you don’t know my name (and i swear)
July’s tbtotm, biiig tune, produced by the big neptizzle. (actual video here cuz I can’t embed) If you do comparisons between Timbo and The Neptunes for late 99/00, you can see between them they both put out a lot of bangers. I’d have to go with Neptunes in 00 though.. I have a soft spot for that Ray-J beat. ANND Southern Hospitality. Anyway, I remember hearing this song on the radio for the first time and being completely entranced by Mya’s voice. (Likely not the first or last time that happens regarding Mya’s voice.) I didn’t even know there was a video to it, and she looks gorgeous in it. This song was on the charts for 11 weeks, and topped out at a modest #24. Good job Beenie Man! (If Beenie Man’s accomplishments were great enough to warrant a biopic, I would hope that Don Cheadle shows up to get cast. so serious.)
+ Lately I’ve been kinda into the idea of the girl roll call in rap/r&b. Anytime actual names get used in lyrics or songnames, it makes it more memorable, probably 100x moreso if it actually is your name. What I thought was a more common occurrence turned out to be.. a rarity? Maybe I’m just not thinking hard enough/remembering enough songs. The ones that pop into mind with the quickness are:
- LL Cool J – Around The Way Girl (Lisa, Angela, Pamela, Renee)
- The Dream – Shawty Is A Ten (Keisha, Sonya, Tanya, Monique, Nece, Keke, etc)
- Petey Pablo – Freek-A-Leek (Shameka, Keisha, Tara, Shonda, Sabrina, Crysta, Daronda, etc)
- Slum Village – Selfish (The whole 3rd verse: Whatup Pam, how yo little man doin in New Jersey)
additions:
- Boyz II Men – All Around The World (Keisha, Kelly, Tanya, Stacy, Mica, and LaShaun)
- Blackstreet – No Diggity (Jackie, Lisa, Nicky, Tameka in full effect)
And that’s all I could come up with. As with my other compendium, I’ve got to set some rules, but this one’s pretty easy: Has to have the girl roll call. Meaning, it can’t be focused on a single girl. So no Sheilas or Sallys. Please help me find the diamonds in the rough, or if I’m just overlooking obvious choices, the diamonds in a stack of diamonds. (sidenote: of the four songs I chose to use as examples, Keisha shows up in two of them. Girllll you get around.)
+ Some older mixes I did (and probably posted about) earlier this year, the mini WFMU mix and the Midnight Snacks mix. One is chill, one is booty bass/bmore. Figure it out.
+ I’ve moved my whole design site to Cargo, which is honestly one of the easiest and friendliest CMS’s out there. I used to think that sticking with WordPress would be fine, but I just got bored of hacking wp so much – plus all that knowledge is slowly getting depreciated, and I’m much (MUCH) too lazy to learn a new piece of software just to show off work. This is one advent of web 2.0 (shouldn’t this be like web 3.0? web 4 beta? web 2010 for workgroups) that I will gladly embrace.
michael jackson – rock with you
August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009. MJ on Dela.
head over heels
If you’re new around here, I’ve been doing ‘Ten years ago’ throwback tracks since January, and this is the one for June. However I can’t really effuse any more on it since I posted about it previously. I do want to say that I was talking to one of my younger cousins and I told her ‘Lucy Pearl’ she said ‘oh she sounds familiar, how come I remember her name?’ I was about to slap some sense into this girl. The other tracks that were popular in June are all either unknown to me or I didn’t like them.. so boo. Dance Tonight was on the charts for 26 weeks and peaked at #5. Awesome Song Great Job! (sidenote: I TOTALLY FORGOT TO PUT DANCE TONIGHT in the calendar. What a horrible and obvious oversight. Apologies.)
+ Apologies (again) if it’s been quiet around here, I’ve been busy working on my design portfolio and photography site too, so the mixes and mashup game have been on the backburner. However this is exactly why when I finish up blends, I sit on them for a hot minute until I know I’ve got some downtime and I’ll post it up. I’ll be done with both sites soon enough so I’ll get cracking on some other music related stuff.
