JoAnn Garrett - Just a Taste

Chess is one of my favorite labels and "Just a Taste" happens to be one of my favorite records. Originally i came across it discovering a break (walk on by) that DJ Shadow used on ENDTRODUCING (napalm brain). As is my customary practice...I scour the records that include breaks/samples/music i love. And thats where the REAL gem was found. "its no secret" has been a favorite tune of mine since i 1st heard it. no open breaks per say..but funky and soulful nonetheless. listen to her bug out at the end. GENIUS!

Joann Garrett - Walk on By(http://www.zshare.net/audio/56744252bea176/)
Joann Garrett - It's No Secret (http://www.zshare.net/audio/56744601bca223/)

Asterisk

haha..he who laughs last...laughs best.

i am happy today. karma is a GRANDmother. today i eagerly await America's reaction to the Mitchell report. the Mitchell report named tens of baseball players connected to the use of steroids and/or HGH (human growth hormone). anyone who has been following the steroids story in baseball know that rumblings of steroids have been rampant since Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa led the attack on Roger Maris' homereun record and that these rumblings reached their peak as Barry Bonds passed all time Homerun leaded Henry Aaron. marck Ecko (punk ass) even bought Barry Bonds' record breaking ball and stamped it with an asterisk. haha. i thought that was odd for a numer of reasons

1. baseball is a game of cheating (spitballs, pine tar, stealing signs, sandpaper, corked bats) you name it.

2. shouldnt all the records made before Blacks were allowed to play have asterisks as well. they werent playing against all the best competition...no???

3. Mark McGwire don't have no asterisk.

So out of all the names that appear on Mitchell's list. Which one has the most far reaching implications for ASTERISKS??? Why the "greatest living pitcher"...Roger Clemens of course. Roger has all the same circumstantial evidence against him that Barry did. Got stronger as he got older. Got much bigger as he got older. Kept winning Cy Youngs. But he never faced the scrutiny that Barry did...hmm

Well now that the holder of the most Cy Youngs, 2nd most strikeouts, 2nd most wins in the "modern era"...lets see who rushes to place an asterisk next to his achievements or NOT!

LOL

the generation gap

had a convo with a youngin yesterday. here's the highlights

1. jeezy is dope cause he's a "real" guy. he doesnt rhyme particularly well or come up with creative concepts but...he sells drugs for real and that counts for something.

2. WE don't listen to wu-tang. (still trying to figure out exactly who "we" is)

3. lil wayne is the best.

all i can say is....

BOB JOHNSON YOU NEED YOUR ASS WHUPPED!

i hope the youngin sees this...listen to this lil homey. its for you and others who dont know what hip hop is/was/going to be. y'all listen to some other shit..for some other shit

organized konfusion- thirteen (http://www.zshare.net/audio/5050111fa60750/)

Behind in my Blogging

Yeah...i'm a little behind in my blogging. It's been over a month. truth is...I'm knee deep in the new album (putting it together) at the same time finishing the Sputnik Brown record (the 12" is out btw...high water/fat beats distro). I'm pretty much a tunnel vision type of guy. it's hard for me to work on two, three things simultaneously. i think its a side effect of my particular meticulous type of insanity. I am happy with how things are progressing. I'm making a hard, purist type of hip hop record (3 shades of Black/sputnik brown) and an avant garde, hoping to piss people off, artistic and hey i've grown up record (a moment's lifetime/howard lloyd). in the past i've had some type of audience i was pandering too. this time though...the audience is me. I need the balance found between the compromising aspects of the group and the unboundless spirit of my solo project. in fact "a moment's lifetime" is probably a reaction to the sput situation...which I love but its like being married to four people. It's hard as hell getting six grown men on the same page at the same time. but its getting done and the music is dope as hell.
At some point I'll explain the new album title "a moment's lifetime". for now i gotta get back to work. i'll leave you with a sput joint and some more winehouse demos. i find the demos to be more "spiritual" in the sense they seem less contrived (i liked that contrived shit though too). enjoy.....
Sputnik Brown feat CyMarshall Law - Unadulterated (http://www.zshare.net/audio/46394479ff40fd/)
Amy Winehouse - Some holy War/demo (http://www.zshare.net/audio/463947356aacdf/)
Amy Winehouse - Fools gold (http://www.zshare.net/audio/4639492847570e/)

thoughts on amy...

y'all probably don't know this about h lloyd but i'm a rather ambivalent cat. almost to the point of being a walking oxymoron. i mean i'm a high yellow black nationalists who likes wearing armani and an occasional daishiki. some would say i'm confused. i'd say my ego confuses me...as i am all things but yet my ego places me in boxes...i digress.

i say all of this because ms. winehouse also causes ambivalence in me. i think that she is a supremely talented vocalist and writer but some of her stuff is knockoff. i can live with the drugs and the craziness because usually the best artists are crazy and/or drugged out. i think its cause most artists are in some sort of pain and that pain is the source of their artistic expression, depression, and subsequent unhealthy behaviors. that being said..."wake up alone" was probably my favorite song on her disc. to my delight i was then blessed with this more acoustic version...even possibly an early demo or alternate version...i dont know...don't really care.

this shit is dope.

amy winehouse: wake up alone alt. version (http://www.zshare.net/audio/3787019809ad08/)

EEEEEEEE

(photo credit: Jamel Shabazz...check out "a time before crack" and "back in the days" on Powerhouse press)
so, i'm walking through brooklyn and i spot a YOUNG cat wit a gumby. this cat happened to be walking wit a next brother with a flat top and dark fade. i must be dreaming. but I AM NOT. the 80s is back in full swing...just ax j*davey...uh huh uh huh.

