Music
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One of my all time favorite soul singers just passed away. You will be missed big man.
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@riffblaster:
One of my all time favorite soul singers just passed away. You will be missed big man.
His last album, which was produced by the late great Willie Mitchell (the man behind Al Green's HUGE records in the 70's), was called "Nothing is impossible" and was absolutely badass. I visited the Royal Studios in Menphis last July and Boo Mitchell, who took the studios after his dad passed, played me new tracks by Solomon and they were incredible.
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thats amazing, totally jealous.
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The baddest wickedest hip hop tune ever (in other words, move over, Puffy, Doctor and fiddy, make room for the GRANDMASTER FLASH AND THE FURIOUS 5)
It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under
It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
How I keep from going underBroken glass everywhere
People pissing on the stairs, you know they just don't care
I can't take the smell, I can't take the noise no more
Got no money to move out, I guess I got no choice
Rats in the front room, roaches in the back
Junkies in the alley with the baseball bat
I tried to get away, but I couldn't get far
Cause a man with a tow-truck repossessed my carChorus:
Don't push me cause I'm close to the edge
I'm trying not to lose my head, ah huh-huh-huh
[2nd and 5th: ah huh-huh-huh]
[4th: say what?]
It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under
It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
How I keep from going underStanding on the front stoop, hangin' out the window
Watching all the cars go by, roaring as the breezes blow
Crazy lady livin' in a bag
Eating out of garbage pails, used to be a fag-hag
Said she danced the tango, skipped the light fandango
The Zircon Princess seemed to lost her senses
Down at the peepshow, watching all the creeps
So she can tell the stories to the girls back home
She went to the city and got social security
She had to get a pimp, she couldn't make it on her own[2nd Chorus]
My brother's doing bad on my mother's TV
She says: "You watch it too much, it's just not healthy!"
"All My Children" in the daytime, "Dallas" at night
Can't even see the game or the Sugar Ray fight
The bill collectors they ring my phone
And scare my wife when I'm not home
Got a bum education, double-digit inflation
I can't take the train to the job, there's a strike at the station
Neon King Kong standin' on my back
Can't stop to turn around, broke my sacrophiliac
A mid-ranged migraine, cancered membrane
Sometimes I think I'm going insane, I swear I might hijack a planeMy son said: "Daddy I don't wonna go to school
Cause the teacher's a jerk!", he must think I'm a fool
And all the kids smoke reefer, I think it'd be cheaper
If I just got a job, learned to be a street sweeper
I'll dance to the beat, shuffle my feet
Wear a shirt and tie and run with the creeps
Cause it's all about money, ain't a damn thing funny
You got to have a con in this land of milk and honey
They pushed that girl in front of the train
Took her to the doctor, sewed her arm on again
Stabbed that man right in his heart
Gave him a transplant for a brand new start
I can't walk through the park, cause it's crazy after dark
Keep my hand on my gun, cause they got me on the run
I feel like a outlaw, broke my last glass jar
Hear them say: "You want some more livin' on a seesaw?"[4th Chorus]
A child is born with no state of mind
Blind to the ways of mankind
God is smiling on you but he's frowning too
Because only God knows what you'll go through
You'll grow in the ghetto, living second rate
And your eyes will sing a song of deep hate
The places you're playin', where you stay
Looks like one great big alley way
You'll admire all the number book takers
Thugs, pimps, pushers and the big money makers
Driving big cars, spending twenties and tens
And you wanna grow up to be just like them, huh,
Smugglers, scrambles, burglars, gamblers
Pickpockets, peddlers even panhandlers
You say: "I'm cool, I'm no fool!"
But then you wind up dropping out of high school
Now you're unemployed, all non-void
Walking 'round like you're Pretty Boy Floyd
Turned stickup kid, look what you've done did
Got sent up for a eight year bid
Now your manhood is took and you're a may tag
Spend the next two years as a undercover fag
Being used and abused to serve like hell
Till one day you was found hung dead in a cell
It was plain to see that your life was lost
You was cold and your body swung back and forth
But now your eyes sing the sad, sad song
Of how you lived so fast and died so youngDon't push me 'cause I'm close to the edge
I'm trying not to lose my head
It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder how I keep from going under
It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder how I keep from going underYo Mell, you see that girl there?
Yo, that sounded like Cowboy man
Cool
Yo, what's up Money?
Yo, where's Cooly an Raheim?
They is downstairs coooling out
So what's up for tonight y'all?
We could go down to Phoenix
We could go check out "Junebug" man
Hey yo, you know that girl Betty?
Yeah man
Come on, come all man
Not like it
That's what I heard man
What's this happening, what's this?
What's goin' on?
Freeze
Don't nobody move or nothin'
Y'all know what this is (What's happend?)
Get 'em up, get 'em up (What?)
Oh man, we're (Right in there) Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
What is that, a gang?
No
Shut up
I don't wanna hear your mouth
Shut up
Officer, officer, what is the problem?
You the problem
Hey, you ain't gotta push me man
Get in the car, get in the car
Get in the god…
I said, "Get in the car"
Why is he? -
Man you guys are lucky, id have loved to catch Kylesa/Torche
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torche are currently in my living room watching eastbound and down on my dvr. true story.
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More badass hip hop from the greatest producer, Doctor Dre:
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Riffblaster, that is fucking awesome. Ask them if Pike is still a mess or if it was just the Minneapolis show.
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they were actually talking about the minneapolis show. they said it was like a youtube shreds video but it was just that one night. sheesh haha.
