chop wood carry records

50 Years, 50 Albums

2021-05-26T06:34:00.000-07:00

Just turned 50... no particularly insightful reflection to offer, although I try to do some degree of introspection on every birthday :-)

The milestone has, however, been a good excuse to look back through the years and think about albums that have influenced me... so here goes:

1970s

'71 - Bill Withers - Just As I Am

'72 - Steely Dan - Can't Buy a Thrill

'73 - Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

'74 - Minnie Riperton - Perfect Angel

'75 - Earth Wind & Fire - That's the Way of the World

'76 - Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life

'77 - Rufus - Ask Rufus

'78 - Chic - C'est Chic

'79 - Michael Jackson - Off The Wall

1980s

'80 - Stevie Wonder - Hotter Than July
'81 - Quincy Jones - The Dude
'82 - Luther Vandross - Forever, For Always, For Love
'83 - The Police - Synchronicity
'84 - Art of Noise - Who's Afraid of the Art of Noise
'85 - Sade - Diamond Life
'86 - Anita Baker - Rapture
'87 - Prince - Sign O' The Times
'88 - New Edition - Heartbreak
'89 - Janet Jackson - Rhythm Nation

1990s

'90 - Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet
'91 - Nirvana - Nevermind
'92 - Arrested Development - 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life of...
'93 - Cassandra Wilson - Blue Light Till Dawn
'94 - Weezer - Weezer (Blue Album)
'95 - D'Angelo - Brown Sugar
'96 - De La Soul - Stakes is High
'97 - Kurt Elling - The Messenger
'98 - Black Star - Mos Def & Talib Qweli are Black Star
'99 - Basement Jaxx - Remedy

2000s

'00 - Lucy Pearl - Lucy Pearl
'01 - Zero 7 - Simple Things
'02 - Raphael Saadiq - Instant Vintage
'03 - Meshell Ndegeocello - Comfort Woman
'04 - Kanye West - The College Dropout
'05 - Common - Be
'06 - J Dilla - Donuts
'07 - Burial - Untrue
'08 - Matthew Halsall - Sending My Love
'09 - Maxwell - Blacksummers'night

2010s

'10 - Scuba - Triangulation
'11 - Feist - Metals
'12 - Kendrick Lamar - Good Kid, M.A.A.D City
'13 - Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest
'14 - D'Angelo and the Vanguard - Black Messiah
'15 - Kamasi Washington - The Epic
'16 - Solange - A Seat at the Table
'17 - Sampha - Process
'18 - Makaya McCraven - Universal Beings
'19 - Jamila Woods - Legacy! Legacy!

2020s

'20 - Little Dragon - New Me, Same Us

The World's Shortest Tribe Called Quest "We Got It From Here..." review

2016-11-12T12:41:00.001-08:00

In a word...

[ Pic above an obvious (to the heads, anyway) homage to Tribe joints past... ]

In a few more words:

Cop it!!!!!
Talkin' Loud and saying something
art is always a source of strength:

sometimes as a refuge from the world that is, and/or a vision of what could be...
sometimes as piercing and clear-eyed view of what we're dealing with right now

This LP is all up in the zeitgeist...

A fitting, and immensely satisfying finale to Tribe's ouevre
Respect!

( A Tribe Called Quest - We Got It From Here... Thank You For Your Service is out now. )

NYT knows the Shape of Things to Come?

2016-03-13T11:49:00.002-07:00

H/T to a good friend (and pretty great Food/Beverage blogger) for hipping me to this NYT Magazine piece about "where music is going" as viewed through the lens of some current tunes.

Whenever I see long-form music writing, I always think of this quote:

"Writing about Music is like dancing about Architecture"

(variously attributed to Thelonius Monk, Frank Zappa, and Laurie Anderson, among others...)

For the busy people among you, and echoing the NYT piece, I'll give my impressions in list form, with a simple Agree/Disagree/Neutral scale about whether the song in-question "tells us where music is going".

Introduction - Liked it, good essay by Nitsuh Abebe

Sorry - Justin Bieber - Disagree
Say No to This - Hamilton Cast - Disagree*
I Watched the Film, The Song Remains the Same - Sun Kil Moon - Neutral
Get Away - The Internet - Disagree*
One Sunday Morning - Wilco - Neutral
'06 - Vince Staples - Disagree*
Hurtin' (On The Bottle) - Margo Price - Neutral
John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16 - Keith Urban - Neutral
Consideration - Rihanna - Agree^
Blue boy - Mac DeMarco - Neutral
Marvin Gaye - Charlie Puth - Disagree
The Blacker the Berry - Kendrick Lamar - Agree
Early - Run the Jewels - Disagree*
The Colours of Life - CFCF - Neutral
Hymn for the Weekend - Coldplay - Disagree [editors note: I almost abandoned my review effort when I saw that Coldplay was in the list!]
Trap Queen - Fetty Wap - Neutral
Hello - Lionel Ritchie - Disagree*
Untitled - Pharrell - Agree^ [editors note: this article was written by the most awesome street artist JR... if you're not up on him, you should be.]
Partitat for 8 Voices - Caroline Shaw - Neutral
El Taxi - Pitbull - Neutral
Really Love - D'Angelo - Agree
Weh Dem Feel Like - Vybz Kartel - Disagree
Stressed Out - 21 Pilots - Neutral
Sunday Candy - Chance the Rapper - Disagree*
Habibi - Azis - Agree^^^

About my ratings: If I was Neutral, I haven't heard the song.

Rating footnotes:

* - I actually like the song :-)

^^ - I haven't heard the specific Rihanna or Pharrel songs, but they've historically been really good predictors of where music might be going, so I've given them the benefit of the doubt.

^^^ - I don't agree that this particular song points the way to anything interesting, but... I do think that music in the US is headed towards a more cosmopolitan and internationally diverse set of influences (basically the way the UK has been forever) so I agree with this song as an example of that trend.

huh, would you look at that... Pareto-optimal... aka the 80/20 rule... didn't plan that, I swear!

So, about that premise...

Before you write me off as a crotchety old critic for the apparent harshness of my assessment. I have to confess that I disagree with the premise that we can reliably identify the sign-posts towards the musical future beforehand. It's usually only clear to us in the rearview mirror :-)

I definitely predict getting several blog posts out of deeper dives into some the the NYT selections though!

Yours in music,

- Cliff

Recording rappers these days...

2015-12-08T08:23:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I've never done any professional sound recording or engineering, but this clip had me rollin' :-)

Happy Birthday Ronnie!

