Tuesday, February 18, 2003
it’s alright – I feel it! 2: electric boogaloo
note: “electric boogaloo” is always a good subtitle to any second volume in a series, preferably following the number two. the influence of breakin’ 2 will never die.
side a
1. “tyrone (live version),” erykah badu. baduism was good; “tyrone” (and, for that matter, most of her live album) was great. a sassed-up mama-don’t-take-no-mess polemic much more interesting than her usual collard-greens-n-droppin’-science rhetoric.
2. “I am the black gold of the sun (4 hero remix),” nuyorican soul featuring jocelyn brown. a note-perfect, dreamy house cover of minnie riperton’s classic given an even fresher d’n’b paint job by the gorgeously jazzy junglists 4 hero. deep as it gets.
3. “romantic,” karyn white. unspeakable joy.
4. “the party continues,” jd featuring usher and da brat. cameo-sampling southern creaminess complete with an interpolation of “get down on it.” to reiterate, da brat on someone else’s record = goodness. dupri makes puffy sound like biggie in comparison.
5. “funkin’ for jamaica (n.y.),” tom browne. horny disco-soul-funk of the highest order, with a groove that don’t stop, ‘cause it can’t stop.
6. “no one else (puff daddy remix),” total featuring foxy brown, lil’ kim, and da brat. sistahs are doin’ it for theyselves! possibly the all-girl highlight of the ‘90s.
7. “5 miles to empty (r.h. factor 215th place mix),” brownstone. the most slept-on r-and-b group of the decade, perfection on ballads and midtempos (“grapevyne,” “if you love me”), with the first salvo from their soph effort, souped up into dancefloor heaven. the vocals spiral higher and higher into the sky until you have to come down ‘cause you can’t go any further up.
8. “luchini aka (this is it),” camp lo. the most slept-on hiphop track of the decade, like digable planets without the annoyance factor or the female member and with an obsession with the glory days of blaxploitation. anyone know where the horn sample comes from?
side b
1. “gettin’ jiggy wit it,” will smith. jiggy is as jiggy does: a hit of pure sunshine-off-the-water.
2. “on our own (from ghostbusters II) (dance!…ya know it! version),” bobby brown. back when b-brown was still happy, and tougher than leather. for pete’s sake, he even made a ghostbusters theme sound good. this version picked for it’s slice-and-dice stutter-stop “dance! d-d-dance!” cuisinart sequence immediately preceding the first verse.
3. “circles,” adam f. he didn’t always make hiphop records, you know. adam f’s first stock-in-trade was spot-on drum-n-bass. this was – and still is – an early classic, thanks in large part to its stand-up bass.
4. “sock it 2 me,” missy elliot featuring da brat. okay, maybe it’s a little overkill, but what could I do? It (was) “the 9-7! it’s the motherfuckin’ bitch era! whatcha’ll niggas wanna do? (it’s) the brat-tat-tat-tat on dat azz!”
5. “jump to it,” aretha franklin. the queen rides in a hooptie. but regally.
6. “put your hands where my eyes could see,” busta rhymes. it’s all about that shimmy-shake rhythm.
7. “to be in love (maw 12”),” masters at work featuring india. nearly a perfect, dancing-for-hours deep house track: relaxed, grooving, with soaring (dare I say inspirational?) vocals, lifting you higher and higher like jackie wilson. one of the masters’ masterpieces.
8. “spice up your life,” spice girls. I give.
note: “electric boogaloo” is always a good subtitle to any second volume in a series, preferably following the number two. the influence of breakin’ 2 will never die.
side a
1. “tyrone (live version),” erykah badu. baduism was good; “tyrone” (and, for that matter, most of her live album) was great. a sassed-up mama-don’t-take-no-mess polemic much more interesting than her usual collard-greens-n-droppin’-science rhetoric.
2. “I am the black gold of the sun (4 hero remix),” nuyorican soul featuring jocelyn brown. a note-perfect, dreamy house cover of minnie riperton’s classic given an even fresher d’n’b paint job by the gorgeously jazzy junglists 4 hero. deep as it gets.
3. “romantic,” karyn white. unspeakable joy.
4. “the party continues,” jd featuring usher and da brat. cameo-sampling southern creaminess complete with an interpolation of “get down on it.” to reiterate, da brat on someone else’s record = goodness. dupri makes puffy sound like biggie in comparison.
5. “funkin’ for jamaica (n.y.),” tom browne. horny disco-soul-funk of the highest order, with a groove that don’t stop, ‘cause it can’t stop.
6. “no one else (puff daddy remix),” total featuring foxy brown, lil’ kim, and da brat. sistahs are doin’ it for theyselves! possibly the all-girl highlight of the ‘90s.
7. “5 miles to empty (r.h. factor 215th place mix),” brownstone. the most slept-on r-and-b group of the decade, perfection on ballads and midtempos (“grapevyne,” “if you love me”), with the first salvo from their soph effort, souped up into dancefloor heaven. the vocals spiral higher and higher into the sky until you have to come down ‘cause you can’t go any further up.
8. “luchini aka (this is it),” camp lo. the most slept-on hiphop track of the decade, like digable planets without the annoyance factor or the female member and with an obsession with the glory days of blaxploitation. anyone know where the horn sample comes from?
side b
1. “gettin’ jiggy wit it,” will smith. jiggy is as jiggy does: a hit of pure sunshine-off-the-water.
2. “on our own (from ghostbusters II) (dance!…ya know it! version),” bobby brown. back when b-brown was still happy, and tougher than leather. for pete’s sake, he even made a ghostbusters theme sound good. this version picked for it’s slice-and-dice stutter-stop “dance! d-d-dance!” cuisinart sequence immediately preceding the first verse.
3. “circles,” adam f. he didn’t always make hiphop records, you know. adam f’s first stock-in-trade was spot-on drum-n-bass. this was – and still is – an early classic, thanks in large part to its stand-up bass.
4. “sock it 2 me,” missy elliot featuring da brat. okay, maybe it’s a little overkill, but what could I do? It (was) “the 9-7! it’s the motherfuckin’ bitch era! whatcha’ll niggas wanna do? (it’s) the brat-tat-tat-tat on dat azz!”
5. “jump to it,” aretha franklin. the queen rides in a hooptie. but regally.
6. “put your hands where my eyes could see,” busta rhymes. it’s all about that shimmy-shake rhythm.
7. “to be in love (maw 12”),” masters at work featuring india. nearly a perfect, dancing-for-hours deep house track: relaxed, grooving, with soaring (dare I say inspirational?) vocals, lifting you higher and higher like jackie wilson. one of the masters’ masterpieces.
8. “spice up your life,” spice girls. I give.
# posted by Thomas : 2:51 PM
