Smart Music Mondays, Uno Ocho.
Happy
It's been a minute but I'm gonna get you right...
Your weekend is about to come alive with the latest from BamaLoveSoul’s own DJ Rahdu. A musical experience that takes you from mood to mood as it grooves through the best in soul classics, nu soul, hip hop, broken beat, & funk. This eclectic mix filled with trailblazing artists makes you think “damn, he’s playing all my favorite tracks… even though I’ve never heard them before.” The familiarity of each song pulls you into a zone of musical euphoria, and as you complete one genre and travel oh so smoothly to the next, you mentally experience all the flavors music has to offer. An inherent urge to hit the replay button upon each ending, will eventually make you aware that you my friend, have been Culture Shocked.
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1. FS Green - Preppy Lady
2. Michael Jackson - We’re Almost There (DJ Spinna Remix)
3. Regan Fykes - In Love
4. Jill Scott - I’m Not Afraid
5. Masirah - See the Light
6. Archie Bell - Harder & Harder
7. Lee Fields & The Expressions - Ladies
8. J-Live - Braggin Writes
9. DJ Spinna; John Robinson - Lights out
10. Dam Funk - On & On
11. Frank Nitt; DJ Quik; J Black - L.O.V.E
12. Pugs Atomz; Primeridian; Wes Restless - Get it on
13. Mayer Hawthorne - Little Boxes (Weeds intro)
14. Joy Jones - Go Down Moses (Funky Drummer)
15. James Brown - Funky Drummer
16. Nas - Get Down
17. Pac Div - No No
18. A Tribe Called Quest - Jam
19. Q-Tip - For The Nasty
20. Sa Ra - The Bone Song
21. Peter Hadar - Planets
22. Reggie B - Reclaim Ur Mind
23. GB - Dealer Dog
24. Shur-I-Kan - Autumn Leaves
25. Deborah Jordan - Home
26. Chin Chin - go There With You (Ticklah remix)
27. Part time Heroes - Sun Will Shine (scrimshire Remix)
28. Matinalsystem - Tu Voz Es La Musica
29. Afterlife - Sunfish
30. The Latin Project - Cant Get You Out of My Head
31. Chubb Rock; Wordsmith - Ol Skool Flava
Listen up when you get a chance....
While you're at it, feel free to vote for your favorite Mr. Smart Guy (if you feel so inclined) in the 2009 Black Weblog Awards. I have been nominated for 2 awards: Best Blog Design and Best Humor Blog...
I'm truly honored to be selected and I thank each and every person who looked out.
Click on the picture to vote!
Last but definitely not least I'd like to introduce a great musical mind to the stage. Hailing from the Love Below straight your Speakerboxxx, LoudPen is going wax poetic on a weekly basis about her point of view musically. I'd like you all to give a warm round of applause to her....
So, my main man Mr. Smart Guy asked me to let my loud pen holla on My Two Cents. I'll be doing music reviews via Smart Music and I'm excited to able to share my lovely opinion and cents. However, for my first review, I must admit the song didn't make me feel so smart. As you may or may not know, Lil Wayne has released a track called "Whip It Like a Slave". Upon hearing the track via YouTube, I realized that Lil Wayne had hit an all time low.
In the song, Lil Wayne compares making crack to whipping it like a slave. I'm sorry Lil Wayne, but, since when did slaves whip anybody? I must be like completely brain deficient, because, I thought it was the masters that did the whipping. And, I could've sworn that ish didn't feel good. Who in the world wants to be whipped? Every person that was ever spanked as a child, can usuallly decribe their worse whooping well into adulthood. Which is why I'm trying to figure out why Wayne thinks that this is a good metaphor. The memory of slavery is very painful, because of how it has affected black people and then to compare, the worst period of black history, with a product of the drug epidemic, ie. the black male drug dealer-turned-rapper who cooks crack is just...just...I don't know. My pen's losing ink.
I'm shocked by Lil Wayne's ability to simplify two of the worst epidemics to people of color, into the most mind numbingly stupid song, I've ever heard. I guess that what makes him *cough* *Looks around with disgust* the best rapper of alive. Anybody who can make hurtful stains of the past, and make them seem cool has to have some talent. I know it seems strange that I am both critiquing and complimenting, but, Lil Wayne does have the gift of rhyme. He simply chooses it to pass more idiocy around. And just when people were starting to respect Hip-Hop, because, of Pac, Jay, Nas, Biggie, here comes Lil Mosquito *clears throat* Wayne. All he talks about is his money, hoes, and clothes. However, unlike his predecessors he insists on glorifying a life style that can be gone in a minute. If you ain't killed by other hustlas, getting high on your own supply, you probably end up in jail.
And idiots like Wayne, make this seem cool. Just live the paranoid life of hustla, smoke weed with your boys, get these hoes, and make that money. Listen to Pac, Jay, Nas, Biggie, some old school Kane, Rakim, Cube and each one of them will tell you that ain't no way to live. Like Jay said, "We hustle out of a sense of hopelessness, sorta of a desperation, thru that desperation we become addicted, sorta like the fiends we accustomed to serving." - (Can I Live) But, Wayne insists on buzzing like the annoying little fly he is, alll in up in everyone's ear with that bzzz, bzzz, bzzz sound. Ugh, well I'm bout to get the fly swatter from off the top of the refrigerator and kill that fly once and for all.
And there it is. The Pen Has Spoken.
Destiny's CHild: The Writing's on the Wall
This week's, album of the week, is The Writing's on the Wall by Destiny's Child. Yes, I chose an old school album such as this one, because, it is a classic and I just realized it this week. Before continuing, I must announce that I am a certified Sasha Fierce Support Representative, so the Queen is just that in my eyes. So there is no need for "Beyonce` kicked those girls out of the group" type comments, because, I am uncocerned with age old gossip that no one can prove.
Anyways, this album begins with Destiny's Child talking to the Godfather about the rules and regulations of relationships. In case you didn't notice, each member of the group is announced followed by an Italian last name. This is important, because, in the Italian Mafia there were four main families in power and they each came from different parts of Italy. Each family was a representative of where they came from. It is during this introduction, that the Godfather decides that everyone should follow Destiny's Child commandments in order to avoid drama in relationships.
Throughout the album, each commandment is introduced before the song, and the song always deals with the commandment directly. For instance, before "So Good" the commandment is "Thou Shalt Not Hate". In essence, the song "So Good" is about how D.C. had to deal with haters upon achieving their initial success as a group. The album continues to move throughout the commandments and touches on all kinds or relationships. "Bills, Bills, Bills" deals with the lazy boyfriend, while "If You Leave" deals with a couple who is falling in love, but, unsure of their love, because, they are both currently stuck in bad relationships.
Essentially, this album is just that, essential. If you didn't cop it back in '98, then, you need to cop it now. And if you lost your copy, re-buy it. You might just find that Bey's a better songwriter than you think, cause, you have to keep in mind she was like 17 or 18 when this album dropped and she already had some serious insight on relationships. From now on, I'm following the Writings on the Wall..who's with me?
And there it is. The Pen Has Spoken.
-LoudPen
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