Throwback: The Cure – Boys Dont Cry (Original 12 inch Mix) (don lowed)

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Throwback: Altered Images – Don’t Talk To Me About Love (Extended Version) (don lowed)

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Shout out to hip hop pre 2000. I still love you, come back and we’ll make up. I promise.

Throwback: Crooklyn Dodgers (Buckshot, Masta Ace & Special Ed) – The Crooklyn Dodgers (don lowed)

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Throwback: Crooklyn Dodgers (OC, ChubbRock & Jeru) – Return Of The Crooklyn Dodgers (don lowed)

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OK, so these aren’t so much disco as soul-jazz… it don’t really matter though because I take my lessons from the GOP, and I’ve learned that being straight forward isn’t good business.

Lesson 777: Any decision made out of fear is a bad decision. End of story.

Throwback: Yasuko Agawa – L.A. Night (12″ Version) (don lowed)

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It was all a dream
I used to read Word Up magazine
Salt’n’Pepa and Heavy D up in the limousine
Hangin’ pictures on my wall
Every Saturday Rap Attack, Mr. Magic, Marley Marl
I let my tape rock ’til my tape popped
Smokin’ weed IN BAMBU, sippin’ on private stock
Way back, when I had the red and black lumberjack
With the hat to match
Remember Rappin’ Duke, duh-ha, duh-ha
You never thought that hip hop would take it this far
Now I’m in the limelight ’cause I rhyme tight
Time to get paid, blow up like the World Trade
Born sinner, the opposite of a winner
Remember when I used to eat sardines for dinner
Peace to Ron G, Brucey B, Kid Capri
Funkmaster Flex, Lovebug Starsky
I’m blowin’ up like you thought I would
Call the crib, same number same hood
It’s all good

Uh, and if you don’t know, now you know, nigga, uh

One of the best rhymes even put on wax. Period.

Throwback: Mtume – Juicy (don lowed)

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Dyke & the Blazers (1964–1971) were one of the first acts — possibly the first notable act — to play funk other than James Brown. Indeed, they often sounded like a sort of junior version of Brown and the JB’s, playing songs in which the rhythms and riffs mattered more than the tune. Similarly, vocalist Dyke Christian sang/grunted words that mattered more for the feeling and rhythm than the content. (copy/paste)

Arlester “Dyke” Christian is also notably a member of the 27 Club

Throwback: Dyke & The Blazers – UHH Pt. 1 (don lowed)

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Throwback: Dyke & The Blazers – UHH Pt. 2 (don lowed)

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Sampled by (among others):
Public Enemy – Welcome to the Terrordome
Leaders of the New School – Case of the P.T.A.
2Pac – If My Homie Calls
DJ Shadow – Lesson 4
( and obviously) Stetsasonic – Sally

Throwback: Dyke & The Blazers – Let A Woman Be A Woman, Let A Man Be A Man (don lowed)

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I’m toying with the idea of dedicating a whole day/category to the Amen break and calling it Sunday Service. It would probably take several decades to run out of songs that have used and abused The Winstons “Amen Brother” sample. But regardless of that, this song is notable for an entirely different reason. It is one of the very first (if not often called the first) “Ragga Jungle” tracks ever (1991).

Throwback: Lennie De Ice – We Are ie (don lowed)

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Been getting the remix treatment for 20 years.

Throwback: Lennie De Ice – We Are ie (Caspa & Rusko Remix) (don lowed)

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Of course I’ve posted this before, but it really should be watched by everyone at least once.

Even though most people don’t listen to it; Jazz is cool. At least that’s how its been played back to us. Even those of us that weren’t there to experience its quick burning flame have romantic imagery of uptown heroin fueled sessions of the giants of jazz in black and white blurring all boundaries of music, culture, and race. Truth or not, no one can escape that it’s hip to like Jazz (even if you don’t) . Now, if someone were to mention jazz fusion or worse yet… smooth jazz… you’re likely to imagine the lobby at the worlds most boring dentist office. Its the music of ‘oatmeal man’, the least controversial nice guy that drives a hybrid, meticulously plans his 401k, and makes his kid wear full padding & helmet rollerblading in the driveway… smiling all the while as his wife brow beats him.

However, not all fusion is as boring as your glassy eyes might indicate. In the trenches of sampling, one smooth jazz fusionist stands out as not quite like the others. Bob James, most famous for the theme from Taxi (a tv show you’ve probably never saw (with Latka)) but also created some of the most sampled songs in hip hop history. “Nautilus” has been most famously sampled in Eric B. & Rakim’s “Follow the Leader”, Run-D.M.C.’s “Beats to the Rhyme”, Ghostface Killah’s “Daytona 500” and Jeru the Damaja’s “My Mind Spray” , while the first four measures of “Mardi Gras”  is one of hip hop’s fundamental breakbeats (think Run DMC’s “Peter Piper” and LL Cool J’s “Rock the Bells”), and the sampling of Bob James doesn’t stop there. And all that aside, these songs aren’t horrible oatmeal either, though you may want to stay away from his later works.

Throwback: Bob James – Take Me To Mardi Gras (don lowed)

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Throwback: Bob James – Nautilus (don lowed)

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Those that have been keepin’ the faith already know.

Throwback: Bob James – Sign Of Times (don lowed)

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Words have the power to destroy or heal. When words are both true and kind, they can change our world. – Jack Kornfield

A couple of the more notorious vocal samples in my mind, and if not yours, then enjoy for the well made sounds. Use your voice. Light a fire.

Throwback: Cannonball Adderley – Walk Tall (don lowed)

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Throwback: Dave & Ansil Collins – Double Barrel (don lowed)

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There once was this Zen master sitting on a small stone bench, studying his small Japanese rock garden…

There are only five rocks in the master’s garden. Each was chosen for its individual perfection, as well as its unique relationship to the other stones. One day a visitor comes to the garden. The visitor steps slowly around the tiny space, contemplating the rake-grooved gravel and the stones. Eventually the visitor turns to the Zen master and exclaims, “It is perfect.” The Zen master shakes his head solemnly and says, “No, it will be perfect when there are only three stones.””

Throwback: Organized Konfusion – Walk Into The Sun (Bill K Mix) (don lowed)

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Throwback: Organized Konfusion – Fudge Pudge (Bob T Remix) (don lowed)

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I feel my heart glow with an enthusiasm which elevates me to heaven, for nothing contributes so much to tranquillize the mind as a steady purpose — a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye

Throwback: Dana Dane – Nightmares (don lowed)

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Throwback: The Fugees – Vocab (Salaam’s Remix) (don lowed)

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Of course I considered posting Mr. Kirks Nightmare, but I couldn’t find the remix that I wanted to post. However, I did find this most ridiculous Kid606 video.

I know that I hung on a windy tree

nine long nights,

wounded with a spear, dedicated to Odin,

myself to myself,

on that tree of which no man knows

from where its roots run

Throwback: The Sundays – Here’s Where The Story Ends (don lowed)

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Throwback: New Order – Temptation (don lowed)

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