2015-05-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

Ron Hardy is to House Music as Big Star is to Indie Rock.... supremely influential, yet little known in the mainstream.

While others may have been more technically proficient, Ronnie gave many of us Chicago DJ wannabes our first evidence that we could reach for and, at times, touch the sublime using only some records, turntables, and the occasional reel-to-reel tape player.

It's an over used phrase, but that brotha changed my life. For real… Happy Birthday, Ronnie!

Gilles Peterson: Hanging with a master

2015-01-23T00:16:00.003-08:00

There's a zen phrase along the lines of "do not seek the wise, seek what they sought".

I consider myself a musical seeker, and while I do not 'seek the wise', I'm grateful when I find myself in their company on our shared quest. Props to selector-par-excellence Gilles Peterson for a great set in Brooklyn this evening.

Gilles doesn't play in the States very frequently, so it's always a treat to be able to catch him. While this set wasn't as revelatory as the first time I heard him, it was excellent nonetheless...

As is his wont, he crossed genres at will, moving from new D'Angelo joints, to Carioca Funk, to Banging House, to Jazz Dance stormers, to Cumbia jams, to Classics, to... well you get the point.

Eclectic though he is, he has a very strong conception (as the jazz cats like to describe it...). I always learn from him, and just as importantly, I dance like a fool :-)

Speaking of dancing, I also have a great appreciation for the diverse crowd that Gilles brings out... definitely more about the music than "the scene". Kindred spirits. Respect!

To learn more, check out www.gillespetersonworldwide.com

What dreams may come. Reflections on Dr. King

2015-01-19T17:19:00.000-08:00

( dug this out of my email archives... it was a draft of an internal company communication for 2013, meant to commemorate the 50 year anniversary of the March on Washington... this version never survived the committee editing process... but a few friends have thought it was decent, so I figured I'd share )

I'm writing on behalf of Black@TW to let you know that today marks the 50th anniversary of the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom here in the U.S.

The first thing I want to do is ask you not to read the rest of this email... not right now anyway... much better would be to spend a non-billable hour doing the following:

Reading Wikipedia's comprehensive and imho balanced entry on the march (estimated time: ~45 minutes, but I'm a slow reader)
View the Rev. Dr. Martlin Luther King Jr.'s full I Have a Dream speech ( time: ~17 minutes )

By doing these two things, you'll have much greater knowledge of this event than the average American, and you'll be able to make an informed choice about whether the rest of this email is worth your time :-)

Go ahead, I'll wait...

... you back? Cool! And why might the rest of this email be worth your time?

[ warning, the opinions expressed below are solely those of Cliff and not necessarily those of Black@TW or any other TW person or entity ;-) ]

The "standard narrative" is a simplification

The standard narrative about The March on Washington typically goes like this:

On a hot August day in 1963, 250,00 people peacefully assembled in our Nation's Capital to hear Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. deliver his famous 'I Have a Dream' speech. The March on Washington had a major influence on the passage of the Civil Rights act in 1963 and the Voting Rights act in 1964.

I think most observers would agree that this description is factual. And I get it, narratives that last need to be simple. My issue is not with the facts, but it's with the connotation of inevitability, magic, and divine providence that this simplification supports & promotes. This was destined to happen, right? On August 28th, there was this spontaneous gathering in the Capitol on the side of justice and righteousness. A great historical figure gave a kick ass speech and then we passed the Civil Rights Act... yay! (yes, that was sarcasm)

Because you read the Wikipedia entry, you already know that this march was in no way predestined. There were active attempts to prevent it. The PA system was sabotaged the day before the gathering. There were extensive compromises made so that the event could go forward, speeches were edited so as not to provoke the powers that be... if you don't believe me, ask John Lewis. You know that the National Mall's Park Police were in position to cut the audio if they deemed it necessary ( see that uniformed white guy next to Dr. King during his speech? ) You know that even in this time, the Black community did not necessarily speak with one voice, with Malcolm X being a key critic.

Why is the "destiny" implication an issue for me? Because the tacit assumption that "sooner or later, things will just work out", is morally lazy at best, and an abdication of each of our personal responsibility at worst.

Another simplification is that the march was "The Dr. Martin Luther King show". Again, I get it. It is a really kick ass speech... one of the best ever. King's prodigious oratory skill combined with a mass media capable of broadcasting this into "every home in America" certainly had an impact... I would never deny that, and I'm thankful for it.

But, because you've read the Wikipedia article, you know that the march was "coordinated" by multiple organizations and their leaders (known as the "big six"). You also know that the nitty gritty organizing and coordination was overseen by by Bayard Rustin, a gay black man who will posthumously receive the Medal of Freedom today from the President. You also know that Rustin worked with several hundred volunteers in Washington D.C. and hundreds more around the country to pull off the event.

The point: Dr. King deserves every bit of praise and admiration he receives for seizing that moment and helping us all see what is possible for this nation, but it's important... no, critical to remember that he was just 1/250,000th of the story on that day.

Our common historical recollection "shifts the frame" towards the land of feel-good

Again, I blame this on the greatness of the back half of the speech. Because you watched the entire speech, you notice how most contemporary "looks back" on this day focus on the final 7 minutes or so, where Dr. King is looking forward and articulating his "dream". As many times as I've seen the speech, it still gives me goosebumps. I get why we would focus on this.... it's ridiculously inspiring.

However, if you widen the frame to the full speech, you know that Dr. King spends just as much time talking about where Black people stood in that moment, and it wasn't pretty. He spoke of obligations that America had yet to meet. "Checks returned marked 'insufficient funds' ". He talked about "rude awakenings" that lay in store if the Nation did not follow a path towards justice and righteousness. He also implored Black folks not to quench their thirst for justice by drinking from the cup of hatred... what does it say about those times, our history as a nation, that he needed to implore us so?

That was then...

Fast forward 50 years... how much progress towards justice and righteousness has been made? I want to pause here and make a comment about the coverage of this anniversary in the media... they ask the same question I just asked: How much as changed in the last 50 years? But again, there's an implicit message that this march should have changed so much more. Marches and speeches can inspire individuals, they can threaten power structures, but they cannot in and of themselves effect real and lasting positive change... I think we're seeing that in other global contexts in the present, sadly.

All of that to say, I don't ask "where are we today?" with the assumption that The March on Washington should get all the credit nor all the blame...

