The Boondocks

I hadn’t seen or thought of The Boondocks in years. 

That was roughly the time when it was airing on cable television and I made every effort to catch as many episodes as I could.  I wasn’t even sure of which season the show was at.  All that mattered was watching the episodes and soak up as much of the series as I could before the network airing it decided to stop doing so.

I am an admirer of animation, I loved the art work of The Boondocks but had to somewhat brace myself for the satire that went along with it. 

I was able to watch the entire first season of The Boondocks in August and saw a number of episodes I had seen years ago. 

As biting and humorous as the R. Kelly trial episode is, the episode where Robert Freeman fights the blind man disturbed me slightly when I first saw it and did so again upon my second viewing.  The episode with the convict condemned to death row is well written.

Regina King deserves a lot of credit for the show's success. The choice of Samuel L. Jackson & Charlie Murphy as voices for two particular characters is brilliant. Ed Asner’s voice and likeness are extremely effective in the animated series.

It appears the majority of the episodes I saw on cable television years ago were from the first season.  With all going well, I should complete the second season of The Boondocks before the year’s end.

The Nazz

A local crate-digger/radio station peer mentioned The Nazz to me so many times that the group managed to edge themselves onto my records wantlist.

Prior to me now seeking out The Nazz sounds, Todd Rundgren`s name was among the super producers of the 1970s that I'd heard about.  I was a little intimidated by Todd Rundgren`s name and his musical associations and didn`t investigate his music.

In retrospect, I should have looked into his music since The Isley Brothers covered his Hello It`s Me, the only song of Rundgren`s I knew.

That local lass kept telling me about the first Nazz album any time we met, especially when we were surrounded by records. She had been looking for a copy of their first album for what I believe was at least a year.

I even called her from a Montreal record convention when I came across a pocket of Nazz albums in the hopes that the one she wanted was among them or could take one of them as a worthy substitute.

What officially sealed my fate for the record was knowing there is Hello It's Me on the album.  The version of Hello It's Me by The Nazz is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard.

If I had heard Open My Eyes before, it would have been courtesy of Nuggets the iconic compilation. Had I fallen in love with the song earlier, I might have been on a collision course with that local lass in trying to find the record rather than assisting her.

She made it known that the first Nazz album made for a long overdue and fitting birthday gift not too long ago.

The Nazz II was my substitute for the first.

  If the rest of The Nazz music is as good or better than Hello It's Me or Open My Eyes than I won't wait to make it a birthday present to myself.

Her journey for the album ended but almost surely my quest has just begun.

Pete Rock

Pete Rock is one of the most important hip hop producers.

 For proof, check out his 1990s remixes and albums with C.L. Smooth.

I was unable to identify sample sources at that time of my life.  Although there were remixes and other productions prior, I believe it was after hearing For Pete's Sake from Mecca & The Soul Brother that I understood just how good a producer Pete Rock is. 

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.

The Suite Delight - February 25, 2014 (2) Playlist:

1. Nas - It Ain't Hard To Tell (Large Professor Remix)
2. Diverse - Uprock
3. Jay Dee - Pause feat. Frank-N-Dank
4. Strong Arm Steady - Questions
5. Souls of Mischief - That's When Ya Lost (Remix)
6. Soul Khan - Knuckle Puck
7. Quasimoto - Rappcats, Pt. 3
8. Supastition - Yada Yada
9. Murs & 9th Wonder - Murs Day
10. Mobb Deep - Win or Lose
11. Wale - Um'Ricka feat. K'Naan
12. K-Solo - Letterman (Pete Rock Remix)
13. The Extremities - Cold Cheese
14. D-Sisive x Tone Mason – Maybe I Will feat. DJ Grouch

The Beatnuts

Do you remember the first compact disc you bought with your own money?

Faced with the 1994 choice between Nas' Illmatic, Organized Konfusion’s Stress: The Extinction Agenda, Jeru The Damaja's The Sun Rises in the East and The Beatnuts’ first full-length, I walked out of the record store with Fashion, Juju & Psycho Les.

