LadyLee Retreats Part III: Adventures in Bootlegging

Okay, like I was saying...

While some of the ladies were doing their yoga thang in the living room...

And while some of the ladies were in the kitchen, preparing Saturday evenings dinner of chicken corn chowder, chicken lasagna, and vegetable lasagna...

...There was some SERIOUS bootleg going on in the back bedroom, in the bedroom that I shared with my roommate "Kee-Kee".



See, what had happened was...

Well, let me back it up a day.

When we arrived at our cabin, there was music playing on the stereo. Some pretty good old school mixes, I must say. So good that I didn't even bother pulling out my laptop or the set of mega speakers I'd brought with me. I decided to sit back and relax. Several of the ladies were, um, sippin' MUCH wine and were dancing a bit hard. That's just how good the music was.

So I started getting all kinds of questions on Saturday...

"LadyLee, that music was good last night! Were those your CDs?"

"Um, no," I replied.

"LadyLee, can I get a copy of that CD that was playing last night?"

"Um, those weren't my CDs. And I have no idea whose CDs they were," I answered.

I really didn't know whose CDs they were. I was silently wondering to myself if I could catch up with whoever brought them and rip a couple of them.

Well, I didn't think much about it. All I know is that i didn't have to take care of the music, and that was fine by me.

So on Saturday afternoon, I was off in the back bedroom relaxing, engrossed in a book. My laptop was sitting on the dresser and I was burning a few CDs that had been requested by a few of the ladies.

In walks my roommate Kee-Kee.

She starts busily fumbling through a stack of CDs in blue jewel cases. I didn't pay her much attention until she hit through there for the third time, and she started bringing people with her.

*Ladylee peering curiously over her eyeglasses at the action*

When we were alone, and she was still fumbling through those CDs, I got nosy.

"Kee-Kee, what are you doing?"

"Looking through these CDs."

"What CDs do you have?"

"Oh, my boyfriend is a DJ, and he made a few CDs."

So that's where the CDs that were playing on the CD player in our cabin's living room were coming from.

I threw my book on the bed and went over to the dresser where my laptop was charging and where she had her CDs stacked.

"What you got, girl?"

"I got a bunch of stuff. My man said 'Yo, you going to that retreat this weekend, right?' I said yeah. He said, 'I need you to push some of that product for me.'"

"Really?" I asked, my eyebrows raised in pure wonderment and awe.

Now the "product" that he was talking about was a load of bootleg CDs. I started fumbling through some of her stuff. She had it ALL: oldschool classics, juke joint music, babymaker music (you know, that old slow stuff), jazz, house.

She had it ALL!

And she was selling out, at a rate of five bucks a CD. I watched a couple of transactions. It got to a point where we didn't really know what was on what CD, so I had the laptop handy.

"LadyLee, play this CD right here so we can figure out what's on it," Kee-Kee ordered.

I did what she said.

I was a bit scared, though. I was afraid our leader Kat would come in and bust us and beat us down. But Kat was busy in the front room doing yoga.

Every time the bedroom door open, you could best believe I was catching a crook in my neck trying to see who it was.

"Yo, close that door," I whispered loudly.

Now, I don't sell my CDs. I made it known when I got there that I had all my stuff with me, so if anyone wanted CDs should just let me know, and I will see if I had anything they wanted. As a matter of fact I had arrived with two CDs worth of Run DMC's greatest hits for the Oldschool loving Viv, and a Chaka Khan compilation and Disco CD for our leader Kat.

I make CDs for fun. And I know how I am. If a sista try to come back complaining about a bootleg CD that I sold to them, I am liable to knock them upside the head (LOL!!). I've never had anyone come back and complain about a FREE CD and that's the way that I like it. If I made a mistake, fine... Throw that ish away (like I do constantly), give me a call, and I will gladly hook you up that next time I see you! No problem, er'body happy!

But you know how peeps can get. I don't ever want to have the attitude where I HAVE to go make CDs. That'll piss me off. So for me, it is something I do for fun.

Anyway Kee-Kee was making much bread.

"Girl, my man DJs, writes poetry, writes manuscripts, and details cars. I gotta push this product. This is our date money!"

Heck he do all that? I don't blame her. I would be pushing the product too!

"Yo girl," I asked, while looking through some of her CDs. "You gonna hook me up, right? You got me, right?"

She nodded.

I was a CD ripping fool. I ripped from her and several other people that weekend. I added approximately 300 songs to my playlist.

When the Oldgirl catches a hook-up, she catches a HOOK-UP!!!

Really though!!

As you can see, we had all we needed. Kee-Kee even sipped some white wine, white Zinfadel, whatever was in the wine glass, during this process. I brought about 80 blank CDs with me, a half a box of CD sleeves. I think I ended up making about 30 CDs total for the ladies. I even ended up burning a couple extra for Kee-Kee when she ran out of the more popular bootlegs.

The most popular CD that I made that weekend was one that I made for the Supa STAR. She was talking about needing something to help her get her freak on or something. Anyway, on Saturday night she came up with her own custom CD, and I made it for her. (We argued a lot over this... Much of it was me yelling "STAR, could you act like you got some sense and please write the right title and artist down for me!? Damn!") A heavy card game was going on around that time (upcoming post), and more people requested it. So I think I made a total of 6 copies of this one here:

Supa STAR's Slow Grooves

Cause I Love You- Lennie Williams
Would You Mind - Earth, Wind, and Fire
Sail On - Commodores
Voyage to Atlantis - The Isley Brothers
If Only You Knew - Patti Labelle
Love, Need and Want You - Patti Labelle
Love's Train - Con Funk Shun
Fire and Desire - Rick James and Tina Marie
Reasons (Live Version) - Earth, Wind, and Fire
You are My Starship - Norman Conners
Adore - Prince
Choosey Lover - The Isley Brothers
Piece of my Love - Guy

Overall, we had much fun pushing product!

Now when I think of all the money I could have made on this trip?

Nah, I don't even want to THINK about it... LOL!