Tuesday, June 29th

So yeah, I just got back from the coast and boy are my arms tired. No but for real, the latest trip was pretty remarkable. Every event was even more explosive than the next. I want to give a shout to all the people that I rocked and rolled with on this last jawn. Smalltown DJs Pete and Mike, DJ Fashen, Mat The Alien, Mama Miche, Ford and the whole Hi Fi crew and Calgary massive, all my Vancouver peoples, GMan, Rob Rizk, the whole Fortune Sound and Livestock crews, Rico Uno, Grand Theft, U-Tern, Needle Kenevel, Marcus & The Council, Fourcolorzack, Supreme La Rock, DJ Morse Code, Thee Mike B, Jamie Strong, Haycock, Waldo, Aloe Blacc, Gaslamp Killer, Flying Lotus, Classixx, Do Over massive, Glenjamn, DJ Mr. Best, Steve1der, DJ Spider, Tommy Riches, Boys Noize, Z-Trip, Dirty Dave, J. Period... I'm sure I forgot someone.

So yeah, it was a real quick trip to LA but very memorable. I rocked alongside my homie Morse Code in celebration of his birthday at Do Over. Such insane vibes, like so damn good. Caught a litttle video of the beginning of my set. This doesn't come anywhere near capturing the vibes. Shark Attack in effect.

Breakbeat Tuesday: I have so much going on right now that I can't get into a full in-depth thing about this next record. All I know is that it's a MONSTER, and that I played it somewhere and sometime in my set on Sunday to thunderous effect. I first heard this in the form of Kool G Rap's "Untouchable Remix" of  "On The Run." Someone told me it was a Ray Bryant record so I spent the next 6 months buying every record by dude I could find, until I copped "Up Above The Rock." Like so many soul jazz records of the late 60s it was chock-filled with tepid standards of the time like "Little Green Apples" and Burt Barcharach jawns. But the title cut? Damn... So ill, and it's been a favorite ever since in my sets. The production is very unique in it's sound, as it's on Cadet and they had a very distinctive sound and feel to their records at the time, courtesy of producer Richard Evans. The composition of the song is very cinematic and matched perfectly for the storytelling prowess of G. Rap's mafia fairytales. And to me this was one of the first productions that made me think the Trackmasters had taken their shit to the next level. Anyway, a Philly DJ living in Brooklyn plays a jazz song by a Philly pianist sampled by a Queens MC at a party in Los Angeles, and all because of that, it being give to you.

Ray Bryant "Up Above The Rock" (Cadet, 1968)

And for good measure,

Kool G Rap & DJ Polo "On The Run (Untouchable Version)" (Cold Chillin', 1992)

Wednesday, June 23rd

Yeah I've been slacking on the posts. Whatever, man. It's summer. Who cares? Shouldn't you be outside instead of reading this? Anyway, if you've gotten this far, let me take the time to let you know I'm about to hit the road for a few days. Tomorrow I will be in Calgary rocking with DJ Fashen and the Smalltown DJs. Friday I will be at Fortune Sound Club in Vancouver. Saturday I return to Seattle to rock at HG Lodge (formerly known as War Room) with the homie Fourcolorzack. Then Sunday, I'm off to Los Angeles for a few days, starting with me DOING a special top-secret daytime event in Hollywood. Whatcha Want To Do? Hit me on Sunday to find out... And peep the Events Page for all the details of the trip. Other than that, I am "this much closer" to the launch of the new site. Like probably  to 4 weeks from now. Super psyched. The new site is crazy and going to change the game.

In the meantime me and The Rub crew have been full steam ahead with our History Of Hip-Hop series. We started chronicling our favorite rap songs for each year in hip-hop starting from 1979 and going all the way to 1999. 20 mixes in all, and we've just relaunched the series to tackle the first decade of the 21st Century. So peep us at www.itstheub.com for a new year every Thursday, and check out the archive of past years here.

- Breakbeat Tuesday: So this Breakbeat Tuesday thing has really taken off and I'm pleased to announce that the column is soon going to be syndicated on a bunch of other sites. Also, be on the lookout for several guest entries for BBT starting very soon with some of your favorite DJs, producers, artists and just all around "folk." But let's get started with this week's entry.

Now I've mentioned this before but my man ESPO aka Steve Powers was really instrumental on putting me on to a lot of records back in the day. I would lamp over his house in West Philly and he basically sat me down in front of the turntable and would be like "Okay, now you LISTEN to this Funkadelic record and LEARN IT." So I am forever beholden to this dude for putting my head on at the right place and right time. For the few people out there who don't know who dude is , get your shit together. And while you're at it, stop messing around and buy his book. So anyway, this is a record that he put me up on, from Black Heat's "No Time To Burn" album.

