thanks.

high speed dubbing is still here.

thanks for sharing the music.
thanks for all the feedback and comments.
thanks for sharing the ideas.

come through tomorrow for the first HSD post of 2008.

Sample Clearance II

Tarika Blue "Dreamflower" from "The Blue Path" LP (1977)


Erykah Badu "Didn't Cha Know" from the "Mama's Gun" LP (2000)

Santa Claus Goes Straight To The Ghetto

"Santa Claus Goes Straight To The Ghetto"
from the FUNKY CHRISTMAS LP (1968)

Sample Clearance I

Kool & The Gang "Universal Sound" from Love & Understanding LP (1976)


Darien Brockington "Listen" from the Beautiful EP (2005)

(I know this isn't the correct album cover, but it's going to have to work for now)

The Breakfast Club

"Jefferson" (BETTER MIX/QUALITY)

Straight from Wikipedia:

Early Years

Elzhi first gained notoriety as a rapper during his frequent visits to the legendary Hip-Hop Shop in Detroit during the mid nineties, where he took part in the weekly emcee battles. Originally part of the F.O.D. or Fingers of Death crew, El' (then called L.Z.) earned his reputation based on his rapid fire delivery and unique cadences.

Eventually, Elzhi would become part of the Breakfast Club with fellow artists Dwele, Big Tone(Then called Hodge Podge), Lacks and 87. During this era of his young career, El' would record such sought after classics as "Vitamins" and "Physical Therapy" with Big Tone.

~~~~

So yeah...

If Slum Village and Dwele ever did an album together, this would be it. Heavy bass grooves, Patrice Rushen like keys and that Detroit sound we love so much. (which is really just a Jay Dee sound, no?). "Jefferson" is the only track that prominently showcases Dwele, while the other songs have him singing background vocals and hooks. There's no doubt his production style is prominent throughout the album, so chances are if you like Dwele, Elzhi or Slum Village, you'd really enjoy this album.

The biggest setback is that most copies of this album sound like it came from a tape that has been copied over 5 times. The version above is of much higher quality...so if you don't have it...GRAB IT! The amazing thing is these cats were doing this back in 1997, which was also during the production of Slum's "Fantastic Vol. 1". It's a shame this album didn't get the proper exposure because there are a few great grooves between the static. Sorry, I don't have the entire album in this quality (i wish).

The Making of Mama's Gun

(Straight from the forums of Okayplayer.com...straight from the mouth of E. Badu)

okay
i have to do this...
been dying to for ever...
including DIDNT CHA KNOW,
i am responsible for all the arangements and choices of mamas gun.
badu produced this albulm.
and ALL of my albulms.
was not a complete soulquarian production so to speak.
we did some songs together tho.
i carefully gathered each song, sample and musician.
i sequenced, mixed , and mastered every single song.
(ofcourse with the hands and ears of talented engineers- see liner notes)

sessions went like this:
quest played , james played , dilla played, pino played , or who ever, all improvised...
most sessions were guided by my vocal arrangements and direction -all improv as well
we all were credited as writters.
each song has its own story , for example
i wrote and arranged a d 2000 on acoustic guitar.. Jp, Pp, and ? played along and added voicing. ( made it fresh)

i guided and arranged green eyes , booty, cleva, pen philosophy( well if i remember correctly i walked in on this one)... making the musicians the writters , technically, and myself producer where applicable.

after all songs were in their first stages with (keys, bass and drums)
i brought in horns, strings , percussion , guitar , etc.. james poyser introduced me to a lot of these players .

history:
in any session where we all play together (soul quarians - if you will) ,ahmir is generally the band leader ,

however ,where badu is the 'subject' ( my projects) she is also the 'painter'. get it?
like pages from a diary.

1/2 of the albulm with songs like : 'in love with you', '.. and on', 'orange moon ',
' bag lady ' and others were produced or co produced by myself with other muscians ( read credits)

near the end of the making of MG , i brought in james poyser to co exec produce the project. ( Soulq. sessions in final stages as well)
everyone refers to him as my " studio husband".
he was instrumental in carrying out and following thru with my musical and creative plans.
