Random Writings...

I'm a day late this week.

This is the weekly feature where I put all 10,000 or so of my mp3's on random in Winamp and pick the first 10 that come up. I follow it up with some commentary typically regarding the song that just came up. Enjoy.

1. James Taylor "How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You"
Good groovy little tune. Not much to say about it really. I heard somewhere that James Taylor was a big druggie in the 60's/70's. I was unaware. I do know my favorite James Taylor "song" is when he was on the Howard Stern show in the mid-1990's and sang Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young's "Woodstock." It was fucking great. I do own the mp3 if anyone is interested in it. It's low quality, but you can get the idea.

2. Das EFX "They Want EFX"
Love this track. There's a lot of songs that I will skip over when my playlist is on random. This is not one of them; a hip hop classic if you ask me. I remember singing this to myself while playing right field in little league for 4 seasons.

3. Black Rob ft. Akon "What Your Movements"
Another good tune from an underappreciated CD. I put this up there with Young Jeezy's Thug Motivation 101 CD as underappreciated hip hop CD's of the past 2 years. The Black Rob Report is solid back to front. Hip Hop fans will enjoy it - I promise.

4. Sara Evans "Need To Be Next To You"
Sara Evans is hot.

5. Jay Z "Dirt Off Your Shoulders"
Ahhhhh, The Black Album. I probably own 4 actual copies of this CD. I kept losing it and it's one of my favorite CD's to listen to front to back while I'm in the car.

6. Ralph Tresvant "Sensitivity"
This is my jam. R & B is my favorite genre of music. If you said to me, "Shawn, what is your favorite R & B song of all time," I would be hard-pressed not to say "Sensitivity." This is the kind of song where even if you don't like the genre of music, it will be stuck in your head all fucking day.

7. Silk "Freak Me"
Funny story about this song: I remember every Friday night my parents made me amd my borther go out to for a "family night" from 4th-8th grade with them. The one single fucking time they let me and my little brother control the radio stations, this song came on. My conservative mother nearly shit a brick, and we lost radio control forever.

8. Juelz Santana "Oh Yes"
Stupid song on an even stupider CD. I really liked the mix tape Dipset shit. The CD Juelz Santana put out was absolutely terrible. Probably a 1 out of 5 if I had to rate it.

9. Bobby Brown "Every Little Step I Take"
Another "New Edition" alumn. I would rather listen to "Tender Roni" or "On Our Own."

10. Common "The Light"
Probably my favorite rapper/lyricist. This song is one of this classics. My favorite Common song is by far and away, "I Used To Love H.E.R." I never did figure out what H.E.R. stands for.

50 Greatest Hip Hop Tracks of All Time

This took a lot of time and consternation. I hope I did alright...

50 Greatest Hip Hop Songs of All Time

50. Eminem - Brain Damage
49. Ruff Ryders (Swizz Beats, Drag-on, Juvenile) - Down Bottom
48. The Pharcyde - Drop
47. Jay Z - Encore
46. Das EFX - Real Hip Hop
45. Masta Ace - Sittin On Chrome
44. Dr. Dre - Dre Day
43. Black Moon - How Many MC's
42. Jay Z - Imaginary Player
41. Raekwon - Incarcerated Scarfaces
40. Ice Cube - Today Was A Good Day
39. Luniz - I Got 5 On It
38. Tupac - Changes
37. Ice Cube - Check yo Self
36. Lil Kim f. Lil Cease - Crush On You
35. Mase f. P.Diddy - Been Around The World
34. Warren G and Nate Dogg - Regulate
33. Wu Tang Clan - Protect Ya Neck
32. Common - The Light
31. Warren G - This DJ
30. Domino - Ghetto Jam
29. Naughty By Nature - Hip Hop Hooray
28. ONYX - Slam
27. The Fugees - Fu-Gee-La
26. Nas f. Lauryn Hill - If I Ruled The World
25. RZA - Holocaust
24. N2Deep - Back To The Hotel
23. Bone Thugs N Harmony - Thuggish Ruggish Bone
22. Eric B. and Rakim - Paid In Full
21. Notorious BIG - One More Chance
20. Jay Z - What More Can I Say
19. DMX - Crime Story
18. NWA - Fuck Tha Police
17. Bone Thugs N Harmony - For The Love of Money
16. Mos Def - Leavin On A Jet Plane
15. Notorious BIG and Bone Thugs - Notorious Thugs
14. Das EFX - They Want EFX
13. Mobb Deep - Shook Ones Pt. II
12. The Pharcyde - Runnin'
11. Nas - The Message
10. Public Enemy - Public Enemy Number 1
9. Jay Z - Girls, Girls, Girls
8. Lost Boyz - Renee
7. Dr. Dre - Nothing But A G Thang
6. Notorious BIG f. Jay Z - I Love The Dough
5. LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out
4. Nas - Halftime
3. Common - I Used To Love Her
2. Notorious BIG - Juicy
1. Nas - It Ain't Hard To Tell

R and B Essentials...

