Archive for the “Playlists” Category


Lovin’ It - Little Brother
We Getz Busy - Illegal
Bra - Cymande
Get Me Back On Time Engine #9 - Wilson Pickett
The Pleasure Principle - Janet Jackson
Waterfalls - TLC
Scratchin’ - Magic Disco Machine
Person To Person - Average White Band
Don’t Make Me Over - Sybil
Butter - A Tribe Called Quest
Weirdo - Miles Davis
Trying People - De La Soul
For The Love Of Money - The O’Jays
Get Out My Life Woman - Solomon Burke
It’s A New Day - James Brown
If You Want Me To Stay - Sly & The Family Stone
I Can’t Get Next To You - Al Green

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Fame - David Bowie
Colors - Ice-T
You and Your Folks, Me and My Folks - Funkadelic
Rising To the Top - Keni Burke
Help Is On The Way - The Whatnauts
Get A Life - Soul II Soul
Gittin A Little Hipper - James Brown
Free Your Mind - The Politicians
Take Up A Course In Happiness - Isaac Hayes
Blue’s Crib - Isaac Hayes
You Are The World - Donald Byrd
Golden Lady - Stevie Wonder
The Root - D’Angelo
When The Lights Are Low - Oscar Peterson

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I Know - Jay-Z
Changin’ - Brass Construction
Soaring (At Dawn) Pt. 1 - Les McCann
Thoughts and Wishes - Bohannon
Sweet Lorraine - Art Tatum
The Hook - Queen Latifah
Jonz In My Bonz - D’Angelo
Slide - Slave
Get Down Tonight - KC & The Sunshine Band
Dazz - Brick
Spinning Wheel - Wade Marcus
Lord Help Me - Donny Hathaway
Love No Limit - Mary J. Blige
If You Want Me To Stay - Sly & The Family Stone
Rags To Rufus - Rufus
Good Thing We’re Rappin’ - Digital Underground

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Marvin P. Gaye

In honor of Marvin Gaye’s birthday, I’m gonna run my 15 favorite Marvin records. As I think about it, I guess I’m kinda surprised I haven’t done this before. At any rate, before I get started, I’ll say right up front that my favorite Marvin album is Here, My Dear. For as powerful as the other three in the four-pack (What’s Going On, Let’s Get It On, and I Want You) are, for my money, nothing’s really fooling with Here My Dear. The songs that explain that are listed below.

15. Sanctified Lady In spite of the title, I don’t think I could ever get away with playing this song in front of my mother. Especially not when the word that was originally supposed to be in the title leaks through a couple times.

14. Got To Give It Up - Simply one of the all-time party jams. Ever.

13. A Funky Space Reincarnation - For some reason, this and Got To Give It Up are always connected in my mind. I’ve never actually put them next to each other on a playlist, but for some reason, I think it would work.

12. After The Jam - I actually got to know this song via the Foreplay version, which I like because of the piano solo, but El can’t fool with Marvin. Not on this song.

11. Distant Lover (Live) - For the most part, I prefer studio albums to live albums because the audience reminds me that I wasn’t there. In the case of this song, though, what the audience does is demonstrate how much control Marvin had. He completely DESTROYS this audience. Not to mention the lady that screams right through the speakers at 4:34.

10. All I Need To Get By - Thank Meth and Mary J. for this.

9. Since I Had You - I used to listen to this song on repeat for hours at a time. Not for any nostalgic reason, just because I liked the way the song ends.

8. Let’s Get It On - The Jan story that accompanies this song knocks it down a couple notches for me, as does the way the song changed its original meaning. Nevertheless, this is mean! There’s a reason so many people love this song. I do too, just not as much as a lotta people. And not as much as another song on this album.

7. Mercy, Mercy, Me - I just love this track. Period. The whole album, in fact, but this record in particular demonstrates the smoothness of Marvin’s voice.

6. T Plays It Cool - One of my favorite instrumental jams in life.

5. Is That Enough Starting with the two towering songs that make Here My Dear my favorite Marvin album, this song is just about perfect. No chorus, no traditional strong structure, nothing. And he was MAD! But still mad artistic.

4. Inner City Blues (Makes Me Wanna Holler) - Of course this song should be in the top three, and if this were a more typical list, it would be. But this is a list of my personal favorites, and while I like this song, the other three, I like more.

3. You Sure Love to Ball - This is THE slow jam from the Let’s Get It On album. No pun intended, but there’s not many slow jams that could eff with this. At all. It’s songs like You Sure Love to Ball that demonstrate the tremendous dropoff in R&B songs. While this song is certainly over-the-top, it’s still under control. Similar songs of today would just be flat-out raunchy. (Or else I just like Marv better, so it doesn’t bother me as much.)

2. You Can Leave, But It’s Going To Cost You - This is the song that made me love Here My Dear. Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing is really beating this song. Especially not if there were a playlist of break-up songs. This is just…the truth. As with many of the songs on Here My Dear, it’s unencumbered by choruses, or even rhymes. It’s just straight-forward stream-of-consciousness-type goodness. Naw. Not goodness. Bestness.

