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Al Green |
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Monty Alexander |
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Jurassic 5 |
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Al Green’s “Love And Happiness” is one of those tunes that’s loved by all. Enjoy the original, and consider adding a couple of clever reinterpretations to your MP3 collection.
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Wrektime
Sound Bwoy Bureill
Home Sweet Home Album: Dah Shinin’ (1995) |
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I couldn’t decide if Smif-N-Wessun’s Dah Shinin’ should be categorized within LP Classics or Crate Diggin’.
One the one hand, Dah Shinin’ is a mid-90s banger, and was part of a wave of releases that brought some shine back to New York hip hop after years of West Coast dominance. So LP Classics seems like the right place for this post.
On the other hand, unless you were a serious connoisseur of rap, you’ve probably never heard of Smif-N-Wessun, its talented MCs Tek and Steele, or their underrated producers, Da Beatmizerz. The duo appears to identify itself with an underground aesthetic; so from that perspective, maybe Crate Diggin’ would be the more appropriate categorization.
It’s the rare record that can be both amazing and unknown, but Dah Shinin’ pulls it off. It’s not for everyone, though. The lyrics are raw, the beats are moody and ambient. And kids should definitely not attempt to learn spelling from the duo; everything in the Smif-N-Wessun universe uses ridiculous, phonetic spelling. (“Wipe Ya Mouf”?)
But for those who can hang with the realness, Da Shinin’ is one of hip hop’s most steady LPs; having a single producer oversee the record makes a huge difference to its flow.
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Ain’t No Fun (If the Homies Can’t Have None)
Oh No
The Set Up (Remix) |
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Sad to hear of Nate Dogg’s recent passing. Nate wasn’t the first singer to provide R&B-style hooks on rap records (TJ Swan, perhaps?), but I can’t remember any R&B/hip hop hybrid prior to Nate’s 1992 appearances on Dr. Dre’s The Chronic that didn’t inflict collateral damage to anyone’s street cred.
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Workinonit
Two Can Win
Don’t Cry Album: Donuts (2006) |
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J Dilla’s Donuts isn’t for everyone. It has zero commercial aspirations, and would fairly be categorized as an experimental art project. But for those of us who like to deconstruct how producers dig for and manipulate samples, Donuts abounds with creativity and originality.
Donuts is sui generis: impossible to imagine anyone else creating it, and with no apparent influences. Sure, many others have started with the same set of tools — a diverse stack of vintage vinyl (most of it rare 45s), an MPC drum machine, a turntable, and a Mac — but no one synthesized these elements quite like Dilla.
Most of the time, sample-based productions extract a few seconds of a track, loop it, and layer a beat on top of it. But Dilla can chop up a track into precise chunks, then reform it into its hipper cousin.
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The Phunky Feel One (Extended Version)
How I Could Just Kill A Man (The Killer Mix) Released in 1991 |
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Sometimes, I get mad. These tracks help get the aggression out.
There is no B-side on this 12″; both of these tracks are 5-star classics, and murder on the dancefloor.
‘Nuff said.