that meant helping to keep my thoughts organized and sometimes even writting BG vox parts ,while i was sometimes passed out in the lounge , coming down.
now understand, i am as much of a control freaq as you may think, so i am very maticulous about my shit. even in my sleep...

consequently this drove james to growing a beard and slipping' post its' which read HELP ME to any one who came into the sessions.

one may ask , how does she "produce an albulm or song without reading music or playing?" well..
ask quest. ask james. ask ringo. ask quincy jones. dont ask diddy... i think he just tags his name sometimes.
its the ear and the vision that make good producers , along with the ability to direct and color. knowing how it 'should not ' sound is as great an advantage as any.
all about space to me. vocals must sit in the right pocket. drums must be EQ'd to sonically fit the song. chords need space in between. bass has to talk to me , engineers and mixers must understand desired sound and be able to listen etc.. etc...and choosing dope ass musicians who love you and what they do ,dont hurt either.

i know how this must sound to some of you critics but i just wanted to share the process of how i go about aquiring the sound i work tirelessly to create.
So im not just a song writter and vocalist to popular belief.

(note: ive written every song i 've sang for the exception of any covers and 'you got me' - which i thought was penned by b.thought at the time, but was actually written by jill scott who should have sang it in the first place IMO.)
and..
ive written the concepts for, and directed every video in my catalogue except for very first one,' ON and ON'. ( wrote treatment , however)

now why is this important to me, again?
its my work.

and i wanted you to know.

just wanted to hip ya'll to the tee. (as tina marie would put it).

humble is cool but this is overdue.
10 years in the game folks.
its all me. (and a lot of great friends and brilliant like minded musicians who believe in and share my vision)

soo... anyway ...when i finally finished mamas gun ,2000 ,
Ahmir calls and sais .. "OMG, this albulm is the story of my life right now.."
that, my friends, is the proudest moment to date for me.
i adore this brother.

Consequently,
alot of times , when "singers" say that they are also the producer of their own songs or albulms, this is not the case.
but in this case , this is THE case.
quote me.

carefully orchestrated and conceptually calculated.

peace and respect :

genius AHMIR (who introduced me to poyser and taught me thru example , what a great albulm should sound like)

genius james poyser ( who 'plays' like God talks , and finishes my every creative sentence)

genius pino palidino ( who always agrees and just wants to jam even tho he is the dopest nigga in the room...italian)

genius tom soares ( who is the engineer of mamas gun , and wwug, ... kinda dude that believes in you to the point where he memorizes your free styles)

genius ringo (tumblin dice)rashad smith (who totally gets it.. gets me , who is my brother -check his catalog)

genius J DILLA, JAH, FREE, and all producers who have been a part of my life and growth as an artist. and who want me to grow.

and my A team freakquency ( created from wwug - ringo , poyser , rc williams , badu)
why does this look like liner notes?

forgive me if this feels in any way arrogant ,
thats not my intent.
This conversation is fruitless at this point.

but i just wanted ya' ll to know.

and in the spirit of women producers everywhere...

forget me not ( as patrice rushian would say)

okay?
e. badu
dec. 2007 ad

(The making of "Didn't Cha Know")

i was at dillas house in the basement filling thru his many stacks of albulms, all lined up perfectly neat and covered in a thick durable plastic.
i pulled out a simple record with the words TARiKA BLUE written on it.
i say to myself , " fresh name.."
i put the needle on the record on the turn table - i think it was song #1
dream flower.
and out the speakers comes the most beautiful sound i had ever heard in my LIFE.
i sais , " i think i wanna fall in love"...
dilla always wanted me to learn .
always encouraged me to find my own samples down to the point of snatching the peice to make the loop. i did .
i was always eager , but cool. (cause he was cool)
we looped 2 sections with 2 diff bass lines. (bad ass bass lines too..)
made the 2 sequences
dilla added the drums.
badu drum pattern- not very much like his usual style.
we were in detroit . it was winter.
