MOS DEF ON DOOM (MF DOOM)-VIDEO

Okay, so I'm officially being lazy by not putting up any new music in the past few days, but I'm back in Mecca (my ironic pet name for my hometown of Milwaukee) for a few days, diggin' for treats, making beats, and putting up some ebay heat. Don't worry, I'll be posting some of my recent finds in a few.
Anyways, I peeped this video yesterday and thought it was too funny not to share. Mos Def going over some of Doom's hottest lyrics. It's great to hear an emcee as dope as Mos gush about another rapper, plus he's a funny dude. He shouts out some quality jazz music; Miles Davis, Coltrane, Mingus, which is refreshing to hear as well.



This is ridiculously dope writing and hilarious:
"What up
To all rappers shut up with ya shuttin up
And keep your shirt on, at least a button up
Yuck, is they rhymers or strippin males?
Outta work jerks since they shut down Chippendales"

Me, D.A. From Chester French, and M.anifest After Concert

Chester French & M.anifest on tour bus from M.anifest on Vimeo.

That's me on the left with my guys D.A. from Chester French and M.anifest after the Chester French/Lady Gaga concert last night (3/23) in Minneapolis. Baraka and Max Drummey are also featured in the second part. Good times last night, all the members of the band and family were real cool, can't wait for the album.

GEORGE DUKE- A BRAZILIAN LOVE AFFAIR- LP: SUMMER MUSIC

GEORGE DUKE- A BRAZILIAN LOVE AFFAIR- LP- EPIC RECORDS- 1979
For the second straight day it's been 50 degrees plus in the Twin Cities, which for mid-March is a miracle, or a sure sign of global warming, depending on how you look at it. Anyways, the weather's got me thinking 'bout spring and summer and few tunes say "warm weather" like George Duke's brilliant "Brazilian Love Affair" off of this LP. George Duke's use of Brazilian percussion, (maned by the legendary percussionist Airto) guitars, and vocal harmonies, as well as his standard synth experimentation, give this joint a unique sound that makes you feel like you're at the beach in Rio, or at least somewhere warm. The LP features a great cast of Brazilian musicians who help create great jazz/funk/soul/Brazilian fusion, including Flora Purim, Raul De Souza, Milton Nascimento and the aforementioned Airto. Enjoy the song and the warm weather, those of you in MN.

A BRAZILIAN LOVE AFFAIR

PHAROAH SANDERS- VILLAGE OF THE PHAROAHS-LP- SPIRITUAL JAZZ

PHAROAH SANDERS ft. SEDATRIUS BROWN- VILLAGE OF THE PHAROAHS- LP- IMPULSE RECORDS- 1973
Impulse Records is home to some of my favorite jazz LPs of the 1960s and 70s, right up there with CTI, Blue Note, and Black Jazz labels. Impulse is especially strong on the spiritual jazz tip (Pharoah, Alice and John Coltrane, Yusef Lateef, etc.) and this record is no exception. The 15 minute long title track "Village of the Pharoahs", which actually broken up into 3 parts on the album but plays seamlessly, is spiritual-free jazz at it's best. All types of saxophone soloing from Pharoah, backed by a loose, funky rhythm section featuring some very exotic percussion instruments and well as the standard acoustic bass and grand piano. The track has a distinctly Southern Asian/Middle Eastern feel to it especially as Kylo Kylo (that's the musician's name) drops in with the tambura throughout the track. I could talk all day about the title track alone, much less the rest of the album, but it's probably best to check it out for yourself.

Get it here

OSCAR PERRY-WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT: PRIVATE MODERN SOUL 7"

OSCAR PERRY- WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT- 7" SINGLE- QUAZAR RECORDS- 1985
A nice recent find of mine, I bought this without listening to it off the hunch that a mid-eighties 7" on an obscure label, Quazar Records, would most likely have something interesting on it; plus it cost me only $2. My gamble was rewarded when I brought it home and flipped it to the b-side ("Snap Your Fingers" is the a-side, how they picked this as the b-side I'm not sure). "We're Gonna Make It" is a real slick uptempo, modern soul tune.

