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Kazi & Madlib – Blackmarket Seminar (Album)

blame it on JES7 December 10, 2016
kazi-madlib-blackmarket-seminar

Sometime in 1996, Oxnard, CA artist Kevin Harper connected with legendary producer Madlib in his Crate Diggas Palace home studio.

The result of this session was the Blackmarket Seminar album, recorded on reel-to-reel tape.

Following the recording of this “lost album,” Kazi made noise in underground rap ciphers with his debut appearance on Lootpack’s “Frenz vs. Endz,” off the trio’s 1999 LP Soundpieces: Da Antidote, followed by the release of his 2000 EP, Down For The Kaz, produced entirely by the Beat Konducta [source: Stones Throw]

kazi-madlib

Recently, Netherlands-based independent label Below System Records (whom have released albums from Masta Ace, Trizz, Chuuwee, JR & PH7, Shabaam Sahdeeq and more) re-released a remastered version of Blackmarket Seminar.

Says Kazi:

We recorded this album in the wee hours at CDP studios back in ‘96. It was pretty much me, Madlib and Declaime in the lab when this album was recorded.

I learned so much from Lib cadence, rhyme patterns, timing and how to dig for records. What some people don’t know is this cat actually took the time to show me how to make beats. I must say working with Lib was an amazing experience. The Blackmarket Seminar is a very raw and dark album. We came up with “Black Market” because at the time we were doing Hip Hop that nobody else was doing and to us you could only get it on the “Black Market”. When you first play the album you’ll hear characters on a skit in search of the black market seminar. We really tried to make it seem like the characters were outside walking around looking for it.

We recorded a new video for the song “To Be Lost” as it is about MCs selling out to remain in the game and still makes perfect sense in the present day.

Stream the entire album below and purchase it on iTunes or Bandcamp.

BONUS: Watch the video for “To Be Lost” below.