FIRST!

First day of the month.
Favorite track 1's.
Four songs.














Silhoutette Brown "Whose In Charge" // Silhouette Brown (2005)

I admit it. I'm a 4Hero junkie. Anything those two guys work on, I'm checking for it. Props to DJ Sean Haley of the group Windimoto for telling me about this joint. Two years ago 4Hero producer Dego released this joint with Kaidi Tatham to form Silhouette Brown.

This fantastic side project filled with chilled grooves and jazzy beats. More of that UK soul filled with creative harmonies and, what I've grown to love about broke beat music, the complex beat patterns. And that is especially present in THIS track.














Big Daddy Kane "Long Live The Kane" // Long Live The Kane (1988)

Alright I admit it! I just bought this album a month ago. I'll also admit that outside of "The Symphony" and "Ain't No Half Steppin'", I had known nothing about Big Daddy Kane. No, this is not a guest lecture by Lupe, but it gets worse. Ready? Sometimes, when asked, I would include Kane in my top 5 MC's list. Oh the horror! Why did I do it? To be honest, his rep. Among fans of hip hop, I had always heard people mention Big Daddy Kane. Always! Besides, he's one of the few MC's I've heard in the same breath as Rakim and KRS-One, and I hold those two MC's higher than anyone.

But you know what? I don't feel bad about it. Wait, let me take that back. After listening to Long Live The Kane, I do feel bad that I missed out on so much because the album IS sick. That title track is monstrous! It was listening to this album that I realized where Black Thought got a lot of his flow from.

I've always thought Kane was tight on "The Smyphony" and his guest appearance on A Prince Among Thieves was tight. Why didn't I check for him earlier? Laziness I guess. Nothing more, nothing less. We all have artists we just kinda sleep on. Besides, there's a lot of music out there...it's difficult to keep up with everything. Right?

(BETTER LATE THAN NEVER)

While the majority of you that have been fans for over 10 years will look at me in disgust (may even question high speed dubbing), there's probably two of y'all out there who secretly never checked dude out but KNEW you should have (then there's the cats that were born in 1986, but we'll forgive them).

For you, I say download this track and long live the Kane!














Stevie Wonder "Look Around" // Where I'm Coming From (1971)

Morris had just got an internship working at Tamla, the largest and hottest facility in the Midwest. His mother walked him down on his first day. He sat down at a long conference table with his new boss. He looked at Morris as if he held his career in the palm of his hand. "You're gonna work hard" he exclaimed, sitting behind a monstrous oak desk. "Harder than you've ever worked in your entire life."

Nervously Morris ran his fingers over his pants, they tightened around his thighs. His shirt collar was digging in his neck, but he reserved movement during the boss' speech. "You're gonna train with William. He'll show you how things are done around here."

William suddenly was in the room, leaning against the door frame cool as ever, yet annoyed at his new baby sitting duties. The boss continued, "We'll check back with you in a month to see if you're worthy of representing the Tamla brand. Oh, and one more thing." He slammed the desk with his fist causing an earthquake of pencils, post-its and paper clips.

"DON'T GET ANY IDEAS! Our formula works!"

So the work begins.
Importing and exporting.
Clocking in, clocking out.

Whatever they tossed in front of Morris, he handled. He also noticed the healthy competition going 'round the office. Everyone was trying to top the latest numbers coming out of the facility. A non stop organized chaos made working at the Tamla facility a fun place to work. At first Morris didn't think he could handle it but William (known around the office as Smokey) assured him he would be fine. And he was! He was a natural actually. A genius!

Years pass and not only did he begin mastering his own work, but he started helping everyone else. In fact, the office started coming to him for ideas on composition and style. Martha was asking for help on her work and Tammi needed his chops on her session again. The boss stood pleased. He'd occasionally come down from on high and notice his work. "Son, keep cranking 'em out and you will have a bright future. I promise."

But then the monotony set in. Everything that left Tamla started looking the same. For once, Morris wanted to try something different. Just once.

Years had gone by, and Morris' review with boss arrived. He walked in to the boss' office just as he did years ago, but this time it's different. This time, he sat with a little lean...a little attitude in his posture. Marvin had been putting bugs in his ear, and he had some ideas. Morris, excited about his newfound ideas, began talking to boss only to hear...

"Now you listen here you lil' punk! NO IDEAS!! OUR FORMULA WORKS!!"

Morris didn't flinch. "Then I won't sign."

Boss' mouth sat wide open. Shocked. For once he was at a loss for words.

"I got some ideas boss."

Those ideas? The Where I'm Coming From LP.
The artist? A 21 year old Steveland Morris.

....somewhere Vince Vaughn is dancing on a table.

















Lewis Taylor "Lucky" // Lewis Taylor (1996)

The dark debut album from UK soul artist Lewis Taylor is one of my favorites simply for the intro track. If "Lucky" were placed anywhere else it would destroy the entrance to what is a very abstract and soul album. I believe it prepares you mentally and emotionally for everything Lewis is trying to say. In fact, he seems most vulnerable on "Lucky", and by songs end you're waiting to hear how he's going to grow up. Essentially, shouldn't that be the goal of every intro track?

The song also exposes some of Lewis' influences (Marvin and Bobby Womack maybe? What do you hear?) What's interesting is that Taylor has admitted in interviews that this album came to light after hearing D'Angelo's Voodoo. Supposedly the two singers had plans to work together on a project together, but it never happened (surprise).

When I first initially started writing about this song, I went in a totally different direction. I had like 3 paragraphs of stuff and I ended up deleting it, more so saving it, for another blog entry. For the people who are new to Lewis Taylor, what do you think? For the people who know about Lewis Taylor already, where do you rank this song compared to his others?