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

No one likes Afrobeat and funky 90's R&B? Y'all some bums. j/k

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)

Re-Up Gang, Part One

I got it for cheap, word to Pusha T and M. Diddy.

Is there anything I've uploaded previously that you'd like for me to make available again? If so, drop a line in this post.

I'll tell ya this: y'all slept on those Lupin III soundtracks HARD. Easily the best collection of music I've ever heard in all of my 24 years of existence.

In The Face Of Danger

Today's post is another one of those records that I inherited back in my non-sampling days, only to discover its value -- both music-wise and money-wise -- years down the road. At roughly $10-$15 on average, this record is worth every penny, especially if you're into afrobeat. I fell in love with "de rhythms", if you will, ultimately slowing down "Amebo" for the loopy "Danny, Why Hasn't..." on the still un-released Dream, Extinguished album. Short and sweet -- three tracks per side -- Danger leaves you wanting more, as it did for me, forcing me to track down more of the sisters' music, in particular 1984's Double Trouble.

Enjoy! And good luck tracking down any of their albums...much like my music, it's extremely hard to come by unless you know where to look... (download)

Words To The Wise

Ah, Miss Safka.

Most of y'all won't really dig this, but I urge you to check it out anyway. Peep "Summer Weaving", for example, and see if you hear anything familiar. (download)

Time 4 Sum Action

I almost forgot how many of these records I had. And by far, one of my favorite ones in the bunch. 1967's Impact & Action, y'all. (download)

Fragile Rock

All better!

Thanks to everyone for the get-well-soons and tips for fighting this nasty cold I had. In the end, it took a few gallons of orange juice, a whole box of green tea and seventeen sips of Robitussin to get over it. Meh.

Today's post is brought to you by an oft-overlooked singer from the same era -- and songwriting team, for that matter -- that brought you Control and N.E. Heartbreak. The career of Detroit's Cherrelle will probably be remembered best by her duets with Alexander O'Neal, specifically "Saturday Love" (you know the chorus: "Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Sat-ur-daaaaaaaaaaaay...") Cherrelle had moderate success in the '80s, with all of her LPs released during that time selling at least gold (remember when people sold 500,000 copies of their album?).

Unfortunately, Cherrelle -- whose cousin Pebbles would later create and manage TLC -- never really attained the same amount of success of her peers; some believe it had a little bit to do with her live performances, which some say would've been so much better if only Cherrelle knew how to dance as well as her choreographed counterparts at the time. Others say she's been on a decline since leaving the Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis camp in the early '90s. Being that as it may, she still put out some great music, with her latest album being released in 1999.

This is one of the few records in my stash that I actually didn't buy; I got it from my mama's collection when I first started pillaging record stores around 2001-2002, and even then didn't actually use it until four or so years later when I flipped "Stay With Me" for Dream, Interrupted's "I'm Not Ready". Fragile would sit in my bin until a year or so later, when I decided to blow the dust off of "I Need You Now" to create "Hurt No More", which made its way onto the never-ever-ever-ever released instrumental album, Dream, Extinguished.

But more than making beats, albums like this remind me a lot of my childhood, when life was carefree and R&B music was still actually of quality. Good luck finding any songs these days that don't reference "humps", "grinding", or "poppin' that coochie". Yeesh. Get a room! Fragile isn't very expensive; cop it from your local mom-and-pop or on eBay for a couple of bones. (download)

All Betts Are Off...or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb

60 dollars on eBay? Oh, word? Get it while the getting is good, folks.

Does anyone -- for the love of God -- know the quickest way to diffuse a cold/flu/whatever it is that I have? Besides a bullet to the head, of course. I tried that. (download)

Perfect Timing

Thanks for sliding me that, err, Marilyn Monroe link, Cosmo. Couldn't have come at a better time! Looks like I've found my newest screensaver.

Speaking of great timing, enjoy this library record from French composers Roger Bourdin and Yan Tregger, released in 1980. In the meantime, let's see if I can put my new screensaver(s) to good use (nudge, nudge, wink). Tim, Fritz and Mr. Anonymous, I see ya! Thanks for supporting the site guys. (download)