Top 5 Rap Songs with Piano in 'em

Record Store Day 2010 is approaching soon ( Saturday, April 17th in case you were wondering ) so I pick up my traditon of "Top 5" lists in honor of the occasion.

My first list for this year is Top 5 rap songs with dope piano riffs

I cannot do a rap list without paying homage to the the definitive reference on the subject, Ego Trip's Book of Rap Lists if you're a fan of hip-hop and great writing, this is a great book.

Ok, let's get into it:

Top 5 Rap Songs with Piano in 'em (in no particular order):

Common Sense - Resurrection
Producer: No ID
Album: Resurrection

This is just a classic track anyway and probably my favorite of the tunes in this list. Leaving aside Com's lyrics and flow, which were head and shoulders above the pack then and remain so now, No ID's production is the definition of jazzy hip-hop. The piano sample is from Ahmad Jamal's Dolphin Dance


Gang Starr - F.A.L.A
Producer: DJ Premier
Album: Hard to Earn

Guru really says it all in one of his lyrics on the track: "Suckas we wet to the sound of the dope piano..."

The basis of the sample is actually pretty brief, but it's flipped as only Primo can do it... the loop is chopped at an odd point in the phrase, and as it plays alone in the song's intro, it imparts a sense of being off-balance... and then of course the beat kicks in and the neck snapping commences. I'm reminded that Hard to Earn came out around the same time as the first Wu-Tang album... they have a similar sonic palette. I can't ID the sample, and I'm sure Primo would have it no other way!

Marley Marl - The Symphony
Producer: Marley Marl
Album: In Control Vol 1

Features rappers Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, & Big Daddy Kane. Not sure if this meets the technical definition of a posse-cut, but it's definitely a classic. Marley Marl conducts a clinic on how to make space in the mix... dropping out the piano riff strategically to give each rapper room on the track. Definitely a classic.

BDP - The Bridge is Over
Producer: Scott LaRock
Album: Criminal Minded

Actually a diss-track directed at Marley Marl and his Juice Crew, this is prototypical boom bap from BDP. Consisting of a beat machine, piano, and KRS-One's rhymes... you can't get any simpler. And in the lingo of the day, you couldn't get any more dope.

Jay Z feat. Alicia Keys - Empire State of Mind

Producer: Shux

Album: The Blueprint 3

Interesting to listen to this one right after BDP, you can hear the growth of hip-hop from a raw style into capital-P pop (although some might argue whether this represents "growth"... let's just call it "development" and avoid the aesthetic argument, aight?) For my part, I think this is an awesome cut.

Honorable Mentions

Elliot Lipp feat Jasia 10 - I Don't Know

Producer: Elliot Lipp

Album: City Synthesis

The intro to this one is just awesome. Although not as well known as some the other producers in this post, Elliott Lipp is pretty badass. I love how the piano comes in and out of the track as other instruments pickup the melody. Jasia 10's direct and impeccable flow is a great counterpoint to the track's otherwise airy feel.

Talib Kweli - Get By
Producer: Kanye West
Album: Quality

Must admit I slept on this when it first came out... love it now. Talib's liner notes indicate he was in competion for with Pharoahe Monch and Mariah Carey for this track. I'm trying to imagine what Mariah would have done with this track. I'm glad brother Kweli got it first!

Gucci Mane - Lemonade

Producer: Bangladesh

Album: The State vs. Radric Davis

I think producer Bangladesh might be one of my favorites of the last few years (he also produced the beat for Mario's Break Up, which is just sick). He kills it again with this beat for Gucci Mane. This is a chopsticks interpolation that I'm sure would have Liberace bobbing his head. (note: the link is to the instrumental... not trying to diss Gucci Mane, but the lyrics and flow really don't deserve the beat)

Top 5 DJ sets / What I got for Record Store Day

April 17th - Haight St. - San Francisco, CA

.. Well record store day is finally here, and through quite pleasant coincidence I'm writing this having just come from Amoeba San Francisco... I cannot think of a better place to have celebrated this holy day. In honor of the day, I'm hitting you with a double list

Top 5 DJ Sets I've Seen:

#5 - Lil Louie Vega - Winter Music Conference, Miami - 2001

Lil Louie Vega is a master of House... Great weather, amped Winter Music Conference Crowd. Great Set... on the roof of the Sony Building in South Beach, the location was just insane. Louie played a bunch of old school stuff in his set, including Fantasize Me an old school Chicago classic. It was at this point that I lost my sh!t. Good times.

#4 - Lovebug Starski and Pete Rock - Sonotheque, Chicago - 2007ish

Saw this set with my man Chris... If you ever have the opportunity to see Lovebug Starski spin, do it. You won't regret it. Famously name-checked by Biggie on the track "Juicy", Starski just turned Sonotheque into a straight up party! Rapping and Singing in addition to his spot-on song selection and cutting, he was amazing. After seeing him, I finally understood why so many east coast DJs talked on the mic so much during their sets (Funkmaster Flex, Kid Capri, and the like). Perhaps the highest compliment I can pay is that headliner Pete Rock seemed just "really good" in comparison... and Pete Rock is more than just really good.