 

I somewhat marvel at how I arrived at that choice but considering I was making an important musical investment, I needed to make sure I was getting as many bangers for my bucks as possible.

I thought back to 1990-91 when I first learned of The Beatnuts. I saw their name was among the credits of my A Tribe Called Quest People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm cassette.  The Can I Kick It? video would give me a glimpse at what I would later know Juju to look like. 

Nas was only 10 tracks deep and Stress was slightly longer but Beatnuts was approaching epic hip hop album status. Nas was new and I was fully aware he was a legend in the making. I knew Stress was and would be Organized Konfusion’s best album.  My logic was that if the near 20 tracks of their 1994 CD were as good as or better than the Funky Lemonade remix than it was a sure-shot.

With all of that Beatnuts hip hop history, it was clear I was going to buy their CD.  I firmly knew Beatnuts would give me the flavors, vibes and variety of sounds I would need.  Considering that I got my Beatnuts CD signed by Psycho Les when I got to see them perform in Montreal for their first time, I never regretted that decision. It was the best choice I could have made.

I caught a The Beatnuts performance at Cabaret Underworld.  

The hosts of the Wu-Block show at Club Soda announced there were some special guests in the house before the headliners hit the stage.

To our delight, The Beatnuts, Jeru the Damaja & Sticky Fingaz stepped on stage one after the other. They were in Montreal for their performance at Cabaret Underworld the following night. As Psycho Les told me, they wanted to check out Ghostface. They did indeed. 

There were more hip hop vibes at Cabaret Underworld for me.

I caught The Beatnuts’ first Montreal concert shortly after buying their classic Street Level CD.  Unfortunately, Juju was not on stage with them. I had a lot more respect for Fashion/Al Tariq after that night. Some nearly 20 years later, I saw Juju on stage in front of me two nights in a row.

I got to witness the dynamite Beatnuts duo perform together for the first time. When I think back to their classics from the 1993 EP all the way up to later tracks like Watch Out Now, their set list is guaranteed to be hot on any night they are on stage.  I had a great time as did those in attendance with me.  

Thank you to The Beatnuts and Cabaret Underworld promoters & organizers for a night of classic hip hop fire.

http://suitedelight.podomatic.com

Below is a playlist of a podcast to bring you up to speed.  Click here to download them and more.

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

Visit the Mixcloud page to listen and the Podomatic site to download them and more.

The Suite Delight - 2014-07-01 by Dj Solespin on Mixcloud

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 Commodores

I grew up with The Commodores’ music.

I remember Three Times a Lady played near the end of parties and on radio.

I distinctly remember Lionel Richie too because he sang lead on the big ballad.

I remember Endless Love with Diana Ross too.

That signaled the end of his run with The Commodores.

Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth - Mecca & The Soul Brother

As much as I was the first person I knew that was on to the duo, the world would catch up to me in 1992 with the release of Mecca & The Soul Brother.



f the nearly 80 minutes of hip hop brilliance weren’t enough, there are remixes that can, on most occasions, top the album versions.




One Friday night while fighting sleep, I was listening to a local radio program and heard For Pete’s Sake for the first time in basically 20 years. I had not listened to the Mecca & The Soul Brother in its entirety since its release.

I remember how amazed I was when I heard For Pete’s Sake for the first time. The song was out of this world to me. If memory serves, it is among the first half a dozen songs on the Mecca & The Soul Brother album. I was unable to identify sample sources at that time of my life.  Although there were remixes and other productions prior, I believe it was after hearing that song that I understood just how good a producer Pete Rock is. 

They don’t make hip hop albums or music like that anymore.

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.

The Suite Delight - December 17, 2013 (2):

1. Jemini The Gifted One – Funk Soul Sensation (Godfather Mix) 
2. Large Professor – Ijuswannachill 
3. Lord Finesse – Return of the Funky Man (Remix) 
4. Ice-T – Mind Over Matter (Remix) 
5. DJ Jazzy Jeff – She Was So Flyy feat. Kardinal Offishall 
6. Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth – The Creator (Slide To The Side Mix) 
7. The Roots – Here I Come 
8. Gang Starr – Form Of Intellect 
9. Planet Asia – Whirlwind Patterns 
10. Wu-Tang Clan – Method Man 
11. Kool G. Rap & DJ Polo – Money In The Bank 
12. Big Pun – How We Roll ‘98 
13. A Tribe Called Quest – Can I Kick It?