We have this bar right next door to my work that we go to at least twice a week. The jukebox at the bar has an amazing array of 80's and 90's R and B unlike I have ever seen before. I thought my 80's and 90's R and B collection was top notchm but it pales in comparison to this jukebox. We're talking as deep as Neneh Cherry and Ricky Bell (formerly of New Edition). I spend 25-30 bucks a night on this jukebox playing these songs.
My coworker asked me to compile him a CD of the best R and B songs from those decades that I could find, and I found myself having trouble. I finally came up with a Top 15, which was almost impossible for me because anyone who knows me, knows that this is my favorite genre of music, by far.

Here's what I came up with...
(P.S. this doesn't include any R and B from the 21st century such as Jaheim or the later Jon B. stuff)

15. Jodeci "Love You For Life" ~ You can't just have one Jodeci song in the top 80's/90's R and B. This is the first of the installments. Jodeci's "Lately" should be at the top of this list. The reason I left it out is because it was originally a Stevie Wonder song that they did on MTV Unplugged and never released it as a single. "Love You For Life" was ahead of it's time, and didn't get a lot of airplay until later in its albums release.

14. Tevin Campbell "Tell Me What You Want Me To Do" ~ I could have placed "Can We Talk" or "I'm Ready" in this position. I figured that all three songs were easily interchangeable, and gave a nod slight nod to this song by just an eyelash.

13. New Edition "Can U Stand The Rain?" ~ New Edition's transition track. See Song number 2 on the list for an explanation.

12. New Edition "Cool It Now" ~ This is the last of the "young voice" sound for New Edition when they still had Ralph Tresvant as the lead singer. Johnny Gill still hadn't been introduced.

11. Al B. Sure "If I'm Not Your Lover" ~ Didn't get much play, but you'd recognize it if you heard it.

10. Bell Biv Devoe "Poison" ~ Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins, and Ronald Devoe. This could be considered 90's Hip Hop, but it's just too damn cheesy to classify as hip hop. Too much keyboard and high pitched singing.

9. Jodeci "Cry For You" ~ Best song off of "Diary of a Mad Band" which was arguably their best album.

8. Keith Sweat "Twisted" ~ The coming of age track for anyone the same age as me. This song hit just as we were allowed to go to parties that were unattended by parents. I think I made out with at least 4 other fellow 8th grades to this tune.

7. Jon B f. Tupac "Are You Still Down" ~ 1999 - the last year of the decade, and the year of Jon B. Just a great fuckin track.

6. Boyz II Men "On Bended Knee" ~ Everyone in middle school owned the "II" album. Most of you can remember the front cover. I still remember automatically starting my Aiwa CD player to track 10 and began with this one. I even remember being in a Paddle-Boat with Jenny Perras in 7th grade at the Frito-Lay company picnic party (our dads both worked there) and this song was playing in the background. Nostalgia baby!

5. Shai "Comforter" ~ Another song that flanked the most popular on the album. "If I Ever Fall In Love Again" was the marquee hit mostly because of the playtime that the video received, but if you went deeper into some of the cuts on the album, "Comforter" blew "If I Ever Fall In Love Again" out of the water.

4. Ralph Tresvant "Sensitivity" ~ Another one of the New Edition gang. I play this mp3 probably more than any other that I own.

3. Bobby Brown "Tender Roni" ~ The greatest of Bobby Brown's lovey-dovey, super synthed songs. I never really did figure out what a "Roni" was though.

2. After 7 f. Babyface "Till You Do Me Right" ~ Easily one of my favorite slow jams of all time. It didn't get a ton of play, but the seperation between these top 2 and the rest of the list I made is huge. This was the transition song from After 7's "No Better Love" which was cheesy synths to the "mature" sound, part of the "growing up" that most of these groups did once they ended puberty and started making more soulful music.

1.New Edition "If It Isn't Love" ~ You just can't f*** with this track. Period. Best of it's time.

Random Writings...

I'm gunna do this once a week from now one.

Every Tuesday night, I will put my winamp playlist on random, and the first 10 songs that come up I will post here alongside some colorful commentary per usual.

Try to enjoy it, this is simply a way of entertaining myself to be honest...

1. Alice In Chains "Nutshell"

Quite possibly my favorite song from my favorite band. People have often asked me who my favorite musical acts of all time are, and I will usually answer with the following:

• Nas
• Jay Z
• Alice In Chains
• Tears For Fears
• Common
• 311
• Jaheim
• New Edition
• Frank Zappa
  

It's quite diverse I know, that's why I run a music blog. I'd like to consider myself an expert in at least one thing in life: music.

