As a bay area resident (by way of New York), Ren the Vinyl Archaeologist made his mark by curating top notch events featuring hip hop legends and supporting independent artists from the Bay and beyond. In 2000, his True Skool events won the "Best of the Bay" in the SF Bay Guardian. Ren has appeared on numerous publications, such as the XLR8R, 7x7, SF Weekly, SF Examiner, Mugshot and SF Magazine, to name a few. Since True Skool's inception in 1999, his online magazine and newsletter has served as a resource that covers hip hop history, politics, emerging artists and events. As a DJ, he has shared bills with world-renowned artists such as Grandmaster Flash, Jazzy Jeff, Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, Kool DJ Red Alert, Q-Bert, Cut Chemist, DJ Premier, Wu-Tang Clan, Lupe Fiasco, Black Thought (The Roots), Ali Shaheed Muhammad (A Tribe Called Quest), Michael Franti & Spearhead, Blackalicious, Lyrics Born, Masta Ace, Biz Markie, Dilated Peoples, The Coup, KRS-One, Pharcyde, DJ Bobbito, DJ Cash Money and the list goes on. His diverse selections are influenced by his East Coast background, from b-boying in the early 80s to attending house parties and the burgeoning mobile DJ scene in New Jersey to frequenting parties like Giant Step, Soul Kitchen and legendary rave party, N.A.S.A in NYC. Ren is a professional party rocker who can put it down among the best of them with a vast arsenal of weapons to drop on any dancefloor, from hip hop, reggae, soul to house and electronic music. He has graced many venues with his non-stop seemless sets with regular appearances at Mighty, The Independent, Ruby Skye, 1015, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and Sony Metreon, among a slew of venues in San Francisco. In addition, he has appeared at the Bay's new throwback station Q102.1 FM, Michael Franti & Spearhead's annual 9-11 Power to the Peaceful Festival, Outside Lands Music Festival, now defuct Distortion2Static hip hop show, Myx.tv's Built from Scratch and KPFA's Hardknock Radio.
MONÉT MERCHAND is breaking into international charts without a major label co-sign—and the industry is taking notice. With entries on the UK iTunes Top 100 and a rapid climb into Canada’s Top 50, she is building a multi-market presence powered entirely by independent infrastructure through Victory Note Records. In an era where visibility is often manufactured, MONÉT…See More
Documentary by BBC Radio One narrated by Danny Tenaglia on the world famous DJ Larry Levan. A brief history of Larry Levan and The Paradise Garage in New York. This clip is a longer version of the one I posted almost 10 years ago. This version was originally audio only, I gathered images from various people, David DePino, Joey Llanos, Tina Paul as well as the internet to try to…See More
FRIDAY, MAY 1 True Skool presents ELEVATION (1st Fridays)Featuring:Patrick Wilson Renoir (aka Ren the Vinyl Archaeologist)@ Golden Ratio, 1517 Franklin St., Oakland 21+ / Doors 9pm / FREE B4 10pmFree B4 11pm with RSVP: http://bit.ly/elevationfirstfridayABOUTELEVATION is a brand new party series! Curated by renowned DJ and crate-digger…See More
🔥 NEW MUSIC ALERT 🔥 If you rock with real hip-hop, this one’s for you…D.V. Alias Khryst just dropped that 🔥 “Def On Em (G-Mix)” — and it’s straight bars, energy, and that raw East Coast feel 💯Turn it up, run it back, and let me know what you think 👇🎧 Listen now: https://soundcloud.com/dv-alias-khryst/def-on-em-gmix?Don’t sleep… this one hits different 🚨…See More