Embers Record Store
Embers DC Dispensary is also a record store with a curated collection of hundreds of vinyl records. Our featured crate of the month, record of the week and High Fidelity playlists highlight the best in Hip Hop, Punk, Reggae, Soul, R&B and Jazz music.
Record of the Week
High Fidelity: Hip Hop Vol. 1 Playlist
The High Fidelity: Hip Hop Volume 1 Playlist
The first Hip Hop playlist from our High Fidelity series moves through the genre’s core eras, regions, and collectives in a deliberate sequence, jumping across time and geography. It begins in late-1980s New York with foundational releases from Boogie Down Productions, Sweet Tee, and MC Lyte, shifts into 1990s Brooklyn and Queens with Mos Def and Nas, and expands west to Los Angeles and the Bay Area. Independent scenes are represented by People Under The Stairs, Aceyalone, and Zion I, alongside national underground voices including Atmosphere and Murs. Crew-driven records from Wu-Tang Clan and Hieroglyphics reinforce the importance of collectives.
The mix opens with “The P Is Free (Remix)” by Boogie Down Productions, drawn from our Record of the Week: Criminal Minded, selected from our monthly Cultivated Crate of 22 records currently on our shelves. Released in 1987 on B-Boy Records, the album pairs real-life commentary with reggae foundations, with the remix sampling a portion of Alton Ellis’s original “Mad Mad” recording, underscoring reggae’s direct influence on early Bronx Hip Hop.
High Fidelity: Hip Hop, Volume 1 brings it all together across 22 tracks featuring 38 MCs, tracing solo voices, duos, and crews into a single sequence that highlights Hip Hop’s range, lineage, and collective energy.
The P Is Free (Remix) — Boogie Down Productions
2. I Got Da Feelin’ — Sweet Tee
3. Lyte as a Rock — MC Lyte
4. Nappy Heads (Remix) — Fugees
5. Something Real — Sa-Roc
6. Smart Went Crazy — Atmosphere
7. Sunshine — Mos Def
8. Mi Corazon — Murs
9. Talkin Bout You (Ladies) — Statik Selektah (feat. Skyzoo, Joell Ortiz & Talib Kweli)
10. Samsonite Man — Fashawn (feat. Blu)
11. Pictures On My Wall — People Under The Stairs
12. The Negotiation Limerick File — Beastie Boys
13. Sound The Horns — Wu-Tang Clan
(feat. Sadat X, Inspectah Deck, U-God & RZA)
14. Let It Roll — Hieroglyphics
15. Raiders Cap — Demigodz (feat. Apathy, Ryu, Motive & Celph Titled)
16. Made You Look — Nas
17. I’m on It — The Allergies (feat. Dr. Syntax & Skunkadelic)
18. All for U — Aceyalone
19. Human Being — Zion I
20. Spell Check — Blu & Mainframe
21. Dynamite Soul — Artifacts
22. Sunny Meadowz — Del The Funky Homosapien
- Lauryn Hill’s verse on the Fugees’ “Nappy Heads” remix includes the line “I don’t puff blunts, so I always got my breath / Never had to battle with a bulletproof vest,” a phrase later lifted by Sublime in What I Got. The reuse reflects Sublime’s habit of folding Hip Hop phrasing directly into their songwriting, blending it seamlessly with reggae-punk structures rather than treating Hip Hop as a separate influence.
- A folk-to-soul-to-Hip Hop line runs through Fashawn’s “Samsonite Man,” which samples Billy Paul’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright”—a soul cover of Bob Dylan’s song—pulling a 1960s folk standard into a modern rap framework.
- West Coast crate culture meets Jamaican ska as People Under The Stairs pull from both Wu-Tang Clan and Prince Buster, a foundational figure whose song “Madness” later inspired the name of the UK band Madness, internationally known for their 1982 hit “Our House,” extending shared source material across continents and decades.
- Oakland’s independent Hip Hop lineage surfaces through Hieroglyphics crew, which includes Souls of Mischief, best known for “93 ’Til Infinity.” The group’s production draws from Ray Brown’s “Go Down Dying,” a jazz recording also sampled by Björk on “Human Behaviour,” linking West Coast Hip Hop and art-pop through a shared source rather than stylistic coincidence.
- Well before Gorillaz brought him global attention with “Clint Eastwood” (2001), Del The Funky Homosapien—a founding member of the Hiero Crew—released his 1991 debut I Wish My Brother George Was Here, with production contributions from his cousin Ice Cube.
- Aceyalone of Freestyle Fellowship appears on “All for U,” from his 2006 album Magnificent City, produced entirely by RJD2. The release includes a vocal version of “A Beautiful Mine,” the composition later used as the Mad Men theme, linking Aceyalone’s Los Angeles underground roots to RJD2’s cinematic production.
- Raised in Washington, DC, Sa-Roc brings the city’s tradition of lyrical clarity and social intention into her work; her music later found a wider platform through Rhymesayers Entertainment, co-founded by Atmosphere, who also appear in the playlist.
About Embers High Fidelity
High fidelity is the high-quality reproduction of sound—the closest you can get to music in its purest form. Music shapes how we see the world and acts as a filter for connection, identity, and shared experience. At Embers, we carry that same spirit forward: more than a place to buy cannabis, we’re a space where music, art, and storytelling come together.
