Presenting 7 songs I consider 3rd Stream R&B

Its ridiculous how much music there is out there. I can say that we of this generation are so blessed with the amount of talent and promise available through free music, youtube, online magazines and the rest. In this new world order, I really don’t think there is a definitive location to find ‘the best’ of anything. Yet just as much, there are so many crap tunes and wannabes who think that spirit alone makes you hot. With this inundation of material out there, sifting through it all becomes a bit wearisome.

In the 50’s and 60’s, R&B was the root of Rock, Funk, and Soul. It evolved to its Golden Era, starting in the late 60’s and moving through the 70’s, with Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke, Stevie Wonder, Sly Stone, Isaac Hayes, Curtis Mayfield, Al Green, Aretha Franklin, Prince, and so on. As Hip Hop took hold in the 80’s, R&B spent some time figuring itself out and putting out great music in the process with early synth acts, New Jack Swing, Hip Hop Soul, and Neo Soul. I absolutely adore today’s voices such as Erykah Badu, Alicia Keys, John Legend, and Jill Scott who now sit comfortably in the Pantheon of R&B/Soul music. These folks present a range of topics and production approaches that can rival the kings and queens of the 70’s.

Yet, what fascinates me is that mainstream R&B feels bound by other popular genres, or even its own legacy. New Jack Swing/Hip Hop Soul is totally co-oping to make it appealing to younger audiences. From Mary J Blige to Ne-Yo, there is an element of beats and video that mimics aesthetics set by Hip Hop. “Neo” Soul similarly ascribes to ‘bringing it back’ and reinstating more organic productions and instruments to mimic the Golden Era. By no means am I stating there is a lack of originality in these subgenres, there has been gorgeous work on these two fronts. But when there is a blatant sense of ‘backwards to go forwards’ or co-opting, I begin to wonder.

On this note, I want to present to you a small list of what I consider to be 3rd Stream R&B. Just as Hip Hop took elements of its past and moved it soooo forward, that new elements began to appear as a evolutionary result (futurism, time/space manipulation, wordplay, culture). These tracks, artists or songs, present to me that ‘future’ which Hip Hop took us all by surprise with. Most of these were chosen for their innovative production, choice of sounds/samples, artistic difference to the mainstream, use of voice, and ability to reinvestigate their predecessors in new ways. In certain respects this music is no different from their mainstream counterparts. Yet, they are not given as much radio play, and therefore I feel they deserve some shine.

Platinum Pied Pipers – “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” Triple P

Tight with Dilla and have the Detroit connection, these dues are pretty traditional, but they bring some funk and groove that I don’t really hear too much. For this list I’d pick their tracks with Tiombe Lockheart, but I remember their cover of “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” being dropped at Fluid in Philly and KILLING the dancefloor so here it is. Beautiful Bossa style rhythm at the club cannot go wrong!

Aloe Blacc – “Are You Ready” Shine Through

Respect for throwing in his Panamanian roots in his cover of “Ordinary People” and “Panama”. But I think he does his best on some very unique sampling and drumming production on “Dance for Life” or “Are you Ready”. He is bold enough to cover Sam Cooke’s “Long Time Coming” to great effect!

Flying Lotus – “Tea Leaf Dancers” Reset EP

FlyLo is a don and pretty much the next level in Hip Hop instrumental production, coming in the graduating class after Madlib and Dilla.

Vikter Dupliax – "Morena" International Affairs

I consider him to be the most ‘traditional’ of this list. But he does come with some experimentals with “Pure” and “Morena”. It’s interesting that he doesn’t get too much mainstream play, as his lyrics are pretty much designed to getting ass.

Stacy Epps – “Floatin” The Awakening

Beautiful vocal strings float around while her voice flies between them, stunning. And, she flows too!

Foreign Exchange – “Daykeeper” - Leave it All Behind

While the entire album is pretty traditional, “Sweeter Than You” and “Daykeeper” bring lush strings and synths alongside some very nice rolling drum breaks. I’m impressed with Phonte’s ability to carry a tune.

Honorable Mention

Erykah Badu – “Twinkle” New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)

With retro tracks like “Amerykah’s Promise”, modern production such as “Soldier” to total blissful wonky vibes of “Twinkle”, it’s wonderful to see a mainstream artist push forward.

What I like: "Wind it up" Mark Pritchard feat. Om'Mas Sa Ra (Hyperdub, 2009)

A gorgeous slab of sloshy slurpee mixed in with some NES, and topped off with some gooey surround-sound chopped and screwed vocals... see, and you thought I didn't listen to new music! Brought to you by Kode9's Hyperdub Label (or here for MS page), my favorite label of the 2000's.

