Category: Catalog

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Orange Mound’s mid-90’s dope dealing soundtrack, Lil Ced’s debut. Essential Memphis Rap..

This multiple LP series on Now-Again Records attempts to capture Memphis and its underground rap scene as it began to produce some of the most distinctive music of the ’90s.

This was a unique hip hop strain – visceral and often vicious. It was a local, low-fi, cassette-tape based movement – yet it went on to change the course of rap music.

These albums have never been pressed on vinyl – until now. From Skinny Pimp and Carmike to Gangsta Blac and Shawty Pimp, these albums have been relegated to the proverbial bins of history and bootlegged, with unofficial copies still fetching top dollar on the secondary market. These albums were all licensed directly from their original creators, and come on black vinyl with artist-approved imagery for their first LP iterations.

You can read the story of the Memphis Rap scene in a 12-page, oversized booklet with notes by Torii MacAdams. It captures the story of Memphis rap starting with the city’s founding and ending with an auto supply shop that sold these albums over the counter, with all points in between.

“This is important, to really know the honesty and truth about how far it goes down in Memphis… and who is responsible, and who did things…. Things can be deleted – things that need to known, you feel me? We are reassured of having a purpose, and being a part of this important scene. You know how the game is.” – Gangsta Blac

Tracklist:

1. On That Grind
2. G-Life (ft. 211 & Big Blac)
3. R.I.P. (ft. Shay-D)
4. In Tha Game
5. Dreamin (ft. 211 & Z-Dog)
6. Money Mac Murder (ft. 211 & Big Hill)
7. Playin By Tha Rules
8. Gotta Keep My Head Together (ft. 211, Z-Dog & Terry Sraughter)
9. Ghetto Gangster (ft. 211 & Z-Dog)
10. Big Boy Shit (ft. 211, Z-Dog & Big Hill)
11. No Hate’n (ft. 211, Gangsta Boo & Z-Dog)
12. Wanna Get 2 Know U
13. Snitches-N-Bitches (ft. 211 & Z-Dog)
14. Anticipation Of A Murder (ft. Geto Natives & Blake Franklin)
15. Freestyles (ft. Kingpin Skinny Pimp & Lil Gin)

Credits:

Produced by Lil Ced, Kingpin Skinny Pimp, and Chill Will
Executive Produced by Lil Ced
Licensed by Lil Ced
This Reissue produced by Eothen Alapatt and Torii MacAdams
Original design by Blake Frnaklin for Street Level Graphics
Original Photography by Alfonzo Canady
Recorded and Mixed at GSD and Icy White, Memphis by Skinny Pimp
Original Mastering by Larry Nix
Featuring Willie Triggs on Keyboards and Blake Franklin on Guitar
All songs published by Lil Ced Publishing
Originally issued on Icywhite Records CD IWR-7021 in 1997
Reissue art direction by Errol F. Richardson
Restoration and remastering by Jason Bitner

LP. 2025. NA5253.

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The lost album by Rodney Stepp’s Rapture ensemble. Unreleased Sweet Soul and Disco Funk from mid-70s Indianapolis, featuring members of Amnesty, Midnight Star, and The Spinners.

Rapture’s story told in great detail in liner notes written by Naptown historian Kyle Long.

A photo in Rodney Stepp’s scrapbook sums this period in his life in music.

It’s 1974, The Spinners were headliners at the “Zaire 74” music festival, a sideshow to Muhammad Ali’s fabled “Rumble in the Jungle” fight with George Foreman. Among the faded snapshots, there’s a picture of Stepp backstage posing arm in arm with Ali; another image shows The Greatest seated at Stepp’s Fender Rhodes alongside vocalist Etta James.

It was all a dream for this Naptown Wunderkind, who had previously recorded for Herb Miller’s LAMP Records as the Diplomatics and had issued the sweet soul killer “Young Girl” as Jazzie Cazzie and the Eight Sounds on a rare Knaptown 45.

But as exciting as his rise out of those local status was, as exciting as it was to headline festivals and arenas and appear on late night talk shows, Stepp grew restless with the mechanical routine of being a sideman.

He grew tired of playing the same charts night after night.

He was hungry for a creative outlet that mimicked his earliest days in recorded music. So, in 1978, Stepp left The Spinners and returned to Indianapolis, where he established an all-star group of musicians – including members of Jazzie Cazzie and the fabled Amnesty – and he named the band Rapture.