So, where are we today? (imho)

The Good

Symbolic political progress: Obama's election is the obvious one. A fair number of African American cabinet members over the past few decades, even in Republican administrations ;-)

(relative to pre-civil rights act, a little bit of ) Economic progress: in 1965, things *really* sucked for Black folks economically, today they suck a little bit less. (See "the bad" below)

Some progress on reducing education, employment, and residential discrimination - Anecdotes: In the late 60s, in order to get to her newly integrated honors high school, my mom had to dodge dogs let out by residents of the White neighborhood between her house and school. In the 80s, I went to an integrated, middle class public high school where we had very few racial issues. in 1974, my Dad was able to get a job as a Systems Analyst with IBM in part due to their active efforts to hire minority candidates (which they did as a way to avoid antitrust action, but still...) I write this email after having put my biracial daughter to bed in the moderately affluent (but predominantly white) Chicago suburb in which we live. I feel a consistent low level of isolation living out here, but the schools are good, and no one is throwing bricks through my window. That's actually progress. But there's some serious discontinuity of even this progress when you look at different socio-economic strata within the Black community.

Moving towards parity in base-level educational attainment: In 1960, Whites graduated high school at twice the rate of Blacks. Today, while there's still a gap, it's much smaller. [ Image | Source ]

The Bad

Not enough economic progress by a long shot!

Income: Since 1965, the gap in median income between Whites and Blacks as been remarkably consistent. One could interpret this as the U.S. having made no progress towards income parity. [ Image | Source ]
Wealth: Even as the income gap has held steady, the White/Black wealth gap as widened, with Black wealth trending very flat. Wealth parity is getting worse [ Image | Source ]
Tenuous upward mobility: According to one study, Blacks born into middle class families in the 1960s had a 45% likelihood of sliding down to the "lower class" as adults. Whites, by comparison, had a 16% likelihood. [ Source ]

Educational attainment gap widens after High School. [ Image | Source ]

Despite Legislation, High levels of segregation persist (De Jure, De Facto, Po-tay-to, Po-tah-to...)

Nationally [ Interactive Map ]
Locally [ snapshot of segregation in NYC ]

What can I do?

Something symbolic you can do is ring the online Freedom Bell today at 3pm.

As far as more substantive actions... remember that funny story from The March? The "big six" were late because they were meeting with members of Congress, so The March started without them! They eventually caught up to take a picture "leading" the people :-)

What do you think you can do? The one thing I know you don't have to do is wait.

India Bound...

2015-01-10T09:16:00.000-08:00

Heading to India for a bit... a good excuse for some "visual remixing"

Here's the album cover for the soundtrack to Bollywood Action film "The Burning Train"

This cover was remixed by Stones Throw for Madlib's "Beat Konducta in India Vol 1." can you spot Madlib?

I re-remixed the Stones Throw cover... can you spot me?

Heaven help us all if I actually ever obtain some real photoshopping skillz :-)

Cataloging!

2015-01-08T15:41:00.003-08:00

And so it ~~begins~~ continues...

The collection will be cataloged in 2015! [ Full digitization is a multi-year effort we'll worry about later ;-) ]

Did "Heather's Party" send you here?

2014-10-18T08:45:00.001-07:00

You can stay here if you want to read my blog...

You can go to the link below to check out some mixes of mine... see you Friday :-)

http://cwcr.podomatic.com

Thoughts on 12 Years a Slave

2014-02-16T11:52:00.000-08:00

Went to see Steve McQueen's 12 Years A Slave the other day. Before seeing it, I posted this on social media:

About to see 12 years a slave, which is this movie fan's equivalent of "eating your vegetables". It will no doubt be "good for me" and I might even "enjoy" it. But I'm dubious and generally off-put by the need to do it.

There was a decent amount of discussion on the post. With some folks being of the "nah, I'm not seeing it" opinion and others saying it was a film that needed to be seen.

Here's my executive summary:

The movie is excellent, it is a work of art of a very high order.
If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't see it. I'm not of the opinion that anyone needs to see this film specifically.

This is the first film of McQueen's that I've seen. He is a true auteur… he tells a powerful story. The performances in the film are top notch. [film geekery] There are some badass long takes, great sound design and other such stuff going on in the film. [end film geekery]

To talk about why I wouldn't see it again, I must first say that I had no plans to see it at all. It was nothing specific to 12 Years..., I just don't like paying money to feel sad. Here is a select list of "important" films I've never seen, and have no particular plans to see:

Schindler's List
Precious
The Act of Killing
The Onion Field
The Impossible

I'm also not inclined to spend money on any number of Magic and/or Numinous Negro films, such as:

Shawshank Redemption
The Green Mile
The Legend of Bagger Vance
The Blind Side
etc.

Not criticizing any of those "important" films, they're just not usually my bag. There is an implicit critique of the Magic Negro stuff… but that is fodder for a different post ;-)

So, why did I need to see 12 Years? I made a commitment to see it because a respected actor friend of mine said the film had "changed cinema" and implored me to see it so that we could discuss/argue about it at a later date. I am a man of my word, if nothing else :-)

As I said above, it is an excellent film. But in my assessment, it hasn't done anything to foster a more meaningful understanding of slavery than did the TV miniseries Roots 30+ years ago. I want to stress here that to say 12 Years is as good as Roots in that regard is very high praise in my book.

I've been thinking about what's behind the impulse to believe this or that film "needs to be seen". As it relates to the subject matter covered by 12 Years A Slave, it doesn't take much insight to see that the core sentiment that's really being expressed is that:

slavery and its impact need to be truly understood by all Americans

And, seeing films such as 12 Years a slave may be useful steps towards that ultimate goal.

I wholeheartedly agree that slavery and its impact need to be truly understood, but I'd set up a different syllabus for people interested in a journey towards that understanding.

Cliff's "Journey towards understanding" syllabus

History

Read: From Slavery to Freedom (9th Edition), by John Hope Franklin & Evelyn Higginbotham
Read: Black Reconstruction, by W.E.B. DuBois
Watch: Africans in America: America's Journey though Slavery
Watch: Eyes on the prize: America's Civil Rights Movement

Today

Read: Two Nations: Black and White, Saparate, Hostile, Unequal, by Andrew Hacker
Read: Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools, by Jonathan Kozol
Read: Racism without racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in America, by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva

I know others might have a different syllabus in mind and I'd welcome those comments.

Dramatizations such as 12 Years, Roots, or what-have-you, while powerful, and possibly useful as a step towards greater understanding, are at their heart entertainments. As substantive as they might want to be, they are limited by the primary goals of entertaining.

