Record This! aka Friday Funk Pt. 3

Funky Piano - EPMD
Times Up - O.C.
My Philosophy - Boogie Down Productions
Satisfied - J Live
Disco Inferno - 50 Cent
Pump It Up - Joe Budden

For my third guest post here, and first during this week’s “back in the day” theme week, I won’t bog you down with my words. Let’s take a look at the words behind a few timeless classics.

Writing something timeless is probably a greater accomplishment than selling 150,000 the first week, but it certain doesn’t get recognized with the same fervor -- except here at The Funk.

Take BDP’s My Philosophy (and follow along with the lyrics at ohhla.com if you have to). KRS-One spits this in his second verse:

“some mc's be talkin' and talkin'
tryin' to show how black people are walkin
but I don't walk this way to portray
or reinforce stereotypes of today
like all my brothas eat chicken and watermelon
talk broken english and drug sellin'
See I'm tellin, and teaching real facts
The way some act in rap is kind of wack
and it lacks creativity and intelligence
but they don't care cause the company is sellin' it”

Sounds like it could have come out yesterday, and been talking about the rap game in 2005? Most heads probably know My Philosophy was the first song on 1988’s By All Means Necessary.

How about O.C’s 1994 sure shot Time’s up? Also in the second verse, he says:

“Speakin in tongues, about what you did but you never done it
Admit you bit it cause the next man gained platinum behind it
I find it ironic, so I researched and analyzed
Most write about stuff they fantasized
I'm fed up with the bull, on this focus of weed and clips
and glocks gettin cocked, and wax not bein flipped
It's the same old same old just strain it from the anal”

and

“Instead of puttin brain cells to work they abuse it
Non-conceptual, non-exceptional
Everybody's either crime-related or sexual”

Damn. That sounds like it could be written about the rap game right now too. Of course, those are just a couple of examples based on similar themes, but as those of us who don’t care too much for pop rap dig into our old school collections to listen to the classics, it’s amazing how far ahead of their time some of these MCs were.

A personal pick for a song that will be just as dope 10 years from now as it was when it came out is J-Live’s Satisfied, which mixes a musical smorgasboard with a message about post-2001 America, and how a lot of people seemed to be letting the other problems in the country go after terrorism hit hard on U.S. soil.

“It ain't right them cops and them firemen died
The shit is real tragic, but it damn sure ain't magic
It won't make the brutality disappear
It won't pull equality from behind your ear
It won't make a difference in a two-party country
If the president cheats to win another four years
Now don't get me wrong, there's no place I'd rather be
The grass ain't greener on the other genocide …”

We don’t really get too political here at The Funk, but J-Live summed up in a few verses what a lot of people may have been thinking.

Check out the lyrics of those full songs if you’ve never heard them. Still very relevant today.

Feeling old

If you came up in the late 80s and early 90s like I did, hip-hop was something that most parents just couldn’t get with. Which makes sense, after all, since a lot of their favorite hits were the backdrops for a lot of ours. (Check out www.the-breaks.com and the forum at www.vinylvulture.co.uk for info and discussion on such matters … after you’re done here, of course)

It’s a sign that the hip-hop generation (ours, not the current kids) is growing up when they’re sampling our classics for the backdrops of today’s radio hits. (Or maybe they’re re-using the same samples, but of course it seems more authentic when done by artists I like).

I got caught up in 50 Cent’s new Disco Inferno because I recognize that piano background from somewhere. It took me a whole car ride to figure it out -- had to shut off the radio and play the loop over and over in my head, but it finally came to me. Listen to EPMD’s Funky Piano side by side with Disco Inferno, and tell me what you hear.

Joe Budden swiping the Scenario (Remix) beat is much more obvious, because there isn’t much different from when Quest, L.O.N.S and Kid Hood killed it the first time.

The game

Me and my man Jamar once came up with a non-scientific test to settle an Eric B. and Rakim argument. I said their two best songs are “I ain’t no joke” and “I know you got soul.” He preferred “Follow the leader” and “Know the ledge.”

So we took a random sampling in the college cafeteria. What we found is that some people preferred “Microphone Fiend” and “Don’t sweat the technique,” and still others were enamored by “Paid in Full” and “Eric B. is President.”

No one we asked, white or black, young or old, gave us the same two songs. Some people agreed with one of Jamar’s songs and one of mine.

