When you hear the phase, “there’s levels to this” in most collectors scenes, it’s usually regarded to those who not only have the foundational pieces but go even deeper with having the rare, the rarely seeen, the sought after and often times they unknown which is what always separates each serious collector from others. Each collection is supposed to be unique to a persons taste, ear or sight and that’s what we try to focus on here at Nostalgia King, the uniqueness of each collector, no matter how common or rare, it’s about personal tastes. One fellow collector who I would really consider as a brother that not only covers the surface but dives deep into the obscure and highly regarded as universal grails is the homie Rico. If you’ve been keeping up to date hear then you’ve caught wind of his brand, Slow Or Fast which we featured here back in February that’s on track to begin releasing some incredible projects and merchandise which I highly recommend you stay up on so that you don’t miss out on the goods. https://nostalgiaking.com/2026/02/06/slow-or-fast-a-love-letter-to-black-music/
Rico’s palette is rather wide spread when it comes to his sound selections and stretches from rare soul to Japanese jazz, deep funk 45’s to the oh shit, there’s only 5 known copies of that and everything in between. Does he have everything? Of course not! No collector can truly lay stake in that claim, but does he have a Fort Knox like vault of crates upon crates? Most definitely! When I reached out to Rico about doing a Five On The Black Hand Side, he quickly obliged and wanted to give a deadly five like The Venoms. But as with most people that I ask about doing this series, it’s isn’t necessarily about flossing the million dollar records, it’s about sharing the quality tunes that actually mean something personally to them. It’s the equivalent of buying a great peace of art from a living artist that you actually like versus a Basquiat or Warhol for the sake of saying you have one just showcase for the gram. So with that said…
Odell Brown and the Organ-izers “Quiet Village”
I’ve always been drawn to the organ sound, and I remember hearing this record at my grandparents’ house as a kid. The song always stuck with me because it was catchy, warm, and had a feeling I couldn’t really explain back then. Fast forward 20 plus years, and this was the record playing the first time I walked into Blow Up in Tokyo, owned by one of my best friends in Japan, Chintam. We bonded over this sound immediately between soul, jazz, Japanese music, Western records, and the rest is history.
The Unifics “Court of Love”
This is a hometown Washington, D.C. record that my Uncle Hank put me on, and it was one of his father’s favorite songs. I could tell how much it meant to him, and we spent a lot of evenings out back with the uncles and cousins listening to this and other soul records. Those moments deepened my love for soul music in a real way. It’s one of those records that feels tied to family, place, and memory all at once.
World “You Got The Power”
This was one of the first records I really dug up on my own, and it opened the door for me into more upbeat modern soul sounds. Being younger, a lot of my peers used to laugh because I was listening to music nobody around us knew or cared about. But all I knew was that it felt good, and that was enough for me. This record helped kick off that whole modern soul discovery path.
Albert Jones “Fifteen Cent Love”
This one was passed around on my grandparents’ side, and I used to hear it in the house all the time as a kid. This was long before I knew any collector terms like “Crossover/Northern soul” or anything like that. To me, it was just Black music, family music, and something that made me feel proud to have a little innate soul in me as my Grandma used to tell me I should be, even as a mixed kid still figuring out where I fit. It stayed with me because it felt natural before I ever had the language for it.
JBC Band “Alone”
I first heard this record as a pre-teen in an apartment building in Northeast D.C., coming through the wall from an older lady next door named Ms. Robinson. I used to ask her all the time what the song was because she played it almost every day, and before she moved out, she ended up giving me the record. I only knew she was from around Philly, so years later it was crazy to see the record resurface and start getting attention on comps. At the time, I just loved the vocals because it felt familiar, like the same kind of soul I grew up hearing from my family.