They inspired countless others. They recorded an album’s worth of material. This is the first time it is seeing the light of day, a triumphant, late career moment for Stepp and a cause for celebration of those intrigued by deep, sweet soul and disco funk.

Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds:

“Rodney was the guy that played with The Spinners. He was one of the musicians that had made it out of Indianapolis. Rodney was a step ahead of us because of that. The group that started to rise above everyone was Rapture. They started to take over.

When I look at my journey, and Rodney’s journey, I see two guys from the same town that took two different routes…. in one sense Rodney is every bit as successful as I am. Because he’s been able to make a living with music. He’s been able to play with people that he respects and he’s played with major artists everywhere. Most importantly, he’s been able to do what he loves.”

Tracklist:

1. In My Life
2. Playing Around
3. Do You Wanna
4. Turn On Your Funk-A-Phizor
5. The Beat Won’t Leave You Hangin’
6. On the Way to the World
7. Happiness Is
8. Send My Love
9. Oh I Love You So
10. Down at the Disco
11. Let Me Put It In Your Ear
12. Errol Flynn

Personnel:

All songs written by Rodney Stepp, with contributions on select tracks by Lonnie Williams, Rodney Vorhis and Harry Eaton.

Published by Brooks Street Music, ASCAP.

Harry Eaton: Drums
Tony Hayes: Percussion and Lead Vocals
Lonnie Williams: Guitar and Lead Vocals
Rodney Vorhis: Bass and Vocals
Alphonso Surrett: Vocals
Rodney Stepp: Keys and Lead Vocals

Original sessions produced by Rodney Stepp, with horn and string arrangements by Rodney Stepp and Jesus Wayne.

Recorded by Rob Bennett and Jim Duncan in 1977 at Mantra Recording Studio, Chicago IL.

Produced for issue by Eothen Alapatt, with associate production – and liner notes – by Kyle Long.
Production coordination by Tanner McCrary.
Tape transfers by Jeff Gardner and Eothen Alapatt.
Restoration and remastering by Jason Bitner.
Art direction by Errol F. Richardson

LP, Digital. 2025. NA5285.

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Arabic Pop, Oriental Funk, Jazz Fusion and Experimental Synth: the birth of the modern Lebanese musical adventure, presented as a survey spanning the high points of two decades of releases on the groundbreaking Voix De L’Orient label.

Those profiled include Egyptian guitarist Omar Khorshid, maverick producer/arranger/composer Elias Rahbani, mysterious talents like Nicolas Dick and Robert Maalouf and the father of the label’s founder, Abdallah Chahine, a pianist of immense talent.

As told in detailed liner notes by DJ, music researcher and legacy-keeper Ernesto Chahoud and Natalie Shooter, this period of Lebanese music formed the soundtrack to the city of Beirut during its multiple transformations, from its 1950s to 1960s heyday as ‘the Switzerland of the Orient’ through to the mid 1970s and 1980s, when it soundtracked the tragic days of the Lebanese Civil War.

Tracklist:

1. Abdallah Chahine – Nakreese – Taqsim: Hawwil Ya Ghannam
2. Munir Bachir – Shurud
3. Tony Frangier & Setrak Sarkissian – Azef El-leyl
4. Robert Maalouf – Anna W Leil
5. Nicholas Dick – Un Voix Qui M’Apelle
6. Jacques Kodjian – Bent El-Shalabiya
7. Elias Rahbani – Dance of Maria
8. Adib Abou Antoun – Addayer
9. Georgette Sayegh – Yay Yay Ya Nassini
10. Mohamed “Mike” Hegazi & His Golden Guitar – Nouni
11. Emaad Sayyah – Mazoufat Nagham
12. Omar Kourshid – Arrissassa

Credits:

This anthology produced by Ernesto Chahoud, Natalie Shooter and Eothen Alapatt.
Licensed by the late Abdallah Chahine and his family’s label, Voix De L’Orient.
Liner notes by Ernesto Chahoud.
Production coordination & vinyl transfers by Tanner McCrary.
Restoration and remastering by Jason Bitner.
Art direction by Errol Richardson.

LP. 2025. NA5278.

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Unreleased disco and boogie from Dayton, Ohio’s Record Player. Their full album, collating both sides of their rare 45 with more killer music recorded in the late ’70s, unreleased until now.

In 1979, Record Player privately pressed and issued a solitary 45 on their Gem City Records imprint in Dayton, Ohio. Though they had recorded a host of other songs, and were on the verge of signing to a major label, their trajectory stalled and the band splintered by the early 1980s.

