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- S O U P - ▓█ ▀█▄ ▀█▄
▀▄ █▓ █▓▓
┌───────────────────────────────────────────▄▀ ▄█▀───────────────────┐
│ s o u p p r o u d l y p r e s e n t s │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
│
│ thigahmahjiggee-martin luther king jr. whopper with cheese
│
│ artist ........ thigahmahjiggee
│ title ......... martin luther king jr. whopper with cheese
│ release date .. 2004
│ label ......... swordfish music
│ cat. no ....... n/a
│ url ........... n/a
│
│ rip date ...... 12-23-2004
│ genre ......... rap
│ quality ....... VBRkbps / 44.1Hz
│ time .......... 41:08 min
│ size .......... 49,7 MB
│ source ........ cdda
│
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────[ S O U P ]─┐
│ release info │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
│ │
│ Brian Wharton needs to make $30 today -- every day, in fact. │
│ That's what he pays for his room at the Lakeview motel he calls │
│ home. Wharton is better known around town by the variety of │
│ names he uses as a rap artist -- most often Sharkula, │
│ Thigahmahjiggee, or Thig -- but better still as that guy on the │
│ el platform who sells homemade tapes and CD-Rs out of his │
│ backpack. │
│ │
│ He took a step up from the sub-underground in November when he │
│ put out a vinyl-only album compiled from years' worth of tracks │
│ recorded in studios, on friends' computers, and on his own │
│ trusty cassette player. Though packaged like his other work in │
│ hand-lettered, Scotch-taped sleeves (its title varies from copy │
│ to copy), it's his first release ever to be sold in stores. │
│ Saturday night he'll bring his low-res act to the Bottom Lounge │
│ as part of the arts-and-technology festival Version>04 (see │
│ schedule). Wharton's onstage charisma and lunatic flow place him │
│ in a line of wild-man rappers that runs through Busta Rhymes and │
│ Kool Keith, but the sound and feel of the LP -- at once │
│ inventive, primitive, and genuinely unhinged -- are closer to │
│ street level. │
│ │
│ The 30-year-old Wharton spent his first few years on the south │
│ side, but his family headed for the safer streets and better │
│ schools of Homewood when he was five. In his early teens he was │
│ an avid skateboarder, hanging with a bunch of white kids and │
│ listening to bands like the Dead Milkmen, the Dead Kennedys, and │
│ Black Flag. But Wharton's older brother Rob was playing hip-hop │
│ and house records, and soon Wharton was hooked: "I got into │
│ [break dancing] and graffitiing and DJing around then. I was │
│ into Kurtis Blow, Jimmy Spicer, Doug E. Fresh, Busy Bee -- all │
│ that stuff." │
│ │
│ The Whartons' finances were never quite stable, however, and the │
│ family was forced to move constantly. "Sometimes we were poor," │
│ Wharton says, "sometimes we were middle-class. Sometimes there │
│ would be no gas, electricity, or water where we were living. It │
│ was weird, 'cause the kids I went to school with were well-off. │
│ They had cars. But I had the music. So they'd give me rides and │
│ I'd pop these tapes in." │
│ │
│ Upon graduating from high school in 1992 Wharton went off to │
│ Southern University in Baton Rouge, where he was a walk-on │
│ pitcher for the baseball team. But after taking a line drive in │
│ the face one day at practice, he decided his future lay in │
│ music: he quit the team and before long the college. │
│ │
│ Back in Chicago, Wharton attended classes at Prairie State, │
│ Western Illinois, and Columbia while working a string of │
│ low-stakes jobs, but he spent most of his time break dancing │
│ with a crew called Blase Blah, which performed on bills with │
│ national acts like Big Daddy Kane, Tupac, Grand Puba, and │
│ Artifacts. │
│ │
│ Inspired by the fanciful, often oblique lyrics of De La Soul, he │
│ decided to try making his own music. "I never thought I was │
│ ghetto enough to make it big or really say something," he says. │
│ "But when I heard [De La] I thought, I could do this." Drawing │
│ on a range of influences from TV and film comedy ("Richard │
