Haul of Records

Big Pun

I was on an underground hip hop blog and left little comments about some of the golden-era hip hop artists/albums listed. It inspired me to write about some of them on my blog. I thought I would write about one of the greatest of all-time, Big Pun.

Capital Punishment is one of the best examples of a classic album to not get 5-mics from The Source. The album is so strong that Punish Me is considered by most as its weakest cut. Even then, is the song really that weak compared to the music that has been released since?

I remember reading about Pun and the question has he ever delivered a weak 16 stuck with me.

A young co-worker brought up Pun during a conversation among a few of us. He was tripping on Pun's verse on Twinz (Deep Cover '98). He was amazed at Pun's lyricism years after it was recorded and his death. I was tripping at his reaction because I, like most my age and anyone aware of that and other Pun classics, was there when he was tearing up mics and Capital Punishment made that summer all the more hotter. He made me remember the wonder of hearing Pun's murderous flow. It goes to show that at no matter what age you are, you can always be amazed by Pun's Capital Punishment.

I miss those days of hip hop and Pun.

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

The Suite Delight - April 8 2014 Playlist:

1. Big L - Put It On feat. Kid Capri
2. Common - Resurrection
3. O.C. - Time's Up
4. Big Pun - Super Lyrical feat. Black Thought
5. 2Pac - Ambitionz of a Ridah
6. Jay-Z - This Can't Be Life feat. Scarface
7. Gang Starr - Just To Get A Rep
8. Nice & Smooth - Early To Rise
9. The Beatnuts - Off The Books
10. Cypress Hill - Hits From The Bong
11. Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth - Mecca & The Soul Brother
12. Black Moon - I Got Cha Opin
13. Smif-N-Wessun - Bucktown
14. Nas - The World Is Yours (Remix)

The Suite Delight - April 1 Playlist:

1. James Last - Inner City Blues
2. Scrimshire - All I Do feat. Stac
3. Aloe Blacc & The Grand Scheme - The Dark End Of The Street
4. Greenwood Rhythm Coalition - Guajira '78 (Colman Bros. Remix)
5. Omar - Ghana Emotion (Una Mas Trio Remix)
6. Bob Marley & The Wailers – Get Up, Stand Up (Thievery Corporation Remix)
7. Mo Kolours - Bomptious (Shafiq Husayn Remix)
8. Fashawn – The Ecology
9. Jazz Spastiks - Move (Remix) feat. Apani B Fly
10. Moka Only - More Soup feat. MF Doom
11. Fat Joe - John Blaze Ft. Nas, Big Pun, Jadakiss & Raekwon
12. Jadakiss - Why (Remix) feat. Styles P, Common, Nas & Anthony Hamilton
13. Naughty By Nature ‎– Guard Your Grill (Smooth Mix)
14. EPMD - Total Kaos
15. Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Robes feat. Earl Sweatshirt & Domo Genesis

Allen Toussaint

From the moment I heard Allen Toussaint was going to be at the 2010 Montreal International Jazz Festival, I knew I had to see him.

If I had to pay, I would have paid. Lucky for me I didn't have to and neither did the others that saw him at the Mardi Gras themed finale.

On the night before the finale, I was watching CTV News and they mentioned he would be the finale's headliner. When I learned of my second chance to see him in Montreal, I was stoked. I called the Montreal Jazz Fest Info-Line to confirm show details.That night was the only night of Montreal Jazz Fest I had for the year and I had to be there.

Allen Toussaint is most likely the source of New Orleans' musical output for close to 50 years. As a student of music and potential teacher, I needed to be there out of respect to the man. I told J.R. Ewing we were about twenty years too young to fully appreciate that night. However, we were old enough to know that was the right time to see the man perform live.

R.I.P. & thank you Allen Toussaint for the decades worth of music.

Scarface

Scarface made my list of the greatest verses in hip hop history.

I remember New York radio played a clean version of A Minute To Pray And A Second To Die in 1991.

I believe recording that song from the hip hop radio show made it easier for me to accept Scarface's music.

The Diary comes in at a close second on the strength of songs like I Seen A Man Die and Jesse James.

My Block is the last great Scarface song I've heard within the last few years.

Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth - The Main Ingredient

I’ll admit to being slightly harsh in my critique of The Main Ingredient when it dropped.

I guess you never forget your first. I felt Mecca & The Soul Brother would be tough to beat even for them.

I almost felt like they let themselves and me down with The Main Ingredient.

It wasn’t up to the high standards we had set.

Unfortunately, that would be the last album they would record together and I would maintain my position about The Main Ingredient.