DAN BOADI-MONEY IS THE ROOT OF EVIL-LP- Ghanaian Afro Beat HEAT

DAN BOADI & THE AFRICAN INTERNATIONALS- MONEY IS THE ROOT OF EVIL- LP- NAAP PRODUCTIONS
One of the many benefits of kicking it with an international group of friends is getting access to music you otherwise wouldn't get the chance to hear or sometimes even hear about. When my guy M.anifest made a trip back to his native Ghana a few years ago, I made sure to let him know to grab any Ghanaian music he could come across, especially any Afro-beat/highlife, and especially on vinyl. He brought back a good number of LPs and singles, but this was hands down the find of the bunch. I had actually encountered Dan Boadi's music briefly through a re-issue 12" single of "Money Is the Root of Evil" on Turntable Lab's website back in the day, and the tune hit me so much that when I threw this LP on the turntable and heard the exact same bassline drop I almost lost bowel control in excitement. I never thought that I would be able to get my hands on an OG copy of such a dope, obscure Afro-beat LP. Turns out this record was recorded by Boadi and the African Internationals in Chicago, which makes me hopeful I might be able to find another copy at some point in time in my digging life, but in the mean time I'll enjoy what I got. Check out the title track and "Play That Funky Music" (not the Wild Cherry version) below.

MONEY IS THE ROOT OF EVIL


PLAY THAT FUNKY MUSIC

GOSPEL BOOGIE: SAM DAVIS AND THE GOSPEL ENSEMBLE

SAM DAVIS AND THE GOSPEL ENSEMBLE- KEEP ON PRAISING HIM- LP- CADA RECORDS- 1981
Another genre of music I used to not check for was gospel. I was brought up Catholic, albeit very liberally, but it was a semi-traumatic experience nonetheless, so the idea that people could make good, or even funky music in a religious environment was entirely foreign to me. That is until I worked up the strength to check out a few gospel records that I was told were dope. It takes a little time getting used to hearing people sing about Jesus over some funky music, but I figured that I've been listening to obscenity laced hip-hop music for my entire life, so I can handle a little church talk in my music as well. The title track to this LP is dope enough to convert, no pun intended, even the most stubborn listener with a super funky bassline, some crispy claps, and nice piano chords. Check it out a slightly shortened version of "Keep On Praising Him" below. And by the way, I got a copy of this LP up on ebay this week (a little shameless self promotion).

BLUE EYED SOUL: ANDREW LEWIS BAND-THE BLUE ALBUM

ANDREW LEWIS BAND-THE BLUE ALBUM- LP- RICHMOND RECORDS- 1977
I found this record in the jazz section in a local record spot and threw it on the turntable expecting late-70's fusiony jazz/funk/rock. But I was surprised to hear more straight up soul/funk type tunes, certainly with a jazz/rock influence (hey it's an all white band with one brother on vocals) but definitely not the crazy fusion sound I was expecting. I wanted to post the whole LP up here, but upon further listening there were a couple of skips on my copy, so I picked my two favorite joints on here to share instead. "Midnite Man" is a very dope horn-heavy with some potential sample moments, while "A New Day" is a slice of some real nice mellow soul. And if anybody has a cleaner copy they'd like to share with me, please let me know (oduckworth@gmail.com).

"MIDNITE MAN"

"A NEW DAY"

BOOGIE 7"-NEW GUYS ON THE BLOCK- THE GROOVE

NEW GUYS ON THE BLOCK- THE GROOVE- 7" Single- SUGARHILL RECORDS- 1984
Don't get it twisted the name of this group is New GUYS on the Block, not New Kids, very important difference; I doubt the "Kids" could ever make a track of this quality. "The Groove" is the B-side of this single with the A-Side being a semi-unimpressive, slow modern soul tune entitled "What I Wouldn't Give". "The Groove" is pretty much an instrumental cut with only minimal vocals, but the track evolves nicely with a couple of changes to keep it interesting. Make sure you listen past the 1:35 mark and peep the nasty rhythm created between the guitar, bass, drums, and somebody playing a funky ass triangle... yes the funky triangle.