And not to put too fine a point on it, but I'm supremely uninterested in engaging substantively with anyone who hasn't done at least 50% of the homework I enumerate above (or something similar). In the realm of substance, all seeing 12 Years might do is allow a viewer to say very emphatically and with heartfelt emotion, that slavery sucked. To which my reply would be: "Why yes. Yes it did."

Classic Material: Michael Jackson - P.Y.T

2013-08-29T17:50:00.000-07:00

P.Y.T. is my favorite Michael Jackson song. You should pause for a moment to consider what I just said... Yup, this is my favorite. I'd expect any reader to accept, a priori, that this is an awesome song... but why is it my favorite among a looooong list of awesome MJ songs? We'll get to that.

First, though, we need to talk about the tiger. In addition to its numerous distinctions, Thriller has the honor of being the best non-Ohio-Players gatefold cover ever. That white suit? The casual-yet-oh-so-fly Gordon Gartrel lookin' black shirt? A baby tiger?!? In all of our combined lives and efforts, it's highly unlikely that we'd approach that level of fly...

Musically, why is it my favorite?

great contrast between the airy synth pads of the intro and the boogie of the main song
great bass line, with the main part of the phrase being stolen from another artist[1], but in the best way.
great music arrangment, with an artful layering and interweaving of the various elements over the course of the song. Listen to the rhythm piano that's present only in the first verse as the instrumentation builds. Listen for the bongos over the course of the song. Wow. Produced by Quincy Jones, so, duh.
great vocal arrangement. quick... how many pop songs can you name where there are key changes in the backing vocals? The chipmunk backing vocals in the final few bars?!? Bananas.
I'm not even going to talk about the breakdowns, we'd be here all day...

As with most classic material though, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. I remember being at a Four Barrel coffee in San Francisco's Mission District a while back. Man, this place was hipster! But the head Barista (who gets the honor of selecting tunes during the shift, I believe) was playing Thriller. Yo, every toe in that place was tappin' and every head was bobbin'. If there'd been one other black person besides me, a dance party might have even broken out.

Head Barista at Four Barrel gets it poppin' with P.Y.T.

So yeah, P.Y.T is my favorite MJ tune. However, I also like the demo version of the song, which is similar only in title to the album version. Here's the U-Tern Edit. I also like what Kanye did with the chipmunk vocals on his track Good Life, which is notable for being the only track on which T-Pain is tolerable to my ears.

Footnotes

1 - PYT's bassline during the verses before the bridge is lifted almost directly from Carl Carlton's She's a Bad Mama Jama (She's built, She's Stacked), which was released in 1981, just a year before Thriller. The truth of the matter is that every artist "steals".. being influenced by other artists, and sometimes appropriating these influences. One wonders if there might be a Robin Thicke/Pharrell style controversy around PYT were it to be released today.

Screw Homicide, let's talk about Heart Disease!

2012-12-15T08:54:00.000-08:00

Actually, what I have to say is (hopefully) more nuanced and useful than my headline implies :-)

This started out as a Facebook post as I wanted to respond to the voices I saw filling up my screen in reaction to the tragic shootings in Newtown, Connecticut.

Humans are hardwired to try to explain things, and when tragedies such as this occur, the impulse kicks into overdrive. It's a club I wish I didn't belong to, but as someone who's lost a young relative to violent crime, I *can* imagine what they're going through in Newtown, and my thoughts are with them in ways that would take too long to express in a FB or Blog post. So, where I go to try to "make sense" of things after events like this is the aggregate data. Some facts:

of the 15 major causes of death that the CDC tracks, Homicide ranks 15th (with about 16,000 homicides in 2009)... and this level has held steady for about the last decade

of Homicides, "mass homicide" deaths have averaged about 150, also holding steady for the last decade

Heart disease, the #1 cause of death, took about 600,000 lives in 2009, two orders of magnitude greater than homicide, 3 orders of magnitude greater than mass homicide

Ok, so what? Well, I guess this info, particularly the trend data, helps stop me from going down the road of "things are getting worse" thinking. This is not say that "things are just fine". My personal opinion is that guns are too easy to get. ( Heart disease was definitely not the top cause of mortality for young men in Chicago this past summer. ) We should have a debate on Gun Control, or "Gun Rights", if you prefer. But I'm dubious that anything short of UK Style restrictions would have much impact on homicide rates. Again, that's not say we shouldn't consider that, but it's politically untenable.

And perhaps, more importantly, looking at the aggregate data, I think it's awesome that we can move forward on less contentious issues, such as helping our kids be more active and eat more healthily, and really make a difference as it relates to our "top killers".

Sources:

Crime Statistics since 1960: http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm

CDC Mortality data for 2009 (table on page 5): http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr60/nvsr60_03.pdf

Information of "Mass Homicide" Rates: http://www.npr.org/2012/12/14/167287373/many-mass-killers-have-had-chronic-depression

Nashville Record Stores

2012-11-25T15:58:00.000-08:00

Nashville... "Music City"... stands to reason that the music shopping would be good, and Nashville did not disappoint.

Ernest Tubb's

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a country music expert (which is not to say that I'm not a fan, but aside from some alt-country stuff like Robbie Fulks and Jeff Tweedy, I haven't moved much beyond the Dixie Chicks in terms of my depth of knowledge about the genre)

The great thing about not knowin' shit is that you can't go wrong! Thusly, I picked up a "grab bag" to advance my study in the ways of Country Western :-)

The friendly clerks chatted me up about being from Chicago ("there's been a lotta' y'all down here recently...") and referred to my laptop bag as a "satchel"... it was all I could do not to hug them.

Copped (via the grab bag):

Comedy for the Road feat. Red Sovine, Johnny Bond, Ben Colder, and Others (CD)
Live Ones: Classic Country Radio Hits (CD) - Compilation featuring tunesfrom the likes of The Gatlin Brothers, Merle Haggard, and Willie Nelson
Men in Bluegrass (CD)
Loretta Lynn - Making More Memories (Cassette - that's right, we keeps it real!)

Third Man Records

The headquarters of the Jack White's (as in, the White Stripes) record label, with a super-tiny, almost museum gift-shop-like retail annex. Even though it was tiny, it was a blast. All of the merchandise was Jack White/Third Man related, but was made with such care and attention to detail that it was great just window shopping. And the clerk reminded me of a taller, cuter, Meg White, seriously.