I'm going to start with Phillip Guilbeau, who was a trumpeter and session player that was most known for recording with legends such as Count Basie, David "Fathead" Newman, Hank Crawford and Ray Charles (he was soloist on the landmark 1961 album "Genius + Soul =  Jazz.") Guilbeau recorded a ton of music during the 60s and by the time the early 70s had rolled around, Guilbea became involved in the latest evolution of sound, funk music. He was living in Washington DC and was the trumpet player for the group The Young Senators. The Young Senators were the top-rated R&B group in the area after the release of their hit, the Guilbeau penned "The Jungle" after which they were asked to tour as the backing group of Eddie Kendricks. Kendricks was so enamored of their sound that he recorded his seminal album "My People... Hold On" with the Young Senators as the band who played all the music, including what is widely considered the first ever Disco song, "Girl You Need A Change Of Mind."

Gilbeau was still very active in the DC community which was a hotbed of talent that included Chuck Brown's Soul Searchers, and another group that Gilbeau discovered, Black Heat. Black Heat was in the community and, had ties with The Young Senators. Gilbeau took Black Heat to Joel Dorn at Atlantic Records, whom he had known from his days as session player for Ray Charles and Hank Crawford. The funk outfit was signed and, with Dorn on production, Atlantic (which was always a very forward thinking imprint in general) was ushered into the future with a brand new sound. Black Heat recorded 3 albums before they disbanded, but not before leaving their mark.

Espo pulled this record out and put it in my hands in what was probably 1990 or 1991 and told me "Do not tell anyone what this record is or share it with anyone." I looked at it with the wild dudes on the cover with all the flames and the words "No Time To Burn" across the front and I swore I was looking at the baddest shit I had ever seen. When he placed the vinyl on the turntable and "You Should've Listened" came on with it's heavy funk and overall ATTITUDE (that's a common theme with me I think) I was beyond excited. But then when right past 2 minutes the song revs up and launches into one of the baddest breaks I had ever heard it was game over. Just furious drumming, with percussion where you can definitely see the DC sound, and the very beginnings of what would eventually become Go-Go music. Espo looked at me and was like "I told you, so so keep this under wraps." That was probably the beginning of a long stretch of time where I blacked out my labels and was very secretive about my records. Well the pendulum swings again and here we are, with me sharing this with the world. Not that this is a Secret Squirrel break at this point or anything, but I think you know what I mean. Anyway, I hope you don't mind Steve. I figure the Statute Of Limitations for Funk Breaks expires around the 20 year mark. But thanks, my dude. This one is a killer.

\

Black Heat "You Should've Listened" (Atlantic, 1974)

Monday, June 21st

So I've been chosen this year by the good peoples at Jewcy Magazine as one of the 2010 Big Jewcy list - which is kind of like the list of top people to be recognized for what they do, or better yet, just to be looked at as a list of "Top Jews of the year." It's an honor though to be listed alongside my friend (and also a great Jew) A-Trak, as well as Gabriel Roth (the man behind Daptone Records) & Joel Tietolman (one of the guys behind one of my favorite spots in the city, Mile End.) So check it out here - I'm officially an important New York Jew. Hey Pop-Pop, I made it!

Tuesday, June 15th

- Breakbeat Tuesday: You know that this music thing is really my thing, like I would be doing what I do even if I wasn't getting paid for it. I guess it's a compulsion, but that doesn't really explain the connection that I have to music properly. But I just get a sense of indescribable enjoyment out of it, much like the way my sister Zoe Strauss describes her connection to the visual in this short film about her. The thing is I'm nowhere near as smart or talented as her...

"Through the Lens of Zoe Strauss" from Ted Passon on Vimeo.

But yeah man - sometimes there's just something that hits you hard. Sometimes you hear something that instantly connects with you and there's no way of putting it into words. So you'll just have to listen. This past Thursday I did a show in Atlanta with my dudes Kon & Amir and the homie Injex from Sound Table. The night was over and I was standing in the back yard when I heard a song coming through the crack of the door that was so beautiful and haunting that I immediately had to rush in and see who it was. Injex was on the decks just playing 45s after hours and I walked in the booth like "Yo son what the eff is this?" The record was just ending at the time and, at the same time I was walking up, both the bartender and the last dancer on the floor simultaneously walked up, all three of us individually demanding to know what the record was. He showed me the 45 and it was so on. The next day in my hotel room in Montreal I was able to get a copy online (from the homie James Pants as a matter of fact!)

