furry murray

murs & 9th wonder - i used to love her (again) (2010)


"nails is too pretty to be diggin in the crates" ....
a random tune i fell into that speaks of truth. apparently a remake of common's 1994 track? i dont know but i shall continue this mission.

reaaaasons!!!

"'cause yooooou make-me-feel-like-a-nat-u-ral-woman!!"

black star - brown skin lady (1998)


no matter how many light skinned babies mamas mos def has, i will love him forever.....and have you seen that foo' act? incredible.

...after all the reasons why...

jill scott feat. mos def - love rain (2003)


oh yeah?

u.n.i.t.y.

we goin to the ship! not the championship, but an actual ship! back to the motherland! hahahaha yeah right...there are so many pairs of bamboo earrings in this video...amazingness.

queen latifah - ladies first (1989)


if most people really believe that this is a mans world and that he really wouldnt be "nothing" without a woman, then why are most women being treated like shit...still? not like its anything new...women  have always broke their backs trying to prove themselves to men, but its something fascinating when women attempt to do a "man's job" for example the wnba...even i dont take it seriously just because of my predisposed outlook on female athletes. the disrespect and callous, smug reactions of the womens worth doesnt leave much for us to strive for, except pure survival. you gotta have some thick skin and a strong will to make it this bitch. if not a ruffneck, youre damn near close to it. which takes me to the ladies of hip hop who were mostly receipted as bitches or lesbians in this man eat man industry. i have watched interview after interview, read articles and actually listened to some of the lyrics and the crap these chicks have to go through to be heard or even have an opportunity to express themselves in the hip hop scene, are the serious breaks. but something has to be said for the ladies, like the queen latifah, who refused to kowtow to the men of the business and didnt play that "baddest bitch" role out loud, in the streets. be a lady and control yours. she flourished on her own after the tommy boy label refused to resign her. she thrived enough to earn a grammy for solo hip-hop act and a star on the hollywod walk of fame, being the 1st and only hip hop artist to ever do so. latifah, ironically meaning "delicate" or "sensitive" in arabic, believes that there is a way to carry yourself with strength and courage without being a bitch and condoning that ignorant, thug like behavior. its that hood mentality that i understand but will not sympathize...claire huxtable raised me better than that.

wham, pow, bang! east coast wrap up.

i cant explain the fun i have had  these past few weeks. i thought i didnt know much about hip hop, but i guess i wasnt that far removed from the 8th and 9th decades of the 21st century. let me try to breakdown the research of east coast, the plymouth rock if you will...these were my favorites, the artists that inspired me and gave me hope. small messages with enormous impacts along with skills to be unmatched and passions yet to be questioned. im sure there are plenty more artists out there, but hey its only been 3 weeks since my journey commenced and cant i wait to continue my education.  playlist (so far):



breakin:

• kool moe dee
• grandmaster flash
• kurtis blow
• afrika bambaataa 
• run dmc

 swagga:

• rakim
• big daddy kane
• ll cool j
• slick rick
• wiz khalifa
• leaders of the new school
• rob base

 teachin:

• public enemy
• krs-one
• nas
• immortal technique
• empd
• gang starr

 the poets:

• de la soul
• black star
• the roots
• tribe called quest

and the hoods:

• das efx
• wu tang
• lords of the underground

one thing about this month, is that its cured the bad case of ignorance i had when it came to sampling. old school is my life, soul and r&b is what i breath and absorb on a daily, hence the protection against todays hip poppers. is it an amege as i would like to think? probably not, but im gonna to stick to with this reasoning cause its the right thing to do. my reason for sampling songs was to bring that familiarity to the forefront and exude the comfort that soul music brought. but im sure its as simple as using beats that can be used in a repetitive and flowing manner.  i remember my days hangin out in the "studio", listening to the same track over and over and over again for hours at a time and not in the good ukiah kinda way, but the in a way that would drive one mad. its kinda like what im putting my office through by bumpin the bass. they probably have thoughts that i have lost my mind, back here in my corner office. i have went from morning jazz w/ thelonius, to breakfast with wu-tang, its a nutfest back here - 51/50 sho' nuff...anyway as i was saying... but samples that were used back in the day were for filler or something to groove to, cause the rappers / emcees didnt have the time to make tracks, well... they did but who wants to do all of that...the point WAS, was to get on the mic and spit the story....operative word being "story". so i can respect the entire reasoning for sampling, or whatever. today??? today is just wrong, the sampling isnt even backed up with a half descent story. if folks had something to say besides talking about shoppin and clubbin (mostly in da south) i could hang w/ the entire scene. its just an opinion and i know somebody likes it (millions, actually). and not all of these kids are horrible, some cats are out there doin there thing and representing with true artistic skills, its just some these suckasses that are cloggin the toilet, i dont know y'all. i just dont know.my mom felt the same way about prince...and so it goes. but again like sly said "different strokes for different folks."

