While in the process of planning and creating this very website, I, Scrilla Most Illest, had vowed to myself that I would try my best not to use this platform to talk about my personal opinions or feelings. However, my take on the subject of bootlegs within the Memphis rap scene may be somewhat valuable, given the amount of time, money, and effort I have obviously dedicated — first to myself, and second to others — in creating a Memphis rap audio archive/library.
Once I got sick and tired of YouTube channels like Tha Darkside Muzik, Underground Threat, Underground Rap Collector, and of course my own page The Rap Collector being unfairly taken down by artists going after copyright claims, I immediately became interested in having an archive of my own. So hypothetically speaking, when the internet is down or YouTube ads are driving me crazy, I can just pop in an old-school cassette of some of my favorite albums from my own collection.
Sounds cool, right?
Another driving reason for me to seek these tapes was, of course, the high probability that they would sound way better than anything online — especially on YouTube. With that in mind, I began setting money aside and browsing places like Discogs and eBay daily, hoping to score a classic.
Back in the early stages of my collection in 2020, I used a very valuable site called valueyourmusic.com. This site is essentially an archive for all music-related releases sold on eBay since 2015. I made sure to study and scroll through every bit of information thoroughly — learning about how much tapes were going for, who sold them, and most importantly, how they looked.
While it can be easy to get discouraged in a search for very rare Memphis releases, the archive on Value Your Music gave me just enough hope that there are truly people out there who hold these tapes and will sell them eventually — albeit quickly.
Some of the first tapes I purchased were also some of the worst. In my first year or two, I had little to no quality control when it came to buying these. I had devoted myself to building an archive, and to pass up a possible HQ release was never an option. This resulted in me being what many people would call “scammed” — essentially paying upwards of $100–$250 per tape.
To me, however, I could care less. I loved Three 6 Mafia, Trauma Center Killaz, Cloud 9 Click, and so many countless others. And to own a physical copy from any of these artists was enough for me — bootleg or not.
While I was mainly focused on my personal music career, I also started an Instagram page in 2021 after amassing a large collection — with plans to one day use the following to promote my personal projects. While I never wanted to post on social media, the pressure I got from other collectors — doing the same and showing off — led me to start creating Memphis rap-centered posts.
While it started small, I always knew that consistency is the goal with anything. And to this day, I still upload at least once a week, covering a specific release or artist.
Regardless of that, once my following grew, so did my collection. At times I would feel like I had to buy more tapes just to keep up with my own weekly goals and posts. And to answer this age-old question — in pursuit of helping each of you out individually who may be reading this — most of my tapes came from eBay, Discogs, and private sellers.
But I also browsed places like Etsy and Mercari, while more underground sites like Throwdown Records, Goosebumps Records, and Finn.no pretty much always had Memphis rap tapes available for sale.
Of course, knowing people goes a long way as well. For example, Goosebumps Records in Finland was pickup only. In that case, I had already built a small following of people worldwide, so I messaged some Finnish followers on Instagram — who were down to drive to the store and pick up the desired tapes I wanted, and ship them to the States (of course with some extra incentive). These kinds of gestures along the way helped build this library I have today. (Thank you DJ Larry Blunt!)
In pursuit of creating this website beginning in 2023, I started to offload some of my older and less-desirable tapes — since I didn’t want to advertise the lowest-quality bootlegs on my own personal site when it came time to do so.
Of course, the entire community didn’t take kindly to this. My eBay was repeatedly flagged, suspended, and bombarded with hate mail — as if I was some grown man creating, selling, and profiting off other people’s work.
When in reality, I had bought these same tapes from eBay just years earlier — and now I was being accused of making them by the same platform I bought them from.
Which brings me to what may be the most important aspect (in my opinion) of all this personal “Mumbo Jumbo tape BS”: the simple fact that the vast majority of Memphis rap tapes are not “OG.”
While the term “OG” isn’t definitive and definitely differs from person to person, I think an OG tape is one officially released and endorsed by the artist themselves — which in reality only lasted, maybe, a month at most back in the ’90s.
Especially given how low the budgets were, many OG tapes were produced in runs of only 50 to 250 copies. If you weren’t Spanish Fly, DJ Paul, Juicy J, or DJ Squeeky, the bar for what’s considered “authentic” narrows significantly. And I knew this, even as a 20-something year old. I didn’t want to wait 5 to 10 years hoping I could find an original version of my favorite release — just for it to sound terrible, not work, or get sold before I even saw it (which is most likely what would happen).
Especially in a genre where there’s no clear definition of what’s “OG” and what’s a “bootleg.” In my opinion, underground Memphis rap is easily the most bootlegged genre of rap, period. There were tons of different sources — from stereo shops to former artists and random fans in their houses — “bootlegging” their own Memphis rap tapes. Even in the 1990s, it was already difficult to find an original.
That leads me to this point: at the end of it all, I just wanted to simulate walking into a store and buying some of my favorite releases on cassette. And since the majority of Memphis rap consumers in the 1990s were limited to these “bootlegs,” I saw no reason to limit myself by only buying “OGs.”
And I’m incredibly grateful that I didn’t set out to only buy “OGs” or keep the plastic on every release — because if I had, I wouldn’t be able to create a permanent HQ audio archive of this legendary genre online.
One last final note, since this blog post was way more personal than the rest:
Thank you to anyone and everyone like Cptjagger, Sykosounds, DJ Larry Blunt, TripleJ222, and anyone else reading this on my personal site. It’s still extremely early in the operation — but I’ve already ripped about 50 classic releases. And if things go well, I expect to put up at least 200 more on my YouTube channel.
One final, final note, regarding bootlegs. I always knew that by putting myself in the limelight as a collector. I would have to walk on egg shells regarding the conversation of authenticity in your collection. And since I was born in 2000, I also vowed that I would NEVER EVER say one of my tapes were real or authentic. Since, I wasn’t there at the time of release. I only state this now as a way to simply dispel anyone who says that I would lie & claim that I have “OG’s” to sell to the unsuspecting.
Much love,
Scrilla Most Illest