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.
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 Richardand 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 throughBMG Music Service (RIP), I ordered a Bo Diddley collection and enjoyed it thoroughly.
Thanks toDJ Andy Williams for refreshing my memory about this one.
The Suite Delight new time slot isTuesday morning2-3am EST onwww.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 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
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.
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'sPort 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.
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
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 Revivaldid a cover of Wilson Pickett’s99 & A Half (Just Won’t Do) on one of their albums.
To this day, I remember reading thatCreedence 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 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 isTuesday morning2-3am EST onwww.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
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. Clickhereto 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
The Under the Influence compilation series is similar to Late Night Tales and Back to Mine but its focus is uniquely on the myuuc that influenced some of today’s prominent musicians and producers.
A local playwright spoke highly about The Style Council to me when we worked on a production together.
I once dedicated the month of September’s playlists to magazines that I enjoyed reading or intrigued me.Ego Tripwas not among them. I did however pay tribute to the magazine with the playlist below.
I don’t remember much about the magazine in the 1990s. I either never saw it on the stands or saw The Source as just that for my hip hop news and reviews. I was definitely aware of the magazine when it published its Book of Rap Lists.
Ego Trip's Book of Rap Lists is one of the most, if not the most, important books related to hip hop ever produced.
I’ve been reading my copy for the last few days and an idea for an upcoming Suite Delight radio show theme came to me. If Ego Trip magazine would be the theme, I would need a great place to start from. As I got to the end of the book, there was a chapter discussing the artists that have been written about and appeared on the magazine cover.
I want to extend a thanks to the writers and creators of Ego Trip Magazine. Ego Trip's Book of Rap Lists is of biblical proportinons as far as hip hop is concerned and I’m glad it was made. Similar to The Source of the 1990s, Ego Trip Magazine represents what I needed and ironically still need from a magazine dealing with hip hop. With The Suite Delight radio show now changed to an old school hip hop format, it seemed like an ideal to again pay tribute to the magazine. A visit to their website might give you some clues as to who made the playlist on August 26. The Suite Delight new time slot is Tuesday morning1-2am EST on www.ckut.ca & 90.3 FM.
If you haven't already, please make yourself familiar with the links below for more of your favorite show and mine to bring you up to speed.
The Suite Delight - 2014-08-26 Playlist: 1. Public Enemy - Welcome To The Terrordome 2. Ultramagnetic MC's - Watch Me Now 3. De La Soul - A Roller Skating Jam Named "Saturdays" 4. Chi Ali - Funky Lemonade (Remix) 5. Kool G. Rap & DJ Polo - Talk Like Sex 6. Boogie Down Productions - South Bronx 7. The Notorious B.I.G. - Party & Bullshit (Lord Finesse Remix) 8. Organized Konfusion - Stray Bullet 9. Organized Konfusion - Stress 10. Smoothe Da Hustler - Broken Language 11. The Lost Boyz - The Yearn feat. Pete Rock 12. Master Ace - Music Man
The Suite Delight - Ego Trip Covered Feb. 12, 2012 Playlist: Dream Warriors - I've Lost My Ignorance Choclair - Bare Witness Marco Polo - The Radar Wu Tang Clan - Careful (Click Click) Talk Spot Ghostface Killah - Kilo (Remix) Mobb Deep - Temperature's Rising (Remix) De La Soul - The Grind Date M.O.P - Cold As Ice The Fugees - Ready Or Not Talk Spot Marco Polo - Hood Tales feat. Kool G. Rap Eternia & Moss - It's Funny feat. Ras Kass Classified - Cazual Drinking feat. Tash Big Pun - 100% N.O.R.E. - Nothin' Method Man & Redman - The Cisco Kid Big Daddy Kane - I'll Take You There Rakim - Guess Who's Back Talk Spot Diamond & The Psychotic Neurotics - What U Heard Boogie Down Productions - South Bronx Eazy E - We Want Eazy A Tribe Called Quest - Find My Way Nas - Fried Chicken feat. Busta Rhymes The Notorious B.I.G. - Juicy Rugged Intellect - Guaranteed feat. Rock of Heltah Skeltah BK-One - American Nightmare feat. Brother Ali & Scarface Madvillain - Rhinestone Cowboy
