Microphone Fiend

Today is the birthday of one of my all time favorite MC's, one of the best to ever flow over a beat, Rakim Allah aka the God MC. I grew up on his music and in my opinion Rakim was hands down the best ever. Ask any hip hop head and they may tell you the same or at least put him in their top three. I am posting one of my favorites by The God, Microphone Fiend off his 1988 album Follow The Leader in honor of his born day.

Happy birthday Rakim and many more. Keep flowing.

Giving You The Best That I Got

Today is the birthday of one of the most mesmerizing voices to ever lay vocals over music. Today is the birthday of the wonderfully talented Anita Baker. She turns 56 years old and I thought the best way to wish her a happy birthday was by posting my favorite song of hers. Giving You The Best That I Got is from her multiplatinum, multi Grammy award winning, and multi Soul Train award winning album of the same name.

Released in 2009, Giving You The Best That I Got yielded Anita Baker's highest chart topping song in the U.S. Best That I Got reached number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. This song will always be my favorite by her because not only is it a well written song but because she shows off the many ranges of her velvet voice.

Happy Birthday Ms. Baker and may you see many, many more.

Cinema (Skrillex Remix)

This song always puts the hitch in my giddy up whenever I need a kick in the pants to get moving. It's a serious banger and strictly for the BIG BOY SPEAKERS! The song is Cinema by Benny Benassi remixed by Skrillex. Now, if you are not a fan of dubstep then I suggest you not hit play on the attached video below, and if you are...you're welcome :)

There's really nothing left to say but enjoy!

Forging a New Light

The second this song hits my ears my energy levels rise. This piece by Danny Cocke entitled Forging a New Light always seems to put some serious pep in my step. This song is off Danny's 2012 release Verge of Total Chaos and I never get tired of hearing it. I am a big fan of what's known as "trailer music" or "epic music" and Danny Cocke has put some amazing stuff together in the genre, especially this song.

Forging starts off nice and light with some foreboding darkness with the strings and the voices, then suddenly the piece picks up steam and a rhythm. The percussion soon joins in along with the voices and it seems to be headed toward a crescendo only to fall away at the 1:18 mark. The respite is over quickly though as the song comes back stronger and more alive with horns adding to the body of the piece. The horns along with the voices and the strings bring this song to a crashing finale, punctuated by the nice fade to silence.

I haven't heard this piece attached to any trailer as of yet, which is surprising. However should I get the chance to be a part of a movie in any way, say for instance I write a book that gets made into a movie, I am suggesting this track for the trailer. It's THAT good. And if you like this then definitely check out Sinister Intent (which was the trailer music for Elysium) and The Guardians by him. Enjoy!

Kiss of Life

Today is the birthday of one of the most celebrated and loved singers to ever grace a stage, Helen Folasade Adu aka Sade turned 55 today. She has fans far and wide all over this world and her music has never ceased to entertain as well as provoke thought and one of my favorite songs by her is the beautiful Kiss of Life off of her 1992 release love deluxe album.

Thank you for Sade for blessing us with your beautiful voice. Happy Birthday, enjoy your day and may many, many more come your way.

After Hours

Yo Ronny, I swear when I heard you passed I didn't believe it. I actually had to look it up and read it for myself. I can't believe you're gone. Who is going to chill me out now? No one did that like you did it. As a tribute to you, I am posting your first hit After Hours off your 1992 debut album The Antidote.

Thank you for blessing us with your talent. You will forever be missed man. May you rest in eternal peace. Just 51, you left us too soon Ronny, too soon man.

Man of Steel (Dub step remix)

I think the intro to this song is just pure bad ass. The best way to hear it though is loudly so you know what that means, it's big boy speaker time. The song is crafted by Troels Folmann and it's a remix of the Hans Zimmer composed Man of Steel score. This is a dub step remix and while I love it, the actual Man of Steel melody has been sped up to sound like something almost completely different. That really doesn't matter though because as I said the intro is truly bad ass, the rest isn't so bad either.

The song rides along to a serious backbeat and yes there are elements of dub step in the song. For the most part though the song sounds more like an epic piece than a dub step remix. It's arranged nicely with a serious breakdown at the 1:26 mark where the vocals are unleashed. On the other side of that vocal break the song takes on a darker more menacing tone for some seconds.

In my opinion nothing touches Zimmer's MoS score, but this was an interesting interpretation of the main theme. I always enjoy it when it comes up on the ipod, if for nothing else than that bad ass intro. Enjoy!  

The Whole Town's Laughing At Me

On this day four years ago the world lost one of the greatest singers to have ever lived. Theodore DeReese Pendergrass aka Teddy Pedergrass passed away on January 13, 2010 from respiratory failure after recovering from successful surgery for colon cancer.

