Home Grown: The collector with 15 years of dancehall, reggae and hip-hop records

Because every record collection has a story.

Home Grown is our series profiling you lot and your excellent record collections. Taking our cue from the brilliant submissions to the #VFRecordCollections thread on Instagram, we want to share a little of your hard-earned love for vinyl with the world.

Each week, we’ll be profiling a different collector from around the world and finding out what makes them tick. Want in? Send us a pic and a few words about your collection to [email protected]

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Olly Batho

Instagram: @djbammo

Location: London, England

Size of collection (approx.): 2,000 12” / LPs , 200 7”s

How long have you been collecting for?

Around 15 years on and off.

What part of your set-up are you most proud of?

My everlasting long suffering 1200s bought second hand when I was 19 and still going strong. They’ve seen house parties, warehouse parties, 100s of miles on the road, and worst of all, my cellar.

What record(s) are you most proud of?

My reggae and dancehall 7”s bought from Dub Vendor Clapham then Ladbroke Grove latterly. Those records can take a battering and still sound good. Some of my hip-hop records are particularly important to me as they were my first passion and still form a big section of the collection. I went to Fat Beats NYC twice in 2004 and the 12”s I picked up there remind me of that amazing shop and city. Or maybe some of the classics that were handed down to me: original pressings of The Stones, Beatles, Van Morrison, Tom Waits, Sade, Stevie Wonder, etc. They will always remind me of my mum so they are special for that reason.

What does your record collection mean to you?

It represents my musical life from late teens right up to today, a total sporadic journey through growing up. Therefore there are obviously some shady bits in there, but at the same time some of the stuff I was buying 10 years ago I’m rediscovering now and it’s great. I can near enough remember exactly where every record has come from, so the memories that go along with the vinyl is equally as important. It’s only recently that I’ve got everything set up properly and doing so has made me appreciate what I have, solid machinery and music in the best possible physical format. I also like the fact that it will never be complete, there is always more to discover and the collection will change and grow with me in the years to come.