Speaking Of...

Gloria Lynne Speaking of Happiness

Cargo Cult - Thums Up! Miami Bass & Baile Funk Mix

THUMS UP! MIX [DOWNLOAD]

1h15m 320kbps 173mb

I came across an old trove of Miami Bass vinyl & cd-rips from way back last night and, being overtaken by the moment, decided to put together a scrappy, dirty mix of Miami Bass classics, covering the leading lights of the scene like 2 Live Crew, L'Trimm, Egyptian Lover, MC Shy D, and so forth, as well as a lot of related baile funk and southern bass track that don't necessarily fit , but don't feel out of place. Except for INOJ. INOJ always sounds out of place.

[TRACKLIST TO COME - TRAINSPOTTING WELCOME]

Slinging Summer Sounds

Roy Ayers Everybody Loves the Sunshine (1976)
Brand Nubian Wake Up (Reprise in the Sunshine) (1990)
Mary J. Blige My Life (1995)
Naughty by Nature Sunshine (1995)
Lucy Pearl Don't Mess With My Man (2000)
A.Skillz vs. Beat Vandals Sunshine (2007)

I remember playing the hell out of the A. Skillz vs. Beat Vandals mashup a couple of years ago, and only being vaguely conscious of the sample. Didn't give it much thought. It took the fine aural instincts of my friend Mauricio to tie it back to Lucy Pearl at first, and Roy Ayers later. As you can see, the song's been many things to many people in the 30 plus years since it was first released: popping up to nod heads with Brand Nubian; providing credentials for Mary J. Blige's snoozeworthy My Life, with production reminscient of Gospel-pop; with the creases ironed out in Naughty by Nature's libidinal labial lyric, and done the best way, I believe, by Lucy Pearl, that oft-missed super-group comprised of the ever-dapper Raphael Saadiq*, Dawn Robinson of En Vogue, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad of A Tribe Called Quest.

Souls of Mischief '93 'Til Infinity

2 Live Crew Hoochie Mama

First, here's the classic title track from the debut album by Oakland's Souls of Mischief, which includes a sample from the song Stratus from fusion drummer Billy Cobham, who kept musical company with Mr. Ayers.

Who knew the Friday soundtrack would be so popular and strike such a chord well into the 21st century? Ice Cube? I still get at least a couple of search referrals every day from people looking for an mp3 of 2 Live Crew's Hoochie Mama that I posted years ago, so I figured I'd satisfy at least 100 of them until the Yousendit link runs out. Probably familiar with the song, but if not, listen & sing along "Hood Rat, Hood Rat, Hoochie Mama!"

* He just released a fun video for "Let's Take A Walk" last month.