Bo Blizard's apartment is, for the most part, a lot like that of other college students. There are posters on his walls, VHS tapes are scattered about his living room and his bed is unmade. And then there's one unusual thing — Blizard's collection of crates.

There are mountains of crates that reach the ceiling, all stuffed to capacity with vinyl records. The records spill out over the floor of the room that Blizard (senior-history) has dedicated to storage and reach into every crevice of his apartment.

"There are records everywhere here!" said Emil Nassar (senior-advertising and public relations). "There are records in the kitchen!"

Blizard and Nassar both have mammoth record collections. Those collections are necessary — the duo hosts the Crossfaded Show from 9 to 11 p.m. each Thursday on WKPS-FM (90.7), on which the DJs "spin breaks and grooves and hip-hop," Nassar said.

Blizard said he and Nassar play older songs that are sampled by today's artists to provide listeners with a hip-hop history lesson.

"We spin funk and soul, whatever else is around," Blizard said. "Basically it's '70s music that's been sampled by other artists. If you've been listening to hip-hop your whole life, it's easy to recognize things, to get accustomed to it and feel it."

Every week Blizard and Nassar transport a ton of their vinyl to the WKPS studio. They bring a lot, but they cannot possibly bring it all. Blizard doesn't have a clue how many records he owns.

"How many are in a crate?" he asked Nassar.

"50," Nassar replied.

"Then I must have about 500," Blizard said.

"There's got to be more than that," said State College resident Mike Flack, a friend and fellow DJ at WKPS. "There are so many crates. You have thousands."

Hip-hop shows DJs Bo Blizard and Emil Nassar Time: Midnight to 4 a.m. Date: Tomorrow Place: Hunan Wok, 452 E. College Ave. Mos Def Time: 8 p.m. Date: Sunday Place: Rec Hall

"Oh," Blizzard said, a modest grin spreading across his face. "I have thousands."

With so many records between them, Blizard and Nassar can mix numerous styles while staying true to their show's hip-hop theme.

"(The Crossfaded Show) has always been a hip-hop show, but we've always played the breaks and the funk and the jazz," Nassar said. "We devoted an hour to that, to see how people would respond. The funk and jazz and soul — people really were feeling it."

Blizard and Nassar see the songs they play as the foundation upon which hip-hop is built. The older artists they love — from the legendary Marvin Gaye to Nigerian activist/musician Fela Kuti — are frequently sampled in songs that end up on today's radio.

"Finding the sample to your favorite song is really exciting, and that's why we play the stuff we do," Nassar said. "It explains the process of making hip-hop. You'll be listening to our show and say, 'Oh my god, A Tribe Called Quest used that!"

But Blizard and Nassar don't just focus on hip-hop's roots. They frequently play modern rap artists as well. Nassar said they play artists ranging "from the most underground to the most mainstream; from Anticon to Ludacris, basically."

Nassar knows Anticon — a collective from Oakland — well. He befriended them while living in California and the group has rapped over tracks that Nassar produced. Nassar loves making beats, and hopes to eventually record an album's worth and release it himself.

"I'd like to put an album together someday and just have some friends rap over it," he said. "I'll press up my own vinyl. In a while I'm going to press up a couple hundred. But I don't make beats to make money. It's a release for me right now. I don't want to commodify it."

Blizard said he has given beats to rappers as well, but what he loves most is scratching, a hobby he fell in love with while at Penn State Abington College.

"I met a kid at Abington who was a really good DJ," Blizard said. "He used to battle — he'd scratch, do beat-juggling to show who was the best. When I saw that, that hip-hop was something you could actively involve yourself in and not just play records, I started record collecting."

Both DJs said that getting involved with hip-hop was easy.

"Just going to shows gets you hyped," Nassar said. "Hip-hop invites you to make your own music. Anyone can pick up a pen and write a verse. Every 15-year-old does."

Blizard and Nassar both plan on making beats and DJing long after the Crossfaded Show is off the air. But they hope to use their time on WKPS to educate as many hip-hop fans as possible and hopefully convince some fans to become DJs themselves.

"When I was looking for a couple samples from songs that interested me," Blizard said, "I just started liking hip-hop music. Hopefully now I'm doing the same for other people."

Blizard and Nassar hope to find a few new converts from midnight to 4 a.m. tomorrow at Hunan Wok, 452 E. College Ave., where they'll be spinning records. They used to play shows in the HUB-Robeson Center as part of Late Night Penn State but are moving off-campus to find a different audience.

"It's a different way to promote the radio station and maybe get a different crowd," Blizard said.

Both DJs are happy with the crowd they have now. Nassar said they get plenty of positive feedback every Thursday when listeners call in and offer support.

"People seem to like it," Nassar said. "Every now and then people call and say, 'Keep doing what you're doing.' I wish sometimes that we'd get more calls, but at the same time, who calls up a DJ during a show and says 'Keep up the good work'? I never have. But it's nice to hear from people. Tell us you like it, tell us we suck, something. But definitely, people are listening."