I have a ton of playlists on my iPOD. Too many to name honestly. One of those playlists consists of hip hop songs that I personally consider perfect. From the beat to the delivery of the MC, everything matches up and gels in perfect unison. I have a lot of favorites, but these songs transcend just "good". This song by Large Professor (also known as Extra P) is one of those songs.
I got a love hate relationship with youtube. You can find damn near anything on youtube. But youtube will steal hours of your day. Just cant stop clicking on links. Well anyway, I thought I’d share some of my findings of today.
Rhyme & Reason
Back in like ’95 or ’96 there was a hip-hop documentary called The Show. And then there was that other documentary. Everybody remembers The Show, but only the real heads remember Rhyme & Reason. And it was way better than The Show. Somebody up it on youtube, but they split it up into 10 parts. This is 2 of 10. About 3 minutes in, there is a dope freestyle by Fatlip of the Pharcyde. Classic. Then immediately after that, there is a Ice T freebee. What bugged me out about Ice T, was he is rocking an LA cap with a Wu-Tang t shirt.
Common Sense – Soul By The Pound
I’ve seen Comm live maybe about 4 or 5 times. And every single time, people from the crowd start shouting out songs that they want him to perform. One of them is Soul By The Pound. And he never performs it. This is one of those classic early 90’s videos. Its pretty much the same concept as The Corner, but it was shot in like ’91.
Yaggfu Front – Left Field
This is one of those joints I was talking about earlier. One hit wonder, even though it was never really a hit. And once again, im like one of a handful of people who even rember this group. Yo, extra special shouts to Squeege for letting me burn a copy of this some years back.
Question Mark Asylum – Hey Look Away
I remember chillin in the bassment of my godsisters house watching The Box and runnin a game of spades. This joint came on and it was just so damn smooth. Peep the choreography they had. And yes, this is another one hit wonder that wasn’t a hit. Still classic hip-hop though.
Boogie Monsters – Thresholds Of Negative Stress
More 90’s flava. This reminds me of the countless hours spent in the bassment taping Rap City. I spent a lot of time in bassments. When we were young, everybody’s parents banished us to the bassment. It was usually where the old couch and tv went. Everything went down in the bassment. We got our first drank on in the bassment. Got smoked out in the bassment. Played video games down there. Saw the OJ police chase in the bassment. Even had girls down there. The bassment was the shit.
This French documentary captured some very interesting moments and footage of Marvin. Some of the beginning narration is in French, but around the 4 minute mark you get to hear from Marvin himself regarding his childhood, what music he likes and what he thinks about Europe. Great great footage for us Marvin fans. It's worth it just to hear him on the piano a capella.
For my first post on HSD I've decided to hit you with 3 random joints that are extremely pleasing to the ear. I could blab on about some BS, but lets just get right to it.
The SolSonics “Lift Off”
The early 90's was a great era for hip-hop. But it also sparked a nice handful of funky bands with a female lead singer. Brand new heavies stand out the most. Loved Jamiroquoi. The groove collective droped a few jems. And then there was this group called the SolSonics. One day i was diggin thru some wax a my guy Skratch One's crib, and i came across this 12". Sadly i had to give it back to Skratch but not before i recorded it.
The Legion “Jingle Jangle”// album: Theme + Echo = Krill
1994. Hip-Hop. Afros with fist picks. Rugby polo shirts. Sony walkmans. Jansport backpacks. Dr. Dre and Ed Lover was still doing Yo! MTV Raps. This was a great year. I remember seeing the video to this joint back in the day. Real grimmey stomping in my timbos type shit. Funny thing about it is, i'm like the only person in the world that remembers this joint. Yup, another one hit wonder. Hip-Hop is full of them. The Legion. Questionmark Asylum. The College Boyz. Yaggfu Front. Theres many others. Maybe one day I'll share some of their joints. But for now, just sample!!!
Sound Directions “Play Car”// album: The Funky Side Of Life
A couple winters ago, me and Offkeyth took a trip up to Dusty Groove to get some wax. I had some fresh joints in my hand. Now, Offkeyth is the man. I learned how to mix from listening to his old mix tapes. yes, tapes. not cd's. not mp3's. His ear for music is unbelieveable. So when he makes a album or song suggestion, you just buy it. no questions asked. im diggin, and he slides me Sound Directions, The funky Side Of Life. His exact words were, "here you need this". I peeped the title and tucked it under my arm. I knew this was a Madlib project, and Im a Madlib junkie. This is a funky ass album. and this particular song is my favorite from this album. I love Madlibs, oh I mean Otis' drum roll and how the organ comes back in. Madlib is a genius. Here, You need to listen to this.
Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to bring to the stage the host and creator of one of the BEST Hip Hop podcasts on the internet. The wonderful and fabulous T-Bear of Jungle Bassment Radio!
Honestly, I can't say enough about this brotha. His Jungle Bassment Radio podcast is one of the most creative mixes I've heard in a long time. The mix isn't just a bunch of well blended tracks, anybody can do that (well, not everybody). It's an entire show! Every mix has his own personal style yet stays true to the music, and I respect the brotha for that. One last thing, I've been checking out his mixes for years and whenever I complete a show I always ask the same question:
WHY CAN'T RADIO BE LIKE THIS?!
Anyway, for the next few weeks T-Bear is going to take over high speed dubbing.
And um, while you're in the clapping mood, go subscribe to his podcast: iTunes, Twango or stream.
The idea of the traditional music band is all but dead in the music industry now, but it's especially dead in R&B music. Earth, Wind & Fire? Parliament Funkadelic? Mint Condition? Everybody playing an instrument? Not going to happen today. It's just too expensive to pay 5 parts when the lead singer can just go solo and have a back up band. Fortunate for us, there are a lot of small labels that are giving a voice to new artists, including some great R&B bands.
Rebirth is a sextet out of Los Angeles that has a Brand New Heavies / Rotary Connection sort of vibe (which is a good thing). This was another Taunja suggestion that I jumped on a couple years ago (honestly, she needs her own music blog). Listening to this album, I know Rebirth puts on a good live show, similar to Fertile Ground.
First day of the month. Favorite track 1's. Four songs.
Binary Star // Masters Of The Universe (2001)
I first heard this song around 2000 (i think). It was at a BBQ up in Rogers Park. There wasn't a set DJ for the party, but people were hijacking the CD player all throughout the day playing random stuff here and there. At one point this girl walked up to me as I was like, "These are my guys from Michigan. You should check them out."
Man, I looked at her like, "Ain't nobody trying to hear your backyard rap." But I put it in anyway cause I figured the BBQ attendees would shoot it down eventually. I put it the disc and this song came on.
Wow. I sat back kinda...
Like I wasn't expecting THAT! Ha ha. Honestly, that first verse by One Be Lo is PERFECT! I'm telling you all right now, that dude is rappin', and it's as close to a perfect verse as you can get. I saw him perform this live a few years later and it was just amazing! This album had a few other choice songs on it ("New Hip Hop" and the wonderful story of "Glen Close"), but nothing tops that first song.
Thanks Hillary.
Amy Winehouse "Stronger Than Me" // Frank (2003)
My guy Mike turned me on to her while I was at his house raiding his iTunes of samples and such. "Wanna hear this girl that ?uest said sounds like Lauryn Hill?" So for a while I had her second album BACK TO BLACK and the popular song "Rehab" on serious rotation. While both albums are solid and showcase her wonderful vocal talents, I prefer FRANK. Why? It's more so by default because the Hip Hop meets Mowtown got tiresome for me on BACK TO BLACK. If you like B2B, check out her debut album FRANK (funny how the American Music Awards gave her the Best New Artist award for her 2nd album).
I'm an Amy Winehouse fan, and I hope she finds the help she needs. She makes good music.
Dorothy Ashby "Tornado" // Dorothy's Harp (1969)
Talk about Hip Harp! How did she make that harp so...Hip Hop! I mean, this was the late sixties early seventies, so maybe I need to take a look at the bebop scene that was so prevalant back then. But wow! And it's not just due to Kanye sampling some of her music, that's too easy. It's something else. She plays her harp like a guitar, and the beats that come from this album (yeah, beats!) are just amazing.
As you can probably tell, I'm just now learning about Ms. Ashby. And what I've been learning and hearing is fantastic. Many are probably familiar with her work via Kanye West on Common's FINDING FOREVER album. She also played on Stevie Wonder's "If It's Magic" from the SONGS IN THE KEY OF LIFE LP.
I had just bought this CD from the Crow's Nest in the Loop (DePaul, STAND UP!) and was playing it on my Sony discman as I walked down State St when I heard this song. About a year earlier a friend had sent me the full version of D'Angelo's Jazz Cafe concert in London (yeah, the official import release excluded a few tracks), and I recognized a riff that Mike Howard played on "Brown Sugar". That riff came from this album and this song.
This is probably my most favorite Jimi Hendrix song.