he left me with the looped sequences.
i wrote the bulk of the song freestyle on mic right there.
it was cold in that basement .
ma dukes was at work i think
frank and dank were proud of me..T3 was there too.
ok, so,
went to ny
Com gave me the line , " stopped to watch my emotions sway"
added Doc gibbs percussion.
yahzarah and chinah black doubled my 'AH's'
poyser on keys.( sprinkles)
and thats all.


didny cha know...


the great james yancey- dillagent. killer. hundred dollar biller.
you live thru me .....salute.
i love you.

badu

My Favorite Things

"Green Ribbons" (P.A.M.S.)

"The Hustler" (f/ Waajeed)

Coltrain, out of St. Louis, is the newest one to hit the list of male soul singers. He's put out a few mixtapes here and there, but I'm waiting for the full album entitled “The Adventures of Seymour Liberty". His MySpace page lists a release date of November 20th, but I guess that date has been pushed back....ha ha.

There's a whole contingent of male soul singers ripped from the cloth of Donny Hathaway and Same Cooke that people need to check out. Frank McComb, Eric Roberson, Dwele and Darien Brockington have made some great music (some of my most favorite), but it never gets any shine.

What do I think? It's funny. Coltrain on "Green Ribbsons" is just OK. The voice is there, but there's nothing about Coltrain that makes him stand out from the rest. Overall, it's a very safe track that I'd expect the label to release it as a single. "The Hustler" on the other hand is...WOW! It's almost like it's a different singer...ha ha. I'm not sure if Waajeed is bringing it out of him, but it reminds me a lot of Bilal on his unreleased "Love 4 Sale" album (don't worry, tracks will be coming to HSD soon). "The Hustler" is so much funkier! That bassline? The horns? Like...the joint has color that's missing from the "Green Ribbons". I'm really hoping dude continues with the sound from "The Hustler". I'm trying my best to wait for an official album to come to form my opinion, but there's definitely some promise.

Take a listen to dude...let me know what you think.

Georgia On My Mind

"Because"

I love this.
I love her.
I love the strange space age harmonies on this song.
It's like you listen to her voice, and you think something is a bit off.
(Mike, you know what I'm talking 'bout..ha ha)
Seriously, it almost sounds wrong.
But you can't stop listening.

Then you realize...

"Oh, wait..."






...then you look around to see if anyone else got it.

Her name is Georgia Anne Muldrow, and the album is called "Olesi: Fragents of an Earth" on Stones Throw Records. She's doing some different things with her music, and I like it. It's a bit abstract but she has some very nice moments on there. I haven't given the full album the attention it deserves, but from the few tracks I've heard come up on my iPod, I like her style a lot. Reminds me a lot of Steve Spacek's sparse production and mystic vocals. In fact, if you were to ask me what music sounds like it's from the year 2045...THIS is it.

"Music for the young and old...

...music good for your ear hole."

I want to give a shout out to my father Donnie Seals Sr. who honestly has influenced a good 80% of the music I listen to (it's probably more). And as this blog continues and grows, I'll go in to more detail about how his taste in music has influenced my own. But I wanted to start this blog by posting about a song by one of his favorite groups, Parliament-Funkadelic. This is an underground alternate version for the song "Big Footin'".

I'm not gonna lie, I'm only NOW getting in to their underground stuff. Like most people who were in to "old school", I knew about "Knee Deep" and "Atomic Dog". Who doesn't (if you don't you need to run and get some P-Funk)? But I'm just now finding out about some of their early stuff. Like some of their rock stuff! And it's nothing like what I equate to P-Funk. The more I listen, the more I hear Hendrix, James Brown and especially Sly Stone. In fact, the screams you hear in the song below is channeling some Sly Stone something serious.

Anyway, I don't know much about the history of this particular recording, and I still have a lot to learn about Parliament and Funkadelic (yeah, there were two groups), but it's a raw funky jam that sounds like it was recorded in someone's bedroom. I love the screaming and of course the wonderful chorus!

"IIIII KNOW WHAT YOU CAN DO! LET US LAY SOME FUNK ON YOU!"

"Big Footin' (Alternate Version)"

(funk on me?)