Wednesday, February 19, 2003
it’s alright – I feel it! 4: ain’t no stoppin’ us now
side a
1. “the rap world,” pete rock and the large professor. from the virtually unknown-even-when-it-was-out high school high soundtrack, this killer collabo was one of the all-time classics of my college radio show, alternately known as “radio free manchester” and “back seat of my jeep.” somehow, to my befuddlement, in my senior year (’95-’96), my radio show morphed from your (semi-)typical musical melange – seemingly without my involvement; I say that because I’m not aware of making any sort of concerted effort to do so – into an entirely urban show, featuring hiphop, soul, r-and-b, and even some jazz (nothin’ like ‘trane and wu rubbin’ up against each other). so here you’ve got this gay caucasian farm kid from rural indiana as the voice of hiphop for a college of 1000+. I found it, frankly, a bit bizarre. our station didn’t get great service from a lot of the record labels, so we took what we could get, and for whatever reason, the sony and atlantic labels jammed our mailbox full of juicy twelve-inches (we had the maxwell “’til the cops come knockin’” 12” a full 4 months before his debut was released!). it was thanks to atlantic that we had this. it was thanks to pete and large p that I played it in such heavy rotation for nigh on six months. deep, fuzzy keybs on the track, and two rhyme titans on the mic. [my other key jam that year was redman’s “funkorama,” from an erick sermon compilation. there’s a reason they’re called secret weapons, folks.]
2. “mama used to say,” junior. sterling, bongo-tastic u.k. pop-funk from the early ‘80s.
3. “got ‘til it’s gone (def club mix),” janet jackson featuring q-tip and joni mitchell. yeah, I was on david morales’ jock just a little bit in the mid-to-late-’90s, but when he was pumping out killers like this, why the hell not?! janet’s meant-to-be-a-kinda-tribute to joni doesn’t really succeed (though q-tip slides in perfectly), but morales’ def club mix turns “got” into a dark and deep grower, starting with those late-night chords and advancing gradually towards the sunrise. classic.
4. “addictive love,” bebe & cece winans. for some reason, many of my favorite christian songs have traditionally been those which can double as secular love songs. exhibit “a” is from bebe & cece, brother and sister and the most successful contemporary gospel act of the last two decades not named kirk franklin. there’s a genuine elation in this record, a thrilling kind of “woo!” in its release (listen to bebe as he vamps towards the final chorus: “forever in love!,” he practically shouts, he’s so damn happy). for a contempo gospel primer, there are few better ways to go than bebe & cece’s greatest hits, which honestly are.
5. “luchini aka (this is it) (lemon d remix),” camp lo. in ‘97, profile records released a white vinyl 10” single of a pair of drum’n’bass remixes of camp lo’s first two singles in the u.k. being as I was enraptured with not only camp lo but d’n’b at the time, it was a must-have purchase. I wasn’t disappointed. lemon d (whose tom brokaw-sampling “this is los angeles” is still a classic in my house) stripped “luchini” of all but its vocals and proceeded to reconstruct it from the ground up, starting with a ridiculously basic – and perfect – stand-up bass line. the keyb washes near the track’s end give it a chiming, almost-ominous end-of-a-late-night-in-the-city feel.
6. “rapper’s delight,” erick sermon, redman, and keith murray. taken from from the frankly-not-all-that-good in tha beginning… there was rap comp-cum-tribute, the record’s highlight. the def squad doesn’t so much add something new to this all-time hiphop classic as infuse it with their own personalities – of which, of course, redman’s is key, like a pollock painting.
7. “your secret love,” luther vandross. a soft kiss, a gentle summer breeze, holding hands in the park – that’s mr. lover-lover at his best, and this is one of his best. when his material matches his magnificent voice, he’s the undisputed king of romance, and here, it does.
side b
1. “breakin’… there’s no stoppin’ us,” ollie & jerry. when hollywood came to the ‘hood, breakin’ was the result. no, it’s not a particularly good film (though when was the last time you watched krush groove? neither of ‘em compares to wild style), though it’s fortunately preserved some great breakdancing on celluloid for future generations (get the time capsule!). its soundtrack, as well, is more flashdance than krush groove – a bit too heavy on the el-lay version of urban nyc. that having been said, there are two stone classics on this album. one is of course rufus and chaka khan’s reunion jam, “ain’t nobody.” the other is this refreshingly perky track, kind of the utopian flipside of the dystopia witnessed by herbie hancock’s “rockit.” yeah, it’s a little cheesy, but the turntablistic f/x it brought to the mainstream are real, and the pleasure ollie & jerry are having on the track is blissfully blatant, and infectious.
