Monday 31 August 2020

Generic list post: August 2020


Obligatory wrap-up post of those songs I've played most during the month when Instagram continues to be the only good social media site. Well, except for when it insists on showing me pix of Dipset's Gym Bore Jones.

B. Fats - Woppit (video) (1986)
Captain G. Whiz - Red Alert promo (1987)
P-Lo - Get Me Lit (2020)
Mac J - No Fucc Shit (2020)
Mac J - OldSkoo (2020)
Mic Terror ft. Gzus Piece & Bruus - Forever Gangster (2020)
Sada Baby - Whole Lotta Choppas (2020)
Aretha Daye ft. MC Chan - No More (Making Love) (1991)
Ennio Morricone - Svolta Definitiva (1970)
Archers Of Loaf - Cruel Reminder (2020)

Other notables: of course Nas was the weakest link on his Firm reunion song; Mulatto's revamp of Gucci Mane's Freaky Gurl wasn't freaky enough for my liking; watched a few episodes of Unsung this month - Whodini, EPMD, Ice-T, Bone Thugs, E-40, and Nate Dogg.

Sunday 30 August 2020

What happened to Piece?

Mic Terror ft. Gzus Piece & Bruus - Forever Gangster
(From The Rona album; 2020)



First Mic Tre and Gzy-P link-up in a while. It starts as a space-age Return Of The G and ends as the return of Big Moe from the grave. The only Rap song of 2020 to namecheck Parker Lewis or wot? Dicks up for Miss Musso!


Lewis Parker missed a trick by not droppin' an album called Lewis Parker Can't Lose.

Thursday 27 August 2020

Who stole the Soul?

The Family Stand - Ghetto Heaven (Soul II Soul remix)
(From Chain album; 1990)



It's understandable that Americans never give any kudos to Soul II Soul for fusing R&B and Hip-Hop in song form because it screws up the narrative that Puff Daddy & Mary J. Blige pioneered the practice in 1992. Unfortunately, this means that Americans then end up writing their own artists outta history - artists like The Family Stand who scored an international hit with Soul II Soul's remix of Ghetto Heaven two years before Mary's debut with Real Love.

Not that the British are much better, mind. Very few folk in my country acknowledge that Soul II Soul's remix of Ghetto Heaven was the obvious blueprint for Massive Attack & Shara Nelson's Unfinished Sympathy, and now Massive Attack are somehow considered more important than Soul II Soul. Unfinished Sympathy is a legit classic, but there's an important rule every British citizen must adhere to: we only credit Bristol when we're talkin' Portishead or Sara & Keren from Bananarama.

Friday 21 August 2020

True story or no story part 5

"Runnin' to that bag, I'm exhausted
Lookin' for my brain, I think I lost it
Plug threw a pack, I Randy Mossed it
Rollers hit the lights, you know I tossed it"


Mac J - OldSkoo
(From YouTube; 2020)



Mac J's 2020 run of slappers continues with his new single here. Very much enjoying the cut of Mac's jib right now - "bitch, you ain't a thot, you's a bopper/I should put her on a song she got knockers."

Wednesday 19 August 2020

Sada Bacon

"They wanna see me do my dance
In these $1000 pants
Don't disrespect me and my mans"


Sada Baby - Whole Lotta Choppas
(From the internet; 2020)



File this under 'Detroit bass music that accidentally sounds like Laurent Garnier's French rave classique Crispy Bacon.'

Laurent Garnier - Crispy Bacon
(From 30 album; 1997)



Mi amor, merci, oui oui, bon bons and all that good stuff to the Northern headz who remember that Crispy Bacon was a far bigger CHOON in't late 90s than any of the singles from Daft Punk's first album.

Monday 17 August 2020

Hate what they watchin', don't got an option

"Everywhere I go, got a rocket
Freak up in Stockton she say I'm obnoxious"


P-Lo - Get Me Lit
(From the internet; 2020)



Fave Shmobby Brackins slap since Same Squad . Double the fun with Get Me Lit: this shit never fails to make me shake a leg and never fails to make my rear view mirror shake. Forget cosmic vibrations, gimme physical vibrations I can see.

Friday 14 August 2020

Generic list post: 2020 late pass (so far)


You'd think I'm joinin' Time Team the way I'm tryna find treasures from the past. 20 old songs which have become new favourites in 2020.

