This is a pretty long version of Guru Guru's ode to drugs. And while it's always odd to see what amounts to the evolution of hippie culture in Europe, these guys shred better than the Dead...For real.

2008 was a ridiculously busy year for Tha Connection, a Long Island based rap duo. Issuing a proper long player and innumerable mix tapes over that twelve month period should have brought the group to a wide audience. But as per usual, the music press was more concerned with Asher Roth and Cudi or whoever else was being touted as the next big thing. How’d full lengths turn out from those guys? Well, both are rich, but that doesn’t mean their discs were all that spectacular.

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In 1997 with the words “Rugged like Rwanda,” Company Flow easily staked out a spot within hip hop’s history that can’t, won’t and shouldn’t be ignored. Of course, the following issues that group members developed in relation to the Rawkus imprint, the label releasing its music, was another sign that some of the industry’s most talented acts will always run into trouble. Even if its for no good reason.

Even during the nineties, though, one of the trio’s emcees and producer El-P seemed like a guy who was pissed off at something. His experience releasing music through established labels probably contributing to that. Because of that as well the prodigious out put he was then engaged with, El-P founded Def Jux a few years on to alleviate some of his business problems.

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With just his second full length feature project, John Carpenter, who two years on would found the Halloween franchise, turned in Assault on Precinct 13, a work he wrote, directed, produced and acted in. Well, act might be too strong a word as Carpenter functioned as one of the gang members in the film, all of which had not speaking lines. Either way, Carpenter put in a great deal of work on this one.

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With the international success following around Jacques Tati’s two previous films, Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot (1953) and Mon Oncle (1958), there shouldn’t have been too many problems leading up to the release of what should be considered the director’s masterpiece. Produced over a few years during the sixties and finally released in 1967, Play Time, from its inception was rife with troubles.

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I heard this great song on the Lee and Andrea Morning Show on V101.1 called “Life Goes On”. I thought it was a new song by Luther Vandross but it seemed to have more Soul than I remember him having and then of course I remembered that sadly he is no longer with us. So of course I was insanely curious so I looked online and found out the guy’s name is Randy Wilson and it’s a new single off his album “Up Close And Personal” called “Life Goes On”.  I picked it up off of itunes, here is the link. From what I can tell this is the first single off the album but the album isn’t out yet. I’ll be keeping my eye out for when it comes out because if the rest of the album is as good as this song then I’ll be in heaven

Singer, song writer, Bobby Hebb has died at the age of 72. He is the man who wrote the instant pop standard, the 1966 classic that every body (Cher, Johnny Rivers, Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra with Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, The Four Seasons, the Four Tops, James Brown, Wilson Pickett, Les McCann, Dusty Springfield, Marvin Gaye, Wilson Pickett and Jose Feliciano), have recorded -- the song, "Sunny." Anyone who was/is into the pop music of the last half of the 20th century has heard his music.

The Associated Press reports, Bobby Hebb wrote the song after suffering the loss of his older brother Harold who was killed in a knife fight outside a Nashville nightclub.

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Oakland, California has been home to many musicians and musical groups over the years. Arguably the most famous musician to live in the city was Tupac Shakur who was in Oakland from 1988 to 1991. There have been many other rap and R&B artists and groups to live in this gritty bay city as well such as Souls of Mischief, J Stalin, Mistah F.A.B., Hieroglyphics, and Digital Underground.

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Bill Brandon ranks only as another blip on the soul and R&B circuit from the late sixties, continuing on through the following decade. Denigrating the man’s contributions to music, though, isn’t what this post is about. While Brandon remains only a cursory figure on the scene – and not one that went on to produce works of other players – the early portion of his career is littered with heavy soul tracks, rife for sampling and comparisons to better known figures like Otis Redding or OV Wright.

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DJ Eleven

Best of the Bay

(Wax Poetics, 200x)

Being from a specific place and time is as influential as any other factor that works towards developing a talent.  In the case of DJ Eleven, founder of the Local 1200 Crew, the major metropolitan area of the Bay formed his musical likes and dislikes.  On this mix, Eleven pays tribute to those that made him the way that he is as well as those that are still influencing his taste. Inconsistent levels contribute to making this album occasionally difficult to listen to. But what’s in-fact more distracting are the selections on this double mix album.  Understandably, everything that has come from the Bay in the last decade, Eleven has had some connection to.  That’s to be expected, especially if your job is hip-hop.  However, going from Latyrx to E-40 is a bit jarring.  The resume of DJ Eleven clearly speaks for itself as he is at the forefront of spinning hip-hop parties on both coasts, but creating a mix that flows is a bit different than rocking a party.  If someone’s jamming this disc in a car the crowd reaction is no longer a factor. And while it is interesting that he is equally influenced by E-40 and Too $hort as he is by Hieroglyphics, those three approach the game of hip-hop differently. Of course, this mix could become your favorite new disc if all these tracks are past favs, but for those listeners that subscribe to only cerebral styles or more gritty types of hip-hop, this may be a confusing listen.

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