I wanted to start 2011 off with a stone solid Funk Friday track. I’ll admit I didn’t dig to the dusty section of my closet or reach to the ends of the Earth to find this one. However, despite it not being the rarest selection out there, this track will take you on an amazing funk odyssey to the edge of the galaxy and back again. As always here’s a little knowledge on the artists themselves.
Slave was an Ohio based funk group lead by Steve Washington. Who’s Steve Washington you ask? Well he’s the nephew of Ralph Middlebrook of the Ohio Players. Slave preformed some very gritty and hard edged funk and it’s no secret once you listen to this track how the tracks father “Slide” topped the singles charts in 1977 which helped bring their self titled album to number 6 on the U.S. R&B chart.
“Son of Slide” can almost be considered an instrumental version of “Slide.” However, after listening to both tracks one can hear that the bass line in “Son of Slide” is more prominent and chunky. “Son” also features a hypnotic chant at the end softly alerting and assuring that dancers can, “Slide with me till morning.” It’s a shame that part of the song is only a few seconds long. I’m sure any DJ can play that part at least three minutes and get away with it. (Thank you looping function in Serato!) The guitar solo in the middle of the track is set to power any funk mothership throughout hyperspace and cruising speeds are brought to you by the horn section. No wonder why Tribe Called Quest sampled the hell out of this on their People’s Instinctive Travels “Go Ahead in the Rain.” All in all, this track embodies what Funk Friday is all about. Don’t sleep on this track.
DJ Birdflu took the liberty of hooking up a cassette tape deck in the Charleston Fashion Week “Style Lounge” and recording a portion of his set that set the tone for the rest of fashion week. (For those young readers of the blog who have not seen a cassette tape here’s what one is.) I was very excited that Birdflu asked me to put this up on the Stone Groove Podcast. He did an awesome set for the whole time he was in the style lounge. Anyway, I did not do anything to the audio except take it straight from the tape to .mp3. So you will hear some tape crackle and noise, but that just adds to the authenticity of a real vinyl DJ like Birdflu.
DJ Sonar drops some chill head nod jams in this installment of the Stone Groove Podcast. Click on the picture above to get it from iTunes. Or listen to it from our SoundCloud below.
A good friend to the Spaced Invaders, DJ Birdflu has dropped an ill, slow-grooving mixtape that is making its way around the Charleston area. I was able to snag a copy of it from him and I asked him if I could make it available to the Stone Groove listeners. The artwork for the cover was done by Birdflu with scissors and tape, the old school way, and you can check the track listing below and see that the attention to details he used in the cover is also used in the collage of music he constructs. Speaking of old school, this DJ uses nothing but vinyl. No not Serato, time coded or anything like that. Strictly original vinyl. You’ll hear the warm analog sounds, and the crackles and pops of gently worn vinyl pressings. The transitions are on point and if you play both this mixtape with DJ Scrunchyface Flatbroke’s Valentine’s Day podcast your beddy-bye time will be set with that special someone.
Not only is this a great album to chill and listen to, it is one of Grover Washington’s most sampled albums. In fact, I believe every song has been sampled on this album.
The title track “Feels So Good” was sampled by Gangstarr’s very own Guru in “Slicker than Most.”
The track “Moonstreams” was sampled by DMX in his track “Slippin.”
“Knucklehead” is constantly sampled over and over again. Just listen to it and the list of songs will build in your head.
And finally last but certainly not least, Hydra. Who has not sampled this track? We’ve got A Tribe Called Quest who sampled the drums for their track “Check the Rhyme.” The Artifacts also did this on “Wrong Side of the Tracks.” Big Daddy Kane used it in “Daddy’s Home,” and Biggie used it in the album version of “One More Chance.”
I was going through some old funk albums this weekend, looking for the perfect beat as usual, and I ran across this old gem that I semi-forgot how some of the tracks sounded. So, I loaded it up on the decks and took a listen. From what I understand Kool and the Gang’s self released album was an unexpected success. After listening to their first single on the album, also self titled, it’s not hard to understand why this album was a success. The single climbed both pop and R&B charts at the time, reaching #19 on the R&B and #59 on the pop. Subsequent singles “The Gang’s Back Again,” “Let the Music Take Your Mind,” and “Funky Man,” followed and moved steadily up the charts. However, there were still many notable tracks such as “Raw Hamburger,” and “Chocolate Buttermilk.” This record is a total ruckus to listen to and contains the trademark styles of the band before the late disco era: smooth melodies, brassy horns, and funky-as-all-hell drumming. This album has stood up to the test of time and has been sampled by many early rap artists and is considered a classic in the eyes of the stoic vinyl collector and breaks from this album still surface in b-boy competitions across the world. I have listed the artists that sampled from this album below:
Song: Give it Up
A Tribe Called Quest - “Scenario”
Beastie Boys - “Professor Booty”
Compton’s Most Wanted - “Compton 4 Life”
Cypress Hill - “The Phuncky Feel One”
Deee-Lite - “Deee-Lite Theme”
Eric B and Rakim - “Don’t Sweat the Technique”
GangStarr - “Take a Rest”
Greg Osby - “3-D Lifestyles”
Lionrock - “Morning Will Come When I’m Not Ready”
MC Brains - “Everybody’s Talkin’ about MC Brains”
NWA - “Real Niggaz”
Organized Konfusion - “Intro”
Uptown - “Dope on Plastic”
X-Clan - “Shaft’s Big Score”
Song: Chocolate Buttermilk
Chubb Rock - “The Night Scene”
Eric B and Rakim - “Keep ‘em Eager to Listen”
Eric B and Rakim - “No Omega”
Heavy D - “Let it Flow”
Marley Marl - “Simon Says”
Masta Ace - “Simon Says”
Pete Rock & CL Smooth - “Straighten it Out”
Special Ed - “Ready 2 Attack”
SL2 - “On A Ragga Tip”
Stetsasonic - “The Hip Hop Band”
Style - “Set the Mood”
YBT - “Proud to Be Black”
Song: Let the Music Take Your Mind
Beastie Boys - “Lay it on Me”
Boss - “Process of Elimination”
Ice Cube - “AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted”
Ice T - “Freedom of Speech”
Jungle Brothers - “What’s Going On?”
Ultramagnetic MCs - “MC Champion”
Song: Breeze & Soul
Dr. Octagon - “Bear Witness”
Jimmy Jay - “Les Cool Session”