I revisited the 1994 album some time last year and can state that as much as I was tough on it or classed it way beneath Mecca & The Soul Brother, it is still a better album than the majority of hip hop albums released in the last decade.

Contrary to what I thought or believed, it looks like they had it within them to drop back-to-back classics after all. Never two without three as they say.

Genius/GZA - Liquid Swords (1995)

It took me a while to realize that GZA was The Genius that I knew of from 1991.

I was slightly surprised to have learned that and also felt like I should have been more on the ball.

I had not heard anything from his after his debut album and he almost slipped my mind until the 1993 swarm.

The name is appropriate for him.

He is a solid lyricist that I have begun reaching for more on my radio show.

GZA is one of the few MCs that can stop me in my tracks to make sure I don’t miss a word.

The Suite Delight new time slot is Tuesday morning 1-2am 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.

Feel free to request songs and artists below in the comments section below as well as on Twitter, Facebook.

Visit the Mixcloud page to listen and the Podomatic site to download the podcasts.

The Suite Delight - 2014-07-29 Playlist:

1. MC Serch - Back To The Grill featuring Nas, Chubb Rock & Red Hot Lover Tone
2. Big L - Platinum Plus featuring Big Daddy Kane
3. Lord Finesse & DJ Mike Smooth - Strictly For The Ladies (Radio Remix)
4. Keith Murray - Get Lifted
5. Genius/GZA - Labels
6. Big Pun - You Ain't A Killer
7. Choclair - Bare Witness featuring Guru
8. Das-Efx - It's Like Dat
9. The Lady of Rage - Get With Da Wickedness (Flow Like That)
10. Naughty By Nature - Feel Me Flow
11. Slick Rick - It's A Boy
12. House of Pain - Word Is Bond (Clean Radio Remix)
13. D-Nice - Time To Flow
14. Lords of The Underground - Lord Jazz Hit Me One Time
15. Kool G. Rap & DJ Polo - Truly Yours

The Suite Delight - 2014-06-24 by Dj Solespin on Mixcloud

The Suite Delight - 2014-06-24 Playlist:

1. Chubb Rock with Howie Tee - Bump The Floor

2. MC Shan - I Pioneered This

3. Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth - Go With The Flow

4. Monie Love - It's A Shame

5. MC Solaar - Nouveau Western

6. Tha Alkaholiks - The Next Level (Remix) feat. Diamond D

7. Ed O.G. & Da Bulldogs - Bug-A-Boo

8. Dr. Dre - Let Me Ride

9. Double XX Posse - The Headcracker

10. Jemini The Gifted One - Funk Soul Sensation (Godfather Mix Clean)

11. Genius/GZA - Liquid Swords (Late Night Radio)

12. Big Pun - Twinz (Deep Cover '98) Featuring Fat Joe

13. Outkast - Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik (Diamond Remix) (Dirty)

14. Busta Rhymes - Do My Thing (DJ Scratch Remix - Clean)

Dr. Bob Jones - Stop & Listen Volume 1

Prior blog posts about Andy Smith’s The Document, The Rapture’s !K7 Tapes mixtape and the Beat Generation series would prepare one for this one.

BBE is one of my favorite record labels. It has put out fantastic compilations that managed to educate and entertain me for over a decade. When I learned of the Stop & Listen compilations, I saw them as various top producers and compilers’ choice cuts they deemed worthy for us to hear.

The majority of the songs on all of the Stop & Listen volumes were foreign to me but I knew they surely would be worth listening to and could very well become my next favorite songs.

I don't remember where I found a used vinyl copy of Stop & Listen Volume 1 but I was thrilled to have acquired it. It was my first and only BBE vinyl release added to my collection.

I only recently realized I have reached for that Stop & Listen compilation very often in DJ sets, adding to its used quality.

The CDs of Stop &Listen 1-3 crossed my purchasing path and I brought them home with me. A few days ago, I popped in and listened to the Volume 1 CD

Dr. Bob Jones was the first to compile the Stop & Listen series. Although I am very familiar with the compilations' track listing, I never heard it from beginning to end until a few months ago.

The coherence of the compilations' cuts came through after the initial first listen. The jazz & soul side of Jones is strongly represented with the songs he chose, regardless of the era in which the songs were recorded.

Sarah MK

Prior to her debut CD release, I first learned of Sarah MK through Jonathan Emile.

The Worth It CD launch was held at O Patro Vys.

Think Dat was among the first tracks Perpall Jr. played during his long-overdue guest DJ set on The Suite Delight.

I was elated when I opened the local newspaper, 24 Heures, to see a photo of Sarah MK announcing her as performer for the Montreal Jazz Festival. I was unable to catch her set that night.

My last night of Pop Montreal 2012 festivities was spent at the PASA Musik Showcase.

