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The work of Stephen "Static Major" Garrett, mostly known as Static, was one of the main reasons I fell in love with r&b. Along with Timbaland and DeVante Swing he helped create a whole new sound thruout the 90's and going forward.

His rap sheet speaks for itself, with several classics penned for artists such as Aaliyah and Ginuwine.

With Playa he released Cheers 2 U which I rate as one of the very best and most complete r&b albums of all time.

This year Static was supposed to release his solo debut "Suppertime" on Blackground, and I remember how excited I was when I heard about his record deal. This man deserved all the spotlights in the world, but most of his career he spent being "the man behind the man" and lifting others to great success.

Statics death at 33 is truly a big loss for the music industry, and I just wanna take this journal entry to honor his memory and acknowledge what his music has meant to me. I am sure some of you share the same feelings. My thoughts go out to his wife and four children.

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/292401823

Anyone who is still buying their music on CD or vinyl knows that it's a special feeling you get whenever you manage to get your hands on something you've been looking for a long time, something exclusive or something you've just been looking forward to very much.

I recently, after many failures and more sorrows, managed to score a used copy of Chico DeBarge's The Game. This got me thinking about my most joyous purchases through the years since I started buying records at the age of 12.

Without further ado, here's the list - please hit me back with yours!

1) Smashing Pumpkins - The Aeroplane Flies High (5-CD box)
Bought: Probably around 1999-2000
This one's a no-brainer. A few years late to the SP hype, once I was hooked I instantly rushed to get everything I possibly could (and could afford). The TAFH box - including all five singles from the epic Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness double album - was just going out of stock everywhere and somehow I managed to score one of the last boxes probably ever sold in Sweden.
Apart from the fact that you get about 25 awesome, more or less, b-sides it's also a damn good looking box. Check it out if u get the chance. As a huge SP fanatic at the time, my luck was made. And still to this day, some of my favourite songs were made available to me through this purchase - The Aeroplane Flies High (Turns Left, Looks Right) (b-side of Thirty-Three), Medellia of the Gray Skies (Tonight, Tonight) and Set the Ray to Jerry (1979), for example.

2) Chico DeBarge - The Game (album)
Bought: June 2007
Finally! A friend introduced me to Chico in the summer of 2005 (thanks once again, Rikard, never disappointing me in spite of my constant skepticism) and it only took one listen to Long Time No See to fall completely in love with his music. Got his third album Free for the ridiculous price of something like 29 SEK from swedish website CDON.com and it was also a great, great album.
But the one in-between proved much harder to find.
First of all, The Game (released 1999) wasn't being sold anywhere in Sweden. Websites, big record stores, small record stores - I looked everywhere for about the year. Deciding to take my business online, I tried three major international internet stores. Each one took my order, promised delivery within up to three weeks - and after more than a month's wait each one let me down with the same announcement: You're item is out of stock, out of print and can't be found through backorders. I'm not kidding - three times in a row, the same story.
So a couple of weeks ago I finally felt like I had enough. I put up a topic on Swedish hip hop community Whoa.nu, offering way too much money for anyone who could help me get my hands on the Chico CD that so sadly had eluded me. Dude must have thought I was crazy or something, but to me it was totally worth it... When I finally got my hands on the actual album and popped it in my CD player it was a moment of pure joy.
How good is it? Well, so far I'm not feeling it as much as his other two albums. But it's Chico and he has that mature, heartfelt approach that makes him feel so much more real than most other r&b/soul cats out there. If I was to describe his music with one word, it would be "genuine".

3) Kent - Isola (album)
Bought: 1997
13 years old I skipped school, stood outside Skivbutiken 09:55 and then rushed in to get Isola the same day it was released.
I went home and listened to it on repeat all day and all night.
And pretty much repeated the same routine every day for two years.
At the time the joy of this purchase was probably even bigger than any of the two above. Kent was the first band I really listened to and they totally shaped my music taste, my style and my personality for many years.
Isola is a great album, but it's hard for me to view it objectively - just as with the rest of Kent's early work. I just listened to it so much, so enthusiastically at a very young age.

Other, for different reasons, memorable and satisfying purchases:
Darien Brockington - Somebody To Love (album, bought 2006)
Playa - Cheers 2 U (album, bought 2004)
Paus - PAUS (album, bought...1998 or 1999, maybe?)
Wheat - Medeiros (album, bought 1999 or 2000, if I recall it the right way)