Copped

The White Stripes - Elephant (CD)
The White Stripes - Icky Thump (CD)

Grimey's New and Pre-Loved Music

"best for last" is perhaps a bit trite, but Grimey's most definitely deserves its rep as one of the best stores in the Region. If you believe Rolling Stone, it's one of the best shops in the country. A broad, deep and well curated selection... and, as is a hallmark of all the best shops, I had to force myself to leave.

Copped:

RZA - The Man with the Iron Fists Soundtrack (CD)
RZA - The Man with the Iron Fists Score (CD)
Sliver Convention - Save Me (Vinyl)

I'll keep the musicology brief... but even if one is steeped in different traditions (for me, it would be the lineage of blues to R&B and its offshoots, hip-hop, disco, what have you...) it's undeniable that in the delta lies the beating heart of what we know today as American Popular music. Game recognize game.

Reason #3 Why Stevie Wonder is a Musical Genius

2012-05-10T10:26:00.001-07:00

Reason #3 - If enough people believe it's true, it must be!

A quick word of background: The idea of this series of blog posts comes from a good friend who was compiling a list of "Musical Geniuses of the 20th Century" and sought my input. When I volunteered that, in my opinion, Stevie's presence on the list was mandatory, she was skeptical. I know, right?!? She's otherwise a nice, sane, well-educated person ;-) Since my friend clearly didn't take me at my word, I figured I'd give a brief catalog of 3rd party sources that buttress my opinion on the matter. So, who believes Stevie is a genius?

Allmusic Guide - The comprehensive online music database and blog (and possessor of *millions* of CDs at their Michigan headquarters) says that Stevie is:

"…a much-beloved American icon and an indisputable genius

not only of R&B but popular music in general"

NPR, who concluded their "NPR 100" series with Stevie's album Talking Book. The objective of the NPR 100 is no less than to present the stories behind

"100 of the most important American musical works of the 20th century, across all styles and genres"

The Guardian, the London newspaper, who have the following to say about Stevie's album Songs in the Key of Life

"This influenced virtually every modern soul and R&B singer… No other R&B artist has sung about the quandaries of human existence with quite the same grace."

Rolling Stone Magazine , the notoriously Rock-centric publication, who rank 4 of Stevie's albums among their "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". The albums:

Innervisions
The Music of My Mind
Songs in the Key of Life
Talking Book

By way of reference, these are the Artists with the most albums making Rolling Stone's List

Bob Dylan - 10

The Beatles - 10

The Rolling Stones - 8

The Who - 7

Other Artists, according to one source, Stevie has written 131 songs for artists such as:

Luciano Pavarotti
Julio Iglesias
Neil Diamond
The Beach Boys
Quincy Jones
James Taylor
Jeff Beck
Marvin Gaye
Diana Ross
and many, many others

Music Nerd General Consensus, my proof? The excellent 33 1/3 Book series has a volume on Songs in the Key of Life (volume 42, in case you're curious)

I'm only an expert in my own mind, but it bears repeating that I think he's a genius too.

< Reason #2 | Reason #4 >

Stockholm Hearts Detroit (even if it thinks it's Chicago)

2012-01-27T22:33:00.000-08:00

I had the good fortune to be in Stockholm last summer. Went out for work.

After I finished my work out there, I spent the weekend checking out some Museums and Record Stores.

I visited this Record Store called Pet Sounds. After being greeted in Swedish, and sheepishly admitting that I didn't speak the language. I had a chat with the record store clerk, who amiably switched to English for me.

He asks me where in the States I'm from, I say Chicago... the following dialogue ensues:

Clerk: "I love Juan Atkins!"

Me: (smiling) "I love him too, but he's from Detroit."

Clerk: "Oh! Right! Moodymann is awesome!"

Me: (smiling more) "I know, he's great. He's from Detroit too!"

(I'm glad he didn't mention Theo Parrish or it would've gotten really confusing, lol! I tick off the names of few chicago folks until I mention Marshall Jefferson and his eyes finally light up.)

Clerk: "Marshall Jefferson, Ten City! Great Stuff!"

It's great to see how much love Detroit gets, even when it's misplaced by a hundred miles or so :-)

5 Songs that made me stop the damn car!

2011-07-06T21:36:00.000-07:00

A musical top-5 list request was made by my musical brother Jason over at The League of Extraordinary Music Enthusiasts. I figured I'd answer the call in blog form

The request: Name 5 important songs in your lifetime and the memories attached to each.

This question was too much for me to chew, and I didn't want to take 3 weeks to reply to my fellow League members, so I narrowed it down to... "songs so good I had to stop the damn car!" (either figuratively or literally)

Ron Trent - Altered States - I have had more than a few transcendent moments on a dance floor, but hearing this in 1990... dropped by DJ Psycho Bitch at Shelter-Chicago... wow. I basically climbed the 20 foot wall in front of the DJ booth to ask her who the track was by. Those that know me know I'll still stop mid-conversation and run up on a DJ if something's tight ;-) [ car stop type: figurative ]

Erykah Badu - On and On - was driving down the street in Evanston when local DJ Legend Herb Kent dropped this a good 3 months before anyone in Chicago had it. I remember asking at the record store weekly about this song "On and On" by Erika something-or-other... this joint was just ridiculously unlike anything else out at the time.... with Ms. Badu channeling Billie like a mofo! You can't learn time like that... damn... y'all feel that? [ car stop type: literal ]

Big Pun feat. Fat Joe - Don't Wanna Be a Player no more - I was driving down the street in Detroit... at first I thought it was a local track and I was like "Oh sh!t, tha' D has some fresh hip-hop!" I think this song his hip-hop/r&b perfection... and, to my knowledge, no one has rocked castanets in a beat before or since! I'd also like to think I'm an honorary Puerto Rican when I sing along with the "Boricua, Morena" refrain! [ car stop type: literal ]

Kanye West - Jesus Walks - I think I was walking down the street in the Chi when someone drove by bumping this... might have been just a bit before College Dropout dropped... it was a local DJ who had been blessed with a promo. Might sound crazy, but the moment I heard it, I figured whoever made that song would be one of the biggest things ever. Mr. West is crazy and can act a fool, but you CAN NOT front on his production skills, son. Still amazed that this song got radio play (but in a way, I'm not... its hotness is self-evident and cannot be denied) [ car stop type: figurative ]

Sufjan Stevens - Chicago - Weren't expecting this I bet ;-) I'm eclectic, what?!? I have WXRT in Chicago to thank for this... was station scanning and caught this... major "stop the car moment". I forget which genre bucket Stevens gets put in, but this is some seriously good song writing... love the lyrics and the soft/loud dynamic. [ car stop type: literal ]

This list is by no means exhaustive, and I look forward to all the car-stoppers yet to be revealed...

