Show 20 - The '90s On My Mind

As I've begun to go back and listen to some of the iconic albums of the '90s, I've discovered that the jazz and soul-influenced aesthetic of underground hip-hop from the previous decade makes for really great summer music. Maybe it's that things seemed a little sunnier in retrospect, what with the economic recession and all? Whatever it is that made '90s hip-hop so buoyant, it seemed worthwhile to spend an hour looking back at the '90s by playing one (or two) track from each year of the decade -- with the exception the opening track by Giant Panda, which served as thematic inspiration.


Show 20 - The '90s On My Mind
27 July 2009

1. Giant Panda - "'90s," Fly School Reunion
2. Mic Break
3. Brand Nubian - "All For One," One for All
4. Gang Starr - "Love Sick," Step In the Arena
5. The Pharcyde - "Passin' Me By," Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde
6. Souls of Mischief - "That's When Ya Lost," '93 'Til Infinity
7. Nas - "The World is Yours," Illmatic
8. Mic Break: Ol' Dirty Bastard - "Rawhide (Instrumental)," Rawhide (Single)
9. GZA - "Liquid Swords," Liquid Swords
10. The Fugees - "Fu-Gee-La," The Score
11. De La Soul - "The Bizness," Stakes Is High
12. Rakim - "It's Been A Long Time," The 18th Letter
13. Black Star - "Definition," Black Star
14. Mic Break: Lauryn Hill - "Doo Wop (That Thing) (Instrumental)," The Live Education of Lauryn Hill
15. The Roots - "The Next Movement," Things Fall Apart
    

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Show 19 - Summer Jams

When I was growing up in the Seattle area, my brother and I got our hip-hop from KUBE 93.3. I don't know if they still do this, but every summer, KUBE would throw a huge festival, appropriately named Summer Jam. (I imagine this is not unique to Seattle or KUBE.) I never had to occasion to go to Summer Jam, but the warm weather of a few weeks ago made me want to throw my own Summer Jam. (This seems especially appropriate a few weeks late given the unbearable heat the is currently oppressing the Pacific Northwest, from whence I just returned for a visit.)

There are certain tunes that just sound like summer. Some because of their content (DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince's "Summertime" for one) and others simply have that summery something that goes perfect with a glass of lemonade and a warm July breeze. Consequently, the Summer Jams theme of Show 19 was less rigid than past shows and more about capturing and setting a mood. It was my Summer Jams mixtape of sorts.

Show 19 - Summer Jams
13 July 2009

1. DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince - "Summertime," Homebase
2. Mic Break: Mungo Jerry - "In the Summertime"
3. Q-Tip - "Let's Ride," Amplified
4. Blu & Exile - "First Things First," Below the Heavens
5. Pep Love & Jay Biz - "Days of Blueness," The Shamen
6. Common - "Make My Day," Universal Mind Control
7. Mic Break: Sublime - "Doin' Time (Marshall Arts Remix Instrumental)," Sublime (10th Anniversary Edition)
8. Blackalicious - "Blazing Arrow," Blazing Arrow
9. People Under the Stairs - "San Francisco Knights," The Next Step
10. Blue Scholars - "The Inkwell," Blue Scholars
11. A Tribe Called Quest - "Can I Kick It?," People's Instinctive Rhythms and the Paths of Rhythm
12. Mic Break: Exile - "Your Summer Song," Radio
13. Coolio - "Fantastic Voyage," It Takes a Thief
14. Zion I - "Country Baked Yams," The Takeover
    

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Tonight on Yo! KALX Raps!

Summer jams to celebrate the beautiful weather I've been enjoying here in the East Bay.

Tune in to KALX 90.7 FM (or go here to listen online) tonight from midnight to one.
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Show 18 - Michael Jackson Tribute

In addition to how unexpected his death was, the craziest thing about Michael Jackson's passing -- for me at least -- is that up until a few weeks ago, I had never lived in a world without Michael Jackson. Granted, MJ occupied a peripheral place in my world growing up mostly limited to that song he did for the Free Willy soundtrack. (As blasphemous as it is to say at this time, I have never owned a Michael Jackson record.) While he wasn't someone I listened to with any regularity, Michael Jackson was always someone I enjoyed. And for the record, "Thriller" stands as the quintessential Halloween track.

Over the last few weeks, the King of Pop's catalog as gotten more than it's fair share of attention. As important as it is to pay tribute, I'm sure I wasn't the only one getting a little tired of hearing MJ everywhere from MTV to NPR. For last month's bonus Yo! KALX Raps! I decided to honor Michael Jackson's legacy by looking at hip-hop songs that have sampled his work.


