Phono-graphy

a rare review of "Phono-graphy"

After going thru several reviews of “Phono-graphy”, a mixtape I put together a few weeks ago, I couldn’t find one that was as moving as the mixtape itself. So I decided to think outside the booth: I took a copy down the road from where I live, to Lucky, a
deaf brother I’ve known for over a decade. Lucky inherited, from his late father, one of the only three 1987 silver-face Technics low-fi sound systems in the country, so he’s been indulging in the thick, chest-thumping bass long before the Koreans introduced the concept of “ cheap- inferior -sorround sound” to unsuspecting black homes through dvd players. Straight from jogging, I came back to his crib the following morning and the thumping bass greeted me from the gate, windows vibrating, smile on my face, my mixtape on. I didn’t bother to knock and as I opened the door Lucky was getting down to it, I couldn’t believe my eyes, I watched on until the next song mixed-in and as the rhythm changed from a Blendcrafters’ instrumental to a Nas verse, Lucky moved accordingly, he even had his fist up on the second verse. “What is he hearing?”, I pondered to myself. I watched on in awe until he became aware of my presence, still dancing, he handed me a piece of paper which he pulled from the back pocket of his true religion, it read as thus: “all djs are born geniuses, 9 999 out of 10 000 are swiftly, inadvertently degeniusized by the music they play”. “you my friend, are the ONE, your are my NEO in this matrix of impaired hearing, you are like medicine to my ears, from now on I shall call you Sir. Your mixtape hit me in a place between stimulus and response and for the first time in my life I had the power to choose to hear, and I chose to hear, and i heard.”
He then went to his room, came back with a 1993 release of Me’shell NdengeOcello’s “plantation lullabies” on 12inch vinyl, signaled that it was mine to keep. we shook hands, i took the copy and left