Kenny Dope - Hip Hop Forever

Take text from Kenny dope.
I listen to CD for the first time in a long time and got an

aKido

My Akido moment was playing Beggin' (aKido's When I Was King Remix) while The Limelight’s Lady Oracle was still at the station.

She finished her show, was packing up and I slid the song early enough for her to hear. She loved Beggin’ in any form whether it was the Frankie Vallie & The Four Seasons original or the Madcon cover.

Naturally the aKido version came out of left field being slow and atmospheric. aKido will have a place reserved for him on The Suite Delight playlists. 

The legacy of The Consortium, my most cooperative show while I was RPM Director, was they introduced me to aKido’s music. They played him so much that they were single-handedly responsible for the Gamechanger and Thearly Years EP doing as well as they did on the RPM chart. Through them I learned of his fabulous remix of Beggin’ and many more treats.

The Suite Delight new time slot is Tuesday morning 2-3am EST on www.ckut.ca & 90.3 FM.

If you haven't already, please make yourself familiar with the link below for more of your favorite show and mine.

Click here to download the podcast and more.

The Suite Delight - March 18 Playlist:

1.       aKido –  I'm Beggin' (aKido's When I was King Remix)

2.       Thievery Corporation - Until the Morning (Rewound By Thievery Corporation)

3.       Seed Organization – Bam Bam (Riddim) feat. Sister Nancy

4.       Elaquent  - Aurora feat. Esta

5.       DJ Format – Black Cloud (Nostalgia 77 Remix)

6.       Si*Sé  – Go (Second Sky & Thomas Blondet Remix)

7.       DJ Cosm – No Reason feat. Ghettosocks & Prince Po

8.       Prince Po – Bump Bump feat. Raekwon

9.       Redman – Time 4 Sum Aksion (Remix)

10.   Percee P – No Time For Jokes feat. Chali 2na

11.   DJ Muggs vs. GZA – General Principles

12.   DJ Muggs & Planet Asia – Thriple Threat feat. GZA & Chace Infinite

13.   DJ Vadim – Raise Your Glass

14.   D-Nice – Time To Flow feat. Naughty By Nature

Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis

I was listening to The S.O.S. Band’s Take Your Time (Do It Right) and got inspired to write about the men behind some of the band's gems of jams.

As much as I could continue to reminisce and discuss their importance to Janet Jackson’s discography, I will move on.


My curiousity about them, their sound and where they came from put me on the path to learn they were members of The Time.



How Borrowed Love didn't make its way onto The Best of S.O.S. Band still remains a mystery to me.


Thank you Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis for the decades long discography.

Thank you Sparkle Motion for presenting some of their decades long discography in a cohesive mix for all to reminisce and enjoy.

Aesop Rock

Like I mentioned in my Lyrics Born concert review, artists like Aesop Rock, El-P, Company Flow and most of the Definitive Jux roster did not mix well with me when I first learned and heard of them.  I couldn’t wrap my mind around their more unorthodox style of hip hop.  It would take me years to warm up to those artists.

That partially explains why my exposure to Aesop Rock was rather limited.  I remember a song with him and Del from the Think Differently compilation.  A local artist dropped nearly 3 Aesop Rock songs during his guest host/DJ set on my Suite Delight radio show last year. 

Within the last six years, I have been paying a bit more attention to the modern music scene and that includes the hip hop music that I turned my back on.  During that time, one Aesop Rock song managed to be the beacon of light that led me to the Corona Theatre.  That song is called None Shall Pass.  I discovered it from a blog and have loved it since.  As much as I love the song, I was aiming to hear and hopefully discover more gems in Aesop Rock’s discography while he was in my hometown.
 

I entered the Corona Theatre an Aesop Rock novice surrounded by Aesop Rock experts.  Those in front of the stage were especially enthusiastic during the performance.  The saying fish out of water seems apropos. 

Had Aesop Rock performed None Shall Pass that night, I would have made myself at home and my way to the front of the stage area. Alas, there was none of None Shall Pass during those two hours. The closest to None Shall Pass that night was him saying those three words while talking to the audience.   