ANYWAYS

i decided to go and tag some quintessesntial 80s joints...at least how i remember on radio. The Force MD's are frequently overlooked in my opinion. they mixed street corner doo wop with 80s R&B/hip hop. "Let Me Love You" was a smash on NY radio in 1984 (i just found out it wasnt a national hit) and they followed with TEARS, TENDER LOVE, LOVE IS A HOUSE. These brothers were bad...Tragedy struck the group twice as TCD and Mercury both passed away in the mid-late 90s. dope group.

4 by Four is another NY group (at least 2 of em was from the BX). They were one of the many new Edition knockoffs to come along during the 80s. This 1 song though (written and produced by READY FOR THE WORLD's Melvin Riley) burned into the consciousness of horny teenagers everywhere. I rarely see this.

MC EZ (aka Craig Mack) & TROUP blew my mind when i heard red alert playing this 1. i remember waiting for him to play it again for like 4 weeks. it'd be ill if i coulda burnt the MP3 straight from cassette live from radio...but dem tapes BEEN GONE. This song also certifies Craig Mack a special place in hip hop history...not many cats (see Puba post) made quality joints in 3 different decades.

Nice and Smooth ripped "We Are #1". Ok...its not a quintessential NY song but it is a quintessential H lloyd song. The rhymes, the crispy drums, the harmonies and word samples!!!

No need to say much about "i Got It Made". this is the businesslike mix though. i remember they use to play this one on KISS all the time and i'd be like "why they playing this 1???"

Force MD's: Let Me Love You (http://www.zshare.net/audio/3344754b19072e/)

4 by Four: Come Over(http://www.zshare.net/audio/3344653df93611/)

Special Ed: I Got It Made (http://www.zshare.net/audio/33448032fec49a/)

MC EZ & TROUP: Get Retarded (http://www.zshare.net/audio/3345003c74e9ea/)

Nice & Smooth: We are #1 (http://www.zshare.net/audio/3345173404bfe3/)

Who Stole My Last Piece of Veggie Chicken?

i'm a crazy artist because i'm overly cerebral; not to mention a moody ass virgo. lately with my new record i'm going through the morning sickness phase. i wake up sick...usually between 1-2am about 4 times a week. i usually get my best work done then. for some reason the quiet allows me to get "myself" out the way and just allow the music to happen. unfortunately...my moodiness normally wrecks havoc on those closest to me but that is for discussion on some next, other, parallel blogosphere.

mood swings are usually induced by writers and/or beat block. see...i can see the vision super clear, 40/20 clarity. its just easier saw than done. i'm not an artist that can just sit down and on command create. i mean i can but i just prefer to not work that way. sometimes the mpc magnetizes me. sometimes lines just come to me. i understand full well that this stuff is channeled. sometimes i got reception and sometimes i dont. i alternate periods of feast and famine. lately though it seems as if i'm being pulled in two different directions. i started the project with the intent of taking the subtle rock aspects of the quickie and embellish them, flesh them out further. and the music me and dude spectacular have thus far laid down is stellar in my own opinion. concurrently...i've made a couple of sparse. big drums, deep bass, glistening but subtle highs, low end theory 2008 type tracks. now i dont know how or if these would tracks could or would work together back to back... we'll have to see as the arrangements are further developed.

in other developments The Quickie EP will shortly be available in LIMITED EDITION WHITE VINYL (ooh)...i'm psyched about that. the record will also have a bonus cut plus 3 instrumentals. wretched of the earth is also fixin to license the digital rights for this LE quickie release to a very reputable label. The vinyl will be limited to 1000 copies. Y'all besta snatch these up. My first release (h.o.r. entertainment "Why It Gotta Be Me?" is fetching $100 all over da innanet!!!

Cop ya own copy if you is a baller.

http://woerecords.gemm.com

Wretched of the Earth is now a limited edition vinyl only label. no more Cds. Look for 3 sided vinyl, picture discs....OK OK...enough of the advertising. soon come. all ima say is cats is colonizing the art and i'm resisting like queen NZINGA.

nobody stole my veggie chicken. i did leave my (veggie) schrimp pad thai from VP's 2 (NYC y'all know whattup) out and had to throw it out this morning..."i left out my pad thai and had to throw it out" sucks as a tagline though.

paz