Diggin’ In My Own Collection – The Rarest of the Rare

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. 

After eight columns in this series, I saved the rarest of the rare for this final edition of Diggin’ In My Own Collection.

Whenever you know, and have supported, an artist from the very beginning of their career, you’re bound to have some rarities you’ve picked up, especially from those initial years when an artist is doing a lot of DIY ventures.

Being that I was heavily involved in the indie hip-hop scene for well over a decade, I have a number of first albums, and first mixtapes, from artists who’ve gone on to significant notoriety. Most of those initial albums are known by an artist’s fan base, and while very limited, collectors can usually find one if they search hard enough.

I’m not sure that’s the case with the albums I’m about to talk about.

So for this final edition of Diggin’ In My Own Collection let’s take a look at two albums so rare I had to add them to Discogs myself. 

 

Homeboy Sandman – Nourishment 

Up until I added this album to Discogs they had Nourishment (Second Helpings) as Homeboy Sandman’s first album, but if anyone were to really think about it, how could something with “Second Helpings” in the title be an artist’s first offering?

Nourishment, which was released in 2007, was Homeboy Sandman’s first album, and being that I have it, I added it to the site so more people could know about it. Will those people actually be able to find it? I think it would require a heck of a search, as last year I posted a photo of the album on social media for a Throwback Thursday, and Homeboy Sandman hit me up to tell me that even he doesn’t have a copy of Nourishment anymore!

If I ever get my hands on a second copy, I’ll make sure it finds its way to him.

 

 

Poison Pen – Foreword 

Poison Pen and L.I.F.E. Long of the Stronghold crew were two of the first people I met when I started covering indie hip-hop in NYC. My buddy Dyalekt introduced me to both. Lemme tell ya, if you weren’t around for that era, it was really something special. There were some legendary performers, and performances.

Every time Poison Pen hit the stage I worried the stage was going to collapse. That isn’t hyperbole – at one show I literally saw the stage quiver and bend when he energetically performed “I’m Fuckin You Up,” stomping his feet so emphatically it seemed as though he was trying to shake the earth.

His first solo work, that I’m aware of, is Foreword, which was released in 2002. Much like Homeboy Sandman, the follow up, which was clearly titled as such (Foreword Volume 2), was listed as his first album on Discogs until I added Foreword.

I have no idea how rare Foreword is, but I have seen next to nothing about it on the internet, so I get the feeling it’s pretty rare.

On a personal level, I consider it an important album in my collection, as I’m still cool with Pen, and it represents a very memorable part of my career.

 

I had a lot of fun going through my collection to put these columns together, and I hope you had fun reading them.

As always, I’ll continue to write about my finds when I come across something great, unique, or just plain ridiculous, out in the wild … and by “out in the wild” I mean record stores, library fundraisers, really anyplace that has CDs and/or vinyl. So while this is the final installment of this series of columns, it certainly isn’t the end of the treasure hunt.

Until next time, keep digging!