Lacksi-Daisy-Cal “In My Sleep…”

Download Lacksi-Daisy-Cal – “In My Sleep…” (right click and select “Save Link As…” or “Save Target As…”)

 

01.  Escape From Time (E.F.T.) (Feat. Mandy)

 

02.  Sexy Soulstress

 

03.  My Emiene

 

04.  Punchlines

 

05.  Listen… (Instrumental)

 

06.  Digital Response Method (Feat. Punch & Poot)

 

07.  Understanding

 

08.  While I Watch You Sleep…

 

09.  Poetic Reality

 

In 1997, I put out Lacksi-Daisy-Cal’s “In My Sleep…” cassette.  I first met Lacksi-Daisy-Cal (a.k.a. Lacks a.k.a. Ta’Raach) around 1996-1997 at the Impact 89FM college radio station in East Lansing.  He was living in East Lansing at the time and would always hang out at the station on Saturday nights during the Cultural Vibe radio show.  I sort of remember Mad Mike and Melinda(?) being the hosts of the show back then?  I could be wrong…  But I do know that they would sometimes invite guests DJ’s to come in and cut up records, live on air.  One of the guest DJ’s that used to get on the mix late in the night was DJ White Lightning from Flint.  Since I had known DJ White Lightning for quite awhile (and we lived near each other), he would always let me tag along whenever he was invited to DJ on the Cultural Vibe show.

On a side note:  I actually bought my first Technics SL-1200 turntable (used) from DJ White Lightning.  And I am in that man’s debt for allowing me to go with him to the Cultural Vibe all of those times.  I learned a LOT from him simply by watching and listening to what he was doing on the turntables.  There were two old school DJ’s who ruled Flint throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s.  One was DJ White Lightning, and the other was DJ Psycho.  Both were my mentors early on, and are some of the best DJ’s in Michigan to this very day.  Here’s DJ Psycho on Fox 2 News, promoting his appearance at the 2012 Movement Electronic Music Festival:

OK, so back to the story…  Early in 1997, in one of the smaller side studios at the Impact 89FM radio station, Ta’Raach (a.k.a. Lacks) played me a tape of some songs that he had been working on.  Needless to say, the stuff blew me away!  (These songs would later appear on the “In My Sleep…” tape).

It was the best Rap music from Michigan that I had heard in a very long time, but there was one big problem:  Ta’Raach didn’t have any plans or motivation to do anything with the songs.  Needless to say, it was mind bottling to me how anyone with songs this good could just sit on them and do nothing with them!?!  I felt that other people needed to hear his music!

So I asked if I could do something with his music.  Maybe try and put out a tape for him?  Help to get his name out there?  Let his music be heard?  I told him of the relative success that I’ve had selling my own mixtapes in local record stores (throughout Detroit, Ann Arbor, and Lansing), as well as online through a smaller “Underground Rap” distributor that used to be out in the Bay Area (i.e., the old TrueHipHop.com/ATAK Worldwide site).  I also told him that I was small-time, and that I’d be lucky to sell 100 tapes for him, but at least it was a start!  It’s a lot better than doing nothing!

His reaction to my offer was one of both surprise and excitement… a.) that I even liked his music in the first place, and b.) that someone believed in his music so much that they were willing to put it out for him!

I sold the “In My Sleep…” tapes on consignment to local records stores and through ATAK distrubtion.  I told Ta’Raach up front that I wouldn’t be able to pay him anything… that this was just a promotional gig for me.  I wasn’t in it to make money (in fact, I barely broke even!).  I wanted the tapes to be as cheap and inexpensive as possible because I believed that Underground Rap heads (who typically didn’t have any money to begin with) would be more willing to take a chance on somebody that they’ve never heard of if the price was right.

Like all of my mixtapes, this was a DIY/homemade project.  I bought all of the blank cassettes, cassette cover stickers, cassette J-card inserts, plastic cases, etc.  I printed off all of the covers on my old printer, made all of the copies on my beat up cassette deck, and assembled the “finished products” all by myself.  I told Ta’Raach that I was charging people money for the tapes, but only enough to cover my cost.  He seemed OK with it.  I think that he was just happy to have someone out there promoting him (as insignificant as my efforts actually were)!

The good news about all of this was that a few years later, after continuing to make moves, Ta’Raach eventually got signed to a legitimate label… one with real power in the music industry, and a reach that extended all over the world… but more on that in a little bit!