1. Song #3 [Instrumental] - It’s kinda ironic that my favorite Marvin Gaye song would be an instrumental, and honestly a part of me thinks I should demote it to number two just because, but truth is truth. And the truth is, this is that jawn for me.

I’m assuming that most people have heard all of these, but if not, I’ma try to get up on some new technology so everybody can hear the top 12.

and here’s the tape. Let me know if it’s actually audible.

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Lookin’ For Another Pure Love - Stevie Wonder
Lovin’ It - Little Brother
On Love - David T. Walker
Know That - Mos Def, f. Talib Kweli
Clever Girl - Tower of Power
The Message - Brass Construction
Finger Popped Myself Into the Poor House - Joe Tex
Funky Song - Ripple
If You Want Me To Stay - Sly & the Family Stone
Happy Feelin’ - Earth, Wind, & Fire
Lord of the Golden Baboon - Mandrill
What It Is - The Ohio Players

Hijinx
Throw me some artists and we’ll see if I can come up with a good playlist.

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Beautiful Morning - Little Brother
Delilah - Take 6
The Moon Walk - King Solomon
For The Good Times - Al Green
For No One - Maceo & All The King’s Men
Fear of a Black Planet - Public Enemy
Pretty Inside - David Porter
Sugar - Stanley Turrentine
Hazel’s Hips - Oscar Brown, Jr.
Beats To The Rhyme - Run-DMC
Liver Splash - The Meters
Fly Like An Eagle - Steve Miller Band
Superman Lover - Johnny Guitar Watson
This Can’t Be Love - Ellis Marsalis
Turn Out The Light - Leon Ware
Just A Love Child - Bobbi Humphrey
Pushin’ - Society of Soul
Valerie - Walter Bishop, Jr.

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In A Sentimental Mood - Duke Ellington
Galaxy - War
Getting It Back - Cymande
Little Lady Maria - The Ohio Players
What You Want - The Roots
Mandrill - Mandrill
Nasty Gal - Betty Davis
Into You - Funkadelic
We’re Not Making Love No More - Dru Hill
Without You - Kirk Franklin
Where Do I Go - Alyn Ainsworth
Love Me Baby - Quazar
We Gettin’ Down - Weldon Irvine
If I Was Your Girlfriend - TLC
Soul In The Hole - 3rd Bass
Sister Sanctified - Stanley Turrentine
Jersey - Queen Latifah
Take Some…Leave Some - James Brown
More Peas - Fred Wesley & The J.B.’s
Rhapsody In Blue - Deodato
Bring It Here - Wild Sugar
When Doves Cry - Prince
Peck Ya Neck - Mandrill

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Cleveland Now - Booker T & The MG’s
The Ultimate (remix) - Artifacts
Verbal Intercourse - Raekwon, f. Ghostface & Nas
September Song - Scatman Crothers
Fear - Sade
She’s Here - Les McCann
Barefoot Sunday Blues - Ramsey Lewis
The Louisville Lip - Eddie Curtis
It’s Impossible - New Birth
Put It On The Line - Lyn Collins
More Than A Woman - Aaliyah
Can’t Truss It - Public Enemy
Got It Bad Y’all - King Tee, f. the Alkaholiks
Better Half - Maceo & All The King’s Men
Olinga - Milt Jackson
Heartbeat - Taana Gardner
React - Erick Sermon, f. Redman

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Y’all know what time it is. Valentine’s Day is upon us. Up with a playlist.

Crown Royal - Jill Scott
Breathless - Corinne Bailey Rae
Simply Beautiful - Al Green
No Ordinary Love - Sade
Wild Child - Tony Toni Tone
Bonita Applebaum - A Tribe Called Quest
Love’s Train - Con Funk Shun
Unbreakable - Alicia Keys
Vertical Interlude - AMG
I’m In Love With You - Erykah Badu
The More You Ruv Someone - Avenue Q Soundtrack
Brown Skin Lady - Black Star
Feenin’ - Jodeci
Bow-Legged Woman, Knock-Kneed Man - Bobby Rush
Just Like You - Brides of Funkenstein
Nothing Even Matters - Lauryn Hill
Body Heat - Leon Ware
Since I Had You - Marvin Gaye
You Sure Love To Ball - Marvin Gaye
Love Song - Mandrill
You Have Made Me Very Happy - Lou Rawls
Watching You - Slave
I’ve Been Watching You (Move You Sexy Body) - Parliament
(You’re A Fish And I’m A) Water Sign - Parliament
Come Close - Common

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dela1.jpg
Inspired by the Cobbfather, here are my 10 favorite (if not necessarily the best) De La Soul songs.

10. The Grind Date

9. Afro Connections at a Hi 5 (In The Eyes of a Hoodlum)

8. Millie Pulled A Pistol on Santa

7. Oooh

6. Supa Emcees

5. Sh.Fe.MCs

4. Down Syndrome

3. Stakes Is High (Remix)

2. Held Down

1. I Am, I Be

Some of those could change, but number one is number one. Period.

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