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Googled "youtube shreds". Made my morning.
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haha awesome. the creed one is by far my favorite.
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one of my favorite live performances ever: Sugar Minott + Sly & Robbie doing Herbsman Hustling inna dubwise style
I had the privilege and the pleasure to produce several tracks with Sugar Minott and he was always such a nice person to work with, and so fucking talented. Likewise, S&R are my heroes.
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very cool!
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The Cool Ruler Gregory Isaacs in 1980, absolutely badass. Check his outfit, total class
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Third World = Jah Glory
I see Jah Glory
In the morning sun…YES!
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Today is a shitty day in the history of Jamaican music: Gregory Isaacs finally ended his sojourn among us mere humans earlier this morning.
He graced us with his presence on Earth for 59 years and gave us 500 albums (yes 5 fucking hundred records) during his nearly 40 year long career. And what songs he did write, compose and sing!!! Of course, the fabulous "Night Nurse" immediately comes to mind, but "If I don't have you" "Lonely Lover", "Top 10", "Mr Brown", "The Storm" and dozens other hits could be named and they're equally as good.
He sang mostly about two topics: Love and life in the ghetto. Just those two topics for about 3.000 songs, and yet every one of them had a "je ne sais quoi" that definitely places Gregory Isaacs on top of the Reggae pantheon. He was not nicknamed "The Cool Ruler" for nothing, oh no, not at all! He was supremely gifted, very intelligent and knew exactly what the fuck was going on.
Granted, he was a coke addict, and once shot several policemen in a crack-fueled rampage. But, in addition to being a supremely great songwriter and singer, he was a generous man, making sure poor people living in his neighborhood (one of the worst ghettoes of Kingston) were fed, clothed and taken care of.
On top of this, he liked me, and every time I was in Kingston, he came to say hi in the studio, and not just because I was a white guy with money in his pockets. Even when I had no work for him, he still came and hung out for a few minutes. Class personified.
I had the pleasure of voicing him on several occasions. The most memorable one was in 2006 during Horace Andy's "Livin' it up" recording sessions with Robbie and Sly. When I heard the riddim for "I'm Alive", I thought "Shit this would be perfect for Gregory" (quite often Jamaican artists write songs over already recorded instrumental tracks, called riddims in Jamaican patois). So I called him and he came within the hour in his red BMW, wearing gold chains and crisp clean pants. He stood in a corner of the mixing room, making sure he was not in anybody's way and just listened to the various riddims we had recorded with Sly, Robbie, Robbie Lyn, Ansel Collins, Dalton Browne, Dougie Bryan, Sticky Thompson and Skully Simms (those who know a bit about Reggae music will appreciate this list of musicians, the others, just be aware you can't top that!). After a while, he told me that he had a song on three riddims and that he'd be glad to voice them. I was in heaven (even though I'm a producer, I'm still a Reggae fan!!!) and after a quick discussion about his fee, he went straight to the mike and recorded "Poor Man In Love" in just one swoosh. It was hysterical: the man had not written a single word on a piece of paper and had the whole fucking song in his head. You could tell he was making the song at the same time as the instrumental track went on. We were able to capture this unique moment on video and around the end of the song, Gregory smiles while he's singing. The reason was that he saw me in the control room in a frenzy, jumping like a madman. I was definitely under the influence of his cool smooth voice over one of Sly & Robbie's wickedest riddims and I knew he had delivered a superb song.
After the recording, I had a moment of panic because I realized I did not have enough cash to pay him. With other Jamaican artists, this forgetfulness is bound to lead to yelling and cursing hours on end, a real embarrassment. When I told him the bad news, he said: pay me tomorrow, you cool, man. You cyaan leave the island before you done pay me anyway! Quite flabbergasted by his easy going attitude, I made sure to find an ATM that worked in Kingston that same night and my Jamaican brother Gaylord Bravo (a friend of Gregory's in addition to being a top roots producer with whom I produced U Roy and many other artists way back when) drove me at 2 in the morning in the pitch dark night through one of Kingston's most squalid ghettos to Gregory's house. We drove through a maze of shanty town on barely paved alley ways and finally reached Gregory's place. A 2 story house, the only one looking halfway decent in that wretched neighborhood, the only one with lights outside. A ghost opened the gate for us, frisked us to make sure we did not pack guns or firearms, and led us to another ghost guarding the entrance door to the house, who then led us to another ghost who looked even more cracked out than the two others and was guarding the door to Gregory's office… Gregory was sitting in his big boss armchair, on the phone with somebody. Acting like the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, he very affably gestured for us to sit down and hung up. Fortune 500 it was not, but he was definitely conducting some important business. Maybe shifting several tons of product, I did not ask, none of my business… I gave him his money and he said he did not want me to come all the way to that area at such an ungodly hour. He then played me some new tracks he was working on. He was constantly crafting new stuff. That's one thing one's got to remember about these old school Reggae artists: they never stop until they drop…
So today, Gregory has departed back to his planet where the milk and the honey flow, where love, grace and talent are the norm. All of a sudden, without the Cool Ruler, our little blue Earth feels more overrun by mediocrity, vulgarity and greed… I certainly hope that from time to time, he'll send news from where he now resides… I sure hope such a place does exist, because angels like Gregory need a place to rest. Some call it Zion…
Here is the video I mentioned earlier in this text.
PS = I apologize for taking so much space to talk about something that has nothing to do with IH
and here is a cool photo of Gregory and me