dear b-boys and b-girls

afrika bambaataa - planet rock (1982)


oh man...im just gonna let the video do its thing...it pretty much covers everything i would try to describe but i cant see myself being able to accomplish was it is i want to express verbally.... so instead im just gonna dance it out, you should do the same.

its like what?

run d.m.c. - its like that (1983)


simplicity... the grandpas / forefathers of hop hip and commercial pop success. oh man i remember dancing so hard to this track. remember when albums were played for years after its release...cause i dont think i was poppin at 3 it had to have been at least 4, just jivin. which prompts a shoutout to all the b-boys & b-girls still poppin and lockin today. breakin & hip-hop go together like water and melon and it was tracks like this that got it started...not the style of dancing perse, but the party! and it goes to show that classics never die. the song that was originally written for kurtis blow was snatched up by run & thank jah for that. kurtis didnt have the street cred (im gonna go w/ marketability) it took to make this song the powerhouse it is. when you were in the midst of the circle, you were the boss & thats all this song and the entire self titled album represented, boss-ness. (i just looove makin up words... maybe i should read more, eehhh). maybe this is why i dont like people tellin me what to do, all this east mentality.

iggedy-effects

 das efx - they want efx (1992)


sample: james brown - blind man can see
sample: malcolm mclaren - buffalo girls

birdie: "why do they look homeless?"
its a justified statement... guess thats the east coast for you, homeless lookin.
as i have mentioned before, hip-hop appreciation month has been inspired by my nieces. the fact that i refuse to let birdie have a lil weezy poster in her room, forces her challenge my open mindedness and stealthy gets me to explore other artists in todays hip pop world. so every once in a while, there is a new track by nicki minaj that im supposed to approve of, so i roll my eyes and dissect the crap out of its potential (or lack there of). and according to her quote, im sure birdie felt the same way when i played Das EFX for her. oh well, collard and mustard greens...everythings comparable.
funny how her everyday grammar consists of pseudo-text-qwerty-shorthand, but she couldnt figure out EFX (effects)... you know, i try to have an optimistic outlook for our kids & their futures but they just keep clouding up my vision w/ dookie and i dont appreciate that. oh jah, please help us.

com'on common

common - come close (2002)


common's south side chicago lyrical expression for erykah badu...what a waste. its ok, im listening baby!! and yes i will love you forever!! no matter how whack my friends think your freestyle may be, you make me like a natural woman! wo-man! skill or no skill, the final product is you got me. good lawd!

defining words

my friends contribution to h.h.a.m. - thank you very much! sharing is caring.

blackstar - definition (1998)


rap - a style of popular music, developed by disc jockeys and urban blacks in the late 1970s, in which an insistent, recurring beat pattern provides the background and counterpoint for rapid, slangy, and often boastful rhyming patter glibly intoned by a vocalist or vocalists. - dictionary.com

hip-hop - Hip hop music is a style of popular music. It is composed of two main elements: rapping (also known as MC'ing) and DJing; along with breakdancing and graffiti, these are the four components of hip hop, a cultural movement which began among African Americans in New York City in the 1970s. The term rap is sometimes used synonymously with hip hop music, though it is also used to refer specifically to the practice of rapping, which is just one component of hip hop. - wordiq.com

thats enough for today.

ladies do love him

ll cool j - i need love (1987)


ok. its not the most riveting of lyrics. but he sure does know how to moooove me.

just a thought...

atlantic starr - when love calls (1980)


Hey hoo yeah
Ooh, ooh, yeah, whoa, whoa, yeah, yeah
Yeah

Here I stand with open arms
Im offerin my love to you
I wanna do for you
All the things that you want me to

Theres so much more
That I could do for you, yeah
But you just wont let me give you my love, boy
What is wrong with you