2. “stakes is high,” de la soul. speaking of dystopia… by the mid-‘90s, de la soul’s brand of daisy-age optimism was a thing of the past; streets was getting ugly. so the de la trio got hardcore, and honestly the results weren’t all good. but the claustrophobic feel of the album came to fruition on its title track, not a glorification of the then-current hiphop culture, but a warning and caution sign.
3. “rapture (k-klassic mix),” blondie. a rather lovely house mix of their classic which moves its setting from the street corner to the danceclub.
4. “I care ‘bout you,” milestone. the quiet storm male supergroup of the ‘90s, featuring babyface, k-ci & jojo, some guy from after 7, and, er, someone else. your basic prom slowdance material, redeemed by its songwriting (thank ‘face) and voices (thank ‘em all).
5. “state of shock,” the jacksons with mick jagger. such an excellently hard, sterile groove for michael and mick to ride, and much better than jacko’s duets with mccartney. no doubt this was better as performed at live aid (by mick ‘n tina) – but it’s great as it is here, too. best bit: mick’s “I need mouth-to-mouth/resucitation.”
6. “triumph,” wu-tang clan. remember when not only was the wu all up in this motherfucker, but when they so artfully straddled the critical/commercial divide, being simultaneously popular and underground? wu-tang forever could’ve made a great single album, but didn’t succeed so well as a double. still time for its critical reevaluation, though.
7. “criminal,” fiona apple. when she was bad and nationwide. sarah mclachlan would kill to sound half as erotic.
8. “searching,” mary j. blige. the undisputed queen of hiphop soul, period. mjb covers roy ayers; both are improved by it, amazingly. as absolutely perfect as soul gets.
side a
1. “the rap world,” pete rock and the large professor. from the virtually unknown-even-when-it-was-out high school high soundtrack, this killer collabo was one of the all-time classics of my college radio show, alternately known as “radio free manchester” and “back seat of my jeep.” somehow, to my befuddlement, in my senior year (’95-’96), my radio show morphed from your (semi-)typical musical melange – seemingly without my involvement; I say that because I’m not aware of making any sort of concerted effort to do so – into an entirely urban show, featuring hiphop, soul, r-and-b, and even some jazz (nothin’ like ‘trane and wu rubbin’ up against each other). so here you’ve got this gay caucasian farm kid from rural indiana as the voice of hiphop for a college of 1000+. I found it, frankly, a bit bizarre. our station didn’t get great service from a lot of the record labels, so we took what we could get, and for whatever reason, the sony and atlantic labels jammed our mailbox full of juicy twelve-inches (we had the maxwell “’til the cops come knockin’” 12” a full 4 months before his debut was released!). it was thanks to atlantic that we had this. it was thanks to pete and large p that I played it in such heavy rotation for nigh on six months. deep, fuzzy keybs on the track, and two rhyme titans on the mic. [my other key jam that year was redman’s “funkorama,” from an erick sermon compilation. there’s a reason they’re called secret weapons, folks.]
2. “mama used to say,” junior. sterling, bongo-tastic u.k. pop-funk from the early ‘80s.
3. “got ‘til it’s gone (def club mix),” janet jackson featuring q-tip and joni mitchell. yeah, I was on david morales’ jock just a little bit in the mid-to-late-’90s, but when he was pumping out killers like this, why the hell not?! janet’s meant-to-be-a-kinda-tribute to joni doesn’t really succeed (though q-tip slides in perfectly), but morales’ def club mix turns “got” into a dark and deep grower, starting with those late-night chords and advancing gradually towards the sunrise. classic.
