Vol. 4 of this exercise, wherein I put my full 80gb iPod on shuffle and give some quick thoughts on the first 10 tracks that play. See the prior posts for further background if you wish.
01. The Sounds – Dance With Me
One of my favourite pop groups of the last decade. A shame they never caught on with much North American radio play… actually that’s probably for the best. Keeps them driven… maybe. This cut is from their debut album and it’s all right. The Sounds’ second album is an absolute pop masterpiece for me, so I’d be a bit more excited if a song off that came up.
02. Kool G Rap & DJ Polo – She Love Me, She Loves Me Not
What a great collaboration this duo was. Is there anything better than a great MC consistently rapping over his DJ/producer’s beats (see also Gang Starr, Eric B. & Rakim, Pete Rock & CL Smooth etc etc)? And not to sound too dated, but we need more steady MC/DJ partnerships these days. Murs and his collabs with 9th Wonder and whomever on the Felt albums is the only modern example I’m coming up with right now.
03. InI – Think Twice
Speaking of great collabs, Pete Rock working with anyone is always worth your time. The only InI album “Center of Attention” was completely produced by Pete and remains one of his finest works (as well as one of the most coveted underground/bootlegged hip-hop LP’s before it’s semi-official release 8 years after its recording). Gotta love the Slick Rick vocal sample on this track – one of the most instantly recognizable voices in the game.
04. O.C. – War Games (feat. Organized Konfusion)
Solid (though not mind-blowing) DJ Premier production here. And Pharoahe Monch and O.C. are two of my favourite golden era emcees. All that said, this is a nice song and all, but not my favourite from O.C.’s first two fantastic albums (this one coming his second album “Jewelz”).
05. Joe Public – Live And Learn (Radio Version With Rap)
Uh-oh. Competition’s gonna be stiff to usurp this from being the top track of the 10. Speaking of stiff, that’s exactly what this song made me in 1992 (I know, at age 12 most things can cause this state, but still). After seeing Joe Public perform this (their one hit) on Soul Train, I made sure to cop their full album on cassette. And wore this track OUT. I could not play this on my walkman/ghettoblaster enough. That New Jack sound won me over then and still does today.
Listening to it now, the lyrics are painfully fluffy, but the beat still gets me. This version is from the 12” for “Live and Learn” that I’d downloaded, but it’s really no different from the album version, “rap” and all.
06. Little Indian – One Little Indian (Buckwild’s Remix)
What thu??? My first repeat track from a prior Shuffle Ten post. 12,000+ songs to choose from and my iPod is already repeating?! It’s a nice song, but I’m not writing about it again. See here.
07. Devin The Dude – Where Can We Go
Oh Devin, how I love your weeded-out style. That lazy and beautiful rap-singing you do, those thick beats you always seem to rhyme/sing over. Even this song from “Hi Life”, a randomly compiled collection of some non-album joints, excels and perfectly encapsulates what makes Devin so fresh. Just lay back and enjoy the ride. This song has nothing to say really, it’s just free-associating to the groove. Despite what I just said about Joe Public above, I’ll probably choose this as the song to share – Devin needs more attention.
08. J Dilla – BEAT CD ’05 #1 – Track 10
A precursor to the fantastic “Make It Fast (Unadultered Mix)”, off Dilla’s posthumous collection “Jay Stay Paid”. Gotta love these beat CD’s, making you feel like your eavesdropping in on a true master at work as he discovering that perfect beat – which this certainly is. Also, “trying to go deep throat”???
09. Madlib – Bartender Say (Instrumental)
Jaylib reunited for these back-to-back tracks! This is off the instrumentals for ‘lib’s Quasimoto record “The Further Adventures of Lord Quas”. A fun beat that just makes me crave a new album from Madlib’s Quasimoto persona. It’s time.
10. Michael Jackson – Billie Jean
Only one of the greatest songs ever recorded. There’s no doubting that this is the best song of the bunch this month, and I think we’re all familiar with it, yes? Despite this, I feel obliged to post this as the top song on the ten, since it so obviously is. I’ll share one or two of the other songs from this ten as a bonus perhaps. I’m seeing the MJ docu “This Is It” this week, and I’m not sure what to expect at this point, but there’s no denying the absolute perfection of this song. No matter how many times one hears it, it’s never enough.
Fave tracks: 3, 5, 7, 10
Least fave track: none!