Show 18 - Michael Jackson's Legacy
29 June 2009
[Sampled Song and Album Listed in Brackets]

1. Naughty By Nature - "O.P.P.," Naughty By Nature [Jackson 5 - "ABC," ABC]
2. Mic Break : Michael Jackson - "Bad (Dub Version)," Bad
3. Little Brother - "Watch Me," The Minstrel Show ["With a Child's Heart," Music & Me]
4. Jeru the Damaja - "Mental Stamina," The Sun Rises in the East ["Billie Jean" (drum kit), Bad]
5. Ghostface Killah - "Street Opera," More Fish ["Ain't No Sunshine," Got To Be There]
6. Puff Daddy - "It's All About the Benjamins (Remix)," No Way Out [Jackson 5 - "It's Great to Be Here," Maybe]
7. Murs - "Can It Be (Half A Million Dollrs and 18 Months Later)," Murs For President ["I Wanna Be Where You Are," Got To Be There]
8. Aaliyah - "Got To Give It Up," One In a Million ["Billie Jean" (drum kit), Bad]
9. Mic Break: Michael Jackson - "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough (Instrumental)," Off the Wall
10. 2Pac - "Letter 2 My Unborn," Until the End of Time ["Liberian Girl," Bad]
11. Nas - "It Ain't Hard To Tell," Illmatic ["Human Nature," Thriller]
12. Jay-Z - "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)," The Blueprint [Jackson 5 - "I Want You Back," Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5]
13. Kanye West - "Good Life," Graduation ["P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)," Thriller]
14. DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince - "Rhythm Trax - House Party Style," He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper ["Thriller" (Vincent Price's laughter), Thriller]
15. Mic Break: Michael Jackson - "The Way You Make Me Feel," Bad
16. De La Soul - "Breakadawn," Bulhoone Mindstate ["I Can't Help It," Off the Wall]
    

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Show 17: Hip-Hop's Roots in Reggae

Last Sunday was the first official day of summer and warm summer nights make me want to listen to reggae. Reggae is the quintessential summer music -- Jamaica's balmy tropical climate has embedded itself in the genre's very fabric. In celebration of the solstice, I did a whole hour of reggae and reggae-influenced hip-hop. I realize that this is somewhat unorthodox since it is a hip-hop specialty show. But I feel justified in straying from the genre because I wasn't really straying very far. In many regards, hip-hop is a direct descendant of this island music. In addition to the influence that Jamaican toasting (the sing-talking characteristic of much reggae) on the development of rapping, the father of hip-hop himself Kool Herc hailed from Kingston. Herc transported the very Jamaican musical tradition of MCs toasting over dub beats to the block parties of the Bronx. That's hip-hop 101, folks. So in essence, we took it back to the roots of hip-hop.


Show 17: Reggae 22 June 2009

1. Stephen Marley - "The Traffic Jam," Mind Control (2007)
2. Mic Break: Bob Marley & the Wailers - "Stir It Up," Legend (1984)
3. Bob Marley & the Wailers - "Rolling Stone," Let's Do Rocksteady: The Story of Rocksteady (2002)
4. Lee "Scratch" Perry - "People Funny Boy," Let's Do Rocksteady: The Story of Rocksteady (2002)
5. Tenor Sax - "Ring the Alarm," Ring the Alarm (1985)
6. Shabba Ranks feat. KRS-One - "The Jam," As Raw As Ever (1991)
7. Dilated Peoples feat. Capleton - "Firepower," 20/20 (2006)
8. Mic Break: Augustus Pablo - "Chant to King Selassie I," East of the River Nile (2002)
9. Chaka Demus & Pliers - "Murder She Wrote," All She Wrote (1993)
10. DJ Prince - "Justify My Thug," Red, Gold & Green Album (2006)
11. Toots & the Maytals -"54-46 (That's My Number)," In the Dark (1976)
12. Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley - "Welcome to Jamrock," Welcome to Jamrock (2005)
13. Sister Nancy - "Bam Bam," One, Two (1982)
14. Bob Marley & the Roots - "Burnin' and Lootin'," Chant Down Babylon (1999)
15. Mic Break: Sound Dimension - "Full Up," Full Up: The Bst of Studio One, Vol. 2 (2006)
    
16. The Fugees - "No Woman, No Cry," No Woman No Cry

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Show 16: It's 1988, Keep It Straight

My hip-hop history is, admittedly, rather deficient. In 1988 -- at the height of what is the so-called golden era of hip-hop -- I was three years old. I didn't start listening to hip-hop seriously until I was in college. Generally speaking, I have written off the '80s as the nadir of music and culture. Having now listened to what are not only considered some of the best releases of 1988 but also in the entire history of hip-hop itself, I have to rethink my low opinion of the '80s in regard to hip-hop. These are certified classics for a reason. Many of these albums are the records that inspired today's great MCs and DJs and, consequently, have left an indelible mark on hip-hop.