I'MA FREAK, YOU A FREAK, SHE A FREAK... WI' WI' WIND IT UP!!

Old School Drum & Bass Friday - I Kamanchi "Hold It Down" (2003)

A little saucy number by Die Krust and MC Tali. Very poppy tune with a nice smooth bass snyth. I see myself dancing in a universe where the Rave element of DnB was long since gone, I sip on Martinis instead of $12 Long Islands and my Jinco's are replaced with some saucy Diesel gear.

Too bad that never happened here in the U.S. DnB would've probably made more sense and caught on with some pop cred, especially with tunes like these.

BTW.,.. I notice I have been posting a lot of old music lately. I felt reassured yesterday when I read a piece on Madlib on Wire Magazine... I'm not the only one who just listens to old music. and Anyway, new music is my competition... let my sounds be first, and everyone else comes second!!

Every club song played during Juice's heyday 1998 - 2005

Rap hits come and go... Who would've thought that back in the day KRS-ONE was actually played out at Love in DC??? Who would've known that Tribe was spun as the new thing and not the throwback? Times have changed and I've come to grips, and pretty much a lack of interest, that my days of hard clubbing are behind me. That doesn't mean that Juice still don't got the Funk in his soul. So these songs are those tried and true songs that no matter what day I went out, no matter who was the hottest rapper in the country, these joints always got played. The connection to Club Music and Go-go, truly make DC my home.

Doble T y El Crok - Pepe Pepe... a big slap in the face to mainstream Reggaeton

A buddy of mine passed along this glorious carnal treat coming your way from DR. My immediate reaction was straight hyped off it. The track features a slew of dem bow beats tossed to you one after the other, along with two choruses, different styles of flows and quick cuts between flows, which makes this mad energetic.

The video reminds me of SOO many videos of urban genres in their growth stages. Its a cheap production of the rappers sitting in an obviously stationary vehicle as they rap to you from their driver side window, there is the singular girl being shot from different angles... very unlike big budget vids where about 20 choreographed girls are there for your visual pleasure, there is also the group-posse-in-the-city-shots where the crowds of people gather round dancing to the track in front graffiti walls and blurred urban backdrops. The silliness of the song and the style reminded me of old Fresh Prince, Vanilla Ice, Wrecks n EFX type 80's jam tracks... total low budget bliss!!

The very best is how it pretty much, to me, slaps mainstream Reggaeton in the face... ahhh, there once was a time where Reggaeton was indeed Hip Hop circa 87, with MCs coming from different timbres, angles, and attitudes, where the beats sounded fresh and interesting, and there was some definite boundary pushing that was grounded and certified in true ghetto-street validation. This song brings back humor, dem bow beats, and sexuality that Reggaeton was cool for back in the day.Nowadays, I turn on the radio and watch the TV stations and I see little pretty-boys singing pop hooks and looking oh-so stupid... commercially designed for guest-appearances, getting laid, teenage privileged kids, and posing.

"Pepe" throws me back to the carnal, sexual, degenerate nastiness that was embedded with most urban genres at their rise, but coupled with a clever humor and energy that balanced it out. Tracks like this making it a big double-entendre (sp?) or doble-sentido that is oh so sinister.

Throwbacks - Simpleton "Coco Cola Bottle Shape" & Top Cat "Roughest Gunark"

This song is so wrong... but shit.. when dude rides a riddim that has no snare... and when the snare IS the hook... I have to post. Too bad someone already remixed this...

One more...

Couldn't resist

Celebrating Albinism Week – King Yellowman's therapy as the Blueprint for Dancehall

Previously, I celebrated Connie Chiu for having beauty and fashion associated with albinism. In part 3 of this series, I present to you my King. Yellowman is one of the greatest artists in Reggae music who took a unique stance with albinism and innovated the lyrical content and delivery of deejays. Yellowman directly addressed sex, style, mic skills, with an explicit consciousness of his albinism as perversion, impurity, and threat with a humor that made people laugh, nervous, and intrigued. The sheer power of his lyrics matched his content, delivered with such hyperbole and exaggeration, and the venom that it was all actually true. He said he was the best, and he was right. He said that he had the best jewelry, and it was true. And, he said he had all the ladies after him, and that was absolutely true. At one point, Yellowman had 40 tracks circulating all around Jamaica and was the first Dancehall Deejay to sign to a major label.