Pocket Guide to the Wu Tang Clan

2011-05-13T19:15:00.001-07:00

(this post was prompted by a dear friend who's unfamiliar with The Wu and will be seeing them in concert soon...)

For me, the Wu Tang Era began in 1992... I was a DJ at my College radio station ( The NU Music, WNUR 89.3 baby! ) ... The custom at the station was that the program director would preview the new records and make comments on the record sleeve.

One day, A new 12" Single from a then-unknown group called "The Wu Tang Clan" was in the new-release stack. With one word written on the sleeve:

"dope."

The single was Protect Ya Neck. It's hard to overstate how much we loved this tune. Wu Tang Clan had 9 members... every member rapped on the track. And while "posse cuts" were nothing new in hip-hop. What *was* new was that EVERY one of those 8-9 group members delivered an EXCELLENT verse. Each individual voice and approach was distinctive, but the whole thing was just *so* damn unified & coherent and, well, dope. (to borrow our PD's description)

Turns out WNUR was not alone in loving the first single, it was a HUGE college radio hit all over the country. And then? Nothing. We were expecting a followup single, but a good 6 months passed without anything new from the Wu Tang. Oh well, one-hit wonders were (and are) quite common.

Then one day our station manager returned from the CMJ conference in New York with a rumor that a Wu Tang Clan album was coming out... no release date, but he'd heard from someone who'd heard from someone that an album was coming. Not to date myself, but this was in the early days of the internet... there was no real Web yet and email was far from common (hard to believe now, I know) so 3rd hand conversations from music conferences was how us hipsters got our information... positively quaint these days... But, was the rumor true? All of us music junkies at the station were intrigued to say the least.

For about two months straight, I asked my local record store every week:

"Y'all got that Wu Tang album yet?"

And finally in 1993, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) was released. These dudes were no one hit wonders. For my money, this album is the most awesome debut in the history of hip-hop.

Musically, they are unique in that they are truly a supergroup... releasing classic music together and, in equal measure if not greater, releasing classic music as individual artists.

The Wu are fascinating from the perspective of Hip-Hop as business, but if I get into that, this wouldn't be a pocket guide. Although Dan Charnas tells this angle of the story quite well in his book The Big Payback

The Wu Tang Pocket Playlist (roughly chronological... my super-favorites are in bold):

Wu Tang Clan - Protect Ya Neck (From: Enter The Wu Tang (36 Chambers) - 1993
members in order of appearance: Inspectah Deck, Raekwon, Method Man, U-God, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Ghostface Killah, RZA, GZA

Wu Tang Clan - Wu Tang Clan ain't Nothing to Fuck with (From: Enter The Wu Tang (36 Chambers) - 1993
members in order of appearance: RZA, Inspectah Deck, Method Man

Raekwon - Ice Cream (From: Only Build 4 Cuban Linx) - 1995
members in order of appearance: Method Man, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, Cappadonna

GZA - Shadow Boxin - (From: Liquid Swords) - 1995
members in order of appearance: Method Man, GZA

Ol' Dirty Bastard - Shimmy Shimmy Ya (From: Ol' Dirty Bastard - Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version) - 1995

Wu Tang Clan - Triumph (From: Wu Tang Forever ) - 1997
members in order of appearance: Inspectah Deck, Method Man, Cappadonna, Ol' Dirty Bastard, U-God, RZA, GZA, Masta Killa, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon

Wu Tang Clan - Black Shampoo (From: Wu Tang Forever ) - 1997
members in order of appearance: U-God, Method Man

RZA - Samurai Showdown (From: Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai Soundtrack) - 1999

Raekwon - We Will Robb You (From: Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Pt. 2) - 2009
feat. Slick Rick - members in order of appearance: Raekwon, GZA, Masta Killa

(there is an audio companion to this post, just reach out to me if you'd like to listen to it)

5 Really, really well flipped samples (and Record Store Day 2011)

2011-04-17T12:14:00.000-07:00

This has not been the most productive record store week for me with regard to blog posts, in previous years I've tried to add a few top 5 lists leading up to the Big Day (which was yesterday 4/16/11). Could only squeeze out one post this year... c'est la vie.

This year's Top 5 list: 5 really, really well flipped samples

Sampling is a foundation of hip-hop... won't belabor that here, but what exactly does it mean for a sample to be "well flipped"? To me it means that a sample is:

a) used in an unexpected way... bringing out elements of the source material that might have been unconsidered or only hinted at in its original context, or

b) used in an obvious way, but so perfectly executed that you gain an appreciation for the source material, as if hearing it for the first time.

In no particular order, here's a list of 5 really, really well flipped samples, with links to listen to the tunes

Edie Brickell - What I Am sampled by Slow Down (Artist: Brand Nubian - Producer: Grand Puba, Brand Nubian)

Jackson 5 - I Want You Back sampled by H to the Izzo (Artist: Jay Z - Producer: Kanye West)

The Flamingos - I Only Have Eyes for You sampled by Zealots (Artist: The Fugees - Producer: The Fugees) This is perhaps my favorite of the list as the Fugees track places the source material in a completely different context. Also I think Lauryn Hill is as dope as she's ever been on this track.. I mean, come on... sings her own hook *and* drops a ridiculous verse? Bananas.

Soul II Soul - Back 2 Life Acapella sampled by Ha Ha (Slow Down) (Artist: Fat Joe - Producer: Scoop Deville)

Lou Reed - Take a Walk on the Wild Side sampled by Can I Kick It? (Artist: A Tribe Called Quest - Producer: A Tribe Called Quest)

Plus 1 more...

Stan Getz - Saudade Vem Correndo sampled by Runnin (Artist: The Pharcyde - Producer: Jay Dee)

This year's shop: Waterloo Records, Austin Texas

A standout shop in a town with a fair number of really good shops... I was honored to celebrate Record Store day here!

