The Audacity of Dope

British dance music or alt-R&B is probably the most enjoyable stuff coming out these days. MNEK is killing just about everything he touches.

Just heard this on Sirius XM on my way home in the new whip and I was reminded at how much I love this record. Sexy and utterly hilarious at the same time. 1:52 – 2:16 FTMFW. #loftmusic

We used this instrumental on SNSS this week and I realized that a lot of folks out there might not be familiar with the original track.  “Rock Wit U” is off Jeff’s 2002 The Magnificent album and in my opinion, it’s a new school classic.  It’s one of the smoothest joints of the past 10 years and should be on every R&B lover’s top list of the 2000’s, but it’s always been criminally slept on.  I bet most of y’all didn’t even know it had a video, huh?

On the same day as the wackness that is the video for “Jumpin’ (Out The Window)” leaked, Raphael shows these dudes what real R&B is supposed to sound like.  The Way I See It was one of the more slept on releases of the past year, make sure you’re up on it.

Shout to Perception for the higher quality clip!

I just started the (year long) process of digitizing all my CD’s and I’ve already run into a few older forgotten gems from years past.  Remember this one?

Sunshine Anderson – “Lunch or Dinner”

It was the follow up single to “Heard It All Before,” but didn’t catch on for some reason.  Definitely a nice jawn though.  More random throwbacks to come this year…

Wow, it’s been a minute since I did a Throwback post.  I’ve been meaning to toss up this gem from the homey K. Slack for weeks and I finally got a free minute so here goes.

You may remember Slack from his work alongside J. Gunn and Killa K as part of TheThyrDay, a really dope group from North Carolina.  While they did release one (classic) album, Perfection Xperiment 2, unfortunately they broke up shortly afterwards and moved on to solo projects.  Slack and Gunn have actually linked up recently for a few tracks, so I’m hoping we’ll get to see some sort of 3D reunion, at least between those two.

Before their album came out, Slack posted up a few of his solo tracks on Okayplayer and I remember stumbling upon that post and being blown away.  I think this was fall of 2002 and I was in my first semester of junior year at college.  This track, “broKen AnJel,” was produced by 9th Wonder and Khrysis (the beat is split in two) and it has that vintage Justus League sound.  The market has been flooded with those kind of beats since Little Brother blew up, but I’ll always look back fondly on 9th and Khrysis’ early work.  They definitely inspired a million copycats.

If I remember correctly, Slack wrote this track to his girl at the time and all the lyrics were heartfelt and truthful to the situation he was in.  Part of the reason why I fell in love with the track is that I could apply almost the entire thing to the relationship I was in as well.  “Seasons change, mad things rearrange,” and my girl and I broke up after a few years but I think we always hold on to certain songs because of the memories we attach to ’em.  This is definitely one of those joints for me.

K. Slack – “broKen AnJel”

I haven’t done one of these Throwback posts in a minute, but I saw The Smoking Section post up Boo & Gotti’s album from 2003, Perfect Timing, and it reminded me of this song.  The album was definitely slept on when it dropped…and for good reason.  That said, “Think” was my jam for a minute.  The lyrics are pretty trite and forgettable, but that was Boo & Gotti’s whole M.O..  The beat is great though, courtesy of Jazze Pha, and it even features the fat man on the hook.  This was back when he was just mildly annoying, as opposed to his almost Khaled-esque level of buffoonery these days.  Check this out if you remember the start of the chipmunk sample renaissance.  I’m still a sucker for sped up vocal samples…

Boo & Gotti ft. Jazze Pha – “Think”

Heard this last night on the ‘slow jams’ program I always check on my way into Sound Session, and I remembered the line that always stood out to me:

“He’s mine/You may have had him once, but I got him all the time”
–Mokenstef, “He’s Mine”

Technically, that’s flawed logic.  If she had him onc — oh, nevermind.  Absolutely classic track from Monifa, Kenya, and Stephanie…I wonder what ever happened to them.  Enjoy the mp3 if you can’t find your copy, and I’m tossing in the remix with Grand Puba as well:

Mokenstef – “He’s Mine”
Mokenstef ft. Grand Puba – “He’s Mine (I Got Him All The Time Remix)”

In honor of seeing the latest Will Smith flick, Hancock, last night, I thought I’d post up one of my favorite albums of all time.  DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince literally changed my life, since they’re responsible for the first hip-hop I ever heard.  Plus, my entire sense of humor was shaped by their music and the greatest TV show of all time, “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.”  The first cassette I owned was Rock The House when I was 6 years old (woah…20 years ago), but their second album, He’s The DJ, I’m The Rapper, was the joint that put me over the top.  I must have listened to it a million times, and to this day, I still have every line, adlib, and scratch memorized.  Clearly, part of my affinity for this LP is sentimental, but I think it’s still dope music that stands the test of time.  Peep the title track for example, where Will absolutely blacks out.  Black Thought has said it was his favorite verse growing up, and that rhyme alone is greater than the careers of most contemporary rappers.

If you’ve never heard this album, listening to it for the first time in 2008 clearly won’t mean the same for you as it did for me, but you need to check it out.  If you remember it, but haven’t pulled it out in ages, do so.  Afterall, it’s summer…and that’s officially JJ+FP time.  There are even rumors that we might see some tour dates from Jeff and Will over the next few months (if they come to Seattle, it’s a WRAP).  And go see Hancock…it’s dope.

DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince – He’s The DJ, I’m The Rapper

Bonus: The Smoking Section has the other JJ+FP albums up for download right here.

In the second edition of Throwback, I gotta shine some light on one of my favorite MC’s, the often overlooked Catashtrophe of Tha Alkaholiks. If you’re out here on the west coast, you better be a Liks fan…dudes are legends. Tash was always my favorite of the crew, and actually might be my favorite west coast MC ever. He has such a relaxed, but technical, rapid fire flow and to this day, I’ve never heard him spit a wack verse. I highly suggest you track down his solo album that dropped in 1999, Rap Life. If you don’t have it, or forgot about it, here are a few of my favorite joints:

Tash ft. Carl Thomas – “The Game”
Tash – “Nightfall”
Tash – “Fallin’ On”
Tash – “Bermuda Triangle”

I tried to pick just one, but damn…all these tracks are classic to me. “The Game” was especially ill, cause it was a different topic and sound than most of his other stuff. Sidenote: where’s Carl Thomas at these days anyway? And for the sample heads, “Fallin’ On” used David McCallum’s “The Edge” before Dr. Dre (and also Masta Ace, who later flipped a different part of the same sample).

Anyway, moral of the story, Tash was the ish…and he still is (peep the track he did with Torae last year). Last I heard, he’s working on a new album as we speak…can’t wait.

*makes my outroduction*