A recent browse of Exclaim Magazine prior to the Corona Theatre show told me Aesop Rock dropped a new album.  Conversations with patrons at the end of the show revealed that most of the songs performed at Corona Theatre were from the new album Skelethon.   Judging by the hands in the air for most of the night, the onus is on me to discover my next None Shall Pass on that and his other albums.

New Balance

To this day, the New Balance model 574 shoes are the most comfortable I've ever worn in my life.

I distinctly remember seeing Phife Dawg wore New Balance shoes in a photo on the first A Tribe Called Quest album.

I had another sneaker brand on my mind so I paid New Balance no mind until nearly a decade later.

I bought a pair in New York, of all places in downtown Brooklyn, and couldn't believe how comfortable they were.

They were so comfortable that I wore them all-year round until they lost their lustre. Even when the time came to chuck them, I was reluctant to do so because I wasn't guaranteed that kind of comfort from my next pair of sneakers unless they too were New Balance. 

As I am on the verge of putting another pair of kicks to pasture, I'm happy to know that I can find New Balance in my hometown. 

Bo Diddley

From since my childhood, I’ve always known Bo Diddley as one of the pioneers of rock & roll along with Fats Domino, Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Buddy Holly. I love 1950/60s musical footage and was mesmerized byDiddley’s dancing and playing while performing. His big sound laid the groundwork for the rock music of today.

As a teen, I remember Bo Diddley’s career got a revival due to the Nike commercial. When the legendary rock & roller tells the at-the-time seemingly unstoppable Bo Jackson that he doesn’t know diddley, Diddley very well could have been saying that to every one that didn’t know what he or any of his peers contributed to popular music history. Those words didn’t fall on deaf ears. When I had the chance to order music through BMG Music Service (RIP), I ordered a Bo Diddley collection and enjoyed it thoroughly.

Thanks to DJ Andy Williams for refreshing my memory about this one.

The Suite Delight new time slot is Tuesday morning 2-3am EST on www.ckut.ca & 90.3 FM.

If you haven't already, please make yourself familiar with the link below for more of your favorite show and mine.

http://suitedelight.podomatic.com

Below is a podcast to bring you up to speed.  Click here to download it and more.

DJ Solespin - The Goods (April 2014) Playlist:

1. Aries: Planetary Motivations 
2. Black Heat - Love The Life You Live
3. The Ohio Players - Walt's First Trip
4. African Music Machine - Black Water Gold
5. Dyke & The Blazers - Let A Woman Be A Woman
6. All The People - Cramp Your Style
7. Roy Ayers Ubiquity - Fire Weaver
8. The Blackbyrds - Blackbyrds Theme
9. Bob Marley & The Wailers - Try Me
10. Paul Simon - Mother & Child Reunion
11. Greyhound - Black & White
12. Jackie Mittoo - Toronto Express
13. Ken Boothe - Look What You've Done To Me
14. Delroy Wilson - Ain't That Peculiar
15. Eric Donaldson - Cherry Oh Baby
16. Desmond Dekker & The Aces - Israelites
17. Tomorrow's Children - Sister Big Stuff
18. The Bar-Kays - In The Hole
19. Wilson Pickett - Hey Jude
20. The 5 Stairsteps - Dear Prudence
21. The Band - Up On Cripple Creek
22. Al Green - I'm Glad You're Mine
23. Gene Chandler - Groovy Situation 
24. Q65 - Get Out of My Life Woman
25. Ike Turner & The Kings of Rhythm - Gettin' Nasty
26. Clarence Reid - Masterpiece (Kenny Dope Edit)
27. Bo Diddley - Hit Or Miss
28. The Headhunters - God Made Me Funky
29. Richie Havens - Handouts In The Rain
30. Bill Withers - Kissing My Love
31. Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - I Second That Emotion 

DJ Solespin - The Goods (December 2013) Playlist:

