Wednesday, August 1, 2018

A Conversation with Eothen "Egon" Alapatt About Protecting J. Dilla's Musical Legacy, the Current State of Hip Hop, and Looking For Lost Musical Gems All Over the World


Eothen "Egon" Alapatt is the guest on this week's episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show.  

He is the founder and president of Now-Again Records, the reissue imprint he founded in 2002. He oversees all of the label’s reissues and manages a vast catalog of music from the 1950s through the present day, with a focus on the mid-1960s through the mid-1980s. He is the creative director of the J. Dilla Estate and is partners with Madlib in Madlib Invazion. Eothen was also Stones Throw Records’ general manager from 2000 until 2011. He is also one of the world's foremost record collectors--aka "crate diggers"--of lost funk, soul, hip hop, rock, and other music.  

During this episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show, Eothen and Chauncey discuss the hidden roots of hip hop music and culture in New Haven, Connecticut, their parallel experiences growing up there and all of the important and fascinating hip hop gatekeepers and personalities they encountered outside of the New York City area.

Eothen also shares some stories about digging for lost musical gems all over the United States and world, the current state of commercial hip hop, the commodification of "world music", and what has been lost in the transition from analog to digital culture. And of course, Eothen reflects on J. Dilla's musical legacy.

In this week's episode, Chauncey DeVega updates everyone on his travels which included some critical self-reflection, an imminent big decision, encountering a ghost, falling in love twice, eating too much, seeing dear friends, the financial obligations of only children, Mama DeVega's nagging and how he needs to be a better son.  

And at the end of this week's show Chauncey is simultaneously titillated and upset by white racist Republicans who are into Bigfoot Porn and other interspecies erotica.

This episode with Eothen "Egon" Alapatt can be downloaded from Libsyn and also listened to here.


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