Yellowman influenced a huge array of 80’s Hip Hop artists with his rhyme schemes and showmanship. He also popularized the use of another toaster to toss rhymes and verses back and forth, as well as share choruses, with his main man Fathead in tracks like "Operation Eradication". This tune and many others carried small intros and dialogue, quite similar to many Hip Hop acts. I admire his stance on stage as well, wearing the cool clothes at the time, bringing a true swagger to his flow and style with his body movement on stage. I am a big critic of placing emphasis on clothes, bling, and superficial items as signs of your status, but in this case I make the exception.

Compare with Run-DMC's "Its Like That"

Yellowman brought the whole "slack" construct to the vocabulary of reggae toasters. While skank was pretty much a misogynistic approach to talking about girls, I felt Yellowman was taking slack and applying it to his position as an Albino in Jamaica, which was looked down upon. Moreso, a male with albinism would generally be considered an undesirable. Yet with the sheer power of his lyrics and showmanship, he took that stereotype and flipped it, positioning him as a very very threatening man to other males with a strong sexual drive and success, countering all notions of albinism as an inferior trait. He put this threat to good use in “I’m getting married in the morning” where he promised the world his wife would have ‘yellow babies’. He took it further by highlighting the inability to hold themselves back from him in his true slack tune “My Fat Thing”

And on pure lyrical delivery and showmanship, NO ONE could ride a riddim as well as him. Listen to the way he seems to be trying to pull his flow back and forth, fast and slow tall around the track, “Body Move”, in particularly when he sings the hook and explains the dances. These transitions are pure prog-rock and MF DOOM as far as switching up styles in mid track.

As a person, Yellowman has been through a lot. His success did not come without a price. He grew up in a lot of hardship where as a child where he grew up in an orphanage, abandoned due to his albinism. Today, Yellowman is battling skin cancer. The fact that my man continues to make music, tour, and be in front of stage after radiation therapy and suffering its consequences to his body is a testament to his strength and boldness as a human.

2007

At times I wonder how effective was his approach to himself and others. Honestly, he drenched himself in hyperbole, putting to question whether he allowed his albinism to be empathetically attainable from others. At this point I can only see this hyperbole as applicable for the sake of showmanship and self-repair from all the hardship he has faced. It was his isolation, unique placement as a person with Albinism that forced him to find a place in music, yet as mere consequence his position changed Reggae. How effective was his presence to educate those in Jamaica and the rests of the world? There is some solace in knowing that many artists following him (Shabba Ranks, Bounty Killer, Beenieman, Vybes Cartel, etc.) have taken Yellowman’s blueprint and carried it further and applied to non-Albinos. But this is only a literal application (the consequence of this is seen in the perpetuation of misogynistic attitudes towards women and the false-education of the importance of material goods). I think the true blueprint that Yellowman highlights to me is how one must find their path to navigate the oppressions that exist out there. There was no blueprint for how Yellowman should behave; yet he found one, blessed a lot of people with his entertainment, and allowed folks like myself to find a hero.

Here is Yellowman's take, and lets just go with this one...

Now available - ill.selection on EXBC Radio (EXBC 164)

This is my mix of dubstep, funky, and original ill.selection tracks that I did for Expansion Broadcast internet radio. Much respect to the folks at EXBC for supporting local music and allowing me to be heard by over 800 folks through their podcast. I would say this mix starts off with some upbeat dubstep that captures the vibes of the moment of cross pollination from other genres such as Funky and Hardcore. Then I move towards a Funky set, and finally slide into some more brooding sounds and end it with 2-Step flavors.

EXBC is made up from a bunch of DJs from the Baltimore/DC area... its a great chance to see a community of Electronic Dance Music folks get together and support one another. It feels good to be a part of something. So, I hope you enjoy.

Tracklisting

Switch Up - Ill.selection
krdl-t-grv - Martyn
Coquine - Von D
Bad - Kode9 & LD
Elevated Level - Roska
Inflation - Crazy Cousinz
Acid Bells (Martyns Dark Mix) - Efdemin
Riddim Box - N.B Funky
Epilogue (Ramadanman Rerub) - F
No No No Refix - Ill.selection
Hoodies in Georgetown - Ill.selection
Colourful - Skream
Broken Beats - Dark Knight
Put You Down - TRG
Mosaix - Pangaea
Broadway G - Sully
Guitar Shuffle Forward - Ill.selection
Just Can't Stop - Ill.selection
Lizards - Brackles
Roots Sound - Ill.selection