Peven Everett "I Know When I' Met" // Sincerely Yours... (2008)
I bought two CD's from my favorite "wrekka sto" this past weekend to celebrate my birthday (which is tomorrow). One of which was the newest Peven album Sincerely Yours (the other, 2000Black's A Next Set Of Rockers). And it's strange, I always seem to buy his albums without hearing them first. Yet, I'd never put him in the category of Badu, Bilal, The Roots or any other artist where I'd buy their album without hearing it.
I guess I gamble on Peven because I know he's going to give me something I really like. Like REALLY like. I may not like the whole album, but there's gonna be that ONE song that hits me hard. Like I'll be riding in the car waiting for the green light, and it'll just hit me. And I'll sit there at the light screaming, "THAT'S IT PEVEN! THAT'S THAT JOINT RIGHT THERE!" And I'll bang on the steering wheel complete with furious head knods (yeah, that's what I do when I'm feeling a song. I'm sure my steering wheel hates me).
Oh, dude is a local Chicago artist. I have a special place in my heart for those cats. Also, I love the switch up at the 3:56 mark. Great groove.
Aiight. I'm fed up with the bull. These kids just dont get it. Hell, half of these grown cats got brainwashed and straight forgot. I just can't get with lil wayne being this generations G.O.A.T. Please tell me theres a recount. I know Jeb got something to do with this. Lets face it. These new rap kids need to step their game up. I mean... back in the day, you had to have skills just to touch the mic. Even the dude that wraped up the mic cord and placed it in the travel case had skills. Shit, Pac was a damn roadie/back up dancer. You just cant be jumping on the mic all willy nilly. These kids need to step it up. Matta fact. They dont need to step it up. They can just leave. Get the hell out!! Turn in your mic and leave your hip-hop hall pass and get out!
Excuse me for the rant, but this shit is just retarded. So I'm gonna have to hand out a few lessons. This may be a refresher course for some of you.
The basic definition of flow is an emcee's delivery. Or how well he/she rides the beat. Flows vary. Fast, slow, simple, complex. Some flows have a certain rhythm to it. To make it simple... A good flow should make you feel like you could listen to this cat rhyme all day. It shouldn't sound like some drug induced haze. Or just some nigga talkin. So heres some examples of some really great flows. Keep in mind, there are a lot of songs i left out. But this should get your mind working again.
Da Two // Pete Rock and CL Smooth
CL jumps in and is just so..... well, smooth with it. This is the cat that you can have rap at your wedding. He really is the best thats ever done it on a pete rock track.
Braggin writes // J-Live
J-Live is witty, intelligent, and rhymes while cutting the track up on the truntables.
Close Edge // Mos Def
This is what I'm talking about here. I absolutely love this song. I could listen to Mos for days.
Rhymes like dimes // MF Doom
Doom got one of them styles. Complex but not too complex. The type of cat where you catch something different in his songs each time you listen to it.
I saved these 2 for last. Common and Black Thought both put out some "no hook" tracks. Just straight up lyrics that will leave you wondering if they even stopped to breath.
The Jackson 5ive "Don't Let Your Baby Catch You" // Lookin' Through The Windows (1971)
Wow Mike! And to think I almost bypassed the brothers from Gary, IN entirely.
See, I'm an 80's kid, so like most kids (and damn near the entire planet during the mid 80's), I loved Michael Jackson. The albums, the cartoon, the record player, the doll. At that age, I remember asking my ol' man if he liked Michael Jackson. His answer? "No. That's just bubble gum pop music." This coming from a man that grew up idolizing P-Funk and Sly (see the previous post). So it makes sense.
So growing up I tended to block out everything before Off The Wall (yes, even the CBS era) because of my ol' man. Now that I'm hearing some of the early Jackson 5ive, the stuff produced by The Corporation, Hal Davis and the Mizell Brothers, I'm hooked.
The job of any live album is to provide a ticket to the listener. Yes, a ticket. I need to feel like I'm there, at the show, IN THE FRONT ROW!
The sound of microphone feed back. The sound of a restless crowd. The sound of the drummer sitting down to his throne. I need all of that.
The idea of a live album is to essentially recreate the show on record. Even though Donny Hathaway has passed on, there are tickets still available to one of his best shows.
I don't use the term 'amazing' with many albums. I don't. I can't. Donny Hathaway's Live LP is one of the best concert and soul albums of all time. IT'S AMAZING! And I say that with no doubt on my lips. Donny Hathaway's Live is what really opened my eyes to his genius in addition to my love for collecting live performances. For weeks I couldn't stop playing both "What's Goin' On" and "The Ghetto".
In fact when I think about it, I didn't get to the third song until months later. Those two songs back to back are a sick combo. The voice? The keys? The grooves? The band? And even better yet, the crowd? Powerful. It's almost scary the feelings that were going on during this show. Donny's voice and that band had this crowd in complete control.
Even though Live is an amalgam of a few shows, it's still a complete piece of work. Listening to this album really puts me in the center of this show. If you haven't heard this show, you're in luck. Tickets are still available.
Fantastic Vol. 2 had just dropped the previous year. Beats, Rhymes & Life a few years before. Then there were the countless tracks produced for Busta Rhymes, De La Soul and The Pharcyde. I was sold. I was a fan. In my eyes, everything Jay Dee touched was gold. So when I read about his solo project on BBE I was hyped. Plus the snippet I heard of Donald Byrd's "ThinkTwice" remake with this unknown crooner from the 'D' was just sick. CD release Tuesday finally came (remember those?). I sat in my 1988 Toyota Camry with a CD discman and a tape adapter.
I pressed play.
I must be honest with you, I wasn't ready. That first song had this distorted beauty that confused me. The bass sounded as if he clipped it to a truck and dragged it 50 feet. It was just, dumb dirty. Clumsy. Not the clean bass lines I was used to hearing. Somebody took some scissors to this beat and just stabbed it. I would later learn to love and appreciate this sound, for this was the new Jay Dee (or JDilla). Welcome 2 Detroit was the dress rehearsal for Jaylib and especially Donuts. That first listen I just wasn't ready.
In honor of Al's new album Lay It Down, I thought I'd go back 35 years to one of his best albums. Other than a few greatest hits comps, Call Me was my first Al LP. Like hearing Rakim for the first time, I wasn't ready. The good Reverend had my ears wide open. That voice! I think ?uestlove said it best during this video documentary...
"No one has range like Al Green. He's like a 5 part harmony chorus inside of his own body. There's the falsetto Al Green. The church growling Al Green. Ferocious soulful Al Green. There's a very church mouse Al Green..."
The Call Me LP has a solid soulful organic sound. It's rich and rough at the same time. Does that make sense? Sometimes genius can't make sense.
"I live and die for a just cause not just cause. So if it ain't justice then you get just ice."
I'm sorry, I think that line is so sick! If there's one reason why I will always support J-Live it's that he's one of the only MC's that doesn't waste words. EVERY word he spits has a purpose. He is a true lyricist. Yes, lyricist. I can't think of any current MC out today that uses language as creatively as this brother. For more examples, check my favorite J-Live song "Braggin Writes".
My guy Avery turned me on to the heavily bootlegged The Best Part around 2000 and I've been hooked ever since. The beat and the flow of "Them That's Not" sucked me in, but J-Live's lyrics kept me there. "Got What It Takes" is one of those songs where you'll discover new things even after 20 listens.
