Hip-Hop autographs are something you begin to take for granted once you reach a certain age. When you are young, meeting the smallest indie rapper and having him even acknowledge you seems like the biggest deal in the world, but as you age, you realize most of these guys are just regular dudes. You become less star-struck, no matter who the artist.

Autographs were heavily used as a selling point for special pre-order offers during the heyday of indie rap retail, and to some extent, still are used today. These X-Ecutioners slipmats were given out by Loud in 2004 to promote their album, Revolutions. At the time, we were so jaded by the wealth of autographed items that had come through the shop, something like this hardly excited us.

Six years later, we see the value in what was once considered something to just add to the endless pile of promo vinyl, stickers, posters, and other schwag sent by record labels to entice us to play / sell their records. We lost Roc Raida in 2009. Today would have been his 38th birthday. In retrospect, a once insignificant promo item now holds tremendous sentimental value for this deejay.