│ Pryor, In Living Color...even Family Ties") to slasher movies, │
│ Wharton developed a quirky MC persona he called Thigahmahjiggee. │
│ His skewed lyrical sensibility owed as much to the punk and pop │
│ songs he'd heard as a skater as to the rap records his brother │
│ passed on to him. │
│ │
│ A high school friend living in Boston convinced him to move out │
│ there in 1996. He'd frequently travel down to New York to sell │
│ the tapes he was making and soak up the city's hip-hop culture. │
│ "Wu-Tang, Nas, all this NYC freestyle was going on," he says, │
│ "so I'd make mixes and throw my stuff on there too." │
│ │
│ When he returned to Chicago in '97 Wharton was newly determined │
│ to record music and get it out there; he soon put together his │
│ first cassette, I Wonder. The tape made its way into the hands │
│ of Lee Fraser, an electronic producer and half of the │
│ quasi-industrial British club act Sheep on Drugs. Fraser, who │
│ had made Chicago a temporary home base, enlisted Wharton to rap │
│ on tracks by his new jungle group, Bagman. They released Wrap on │
│ the local Invisible label in 1998, and Wharton performed as a │
│ dancer and MC on the six-week U.S. tour. Later that year Fraser │
│ invited Wharton to work with him and Brit producer Gareth Jones │
│ (Depeche Mode, Erasure) on a project called Ornithology. "It was │
│ supposed to come out on this label or that," Wharton says, "but │
│ nothing ever happened." Jones has since put MP3s from the │
│ sessions up on his Web site. │
│ │
│ Wharton's response to the disappointment was to create a new │
│ persona: "Sharkula came about 'cause I got sick of getting │
│ sharked like that, so I said, `I'm gonna shark you.' It was a │
│ more aggressive personality." Using that and a variety of other │
│ pseudonyms (Force Face, Cumberjack, Action Blackson) Wharton │
│ continued making his own mostly freestyle cassettes and selling │
│ them on the street. While some of the literally hundreds of │
│ recordings approximate conventional production techniques, many │
│ others are weird audio diaries, found-sound recordings that │
│ document Wharton walking around the city, riding the el, │
│ accosting strangers, and spouting -- sometimes belching -- his │
│ bizarre raps over the background noise in parking lots and │
│ record stores. "I just put it out all raw," he says. "Some │
│ people may say, `This shit is crap!' But others might say, `This │
│ shit is great!' Or `It's good crap,' you know what I mean?" │
│ │
│ Wharton has guested on recordings by several local crews and │
│ appeared on a pair of compilations by production team the Record │
│ Playas, but rather than falling in with an existing crowd, he's │
│ developed a singular following comprised of fellow street │
│ figures, indie-rock kids, dance-music types, and a few young │
│ Polish rap fans. "If you're like me," he says, "and you have to │
│ ask people to buy your music just to survive, then you have no │
│ choice but to meet different people, all kinds of people, and │
│ have them like you." │
│ │
│ Last year, after a run of personal and financial trouble, │
│ Wharton found himself with almost no money and nowhere to live. │
│ He could have stayed with his family, he says, but they had │
│ moved out to the rural town of Crete some time before, and he │
│ felt he'd be too far from the city and its music scene. So he │
│ stayed in Chicago and tried to manage. "I know there were guys │
│ like KRS-One who were homeless in Central Park for like seven │
│ years," he says. "So I don't mind it. But you know, I thought I │
│ would be dead by now." Sometimes he slept at an ex-girlfriend's │
│ place, sometimes at the airport or on a train. │
│ │
│ Working a corner in Wrigleyville one day last summer, Wharton │
│ sold a few tapes to Miles Tilmann, a local ambient and │
│ electronic artist. Impressed, Tilmann came back with a plan: he │
│ picked tracks for an album out of Wharton's archive, cleaned │
│ them up, had them sequenced, mastered, and pressed on vinyl, │
│ sent out review copies, and got the LP into local retailers, │