Ennio Morricone - Svolta Definitiva (1970)
The Flys - Love And A Molotov Cocktail (1977)
Smiley Culture - Roots Reality (1985)
Tailor Made - Fast Lane (instrumental) (1985)
Dangerous Dame - My Name Is Dame (1989)
Intelligent Hoodlum - The Rebel Returns (1989/2019)
Monie Love - Don't Funk Wid The Mo (1990)
Ghetto Mafia - In Decatur (1998)
Field Mob - At The Park (2006)
Husalah - Slap N Da Trunk (2006)
Juiceboxxx - Like A Maniac (2015)
79rs Gang - Drama (2015)
Donae'o - Marimba (2017)
Mac J & Bris - Forgot About Me (2018)
Cavalier - Go Brooklyn (2018)
Flo Milli - Beef FloMix (2019)
Pronto Spazzout - Jiggy Music (2019)
Casanova - Jail Call (2019)
S1mba ft. DTG - Rover (2019)

Ain't gon' lie, there's actually 19 songs in this list. Pick me a 20th with a non-2020 song you've discovered in 2020.

Tuesday 11 August 2020

One 4 The Britz: Who dat?

Aretha Daye ft. ????? - No More (Making Love)
(From No More (Making Love) single; 1991)



File this under 'old-wave British BBQ music that's forever fresh.' My country failed itself when Aretha Daye's only single didn't become one of the biggest street soul hits of the 90's. Anybody have a Scooby Doo who the uncredited guest rapper is? His verse is undeniably corny but very necessary for its big Dance Energy energy.

Saturday 8 August 2020

Reasons why I love YouTube part whatever

"Do The Smurf, do The Wop, Baseball Bat
Rooftop like we bringing '88 back"

(Nas on Made You Look)



Another entry in the canon of 80s Rap songs I never knew had videos: Woppit by B. Fats. Song deets: a 1986 Teddy Riley production that is thee definitive ode to the dance known as The Wop. A strong case could be made that this video is thee definitive footage of The Wop in action. Best dance in NYC history or wot? As Uncle Murda nearly said, anybody can do it.

B. Fats - Woppit
(From Woppit 12" single; 1986)


Thursday 6 August 2020

True story or no story part 4

"It ain't too many n*ggas like me, these n*ggas is shiesty
They headed to the top and ain't even invite me
If you ain't talkin' money can't even excite me
My aim on point, hit the check off a Nike"


Mac J - No Fucc Shit
(From YouTube; 2020)



What I'm diggin' about these recent Mac J solo slaps is that he's making Siccness.net music when so many NorCal rappers are making Thizzler.com music right now. Might even go as far as saying that these recent Mac J solo slaps are the sorta music I wish A-Wax was making right now.

(No shotz @ Thizzler itself; all shotz @ the hoards of SOB X RBE clones currently clogging up Thizzler.)

Tuesday 4 August 2020

Martorial elegance: Do The Fila part 2

Before Brooklyn loved POLO, they loved Fila. Fila kicks, Fila socks, Fila tees, Fila baseball caps, Fila bucket hats, Fila headbands, and Fila tracksuits.


Code Money Anthony, put ya Filas on! 16 or 17 year old AZ circa 1988. Pic's got me wishing there was a lost 1989 teenage AZ song over some Hitman Howie Tee production. After all, Howie's beats worked wonders for another Brooklyn teenager in 1989.

Special Ed - I Got It Made
(From Youngest In Charge album; 1989)



Special Ed had a frog, a dog with a solid gold bone, and the first Rap video to feature a buncha POLO gear.

Previously: Do The Fila.

Monday 3 August 2020

It's a heavy tale like Melville's book about the whale

The Jacka - Aspen
(From AP.9 Presents: The Mob Movement; 2007/The Street Album; 2008)



Here is somethin' I just can't understand: why did Jacka & his team leave Aspen off Tear Gas? When an artist has a single that's as capital A anthemic as Aspen you don't relegate that shit to the sidepiece street album mixtape, you throw that shit on the official album as one of the big opening tracks. Ideally, Rule The World would have been the regal Tear Gas intro with Aspen as the blockbuster opening track thereafter - works a treat musically and conceptually since the last line of Rule The World is "my n*ggas be jumpin' snow cliffs without the ski's." Amirite? Yes, I am: