The Godfather Of Soul

To coin a phrase from A Tribe Called Quest, there are "8 Million Stories' you can tell about James Brown and that's without even mentioning his music ... You can talk about his hair, his clothes, his dancing, his lawsuits and you wouldn't even be scratching the surface ... But today I just want to talk about the track "Licking Stick" ... For me this tune encapsulates everything that is great about the Godfather Of Soul himself ... Not only is the groove phenomenal but listen to the guitar riffs and the horns ... The bloody horns ... They are just so damn funky it is insane and the way James shouts "horns" every now and then and they just kick in is one of the many examples of the great man at his best ... What really makes this joint so special for me though is how he starts off singing about people doing various dances and then describes them doing the "James Brown" ... Who else would have had the nerve to do this ... The man names a dance after himself and you know that no one is going to argue with him because you can't fuck with James ... You'll be reading about JB a lot on this blog ... I can promise you that ... But for now just check "Licking Stick" because it is funkier than your grandma's drawers ...

More Magnificent Than Lee Van Cleef

I know the beat has been jacked from Diamond D's classic 1992 track "I Went For Mine" produced by DJ Scratch but I don't think this makes the new Busta joint - "New York Shit" - any less massive ... When I first heard it on the XXL website I wasn't sure but after listening to it on my boy Benji B's radio show where he beautifully blends the original into the new version and watching the crowd reaction when Primo dropped it the other night I've been won over ... I also can't believe that it's a Swizz Beatz production ... Ok ... Ok ... The beat has been used before so it isn't the most original thing I have ever heard but Busta's tribute to the birthplace of hip hop is definitely going to be this summer's anthem and let's hope it's the start of New York being put back on the map ... You heard it here first and I can't wait to hear it booming across the city as it gets hotter than july over the next few months ... On top of that it also makes me realize how amazing Diamond D and that whole era of hip hop actually was ... At times I think it's nostalgia but really the tunes being made back then were and always will in a league of their own ... And for those of you who want to know what the original track is ... This was a hard one to find but I believe it's called "Faded Lady" and it's by the SSO Band ...

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 ...

Last Night A DJ Saved My Life

I'm not a DJ ... I never have been and I never will be so I guess I probably shouldn't even be commenting on what they do when they do what they do but the one thing DJs always seem to struggle with is picking that perfect track to finish off a party in the right way ... Don't get me wrong ... I can't imagine this is easy ... But if spinning records is your craft surely you should know how to send the crowd out into the night with a smile on their face right ... Well maybe it's harder than it looks but if you want to know how to get it right you needed to be at my man Acyde's jam last night at The Asylum ... After a night of ridiculous tunes covering all bases from Chaka Khan to Keni Burke to Cypress Hill and back again, just when I was starting to panic that he would close out the jam in the wrong way, he pulled out the track of all tracks and wrapped it up with a gem that even Dave Chappelle himself would have been proud of ... Oh yeah ... Just when it couldn't have gotten any bigger out came "Maneater" - Hall & Oates' all time classic - and sure enough it was happy days all round !!! So there you have it and in the words of you know who ... If you don't know ... Now you know ...

Joy and Pain

Yesterday was a long day ... And when I say a long day I mean a really long day ... By the time I got home it was well past midnight and it was all about picking that perfect tune to kick back and chill to ... So there I was sitting in my living room exhausted and as soon as I saw the sleeve on the vinyl I knew what I was putting on ... It had to be Frankie Beverly and Maze's "Joy and Pain" ... I tend to say this about loads of tracks but this really is one of my all time favorites ... It is just so damn amazing it's almost impossible to write about because nothing I say will do it justice ... This is a group I have loved ever since my dad took me to see them in the early 80s in New York and I don't actually even remember going to that show but apparently I always used to go on about it when I was young !!! Anyway ... If you want to experience soul music at its absolute best go and pick up their 1980 "Joy and Pain" album ... It doesn't get much better than this ...

