This is Virginia, Where Ain’t Shit to do but Cook…

By Red Foxx • March 29, 2007 • Mixes, Mp3, Words is Like Ziti

Well yeah, maybe for the Clipse. For me, there wasn’t shit to do but make music, art, get high, and skateboard in my home town of Norfolk. I guess I owe a lot to growing up in a boring place. I’m sure the abundance of musical talent coming out of VA does as well.

Neptunes, Timbaland, Missy… VA’s almost become a cliché as a place that has birthed prolific talent while at the same time spawning the question “Why Virginia?” It’s a question I really couldn’t answer aside from the fact that, yeah, there isn’t alot to do… so you stay at home and make music. That is, of course, if you don’t get trapped by the abundant crack and heroin that’s ensnared so many of my friends from back home. The drugs can lead to glory, as in the Clipse’s case, or misery, as to all my friends who have overdosed or are on their way. (RIP Lindsay)

Naturally, there is a dark intrigue to the tragic side of it all… almost a sense of exoticism. Trap houses on a dead end road with a video camera mounted on the corner lightpost; a look out watches the camera remotely from a screen safe inside, so that when the cops turn onto the street, everyone gets chirped and disappears from the sidewalks (I’m serious, I’ve been there). Nightclubs with metal detectors. The fact that you can’t wear a hood, bandana, or sunglasses in a shopping mall. It’s certainly “real” in VA, but as much as rap glamorizes it you don’t really realize how far it reaches and affects you unless you live there.

The light side of it all? The culture. Everyone knows the big music names and their top of the chart empire. Commonwealth is an amazing streetwear boutique in my home town of Norfolk, and Hospitality in Richmond is looking pretty slick itself. Clothing labels like Civilize, makers of my favorite satan shirt, are popping up. You can go drunk record shopping at 2 am at Relative Theory records on Granby Street, downtown Norfolk… and they let you listen to anything in the store. And you might just catch Pusha T himself at IO’s art shows.

But back to the program; this is a music blog of course.

Design by VA’s own (now in NYC) Nick the Duke

Krames of Cobra Kai hailing from Richmond, VA. The name strikes fear into the core of my heart. He runs circles around your head. If you hear him live, all the blends are dead on perfect. Always tight mixing, because that’s how we do it in VA. Trainwreckers get no respect, period, and we bring that mentality anywhere we go. And just because we are from Virginia doesn’t mean we’re naïve country bumpkins either. Krames bitchslaps the electro explosion on his new tape Eurothrash. Check the tracklisting. Check the sheer number of edits. Krames is one of the most talented and prolific cats out there right now, and to make a tape this thorough it takes a lot of focus and a lot of time… Then again, this is Virginia, and there ain’t shit to do but…

Krames- Eurothrash Mix
Krames- Green Man Like Hmmm Edit (Palmsout Exclusive)

Photos by Red Foxx, taken in Norfolk, Virginia.

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