│ including Reckless, Hi-Fi, and Dr. Wax. │
│ │
│ Sales have been solid for a record so far off the radar, but │
│ it's still homemade tapes that pay Wharton's rent. He's begun │
│ work on a collaboration with Phonograph Scientists DJ Chuck │
│ Sunshine to be called Martin Luther King Jr. Whopper With │
│ Cheese, and his current housing situation has inspired a new │
│ track he's cutting for an upcoming F5 Records comp -- "Motel │
│ Blues: Roaches on My Eyelid." │
│ │
│ "It's a true story," he says. "I know it's not too glamorous. │
│ I'll suffer some, and I gotta make sacrifices. But it allows me │
│ to live this lifestyle. I sleep four hours a night, but I can be │
│ out in the city all day and network with people and sell my │
│ music and perform. This is the only job I've ever had that I │
│ would consider doing for the rest of my life." --chireader.com │
│ │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────[ S O U P ]─┤
│ track list │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
│ │
│ 01 intro of the present future 02:33 │
│ 02 school fools 03:31 │
│ 03 hostess cakes 00:29 │
│ 04 swordfish 04:36 │
│ 05 self suffocation 01:15 │
│ 06 hater's delight 04:52 │
│ 07 avalanche 01:49 │
│ 08 a and r interview 02:46 │
│ 09 love a raw 02:50 │
│ 10 message 4 rob 00:30 │
│ 11 freestyle entrapment 03:05 │
│ 12 the shrimp 04:02 │
│ 13 diarrhea of the face 08:50 │
│ │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────[ S O U P ]─┤
│ EAC logfile │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
│ │
│ EAC extraction logfile from 22. December 2004, 22:15 for CD │
│ Unknown Artist / Unknown Title │
│ │
│ Used drive : Memorex DVD+/-RW True8Xn Adapter: 1 ID: 1 │
│ Read mode : Secure with C2, accurate stream, disable cache │
│ Combined read/write offset correction : 0 │
│ Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No │
│ │
│ Used output format : Internal WAV Routines │
│ 44.100 Hz; 16 Bit; Stereo │
│ │
│ Other options : │
│ Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes │
│ Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No │
│ Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000 │
│ │
│ │
│ Track 1 │
│ Filename \01-Track01.wav │
│ │
│ Peak level 98.9 % │
│ Track quality 99.8 % │
│ Copy CRC 418FCB77 │
│ Copy OK │
│ │
│ Track 2 │
│ Filename \02-Track02.wav │
│ │
│ Peak level 100.0 % │
│ Track quality 100.0 % │
│ Copy CRC BA7CCA17 │
│ Copy OK │
│ │
│ Track 3 │
│ Filename \03-Track03.wav │
│ │
│ Peak level 81.8 % │
│ Track quality 100.0 % │
│ Copy CRC 68C5D936 │
│ Copy OK │
│ │
│ Track 4 │
│ Filename \04-Track04.wav │
│ │
│ Peak level 99.2 % │
│ Track quality 100.0 % │
│ Copy CRC 1BF657CA │
│ Copy OK │
│ │
│ Track 5 │
│ Filename \05-Track05.wav │
│ │
│ Peak level 100.0 % │
│ Track quality 100.0 % │
│ Copy CRC 50FE4D0D │
│ Copy OK │
│ │
│ Track 6 │
│ Filename \06-Track06.wav │
│ │
│ Peak level 99.9 % │
│ Track quality 100.0 % │
│ Copy CRC CCA688A7 │
│ Copy OK │
│ │
│ Track 7 │
│ Filename \07-Track07.wav │
│ │
│ Peak level 100.0 % │
│ Track quality 100.0 % │
│ Copy CRC 306E8509 │
│ Copy OK │
│ │
│ Track 8 │
│ Filename \08-Track08.wav │
│ │
│ Peak level 97.6 % │
│ Track quality 100.0 % │
│ Copy CRC A6F1DB82 │
│ Copy OK │
│ │
│ Track 9 │
│ Filename \09-Track09.wav │
│ │
│ Peak level 100.0 % │
│ Track quality 100.0 % │
│ Copy CRC E2AD9457 │
│ Copy OK │
│ │
│ Track 10 │
│ Filename \10-Track10.wav │
│ │
│ Peak level 67.7 % │
│ Track quality 100.0 % │
│ Copy CRC B4EB1590 │
│ Copy OK │
│ │
│ Track 11 │
│ Filename \11-Track11.wav │
│ │
│ Peak level 100.0 % │
│ Track quality 100.0 % │
│ Copy CRC 4D5D608D │
│ Copy OK │
│ │
│ Track 12 │
│ Filename \12-Track12.wav │
│ │
│ Peak level 100.0 % │
│ Track quality 100.0 % │
│ Copy CRC 12E7AFD1 │
│ Copy OK │
│ │
│ Track 13 │
│ Filename \13-Track13.wav │
│ │
│ Peak level 100.0 % │
│ Track quality 100.0 % │
│ Copy CRC 70F0BA08 │
│ Copy OK │
│ │
│ No errors occured │
│ │
│ │
│ End of status report │
│ │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────[ S O U P ]─┤
│ │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