3# - Gilles Peterson - Plastic People, London - 2001

I think it was Plastic People... it was some club near Picadilly Circus. Regardless, Gilles Peterson absolutely blew my mind. He provided a master class in song selection during his set, eclectic and wide ranging, but unerringly funky. He didn't mix. Let me say that again, he didn't mix. The idea of rocking a party without mixing songs was just a foreign concept to me. (I guess if I look back at the history of party DJing, it shouldn't be so foreign as it was commonplace before the 70s... but still!) I've also rarely seen a DJ in such control of the room. It was about a 2 hour set I think and no one left the floor.

#2 - Lil Louis - Medusa's, Chicago - 1987

This was the night I heard French Kiss for the first time (that track was officially released in 1989 or so, but Louis would play all sorts of unreleased stuff during his DJ Sets) Also making this a classic was the fact that Medusa's was a juice bar, basically a night club for the under 21 set (try doing that in Chicago today) so the energy of the crowd was just phenomenal. I should also say that Lil Louis was and is an extremely on point DJ. He killed it

#1 - Ron Hardy - The Music Box, Chicago - 1988

Number 1 with a bullet, baby. It's actually kind of interesting, if you listen to recordings of Ronnie's sets today, they have a raw feel to them... in the 20 plus years since he was on the scene, the technique of DJing has advanced and become more polished. Ronnie went beyond technique like Jackson Pollock or something. I've heard many many great sets since 1988, but none has ever captured every ounce of my being in the way that Ronnie did on this night. Mind you, this was just a regular night at the box. The influence that Ron Hardy had on many of the early House DJs and producers... and just lovers of House music... is just phenomenal. The flashbulb memory I have of this night is that after playing ridiculously deep and banging house for several hours, he then proceeds to drop Ice T's L.G.B.N.A.F ... it was just the most unexpected, yet most perfect selection... we all went nuts. He's a big reason why I started DJing and have spent so much time in record stores over the years. Which brings me to...

What I got for Record Store Day

- Amoeba Records Hoodie
- Freeway and Jake One: The Stimulus Package
- D'Angelo, Raphael Saadiq, Q-Tip: Lynwood Rose
- The Oscar Peterson Trio: We Get Requests (thanks to Bobby Newton for hipping me to this)
- The White Stripes: The White Stripes
- Wang Chung: To Live and Die in L.A.
- Anita O'Day: Anita O'Day's finest hour
- Weezer: The Blue Album
- Meshell Ndegeocello: Devil's Halo

Metal Haven... I had no idea...

That a record store is going out of business isn't exactly front-page news these days, but I thought this profile in the Chicago Reader was interesting... mostly because I pride myself on being up on record stores and I had no idea this store even existed!

I guess I shouldn't be too shocked, the store is a Metal specialist and my Metal knowledge is limited mostly to Metallica's 1991 "Metallica" album, the one with "enter sandman" on it. I watch Dethklok on Cartoon Network (unsure if that counts for much). And I've been known to listen to Mastodon, but it ain't my area of expertise.

Still, a store winding down, whatever the genre, deserves a moment of silence... Now where is that Metallica CD?

Reports of the SL-1200's death...

...may or may not have been greatly exaggerated,

Caught this link from DanceTracks Digital today

DanceTracks News, Technics Not Dead Yet

Great post... far from a nostalgia piece, they do a great job of describing the SL-1200's importance in the development of DJing and looking forward to the importance that newer digital technology will continue to have on the artform.

All that said, I'll indulge in a brief bit of nostalgia... I often refer to the day I bought my "12s" as the second happiest day of my life (with the birth of my daughter being the first). I remember every detail like it was yesterday... rolling into Guitar Center on Halsted in Chicago with a *plenty* of credit on my plastic. I did it big! Two 12s, bright red flight cases... man, I'm tearing up just thinking about it. Must have been '95 or '96, maybe a bit later.

At this point I'd been DJing for many years, but usually belt drive turntables. (Gemini XL BD-10s for those who care) I briefly had a pair of used 12s that I bought when I was in college (thanks Romaine!). I had *no* business buying that pair, and sold them when I "got out" of DJing. But, this pair was mine, I was a grown ass man, and they weren't ever going to be sold back (and they haven't been!)

I guess I must have driven home, but I don't remember it... I remember buying them, then I remember being back at my apartment setting them up. They've been trusty companions ever since. And just to show you how weird I am... I will put a promo sticker on just about any available surface, but never on my red flight-cases, big stars have the "only blue M&Ms" thing, I guess I have this...

Classic Material: Eddie Kendricks - He's A Friend

pressed for time? just listen to the tune... hearing music is way more important than reading about it!

If you have a few minutes... please allow me to share.

