Crate Diggers

Welcome back to Crate Diggers!

Episode 29 of Crate Diggers brings us back to Crate Diggers Live 2: Second Blood, our second ever live show, that took place in August 2016 at Kelly’s Olympian in Portland, Oregon. Part 1 featured DJ sets by the Space Gods, that’s Verbz and Steez, the host and engineer of Crate Diggers. Part 2 includes a beat battle featuring 3 of Portland’s top up-n-coming producers, Drew Locs, Bravo Domo, and Alpha Audio. Also included in part 2 is a live performance by one of Portland’s premiere MC’s, Mic Capes. Capes recently released his long awaited project, Concrete Dreams and has been on a massive tear through the NW hip hop scene racking up dozens of performances, interviews, blog spots, and more.

We’re extremely happy to be able to put on live events and we look forward to doing more in the future. Huge thank you to Mic Capes, Bravo Domo, Alpha Audio, and Drew Locs for being a part of Crate Diggers. Look for episodes with all of these producers in the near future. Thank you to Steez for doing post production work on this episode to bring out the best in the audio.

Also, shout out to one of Portland’s brightest young producers, Deadbrainz. We used two of his beats as the soundtrack for the intro. The kid is a serious talent.

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Hello and welcome another episode of Crate Diggers!

Episode 28 is part 1 of our live episode that took place in August of 2016 at Kelly’s Olympian in Portland, Oregon. Ep. 28 features DJ sets by Crate Diggers creators Verbz and Steez, collectively known as the Space Gods. Unlike typical episodes of Crate Diggers, Crate Diggers live features almost entirely music. Set one features a DJ set by Crate Diggers host, Verbz that is heavy on the dancehall and pop rap, as well as Portland hip hop. The set took place early in the evening as the crowd trickled in. Set two features Crate Diggers’ in-house producer and engineer, Steez. Steez plays a few current songs as well as his own production and remixes, several of which are unreleased.

Part 2 of Crate Diggers Live 2: Second Blood will feature a beat battle between some of Portland’s hottest production talent as well as a live performance by the Rose City’s hottest MC, Mic Capes. Look for that coming VERY soon.

Follow Crate Diggers on social media @Crate_Diggers. Subscribe on iTunes and leave us a rating and review!

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Hello and welcome back to Crate Diggers!

We’ve been on a hiatus for a while, as our host Verbz went on tour, along with a heap of other roadblocks and successes in the past few months. We’re extremely happy to be back with a long awaited, nearly lost episode, of Crate Diggers. Our guests for episode 27 are Renaissance Coalition producers, Bryce Lang and Ton Jungir. Also, please go check out Ton’s latest project, Formula.

The first recording session took place way back in late March of 2016. After an excellent recording, we found we had lost the last 20 minutes of our vocal tracks with Ton and Bryce, including a favorite segment of ours, life lessons. Fast forward a few months, we are gearing up for our second live podcast and beat battle, we finally get to reconnect with Ton and Bryce to rerecord our ending. We had so much great material we could put out an entire outtakes episode. There is a massive time jump in recording after our very dated tribute to Phife of A Tribe Called Quest. Thank you to Ton and Bryce and our listeners for your patience.

We have a flood of new podcasts coming soon including our second ever live show we jokingly called Crate Diggers Live 2: Second Blood. Also, check out episode 20 of Crate Diggers for our interview with Maze Koroma, also of the Renaissance Coalition, to further connect to the entire squad.

Our featured producers for episode 27 our guest, Bryce Lang and Ton Jungir’s brother, M.Y.BE4TZ. A true family affair here. Thank you both for providing a dope soundtrack for this episode.

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Welcome to episode 26 of Crate Diggers!

Crate Diggers is an audio podcast using vinyl records as a jumping off point for conversations between artists, created by the Space Gods, Crate Diggers host Verbz and his brother, Crate Diggers producer, Steez.

Episode 26 is part 2 of Crate Diggers Live! an event that took place on March 24th, 2016 at Kelly’s Olympian in Portland, Oregon. Part 1 featured a DJ set by Verbz as well as beat sets by past guest Samarei and Crate Diggers producer Steez. Part 2 is the second half of the event including our beat battle and a beat set by another past guest, Trox. Crate Diggers Live! set out to give a space to one of the more overlooked but important pieces to hip hop, the producer. Northwest beatsmiths: Rey Holliday, whose past work includes collaborations artists like HANiF and Jon Belz, Sir Chamberlain, producer of several of Northwest stalwart Tre Redeau‘s latest songs, and Nakyooes, formerly known as Deuxpamine, who recently produced much of Orwell Prophet for Austin Lawrence went 5 rounds beat for beat. The battle was judged by fellow producers and performers Trox, Steez, and Samarei. Before the winner is announced, you’ll hear a beat set by Portland’s best producer Trox. His work with Portland artists is outstanding and he’s crafted some of 50 Cent’s best songs since Get Rich or Die Trying. Check out his latest project with Rentals with rapper C+.

Help support Crate Diggers by subscribing on iTunes and leaving a review and donating on CrateDiggers.net! Look for more Crate Diggers soon. Special thank you to Bryan from Kelly’s Olympian for his work recording the live sound.

