Wednesday, April 21, 2010

First off, please read My latest article/interview

Prior to 1991, all of the music I had was in cassette form. My father had a few cds, but he was still married to the idea that vinyl was the best way to listen to music, and even to this day I can't say I disagree with him. I had a walkman that had a radio and a cassette player on there, and I would listen to it everywhere I went including in the bed before I went to sleep. I remember a few friends would come over my house with cds, and I played them in my dad's system, and I was amazed at how much clearer the sound seemed to be in that format. Still, when new things came out, I stuck with tapes, because it was all I really knew..and all I could afford.

Then my boy Cliff left a cd over my house one day, and when I told him about it, he just told me I could keep it. I wore that cd out man. I didn't just wear it out because I was still in awe with the concept of skipping from song to song with ease, although that was quite a perk. I wore the cd out because it was just a good, fluid cd. The songs kept me interested, the beats seemed to be different than anything I had ever heard, and the rapper's voice was distinctive (not as distinctive as Chuck Ds, but still). I loved this cd so much, I bought the tape so that I could listen to this even when I wasn't in the house.

I remember there was this one song on that had some serious, serious bass. My brother and I would play that song, just to hear how loud we could make the bass sound, and sometimes my father would tell us to turn it down or adjust the bass immediately and of course we did. In fact, to this day, that's my favorite song from this group..not only because of the bass, but because of the usage of the sample, the laid back nature of the song overall, and of course the voice. And that group remained one of my favorites until they broke for reasons that I STILL don't know.

The cd? Step in the Arena

The group? Gang Starr

The sample: Magdalena by Leo Sayer

The song (seen below) is Precisely the Right Rhymes. If you have headphones, put them on and listen to the song, but pay attention to the bass too. I hate saying R.I.P. because it corny and redundant, but I'll miss the opportunity to hear Guru's voice over Premier's beats. I grew up on them..

4 comments:

Sab D said...

I might be the odd man out - but "a jazz thang" is my favorite gangstarr joint. Followed by "Just to Get a Rep" & "DWYCK" ... now that I'm thinking about it, you were the person who convinced me to get the jazzzmatazz joints.

Jamal said...

Man, you took me waaayyy back. I may have to download this CD on itunes tonight.

rashad said...

And sabin, you were the dude who was mad that Gang Starr didn't have the video version of Just To Get A Rep on the cd.

Jamal,
You need to do that sir. teach my nephew

Jazzbrew said...

My DJ's name is Premier and I'm the Guru...

Arena is one of my all time favorite hip hop recordings. And when Guru did the Jazzmatazz thing... I was done. Love that cat...

and DWYCK?? Yeah man...