THA LONG LOST SEARCH FOR MY DAUGHTER IS OVER.....

blow

I'm headed to BOGOTA, COLOMBIA for a gig tomorrow and i'm excited and kinda nervous. if i get kidnapped or forced to become a drug mule for a thugged out cartel please pray for me!! be back for tha annual DOIN' IT IN THE PARK // DOIN' IT AFTER DARK throwdown this Sunday.






AND...if your not busy tomorrow nite, check out my dude Fahamu Pecou he's one of tha iller artists out today (in fact, he is The Shit). Thats early side, then check out my dudes Damon Bell and DJ Mel rock-rockin it well at Levende for COLORS. Check tha bloggy blog for Bogota fun and pics (assuming i can get internet access down thurr).






HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND MY PEOPLE!!!!

Atjazz feat. Mr. J, "Together"

CLASSIC SCHITT!!!!

Man...i LOVE YouTube! Home Turf was my schitt growin up in SF, i use to get up early Saturday morning to watch. Dominique Diprima might have been my first crush before i hit puberty LOL.

Anyway -- these dudes right HERE is my idols, yall already know. But now you ain't gotta ask why!!




In honor of Bronx River Parkway, Eddie Palmieri, A Touch of Jazz, tha Bayshore freeway and summertime fire hydrant vandals worldwide:

Bobbi Humphrey, "Harlem River Drive" (Blue Note)

PARKWAYS DRIVES & BAYSHORES

Bout to smash down outta town for tha J-Boogie wedding [insert sound of female hearts breaking everywhere] but wanted to post a couple tracks i been feelin' tha past couple days.

First off, tha GROOM has a new LP finna drop and its dope -- tha ususal Dubtronic Science steez of dubbed out soul and bedroom fonk, with a gang of new elements that make it one of tha best soul records i've heard in a minute. Tha new record is called "Soul Vibrations" and it officialy drops September 23 (JUST in time for summer here in SF) and i recommend you get yo ass up on it!! Straight heat from front 2 back. Here's an appetizer....

J-Boogie's Dubtronic Science feat. Baba Zumbi & Rithma, "For Your Love"

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On Tuesday @ PST my dude Matthew Africa [who has a gold name plate that says....yeah, you guessed it] passed me a CD in tha way he do -- all casual, nonchalant, wearing somethin' tailored, sippin on shit i can't pronounce -- and was like "peep this." Its tha new Bronx River Parkway record which was done with Pablo and tha Candela All-Stars and this schitt is HEAT!! No surprise there, cuz for REAL for real, M.A. be knowin HELLA music. And hella tort law. This LP is out on tha mighty Truth & Soul imprint and its ESSENTIAL summer slappage. Get it in yo life people.

Not to be confused with tha seminal Harlem River Drive project [doh!] de Palmieri Tha LP runs tha gamut from slow rolling funk to boogaloo to straight up bomba y plena. Yall know i'm personally partial to clave and guaguanco so here's my standout selection:

Bronx River Parkway, "La Valle"

Check out Matthew Africa's blog and definitely check for my dude J-Boogie in a city near you this Summer/Fall....and cop tha new LP on September 23!!!!!

got a new laptop......

wanted to take a second to brag about it and show yall a pic. ALSO it was an excuse to post a song i been meaning to for a while...



Agent K feat. Carleen Anderson, "Rideaway Getaway" (Blaze Remix)
**Agent K, otherwise known as Kaidi Tatham of tha mighty Bugz in the Attic crew, teams with former Young Disciple (and daughter of JB Funky Person Vicki Anderson; and sister of Jhelisa of "Friendly Pressure" fame) Carleen Anderson to create a house burner that gets a broken sci-fi rinse c/o tha legendary Blaze crew. Some records can literally force you to dance; ain't alotta records that can actually transport you to another place and time. This sh*t is otherworldly. One of my all time favorites. Enjoy!

FRISCOLD x GREY MATTER

Being born and raised in Frisco i have gotten used to having cold ass summer days....thats right, NYC Philly and ATL -- COLD ASS SUMMER days. Part of the suspended animation in a grey expanse casting shadows over tha sun existence that is Frisco Life includes hella days during tha summer where tha fog sets up shop and ain't tryna move no matter WHAT tha sun gotta say about it. Today was one of them days, and cold grey summer days bring out certain emotions. Certain emotions that hypothetically could be compounded by certain circumstances in one's social life -- hypothetically (or, highly pathetically) making a grey summer day feel like a bowl of shit soup.

Anyhoo, that's here but not there. My point was to explain this morass of grayness thru music that helped me translate as a likkle bway growing up here. When i was heavy on my sample digging game in tha early 90s, i dug this Bay Area gem and here present it to you, dear reader, as a sonic sampling of whats going on overhead in tha City By Tha Bay today. I'm also including tha joint that famously (and HELLA skillfully) sampled it. A beautiful track, and tha rhythm changes are crazy....

Tower of Power, "Sparkling in the Sand"

Before BALCO, before sampling and before hip-hop these dudes had Oaklandia pon lock.