One of Ta’Raach’s friends from back in the day was Hodge Podge (a.k.a. Montana a.k.a. Big Tone).  In 1998, Big Tone (pictured above) put out his first cassette “Earcandy”:

Download Hodge Podge – “Earcandy”

01.  Intro

 

02.  This World

 

03.  Life Is

 

04.  No Complexities

 

05.  Ego

 

06.  Bustos

 

07.  Is It!?

 

08.  87 Skit

 

09.  Physical Therapy (Feat. Elzhi)

 

10.  Ghetto Facade

 

11.  Rap Game

 

12.  Word Association

 

Around the same time of the “Earcandy” tape, Ta’Raach had moved back to Detroit and hooked up with Big Tone, Dwele, Elzhi, and 87… otherwise known as the Breakfast Club.

In 1998-1999, Ta’Raach and Big Tone also began working on a record deal with Carl Craig.  Carl Craig was already well-established in the Techno industry with his Planet E record label, and was interested in starting up a sister label called Antidote that would focus solely on Rap.

In 1999, Antidote began leaking white labels to local Detroit record stores and other distributors.  The first was a white label for Ta’Raach (Lacks) and Big Tone (Hodge Podge), “Shotgun Slammin'” b/w “20 Wah”:

   

Download Lacksi-Daisy-Cal – “Shotgun Slammin'” or listen here:

 

Download Lacksi-Daisy-Cal feat. Hodge Podge – “20 Wah” or listen here:

 

In 2000, Antidote had its first proper release.  It was a 10″ Single with Ta’Raach (Lacks) and Big Tone (Montana), “B*tch N*ggaz” b/w “Is It You”:

    

Download Lacksidaisycal feat. Montana – “B*tch N*ggaz” or listen here:

 

Download Montana – “Is It You” or listen here:

 

In 2001, Antidote leaked another white label, this time for Big Tone (Montana):

    

Download Montana – “Chicken Feed” or listen here:

 

Download Montana – “If Only” or listen here:

 

Download Montana feat. Lacksidaisycal – “Rap Niggas…” or listen here:

 

Download Montana – “Mine” or listen here:

 

Also in 2001, Ta’Raach (Lacks) put out a white label for “Do It Lyk This” b/w “Order”.  Unfortunately, I never got my hands on a copy of.  I know that the song “Do It Lyk This” later appeared on Ta’Raach’s 2003 album “Re: Lacks, Vol. 1: With The World“, but I have been struggling to find a copy of the song “Order”.  If anyone out there has it, could you maybe hook a brother up?

After the release of the “In My Sleep…” tape (but before moving back to Detroit and hooking up with the Breakfast Club), Ta’Raach was working on something called the “Plateau Summit Project”.  I had gotten a hold of some of the recordings from this project, as well as some of the other songs that Ta’Raach was making in Lansing at that time, and compiled them all together to make the “Plateau Summit Project” tape.

However, by the time that I had everything together and was ready to put out the “Plateau Summit Project” compilation tape (as a follow-up to “In My Sleep…”), I was too late.  Ta’Raach had already moved on and didn’t want any of his older/”dated”-sounding music floating around (or coming back to haunt him!).  He needed to put the past behind him and continue moving forward, and he didn’t want to risk damaging or upsetting his relationship with Carl Craig/Planet E.

Alas, the “Plateau Summit Project” never saw the light of day.  I never released it, but I still have all of the songs from the project…  I just know that Ta’Raach would kill me if any of it was ever leaked!

 

11 Responses

  1. thanks for these classics! lots of respect for everything! wish we could hear that Plateau Summit Project but guess we’ll have to dream!

    1. HEAVY!! What’s up man. I’m glad that you stopped by to check out my site. Hopefully, there are some goodies on here for you!

      Yeah, I felt that the Nerding Out Alerts were necessary. I put all of the important stuff up at the very top of each post… you know, the mixes and tracklists, the meat and potatoes, the stuff that most people only care about… I wanted to warn people that if you go any further down the page, you’re going to run into the inane ramblings of an old man and possibly be bored to death by reading a “War & Peace”-long dissertation.

    2. whats up heavy? are you a Dj called DJ Heavy?
      on your tape called Dj Heavy – Heavy rotation vol 6, you got a lacksidaisycal track titled “You Don’t Wanna Be Me”, how did you get this track? was it a demo that lacks hook you up with?
      if you let me know what your instagram is, I’d be thankfull, or if phizys could hook me up with your ig either…I’d be thankfull

  2. Hey Kevin.

    It’s been a long time, hope all is well! Pretty sure I have an extra copy of that Lacks 12″ “Do it lyk this”, I believe I have 3 copies? If so, I’ll hook you up, trade, something. Anyway, it would be rad to catch up over some record shopping or whatevs. TK

  3. Dont forget that DJ S.E.R aka Me was the host of the vibe in the late90s after mike cole left… U were on there a lot with Morgan.. Nova and me…. Scratching.. …. I remember those nights fondly..

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