It was The Three Degrees. This is like a record that I should have known, but I didn't. Sometimes things fall through the cracks and you miss joints, and this is one of them. The Three Degrees are a female vocal group from Philly and pretty much the "first ladies" of the TSOP organization. Mostly known for their songs "When Will I See You Again" and "The Sound Of Philadelphia" they went through a few variations of their lineup throughout the years but regardless of the members they always had one of the most distinctive vocal stylings of all time. Like top schitt, eclipsing many of the more notable and supreme names in music history in my opinion.

This song came from their first album which predates TSOP, the 1970 "Maybe" release on Morris Levy's Roulette imprint. The album was helmed by Philly producer Richard Barrett, who decided to lead the girls debut record off with an album cut buried deep on the first album by Cleveland rock outfit James Gang, "Y'er Album"

The song was written by the great Joe Walsh and honestly, even though I have "Y'er Album" I never picked up on this cut, probably gravitating towards some of the more drum-laden tracks. But listening to the remake made me realize how incredible of a song it is. However I definitely feel as though the original is eclipsed by the remake, with Barrett's orchestration being so lush and rich but never heavy-handed, coupled with absolutely perfect harmonies. This song floors me. It's flooring me right now as I type while I listen to it.

The Three Degrees "Collage" (Roulette, 1970)

Okay just want to be clear here, Breakbeat Tuesday isn't just about "breakbeats" and whatnot, it's just about joints and heavy tunes. But since I know a bunch of folks out there like their drums and breaks and whatnot, here's a joint from the first James Gang album that fits the bill.

James Gang "Funk #48" (Bluesway, 1969)

"Wintertime is a razor blade, that the devil made, it's the price we paid for the summertime." - Hope you are enjoying your summer... - C

Monday, June 14th

I had a great weekend in Atlanta and Montreal. Big shouts out to everyone that I ran into, rocked with, partied with, broke bread with etc. Those are 2 cities that I have mad love for and, no matter how many times I visit them, I'm always wanting more. Well it looks like I probably will be vising them more often from here on out. Big shouts to Injex and the whole Sound Table crew, my homies Kon & Amir, Applejac, the Red Bull organization, Brendon, LA Riots Daniel, Michael & Tyler from Classixx, DJ Arock, Hatchmatic, Shaydakiss, DL and the cities of Atlanta and Montreal for showing a brother mad love.

Here's a really good song and video from rapper Jasiri X from Pittsburgh. As someone who was born and raised in Philly it's interesting that I've never made it out west to The City Of Steel but I've always heard great things about it. There's an old saying that "between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh is Alabama" and trust me, in rural PA that is somewhat the case. So these dudes breaking shit down in this manner kind of makes sense to me. Peep game...

The video was produced by Paradise Gray aka Paradise the Architect from X-Clan, which is one of my favorite rap groups of all time. Now just so you know whenever I see anything with John Carlos and Tommie Smith I'm instantly receptive, so I immediately dug this video. And I really like this song, the music and (aside from some pretty glaring homophobic rhetoric that almost negates the content entirely in my mind) the message. Now I definitely feel as though they have a point, but at the same time there's definitely room for mindless bubble-gum music out there. But when does an artist start toeing the line and go from being innocuous entertainment to being the manifestation of this nation's racist heritage? I dunno, man... I guess that's somewhat subjective. Everybody's got to live, you know. But I just wish that there was room for music that had content like this as well as just some joints that you could shake your ass to. Now what was the last "socially conscious" rap joint that got play in the club? I'm gonna have to put that question up on my twitter and see what happens. But you have to admit, T-Pain PLAYED HIMSELF so hard at the end of that video oh lawd....

So let me end this with some music... One is a somewhat obscure remix by Paradise, and another is a cool remix by Ali Shaheed Muhammed of the Dark Sun Riders project that's an extension of X-Clan.

X-Clan "Grand Verbalizer, What Time Is It? (Blackwatch Mix)" (4th & B'Way, 1990)

Dark Sun Riders "Time To Build (Ultra Marsalis Remix)" (Island, 1996)

"WHAT'S YOUR HIGHER LEVEL IF YOUR SCHITT AIN'T REAL?"

