A few weeks back, the Library of Congress selected 25 songs it found significant enough to preserve into perpetuity. You could say Andrew Morgan is doing the same thing — except he’s a lot more genre-specific. Morgan is the force behind Peoples Potential Unlimited Records (PPU), a mail-order business focused on resurrecting and preserving the dance tunes from the early 1980s sometimes known as boogie-funk. If you’re having a hard time conceiving this sound, think of Madonna on her first album or even better, D-Train. Now imagine those folks with little money and no major label backing.

You’ve now entered Andrew’s crate-digging world.

What started out as a hobby selling flea market vinyl on eBay for the animator, UNC-Greensboro grad and Northern Virginia native has turned into a boutique label that’s allowed him to form bonds with artists who probably thought only their mothers knew they made an album — and, in some instances, still live with their moms. Based in the District, Morgan has developed a clientèle that includes well-known deejays like DJ Spinna and Dâm-Funk (for whom he’s pressed a record), European record snobs and this writer.

Recently, I had the chance to sit down with him at PPU headquarters. We discussed the superior nature of vinyl to digital formats, listened to some wax and talked about his musical labor of love.

So, Andrew Morgan. Who are you exactly?
Actually, I’m an animator. I do claymation classes with little kids. That’s how I got here to D.C. I teach in the summer and I had all this free time in during the rest of the year, so I started selling records on eBay. In the late 1990s, there was nobody on eBay selling records. So I was getting records from thrift stores and selling them. At some point, you realize all the records are going to run out, so I went ahead with trying to reissue stuff to see if any of my customers would dig buying them. That’s how the label started, trying to get really expensive records out there for like $9.99.