Rasa Rules Everything Around Me
Next time you’re spending money you haven’t got on records you don’t need, take a minute to scour the oft-ignored New Age bins for Rasa’s spiritual masterpiece Everything You See Is Me (Govinda, 1978). Somehow eschewing the notion that religion lends itself even less to music than politics, this Hare Krishna-crafted funk bomb boasts superior songwriting, dazzling production and grooves that echo Stevie Wonder and Steely Dan a lot more than they do the tambourine army chanting down Oxford Street.
Hip-hop producers have been up on Rasa’s beats and pieces for a while, early Common and BDP selections making use of the record’s sample-friendly songs. Not to mention now-incarcerated Bad Boy MC Black Rob’s minor hit ‘Can I Live’ featuring The Lox – this is what they jacked for that, too. But its worth is greater than its value to loop-greedy producers. The small print shouts out, for their assistance, George Harrison, Alice Coltrane, Stevie Wonder and Neil Diamond. (If a recent eavesdropped record store convo is to be believed El Toro Negro had more than a hand in things – doesn’t sound implausible.)
Surprisingly common for a record on a small label, Everything You See Is Me shouldn’t run you more than about $10. The prescient liner notes lament the then-impending digital age, ruing “technological wizardry… [which] left us in a disconnected state of mind with nothing to show for our efforts but some rocks and dust from the moon, TV watches that click, buzz and beep, and more effective contraceptives for your dog.” Wax only until the inevitable Japanese CD reissue comes along.
Hip-hop producers have been up on Rasa’s beats and pieces for a while, early Common and BDP selections making use of the record’s sample-friendly songs. Not to mention now-incarcerated Bad Boy MC Black Rob’s minor hit ‘Can I Live’ featuring The Lox – this is what they jacked for that, too. But its worth is greater than its value to loop-greedy producers. The small print shouts out, for their assistance, George Harrison, Alice Coltrane, Stevie Wonder and Neil Diamond. (If a recent eavesdropped record store convo is to be believed El Toro Negro had more than a hand in things – doesn’t sound implausible.)
Surprisingly common for a record on a small label, Everything You See Is Me shouldn’t run you more than about $10. The prescient liner notes lament the then-impending digital age, ruing “technological wizardry… [which] left us in a disconnected state of mind with nothing to show for our efforts but some rocks and dust from the moon, TV watches that click, buzz and beep, and more effective contraceptives for your dog.” Wax only until the inevitable Japanese CD reissue comes along.
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