Diamond D & the Psychotic Neurotics, "Sally Got a One-Track Mind"

:::MEETING NELSON GEORGE:::

I been blessed to meet alotta people I look up to and get inspiration from, and gettig a chance to talk with Nelson George today is right up there in the top 10. For those who may not know, Nelson George (or "Mr. George" as I was careful to address him) is one of tha most important intellectuals of tha past 30 years -- particularly on issues relating to black music and culture.

Besides his 20 or so books (including "The Death of Rhythm and Blues" which had a HUGE impact on me when I read it in high school) and his work at Billboard, Mr. George has been active and a part of most major black music and art developments of tha past 30 years. He was interviewing me (!!) as part of his new VH1 Soul "Soul Cities" series and as we were rapping outside Groove Merchant records on Haight Street (big shout out to Cool Chris -- be back for those records later on today bruh) he told me about his days working at tha Amsterdam News -- how it was around tha corner from tha legendary Paul Winley record shop, Bobby Robinson's (Enjoy Records) store being a block down 125th, etc. It struck me how Mr. George, already an established writer at a major African American publication, was already building relationships with tha emerging hip-hop scene. Nelson George is more than just tha "Barbara Walters of Hip-Hop" but his relationships with, writing and support of tha hip-hop scene in NYC and now worldwide makes him similar to Babs in that he is THE pre-eminent journalist and chronicler of a music form that has changed EVERYTHING.

It was a major honor to meet you sir -- thank you!!!!

Ohhh yeah -- and it turns out Mr. George is a salsa fanatic. No real surprise there (after all he's a native New Yorker) but its dope that tha Willie Colon, "The Hustler" LP is hanging behind us in tha pic above! And i bet more than once he heard THIS song blasting out of someone's car radio or stoop radio uptown during tha 70s...

Ralfi Pagan, "Who is the Girl For Me" (Fania, 1974)

ISAAC HAYES | R.I.P.

Late on this posting, as tha great Mr. Hayes left us all too early this past Sunday of an apparent cardiac arrest.

Wanted to post an Ike joint that i been runnin' pretty regularly in tha clubs tha past year or so, off his slept on "For the Sake of Love" LP (Polydor, 1978).

ISAAC HAYES, "ZEKE THE FREAK" (Todd Terje Edit)

Hard to put tha career of Isaac Hayes into context without writing for days on end; he truly connected tha pioneering Memphis & Stax sounds to tha 70s funk era and beyond. Check a free tribute mix by tha homie DJ Haylow over on his blog and a mix of his famous sample records here c/o tha Taste NYC dudes. Also peep dope summary of peer tributes here.

Thank you for tha music, Maestro. Have a peaceful journey.....



BONUS DOWNLOAD: One of my favorite hip-hop tracks of all time, and a heavily slept-on one... Uptown, "Dope on Plastic" (Tommy Boy)

GIL SCOTT-HERON

A couple months ago i was asked who my favorite artist of all time is. Thats a tuff one for anybody to answer, much less a DJ and i was about to tell tha person asking me they were trippin but all of a sudden, i said "probably Gil Scott-Heron." I could name eleventy million other artists who i love, respect, jock etc but i'm pretty sure it ain't one i love, respect and jock MORE than Gil Scott-Heron.



Last week i mentioned my experience seeing Gil Scott-Heron live when i was 16 years old at tha legendary Kennel Club (later called tha Justice League, now The Independent) and tha person i was snappin with was like "wasn't that tha dude who wrote a song called 'Heroin' and then wound up being a heroin addict?" After getting over tha initial shock at how dumb and intelligent that observation was, i reflected on Gil Scott-Heron's legacy a bit and decided to post some sh*t i seen on YouTube awhile back.

To me, Gil Scott-Heron is the G.O.A.T. because he meets all tha criteria that I personally use to evaluate art: is it impactful? is technically superior or innovative? is it meaningful in a way that transcends time and space? is it original? is it engaged in a critique (to a small or large degree) of art and society and the ideas that construct both as realities? On every level, Gil Scott-Heron was a master. Make a mental list of those artists you consider among tha greatest of all time -- think about their relevance, even if its just musical and not political (we all got our own criteria after all) or cultural, some art loses its luster when held up to tha light of history.

Its incredible to me that Gil Scott-Heron made music like "Whats the Word? (Johannesberg)" and "Watergate Blues" which dealth with specific issues at a specific place and time -- and yet, they're still relevant. And his mastery of spoken word, song composition, and arrangement (and firm roots in tha Harlem streets) continue to stand up to music of tha past AND present.

"Winter in America" is a timeless classic, on so many levels. Real talk, if they start playin THAT shit before baseball games, maybe i will stand and remove my fitted.

There are 5 more segments of this piece. Hit YouTube and check em out, its definitely worth your time.

START OF YO ENDIN....

WHY SETTLE FOR THA WEEKEND WHEN WE REALLY SHOULD BE CELEBRATING THA END OF THA WEAK??? THA WORKING CLASS GAVE US THA WEEKEND, MAYBE ITS TIME FOR THA LEISURE CLASS TO ENSURE THAT THA WEAK ASS MUFUKKAZ OF THA WORLD SEE NO MORE HEAD....