Mystery Box, 16 LPs for $142.96


Back around Thanksgiving, Rhymesayers Entertainment offered 4 mystery boxes: 4 LPs for 30 dollars. That's a deal and a half no matter what they turn out to be, but Rhymesayers is a dedicated underground Hip-Hop label in Minneapolis, with an accordingly narrow roster. Now, i'm not going to try to convince you to like Rap if you're one of those people who "hates Rap," but i am going to assume you've only ever heard terrible mainstream Rap and have no basis for intelligent comparison.

What are you actually going to get for 7.50 a record? Are they real albums or junk?  That's basically what everybody commented on the facebook ad. Well, let's find out. But before we open the box, let's do my typical absolutely honest predictions based on actual research and see how they stack up. 

1 - these will be real albums published by Rhymesayers. Any schmuck with a computer can go look at their website to see their roster. 

2 - pre covid they had their own retail store, post covid they don't. Clearly we're liquidating older-ish retail stock here, so i expect nothing younger than 2 or 3 years old. 2000 to 2020 is the logical time-frame.

3 - that means no super new stuff, but it also means not the biggest sellers from any particular artist. 

4 - i can't make any guess as to the contents of each box, but i cannot reasonably assume every single mystery box contains the same 4 LPs. It could certainly turn out to be true, mystery box 3 being exactly those 4 albums, but who cares? Assume you got 4 LPs at cost and enjoy your life.

5 - this is Slug (from Atmoshpere)'s record label, there are at least 3 Atmosphere albums in the stack of 16.

6 - as for other specific artists, i am completely educated guessing. I haven't opened it yet, i really am guessing. Something from Aesop Rock will be in there; how old or recent i have no clue. It would be awesome if the new Sa Roc album was in there (because she's fantastic), but it won't be (see points 2 and 3). Instead, Brother Ali will be in here somewhere, hopefully not several (i don't lie, he's not my favorite). What's that leave, like 7 totally unguessable selections? Something that in some way involves MF Doom, either as MF Doom or another pseudonym or hell even KMD? At least one other side project from someone already mentioned, and 2 or 3 total surprises.

My point is, no i can't tell you the actual albums, but i can tell you the shape of the structure.

Who wants to find out? Join me over the next couple weeks, i'm literally going to listen to them one by one in the exact order they come out of the box that's inside the box. What are you waiting for? Dive in at the link below:

LP 1


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