesse, Friday, 27 January 2006 22:19 (twenty years ago)

I just ran across this thread, thought I'd shed a little light.
I guess I'll start off by saying that the voice you hear on "Whores In The House" is mine.
I'm the "actual" producer of "Tony's Bitch Track" and "W.I.T.H.". Although Frank Ski takes the credit for the production of those trax (and many others) he's actually not.

in ref. to:
"But understanding "Whores in this House" is the context of Tony's Bitch Track is really challenging me."

I'm from New York, club roots stem from NY's house scene. Whore's was my take on the
B-More scene while I was there producing Frank Ski's 2Hyped Brothers and A Dog Album.

Tony's Bitch Track was something we did off the cuff just to get Ms.Tony on a solo project.
The 2 songs aren't supposed to be taken in "context" of each other. They're two completely different and independant trax that ended up on the same piece of vinyl...lol

Personally, I hated the way Whores came out. The studio we did it in was lousey.
You can download a free copy of the way it should have been done from my website.
http://liquidcarbon.jamonproductions.com

You can also get free unreleased mixes with alternate trax, vocals and a rap version featuring Cozmo-D from Newcleus (Jam On It/ wikki wikki) in our forum.
You have to register to get access (it's free) at:
http://www.jampmproductions.com/forum

I hope this was helpful, if you'd like any other info, feel free to hit me up at the forum.

One Luv, Many Blessings,
Al "T"

― Al "T" McLaran, Sunday, 29 January 2006 13:15 (twenty years ago)

adress correction:
http://www.jamonproductions.com

I just realized why the name Scott seward sounded familiar to me.

I saw your Voice article on B-more music. Very cool. It really tripped me out when you mentioned Ms Tony and Whore's and then mentioned the Warparty compilation.
I'm not accustomed to hear/see that much of my work mentioned in the same article, let alone the same paragraph!..hahahahaha (I was exec.producer for Warparty)

Thanks for the props! Good luck with everything you do!

1Luv, and Blessings

― Al "T" McLaran, Sunday, 29 January 2006 13:39 (twenty years ago)

three months pass...

Check out my website:

http://www.djphinesse.com/

for more club music!

― DJ Phinesse, Friday, 19 May 2006 18:05 (nineteen years ago)

one year passes...

I'm the "actual" producer of "Tony's Bitch Track" and "W.I.T.H.". Although Frank Ski takes the credit for the production of those trax (and many others) he's actually not.

I'm from New York, club roots stem from NY's house scene. Whore's was my take on the
B-More scene while I was there producing Frank Ski's 2Hyped Brothers and A Dog Album.

what!! someone needs to add this to wikipedia or some shit!

― am0n, Thursday, 26 July 2007 03:11 (eighteen years ago)

also LOL @ http://www.djphinesse.com/

― am0n, Thursday, 26 July 2007 03:14 (eighteen years ago)

lolol

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Thursday, 26 July 2007 03:26 (eighteen years ago)

OOH BITCH THAT AIN'T FAIR
GIVE THAT HORSIE BACK HIS HAIR

― Romeo Jones, Thursday, 26 July 2007 05:23 (eighteen years ago)

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