Things I copped from Waterloo Records:

Lucinda Williams - World Without Tears
Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
book: Last Shop Standing: Whatever Happened to the Record Store (by Graham Jones)
Waterloo T-Shirts (for me and the munchkin)

Bonus List: Bands I was hipped (or re-hipped) to by my Austin host Clint Bishop

Band of Horses
Songs:Ohia
Godspeed You Black Emperor

Classic Material: Luther Vandross - Promise Me

2011-02-14T18:14:00.000-08:00

Luther Vandross - Promise Me

Album: Forever, For Always, For Love (Epic, 1982)

As always with Classic Material, if you have to choose between listening and reading... listen!

Let me start by saying that I'm not one of those Luther fans who thinks he could do no wrong... the Dance with My Father single, for example.

But Luther Vandross made precious few missteps as an artist. He never had the Pop success of some of his contemporaries, but for fans of Soul and R&B, Luther is in a league with other "first name's" such as Stevie and Marvin.

While he was not too shabby with a mid or up-tempo jam, Luther was most beloved for his ballads. In fact he wrote or sang enough slow jams to populate at least two "Top 5" lists on that topic. On this Valentine's Day, I'd like to share one of these classics: Promise Me

An album cut from Vandross' 1982 LP Forever, For Always, for Love, Promise Me opens with an almost gospel styled intro of Luther's vocal and Piano. It's a tension building intro that resolves into a simple melody as the first verse begins. The entire arrangement is this awesome combination of sparseness and lushness. Simple melody, exquisitely spare backing work from the rhythm guitar & percussion... strings that Burt Bachrach would have to give props to... and great use of the bass, having it start the tune playing the lead melody and then shift into a rhythm role as the tune closes out. I get goosebumps everytime I listen.

I was super tempted to get into analyzing the "text" that is the song, parsing lyrics and all that, someone smack me if I ever do more than the bare minimum of that crap. Suffice it to say that within the space of 4:45, Luther's lyrics convey first unhappiness and uncertainty about the future, then hark back to the optimism of better days, and the song closes with the chorus "promise me..." repeated like a mantra. It is as classic of a "baby baby please" moment as ever I've heard in R&B. And the truth is, we don't know how the story ends, at least as far as the lyrics are concerned.

The masterful arrangement works to heighten this suspense... ascending minor key melodies are an important part of the tune, but in the verses, first chorus, and bridge, they resolve. Not so with the final chorus... along with the lyrical mantra, the ascending melodies are repeated, never resolving... heightening the tension, but in my opinion communicating an optimism that I like to think hints at happy ending after the fade out.

In my patented, Billy-Dee-Williams-works-everytime slow-jam playlist system, this is "prelude" song... building anticipation for the main event.

Let's be clear though, Luther has plenty of main event songs to choose from... but those, my friends, will be topics for another Valentine's day.

Chuck D: US Lags in Hip-Hop Dopeness

2011-01-06T21:09:00.000-08:00

Hat Tip to Grisel for hipping me to this open letter from Chuck D:

A key point that Grisel picked-up on was that "According to Chuck D, the rest of the world has surpassed the U.S. in hip hop skills (community activism, turntabilism, DJing, dancing, art, etc.)...."

I love Chuck D, I really do, and I think his point about "so many being pimped by so few" is legit. But on the purely artistic tip, I welcome other countries bringing their flavor to hip-hop and "surpassing" the US. Dope is dope, whether it's happening in Beijing, Accra, or Boise. And with all due respect to Chuck D's underlying social point, there's no musical arms race. And even if there were, as Q-Tip said: "competition's good, it brings out the vital parts..."

The story of 20th century popular music is basically a recurring cycle of new forms taking shape here in the US, then travelling around, influencing the world (and then coming back, influenced by the world). Jazz, Blues, Rhythm & Blues, Rock, and now, Hip-Hop. We've seen this movie before, and I think it has a happy ending.... Again, just talking musically here...

Hip-Hop is as mainstream as it gets... Jay Z's new albums get reviewed on NPR and he gets name checked in Miley Cyrus songs. (Full disclosure: Miley's Party in the USA is a guilty pleasure)

Hip-Hop belongs to the world. And as a pioneer, Chuck has earned the right to be crochety and sound ever so slightly like Stanley Crouch. But, Hip-Hop is not what's "next". It will no doubt inform the shape of things to come, but it is the present moment. I love it as much as the next guy, but it is the music of the establishment, sorry.

As far as what's next? I'm eternally psyched that some kids in Capetown, or in Seno, Laos might be cooking up the next musical shot-heard-round-the-world

What (not) to wear when climbing a mountain

2010-12-18T11:18:00.000-08:00

( With a hit tip to Serene, who actually writes a useful blog on running gear )

I'm visiting Montreal for the weekend. The last time I was here was about 7 years ago... from that visit, I fondly remembered taking in great views of the city from Mount Royal (or "The Mountain" / "Le Mont" as the locals call it).

Now, Le Mont isn't a "Mountain" mountain, but as hills go, it's pretty darn big. I decided I was going to take the bus to the summit. This is a pleasure trip after all, and walking up the mountain in the snow wasn't my idea of fun.

I set out and catch bus 1 of 2 for my trip. I almost miss my connecting stop, but don't. On bus #2, everything is looking good. The bus seems to be headed away from the mountain. I check with the driver and she assures me that we're headed up the mountain. She's correct, the bus just has a circuitous route.

After a while, we're headed up the mountain. Up up up we gradually go. I'm enjoying the snowy scene, people out jogging and cross country skiing. Me on the bus. Just the way god intended it! We keep going up and we hit a stretch of road with a great view of the city. I think to myself, "that's beautiful, I can't wait till we get to the top".

The bus makes a stop. Then, down down down we go. I wouldn't say I was panicked, but even though I'm from Illinois I understand the basic features of a hill... I missed the top, doh! I'm thinking there will be another stop soon, but, of course, the next stop is at the bottom of the mountain.

I get off the bus. I eye the mountain, the mountain eyes me. Bring it!

I begin my ascent. Lessons learned:

do not bring a laptop when climbing a mountain, unless it's Everest or K2 and you have sherpas with you.
do not sling your laptop bag over your shoulder, it pinches off air circulation under your coat and makes you get hotter
Slow down! If you try to walk a steep incline at your "level ground" walking pace, you're gonna kill yourself (or at least pass out)
Wear layers (I actually did this... I was removing my hat unzipping/rezipping my jackets for a degree of temperature control.. although I was still all sweaty when I got to the top.

