supreme la rock (aka mr. supreme)

i've known seattle-based supreme la rock for a few years, but the hommie mr. supreme for even longer. for a short while i knew a crazy dude named pappi panama, but i can barely remember his trip. one time, i even read about a cat named born supreme in a pacific northwest hip hop zine, but hell, that was likely over 15 years ago... what do all these nutters have in common??? they are the cultural brainchildren of danny clavesilla.

for those who don't know, supreme is a true enigma (trust me, i'm not exaggerating an iota here) and one of the deepest musical maniacs rolling. his record collection (see videos below, part 1 and 2) is the stuff of much-ballyhooed legend, but i've witnessed it live and direct so any haters, wet mouths or non-believers out there can simply fall back. to add to the insanity, supreme was also 1/2 (along w/ super producer jake one) of legendary break beat tape dons, the conmen. it was their series of self-released cassettes—that probed deep into the murky depths of sample archaeology (soul, funk, jazz, library, EZ, world, and whatever your imagine could create... and beyond...)—that turned me on to a new reality and musical attack... i remember visiting sea-town w/ my DJ partner kamandi to link w/ preme for a record deal while he and jake were recording a conmen mix (veteranos???) many moons ago (*unfortunately, the last mix dropped 10 years ago).

needless to say, these were different times, and there was serious secrecy in the air. break beats were highly coveted gold-like commodities then, a producers or disc jockeys secret weapon, and not to be shared w/ canadian strangers like us. jake was making sure that we couldn't see any of the album sleeves they were using for the project. pure comedy.  in retrospect, this competitive nature and one-upmanship helped elevate these artists to high levels in their respective games. supreme, once a talented rap producer w/ his conception records label and as part of the pioneering sharpshooters duo w/ deejay sureshot, has now turned his attention almost exclusively to world-wide DJ work. jake's production track record on the other hand is truly mind-blowing. but back to the DJ...

after forging a musically-minded friendship w/ supreme, kamandi and i even tried to bring the record guru north to our weekly soulcial party at the chameleon urban lounge. of course, this was a big deal for us and we not only had our mate jay gundzik design a spot on ad-like flyer for the occasion (see above), but also bought a beautiful bottle of X.O. hennessey as something of a rider. well, the night arrived and the club was more busy than usual, brimming w/ electricity, but no supreme. "sally got a one track mind," "ring the alarm," and dusty soul and funk 7"s filled the air as we waited for the headliner. though we had hung around the hotel patiently for hours beforehand and tried calling numerous times, it was safe to say that supreme was M.I.A..

eventually, we heard from the man. he had been detained and the border and denied entrance. DAMN!@#$%&?!!! perhaps the sight of a large tattooed man driving a mercedes benz filled w/ vinyl records made the guards a little suspicious. hard to say. anyways, our club patrons eventually found out that our guest of honour wasn't able to make it, and we finished the night a little deflated after such anticipation. c'est la vie i guess. but the night wasn't over yet. likely more than half cut at this point, we decided to crack supreme's henne and between a couple friends, proceeded to finish the WHOLE bottle at various locations across town. we ended the evening on the beach after making our 15th utterly obscene phone message to supreme's cellular, cursing him for not making the date. safe to say, if he still has these messages recorded somewhere deep in his archives (*i wouldn't be surprised, this man has EVERYTHING!!!), they could be potentially libelous in a court of law. oops...

regardless of our youthful hijinx, the point of this post is to say that supreme has been one of my biggest musical inspirations (teaching me to dig D-E-E-P-E-R... and always w/ a sense of humour), partially responsible for my rewarding link w/ light in the attic records (*BIG props to a man like shane as well!!!), and an all-around rad dude... it's our utmost honour to host supreme la rock for an all-vinyl set at this week's history of dance event at vancouver's waldorf hotel! thankfully, proper paper work for his journey has been taken care of this time. couldn't do it any other way. see you at the club folks! along w/ dancing bear of ladyhawk fame, jason lev, the magical rahaan from chi-town, and yours truly, prepare yourself for a bonkers evening...