The Amateur Method, a Retrospective, by Rahim Salaam

The Amateur Method, a Retrospective

by Rahim Salaam

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This double album is available on both cassette and CD

PRAISE^
(1-17)
RAGE!
(18-37)
WALK@
(38-54)
TOGETHER//
(55-69)
LEFTOVERS (only available on cassette)
(70-80)

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Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Two disc jewel case with black swing tray. Shrink wrapped with handwritten track insert, design by Mabel Gladly.

Includes unlimited streaming of The Amateur Method, a Retrospective via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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Full Digital Discography

15

releases

Get all 15 Sinkhole Sounds releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of The Amateur Method, a Retrospective, Sharperheart II, Sharperheart I, ALL OF THEM, Lovely Eyes, Sitting on a Sign, A Sex No Babies Christmas, scene three, and 7 more. , and , .

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1.	Eat Porridge 01:37		buy track
2.	Sexy BO 02:26		buy track
3.	5 Listeners 01:52		buy track
4.	Art History Major 02:14		buy track
5.	Acquitted 01:43		buy track
6.	Take Me 02:18		buy track
7.	Big Art Energy 01:55		buy track
8.	All of Your Art (produced by hypernormie) 02:26		buy track
9.	Goodbye Forever (Blaque Fry Dae) feat. Mabel Gladly 02:17		buy track
10.	Mother, Daughter, God & Martyr 01:38		buy track
11.	Moved 01:29		buy track
12.	Nice Scarf 02:30		buy track
13.	Laid (produced by hypernormie) 02:23		buy track
14.	Swoop 01:27		buy track
15.	Truth 02:48		buy track
16.	Worried 01:19		buy track
17.	Worship You and All Others 02:07		buy track
18.	A Nigga Outside 02:34		buy track
19.	Tip Toe (Booker T. Washington) 01:42		buy track
20.	8th District Wow 02:09		buy track
21.	Fact Witness (produced by Malci) 02:23		buy track
22.	20 Billionaires 01:52		buy track
23.	The Bitchest 02:53		buy track
24.	Slaving 01:25		buy track
25.	By Any Means Necessary 02:26		buy track
26.	Fuck With Peace 02:16		buy track
27.	Protect & Serve 02:11		buy track
28.	High Court of Gondor (produced by Joshua Virtue) 01:19		buy track
29.	Sun So Heavy (produced by Totally Fucking Gorgeous) 03:37		buy track
30.	Kill All Men 01:29		buy track
31.	Killing January 02:03		buy track
32.	Luv Ur Art 01:57		buy track
33.	Whole Bunches 01:59		buy track
34.	Peek-A-Boo 01:18		buy track
35.	Table Scraps (produced by Malci) 01:36		buy track
36.	What Do They Do (produced by Nancy Blue) 01:27		buy track
37.	Yellow Bellies 01:54		buy track
38.	You Laugh At People 01:48		buy track
39.	Good Time 01:49		buy track
40.	Too Chic (Works Cited) 01:53		buy track
41.	Day Off (produced by hypernormie) 01:38		buy track
42.	I See Soul 02:07		buy track
43.	ATFOR (A Town Full of Racists) 01:49		buy track
44.	Mansplaining 02:34		buy track
45.	A Nigga Outside 02:34		buy track
46.	Love Thy Neighbor 01:36		buy track
47.	Take Space 01:55		buy track
48.	Fun Days 01:36		buy track
49.	Eneewaze 01:54		buy track
50.	Fast Food (produced by hypernormie) 02:20		buy track
51.	Force (feat. Jamie M) 01:58		buy track
52.	Paintin' (Bob Ross) 01:38		buy track
53.	The Cat Came Back 01:59		buy track
54.	Relating 01:12		buy track
55.	Washed Up 02:06		buy track
56.	Making Some Art Tonight (produced by hypernormie, feat. Rae Bees, Bean Karrots) 02:45		buy track
57.	DIY Super Secrets (produced by Annie Burns) 01:40		buy track
58.	I'm Here For Me 01:32		buy track
59.	The Art Show 01:40		buy track
60.	Talkin' 01:41		buy track
61.	Tell on Me (produced by Bean Karrots feat. Tattiana Howard) 01:52		buy track
62.	Distract Me (produced by hypernormie) 02:18		buy track
63.	Fucking Here (You Can't) produced by Brett Grant feat. Drew Balicki, and Shawn Martin 01:57		buy track
64.	Fuck With Peace (produced by RAWS) 05:42		buy track
65.	Just Visiting (feat. Brett Grant and Drew Balicki) 01:52		buy track
66.	Lack Words (produced by hypernormie feat. Corey Anderson) 01:46		buy track
67.	Sex No Babies (feat. Cigarette Fartz and Bento) 03:02		buy track
68.	#NoMoneyNoBorders 01:55	info	buy track
69.	You're Finest Jewels (feat. Mabel Gladly) 01:42		buy track
70.	Nice to See You 01:42		buy track