Heart

Similar to Joan Jett, Heart too was a big group for me while growing up.

They would also shape what I perceived and expected from female rockers long before I would realize it.



Ann Wilson is one of most powerful vocalists in rock. I’ve had a weakness for her voice and beauty for years.

I was amazed to learn that Jimmy Page was among Nancy Wilson's greatest guitar influences. I feel Barracuda is an hommage to Led Zeppelin now that I think of it.

I've grown up knowing of these legendary lady rockers and was pleased to hear they are inductees for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

D-Nice

I forgot how much of a D-Nice fan I was. 

In 1990, D-Nice’s album dropped and had many a jam on it. 

The organ breakdown of Call Me D-Nice drove me wild.  I sometimes couldn’t wait for him to finish rhyming so I could hear it. 

TR-808 is Coming was another favorite with KRS-One on the hook and that hypnotic, slow rhythm.

I had a hard time choosing between And You Don’t Stop and It’s All About Me as the conclusion to my high school yearbook blurb.  I always felt And You Don’t Stop was too short a song and that he should have rhymed for a longer period of time.  Mind you, if there was ever a case for short but sweet, that one verse defends and closes it.  In this day and age of hip hop, a good number of acts can’t do in 3 verses what D-Nice did with one. 

Going back to the title track, D-Nice was never more lyrically ferocious than on that single.  Considering what he rhymed over, I believe he had no choice but to attack the track and do it justice.  He does that and more. 

I played all of those songs I just listed since my return to Concordia University's radio station in 2006.  I realize I did not play many tracks from his second album because I never owned a copy and no longer have the copy I owned in 1991.

My search for vinyl copies of D-Nice’s albums continues even though I may have forgotten that I was on that quest.  I presume if I came to face-to-face of the CDs/albums, I would have gotten the reminder then.    

As a member of legendary hip hop group Boogie Down Productions, D-Nice has produced many tracks and memories for most people of my generation. He was participant and witness to many events fans may not have been privy to know as well. He acts as hip hop historian with his True Hip Hop Stories series.

Call Me D-Nice celebrates its 25th anniversary this year.

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.

Jeff Mills

I stated enthusiastically that Theo Parrish’s Mutek DJ set was the best DJ set I had ever experienced. I wasn’t completely aware of how true my words were until Mutek 2012.

Weeks prior to Mutek, I bought a DVD about legendary techno music figure Jeff Mills that I have yet to watch. I had first seen his name connected to a DJ compilation series. The track listing was the extent to my knowledge about Jeff Mills. I recognized some of the artists and titles and perceived him to be a DJ in the vein of Theo Parrish, Nicky Siano or possibly Kenny Dope.

The young man that sold me the DVD at the record convention was the first to inform me that Jeff Mills was more linked to techno music more than the 1980s R&B music I saw on the CD track listing. When I walked into Metropolis to catch Jeff Mills’ Mutek performance, I did indeed learn that.

I am not the biggest fan of techno music.I went to see Jeff Mills with as open a mind possible because if anyone could have changed my mind about techno music, it very well could have been him.

Mills’ set was so lengthy I was able to leave Metropolis after I had heard enough techno and return later that evening for another round. Just as dubstep tests my limits as far as electro music is concerned, I can only take so much techno. It appears I would need to subject myself to a techno tutorial of some sorts to better enjoy the music.

Considering that I have a DVD dedicated to Jeff Mills within arms’ reach, I presume it is indeed the tutorial that could help me tolerate techno music. The only issue is when I will actually sit myself down to watch it.



The last question I have about Jeff Mills is whether I should have seen the DVD and developed a liking for techno music prior to that night at Metropolis to know what I missed. Time, and a potential retraction in the form of a blog post post-DVD viewing, will reveal.   

