(Masta) Ace Up The Sleeve
February 26, 2009
Last week I came across a nice copy of Masta Ace’s third full-length Sittin’ On Chrome (Delicious Vinyl), and since I’ve been on the lookout for “Born to Roll” I picked it up immediately.
I’m not too familiar with Masta Ace’s catalog (especially the later stuff), but word has it that “Born to Roll” was a response to the West Coast rap scene. At the time (1995), Dr. Dre and the G-Funk Era had been dominating nationwide radio for years, and supposedly this album was a mock of the entire movement.
It’s all speculation though, and I have yet to see any solid proof on this claim…Let’s take a deeper look.
Continue on after the jump..
The Funkiest $1 Ever Spent
January 27, 2009
My guy at the record spot basically hooked it up nicely yesterday…I walked in the front door and next thing I know, I’m listening to one of the dopest, out of the blue 12 inches. I had no goddam clue who The Funkytown Pros were, or what the track was named, but it sounded like some early 90′s grime that I can’t seem to get enough of.
And even better, I got the $1 hook-up. What?
Continue on after the jump..
The Funky Jesus
December 17, 2008
Me and this record have some history with each other, and it was only until last weekend that I was able to finally get my hands on a legit copy. Hey America (1970) is one of James’ earlier Christmas projects, and has a reputation of being the funkiest of the bunch. Around this time last Christmas I ran into a fairly clean copy, but was a little short on cash and didn’t bite the bait…Needless to say, this record was swiped before I had the chance to blink. Since James Brown recently died on Christmas Day a couple years back, this particular LP is that much more significant. With that said, I’ve been tripping pretty hard over missing my initial chance to cop this monumental record.
There are definitely some slow Christmas tunes throughout, but the real funky ones can be played year-round and stack up well against the rest of his incredible catalog.
Check some examples below..
Hold on People
December 9, 2008
If you aren’t up to speed on this incredible LP from Eddie Kendricks, it’s pretty crucial that you start looking into it now. I’m just going to go out and say it…People, Hold On is ridiculous. Ridiculous in the sense that music like this is too rare to come by nowadays (more like near impossible), and if you’re a fan of soul music from the 70′s, this will be your jam.
Peep game after the jump…
Joe Quixx
November 19, 2008
Being a Bay Area transplant, I never had the opportunity to grow up surrounded by the local scene. It’s well known that the early 90′s brought about some real ill culture, and the west coast had it’s plate-full of style and significance during this time. While the New York hip-hop scene remained dominant, the left-side was slept on harder than it should have been. The acts that saw their fair share of shine remained closer to the mainstream (i.e. Too $hort, Ice Cube, etc), but it was the underground that never gained the props they truly deserved.
From my short stay in The City, I’ve come to learn a significant amount about the underground scene, and all the insanely talented MC’s and DJ’s that call The Bay home. Joe Quixx is one of these artists, and I recently had the luck of stumbling across two incredible joints from this legendary producer/DJ.
Continue on to learn more…
Juvenile Hella
October 24, 2008
Last weekend I stumbled across a record collection from a former mid-nineties DJ from New York. Needless to say, there was an amazing selection of golden era material, and I spent much more than I should have. Within this collection was some classic Organized Konfusion, Jungle Brothers, pre-Reasonable Doubt Jay-Z, M.O.P., and a ton of old school Mobb Deep. I grabbed a little from each, but was especially excited about the Mobb Deep selection.
This included a couple 12″ from the Queens duo during their Juvenile Hell days (when they were around 16 or 17 years old). I’ll be the first to admit that I was sleeping on this first release…The quick lesson learned is “catch-up on some Mobb Deep dunn.” If you’re a fan of their sophomore LP The Infamous, you will definitely feel their earlier stuff.
Continue on for a breakdown…
Phatback Band
October 15, 2008
It’s been a minute since my last Diggin article, so sorry for the delay…Anyways, I’ve just been knocked on my ass from a recent find at the record shop. The album I’m referring to is the Fatback Band’s Let’s Do It Again.
While I’m a huge 70′s funk junkie, I have yet to really trip off any type of disco, or groups associated with that phase of music. Specifically in the past, I’ve always associated the Fatback Band with this disco era, and typically steered away from giving them a listen..
Continue on below for the breakdown..
The Greatest Digger Of All Time
August 19, 2008
Seriously? Are you telling me that Just Blaze doesn’t have an extra $3 million for the greatest source of sampling in the history of digging? The potential for beats is limitless, and I find it hard to believe that someone like Kanye West isn’t interested in the least bit.
What about a write-up in Waxpoetics? Anyone? McFly?
Is It Funky Enough?
July 29, 2008
Every now-and-then I get a healthy slap in the face from some funky soul music…The most recent instance is no exception. While in my zone at the record store last weekend, a certain 7″ was brought to my attention. This was “Misdameanor” by The Sylvers (performed by Foster Sylver), which I had yet to experience.
However, the second the needle hit the groove, it all came full-circle…
Hellamagnetic MC’s
July 14, 2008
Lately, I’ve been on a real good one…For some reason, about every other week for the past two months I’ve come across some gems from the Ultramagnetic MC’s. First, it was “Give the Drummer Some” and “Ease Back” from their growndbreaking LP Critical Beatdown (1988). Next I came across “Make it Happen off Funk Your Head Up (1992), and “Raise It Up” from The Four Horsemen (1993).
Listening to these singles over again made me realize just how good this four-man crew really was. Complete with their unconventional use of samples (extra funky) and abnormal lyrical content, they definitely made a sound all their own. The first heavy-hitter single “Ego Trippin’” is still regarded as a hip-hop classic, and is widely noted as the song that put them on the map.
That being said, I would like to present a conglomerate of Ultramagnetic tracks, to let you know where I’m coming from. Peep game after the jump…