That, my friends, is a legacy. I’m sure you can play the Two Best Songs game at home with Run DMC (You Be Illin’ and Run’s House), EPMD (Rampage, So Watcha Sayin), Big Daddy Kane (Ain’t No Halfsteppin, Wrath of Kane) or BDP (Jack of Spades, Ya Slippin). You’ll find that people appreciate some of the same songs, but their favorites aren’t always the ones that had Yo! MTV Raps videos or 12-inches released.

P.S. Be careful when playing at home with L.L. Cool J (Bad, Jingling Baby?). Selecting any song he made after 1998 -- 1994 in some people’s opinions -- could be dangerous.

Late add

My man The Fool from Rotogods.com just put me up on this NWA Quiz from ThePhat Phree.com:

RotoGods!

That’s what’s up

I promised I’d mention each week what I’m listening to.

Right now, I’m mesmerized by MF Doom’s Mm Food album, especially Kookies, Beef Rapp, Potholderz and Deep Fried Frenz. It’s weird, but good. Among the spaced-out samples are bits taken from Sesame Street, J.J. Fad and Whodini. Opposite ends of the spectrum if I ever saw them.

K-Boogie, a.k.a. TiVo, also dorks out about fantasy sports and life at Rotogods.com.

Friday Funk Post Pt. Duex

It's a "You Don't Know The" Half day at the official J.O.B. of yours truly so before I roll out, we'd like to give to our loyal readers some more funky material to get busy (literally/not literally) to. We also have some video of my man Lorenzo Booker, RB @ FSU from 2003 season and one of the most Psycho Sid Vicious blind side hits of the past few years. POW!

*Word around the cooler is that TiVo will be making an appearance today...Keep Checkin!

Audio:
Strobelight Honey - Black Sheep
Confederate Burning - Opio feat. Casual/Rasco
Feel Like Making Love - Roy Ayers
Bustin' Loose - Chuck Brown

Video Bonus:
Booker vs. UNC Defense 2003
Booker vs. Notre Dame Defense 2003
Stanford Samuels vs. Roscoe Parrish 2003

Enjoy the rest of yawls day!
Bruh' B

No Filler, Just Funk.

Represent!

Funky Piano - EPMD
Times Up - O.C.
My Philosophy - Boogie Down Productions
Satisfied - J Live
Pushin' Buttons (Live) - DJ Shadow, Cut Chemist, DJ Numark
Funky Drummer - James Brown
Soul Power (re-edit) - James Brown
Nothing To Do But Today - The Isley Brothers
Dujii - Kool & The Gang
Sabotage - Pep Love
You Make Your Own Heaven & Hell - The Undisputed Truth
Yellow Sunshine - Yellow Sunshine
Soul By The Pound - Common (FKA Sense)
No Nuts - Hieroglyphics (Del & Pep Love)
Principal's Office - Young MC
Grazing In The Grass - Hugh Masakela
Blood On The Motorway - DJ Shadow
Napalm Brain/Scatter Brain/Outro - DJ Shadow

That should hold you over at least until lunch.

Side Note 1: Check out the forums on Low End Theory, good way to get in on the ground floor (Man, I've been in business too long).

Side Note 2: Gmail is the shiznits...if you need an invite, hit me up and I'll send you one.

Hope yawl have a funktafied weekend!
Brother B.

Back To The Roots w/ Shameless Plug To Boot!

Do The Bus Stop - The Fatback Band
Drive Your Funky Soul - James Brown
Gatur Bait - The Gaturs

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As you can prolly tell, The Funk has scratched the "Back In the Days" theme for this week (due to lack of interest/corrupted files) and returned to its roots a bit with today's choice cut selections. We also will get into a little self promotion/ranting/story tellin' towards the end of today's post...hope you enjoy it.

The Fatback Band's bio is here. I won't go into a rundown of the band's significance on the scene. However I will ask a more important/required question to all of you. Was "The Bus Stop" an actual dance? Like the Jerk, The Mashed Potato, The Roger Rabbit? I have never in my 26 years of living heard of a dance called The Bus Stop. An even more poignant question may be, how can you name a dance for such a thing. Don't most dances have to have some sort of quasi-descriptive quality in their name? The Jerk for instance, well y ou sort of jerk you body around. You get the idea. Well to my ever-increasing surprise, there apparently is a dance called The Bus Stop. Heck, even my brethren in AU/NZ have it down there. Who knew? And if you did, how come you didn't let me in on it? Anybody ever do this particular jig?

