Song of the Week

Ahh, the 80’s. Synth-pop. I miss it.

Real Life – “Send Me An Angel”

Song of the… “Week”

Okay, I’m getting a little behind on my schedule. It probably has something to do with the fact that I’ve taken a break from DJ’ing for the moment.
I haven’t given a shoutout to the Beastie Boys yet. Masters of sampling (not Diddy-style looping) and crazy doo-doo rhymes, i.e.:

Long distance from my girl and I’m talking on the cellular
She said that she was sorry and I said yeah the hell you were

Here’s one of their more entertaining songs, possibly one of the best videos in history (besides Sabotage).

Song of the Week

Maybe one day, Rihanna will make a really great song as part of the soundtrack to a post-apocalyptic movie. And she’ll have to star in it, in a really funky costume.

The New Ike and Tina?

Chris Brown and Rihanna record a duet.

Ike and Tina Turner were both tremendously talented, despite their interpersonal issues, meaning that Ike was controlling and abusive. It led to some good music. And Tina’s solo career has been pretty solid. It’s a shame that Rihanna will most likely continue dealing with abuse before realizing her own potential.

“… restrictions on the scope of individual liberty.”

Several internal Justice Department memos from the Bush administration have been released and we can see some of the ideas that they had for the New American Century, including restricting freedom of speech in order to “wage war successfully.”

I frequently hear people ponder what we’ll discover over the years about things that George W. Bush protected us from, i.e. thwarted terrorist attacks. It seems that we’re already discovering the harm that was almost done to the Constitution during his two terms.

Song of the Week

I don’t know how I feel about the juxtaposition of MC Hammer and Eazy-E towards the end, but this was an impressive effort at the time of its release. Getting all of those artists together on one track to speak out against the Bloods/Crips violence was just short of being another USA for Africa.

The West Coast All Stars – “We’re All In The Same Gang”

Listen for Ice T’s verse. Digital Underground’s verse is pretty amazing as well.

As a bonus, here they are on the Arsenio Hall Show, which in retrospect was a more interesting and courageous show than any late-night talk shows that I can recall. Arsenio made his guests squirm with some tough questions and didn’t shy away from controversy.

And by the way, that’s Tupac standing in for Shock G as Humpty.

Song of the Week

From the excellent Sex Packets LP, Digital Underground. Doowutchyalike.

Song of the Week

Not much to say about this one. I like the beat and the bass. And I got sidetracked and didn’t do a post last week, so this is kinda rushed.

Masta Ace – Born to Roll

Song of the Week

This song just makes me want to dance. The last time I played it, the people on the dance floor just looked around at each other, a little bewildered. It’s multi-layered, with horns and a good beat, so you can dance to either, which means that all you have to do is move your body and no one will no what you’re actually following.

James Brown. Without him, there would be no Michael Jackson, no Prince. That means that maybe The Beatles would be the biggest influence on modern music and I don’t think that would be as much fun.

Get Up Offa That Thing

The Portrait

Is this really what the next United States President is going to look like?  He doesn’t look like the other 42 guys.