M&M&M

Guess who's back? It's me, snitches. Why the hell not...I mean, I can't even get comments when I shut this sh*t down, so I can't win for losing! LOL-lerskatez!!!1!

Just kidding, of course. Finally got things squared away so we're back in business. Today's post comes from 1975's live recording of the legendary "3 M Concert" from Cherry Hill, New Jersey's Latin Casino. The three M's, of course, are Margie Joseph, Blue Magic and Major Harris. The performance gave birth to a 2-LP vinyl record released the year following the concert, which of course can be found floating around on eBay somewhere. It was the live version of Major Harris's "I Got Over Love" from this record, and not the studio version on Jealousy from the same year, that Just Blaze used to create "I Really Mean It" for the Diplomats. Peep the original demo version of "I Really Mean It" -- originally titled "Don't Go", apparently -- on Just's blog.

Enjoy! Check out how Major shouts out Philadelphia producer Ron "Have Mercy" Kersey, who unfortunately passed away in 2005. And to answer someone's question, this blog is for ANYONE who enjoys music, not just beatheads or beatmakers. (download)

Lights Out

A lot of sh*t's been goin' on and, I gotta tell ya, it's gotten harder and harder more and more difficult for me to keep this place up. The bandwidth significantly outweighs the number of comments (I get to keep track of how often something is downloaded since I upload to my own server, and the numbers usually range from the low 100's to the high 500's), and there's just not enough time for me to sort through all of these records.

BUT!

It's only temporary, folks. This little hiatus has more to do with getting things done -- my album, recording guest verses that I was supposed to do last month before sh*t got crazy (sorry Von!), ROFLcon -- than the whining about comments, believe it or not. It just would've been more of an incentive to keep the lights on, y'know? But I'll be back, trust. I really appreciate everyone who did drop by, comments or not, who got a chance to peep the type of music I'm into. Give me a week to get myself together, and I'll cut the lights back on and get this place poppin' again. Peace.

Ape Shit

Now that I am somewhat over the initial shock, anger and disappointment of my f**kin' car being stolen, I suppose I can get back to sharing more music. Don't have a lot of time for commentary today, but fellow DJ Premier stans fans will know that today's entry is the source of the fiiiiiiiyah collaboration between GangStarr and M.O.P., courtesy of the Blade soundtrack from '98. Peep track 12 from this Jimmy Webb-helmed score from the 1973 motion picture The Naked Ape if you don't believe me.

Oh, and thanks for the influx of comments from the last post. :) (download)

Right On, Time

I hope everyone thoroughly enjoyed the albums I posted a few days ago. Today's post has been brought to you by two of the 5th Dimension's former singers, husband and wife Marilyn and Billy. After much success with the 5th Dimension in the early 70s, the pair left the group in 1975 to establish their own careers, releasing this joint album in the process.

This album from 1976 features the popular cut "Nothing Can Stop Me", which has been sampled ad nauseum on the mixtape/underground rap circuit. Less notably, but certainly just as deservedly, the song was also sampled by Jaheim on his debut single "Could It Be" from 2001. Nice.

Lots of good tracks on this LP, but I'll let you be the judge. Shucks, if I get enough comments I may post that "Rhinestone Cowboy" sample. LOL-llerskatez!!1! Speaking of which, the lights are going out in this place real soon. You've been warned. (download)

Nas-talgic

To show appreciation for the overwhelming amount of comments I receive on a regular basis, I decided I'd spill the beans and share with you all the most prized selections from my collection. The reason these two LPs are my favorites is because together, they helped create one of hip-hop's most classic tracks, "Nas Is Like".

For almost a decade, the sample source for "Nas Is Like" has been largely unknown, and the selected number of people that do know the sample were understandably tight-lipped. But late last year a mysterious sample snippet was posted revealing the source for the Nas track. But with no ID tags on the MP3, heads were still scratching their, umm, heads trying to figure out who the actual artist was.

Until today.

As far as the main sample, look no further than the Turkish pressing of Wham!'s Careless Whisper single, available only on Picture Disc. This raer rare version of the popular song features the string-laden sample toward the end of its second bridge, but can only be heard when slowed down several BPMs. The second LP, a 10'' from Germany, is essentially a library record from a series of audio recordings of nature, in this case bird chirping. If you listen extremely close to the drum break on "Nas Is Like" you can clearly hear chirping birds; indeed, the "Bird Sounds" LP is where the break can be found. I believe J. Dilla used this same break though I can't remember for what song, or how many times he used it for that matter.