about

After a music career spanning four decades in Chicago, local underground arts legend Rahim Salaam now takes time to look back. His first label release “The Amateur Method: A Retrospective” arrives July 7th via Sinkhole Sounds and comes in the form of an 80 track compilation spanning the 45 solo albums he’s released independently since 2012.

The prolific artist and producer grew up in Cabrini Green (now affluent Lincoln Park) and came of age during Chicago’s golden era of hip-hop in the 90s and early 2000’s. Performing under the monikers Doctor Who and Rageing Salaam, the helmet-adorning emcee was a member of Blunt Crew, Immortals, and notably had features with Sadat X. While these formative years sculpted his creative process, as Salaam expanded his musical exploration he began to feel limited in his creative expression due to judgment from peers while continuing to reckon with the racist image expectations the music industry places on Black artists.

Deep in artistic conflict, Salaam struck inspiration from Billy Childish, a British painter and musician who once said, “In many ways I like to look at myself as amateur in everything I do. The amateur does things for love and for belief.” From this moment of clarity, the amateur method was born. Rahim took to Studio One, a Radioshack microphone, and a busted laptop in his bedroom to begin a new weekly creative flow. Since starting his Bandcamp/Soundcloud page Amateur Arts Productions in 2013, he has released a full-length album every three months.

This retrospective selects the best of his almost 350 song catalog. While some feature collabs with distinguished producers like Bento, Malci, Joshua Virtue, Annie Burns, Bean Carrots, Ryan Officer, and Drama Foxx, most are tracks that employ his signature hour challenge method - an attempt to channel a creative stream of consciousness to create a mostly finished track by the end of the session.

The amateur method helped him shake the expectations imposed upon him, and his steadfast commitment to this process led to fruitful collaborations with TOOFUNCHILD, Sex No Babies, and currently with electronic hip-hop trio SUPERFUND, securing him as one of the most prolific songwriters in the city. He cements himself as a contemporary Woody Guthrie on this release, staying insightfully topical while simultaneously achieving timelessness. It also birthed his drive to promote Chicago as the arts mecca it is through What About Chicago?!, an award-winning podcast spotlighting local arts, music, and culture events over the last decade.

“The Amateur Method: A Retrospective” explores the meandering creative path Salaam has walked as a lifelong Chicagoan. He strikes a middle point between Westside Gunn, Daniel Johnston, Deem Blunt, and Fiona Apple - an eccentric mix of eloquent raps and earnest folk songs gushing with infectious pop-punk hooks that navigate the sometimes uncomfortable questions surrounding race, love, hate, mistakes, violence, and finding joy. This album is a testament to the liberating potential that Art can inspire within us. The amateur ethos it exudes invites all of us to cultivate a creative process of our own, to create beauty and defend it without fear of judgment, and to make art we believe in, not just for the mortgage.

credits

released July 7, 2023

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