Be A Father To Your Child

Ed O.G & Da Bulldog's 1991 tune "Be A Father To Your Child" from the hugely underrated album "Life Of A Kid In The Ghetto" is a classic for a number of reasons ... For a start its lyrics are intelligent, evocative and thought provoking but for me what makes it so special is the sample it uses which just blew my mind when I heard it the first time ... As corny as this may sound, it's hard to imagine now not knowing that the loop was borrowed from Roy Ayers' "Searching" but at the time I didn't have a clue what it was or where it came from and all I wanted to do was find out ... I remember furiously scribbling down the title of the original song being sampled as I listened to it on the radio and rushing down to the record store the following morning to buy that "Best Of Roy Ayers" album ... More importantly I remember how blown away I was when I got home and actually listened to the music itself and to Roy doing his thing on the vibes ... For me that is one of the greatest things about hip hop ... It opened up the eyes of a new generation to all the music that came before it and inspired it and educated all of us who most likely would never have had any interest in jazz or funk or blues about the Coltranes, Birds and Monks of this world and for that we should really be grateful ...