Philadelphia’s Cratediggaz Records Serves As Hip Hop Stronghold (VINYL LIVES)

Right by the water that draws a border around the city of Philadelphia is a street lined with every lifestyle the city offers. South Street is home to primarily small boutique stores, vintage thrifts, and restaurants that pump blood through the city’s streets of brotherly love. Not too far off the beaten path, you come across 4th street. A similarly structured street that is now home to Philly’s newest and most exciting record stores, Cratediggaz Records has now established itself as a hotbed for the city’s hip-hop scene.

The head honcho behind this all is sitting confidently on the elevated platform that doubles as a stage and cash register, but now it is being used as a dining area. During our initial interaction earlier that day, I didn’t properly introduce myself so once the meal was over and the man himself was strolling around the shop I decided to wave him down. “CD Bob!” he yells, “Except there are barely any CDs in this place!”

CD Bob has cultivated a rare sighting in the vinyl world, his curation process relies strictly on his ear and what connects with it, and thankfully CD Bob has some of the most luxurious tastes in the city.

“It’s pretty much just whatever I listen to in my life or things that I find that are cool,” says the owner when asked about how he lines the shelves of his shop, it’s a humble way to describe the selection at Cratediggaz really.

The shop offers some of the rarest releases in modern hip-hop, physical copies of albums from Mach-Hommy and Rome Streetz are displayed prominently in the shop and act as a badge of pride for the hip-hop head in CD Bob. 

Saturday, March 11th was a special day at Cratediggaz as they opened their doors to the record store that sparked the inspiration behind this hidden gem in the great city of Philly. Top Shelf Premium made the drive up from their Hoboken location and brought with them their own unique curation process and origin story. The shop started out in New York City where the owner, Mark, got his break in a different area of music. “I was wardrobing Mackelmore when ‘Thrift Shop’ came out and he Instagrammed the name out and it just spiraled from there,” says Mark.

Much like CD Bob, Mark seems humble and calculated in his work. The two first connected when CD Bob started attending Top Shelf Premium events himself. “He’s the cornerstone for this scene, so we joined forces and it worked,” adds Mark.

He brought with him a rack of clothes that is lined with exclusive merch from the likes of Your Old Droog, next to that sits a folding table that became the home for some terrifically hard-to-find cassettes and CDs. “I opened up my vintage clothing shop and rappers would come into the store all time”, explains Mark about the history of Top Shelf Premium and how his world of fashion ended up colliding with this largely under-appreciated section of hip-hop. “I was like ‘yo we should have people rap in front of the clothes as a subconscious commercial to come to the store, then the Off Top series branched off from there”.

Mark is referring to the freestyle series presented by Top Shelf Premium, what was once a promotional tool has now blossomed into this platform that presents creatives in a freeing way. Top Shelf Premium and Cratediggaz united on this cloudy weekend in order to bring some of that energy to the city of Philadelphia with a carefully curated selection of incredible performers. 

The day started off with a slew of beat sets from some incredible talent. The first performer up was Philth Spector, a local beatmaker who got his start over a decade ago by making instrumentals for his friends to rap over. “After college, I kind of stopped, everyone I knew stopped rapping and got jobs” explains Spector, “I didn’t really know there was a beat scene at this level”.

Today, Spector is not only aware of this exciting scene of instrumentalists, but he has also become fully immersed in it. Spector hosts the local chapter of the Flip A Beat Club, a monthly event where producers from around the world receive a sample to create a beat out of within a two-hour time frame. “It’s not a competition, it’s just for the love of it” explains Spector about the environment cultivated during these events. After hearing Spector’s beat set, it’s clear love goes into everything he does. He strung together a diverse setlist that gave you a quick snapshot of the beautiful arrangements that come from his drum machine. 

Another highlight from the event was the set put on by New Jersey’s Rose Image, a multi-faceted artist who brought the energy of theater to Cratediggaz that day. His cheery personality made up for the lack of sun shining on the city that day.