 

Thursday, June 3rd

Happy Birthday Curtis Mayfield. There was only one and there will NEVER be another. The master storyteller and, if James Brown is the Godfather of Soul, then Curtis is the Grand Uncle, and the true Conscience Of Funk. Tonight in New York I will be spinning at SubMercer - 147 1/2 Mercer St. - playing all sorts of Curtis tunage. This is including but not limited to early stuff, covers, productions, tributes, samples and more... Come through!

Here's some ILL footage of Curtis performing his classic "Give Me Your Love" from the Save The Children concert back in 1972. Super intense, super sublime, just crazy sick. WMDs after the jump...

Curtis Mayfield "Give Me Your Love (Love Song)" (Curtom, 1972)

Barbara Mason "Give Me Your Love" (Buddah, 1972)

The Sisters Love "Give Me Your Love (Danny Krivit Edit)" (Strut, 2003)

The Rub - History Of Hip-Hop 2000! This summer we go full steam ahead on The Rub’s “History of Hip-Hop” series, starting with the year 2000. For each mix we choose our favorite records from a year and mix in them in rapidfire Rub fashion. If you missed 1979-1999, you can download all those shows from the archives.

The Rub “History of Hip-Hop 2000″ - Mixed By Cosmo Baker (direct link)

Artwork by Rhek of Sharks & Hammers - tracklist after the jump...

OutKast “So Fresh, So Clean”
Beanie Sigel “The Truth”
Shyne “Bad Boyz feat. Barrington Levy”
Fatlip “What’s Up Fatlip”
Aaliyah “Come Back In One Piece feat. DMX”
DJ Shadow “Hardcore (Instrumental) Hip-Hop”
Ghostface Killah “Apollo Kids feat. Raekwon”
Jay-Z “1-900-Hustler feat. Beanie Sigel, Freeway & Memphis Bleek”
Ruff Ryders “WW III feat. Yung Wun, Snoop Dogg, Scarface & Jadakiss”
Next “Jerk feat. 50 Cent”
Prodigy “Keep It Thoro”
The Beatnuts “No Escapin’ This”
Philly’s Most Wanted “Cross The Border”
Nelly “E.I.”
Cocoa Brovaz “Super Brooklyn”
Scarface “They Down With Us feat. UGK”
D’Angelo “Devil’s Pie”
Big L “Holdin’ It Down feat. Stan Spit, A.G. & Miss Jones”
Drag-On “Spit These Bars”
Black Rob “I Dare You feat. Joe Hooker”
Busta Rhymes “Fire”
Milano “Rep For The Slums”
Slum Village “Players”
Erick Sermon “So Sweet feat. Eazy-E”
De La Soul “Oooh feat. Redman”
M.O.P. “Ante Up (Robbin Hoodz Theory)”
Royce Da 5′9″ “Boom”
Kardinal Offishall “Ol’ Time Killin’”
Reflection Eternal “The Blast”
J-88 “The Look Of Love Pt. 1″
Guru “Hustlin’ Daze feat. Donell Jones”
Screwball “H-O-S-T-Y-L-E”
Snoop Dogg “Lay Low feat. Butch Cassidy, Master P, Nate Dogg & Tha Eastsidaz”
Rah Digga “Tight”
Mya “Best Of Me Remix (Holla Remix feat. Jay-Z)”
Jay-Z “Change The Game feat. Beanie Sigel & Memphis Bleek”
Beanie Sigel “What A Thug About”
Slum Village “Raise It Up”
OutKast “Ms. Jackson”
Common “The Light”
Big Pun “It’s So Hard feat. Donell Jones”
Big Pun “100%”
Ludacris “Southern Hospitality”
Tony Touch “The Piece Maker feat. Gang Starr”
P. Diddy & The Bad Boy Family “Let’s Get It feat. G-Dep & Black Rob”
Ghostface Killah “Cherchez LaGhost feat. U-God (Heartbeat Remix)”
Slum Village “Thelonius feat. Common”
Mos Def “Oh No feat. Pharoahe Monch & Nate Dogg”
Latyrx “Lady Don’t Tek No”
Mystikal “Shake Ya Ass”
Mystikal “Danger (Been So Long) feat. Nivea”
DJ Quik “Well feat. Raphael Saadiq & AMG”
Jay-Z “I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me) feat. Pharrell”
The RIte Brothers “Thug Anthem 2000″
Breez Evahflowin’ “Between Dah Seams”
Redman “Let’s Get Dirty (I Can’t Get In Da Club) feat. DJ Kool”
Method Man “Even If”
Jurassic 5 “Swing Set”
Masters Of Illusion “The Bay-Bronx Bridge”
Nas “You Owe Me feat. Ginuwine”
Armand Van Helden “Full Moon feat. Common”
Trina “Pull Over (Remix)”
OutKast “B.O.B.”
Lil’ Jon & The Eastside Boyz “Bia Bia feat. Chyna Whyte & Too Short”
M.O.P. “Cold As Ice”
Jewels “40 Bars”
Jay-Z “Hey Papi feat. Memphis Bleek & Amil”
Project Pat “Chickenhead”
Trick Daddy “Shut Up”
Cam’ron “What Means The World To You”
Ludacris “What’s Your Fantasy feat. Shawnna & Sessy Melia”
Three 6 Mafia “Sippin’ On Da Syrup feat. UGK & Project Pat”
Drama “Left, Right, Left”
OutKast “Gangsta Sh’t feat. Slim Cutta Calhoun, C-Bone & T-Mo”
Miracle “We Ain’t Scared feat. Crucial Conflict”
Erykah Badu “Didn’t Cha Know”

