Notes from the Underdog

Murder Dog Magazine
(Vol. 15, Number 3)

First, some Murder Dog purchasing tips: as covered by the last mention of MD in these html pages, never subscribe to Murder Dog. The cheap price is tempting, and the seeming convenience too, but the magazine is an inconsistent quarterly. It doesn't come out every three months or four months... it doesn't come out every anything. It comes out every time its been so goddam long since the last one that you're sure the company has folded. And they won't mail you every issue you order. No Matter What. You will somehow be shorted.

You need to find a local store that carries the mag. In Ann Arbor I bought copies at Border's. In NY, Tower. In SF, Green Apple. None of these cities (as far as I can tell) have more than one MD vendor. When you do find a vendor, buy two copies of every issue. That way you can use a razor blade to cut out the best fullpage ads or keep one mint copy to sell on Ebay in 2022.

Now, notes from this Quarter's Dog:

First, I'm happy as hell to see the return of regional focus (specials on MI & Jackson, Mississippi) & regular record reviews. The new age/tribal aspect & Midwest white rapper feat.s have returned to safe enough levels that I can regard it as one of the Dog's lovable idiosyncrasies. Cover images of Soul Jazz Records' Spirits of Life compilation and Slamet A. Sjukur's Angklung Group record surprised me and I'm glad to see a magazine that shares my belief in a spirit-blood connection between Rap and Gamelan.

Stone from D-Boyz on Soulja Slim: I want to tell you a story of my first experience with Murderdog. I respect a lot of magazines, but before my dog Soulja Slim died he walked up to me on Washington when the projects was still up. He jumped out of his truck and gave me the cover issue of Murder Dog that he was on right before he got killed. I still got that issue in my hand right now. This is the same copy that he actually gave me.

Glasses Malone on Sonic the Hedgehog: When I was a kid I used to write video game stories. I was in 5th grade when I would use characters from video games and create stories about them. Like, Mario would meet Sonic in different situations. I used to make copies because other kids in my class would want a copy which I would sell for 75 cents.

Haystak on Audio Pirates and exponential filetypes: Right Now all artists are takin hits because you are still leaking MP3s. My point is you find yourself in a position of clinging to life. A lot of cats don't get off that operating table because it's hard. It's not a kid's responsibility to not download music. We are the music industry and its our job to create an MP30 or 300 or whatever...when I was a kid we walked in the stores and busted them out of them anti-theft things and stuck them in our pocket.