5 posts tagged “jay dee”
The last song I'm going to spotlight today was initially a beat created by the late Jay Dee for his album 'Donuts.' In the wake of his death, the Roots released their album 'Game Theory,' that included a dedication to the producer using said beat. This song was meant for Jay Dee, but I think it is also fitting for this occasion.
The Roots' 'Can't Stop This'
RIP Michael Jackson
~`*Tina
It hit me recently that I didn't commemorate J Dilla's day of passing, February 10th. This is how I will atone.
While doing shag dances backstage during a play performance, a friend and I contemplated taking a boom box to the beach, a la shag style, and taking these dances to the masses, as if it was straight out of a movie.
This is one of the songs I think I might play.
Stones Throw even decided to give you a second chance, just in time for my birthday!
Check The Rhime, ya'll....
Stones Throw is the epitome of Underground Sounds. They were the label home of Jay Dee, and are the label home of some of my favorite artists, Aloe Blacc, Dudley Perkins, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Guilty Simpson, James Pants, Oh No, MF DOOM, Peanut Butter Wolf, and the ever so sexy Madlib and all of his incarnations (Jaylib, Yesterday's New Quintet, Quasimoto and Yesterday's Universe).
So a place breaming with such talent and creativity does not only excel in music (and exceptional videos), but fashion as well. And some brilliant packaging for albums.
Take, for example, Jay Dee's Ruff Draft.
This was to commemorate and celebrate the release of Ruff Draft. An album done on tape, and after Jay Dee's death, was released to much fanfare. I however, have never got the $40 bucks necessary to purchase it. And I don't know if you noticed, but I need that shirt. That tape cassette. And that album.
This was to commemorate the release of Jay Dee's Donuts. One of the best instrumental albums I've ever heard, and it's still banging t'day. Madlib's Beat Konducta series is still dope. So for the Madlib fans out there -I see you!-
MF DOOM, the masked one who somehow became best buddy to Adult Swim (hostin' Xmas specails? Fahreal, Doom?), is dope. He makes beats too. Dope, weird ones that nobody can rap over.
And finally, for those folks who have never heard of Stones Throw or who don't know a single artist in this list, just go for the Hella International shirt.
Or, on the back of this sweatshirt, there's a rollcall of their most famous artists.
and on this tee, for their 10th anniversary.
So uh, who wants to buy those for me?
Oh, and since you asked...
the videos
http://www.youtube.com/user/stonesthrow
the artists...
http://www.stonesthrow.com/artists.html
and purch the merch...
http://www.stonesthrow.com/store/
It all starts with Dilla.
Dude was a musical giant in such a practical yet frail package. Everyone he was associated with all had something different and soulful to bring to the table. Geez, producers like him are hard to come by, and people wonder why he's loved so much.
Anyway, this six degrees starts with him. It's not like the usual Six Degrees where you go from point A to point B in six steps, no, I'm just gonna map out a mini musical journey starting with one and ending to where my journey has paused as of today, you see, point B isn't really an end. It's a picture of where the end would be, or something like that.
So just follow along, I'll guide you from here on out of the first edition of Six Degrees.
"So here I was waddling along the interweb when I happened upon Toddkelley's dedication to Jay Dee aka DILLA, via Honeysoul's blog. I had never really heard of the name, so naturally, curiously, after seeing the roster of artists on the playlist, I had to take a listen. Then I heard
1. Fingertips by Poe
The songs lilting sample was what pulled me into Jay Dee, but that's for another post. The sample is what gets the light today. It was of Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66 in their song, Like A Lover.
2. Like A Lover by Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66.
Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 – Mais que nada
I swear after I heard this song, I went ga-ga for the lyrics. How poetic, how adorable, as if they were done by, how do you say, like a lover? Turns out Sergio wasn't dead like most of the artists I end up loving (I see you Johnny Guitar Watson!) and was still cranking out hits with the help of Wil.i.am. of the Black Eyed Peas with their album, Timeless. Needless to say, I delved into his catalog of music, downloading all his albums (hey, you give me a hefty sum sum for their discography!)
and listening like crazy. Only then did I understand the parallels in the music then and the album Timeless, most of the songs were supposed to be remakes- dur! (And "omigod", that's why it's called 'Timeless!', cause the songs never really lost their touched and are revamped and... OMIGOD!) Including the ever so popular Mas Que Nada featuring The Black Eyed Peas.
Mas Que Nada, Samba de Bencao and other songs in the Brasil '66 catalog like Agua de Beber and So Many Stars were not just theirs. Turns out, that's how Sergio and Dem became so popular, by remaking American and Brazilian classics with some samba and American flare, respectively, and bringing them to both coasts.
Another man responsible for bringing the samba to America was Stan Getz in his incredible song, The Girl from Ipanema. (No, I'm not going to post it, if you haven't already heard the Grammy winner, I suggest you leave the rock you're under and go find it yourself. Trust me, you'll thank me when you do. Now, where was I?)
The song featured the beautiful looking and sounding, Astrud Gilberto. Who did another version of the song, Agua De Beber (Personally, I like Al Jarreau's version the best).
3. Agua de Beber by Astrud Gilberto
Even she, however, got her inspiration from someone else I was to learn. They all got IT from another man, a man I read about in Waxpoetics. Not Joao Donato exactly, but I learned about his work with Jorge Ben, and thus I was compelled to dig both of them up through Napster and Wikipedia and get a feel for his version of Mas Que Nada.
4. Mas Que Nada by Jorge Ben
THANK GOD for Waxpoetics. After missing the Rick James issue (C'mon, now! The magazine is like, NINE DOLLARS! I can't afford that, AND the Scarlet Letter! Are you listening Waxpoetics! I'm a struggling high school student. Some patronage, pweeze!) I pick up this one, not knowing who he is at all. I'm compelled, however, to read every article in Waxpoetics because I feel it's my obligatory duty as a child in this day in age, to learn more about music. It makes me feel ignorant, to put it bluntly, to see all those names and only know who two are. After featuring the powerhouse that is Marcos Valle I knew I had to hear his version of The Face I Love, 'cause if Astrud can do it effortlessly, this babyfaced man has some high standards to go up to.
5. The Face I Love by Marcos Valle.
The issue mentions Joao again, I believe and I'm compelled to look him up. (It was a treally long blink, I know, I swear I wasn't sleeping!) And I download what his most popular downloads are. Of them is the gem,
6. Lugar Comum by Joao Donato.
And this is where it ends."
Clean ain't it?
It's not over, I'll tell you.
With a little help from my friends (i.e. YOU) these degrees'll add up to something like 360, whoknows. Maybe I'll finally figure out how to pronounce Joao and put those accent marks in my writing? Or maybe I can finally figure out a way to put wma. files onto vox?
Find out the answer to this and more in the next edition of Six Degrees!
~`*tina
