DJ ECLIPSE

We also had an issue with artists selling mixtapes directly outside the store. It was annoying. We were cool with most of them. It was an ongoing battle where a lot of them didn’t get our point of view. I understood their point of view: If they put their record in Fat Beats, it’s not going to get the attention it’s gonna get if one person is pushing one record all day long. I understand they’re gonna get more sales selling directly hand-to-hand in the street. The other side is, if they’re gonna do it standing directly outside our door, they actually deterred people from coming in.

People told me there were times when even if they were just walking down the street, not even coming to the store, they’d cross over to the other side of 6th Avenue just to not be bothered by them. I don’t think those sellers ever understood how bad they were for our business.

JOSEPH ABAJIAN

They’d harass a lot of people. I think a lot of suburban people from out of town didn’t want to deal with the headaches. I had DJs and artists tell me it was a problem. Funkmaster Flex would come to the store once in a while and he’d get harassed like crazy.

I remember I went to the police, because the police were so aggressive against white people into hip-hop during that era, and they just started arresting kids. I was like, “That wasn’t my intention – just get them away from here!” Then I told them to back down, because they’re just trying to sell their stuff.

DAN GOLDBERG

Percee P was always friendlier. I think because Percee had done it for so long he figured out how to do it successfully and also coexist with what Fat Beats was about.

EVIL DEE

You’d have Percee P downstairs selling his tapes. I got a lot of old school tapes from Percee P.

PERCEE P

I used to stand right by the window of the Bagel Buffet and I’d maybe carry a radio with me and a bag of CDs and tapes. That’s what I did. I put my radio up on the little balcony outside the store and had my knapsack of CDs and tapes to sell. I met Jurassic 5, and Stones Throw met me [when I was] pushing product to them.

On an average day I’d sell like 40, 50 copies. I’d come out there early, maybe like around 1 PM, and leave when the store closed. I eventually bought my own CD burner once I did the song with Jurassic 5 [“A Day at the Races”]. I was out in France and Madlib told me the stuff I was pushing on the streets was getting out there and being bootlegged. It was a big thing for me to be there [outside Fat Beats].

The Bagel Buffet people was cool with me ’cause every day I made sure to buy stuff from them – they never had any problems with me. I’d tell people to go there and try and support the business ‘cause they let me stand out there.