2/5 count.

Lupe Fiasco - FOOD & LIQUOR. So Lupe Fiasco is this kid that Heinz put me onto a couple of years ago with some mixtapes. I didn't bother checking. He's pretty much changed (a lot of) the game at this point. He's a walking hyperbole and I love him for that. He can bring up a myriad of issues that are plaguing the world without preaching or judging. And he puts it all together in very interesting ways. I don't know. He kind of took me by surprise. Dude is killing it right now.




"Something He Can Feel" - Aretha Franklin. Okay. This doesn't really count. It's a best-of collection. But the shit was like two dollars so I bought it. And it has Aretha's version of "Something He Can Feel" which was repopularized for our generation by the Hangin' With Mr. Cooper Theme Song-Singing En Vogue. Both versions are crazy nutritious. I like that I found this as a place holder first because honestly, my Aretha collection is null and void. Non existent. Kaput. Slow. Low. Anyway. There are some great cuts on here.


"Call Me" - Aretha Franklin. I was 0-2 on genuine finds for Aretha last night, but I had to grab "Call Me". If Dilla's works are called "donuts" what can we call Kanye's? Ego strokes? This is the ego stroke sample for Slum Village's "Selfish". Boy is it fun! It's really just the intro/diana part of the song on some loopage. But boy is it ever so tender and sweet!! All attacks on his personality aside, there are few people in Kanye's league right now. Like, maybe 5 or 10. He's at the top of this production game. And his own records are pretty landmark.



DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER - Dee Dee Bridgewater. 1976. Atlantic. So here's the story. I was digging with Dwine and Jahbryll a few years ago and I picked up this Frank Foster record on the strength of the album cover. It was Foster, with a saxaphone around his neck, killing a hanging mic in the studio. He had more fury in his eyes than "Busta Rhymes doing lines of coke. Woo Ha! That's all she wrote!"... Anyway. I took it home and it was oh, the funkiest record ever recorded. Or one of 'em. And the name of Foster's collective was called The Loud Minority. I was hooked. Had it on repeat for a few months. Anyway, I commemorated the work by naming a struggling indie-hiphop label after it. One of the vocalists was Dee Dee Bridgewater. I've found some great solo works by her. This is one of them. Her version of Hall & Oates "He's Gone" is so damn slumpish that its not funny. And I'm gonna get my sample flipping on with "My Lonely Room" and "It Ain't Easy". I've yet to spend time with the b-side as I just got this record, but I'll let you know how it sounds.

"Sweet Misery" - Martha Reeves, MARTHA REEVES. 1974. MCA. This jelly-filled, chocolate covered treat is kind of the shit. An opening break that was just out there got updated to be one of the sleeper pastries. Anyway... The gem on this record is really her rendition of Jimmy Cliff's "Many Rivers To Cross" which I was pleased to find was on this same album. I've been searching for some time. And to find 3 copies for 2 dollars each was quite the reward. I got the beatmaker one copy and kept two for self. Oh the juggling fun!


This is the first time in a LONG time that I've found something worthwile at the Berkeley Amoeba.