1. Dave Cortez & The Moon People – Happy Soul (w/a Hook)
2. Ike Turner's Kings Of Rhythm – Funky Mule
3. Bo Diddley ‎– The Shape I'm In
4. Merry Clayton - Gimme Shelter
5. Harmonica Paul ‎– Motherless Child
6. Ramsey Lewis ‎– Mighty Quinn
7. Lonnie Mack - Memphis
8. The George Benson Quartet ‎– Benson's Rider
9. Clarence Carter - Snatching It Back
10. James Brown ‎– Nose Job
11. Five Stairsteps & Cubie ‎– We Must Be In Love
12. David McCallum - The Edge
13. Dyke & The Blazers ‎– You Are My Sunshine
14. Otis Redding - You Left The Water Running
15. Johnnie Taylor - Love Bones
16. The Staples Singers - If You're Ready (Come Go With Me)
17. Wilson Pickett - Take That Pollution Out Your Throat
18. Robert Palmer - Pressure Drop
19. Ken Boothe - My Love
20. Gwen McCrae - 90% Of Me Is You
21. The Illusion - Together
22. Norman Greenbaum - Spirit In The Sky
23. Patrice Rushen - Givin' It Up Is Givin' Up
24. Herbie Hancock - Watermelon Man
25. Buddy Miles - Down By The River
26. Donovan - Season Of The Witch
27. Gary Bartz NTU Troop - Celestial Blues

Cee-Lo Green

His song Forget You, or its more explicit form, should have been released sooner than it was.

Could the fact the song was originally called F&*k You have helped its case?

However, it may have gotten lost in the seas of Katy Perry, Drake & Eminem at the time.



It was great seeing him perform the song on The Colbert Report.

I don’t agree with the explicit title. I do however agree it is one funky and groovy tune.

Naughty By Nature

I was in New York in 1991. My cousin had a 12" single of a group called Naughty By Nature in his crates.  I brought back a mixtape made for me containing O.P.P. home to Montreal.

I barely got to know the names Treach, Kay Gee & Vin Rock in the little time it took Montreal and the world to be familiar with Naughty by Nature.  Within months, the song and the group blew up.

Their debut album was typical classic East coast hip hop.

19 Naughty III just happens to be the group's best album.

Feel Me Flow is my personal favorite of their tracks.

It was a pleasant treat to add Naughty by Nature to my list of concerts when they performed at Montreal's The Roxbury a few years ago.

I had never had the chance to see the group perform live before that night.  Montreal has the chance to see Naughty By Nature tonight during Just For Laughs festival. 

Marco Polo - Port Authority (2007)

Marco Polo's Port Authority is one of a very few hip hop albums that I played in its entirety on my radio show. 

Marco Polo's production is as impressive as the roster of MCs featured on the CD. It is the hip hop album I wanted to hear and need to own.



Ever since I learned how hot Port Authority was, I had my radar fixed on Marco Polo. At a time when I needed high quality hip hop, Marco Polo proved he can deliver the goods with production for any MC he's paired with.

Below is a playlist to bring you up to speed.  Click here to download.

Check out the player below as well as the more recent playlists.

The Suite Delight - 2014- 05-27 by Dj Solespin on Mixcloud

The Suite Delight - May 27, 2014 Playlist:

1. Quantic & Anita Tijoux - Doo Wop (That Thing)
2. Sola Rosa - Turn Around Ft. Iva Lamkum (DJ Vadim Remix)
3. The Seatbelts - Cat Blues (Mr. Scruff Remix)
4. James Brown - Funky Drummer
5. The Cactus Channel - Wooden Boy (Part 1)
6. The Roots – Don't Feel Right feat. Maimouna Youssef
7. J Dilla (aka Jay Dee) - Love Movin' feat. Black Thought
8. Nas - It Ain't Hard to Tell
9. Termanology - How We Rock Feat. Bun B
10. Marco Polo - Lay It Down Feat. Roc Marciano
11. Buff1 - Never Fall feat. Black Milk
12. The Extremities - New Season feat. Ohmega Watts & Moka Only
13. Lords Of The Underground - Tic Toc (Remix)
14. Lone Catalysts - The Ultimate (Kev Brown Remix)

The Suite Delight - April 22 2014 Playlist:

1. Neneh Cherry - Buddy X
2. Mr. Scruff - Music Takes Me Up feat. Alice Russell
3. Darondo - Luscious Lady
4. Darondo - Do You Really Love Me
5. Spanky Wilson & the Quantic Soul Orchestra - Don't Joke With A Hungry Man
6. Lonnie Liston Smith & The Cosmic Echoes - Expansions
7. United 8 - Getting Uptown (To Get Down) (Quantic Remix)
8. The Standells - Dirty Water
9. The Delfonics - Ready or Not Here I Come (Can't Hide from Love)
10. Marco Polo - Relax feat. J*Davey 
11. Mary J. Blige - Love Is All We Need (Instant Flava Remix)
12. Tall Black Guy - One To One
13. Musiq - Whoknows

The Suite Delight - 2013-11-12 Playlist:

1. Ghettosocks - U Ain't This featuring D-Sisive, Rich Kidd, & Muneshine
2. Eternia & MoSS - At Last featuring Termanology & Reef the Lost Cauze
3. Anonymous Twist - Sweet 16 featuring Planet Asia
4. Grand Analog - Electric City featuring Shad
5. Marco Polo - Hood Tales feat. Kool G Rap & DV Alias Khrist
6. Theo3 – Ari Gold
7. The Extremities - Morning After feat Apollo & Wordsworth
8. SepTo - Really Living feat. Dan-e-o, Grimace Love, Wio-K
9. The Narcicyst - Falling Down
10. CeasRock - 10.5
11. Jeff Spec - Stop feat. NaRai
12. Miles Jones - Never Too Late
13. Friday – AmiR
14. Mickey Boston - Science

Creedence Clearwater Revival

I have heard more Creedence Clearwater Revival in the last few months than I ever have in my life.  

I’m not exactly sure what put me on the Creedence Clearwater Revival path but I can say being surrounded by their discography over the last few weeks may have had a hand in guiding me.  

As a boy, I saw and played some Creedence Clearwater Revival 7” singles on my record player in my room.  Twilight Zone: The Movie used The Midnight Special for the classic segment with Dan Aykroyd & Albert Brooks. 

I sprang for their two Chronicle collection albums in my early 20s but have not thought about, reached for or played them in years.

As I have been made to learn time and time again, there are album cuts that do not make their way to greatest hits collections. 

To my surprise, or maybe it would not have been if I had gotten familiar with their half dozen albums, I discovered Creedence Clearwater Revival did a cover of Wilson Pickett’s 99 & A Half (Just Won’t Do) on one of their albums. 

To this day, I remember reading that Creedence Clearwater Revival never had a #1 single on Billboard charts from one of my Chronicle booklets. 

The highest the group reached was #2 and I presume that occurred many times.

Creedence Clearwater Revival’s music is a perfect balance of 1950s rock & roll, bluegrass, blues, soul and country music all at the same time. It has taken me this long to realize that Little Richard is easily John Fogerty’s prime source of vocal inspiration. I never clued in on that similarity until my revisiting of Revival's music. 

I was also told that some legality prohibited John Fogerty from performing Creedence Clearwater Revival songs for many years.That may account for why I had not seen or heard much of Fogerty performing live in a long time.  Now is as good a time as any to revisit Fogerty and his folks' work. 

    

Jadakiss

 

Jadakiss could have disappeared into the void with almost all of my Bad Boy memories had it not been for his talent as an MC.



In addition to his trademark voice, I was always curious to hear what he was going to say.



I especially wanted to know more about him in the post-Lox era.



It would be no surprise he would appear on so many tracks in the last few years.

I was happy to have found a 2LP copy of his Kiss Tha Game Goodbye album in New York during one of my CMJ crate-digging trips a few years ago.

Jadakiss is easily one of my favorite MCs and one whose music I hope to find, see and hear at anytime.  

The Suite Delight new time slot is Tuesday morning 2-3am EST on www.ckut.ca & 90.3 FM.

If you haven't already, please make yourself familiar with the link below for more of your favorite show and mine.

Below are some playlists of podcasts to bring you up to speed.  Click here to download them and more.