There you have it! Again, I wasn't ever going to post these but how else can I express my extreme gratitude for the multitude of comments I receive daily? I can't keep up with them, there's so many! Say, what's today's date again...?

Wham! - Careless Whisper (Turkish 12'', 1984) (download)

Smoffenborg Studio Group - Bird Sounds (10'', 1967) (download)

Please...

...send your prayers toward singer Nancy Wilson today, as she is currently being treated for a collapsed lung. While she is expected to recover just fine, I still would like to send some positive energy her way; as most people who know me know, I am a huge fan of her work and believe she is one of the greatest vocalists of our time. Please keep her in your prayers.

This Little Lite Of Mine

Peep the ill EP from this Bay Area-based collective, originally released in the mid-70s and reissued in 2000 by Ubiquity Records. If you're a fan of Roy Ayers-esque jazz like I am, you'll dig this. (download)

Promises, Promises

Here's another one from the only-copped-it-'cause-a-producer-I-looked-up-to-flipped-something-from-it-that-was-dope-as-fuck files. The Heatmakerz borrowed a tune for Juelz's "One Day I Smile" a few years back, and I copped it the following year when I finally tracked it down. I had just begun to sample a few years prior, and was still going through that phase where I'd buy records that have already been flipped. These days it takes a lot for me to knowingly cop something that someone has already run through. It's almost akin to being young and trying to mack at girls, not minding the sloppy seconds at first -- even seeking them out, in this case -- 'cause that's how you get your game up, but after a while you start wanting your own chicks, yafeelme?

Blah blah blah, anyway the debut record from the UK-based Delegation is a dope LP and y'all should check it out. Holla at a eBay when you see him in the streets. And speaking of Juelz, does ANYONE know the sample used on "Crack" from the Final Destination mixtape? It's been bugging me for years; sorry Madlib. (download)

Riddle Me This

*sigh* Either no one likes Afrobeat and funky 90's R&B, or I'm going through another comments drought.

Bloodstone's 1974 offering. Give it a listen. (download)

Sista, Sista

I've been on a 90's R&B kick all last week, shout-out to my girl Nately.

A good friend of mine has a bad habit of using hyperbole in almost everything he's describing. When he recommends a restaurant, for example, he'll go overboard and be like "yo fam it's got the best food I ever had in my life, you'll love it". Then I'll go there and the food may actually be decent, or sometimes not at all, but either way I'll feel a tad let down for it not being nearly as enthralling as he makes it out to be.

I tend to scold him sometimes for going overboard with that, but this time I've gotta take a cue for him and say this: the album to your right is by far the best, I wanna say the definitive 90's girl-group R&B album. Yep, I said it. And the craziest thing is that it was never released. Like my instrumental album Dream, Extinguished, it was shelved at the last minute; in their case, due to internal conflict not only within the group but between the label.

Missy Elliott, of whom I used to be a huge fan, spearheaded the Sista quartet during the Jodeci craze of the early 90's. Penning not only the songs for this album, but ghostwriting a few joints for Jodeci and Mary J. Blige as well (word has it she and Timbaland may have helped with some of What's the 411?), Missy got her start in this group, often dubbed as the "female Jodeci", before launching her super-successful solo career in '96. The other three members of Sista disappeared off of the face of the earth once the group dissolved with the rest of the Swing Mob/Bassment crew (Ginuwine, Playa, Tweet, Timbaland & Magoo), who broke from the camp amidst DeVante's shenanigans and started their own careers.

Every. Joint. On. This. Album. Knocks. I hate to use hyperbole but this is truly (to me) the best female R&B album of the 90's. There's only a very small handful of albums I can play front to back without skipping tracks, and this is one of them. I guess it makes it even better that the album unfolds as a sort of story as it progresses, from the Sista clan meeting DeVante for the first time (who sucks his teeth an uncomfortable amount of times throughout the LP) to finding love at the end. For vintage Timbaland beats (he didn't produce the entire thing, though) and early Missy raps (she's been doin' that "my booty go ba-boomp-a-boomp-boomp" stuff for ages, as you can clearly hear), look no further than this lost gem from 1994.

It sucks this album never saw a proper release, but say hey: that's what I'm here for. (download)