Better late than never…Throwback Thursday err Saturday?

“I wanna join a gang
They’ll have my back with gats
We’ll walk in packs and stack g’s
But yo I lack these qualities
I gotta kill a fool steal his wallet key and ID
But I need encouragement
Initiation ain’t enough for me to snuff an innocent fool
Yo I got school on Monday
So one way or another I’ma fell bad
I need to gain acceptance cuz my reps’ been in the trash can
I’m blasting asking can I join, cuz the big night’s here
I got a slight fear I might hear gunshots in my direction
Cuz the slums got a ton of niggas flexing
I started stepping and there stood this young girl
Loaded my hollow tips and followed the dip
Pulled my shotty on the hotty and I blasted the bitch
Wish I woulda known it was my little sis

-” What a way to go out” Souls of Mischief

Above is a perfect example of the highlighted group’s storytelling abilities.  Gang initiation is obviously no joke, and in one verse of great visual storytelling you can see why…on to the group

So I am finally done with my 10 day accelerated course thank the Lawd, thank the Lawd.  I apologize for my lack of a Throwback Thursday blog so soon (and lack of blogging in general shh) so do me a favor and just pretend its Thursday.  Anyways, the group that gets highlighted today is one of thee most slept on groups of all times.  This group hails from the bay yay area, but they did not grace the scene via the hyphy movement.  No, no far from it.  Instead, this group, Souls of Mischief, came on to the scene in 93′, with a brand new type of flow,  a narrative, storytelling, kick back and have a brew, type of flow if you will.  Now most of you who are aware of Souls of Mischief are only aware of them for one song, 93 til infinity, which was everyones anthem that year, and if played today still gets a lot of hip-hop heads amped.  93′ til infinity is like that song that you just picture as the epitome of friendship and boredom on a summer’s day.  I just picture the crew getting together in the garage discussing life, the producer playing around with beats, and one dude saying “yo, this is how we chill from 93 untillll,” and history being made. This is how everyone came to know this crew through their infamous first single.  BUT (yes it is grammatically correct to begin your sentences with but if you do it right, trust me on this one), most people do not know that their entire album, also titled 93′ til infinity, was sick.  I mean seriously, if you like smooth beats, smooth flows, and smooth storytelling, and you do not know of this album slap yourself immediately, okay well that’s a little drastic (but just do it for the fun of it).

Anyways, the group is composed of Tajai, A plus, Phesto, and Opio.  The group formed in high school, and they immediately got signed by Jive.  After dropping their first album, they dropped one more with Jive.  It was called “No Man’s Land,”  this album was completely different than their last one as far as themes and style.   The first one is more about having fun, and being playful.  The second album seems to find the crew more grown up, matured, and serious, with darker beats, and unfortunately that works to their disadvantage.   The golden age jazz samples that made the first album so well produced, are still there but just much darker and more complex. Now granted, I liked the second album, but it is CLEARLY a notch below the first album.  However, it still deserves much more respect than what it receives.   The group later went on to add some more to the crew and form the hieroglyphics: Pep love (one of my top 10 most favorite slept on rappers ever), and del the funky homosapien, casual, and jaybiz. In any event,  take a  trip down memory lane and  listen to 93′ til infinity again, and for those of you who, unfortunately, have never heard them I posted some of their better songs below….enjoy

Introducing Throwback Thursdays- Because I’m cool like dat…I’m cool like dat

The puba of the styles like miles and shit
Like sixties funky worms with waves and perms
Just sendin chunky rhythms right down ya block
We be to rap what key be to lock- Digable Planets “Rebirth of Slick (cool like dat)…Yes this quote came from Digable Planets not E-40 and Ric Rock

So today marks the introduction of a blog you will see basically every most Thursdays (had to change that every, sometimes I get lazy, it happens).  In any event, most Thursdays will be Throwback Thursdays meaning I am going to highlight an old school artist/s of some genre whether it be hip-hop, neo-soul, or even a dope old school poet.  So let’s start with one of my favorite groups of all time, Digable Planets.  If you like poetry, if you like jazz, if you like hip-hop, Digable Planets are the group for you, the Grammy Award winning group I might add (Best rap performance for duo or group).

