I see it like a Zenith, son…

One of my new favorite sites, The Meaning of Dope, posted a cool write-up about the Purple Tape and the adolescent anticipation of buying music in the 90’s. I def was there at Tower Records at midnight for many albums – Tical, Murder Was the Case, Cuban Linx, etc. Full write-up after the jump and go to their site to see some classic never-before-seen footage of golden-era hip-hop!

be writes:

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.

I remember when Cuban Linx was about to drop. I had Tical on repeat in my black Sony Walkman, and was so involved in listening to this album that when my pops used to drop by my Auntie’s crib to cut hair or drop shit off, I would stay in the car to continue listening to shit like PLO Style, and Meth vs. Chef. At the time Play De Record in Toronto was selling switch blades and hinged Rambo knives, so me and a couple of my boys used to keep them on us at all times thinking we were nice. I went down to Eaton Center on the release date because it was heavily spread that Rae’s new shit was gonna be on a collector’s edition purple tape, and sure enough as I stepped into the food court to drop it in the walkman there it was – the much anticipated, and highly spoken of, Purple Tape.

As soon as I pulled that shit out, I started whilin’ and pulled a blade out, waving it and poking into the table with it to the beats. Soon after security was called, and I was (very politely) asked to leave the mall property before the police were called. I didn’t give a shit considering I knew I had the tape, and left without issue, knife folded away in my pocket. I walked down the street for a block or two and immediately got on the train, remembering hearing Wu-Gambinos as soon as I was about to get off. That shit had me going crazy.

Now, ignorant as it sounds, that’s the type of ill shit the impact of this music had on us back then. To be in the middle of one of the busiest malls in Downtown Toronto with a blade waving around and headphones on is mad stupid, I know. But it’s hard to describe the feeling of grabbing that cassette for the first time, knowing it was yours, and still having the “Collectors Edition” sticker pasted on the clear case 14 years later. We were 13 and 14 when these joints were dropping. I didn’t even own a CD player. Getting that shit to me was like kids nowadays lining up for sneakers, but the difference was you couldn’t cop it off of eBay if you didn’t make it in time. It came and went as quickly as I got booted out of that mall after I popped the shit in my deck.