R.I.P Matthew Africa

Long before Matthew and I started corresponding, I was a fan of his mixes so it blew me away that thee master of records himself would ever read my rambling mess of a blog when he first popped up in the comment section here dropping Werner Herzog-related Rap puns. As well as his mixes and our chats about music, movies and blogger gossip, I loved that Matthew was a white guy with the surname Africa, the way he provided the perfect counterbalance to Serg Dunn's noxiousness on the Stay Hatin' podcasts, and the fact that he was the only person on the internet who could tell me that Bailey's Fuck Yo' Couch and Play It Loud by KLC, Fiend & Calicoe were released on 12" and I'd believe him without a second's hesitation despite their absence from Discogs. He was that dude.

Over the past decade it's become tragically uncool to be a 30-something white guy into old Rap records due to the unholy triumvirate of Wicked22, AC Tha Program Director and Jaz, so Matthew was an inspirational figure for me in that he proved you don't suddenly wake up as an autistic Dooley-O fan in a camouflage Jansport on the morning of your 35th birthday if you still enjoy digging for wax, and if you ever found a record he wasn't already familiar with, you felt like a champ because you knew you'd gotten your hands on some legitimately slept-on shit. That said, the highest honour I can possibly pay Matthew is that he put me onto my favourite new old-Rap song I've heard in the past 5 years, and listening to it now has me weeping buckets for the first time since the "Am I a man or am I a Muppet? scene in the Muppet movie. Thanks, buddy :

The Deliquents ft. B-Legit & Richie Rich - Bitch N*ggas
(From Bosses Will Be Bosses album; 1999)