Stream the full Brown Label Part 2 EP HERE
Bringing that feeling back, The Brown Bag AllStars crew blesses us with a tribute song and complimentary video melancholically reminiscing on the hey day of the Fat Beats record store. The track tells the story from the emcee's perspectives recounting the days when they all used to work at the store, which is how they all met (See more about Brown Bag here). The track's name derives from the store's former address at 406 6th Ave in NYC, which closed permanently in late 2010 after 16 years in Greenwich Village.
Once upon a time there was a physical location where hip hop resided, but now it only continues to exist in dispersed communities on the internet that hardly interact one on one anymore. Sharing music and the excitement over it has become an anti-social activity thanks to the internet. Hip hop heads no longer have to go to a record store to interact with others in order to share our passion for great hip hop music and the culture (ie. this website). Hip hop no longer has a physical home anymore and the closing of Fat Beats, to many, felt as if the last bastion of hip hop music had finally met its demise.
Although I'm just as in love with hip hop as I was 10 years ago, the feeling of isolation that I have in the hip hop community drives me crazy sometimes. There no longer are many casual permanent spaces for hip hop heads to congregate and discuss the music and share our enthusiasm that keeps the music alive. I feel like The Brown Bag AllStars as a group represent the surviving spirit of Fat Beats and the will that underground hip hop has to persevere in the face of declining sales, changing times, and an overall lack of income for the artists to sustain a living. It seems like the only thing that will keep hip hop alive is the love that the true fans have and the ones that refuse to forget the past...
So to BBAS, I salute you.
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