+ Oh yeah, I came back from Australia. I really liked it out there. Weather in the fall is nippy like SF, everyone dresses so sharply, and everything is expensive. (hint: one of these was not enjoyable.) It wasn’t so much of a backpacking/exploration trip like my previous DR trip, but still seeing the world nonetheless. See some of my shots of my trip over on my flickr.
+ FIFA IS BIG. I was never really that big into football until the last Copa Mundial when I met up with some real (read: foreign) folks who knew the deal. Since they introduced me to it, and they were Dutch, I’m rooting for HOLLAnd. Plus orange jerseys are hella sick. But to be honest It’s just really fun to watch a game anyway, whether or not I have a team in favor. Kinda wanted to see NK do something crazy after holding Brazil down in their first game, but it looks like their defense just collapsed that last game. Ouch. Also I make it a point to watch the matches on Univision because the announcers are way more hype. GOL GOL GOL GOL GOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLL (etc etc)
the part deux
Whenever I’m making blends I usually try the acapella on a ton of different things. Some work, some don’t work, and I’ll end up picking one to put on the site. Usually though I’ll have one or two extra of the same song that I’ve put on a different beat that I feel might not be as strong as the other one, but still worth making, or I’ll just try the acapella out on something else much later on and find that it sounds great as well. Here are a bunch of them that have had good reception by yall. To be honest I enjoy some of these more than the pt i.. haw. I have some other part ii’s that i’ll save for a ‘the part deux.. part deux’ post. (ho ho get it.) originals: m-flo, nujabes, blackstar, foreign exchange, dilla, dj jazzy jeff.
crocodile dundee
May‘s throwback track. This track is straight happy times, it would always be a party up in the headphones when it got radio play. (bonus memory: 00 was also when 92.3 became 100.3) I really miss a lot of that old g-funk from Quik/Suga Free, when repping coasts was so important you had to throw up westside in like every picture that got taken. Pitch In On A Party was on the charts for 14 weeks, and peaked at .. 68!? Boo. There were other great tracks that were on the charts this month, though – next episode, ruff endz no more (!!?), best of me remix. We’re inchin in to summer and a lot more heaters came out during then.
+ Since I’ve put that mini site up with my sticker offer, I’ve probably sent out atleast 200. Ya’ll are awesome! And I’m definitely still sittin on more, so if you don’t have em already, ask and ye shall receive. (send me cool pics of where you put it tooo!)
+ I forgot how but I was reminded of an old old mix i did, I’m thinking some time circa 2004 or 05.. I still enjoy it. It’s kinda different though.. kinda fast like 160/80bpm kinda shit. Old heads might have seen it around a long long time ago. I don’t have a tracklisting either, but it’s a full length mix and it’s the first mix I ever made! (well it’s an updated version of the first mix I made, hence the v2 – but you get the idea) download here: melotic v2
+ I leave you with that, because for two weeks I’ll be in Australia! Be back in June with (I hope) something special for my ★FIVE YEAR ANNIVERSARAYAYAY★
i just wanna
you like what you see
I sort my music mainly by BPM first then everything else later, mostly for the sake of mixing, and I’ve noticed that whenever I’m djing, I’m usually not in the 110 bpm hood – I’ll stick to 88-97 and 120s. Most stuff in the 100-110 hood that I have is new jack; I don’t think I have much other 110ish stuff, and I’m wondering if it’s just me? I tried to fix that with this quick mix. Mostly, it was just a reason to put that Ryan Leslie track in a mix. I’m obsessin over it.
zo! – nights over egypt
kelis – living proof
bobby brown – that’s the way love is
keith sweat – i want her
dj spinna – back 2 u
hawthorne headhunters – manifest station
tweet – make ur move
ryan leslie – you’re not my girl
mariah carey – say somethin’
kidz in the hall – love hangover