Quentin's On The Way (Skit)

Before anyone asks, the title of this post is a slightly random nod to an interlude on the first Pharcyde album which is an all-time classic in itself but let's not get distracted ... Today I felt I had to talk about Mr Pulp Fiction (or Reservoir Dogs if you'd prefer) himself Quentin Tarantino ... Sure he's a movie maker but when it comes to picking the right tracks for his films this man is, and please excuse the pun here, in a league of his own ... From the torture scene in Reservoir Dogs where Michael Madsen slices off the cop's ear in time to "Stuck In The Middle With You" by Stealers Wheel to the incredible use of Kool and the Gang's "Jungle Boogie" in Pulp Fiction to the inclusion of Johnny Cash's "Tennessee Stud" in Jackie Brown, Quentin has been on point with his selection every time from day one and I haven't even mentioned Kill Bill which is possibly the most ridiculous of all !!! Seriously, if you could turn picking music for films into an art form he would have it locked down ... My only criticism is that in Pulp Fiction I would have picked Al Green's "Jesus Is Waiting" over "Let's Stay Together" but what do I know ...

Philadelphia

I'll get round to talking about the City of Brotherly Love another time I promise but for now I want to talk about a young man from Detroit by the name of Andwele Gardner aka Dwele ... The first time I heard any of his stuff was late one night in Tokyo when my boy Dai played me a track from Bahamadia's "BB Queen" album entitled "Philadelphia" and it just blew my mind ... You know those rare occasions when someone plays you something and it's just so good that you can remember exactly what day it was and where you were when you first heard it ... Well this was one of those moments and ever since then I have been one of this guy's biggest supporters ... If you can get your hands on it, I thoroughly recommend checking out his "Rize" album but if you can't find that be sure to listen to either his debut release "Subject" or his sophomore effort "Some KInda' which has a track on it called "Wake The Baby" which is one of my favorites ... Words can't describe how talented a musician Dwele is and how nice a guy he is too and from his guest spots with Slum Village to his live shows he is one of the few people around today who is really innovating and making new things happen ...

Murder Was The Case

Sometimes you gotta put your neck out ... When you do there's always a danger it may get cut off but sometimes you gotta do it and now is one of those times ... What I'm about to say is pretty controversial I know but I just have to put it out there so here goes ... As far as I am concerned Doggy Style is better than The Chronic ... So there ... I said it ... I said it ... Don't get me wrong - The Chronic is a masterpiece and was the blueprint for the whole G-Funk era but my view is that Doggy Style is really the jewel in the crown ... From start to finish you just can't fault it ... Everything from the artwork to the skits to the ridiculous "It Ain't No Fun" with Nate Dogg crooning on is just flawless and that's why it pips The Chronic to the post everytime ... I know many of you out there disagree so holler at me if you think I'm wrong ...

Youthful Expression

People's Instinctive Travels And The Paths of Rhythm may not be the easiest Tribe album to remember the full name of and it's probably not their best album either but when you sit down and listen to this from start to finish it's hard not to acknowledge how seminal a piece of work it was and always will be ... Prior to its release people in the know were aware of Q-Tip from his guest appearances on a number of Jungle Brothers tracks including "Black Is Black" and "The Promo" and those who were really clued up were also familiar with Phife from his lyrics on De La Soul's "Buddy" Remix but it was this album that gave the world a taste of what the Tribe were really all about ... For me the most amazing thing about this record when I listen to it now is how young the Tribe were when they released it ... On the track "Youthful Expression" Q-Tip rhymes "19 Years Is a Youthful Lesson" and when you listen to what he's talking about on this tune and the rest of the album the fact that a crew so young could produce such an accomplished piece of work is really amazing ... It's not the Low End Theory and it ain't Midnight Marauders but for a debut release it couldn't really be much better and is a perfect example of the hip hop movement in 1990 truly starting to embracing its jazz heritage ...

Freak In Peace

Yeah ... Yeah ... Yeah ... I know everyone on the planet has seen the Dave Chappelle sketch where Rick gets on the couch and starts messing it up with his filthy shoes and punches Charlie Murphy in the face ... I know everyone knows that Rick got incarcerated for tying up a chick in his kitchen with barbed wire and burning her with a crack pipe and that he had a live-in crack chef called Chef Boyardee ... I know that people have been saying "I'm Rick James bitch" non-stop for the past two years and we're all bored to pieces by it but how many of you have actually sat down and listened to the man's music ... I dare you ... Go on ... Check out Street Songs and Come Get It if you know what's good for you ... That shit is totally amazing ... I mean Mary Jane ... What is there to say about that track ... It is fucking incredible ... The man may have been out of his mind but his music was on another level and always will be ... Rick ... Freak In Peace man ... Freak In Peace ...