They consist of Butterfly, Doodlebug, and Ladybug Mecca, and a lot of their production was done by Silkworm (sounds like an insect gathering to me, but that’s neither here nor there).  These cats were one of the first groups to fuse jazz and hip hop, and even had a poetry like style to a lot of their songs.  “Reachin’ a new refutation of time and space” was there first album which released in 1993 and their lead single the aforementioned “Rebirth of Slick (cool like dat)” sent the group skyrocketing right out of the gates.  That cd went on to do big things as no one had really seen what they brought to the table until then.  Unfortunately, the next year their next cd “Blowout Comb” did not do as well because their supposed fans were no longer enthralled with their sound, so they treated their cd like a child treats a new toy, once they got their initial thrill they put it down and walked away.

Regardless, they are still one of my favorite hip-hop groups, and I for the record thoroughly enjoyed/enjoy Blowout Comb.  The group unfortunately went their separate ways trying solo ventures (why must all great groups do this! see Tribe, see Little Brother -9th’s exodus).  Also might I add that I am a huge fan of Ladybug’s, she was one of the first female mc’s that truly stood out.  The girl could flow, in fact I think she had the most energy of the group.  And just to show you how fresh she is, she named her firstborn son “Jazz,” now you try telling me this woman wasn’t about music.

Below you will find some of my favorite songs by the group, and I thoroughly suggest you get both of their albums, or at least cop their best of album damn it.

Lady T dropping heat!

So today is a special day folks we have the first guest post and it comes from none other than Lady T.  And do you want to know the best part? Well basically Lady T said that her piece was inspired by the Mrs. Perfect piece which is the first piece of the blog.  Lady T dropped a very refreshing comment and really brought out stuff about the piece that I didn’t even realize was there, and then she flipped it and made her own original piece, which is short but potent, and brilliantly written.  In a way, I think of it as a letter, to whom, well for the answer to that you just have to read on…so without further adieu here it is:

Mrs. Perfection Part Deux

I used to think you were my everything, so eloquently crafted, outspoken, but not to be out done
the entity of perfection, you taught me how to love, you critiqued my style and gave me that sense of lyrical direction
social conscientiousness, political motivation and a voice of the generation
you had soul, there was no one like you
but somehow the love you and i shared is gone, a distant memory of intricate melodies has left my heart bleeding.
you’ve bound me up in chains and the very essence of your character has disappeared and now this thing unknown has reappeared. i’m not sure what it is, but the authenticity that i had once grown to love has been replaced by over-produced beats and 808s. life used to be great, when it was just you and i, but now i feel as if our love song is full of lies and insincerity,  i wish the clarity we once felt could come back, but instead you hung your head and walked away, you were through. dear hip hop, mrs. perfection was you.

NOW THAT YOU HAVE READ SOME GREATNESS LEAVE SOME COMMENTS BELOW AND DISCUSS go!

RELATED POST: Here is hip-hop duo Canto I’s more modern version of Common’s classic hit,peep what they have to say about Mrs. Hip-hop

Share the wealth

The man the myth the legend, kermit as tiny tim

See Above Sharing the Wealth brings joy to everyone.

So now that you all have gotten a taste of what this blog is about, its time for you folks to contribute.  Do you have a poem/piece you have been wanting others to hear/critique/etc? Well, just post it here and we will get a roundtable discussion going.  Any new/old independent artists out there that you feel I should do a review on let me know.  Or even if you have some topic that has been sitting on your cranium for a while just post it and I will make it into a topic…I do not discriminate, in fact thanks to this blog I met a dope, fresh new innovative DJ who spins in LA and spins that real hip-hop, along with soul, and his own creative mash-ups.  I am going to do a write up on him a bit later once I finish this damn, winter break-killing, unhappiness creating, Accelerated law course I’m taking right now…sorry had to vent.  Anyways, back to the point, the more poems/pieces/music/musings that you all contribute to the site the better it becomes.  When I started this thing, I envisioned one large melting pot of conscious people dropping knowledge and everyone else feeding off of it.  I always have good convos with my close friends etc so I figured it was time to expand my conscious circle so to speak lol.    I mean we all have to express ourselves some so by all means let’s see some contributions people!

P.S. check my boy G out a:

http://www.thesmoothdj.com/contact.html

He does parties and all of that good stuff so hit him up, and again I will do the proper write up later on.