Much like Marvin Gaye, every time I heard Teddy's voice I felt like no matter what he had grown up to do, he would have eventually been a singer. Some people are destined for some things and Teddy was destined to sing, his voice would have seen to that. One of my all time favorites of Teddy's is The Whole Town's Laughing At Me because it's such a smooth song about lost love. I love the chorus when the backing voices sing Silly fool/How'd you lose/Such a good thing. 

Thank you Teddy for blessing us with your talent and leaving us a massive collection of some of the most beautiful songs ever recorded. You will never be forgotten, and may you continue to rest in eternal peace.

Be Without You

Today is the birthday of Mary J. Blige aka the "Queen of hip hop soul". When she first hit the music scene I was a big fan of her first album, What's The 411? and since then I've kept an eye on her career and an ear open on where she was musically. While I haven't always been the biggest fan of hers, Be Without You off her 2005 album The Breakthrough has always been a favorite of mine.

Happy Birthday Mary. Enjoy your day and may you see many, many more come your way.

Decision

I don't usually post hip hop on my blog, mainly because most hip hop today contains a word so vile that it rankles me. Yet every now and then there comes a song that catches me off guard and just flat out floors me, like this one. It's called Decision by Busta Rhymes and it's off his 2009 LP Back On My B.S. Now as the title states, you can just imagine what's being bantered about on about 98% of the album, but the other 2% is just downright beautiful.

Decision stars Jamie Foxx, John Legend, Mary J. Blige, and Common. In fact Jamie is the first voice you hear as he sings the chorus. Busta follows him and flows strongly over the beautiful melody. Then Mary comes in with the chorus and harmonizes behind Busta as he raps his second verse. Then John Legend sings the chorus and he's followed by Common. The thing that catches me is how this is a song about real friendship, unconditional friendship which we all could use.

I am not a big Busta Rhymes fan but I am of Decision and I can't seem to get it out of my head. Hopefully you'll enjoy this song as much as I do, and if it doesn't make you a fan of Busta's, maybe it'll make you a fan of the song at the very least. Enjoy.

I Wish

To celebrate the birthday of R. Kelly I am posting my favorite song of his, I Wish. I remember how the first time I heard it, I had recently lost someone close to me so this song brought me to tears. I was never a true Kelly fan, his music never connected with me until I Wish. It slammed into me like an out of control truck and at times it still does.

Happy Birthday R. May you see many, many, more and thank you.

I Wanna Get Next To You

It was recently brought to my attention that there are some people that have never heard this classic. Therefore I felt it was high time I included this masterpiece on my blog, so those that have never heard it before can treat their ears to a beautiful song and for those that know it well can get to know it all over again. The song is I Wanna Get Next To You from Rose Royce. It's off the 1976 soundtrack to the smash hit movie Car Wash.

The song starts off with the irresistible groove and you instantly know this song is just going to wash over you. The piano, guitar, and the percussion play off each other nicely after the riff. The falsetto of Kenny Copeland comes in and drops the heartbreaking lyrics about a man hoping to spend some time with a young lady who is apparently not interested. It was the perfect song for the unrequited love in the film between The Fly and the waitress.

This song will always be a classic. It's the unofficial song of the Car Wash movie but Rose Royce also dropped the original I'm Going Down that Mary J. Blige covered on that same soundtrack. Written and produced by Norman Whitfield, I feel he captured lightning in a bottle with this song because I can't help but smile whenever I hear it. Enjoy!

Cool

If you're anywhere near as old as I am then you know this song and its infectious groove. The song is Cool by the groovy (and hilarious) collection of men that make up The Time. Cool was the second single that was released off of their debut album The Time and while Cool didn't rate that high on the charts, it quickly became a staple for the band in concert and defined their attitude.

Right off the bat you get a sense of the groove with the drums and synth hooking up, then the additional percussion and a splash of guitar comes in. You immediately want to move something, it's that catchy but when Morris Day comes in with I got a penthouse in Manhattan / Two more in Monaco / I bought an 87 Cadillac Seville / Got a Maserati too / I wear diamonds on my fingers / I gotta couple on my toes / I wear the finest perfume money can by / Keeps me smelling like a rose...you know this song is all about making you smile and dance your ass off.

Originally written and preformed by Prince (written under his alias Jamie Starr), he thought it was the perfect foil for the group after he jettisoned Alexander O'Neal from the lineup. He thought this song fit his cousins vocals better than it did O'Neal's. Take a listen and see if you agree with him. Enjoy!