4. “addictive love,” bebe & cece winans. for some reason, many of my favorite christian songs have traditionally been those which can double as secular love songs. exhibit “a” is from bebe & cece, brother and sister and the most successful contemporary gospel act of the last two decades not named kirk franklin. there’s a genuine elation in this record, a thrilling kind of “woo!” in its release (listen to bebe as he vamps towards the final chorus: “forever in love!,” he practically shouts, he’s so damn happy). for a contempo gospel primer, there are few better ways to go than bebe & cece’s greatest hits, which honestly are.
5. “luchini aka (this is it) (lemon d remix),” camp lo. in ‘97, profile records released a white vinyl 10” single of a pair of drum’n’bass remixes of camp lo’s first two singles in the u.k. being as I was enraptured with not only camp lo but d’n’b at the time, it was a must-have purchase. I wasn’t disappointed. lemon d (whose tom brokaw-sampling “this is los angeles” is still a classic in my house) stripped “luchini” of all but its vocals and proceeded to reconstruct it from the ground up, starting with a ridiculously basic – and perfect – stand-up bass line. the keyb washes near the track’s end give it a chiming, almost-ominous end-of-a-late-night-in-the-city feel.
6. “rapper’s delight,” erick sermon, redman, and keith murray. taken from from the frankly-not-all-that-good in tha beginning… there was rap comp-cum-tribute, the record’s highlight. the def squad doesn’t so much add something new to this all-time hiphop classic as infuse it with their own personalities – of which, of course, redman’s is key, like a pollock painting.
7. “your secret love,” luther vandross. a soft kiss, a gentle summer breeze, holding hands in the park – that’s mr. lover-lover at his best, and this is one of his best. when his material matches his magnificent voice, he’s the undisputed king of romance, and here, it does.
side b
1. “breakin’… there’s no stoppin’ us,” ollie & jerry. when hollywood came to the ‘hood, breakin’ was the result. no, it’s not a particularly good film (though when was the last time you watched krush groove? neither of ‘em compares to wild style), though it’s fortunately preserved some great breakdancing on celluloid for future generations (get the time capsule!). its soundtrack, as well, is more flashdance than krush groove – a bit too heavy on the el-lay version of urban nyc. that having been said, there are two stone classics on this album. one is of course rufus and chaka khan’s reunion jam, “ain’t nobody.” the other is this refreshingly perky track, kind of the utopian flipside of the dystopia witnessed by herbie hancock’s “rockit.” yeah, it’s a little cheesy, but the turntablistic f/x it brought to the mainstream are real, and the pleasure ollie & jerry are having on the track is blissfully blatant, and infectious.
2. “stakes is high,” de la soul. speaking of dystopia… by the mid-‘90s, de la soul’s brand of daisy-age optimism was a thing of the past; streets was getting ugly. so the de la trio got hardcore, and honestly the results weren’t all good. but the claustrophobic feel of the album came to fruition on its title track, not a glorification of the then-current hiphop culture, but a warning and caution sign.
3. “rapture (k-klassic mix),” blondie. a rather lovely house mix of their classic which moves its setting from the street corner to the danceclub.
4. “I care ‘bout you,” milestone. the quiet storm male supergroup of the ‘90s, featuring babyface, k-ci & jojo, some guy from after 7, and, er, someone else. your basic prom slowdance material, redeemed by its songwriting (thank ‘face) and voices (thank ‘em all).
5. “state of shock,” the jacksons with mick jagger. such an excellently hard, sterile groove for michael and mick to ride, and much better than jacko’s duets with mccartney. no doubt this was better as performed at live aid (by mick ‘n tina) – but it’s great as it is here, too. best bit: mick’s “I need mouth-to-mouth/resucitation.”
6. “triumph,” wu-tang clan. remember when not only was the wu all up in this motherfucker, but when they so artfully straddled the critical/commercial divide, being simultaneously popular and underground? wu-tang forever could’ve made a great single album, but didn’t succeed so well as a double. still time for its critical reevaluation, though.
7. “criminal,” fiona apple. when she was bad and nationwide. sarah mclachlan would kill to sound half as erotic.
8. “searching,” mary j. blige. the undisputed queen of hiphop soul, period. mjb covers roy ayers; both are improved by it, amazingly. as absolutely perfect as soul gets.
# posted by Thomas : 2:22 PM