High Fidelity, the 2000 film starring John Cusack, unfolds inside a record shop—Championship Vinyl a place that becomes much more than retail. Music drives the conversations, the culture, and the sense of identity. The soundtrack moves through classic rock, soul, punk, indie, and folk, capturing the feeling of records spinning behind the counter and the community that forms around them.
At Embers, we’ve brought Championship Vinyl to life. We’re the High Fidelity soundtrack made real rooted in Hip-Hop, Punk, Reggae, Soul, R&B, and Jazz, the sounds that shape our crates, guide our curation, and spark conversations throughout the shop. Alongside global influences, we highlight DC artists who speak directly to our community, making the space a reflection of the city as much as the music.
Crates, vinyl, and shared discovery become our way of opening doors, creating connection, and building a culture that lives beyond the speakers.
Cultivated Crate of the Month
The January 2026 edition of The Cultivated Crate
brings together a wide-ranging selection of records currently on our shelves, moving comfortably across Rock, Soul, Jazz, Reggae, Punk, and Hip Hop. Familiar classics like Grand Funk Railroad’s Grand Funk, Santana’s Santana III, The Big Chill soundtrack sit alongside essential Jazz records from Art Pepper and Duke Ellington & John Coltrane.
Reggae appears through live and studio selections from Bob Marley & The Wailers and Dennis Brown, while Punk and Hardcore are represented by DC pillars Minor Threat and Dag Nasty. Hip Hop bridges generations, from Boogie Down Productions’ Criminal Minded to later releases from Method Man and Logic (Gaithersburg, MD), with KMD’s Black Bastards capturing a young MF DOOM early in his recorded career. Every record in this month’s crate is in stock and ready to spin!
- Grand Funk Railroad — Grand Funk
- Santana — Santana III
- Thomas Blondet — Echo Chamber EP
- Antônio Carlos Jobim — Love, Strings and Jobim
- Method Man — 4:21… The Day After
- Logic — Vinyl Days
- J-Live — Always Has Been
- KMD & MF DOOM — Black Bastards
- Boogie Down Productions — Criminal Minded
- Millie Jackson — Millie Jackson
- Billy Paul — Let ’Em In
- The Pointer Sisters — The Pointer Sisters
- Lou Rawls — When You Hear Lou, You’ve Heard It All
- Marvin Gaye — The Big Chill Soundtrack
- Art Pepper — Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section
- Duke Ellington & John Coltrane — Duke Ellington & John Coltrane
- Ramsey Lewis Trio — Live at the Bohemian Caverns (Live)
- Bob Marley & The Wailers — Live!
- Dennis Brown — The Prophet Rides Again
- Murphy’s Law — Back with a Bong!
- Minor Threat — First Two Seven Inches
- Dag Nasty — Can I Say
- MF DOOM appears in the crate before the mask as Zev Love X on KMD’s Black Bastards (recorded 1990–91), nearly a decade before his solo debut as MF DOOM with Operation: Doomsday in 1999.
- Brian Baker appears twice in the crate as a founding member of Minor Threat (First Two Seven Inches) and later as a founding member of Dag Nasty (Can I Say), directly linking two cornerstone DC hardcore records on the shelf.
- Method Man’s “Say,” from 4:21… The Day After, is notable for its guest vocals from Ms. Lauryn Hill, a rare post-Fugees appearance that brings a reflective, melodic counterpoint to Method Man’s solo work.
- The Ramsey Lewis Trio recording on The Ramsey Lewis Trio at the Bohemian Caverns (Live) was captured live at DC’s Bohemian Caverns, physically placing the crate in the city and tying Jazz documentation to the same locale that later produced Minor Threat and Dag Nasty.
- Grand Funk Railroad’s Grand Funk includes “Inside Looking Out,” a cover of The Animals’ 1966 adaptation of the traditional prison work song “Rosie.” The song traces back to the 19th-century American South, where it was sung by incarcerated laborers on chain gangs.
- The Pointer Sisters’ “Yes We Can, Can,” from The Pointer Sisters, was written and produced by Allen Toussaint and later became a Hip Hop cornerstone when EPMD sampled its opening groove for “You Gots to Chill” (1988), carrying New Orleans funk into the Golden Age of Hip Hop.
- “Everybody’s Everything,” from Santana III, was written as a tribute to drummer Michael Shrieve after his departure in 1970, honoring his role in shaping the band’s original sound and marking the close of Santana’s classic lineup era.
- Released by Washington, DC–based producer Thomas Blondet, Echo Chamber EP blends electronic production with Afro-Latin, Brazilian, and jazz-influenced rhythms, reflecting his background in house, broken beat, and jazz-adjacent club music.
“I Heard It Through the Grapevine” appears on The Big Chill (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) and was released by Marvin Gaye in 1968, becoming a No. 1 hit and the definitive version after its initial 1967 release by Gladys Knight & the Pips. - Antônio Carlos Jobim appears in the crate via Love, Strings and Jobim, a studio album that helped carry his compositions—“The Girl from Ipanema,” “Corcovado,” “Desafinado,” and “Dindi”—into the Jazz canon. These songs later became international standards through recordings by Stan Getz, Ella Fitzgerald, and Frank Sinatra.