As I've begun to go back and listen to older records, both hip-hop and other genres, I have also begun to gain a new perspective on the music of today. You hear how artists were influenced, how the music has evolved and in what ways it remains the same. I think it's important to have this kind of perspective in order to really appreciate what you're listening to.

On a separate but related note, hip-hop in 1988 was both awfully fun and startling smart. The genre was still in its infancy and if you've ever read "Can't Stop, Won't Stop" by Jeff Chang (an indispensable read for anyone interested in the history of the hip-hop movement) or were around during hip-hop's birth, then you know that the genre got its start in the block and house parties of mid-'80s New York. Even more serious tracks like Boogie Down Production's "Stop the Violence" have an underlying buoyancy to them. If hip-hop knew how to do anything back then, it was how to have a good time.


Show 16 - Flashback to 1988
8 June 2009

1. Big Daddy Kane - "Ain't No Half-Steppin'," Long Live the Kane
2. Mic Break: Bobby McFerrin - "Don't Worry, Be Happy," Don't Worry, Be Happy
3. Ultramagnetic MCs - "Kool Keith Housing Things," Critical Beatdown
4. Biz Markie - "Pickin' Boogers," Goin' Off
5. Eric B. & Rakim - "Microphone Fiend," Follow the Leader
6. Salt-N-Pepa - "Shake Your Thang," A Salt with a Deadly Pepa
7. N.W.A. - "Express Yourself," Straight Outta Compton
8. Mic Break: Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock - "It Takes Two (Instrumental)," It Takes Two
9. Run-D.M.C. - "Mary Mary," Tougher Than Leather
10. DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince - "Parents Just Don't Understand," He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper
11. Boogie Down Productions - "Stop the Violence," By All Means Necessary
12. The Wee Papa Girl Rappers - "Wee Rule," The Beat, the Rhyme, the Noise
13. Public Enemy - "Bring the Noise," It Takes a Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back
14. Mic Break: Michael Jackson - "Smooth Criminal (Instrumental)," Bad
15. Slick Rick - "Hey Young World," The Great Adventures of Slick Rick
    

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Show 15 - Left-Field Hip-Hop

Ever heard of left-field hip-hop? Yeah, neither had I until fairly recently. I noticed it was popping up as a genre tag on a lot of artists searches I was doing on All Music Guide, which piqued my curiosity. Turns out left-field hip-hop lives at the intersection of electronic music and hip-hop -- two things I already love independently of one another. Also, upon discovering that Kid Cudi falls under the left-field category, I took this as an opportunity to open the show with "I Poke Her Face," the play on that insidious Lady Gaga song "Poker Face" off of his latest mixtape. Does the fact that I find that hilarious make me a self-hating woman? Probably.

Left-Field Hip-Hop
25 May 2009

1. Kid Cudi - "I Poke Her Face," Dat Kid From Cleveland
2. Mic Break: RJD2 - "Two More Dead," Dead Ringer
3. Onra - "I Wanna Go Back," Chinoiseries
4. Boom Bip - "Mannequin Trap Door I Remember," Seed To Sun
5. Bizzart - "Stumbling Blocks," Bloodshot Mama
6. El-P - "Flyentology," I'll Sleep When You're Dead
7. Dabrye - "The Lish," One/Three
8. Daedelus - "At My Heels," Denies the Day's Demise
9. Mic Break: Onra - "Full Backpack," Chinoiseries
10. J Dilla - "Stop!," Donuts
11. J Dilla - "People," Donuts
12. J Dilla - "The Diff'rence," Donuts
13. Flying Lotus - "RobertaFlack," Los Angeles
14. Madlib - "Shades Of Pete (Super)," Beat Konducta Vol. 5-6
15. Madlib - "King Chop (Top Line)," Beat Konducta Vol. 5-6
16. Prefuse 73 - "Blacklist," Vocal Studies + Uprock Narratives
17. Alias - "Angel of Solitude," The Other Side of the Looking Glass
18. Mic Break
19. RJD2 - "Ghostwriter," Dead Ringer
    

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