Taken as a whole, I think that American popular music is a human achievement that stands up there with the Pyramids and the Library at Alexandria. It is truly, truly majestic. You can't talk about American popular music without talking about the music of Black Americans... and you can't talk about the music of Black Americans without talking about the influence of religious music such as spirituals and gospel.

Now, before you go thinking I'm about to write about Buildin' me a home or Get Away Jordan, I'm not. (Not that there's a damn thing wrong with talking about either of those songs, mind you)

No, I mention gospel because it provides the thematic underpinning for Eddie Kendricks' deep-house banger He's A Friend.

The title track of Kendricks' 1976 Tamla/Motown album, He's A Friend is a wonderful blend of the Philly Soul and Mid-period Motown vibes. That I call it a deep-house banger speaks to my own initial exposure to the tune. Although it rose to #2 on the Billboard R&B chart in the year it was released, I was about 5 years old then... so it didn't enter my consciousness until I was a teenager and heard Ron Hardy bang it at the Warehouse in the late 80s... it's what us DJ types would call a "5am track"... the track you'd play when only the hardest of hardcore dancers were on the floor. Interestingly, it seems that a lot of 5am tracks have a spiritual/gospel flavor. Maybe it's something about celebrations and sunrise... I remember my mom and her friends sitting around singing church songs in our living room at 5 or 6 in the morning after her and my step-dad's world-famous halloween parties (which I DJed, thank you very much).

But, back to the matter at hand... although Jesus and/or God never get shouted out by name, by the end of the first verse, there's no doubt about the "He" that's being referred to. It's an easy pun, but it is truly an inspired vocal performance by Eddie Kendricks.

Vocals alone do not a classic make however, and producer/arranger/guitarist Norman Harris and the other players on the tune lay down an absolutely killer groove. Soaring string and horn arrangements are anchored by a rock solid rhythm section... for the life of me I'm still trying to figure out how the drummer can be locked-in and swing like that at the same time... guess that's why I'm a DJ and not a drummer! Don't even get me started on the rhythm guitar work. This thing has a bridge (2:17) that lesser songs would kill for as their main theme. And the break (3:29)... my god, the break... well, if I were ever in a debate about the why disco edits are wonderful things... this break would be the only argument I'd need.

If you take the time to dig into the biographies below, you won't be surprised by the massive number of hits the personnel have contributed to. Classic.

---

Eddie Kendricks - He's a Friend
From Album "He's A Friend" Tamla/Motown 1976 T6-343S1

Written by: Allan Felder, Bruce Gray, T.G. Conway
Produced & Arranged by: Norman Harris

Players:
Earl Young - Drums
Norman Harris - Guitar
Vincent Montana - Vibes (note: my ears don't hear vibes on the track, but Montana's a multi-instrumentalist and I just know in my heart-of-hearts he played on this)
Allan Felder - Percussion
Ron "Have Mercy" Kersey - Keyboards
Don Renaldo - Strings, Horns

Biographies:

Norman Harris


Vince Montana


Allan Felder


Earl Young

You know it's time to catalog your records when...

1) You are listening to a mix and hear this absolutely sick track

2) You note the track and then spend the better part of 45 minutes trying to find it online

3) You're looking through your collection for totally unrelated stuff and realize you already have the track!

That's when you know it's time to catalog your record collection.

The track, you ask?  "Cocktail Lounge" by Brother to Brother (Paul Johnson & Gant Garrard) - Dusttraxx, 1999

Chicago Record Stores: Mr. Peabody's

I know I'm sounding like a broken record (bad pun *not* intended.. but there you go) but Chicago is an absolutely awesome city for record stores.

This was reinforced by my visit to Mr. Peabody's out on the South Side, or "South Siiiiiide!" as we native sons say :-) First, I must tell you that I thought Mr. Peabody's had taken over operations from Beverly Records, a south side institution that opened in the 60s. I figured that we were at least treading water in keeping record stores around in the city...Beverly Records gone, Mr. Peabody's arrives, and so goes the circle of life.

Imagine my surprise to learn that Beverly Records was still around and going strong (it'd been forever since I'd been over that way, so I conflated the addresses)
A twofer, sweet... I'll write about Beverly Records in a separate post

Back to Mr. Peabody's... I loved the interior! Decorative records all over the walls... a huge autograph wall on one side of the store.... and the records, oh my.

I was in there for maybe 30 seconds when one of the proprietors drops this wicked mix of Dee-Lite's Good Beat (House heads might think it sounds familiar, the remix is by Pal Joey who did certified-classic Hot Music) Anyways, I snagged the dee lite right away.

I also picked up a couple of other things:

Gonna take a miracle, by Laura Nyro and Labelle
Outline, by Gino Socio

Had a nice chat with Mark Grusane, one of the owners. He helped me ID a track I'd been looking for forever (Sylvester's "I Need You")

A great store holding things down on the far south side!

Mr. Peabody's Records: http://www.mrpeabodyrecords.com/