Side Note: Every time I write/type/say/think of the word particular, I am reminded of how Tavis Smiley says it. Par-Tick-U-Larrrr. He says it phonetically. It drives me nuts.

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The Godfather, well, is the man. We all know this, we all understand and accept that fact. It's kinda like we accept the fact that we need air to breathe. Maybe not that severe but you catch my drift. I found this track on a compilation album from UK record label, Union Square Music called Ghetto Funk Sessions. I have bought a few of the "sessions" cds that USM has put out and I must say that they are some of the best that I've ever heard/bought. Check them out here.

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It's not a secret that I hate any and everything that relates to gators, The Team, The Mascot, The fabric, etc. So I was surprised to say the least when I heard this song a few months ago. I know they spell their name a little bit different but it still says Gator to me. Before hearing this, I was not familiar with the band. Their bio is pretty short but you can hear from the song what they are all about. Just some good music.

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If you are like me, you like cartoons. I don't hate on any cartoons really but I like the stuff they pimp on Adult Swim from Cartoon Network. Shows like Family Guy, Futurama, Cowboy BeBop, Big O, etc. But my favorite show that was on Swim was The Venture Bros. If you are not familiar with the show itself, check this out. But the reason I mention it here today is that their name is awful similar to the name of a Hip Hop Group that I am in, The Bash Brothers Crew. Myself, Jefferson, and Mentos comprise a group that is doing its best to provide some middle ground between the over-used gangster persona and the backpacker that so many people think is bad for rap music. I'm not going to use The Funk as a promotional tool for our LP that's coming out but I wanted to give yawl a heads up to it because as lovers of Funk music, that is the basis of our particular (Tavis!!!) type of sound. If you feel so inclined, take a look at our in progress website for some info and sound clips. When we get it mastered and pressed, if you'd like a copy let me know and I'll send you one.

Bash Brothers Crew

Side Note 2: The picture at the top is funny to me because those cats from VB look just like me and Jeff. Mentos is represented in the series by Helper the Robot, cause he's nice with the mechanics...LOL.


Side Note 3: Ox hit me up yesterday about this film, Soundz of Spirit. If you are into Hip Hop documentaries (not the Master P/50 Cent kind), then I'd recommend checking out the two links below.

Soundz Of Spirit Site
Trailer

I'll get at yawl later on.
Brother B. Deenie aka Furious.MC

7th Grade Dances Soundtrack Excerpts...

Sensitivity - Ralph Tresvant
If It Isn't Love - New Edition
Close To You - Maxi Priest
Rhythm Nation - Janet Jackson
Alright - Janet Jackson feat. Heavy D

I know that it's "Back In The Day Week" and all but I'd like to change up the format a bit for today. First off, blogger.com was down when I tried to post earlier so hopefully it'll be good when this goes through. Secondly, I'm making this blend tape (pardon me, Mix CD) of some of the best R&B hits from the early to mid 90's and felt compelled to post them for our loyal readership. Hope you enjoy!

First up today is the seminal classic by one time/still is member of New Edition, Ralph Tresvant. Sensitivity is one of those tracks that was played every other week during the 7th/8th grade dances we had at the Herndon Community Center back in the day. All the women were in love with Ralph back then so in turn, we liked this song. The song had a purpose as well. If you (as an impressionable 7th grader) liked a girl who was at the moment "involved", you could always call up WPGC and dedicate this song to that particular girl. Of course, if one of your boys heard that you did this, you'd be clowned for the remainder of the school year and in some cases, for the remainder of your life (Damn you Kwarteng!!!!!!) This song could speak for the men in the audience who had a little trouble approaching the females back then. It was a gem in our arsenal of pubescent attack formations. Anyhow, I'd bet that if you played this track during the dessert part of that dinner you are planning for your honey, you'd like the results. But that's just a suggestion. Here's to Ralph.

Secondly, New Edition's "If It Isn't Love" calls to that same time in space when "manly" 13 year olds could express their feelings for girls vicariously through music. Not that it doesn't happen today, but hey I liked the stuff we had to listen to back then. Today's stuff is bamafied. But call me a grinch, as Common once said " If I don't like it, I don't like it, that don't mean that I'm hatin"...I'm rambling on however. But seriously, if you were in love and you decided to ask yourself if it wasn't really love, why does it hurt so bad, what would you answer? Discuss! Side note: Remember the video for this song? Wasn't Jamie Foxx in it?