Image came crashing through the front of the shop with an astronaut’s helmet over his head. Hooked up to his laptop was a Gamecube controller that acted as a hype man during the set, each button sending a different sound effect through the speakers. Don’t let all of these playful additions to the show distract you from what’s really going on, Image has found a sound all to his own.

“Every time I come out to Philly it’s awesome” explains Image as I shoved my iPhone in his face for a post-show interview. “It’s a nice switch-up for the area we’re used to being in, it can be closed off”. The idea of a crowd rejecting the energy Image brings with him is inconceivable after seeing him perform, his melodic and gentle approach to hip-hop feels alive during his performance as CD Bob had to keep him from going air-bourne in fear of the floors falling from under him. 

Toward the end of the night, producer Buck Dudley approached the stage with unwavering confidence. The storied beatmaker is fresh off the release of Highly Favored, his collaborative LP with North Carolina rapper Lord Jah-Monte Ogbon. Cratediggaz was buzzing when the surprise guest of the evening, Ogbon himself, joined Dudley on stage for a quick display of the chemistry that makes Highly Favored such an incredible release. The two initially met through Top Shelf Premium, Dudley sprinted to shop when he heard the rapper was in town and their fruitful relationship grew from there.

“My brother drove fucking 10 hours to be here” exclaims Dudley, making sure everyone who witnessed Ogbon rap that day truly appreciated what they were a part of. If the extensive trip from North Carolina wasn’t enough, simply hearing Ogbon on the mic left the crowd speechless. His technical abilities are emphasized by Dudley’s smooth production style as the duo melted their individual talents together to shape to put on an unforgettable performance.

Once Ogbon had displayed what makes him such a unique artist in front of the packed record shop, Dudley stepped into the spotlight for a beat set that almost melted the plaster off the walls. “I thought about Philadelphia, the weather, the month, so I just played all of the slimiest shit I had”, says Dudley on how he put together the jaw-dropping set he just performed. Dudley captured the essence of the day with flying colors, playing beat after beat which reminds us why he is on track to becoming one of the most sought-after producers in the genre today. 

The final beat set of the night came from Philadelphia’s most elusive and prolific producers of the modern era. Sadhugold entered Cratediggaz wearing an all-gold face mask with sunglasses and a bucket hat over it, it goes without saying but there are no quotes from Sadhugold on the night. The mysterious man lumbered to the front of the stage and meticulously set up his equipment which featured what looked like a PC monitor from the early 2000s. What was digitally held in this plethora of equipment had the entire shop in awe, mesmerized by the music Sadhugold is able to create. His set was primarily made up of unreleased instrumentals and freestyles about his bong. He played collaborative instrumentals made with fellow producers like Camoflauge Monk and even broke out some instrumentals he sent to his frequent collaborators like Your Old Droog and Mach-Hommy. His mystique only adds to the strange arrangements he is able to conjure up, Sadhugold has a style that can only be found within his mind, and any opportunity you have to get a look into the inner workings of the artist should be seen as a gift. 

The event was wrapped up with two recordings of Top Shelf Premium’s Off Top cypher series which saw a slew of incredible lyricists flex their pen over historic hip-hop instrumentals, be sure to look out for those on their Youtube page soon.

What happened at this record shop in Philadelphia recently nothing short of spectacular, CD Bob and Mark are doing more than simply pushing vinyl. They have created a community of immense talent that simply want to make the art they feel like making, constantly pushing and supporting each other with no sign of ego anywhere in Cratediggaz.

“None of this would be possible without Mark, who else was selling Tuff Kong releases in 2015? Nobody”, says CD Bob on his relationship with the mastermind behind Top Shelf Premium. Separately they are pushing a movement that is centered around a love for hip-hop and art as a whole but when those forces combine, you get a one-of-a-kind experience that shines with a welcoming energy and a collection of some of the best musicians of the day. 

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