2. Madonna "Papa Don't Preach"

I was hoping to avoid any embarassing songs, but I will be honest when doing this. My mom and dad owned "The Immaculate Collection" by her, and I found myself bobbing my head to most of the songs on it at the age of 8. "Borderline," "Get Into The Groove," and "Deeper and Deeper" are my faves.

3. Jay Z f. Mary J. Blige "Can't Knock The Hustle"

Not much to say other than this is a rap classic.

4. Ambulance LTD "Young Urban"

It's amazing this CD didn't catch on. I absolutely love it and it's one of my favorites since 2000. People have gotten into similar stuff such as Belle and Sebastian or The Guillemots, but no one has seemed to pick up on Ambulance LTD. Their best song is "Anecdote" by a long shot.

5. Tracy Lawrence "Paint Me A Birmingham"

I do listen to country music as well folks. Tracy Lawrence is the most depressing country music artist of all time. He played last week at The Mohegan Sun, but I passed up the oppurtunity to see him. I probably would have cried when he performed "I See It Now" for some dumb reason. That song gives me the chills. "Paint Me a Birmingham" is not great if you ask me. I would rank it behind: "Used To The Pain," "I See It Now," "Time Marches On," "If The World Had a Front Porch," and "My Little Texas Tornado."

6. Xscape "Just Kickin It"

As soon as this song comes on, I feel like I'm back at the skating rink we went to in 7th grade holding hands with Tiffany Verette and waiting for the next oppurtunity to take her behind the Ms. Pacman machine and act like I know how to kiss. I enjoy 90's R&B but don't really dig this track whatsoever.

7. Mokenstef "He's Mine"

SEE ANSWER TO TRACK NUMBER 6

8. Joss Stone "Some Kind Of Wonderful"

Most overrated artist of the last 10 years. I just don't get the hype. Then again, I'm not a hippy who makes hemp necklaces during Dave Matthews concerts.

9. Brad Paisley "I'm Gunna Miss Her (The Fishing Song)"

My karoake "go-to" song whenever I'm at Thirsty's Pub.

10. 311 "All Mixed Up"

The "other" 311 song ("Down" being its counterpart) lacks everything that I like about 311. I turned it off as soon as it came off.




Tune in next time guys.

What happened to "Rap Fashion"?

Does anyone remember "The Chronic" anymore? Snoop, Warren G, The Fat Boys, Public Enemy, Masta Ace, or Wu Tang?
When I was growing up and listening to hip hop, the style was:

• printed tees
  
• big fucking gold chains with giant medallions on them
  
• baggy jeans
  
• gold teeth
  
• jump suits
  
• bandanas and doo-rags
• dreads and corn rows
• hoodies

Nowadays it's the debonaire and pomp n' circumstance bullshit. We've seen Snoop Dogg wearing flashy whites dancing aroung like a fruit with Pharrell and Jay Z with his fucking 50,000 dollar suits. The south and Dipset are the only ones who get it anymore. Nike airs, crisp tees, sideways fucking hats, bandanas around the head, and gold all over the place. Rap is no longer about street cred as it was in the late 80's - mid 90's. It's about who has the most money and who dresses the nicest. I can't take it anymore. Slappin' bitches and drinking 40's has transformed into dressin' like bitches and thinking curdoroys.
Bring back gangsta rap --- Please.

dipset

Jurassic 5

What happened to these guys?

I just saw Jurassic 5 perform on "America's Got Talent" on NBC. I swear it almost brought me to tears for a number of reasons.
1. They are performing on a show that has Regis Philbin as the host. You automatically lose all street cred if you perform on a primetime show hosted by Regis Philbin. This is in the Street Cred Handbook for sure. David Hasselhoff is a judge for gods sake. I understand the shows need to book a talent that has some sort of name recognition with the audience, but shame on Jurassic 5.
2. The dudes are getting old. Very old. The guy with the really deep voice no longer carries the same appeal as he used to. Every song he seems to be in the 3rd verse with a quick little anecdotal rap that is the same format every time. The guys have wrinkles on their faces and they are shouting out god in almost every other line. Which brings me to point number 3...
3. Shouting out God in every other line. I guess I haven't followed the career of J5 very closely - I did see them in concert ones and they put on a great show. I never remember the God props left and right like they did on the show last night. I suppose it's a family show and they should be throwing the peace sign up to the lord, but it was sad to watch for sure.

Time to pack it in Jurassic 5. When you perform on "America's Got Talent," it's a sign that your career is pretty much over. I say that with great regret. R.I.P. Jurassic 5.