New Poem/Piece…let your mind be creative on this one people mwahaha

The Evil Within

It started as just another day just thinking about life with my best friend Self who knows me better than anyone, trying to figure out if I wanted to make a late night visit to this girl Lust I met the other night, she’s got curves in all the right places with a smile so bright and figure so tight they tend to block out all my other thoughts leaving my mind on one thing, and with that one thing in mind I hopped in the shower, got out, feeling fresh ready to make that visit to Lust, and my good friend Ego even stopped by to tell me how fresh I looked, and how could I blame her. Ego said “man your date doesn’t stand a chance with looks like that and style so smooth you’ll have the panties in no time,” now pumped and primed for action I stepped out of the door and began a confident stroll down the street towards my brand new Lexus that my agent Greed bought me, I mean when you’re a multimillion dollar sports star these things come with the territory, my life should be the story that everyone aspires to achieve. My mom dreams for me to change my lifestyle so that I don’t end up like my dad Deadbeat, she always says no more fast women, decked out cars, and blinged out chains, oh, and she tells me to stop hanging out with two of my best friends, the twins Jealousy and Envy, but what does she know? She hasn’t liked any girl I’ve dated since my ex girlfriend Sincere back in high school, she claims all of the friends and women I hang out with now are just after my stacks, but like I said what does she know. As I see it if my older brothers Pride and Influence say I’m doing right then so be it, and she claims they only look after me because of what I can do for them, but I know they look out for my best interest. So screw it, on to Lust’s house. So I pull up to the driveway step out of the car with one thing in mind, ignoring thoughts of my old friend Conscience who always made me live by the book with all his talk of morals. I knocked on the door, and Lust opened up wearing well, nothing, and well what happened next…I’m sure you can figure out. Without a doubt Lust came hard on to me and I willingly gave into her, and that’s the last thing I remember from that night. Because when I woke up my wallet, keys, and car were gone. All that was left was a note from Jealousy and Envy saying they had taken everything and that I better not report or else they would tell the world I had HIV….HIV from Lust. My best friends since I came into the league set me up to take everything I had. I searched the house madly and frantically for Lust knowing that if I saw her I would harm her, but she was nowhere to be found. I didn’t hear from her until nine months later when I received a note and a picture of a baby girl who strangely resembled me. The note said “remember me?” Lust. “Yeah you probably didn’t even realize that we dated 4 years back when I was sweet and innocent and loved you with all my heart but you dropped me as soon as your team went on a road trip, so once my friend Fate introduced me to Jealous and Envy it all came together, and to think if you had treated me right your life would now be different. But now I’m indifferent. And like you I’m out for mine, and by the way not to alarm ya, but you can start paying child support now, because that baby girl in the picture is yours, oh and by the way I named her Karma.”

Black People dooooo thissss (see Dave Chapelle)

Disclaimer: I am a black man, but this is just something that has to be said.  Oh and I love my people for the record…now on to the blog

Okay so this probably should have been my first article because this topic has just been irking me since I moved to Chicago back in August.  So if you are from the Chi, the bay, NY or any other city with good public transportation systems I do not need to explain what the EL is to you.  But for all others here is a brief explanation, basically the EL is the elevated train which goes all throughout Chi town.  The El allowed me to not have to bring my car here because it is so damn efficient; but like any public transportation system it has its drawbacks.  The drawback I am going to discuss today is one that makes me want to scream expletives and take off my belt to teach someone a lesson (belts work damn it), that drawback is (drumroll please) black folks being LOUD AS HELL on the train.  It never ever ceases to amaze me.  I mean granted their are people of other races etc (white college students drunk at night etc),  who are also loud OCCASIONALLY; but damn I must say black folks so far hold the crown.  Mainly because from my experience here so far at least when you tell other groups to quiet down on the train they do so for the most part, but black folks? nah they get louder.  Being a black man I hate to stereotype period.  But I have been in Chicago for about 7 months now and I am telling you what I have witnessed (note that I reserve the right to re-do this article should some other group take the loud crown from us…please do pretty please)

