LATE SEPTEMBER HEADPHONE MUSIC

Haven’t done one of these in awhile (and looking at my blog stats it seems that the Headphone Music posts were some of the most viewed, I guess because the artists and / or songs featured in the content came up in more Google searches than your typical obscure THAT REAL SCHITT post). Anyway, let’s get to it as I let y’all know what I’ve been rockin’ on my iPhone and iPad recently (the stuff I don’t mind mentioning, anyway… yeah, I’m still on my Secret Squirrel / Morocco Mole for real)-

Soundsci – Soundsational lp – fantastic concept featuring only samples from obscure soul man Mike James Kirkland‘s “Don’t Sell Your Soul” anthology (music from back when he was doin’ it as the frontman for Mike And The Censations) and certified real-schitt bars courtesy of super rappers Soundsci. Really good rhyming and production on pretty much every single song- no fast forwarding necessary.
FIrst Words – All Day Breakfast lp – another great project from the producer who must never sleep Jorun Bombay. Feel-good rap schitt, like eating bacon for every meal. Another one where every song is nice but my joints would be “Bamtronix” and especially “Norma Loves Her Gin”.
Seeds Of Fulfillment – self titled lp – One of those little obscure albums in my collection that’s damn good but doesn’t get mentioned by many people. 70’s jazz with a smooth sound (as opposed to “smooth jazz” – there’s a difference), I just put it in digital form before I sold it and gave it a good listen probably for the first time in all the fifteen years or so that I had it. Might not be everybody’s thing, but this is the kind of stuff I play while I’m cleaning the house on a Saturday.
Total Experience – Contradiction
Superior Elevation – Don’t Let Go Babe
Diddy’s featuring Paige Douglas -My Special Love
Rabbits & Carrots – Soul Latino lp
Peter Wolf – A Change In My Life lp
Ghettosocks – Everyday Apocalypse featuring Timbuktu – Two of my favorite emcees ripping an insane track by The Process (Jonny Cuba and Ollie Teeba 2/5’s of the aforementioned Soundsci) totally to shreds. And thanks for the instro Ollie!
Kanye West – Yeezus lp – Yeah, I’m sayin’ it. I know a lot of people, be they mainstream or underground rap fans, are NOT feelin’ Ye’s latest experiment. For various reasons. I’m gonna tell you, I really believe history is gonna look at this album differently than people are seeing it / hearing it right now. Maybe I just like it when people make music that screams “I don’t give a F*** what y’all think about it!”, which Kanye clearly did NOT when he put out an album like “Yeezus”. And I respect when people have the courage to take music to new uncharted territories, and I ABSOLUTELY feel that Ye, with the very important help of the legendary Rick Rubin, did that here. Is the result something that you really want to listen to? I don’t know, maybe not. But I like where this record is coming from- time will only tell where it ends up going as far as history is concerned.
DJ Format & Phill Most Chill – The Foremost lp – oops, probably not supposed to mention this yet. Yikes! Oh well, y’all better get ready for it because it’s gonna be caving your whole world in very soon. VERY soon. Get ready. And in case you didn’t know already- DJ Format is a BEAST.
Kendrick Lamar’s verse that everybody was talking about on whatever that song was – Actually, no, this wasn’t in my headphones in mid- September or any other time. Just thought I’d mention it since everybody else had something to say about it- I didn’t want to be left out of the party. No dis to Kendrick, he’s a very talented dude (no old man hate here).    

THERE’S MUSIC ALL AROUND ME, CRAZY MUSIC

This one is for my girl NativeSoul, who was looking online for the right version of King Pleasure‘s “I’m In The Mood For Love” but wasn’t getting lucky. Well, finding your way to THAT REAL SCHITT was the thing to do- as DMC might say, your dreams have been fulfilled. For those who don’t know, this particular version of the song was the late WBLS radio personality “Chief Rocker” Frankie Crocker‘s theme song which he ended his show with every day. So if you were a person of color who grew up in the NYC area back in the 70’s and 80’s like me then you pretty much HAD to know this schitt. It’s an example of an old musical genre known as vocalese, which is very interesting- I’m not going to go into detail about the history of vocalese here, but I suggest that you hit up Google for more info on it. Anyway, like NativeSoul I needed to have this in in my catalog and looked around online a couple of years ago, at first having no luck just like her but after applying my super digger skills to the cyber world I found that schitt. F**kin’ viola! So NativeSoul, I hope you check back to THAT REAL SCHITT since you neglected to give me your email addy. James Moody, you can come on in, man, and you can blow now if you want to- we’re through.

KING PLEASURE – I’m In The Mood For Love (The Frankie Crocker Version)

MUSIC FROM JOE’S RECORD PARADISE

I have been sent a lot of mix cds over the years, many of them really good. One of the cds I liked a lot- well, actually there were three of them- were the Joe’s Record Paradise jawns. JRP is a record spot located down in Baltimore, MD and I think some other locations as well. Not sure if these cds were promos or if they were slingin’ ’em in the store. The homie t.E.C.K! (who has some incredible mix joints of his own, the “Mystery Of Ages” series- we’ll cover those here too sometime in the future) sent ’em to me back I guess in the early 2000’s or maybe even the late 1990’s. I can’t remember if I took my blood pressure medicine this morning, so you know you can’t expect me to remember details about mix cds people sent me damn near a decade ago.
Anyway, as I said, I really dug the Joe’s Paradise music selection- kinda like how my dude L-Dula puts it down, these cds didn’t necessarily rock a plethora of ultra rare records (something about mixes that are all about the rarity of the selections just kinda irks me even if it’s good schitt, I dunno why). Just a lot of different stuff that you don’t hear other people playing along with classics that a guy like me just never gets tired of. Matter of fact, t.E.C.K! may have been the dude who put these cds together, I don’t remember (if you’re out there, t.E.C.K!, illuminate me). Well, whoever’s responsible did a very cool, very Soulman-approved job. Two thumbs up.
Only problem is that two of my three copies, volumes 1 & 2, are f**ked. Those CD-Rs from the early 2000’s just seem to not hold up very good- just ask anybody that bought one of my homemade joints from that era. And vols. 1 & 2 are the best ones IMO! I’m gonna lace y’all with volume 3 (the jazzy volume), which is damn nice in it’s own right. But if anybody, ANYBODY out there has vols 1 or 2 or any other volumes that I have never even heard from this series, please hook a Soulman up.

JOE’S RECORD PARADISE – Volume 3

DAWN OF A NEW DAY – 11-04-08

It’s a little after 10 pm eastern time here in the good ol’ U.S. of A. and it looks to be a wrap…. wow. Dan Rather said last night on CNN that a McCain win would be an upset of “biblical proportions”. Well, the seas have not parted as of yet and doesn’t seem that they’re going to anytime soon. Again I say… wow.

O’Donel Levy – Dawn Of A New Day