Dont you know when love calls, yeah
Youd better answer
(Youd better answer)
Cause it might be a big mistake
If you decide to hesitate

Oh, when love calls, yeah
Youd better answer
(Youd better answer)
Dont let it slip away too many times
Cause love may not ever come again

Oh, no
Oh, no

I know that your heart is into playin the field
And that blinds you
Baby, you cant see
The forest for the trees, no no

The candle in my heart
Burns slowly every day
Dont you mess around too long
And let it melt away

And Im tellin you when love calls, yeah
Youd better answer
(Youd better answer)
Dont let it slip away too many times
Cause love may not ever come again

True love is so hard to come by
Its precious and its rare, yeah
But Ive got a lot of it to give
Dont miss out, dont you dare

Just this time
Come on and see it through, oh
Im willing and waiting
But its all up to you, oh

When love calls, yeah
Youd better answer
(Youd better answer)
Dont let it slip away too many times
Cause love may not ever come again

Youd better listen, yeah
(Youd better listen when love calls, baby)
(Youd better listen when love calls your name)

Im callin your name
(Youd better listen when love calls, baby)
(Youd better listen when love calls your name)

Youd better listen when love calls, baby
Youd better listen when love calls your name

hippity hoppity 'preciation month

fu-schnickens - breakdown (1994)


for bubba!
eisenhower wasnt lying when he said "times are a changing" (or dylan...depends on whos side youre on). its time everyone...i have the bug to throw myself into the world of hip-hop...not todays hip hop pop, but "the good stuff" new and old. the recent move in w/ my nieces has sparked a fire in my innards to open my mind to explore more music especially hip hop...not that i havent listened to hip hop before, but there was a lack of respect for genre. my roots are old and just like the parents of the 1950s, i wouldnt have respected ray charles r&b cause his tracks were influenced by gospel music, im feeling the same way today by having that "what is this crap y'all are listening to?" cause a lot of it is crap..."bang bang bang, shoot'em up, slurp my 4d, smoke my tweeds (why are you flaunting that brown grade ish anyway), modern day slavery bullshit, im suppressed but look at these gold teefs and my phat pockets, watch my record go triple platinum as im locked up for having this gun that i will never shoot and in reality im locked up cause of all the moving violations on my driving record, so fuck the police and my bitch at the same time, please...now lets praise god, president obama and my mama for my life, amen."  i understand the entire i gotta story to tell but some stuff should be kept to yourself (or not. if its putting food in your mouf and my tax money isnt, get it!). by the way, gold teeth really does make your breath stink. yuck.
this month is my time to push the crap aside and concentrate on the lyrical art form that known as rap or hip hop, you know, the good stuff. the industry is flooded with amazing lyricists, writers, storytellers, poets or however you would like to define them and i have made it my duty to share those who inspire me and others thru words or beats (samples...hehehe). new faces, new names, new sounds, new stories (worth while), not to forget reminiscing the past. im excited for this new journey and am expecting to find some goodness ...which is trouble! imgonbeshoppin! but most importantly i cannot wait to iron out the wrinkles of the history. love-joy

billy, georgie & zippy zappy

billy cobham & george duke - ivory tattoo (1976)


in tribute to seeing some zappa play zappa this weekend, here is one of franks favorite pianist, george duke, along with my favorite drummer, billy cobham. im gonna rewind a little bit and play a little kevin bacon 6 degrees of separation...frank first discovered his love for george while he was playing at "thee experience" in los angeles (1969) partnering with violinist jean-luc ponty which formed the george duke trio. it was the west coasts introduction to "acid" jazz that had already been spazzin up peoples minds on the east coast thanks to the likes of miles & the mahavishnu orchestra. the limit pusher, zappa, knew he had to have duke with his education and skill to follow, so frank invited him to play with the new "the mothers of invention" lineup for their next album. heeeeere's what that sound like:



george continued to collaborate with frank z. from the early to the mid seventies on several albums including: chunga's revenge, 200 motels, waka/jawaka, the grand wazoo, apostrophe, over-nite sensation, one size fits all, bongo fury and roxy & elsewhere. somethings i havent immersed myself in, but i soon will, once i found my way back into the woods. i dont know if you know this but frank is for the thinkers who love to think...i dont wanna think about that too much...i am what i am. love-joy