Anyways here is a microcosm of what I experience probably at least twice a week:   A couple of weeks after my boy Barack got elected I was on a crowded train when all I hear is bitch this, hoe that, fuck this, fuck that etc being sang out as loud as humanly possible.  So I did what all of the other train goers did and turned to see what was going on.  I will give you one guess as to what was going on.  Actually I won’t I will just tell you, three sweet innocent LOOKING high school girls (rocking Catholic school girl uniforms no doubt) were singing random rap songs at the TOP of their lungs, it was as if they were having a contest to see who could be the most vulgar and annoy the most people.  And of course a couple of people near them tried to tell them to at least keep it down (mind you this train is packed, like no room to move packed).  And how did they respond? Yes you guessed it, they sang that much louder, to the point that I wondered how their lungs were holding up.  And here’s the kicker in light of the recent historic and profound event of Barack’s election, they felt it necessary to honor him by channeling Young Jeezy (“My President’s black, my lambo’s blue…etc”)telling everyone who told them to hush the following, “Fuck you! Obama is my president, my black  president (as if his goal in life is to just serve them) you can’t tell me nothing now, fuck you!”….GASP, my worst fear.  Yes, they actually used Barack to justify their boisterous behavior, does anyone else see a problem with this? We as a people fought so long and hard for a person like Barack to come along and show the world that black people are more than capable of running for and holding the highest position in the nation, and this is your response?  Now granted, the majority of black people have not responded in this way, rather they have cherished the moment, shed tears etc, but there are still enough of us out there that I had to write this article.  Again, this is not the only incident, I can’t tell you how many times I get on the EL and a black person is either talking insanely loud on the phone cussing like a sailor, and/or playing their ipods loud enough for the whole train to hear (sadly enough the new craze here amongst the teens seems to be playing their music loud as hell from their cell phones, nope no headphones screw em, all of ya’ll gon here this!)

In short, this may seem like just one long vent, but please do not take it as such.  Rather it is just another moment of musing, just trying to figure out why black people feel the need to be so damn loud on the train….your thoughts??

Music to space out to…

Okay I am going to start this review off on the Brown Sugar (movie) tip.  I remember where I was and what I was doing when I first heard hip hop Panacea.  This is back oh say in 2006 when myspace was still the popular thing to do (as we now know facebook and twitter have established dominance).  I got one of those friend requests from some random person I didn’t know, so I knew either it was a musician or one of those random porn ads that myspace tries to trick you with, those crafty bastards.  Thankfully, it was the former.

Anyways, I usually just delete those things right away, but something happened when I clicked on Panacea’s page…that thing is musical bliss.  I started zoning out to their music, one MC who spits by the name of Raw Poetic, and one very talented producer who goes by the name of K-Murdock, both from Washington D.C.  Their chemistry is reminiscient of Pete Rock and CL smooth.  I started listening to the song that played when I first clicked on their page, and instantly I was hooked.  Before I knew it I had gone through their whole playlist and was not disappointed by one song.  Come to find out they had already dropped two cds.  Their first “Thinking back looking forward,” and their second, “Ink is my drink.”  Since then they have dropped two more cd’s one last year which was named best cd of 2007 by a few top internet sites and magazines called “The Scenic Route,” and another dropped recently in 2008 called “A Mind on a Ship through Time.”

Now as you all will come to find out, I am VERY critical of cds and music these days, and tend to lean more on the pessimistic side when it comes to new artists that I have heard much buzz about.  With Panacea, I can easily say that they lived up to and exceeded the hype at least in this writer’s eyes.  Their music has been described as “A Tribe Called Quest meets Final Fantasy,” and it is easy to see why.  Their music has this kind of spacey, almost cartoonish/movieish vibe to it (this can not be easily explained you just have to listen).  And all of their cds are like one big story from start to finish.  The beats and rhymes go together like Jordan and clutch.  Below I will give you a song or two from each of the 4 cds that I recommend, and then hopefully you will give it a chance just like I did and you to can relax and zone out to some Panacea…Enjoy!

Thinking Back Looking Forward: Song- Track 2 Birdfeather, and Track 10 Heartache (writer’s extra- love the my heart sample)

Ink is my Drink: Song- Track 3 Place on Earth, Track 8 Work of Art

The Scenic Route: Song- Track 2 The Scenic Route, Track 12 Katana

A Mind on a Ship through Time: Song- Track 4 L.A.V.A, Track 11 Treasure Hunt (writer’s extra- again peep the sample “A smile from you”)

I will post some links once I figure out how to do so lol in the mean time here is the link to their page…http://www.myspace.com/panaceanmusic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieM_qDKTZ28

P.S. if you like what you hear above also check out Raw poetics other group “RPM” (restoring poetry in motion)….two cds with that group as well…also good stuff