Doin’ It In The Park: Pick-Up Basketball, New York City (2012)

I have The Goods Black Cinema Series to thank for informing me of Doin’ It In The Park: Pick-Up Basketball, New York City directed by Bobbito Garcia and Kevin Couliau.

I had no idea that Bobbito Garcia had directed a film that explores the history, culture, and social impact of New York’s summer b-ball scene. 

Rialto Theater screened Doin’ It In The Park: Pick-Up Basketball, New York City in February 2014 and I was pleased to have seen the documentary.  

Tupac Shakur

As much as All Eyez On Me is my favorite album in Tupac Shakur’s discography, if it had not been for my listening to Me Against The World, this blog post probably would never have been written.

I respected what Tupac had done with regards to rhyming and acting but paid it no real mind.  I owned none of his music but was cool with it.  Considering I was not there or knew none of the real factors leading to when he was shot in New York, I felt for him. 

When he recovered from the injury and embarked on his anti-East Coast hip hop campaign, I was torn because it nearly pitted me against myself.  I understood the instinct to wage war on his “enemies”.  The issue is that his “enemies” were in the East Coast hip hop army, the spiritual soldiers I would have enlisted to join or team I would wish to be drafted to. 

I naturally was primed to listen to the 1996 double 2CD with a different ear and point of view.  At present, I would state All Eyez On Me is the best hip hop double CD recorded to date.  I was more than satisfied with the first CD and barely reached for the second.  It was also the first Tupac CD to enter my collection to be joined with Me Against The World, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory and Remember Me.

By the summer of 1996, my East Coast hip hop bias would have had me in the corner of the late Notorious B.I.G. during the beef between him and Tupac Shakur.  However, I was a little more informed about the music of both camps and knew the strengths and weaknesses of both artists.

The deaths of The Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac were tragic, unfortunate and the consequences are still felt in hip hop today.  With Tupac, in particular, I realized that hip hop lost one of its most prolific poets.  I miss Tupac like many of his fans and admirers.  The void left behind from his death is impossible to fill.   Hip hop could use someone with half of the charisma and mystic of Tupac Shakur right now.  Unfortunately, that is what we’ve been left with since September 13, 1996.

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 the 2013 CKUT Funding Drive podcast to bring you up to speed.  Click here to download it 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)

Ice Cube

I was never the biggest West Coast hip hop fan. I didn't care for the profanity. They lacked the lyrics I was looking for and got from East Coast hip hop. 

Ice Cube managed to change my mind with his debut. The Bomb Squad were involved with the album, which cushioned the blow so to speak, but I learned to appreciate Ice Cube as an artist. He outdid himself on Death Certificate.



Who would have thought Ice Cube would do the equivalent of Marvin Gaye by recording a concept album? Death Certificate dealt with topics affecting the Black community like gang violence and took time to reveal the truth about his days with NWA. I almost never went a day without hearing that album. This was Ice Cube at his most self-reflective and I was on his side up until Bootlegs & B-Sides.

I was moving away from hip hop by the time Ice Cube`s music was Westside Connection focused.  I would need to sit down with those albums and songs to know how I feel about them. 

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 - 2014-05-13 Playlist:

1. Ice Cube - Check Yo Self (Remix) feat. Das-Efx
2. Kurious - Baby Bust It
3. De La Soul - Breakadawn
4. Gang Starr - Code of the Streets
5. Souls of Mischief - That's When Ya Lost
6. Del - Mistadobalina (Remix)
7. Snoop Dogg - Ain't No Fun (If The Homies Can't Have None)
8. Keith Murray - Incredible feat. LL Cool J
9. Jay-Z - (Always Be My) Sunshine featuring Babyface & Foxy Brown
10. Queen Latifah - Latifah's Had It Up 2 Here
11. The Roots - Adrenaline
12. Poor Righteous Teachers - Rock Dis Funky Joint
13. Digable Planets ‎– 9th Wonder (Blackitolism)
14. Camp Lo - Luchini (This Is It)