In the early 2000s, Record Player principle Charles Jackson surfaced with their unreleased songs. To date, only two Record Player songs have been reissued, as part of Now-Again’s long-running Soul Cal series. Now, the entirety of their oeuvre is presented here as Free Your Mind, and their story detailed in words by Bret Sjerven.

This is a special release for us at Now-Again, and will be perfect for any fan of the deep disco scene that birthed the likes of Luther Davis, Edge of Daybreak, Tomorrow’s People, Split Decision Band, and so many others issued by us, Numero Group, and other like minded labels.

Contains oversized booklet with notes by historian Bret Sjerven, detailing the Record Player’s story and the history of the Ohio soul music scene that allowed for their rise.

Tracklist:

1. Free Your Mind
2. Your Fantasy
3. Nursery Rhymes
4. Magic
5. Funky Bone
6. Backup N Funktown
7. Bump-a-rump Ability
8. Crisis
9. Brass Tacks Boogie (Bonus Track)
10. Sweetest Thing (Bonus Track)
11. Go (Bonus Track)

Personnel:

Bass – Lamar Webster
Drums, Percussion – Keith Nash
Guitar – Dallas Webster, Delbert Jones
Lead Vocals – Charles Jackson
Saxophone, Keyboards – Charles Cedell Carter
Trombone – Michael Jennings
Trumpet – Larry Kidd
Organ – Sam Carter
Producer – Eothen Alapatt
Production Manager – Tanner McCrary
Art Direction – Errol F. Richardson
Restoration, Remastered By – Jason Bitner
Liner Notes – Bret Sjerven

“Free Your Mind” and “Nursery Rhymes” originally released in 1979 on Gem City Records 101, Dayton, Ohio. “Your Fantasy” originally released in 2005 on Soul-Cal Records SCR-106, Los Angeles, California. All other selections previously unreleased.

LP, Digital. 2025. NA5283.

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Black Vinyl LP (Now-Again’s Officially Sanctioned 2025 Record Store Day Release)

The first commercial release of Ngozi Family drummer and vocalist Chrissy Zebby Tembo’s promotional-only second album. Featuring Paul Ngozi.

INCLUDES OVERSIZED, 8 PAGE BOOKLET THAT DETAILS PAUL NGOZI AND THE NGOZI FAMILY’S ARC, INCLUDING RARE PHOTOGRAPHS, DISCOGRAPHY AND ANNOTATION.

“Zambia’s Zamrock movement that exploded in the 1970s … provided young musicians access to European and American music, and created a unique sound. At its root, Zamrock melded fuzz-toned psychedelia, chugging garage rock and roiling funk with a broad mix of African cadences and beats…. enlivening a scene that included bands like Musi O Tunya, Amanaz and the Ngozi Family.” — The New York Times

Zamrock was a bona-fide rock scene, with albums released through independent labels based in Zambia. This music scene was complete, encompassing the genres of rock, acid folk, fusion, Afro-beat, South African jazz and traditional Zambian melodies. It quickly became a uniquely Zambian movement, befitting of its name. WITCH, Paul Ngozi and Amanaz sound nothing like other rock music from the African continent or elsewhere.

Now-Again has been reissuing the essential records from the Zamrock scene since 2010. This is the first commercial release of Ngozi Family drummer and vocalist Chrissy Zebby Tembo’s promotional-only second album and is part of an extensive campaign centered around Paul Ngozi and his band.

Tracklist:

1. Mad-matron
2. Atatue Inu
3. Well Up People
4. Mulungo Atate
5. You Are So Lazy
6. Untrusted Dad
7. Muno Muziko
8. I Chose To Die
9. I Am Not Made Of Iron

Personnel:

Paul Ngozi – Guitar, Vocals
Tommy Mwale – Bass, Backing Vocals
Chrissy Zebby Tembo – Drums, Vocals

Album produced by Chris Siwila Ndhlovu and Chrissy Zebby Tembo.
Produced for issue by Egon.
Engineer – Detlef Degener.
All numbers composed by Chrissy Zebby Tembo and Paul Ngozi and arranged by The Ngozi Family.
Cover design by Errol F. Richardson.
Restoration and Remastering by Jason Bitner.
Production Coordination by Tanner McCrary.

LP, Digital. 2025 Record Store Day. NA5274.