I made it to the top. Well, probably not the technical summit... but it was the highest point the paved trails would take you I think. By the lord's sweet mercy, there is a chalet up here (that's right, I switched tenses, I'm like James Joyce, sucka!) so I've been able to get a vending machine breakfast... which reminds me

eat breakfast before you climb a mountain

A note about the chalet. There are paintings around the walls that depict the story of the development of Montreal from the "pioneer days". I can't help think of the show Parks & Recreation and their mural depicting the history of Pawnee indiana, a history of forced labor, conquest, and disease spreading, that the city fathers saw no problem with.

Ok, enough communing with nature... off to find a record store.

So, what do you love about music?

2010-12-12T19:18:00.000-08:00

One answer, courtesy of the Movie Almost Famous (which will likely make a "top 5 movies about music" list one of these days)

On the topic of "What is music worth to you?" There's a really good article about album pricing in this week's Chicago Reader.

What's An Album Worth? Miles Raymer, Chicago Reader - December 2010
CWCR archive of the article (in case the above link is broken)

5 Rock songs that are ruling my world right now

2010-04-09T09:13:00.000-07:00

Record Store Day is a mere 6 days away... let the listmania continue!

Lest you think I'm only about R&B and House music, here's a list of 5 rock songs that I'm loving... not all new by any stretch, but new is overrated.

Spoon - Trouble Comes Running

Spoon's been around for a good while, but I confess I didn't know them until Jaguar used "I turn my camera on" for a commercial. There's some consensus that they might be the best rock group in America, they're certainly consistent, and this song certainly rocks. (I'm particularly into the drumming... great vocals too) From the album "Transference"

Bat For Lashes - Good Love

I'd been reading/hearing the hipster buzz about her for a while, but a trusted source got me to actually listen to her (thanks Tonya!) This particular cut is moody, dreamy, and somewhat creepy. From the album "Two Suns". Love it.

Taken by Trees - Watch the Waves

Got hipped to this by WBEZ's world music show, Radio M. I'm somewhat cheating and calling this rock because of the vocalist Victoria Bergsman, who was lead singer of The Concretes and has done stuff with Peter, Bjorn & John. But in actuality, this cut is a great slice of downtempo with a noticeably funky feel, courtesy in large part of the Pakistani musicians she worked with in creating her latest album "East of Eden", from which this track is taken.

Tunng - Hustle

Great little ditty that came to my attention courtesy of Will over at Deadwax Records (thanks Will!) Love the video also. From the album, "And Then We Saw Land"

Dixie Chicks - Landslide

I guess I'm cheating again, as the Dixie Chicks are a country group... I claim an exemption given that they're covering a Fleetwood Mac tune. Lead singer Natalie Maines can sing, period... and this group's vocal harmonies stop me in my tracks. From the album, "Home".

I'd also highly recommend Shut up and Sing a documentary about the backlash against the group after Natalie Maines spoke out against George Bush and the Iraq War.

Top 5 Rap Songs with Piano in 'em

2010-04-04T13:40:00.000-07:00

Record Store Day 2010 is approaching soon ( Saturday, April 17th in case you were wondering ) so I pick up my traditon of "Top 5" lists in honor of the occasion.

My first list for this year is Top 5 rap songs with dope piano riffs

I cannot do a rap list without paying homage to the the definitive reference on the subject, Ego Trip's Book of Rap Lists if you're a fan of hip-hop and great writing, this is a great book.

Ok, let's get into it:

Top 5 Rap Songs with Piano in 'em (in no particular order):

Common Sense - Resurrection
Producer: No ID
Album: Resurrection

This is just a classic track anyway and probably my favorite of the tunes in this list. Leaving aside Com's lyrics and flow, which were head and shoulders above the pack then and remain so now, No ID's production is the definition of jazzy hip-hop. The piano sample is from Ahmad Jamal's Dolphin Dance

Gang Starr - F.A.L.A
Producer: DJ Premier
Album: Hard to Earn

Guru really says it all in one of his lyrics on the track: "Suckas we wet to the sound of the dope piano..."

The basis of the sample is actually pretty brief, but it's flipped as only Primo can do it... the loop is chopped at an odd point in the phrase, and as it plays alone in the song's intro, it imparts a sense of being off-balance... and then of course the beat kicks in and the neck snapping commences. I'm reminded that Hard to Earn came out around the same time as the first Wu-Tang album... they have a similar sonic palette. I can't ID the sample, and I'm sure Primo would have it no other way!

Marley Marl - The Symphony
Producer: Marley Marl
Album: In Control Vol 1

Features rappers Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, & Big Daddy Kane. Not sure if this meets the technical definition of a posse-cut, but it's definitely a classic. Marley Marl conducts a clinic on how to make space in the mix... dropping out the piano riff strategically to give each rapper room on the track. Definitely a classic.

BDP - The Bridge is Over
Producer: Scott LaRock
Album: Criminal Minded

Actually a diss-track directed at Marley Marl and his Juice Crew, this is prototypical boom bap from BDP. Consisting of a beat machine, piano, and KRS-One's rhymes... you can't get any simpler. And in the lingo of the day, you couldn't get any more dope.

Jay Z feat. Alicia Keys - Empire State of Mind

Producer: Shux

Album: The Blueprint 3

Interesting to listen to this one right after BDP, you can hear the growth of hip-hop from a raw style into capital-P pop (although some might argue whether this represents "growth"... let's just call it "development" and avoid the aesthetic argument, aight?) For my part, I think this is an awesome cut.

Honorable Mentions

Elliot Lipp feat Jasia 10 - I Don't Know

Producer: Elliot Lipp

Album: City Synthesis

The intro to this one is just awesome. Although not as well known as some the other producers in this post, Elliott Lipp is pretty badass. I love how the piano comes in and out of the track as other instruments pickup the melody. Jasia 10's direct and impeccable flow is a great counterpoint to the track's otherwise airy feel.

Talib Kweli - Get By
Producer: Kanye West
Album: Quality

Must admit I slept on this when it first came out... love it now. Talib's liner notes indicate he was in competion for with Pharoahe Monch and Mariah Carey for this track. I'm trying to imagine what Mariah would have done with this track. I'm glad brother Kweli got it first!

Gucci Mane - Lemonade

Producer: Bangladesh

Album: The State vs. Radric Davis

I think producer Bangladesh might be one of my favorites of the last few years (he also produced the beat for Mario's Break Up, which is just sick). He kills it again with this beat for Gucci Mane. This is a chopsticks interpolation that I'm sure would have Liberace bobbing his head. (note: the link is to the instrumental... not trying to diss Gucci Mane, but the lyrics and flow really don't deserve the beat)