Diggin’ In My Own Collection – Hip-Hop Promos

Diggin’ In My Own Collection is a nine-part series where I’m taking a look at some of the rare, and incredibly unique, albums in my CD collection. 

As some of you may know, I worked in hip-hop for many years, and those years coincided with the era of CD promos. Yes kids, pull up a seat and let Ol’ Man Adam tell you all about a time before digital downloads, and streaming!

All the music labels wanted us to hear was sent to us in the mail.

Ooooh!

For this edition of Diggin’ In My Own Collection I’m taking a look at five unique hip-hop promo CDs that have turned out to be valuable for a variety of reasons.

 

 

Slaine – A World With No Skies 

Every once in a while you just know something is rare, and I knew that from the outset about my copy of Slaine’s A World With No Skies, because with the exception of an accidental digital leak, the album never actually came out.

According to Wikipedia, “Slaine and Surburban Noize chose to hold back and substantially rework the album due to sample clearance issues.”

Some time passed, and I eventually received a copy of A World With No Skies 2.0, which was the album that actually saw the light of day.

Being a member of the group La Coka Nostra, Slaine has a devoted fan base. Rarity + a devoted fan base = a CD that’s going to be highly sought after.

I’ve seen prices for A World With No Skies range from $40, to one person on Amazon attempting to sell it for, I kid you not, $969. I wish that person nothing but the best of luck, because if he, or she, can move it for that price I’d strongly consider selling my copy.

 

SunN.Y. – Overnight Celebrity 

Point blank – Virgin Records dropped the ball on SunN.Y.

In 2005 his debut album, Overnight Celebrity, was ready to go, to the point where they had sent out promo copies to press.

The album had an incredible lead single, “S.O.H. (Soul of a Hustla),” and SunN.Y.’s buzz was steadily growing. He even had a mention in The Source as a Hip-Hop Quotable.

Virgin decided to shelve the album. I legitimately have no idea why. All I know is I have my promo copy of Overnight Celebrity – which, in retrospect, seems like an incredibly cruel title for the album given how things went down – and to say it’s rare would be a huge understatement.

 

 

Canibus – C of Tranquility 

Canibus gained huge fame for his very high profile beef with LL Cool J. It was a beef that gave us one of the greatest diss tracks of all-time, “Second Round K.O.”

As with most lyrical rappers, however, his fan base has always been smaller, although incredibly devoted. Heck, I was one of the people who was picking up mixtapes back in the day if I saw Canibus’ name on them, so I speak with some authority on the subject.

C of Tranquility was released in 2010, but apparently had a very limited print run of CDs. As of the writing of the column, it can’t be found on Amazon, or eBay, and there’s only one copy for sale in the Discogs marketplace, and that copy will run ya over $100.

I have no idea what my promo copy would go for, but as a collector you know I’m more apt to hang on to it than sell it.

 

 

La Coka Nostra – A Brand You Can Trust 

It’s kinda wild that I have both a Slaine album, and a La Coka Nostra album, in this edition of Diggin’ In My Own Collection. Who knew LCN would be such a good crew for CD collectors to focus on!

A Brand You Can Trust has two major qualities that can make a CD a hot commodity – it had a limited print run, and it’s by a group with a hardcore fan base.

There are a couple of reasonably priced copies available in the Discogs marketplace, although they do get pricey pretty quickly, and Amazon’s price point starts at $34.50.

My promo version of the album has no price information available, so let’s just assume I have a super incredibly rare and valuable piece of music history.

 

 

Hot Karl – Before I Get Famous 

Before he owned one of the biggest pop art galleries in the country (Gallery 1988), Jensen Karp was a hip-hop artist known as Hot Karl. I maintain his 2005 album, The Great Escape, was ahead of its time, as it was an incredible commentary on the suburbs.

Before I Get Famous was the CD sampler that was sent to press in advance of the album, and depending on where you look it can either be really cheap (eBay), or unbelievably expensive (as of the writing of this column Discogs has five available, with the least expensive being $79.99).

All I know is I interviewed Hot Karl right around the time The Great Escape dropped, and we’ve been cool ever since. I own multiple prints from his gallery, and he even gave me some helpful advice when I was pitching my book to publishers. 

So in other words, I don’t care how much Before I Get Famous may be worth, it ain’t leavin’ my collection!

 

Staying in hip-hop, the next installment of this column will feature five indie hip-hop CDs that had short original print runs and have now become in demand.

Until then, keep digging!