Wednesday, June 2nd

The homies who have the Memory Lane show on UStream had me as a quest on their show last night. It's a pretty great concept - they come over to a DJs house and broadcast him spinning live from home, audio and visual. So here's 90 minutes of me hanging out playing rap vinyl and 45s in my house while drinking beer and sweating profusely. Shout to my wife, Pete, Skizz, Julie, DJ Eclipse and the rest of the Memory Lane gang.

Tuesday, June 1st

Mega-props to everyone that came out to Deity in Brooklyn on Friday night to see me and Rich tear it down. The word "epic" is really overused these days so I'm not going to even go there. But when you have an absolutely rammed dancefloor all night, and a dancefloor that is packed at 4:15 when the lights are up and people are refusing to leave, that says something for sure. Stay tuned here for an announcement about this in the coming days.

Also tonight at 9PM EST I will be spinning a live set from my very own crib, broadcast live via Ustream on the Memory Lane show. Definitely tune in and check me out, all vinyl raps and breaks, and pictures of me wearing my house shoes.

- Breakbeat Tuesday: I took last week off cause I mad all sorts of stuff to handle so I'm gonna make this week's entry extra thick and extra quick. You know, the thing with the internet and music consumption is that information and material is so widely and quickly disseminated that it (in my opinion) lessens the significance of actually discovering something yourself. Chris Weingarten spoke about that in the video that I featured last month. I'm not saying that it's a bad thing because it's wonderful that people have that access to things that they might not have had 5, 10, 20 years ago. But the context I think gets a little skewed, along the lines of what I've always held to be the canon or hierarchy in this whole funk thing. Because of the internet you got kids running around talking about the Salt 45 but can't tell you a damn thing about James Brown. And that's a shame to me because if you don't have a solid foundation you won't stand for long. So where there's a lot of people who won't want to deal with anything that isn't rare, I say I would rather have the great than the rare. And the fact of the matter is that if something what that popular it probably means it was that much better. So with this mind set I want to get cracking on talking about one of my all-time favorite bands, The New Birth.

I discovered The New Birth when I bought the "Birth Day" album at Funk-O-Mart back in 1992. The above Bobby Womack cover song, "I Can Understand It" was the first song of the album. That was all I needed to hear to fall in love with this group, and it was very soon that I started to incorporate a lot of the funk that I had been amassing, including New Birth, into my DJ sets. The group was the originally known as The Nite-Liters, an instrumental outfit from Kentucky, consisting of several members - most notable which is Harvey Fuqua.

Fuqua was first a member of the Doo-Wop group The Moonlighters and went on to become one of the main songwriters and producers within the Motown machine, including being responsible for the pairing of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. Fuqua eventually went on to discover the legendary Sylvester, producing for him his seminal "Over And Over" among others. But he always had his side project, Nite-Liters, which after some absorption and restructuring became The New-Birth.

The New Birth had a pretty successful career as a band and for my money they were one of the tightest ensembles of that day and age - standing up alongside giants like Kool & The Gang and Earth, Wind & Fire. Lots of people dismiss them as being a "tepid funk" outfit but honestly I think the people who think that are soulless monsters. I fully suggest going out and buying some New Birth music, starting with "Birth Day," "Blind Baby" or "It's Been A Long Time." 70s funk and soul music at it's finest. Here are a few examples of the New Birth sound, complete with the obligatory break beats. Enjoy!

The New Birth "Got To Get A Knutt" (RCA, 1972)

The New Birth "I Wash My Hands Of The Whole Damn Deal" (RCA, 1974)

The New Birth "Coming From All Ends" (RCA, 1974)