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Episode 25 of Crate Diggers is here!

On a very special Crate Diggers…we went live for the first time! Episode 25 was recorded live on March 24th, 2016 at Kelly’s Olympian in Portland, Oregon. Instead focusing on an interview with an artist, Crate Diggers Live! brought a few different elements together. Episode 25 includes an all vinyl, sample focused, DJ set by Crate Diggers host Verbz, a short DJ set by Crate Diggers producer Steez as well as a beat set including his own production and remixes, and a unique beat set incorporating a guitar as well as playing out beats on a Maschine by past Crate Diggers guest Samarei. Part 2 will include a beat battle between up-n-coming producers Nakyooes, Sir Chamberlain, and Rey Holliday as well as a monster beat set by Crate Diggers second ever guest, Trox. Look for Crate Diggers Live part 2 coming soon! Special thank you to Bryan from Kelly’s Olympian for the excellent work recording the live show.

Recently, Crate Diggers host, Verbz has had the pleasure of DJ’ing on shows with some legendary artists including Jay Electronica, BJ The Chicago Kid, Guilty Simpson, Black Milk, and Slum Village. As our live episode didn’t have our usual segment Life Lessons, we got a short but hysterical life lesson from none other than T3 of Slum Village. Thank you to T3 and raise it up for Dilla!

Subscribe to Crate Diggers on iTunes or your favorite podcasting app. Leave us a review and we’ll shout you out on the show. Crate Diggers is a totally independent endeavor, you can help support the show by donating on CrateDiggers.net.

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Welcome to episode 24 of Crate Diggers!

Crate Diggers is a music / interview podcast using vinyl records as a jumping off place for conversations between artists and other cool people. The cool people on episode 24 are the boys of the Haute Garbage Podcast. Last year, Andy of Haute Garbage reached out to us after finding Crate Diggers. I’ve been a guest twice on their show and always had a blast. We decided it was time to do a crossover episode. Andy, Drew, and their producer Nate all provided vinyl from their own collections for this episode and brought some of my favorite music to date with everyone bringing their own style to the table. Subscribe to Haute Garbage on iTunes and check out our favorite Portland podcast.

Our featured producer for episode 24 is Rhode Island beat monster Tecknowledgy. The 4 time iStandard winner has worked with artists like Mac Miller, Rapsody, Chevy Woods and many more well known artists. Thank you to Tecknowledgy for submitting beats for the show. Check out his music on YungCloud and follow him on Twitter and Instagram both as @TecknowledgyRI. If you’d like to be our featured producer, email samples of your beats, links to your music and social media, and a short bio to [email protected].

March 24th, Crate Diggers will be hosting our very first live episode at Kelly’s Olympian in Portland, Oregon. Crate Diggers Live! will feature beat sets by past Crate Diggers guests and Portland’s top producers Trox and Samarei as well as Crate Diggers co-creator and producer Steez. Along with the beat sets, we are having our first beat battle featuring more of Portland’s top talent including Rey Holliday, Sir Chamberlain, and Näkyo͞oəs. The whole night will be hosted and DJ’d by me (I’m Verbz) and will be released later as an episode of Crate Diggers. Check out our event page for more info!

–Verbz

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Welcome to episode 23 of Crate Diggers!

Crate Diggers is a music / interview podcast using vinyl records as a jumping off point for conversations between musicians and other cool people. Donnell Alexander falls under the second category of cool people. Donnell is currently working as a facilitator for Oregon Humanities. His most recent project is The Conversation Project: Northwest Mixtape, of which Crate Diggers host Verbz has played a part. Donnell is a writer at heart with credits in top tier publications from Time to ESPN to Huffington Post. His interview with MLB anti-hero Dock Ellis, Dock Ellis & the LSD No-No went viral and has been viewed over 4 million times. Donnell’s music history is deep, including his part in writing Rollin’ With Dre an inside look at Dr. Dre’s early solo career. He was a great guest for the podcast with incredible and asked for a playlist of unique songs playing out a narrative of his life.

Our featured producer for episode 23 of Crate Diggers is long time friend of the show, DJ Flip Flop. Flip Flop is a world class turntablist and often serves as the touring DJ for underground hip hop stalwarts, CunninLynguists. Look for an interview with him on Crate Diggers coming in the near future. You’ll also hear some beats by our producer Steez. Follow him on Soundcloud.

We’re very excited to announce Crate Diggers Live! For the very first time, we’re putting together a live edition of the podcast. The show will run quite differently from the podcast. Two producers and past Crate Diggers guests will be doing beat showcases and Space Gods producer, Steez will be doing his very first beat set as well. To top it off, there will be an up-n-coming producers battle featuring 3 Northwest producers competing for a cash prize and a future spot on the show. Verbz will be DJ’ing and hosting throughout the evening. It all goes down Thursday, March 24th at Kelly’s Olympian in Portland, OR. The show will cost just $5 to get in and will be 21 and over only. If you would like to be considered for the competition, email [email protected] a few beats and a short bio. Please send your entries in as soon as possible.