I made my way to Club Lambi to take in the sounds of Sarah MK, La Bronze and Elsiane.
I naturally looked forward to the moment she sang Think Dat. The songstress can also rap which could make for an interesting album if she were inclined to do so.

The last time I heard her perform was at Conn-Shawnery’s CS02 record launch.

Those are my Sarah MK memories from just the last two years.

While fiddling around online, I discovered a video of the Montreal musical mademoiselle performing a cover of one of my favorite songs by The Cranberries. I'm very happy for this addition to my Sarah MK list.

I still believe a Sarah MK follow-up album should be in the works and made available to the public if wishful thinking had any merit. I'll continue to believe that until her next CD is in my hands.

The Suite Delight new time slot is Tuesday morning 1-2am 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 is a podcast to bring you up to speed. Click here to download it and more.

The Suite Delight - February 25, 2014 Playlist:

Ken Boothe - Moving Away

Aretha Franklin - Think

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - We Get Around

Quantic & Nickodemus - Mi Swing Es Tropical

DJ Center - In A Song (DJ Eleven Remix)

Second Sky - Under The Line

The Impressions - We're A Winner

Tall Black Guy - What's Good (James Brown I Feel Good Flip Up)

Resonators - Gold Dub

Sarah MK - Think Dat

Maylee Todd & Circle Research - Hooked

Charles Bradley - Heart of Gold

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - Inspiration Information

Feist - Inside & Out

DJ Jazzy Jeff & Ayah - Make It Last

Lizz Wright - Old Man

Sly & The Family Stone ‎– There's A Riot Goin' On (1971)

Sly & The Family Stone may thank us for letting them be themselves again, but I thank them for the funky music they recorded.

When I started buying non hip-hop CDs in the late 90s, I sought a lot of the soul and funky music I heard when I was growing up.

One of the first two funk CDs I ever bought outside of a Motown artist was Anthology by Sly & The Family Stone. I paid what I consider to be a great deal for them at the time from Marche Du Disque. However, this happened over 10 years ago. I was starting my trek for tunes and didn't know any better. I've since forgiven the store.

At the 48th Grammy Awards, Sly Stone, to the surprise of those that were performing with him and watching, left the stage before the song was over.

I was not happy that he left the stage so abruptly but was happy to have seen and heard a little from him.

It might be unknown to many but Sly Stone was a disc jockey (notice what was just done there) in California prior to embarking on a recording career.

I'm curious to hear what he and his radio show sounded like. If the funk music he recorded was legendary, I would like to believe there are nuggets from the radio show for me to dig.

Africa - Music From Lil Brown (1968)

Labels like Harmless, Strut & BBE have been fantastic in putting together albums of mixed variety to further educate and entertain the listener.

I learned of a great cover of the Rolling Stones' Paint It Black by Africa through the Satisfaction compilation of cover songs. The tempo is slower than the original but still moves you like the Stones' song.

The Africa album title bears a striking resemblance to an iconic album by The Band called Music From Big Pink.

The photo above is from the back of Africa's album so it is clear The Band had a heavy influence on these musicians.

Take a listen to one of the most organically funky Rolling Stones covers in existence.

Brand Nubian - Everything is Everything (1994)

The best thing that resulted from the Brand Nubian split was that there were numerous albums, remixes and guest appearances until the Foundation reunion.

Whether it was Sadat X adding flavor to a track or his own solo album, Grand Puba doing what he did best or discovering Lord Jamar’s productions, I was at least able to follow what the Brand Nubian members were doing post-breakup.

Brand Nubian lightened their tone a little on 1994’s Everything is Everything.

The duo are in especially fine form on Word is Bond. The song made me wish I really was from New York when it was released. Some things don't change even 20 years later.

The Suite Delight new time slot is Tuesday morning 1-2am 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 - 2014-07-01 by Dj Solespin on Mixcloud

The Suite Delight - 2014-06-10 by Dj Solespin on Mixcloud

The Suite Delight - 2014-03-04 by Dj Solespin on Mixcloud

Daedelus

I've been waiting for a new Daedelus release for a good while.

His show at Montreal`s Le Belmont was one of my best concerts of that year.

I knew of Daedelus' name a few years ago but never heard the Love To Make Music To album. This was my night to know what he was about. Luckily I was able to photograph and capture the video footage you see.

What a night! That night was packed with a power line-up including Teebs, The Gaslamp Killer & Samiyam.

I was having a lot of fun watching Daedelus perform. The footage, meeting and eating with him and entourage at La Banquise afterwards will tide me over until my next chance to see him live.

What a perfect way to end a perfect night of DJing and live music.