Friday, September 01, 2006

Funky Friday Droppin' Beats

It's an all hop hop edition of funky Friday...

The Roots have a new LP out called Game Theory. It is fantastic - tight beats, tight band, tight flow, some nice guest spots. Some of it is fierce - Here I Come (feat. Dice Raw & Malik B.) has block rockin' drums, raging guitars and energy to spare. Long Time (feat. Peedi Peedi & Bunny Sigler) is a smooth ass funk jam that kind of has a bit of the Marvin Gaye feeling going on. Love the strings and guitar on this.

Rahzel used to be a regular member of The Roots, filling the spot of human beatboxer extraordinaire. He turns in a nice guest spot on his old band's latest. All I Know is the bomb joint from his 1999 debut MTM 2000, a record full of pleasant surprises (Slick Rick and Me'shell N'degeocello cameos) and mind blowing tracks constructed fully out of Rahzel's vocals. If you've ever seen him live (and I have on a couple of occasions) you kow how good he is at this stuff!

I've been listening to a lot of A Tribe Called Quest lately. They have reformed and are doing some shows, but there is no news on a new record. If they come to your town you had better go and catch one of the most entertaining live trios around - Q and Phife rock the mic, Shaheed rocks the ones and twos, and they have 5 or 6 albums worth of killer material to play - like these two tracks from 1993's Midnight Marauders, Electric Relaxation and the Busta-fied Oh My God. Some classic mid period old school.

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