Amir Said Soul Review Colored Vinyl Edition

Strictly limited edition of 300 copies on colored vinyl of this early 2000 nugget from NYC!

Here's the story of Amir Said's "Soul Review":

At the end of 2000, it all began to come together for me. My beatmaking skills had finally caught up with my rhyming skills, and within months, i would make "Milk" the song that would give me my first real level of recognition. In 2001, my freind Tammy was working at Daddy's House Recording Studio (the recording home of Bad Boy Records). Since she regularly came in contact with top producers, rappers, and other music professionals, i made a demo (on CD), and gave it to her to share with those whom i believed would like my music. Aside from "Milk", the demo included two other songs.

Tammy would call me from the studio, tell me who was there, then ask if it was OK to let them hear my demo. Often, i'd say no. I had concerns about who exactly heard it. One day in 2002, Tammy, let someone hear my demo against my wishes. She told me that not only did she let Tony Touch hear my demo, but that he asked to have it, so she gave it to him! Before i could erupt in anger, she told me that Tony said, "Tell him i said Milk is a MONSTER! And that i'm going to put it on my next mixtape." A few weeks later, Tony Touch dropped his mixtape #69 - Just Bring It!, and i was on it. My song "Milk" being listed as an exclusive! Taking a cue from Tony Touch's co-sign, i made nine new songs in two weeks. Togerther with "Milk", these songs would become my first album, Soul Review.

Several months after i dropped Soul Review, and after i had caught some street buzz in New York, i got a call from Marcus Logan, then VP of Marketing at Arista / Star Trak Entertainment. He wanted to by my manager. After a series of phone conferences, Marcus told me that he had worked up three record deals for me: 1) An album deal with Arista; 2) A single deal with Motown; 3) A development deal with Artist Direct that would land siginificant upfront money. But rather that pusure any of those opportunities, i told Marcus that i was no longer interested in obtaining a major label deal, that i had opted for an independant path. My goal was to make music on my own terms and, more impotantly, to write books and start a book publishing company. So i walked away from those deals. A couple of months later, i sold out every vinyl and CD copy of the initial press run of Soul Review. And using the money from thos record sales, i started my publishing company, Superchamp Books.

Since then, i've written six books, including The BeatTips Manual, the #1 book on the art and history of beatmaking, and The Art Of Sampling, the world's #1 book on sampling and copyright law. I've also created and published the Best Damn Hip Hop Writing series, which features the work of the best writers in hip hop culture; and i've published Ghetto Brother, the memoir of Benjy Melendez, the founder of the 1970s South Bronx street gang the Ghetto Brothers. 18 years later, i'm happy with the path that i've chosen. A path that now includes new life for Soul Review, thanks to HHV.

- Amir Said, 2020