The Suite Delight - April 29, 2014 Playlist:

1. Darondo - Legs, Pt. 1
2. Jimmy McGriff - The Bird
3. Ziggy Marley - So Good So Right
4. Sola Rosa - Turn Around (Alister Johnson Remix)
5. Anoushka Shankar - Beloved (Thievery Corporation Remix)
6. Quantic Presenta Flowering Inferno - Dog With A Rope
7. Lumineers - Ho Hey (Dubmatix Prince Blanco Reggae Remix)
8. Little Brother - Carolina Agents
9. Zion I - Temperature feat. Talib Kweli
10. Pharoahe Monch - Right Here
11. Ohmega Watts - That Sound (Quantic Soul Orchestra Version) feat. Lightheaded & The Procussions
12. Jazz Spastiks - Move feat. Apani B. Fly
13. Apollo Brown - Hungry feat. Rapper Big Pooh & Black Milk
14. Statik Selektah - For The City feat. M.O.P. & Jadakiss

Lauryn Hill

We all loved Lauryn Hill back in the day and still have a little love for her somewhere.

Her verse on Ready or Not is killer and she's even deadlier on the remix.



Fugees - Ready or Not par MyUoZiK


I’m still in desperate need of a classic hip hop album. I know she can do it again.

Miles Davis

I was very happy to have found out there is a free museum day in my fair city. From the moment I heard that, I knew I was going to do what I could to see the We Want Miles Exhibit at the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal.

I missed the 2009 Miles Davis CMJ Panel Discussion and the closest I came to it was grabbing remastered copies of Kind Of Blue & Sketches of Spain CDs they were giving away afterwards. When I first heard the Miles Davis exhibit was coming to Montreal, I vowed I’d see it. All I needed was the proper motivation to get myself to the museum.

Free museum day must not have been a secret because the streets near the Musee were packed with people. Luckily I didn’t have long to wait to be let into the exhibit. The history and legend of Miles Davis hit me immediately. From viewing his family heirlooms and memorabilia, I realized how important Miles was to music.

The 1950s Miles memorabilia got my imagination working. There was a photo of him with actress Jeanne Moreau while they were in France. I only recently became aware of her as an important French actress, only to see them in a photo together.

There was another Miles photo that got me thinking. There was a series of photos of him on stage with another musician. In one photo, he’s smiling while the other plays but in another, he’s blocking his ears. I must remember to research what happened in those photos to get the full story. I should have asked the panelists when I had the chance.

The 1960s Miles artifacts blew my mind even more. I saw video footage of him performing with Herbie Hancock! I have a lot of respect for Herbie Hancock and see him as a musical innovator but it was Miles who was the true innovator. I also saw a Miles Davis 7” single at the exhibit when I didn’t think they existed.

To hear and see footage as well as album covers from Miles’ electronic period made it even more clear he was a jazz giant. The Bitches Brew album cover is one of the most artistic I’ve ever seen but the Live-Evil takes it to a higher level.

For some reason I could identify with his hiatus in the mid-70s. I can understand him taking a step back from his years of being at the musical forefront. His being strung out from drugs at the time didn’t help matters either. There was a photo of him during that period where it looked like he was truly in a dark place.



I was a bit too young to know or care about his 1980s comeback. All I knew was this old jazz trumpeter was presumably important if Quincy Jones and a lot of musicians worked with him before he died. It would take my 20s to start exploring jazz and coming face to face with Miles Davis again to have more respect for him as a musician.


The Bitches Brew CMJ Panel Discussion was early in the morning but I wanted to learn a bit more about Miles and the album. It was surreal to hear Lenny White, an artist I know even less about than Miles, recount stories about his time with Miles. White gave an extra dimension to the Miles mythology, making me not only want to learn more about Miles but Lenny himself.







If you haven't already, please make yourself familiar with the link below for more of your favorite show and mine.

Below is the podcast of the Birthday Celebration to bring you up to speed if you missed the live broadcast. Click here to download it and more.



DJ Solespin 2014 Birthday Celebration Playlist:

1. The Rascals - Adrian's Birthday 
2. Super Eagles - Love's A Real Thing 
3. Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & The Trinity - Let The Sunshine In 
4. The Flaming Ember - Westbound #9 
5. Kool & The Gang - Rated X 
6. War - Me & Baby Brother 
7. Miles Davis - Spanish Key 
8. The Equals - Laurel & Hardy 
9. The Temptations - (I Know) I'm Losing You 
10. Johnnie Taylor - (I Wanna) Testify 
11. Hokis Pokis - Nowhere 
12. Rare Earth - I Just Want To Celebrate 
13. Bob James - Nautilus