Third, the classic dancehall/R&B hit from my boy Maxi Priest, "Close to You". I seriously remember a time at one of those Middle School dances where John Pugh and I were doing the Kid N Play routine to this song in front of the whole place. Everybody loved it. Later on I figured out that it's prolly not productive to be doing a dance routine with a homeboy of yours when you could be pressed up on a willing and able female. That's knowledge kids. The song's smoothed out flow and it's almost go-go-esque drum patterns made it a very dance worthy hit, which it still is. It reminds me of that trip I was on to the Boracay Islands in the Philippines. Good times.

Finally, we have two hits from Janet Jackson. You know Janet right? The Janet before the SuperBowl Janet? These are two of my favorite tracks from her back then. Rhythm Nation holds significance as the first track ever played in my Dad's brand new 1989 Honda Prelude. Alright has the distinction of being the last song I was ever allowed to play in the same car. If you know my dad, it amazed me that he let me take out his Sam & Dave tape to play some Janet. It lasted all of two songs...which by my calculations was the longest he had ever listened to a Janet track. And that includes before and til this day. My question to you all is, are we still part of an Independent Rhythm Nation or have we become mere pawns for corporate marketing goons?

Also as a special bonus submission today, we have Terrible Terry Tate's first full length video, "Terry's World". If you work in a office environment, you know that some days you need a Terry Tate to police the shenanigans. If you work in an office environment and are a former football player, you want to be Terry Tate. Man that would be sweet.

Side Note 2: RIP Johnny Cochran. Forever linked to OJ, but he did some other good work in his career. Whatever your politics/opinions of Cochran's methods, it's worthy of a mention.

Side Note 3: Peep this great article from Funk Digital about Hip Hop today. (Scooped from Straight Bangin', who scooped it from Funk Digital).

I'll be back for tomorrow hopefully with some more "Back In The Days" themed material. If Not, I'm sure I can substitute it with more Funky hits.

Keep It Funkin'
Brother B.

Tahorgable Tuesdays...

I Used To Love H.E.R - Common
Can It Be All So Simple - Wu-Tang Clan

Short update today folks, but still well worth it. So Наслаждайтесь! (that's Russian for enjoy).
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I Used To Love H.E.R. -

Man did I ever. There was I time I'd do pretty much anything for her. Open the door, get some flowers, you know the considerate type of steelo. Now I'm like most other dudes who are getting to old for this shit, I have trouble getting the time of day from her. This song is a classic in every sense of the term. The verbal picture painting, the metaphors, the overall sense from that first guitar sample...classic. Common's new album, Be, looks to be a monumental effort which if it is true, I'll be one happy B-Boy. Can I get a "bout time!"?
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Can It All Be So Simple -

If I had to guess, I'd say yes, yes it could. Can I say that I miss the Wu without yawl taking it the wrong way? Well I did anyhow. This was a early preview of the Cut Chemistry between Ghostface and Raekwon, and we all know how good that turned out. The haunting feeling of this track was a staple of early Wu related RZA productions. Full album cut complete with Meth explaining the inner workings of the Wu. Mad Perfecto.

Alrighty folks, I gots to run Super Mark Duper early today, but I'll be back with a Maestro Fresh Wes post for Wednesday. Hold Tight Seen!!!

Brother B.

* Also, thanks to Mentos for hooking up the Links section. Rock On!

Theme Week Part Three!!!

Back In The Days - Ahmad
Days Of Old - Paris
Going Way Back - Just Ice

Welcome back to The Funk, hope everybody had a pleasant weekend. Yeah so it's Monday, and if you have a job at an office (or anywhere for that matter) everybody hates Mondays. When I get Super Mark Duper (new slang alert!!) bored at work I like to reminisce to the events that have gotten me to this point in existence. You know, the little things.

For example, that time in Middle School when Corey Rodgers cold cocked our sub school principal and I got suspended for "being there"...well that was the beginning of the end for me. Shortly there after I'd be on a plane to Belarus to work in a cancer survivor center for kids and live as they lived. This was a gift from my pops to set me straight...and boy did it ever. But that's another story for another time.