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Welcome to episode 22 of Crate Diggers!

Crate Diggers is a music / interview podcast using vinyl records as a jumping off point for conversations between artists and other cool people. Crate Diggers is hosted by long time DJ and record collector, Verbz and is engineered by his brother, veteran hip hop producer Steez. Our guest for episode 22 of Crate Diggers is Oakland rapper Brookfield Duece. After well publicized shows in Portland with Glenn Waco, Verbz and Brookfield connected for a show in San Francisco during his recent tour with Portland born, Cali living MC / producer Tope. Brookfield is a talented MC rapping over a variety of beats offering differing approaches to rapping, from catchy to thoughtful story songs. Check out his latest projects, September and Hoop Dreams, both released in 2015. This episode features vinyl from Verbz’s personal stash as requested by Brookfield Duece, including music by Notorious B.I.G., former NBA baller JR Rider, Cameo, and more. The music is Bay Area-centric, as it should be. We talk Bay area traditions, growing up in East Oakland, influential music, and talk a little about Brookfield Duece’s cousin, NBA All-Star and Rookie of The Year, Trail Blazer, Damian Lillard.

Each episode of Crate Diggers includes beats produced by producers from around the globe. Episode 22’s featured producer is Jahosh, a former guest producer on Crate Diggers and collaborative partner of our guest Brookfield Duece as well as Portland artists Jon Belz and Amine. Jahosh first started recording and producing out of his dorm at the University of Oregon in Eugene and after a short stent in Portland, Jahosh now resides in LA working at EngineEar Studios with TDE’s Derek “MixedByAli” Ali. Check out Jahosh on Soundcloud and follow him on Twitter.

Please subscribe and leave us a review on iTunes and donate to the show on CrateDiggers.net to help support the podcast. Also visit our friend`s website mapleleafonlinecasino.com. We would really appreciate the love and support. Bless!

–Verbz

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Welcome to episode 21 of Crate Diggers!

Crate Diggers is a music / interview podcast using vinyl records as a jumping off point for conversations between artists and other cool people. And Crate Diggers is a Space Gods production but who are the Space Gods? Verbz, a veteran DJ and artist and his brother Steez, a long time hip hop producer; together they are the Space Gods. The Space Gods Mission episodes of Crate Diggers feature Verbz and Steez sharing vinyl from their own collections and talking music, life, and other non-sense. And every Space God Mission…is recorded in space.

Episode 21 features Verbz and Steez sharing vinyl picked up during their latest journeys throughout the West Coast and the galaxy. Topics include the 2015 Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle, Washington and Verbz’s recent tour with Portland turned Oakland rapper, Tope. From classic samples from Graham Central Station and Roy Ayers to hip hop singles from NERD, Youngbloodz, and more; episode 21 of Crate Diggers has everything you need.

Our featured producer for episode 21 is 5th Sequence, a Northwest hip hop producer and long time friend of the podcast. Follow him on Twitter @5thSequence and check out his music on Soundcloud. Most of the rest of the beats featured on this episode were produced by Steez himself so follow him on Soundcloud as well while you’re there.

Thank you for listening to Crate Diggers. You can find more episodes and info on everyone involved on CrateDiggers.net and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or on your favorite podcast platform. PLEASE take a second to go to iTunes and leave us a review. Each review helps bring our podcast to new people. You can donate on CrateDiggers.net to help support the show and follow us on Twitter and Instagram on @Crate_Diggers.

–Verbz

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Welcome to episode 20 of Crate Diggers!

Our guest for episode 20 of Crate Diggers is Portland rapper, Maze Koroma of the Portland hip hop collective The Renaissance Coalition. Maze has had especially memorable performances at Portland monthly hip hop event, The Thesis and as a crew, The Renaissance Coalition are being noted for their creative music and art. Maze chose a list of 10 songs important to him and Verbz provided the vinyl for this episode. During the interview, fellow Ren Co rapper Zoo? chimes in a few times as well.

Each episode includes a featured producer and guest producers to help provide the soundtrack for an episode. For episode 20, our featured producer is Richmond, VA’s Swank Noire. Swank first submitted beats as a guest producer but we enjoyed his stuff so much that we asked him to be the featured producer for this episode. Find his music on Soundcloud and follow Swank on Twitter @_xSwankNoire. Our guest producers for this episode are Buddy Hall (Soundcloud) apparently repping Brazil. Vagrant (Soundcloud) out Aberdeen, Scotland. And last but not least, SLOTH.TOES aka SLOTHRA (Soundcloud) repping COMABOYS right here in the Northwest. Shout out to his girl MoodyMoons for listening to the show! As usual, our in-house producer Steez also laid down some of his beats for the episode.

Catch Verbz & Tope on the road on the Catch Me While You Can tour along the West Coast. More info available on itstope.com and Verbz’s Twitter. Also pick up the latest beat tape from Tope entitled FREE LEMONADE 2 available on Bandcamp. You can subscribe to Crate Diggers on iTunes and find more info and episodes on CrateDiggers.net. Leave us a review on iTunes and we’ll shout you out on the show! Thanks for listening.

–Verbz

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