The purpose of this little diatribe is to get to this week's theme, "Back In The Days". Keith Boogs aka TiVo suggested it to me a few weeks ago to do a theme week where The Funk focuses on the tracks that discuss/talk about/yearn for the golden days of music whether it be Hip Hop/Funk/Soul/whatever. So that's what we are going to present to the masses this week. Let's do it!

Back In The Days -

We'll start off with this one to ease the non-hip hoppas in the crowd, but I know that most of you know this song in one form or another. Ahmad thrust onto the Hip Hop scene in 1994 when he dropped this single off of his self titled album. I never really got into the album itself, save for "Touch The Ceiling" which we played at all the house parties back then. For the most part, the LP was filled with that west coast sound that was all over the place in 1994. You know, pre sampling laws, right after Dre's "The Chronic". Full 'O Funk.

Anyhow, this song pretty much is the standard for rap tunes that deal with the golden era. It's been played to death but I figured I'd post it anyhow. Kinda like you can't have a James Brown concert without playing "I Feel Good"...

Currently, you can catch Ahmad as the front man for 4th Ave. Jones. Check 'em out here.
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Days Of Old -

Paris is one of those cats that you either know or you don't. He dropped his first album, "The Devil Made Me Do It" in 1990 at the height of the pro-black movement. He was akin to Public Enemy in that he was fighting the powers that be but on his second LP, "Sleeping With The Enemy", he had that infamous track, "Bush Killa"(Partial .WAV File!) where he set up the assassination of GB1. It was very controversial for the day, hell it'd be controversial right now. On second thought, I'm sure some of you would be cool if it came out now. Here is a rundown of that LP.

But this track was one of the more mellow tracks off that 2nd LP. Strangely enough, the beat sounds exactly like Kurious' "I'm Kurious" but the subject matter is deeper. The main theme of "let's take it back cause it was much better then" that we are highlighting this week is pretty much the entire reason for doing this track. It's a good song. Heck, it's even got a video! BONUS POINTS!
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Going Way Back -

Just Ice was one of those dudes who lived his shit serious. There has been an argument between a few of the cats I know as to who was the first "gangsta" rapper, Just Ice or Kool G Rap. I'll leave it open for discussion but Ice sure was a hardcore individual. His album "Back To The Old School" was a pretty dope album in it's own right, but the single we've presented for you today was the gem as far as I'm concerned.

The song itself has that KRS/BDP/TR808 sound to it which was a different approach from the Mantronix produced first LP. KRS even makes an appearance or two throughout the track. Ice gets into what was going on in the early early days of Hip Hop, even going into detail about who was and who wasn't in the "scene" ( ...if I didn't say your name, then you was not there...), which I still think was a GZA/Genius move. Apparently there were a rack of posers/fakers when this came out and Just Ice had to put a stop to the lies...Sound Familiar???

So there we have it. Hopefully you'll check these gems out and your Monday will become less mundane that it was previously. No guarantees though. If it hasn't, please let us know and we'll do our best to rectify that...man, flashback to CustServ days in the Philippines. My Bust.

Side note: While stationed in the Philippines, Jeff, Larry, Winters, Gunther and Myself were collectively known around Manila as "The Fantastic Four feat. Gunther". We each had our own made up movies we were going to star in. Jeff's was "Baywatch Boy and The Attack Of The Boogie Oogie Board Crew", shit like that. We did this to pass the long nights and even longer days. Anyhow, we were going to get a poster made up of all of us as Anime cartoon figures by one of our co-workers at the time, Jose Santiago. Kid had crazy skills with the pen. Long story short, he faked the funk on us and we all made a pact that if we ever see his skinny Puerto Rican ass, it's grass. Just reminded me of that.

Side note 2: How many of yawl are anxious like me for Sin City to come out? Joint looks vicious!

Side note 3: At my beloved Florida State University, it's spring practice for the 2005 Football and over at my home away from The Funk, Warchant.com, they have some videos of the QBs and Recievers (the WRs look terrible until the last two, Kenny O'Neal #4 and Greg Carr #89)(Boogs- #10 is yo' boy, Lorne) during practice. Take a gander if you wish. Man, I can't wait for this season to start.

QBs
WRs

I'll get at yawl tomorrow,
Brother B.