Monday, December 21, 2009

Reputation  


This track led to Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis getting kicked out of The Time. The two band mates produced this record while on a brief hiatus when they were in Prince's group The Time. After this recording session, they got stuck in a blizzard and were stranded in Atlanta; unable to meet the band for their next tour date. Prince fired them. The subsequent success of this record launched their long production career.

Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis had an amazing ability take an act that had disappeared into mediocrity and mold into a powerful force. The duo rescued the S.O.S. band from workout disco obscurity when they penned this jam that was released on Tabu in 1983. This track is the epitome of their lazer soul sound that went on change the face of R&B into the late 80's.

The S.O.S. Band - Just Be Good To Me (Long Version)

Posted by Joel Brüt | 5 comments

Labels: , , ,

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Eat a Cold Wind-Madness, Soulja Boy!  



A couple days ago Soulja Boy (along with his two cronies as a backdrop) stated on his YouTube feed he is making money with every view videos on his page get as well as each comment posted to them. It's a strange change in the music industry when you include viral video counts, particularly when it's hip hop stars airing their beef, into music revenue (and then including YouTube and Google in there too is worth pondering, especially when this very blog is hosted through Google).

All this is enough to make musicians who have been playing the game for awhile a bit bitter. When I view Soulja Boy's retorts to Ice-T's recent claim that Soulja Boy has killed hip hop I have more empathy with Ice-T, but some of Ice-T's rant is a bit excessive too (even more immoderate when I consider his buxom wife CoCo...sorry for my TMZ-ness).



In any case, Ice-T still has more cred and I respect that he spoke out against the ultra- commercialization of Soulja Boy's Superman, a song which sold more ringtones than real copies. Ice-T speaks truth that there are dangers in hip hop but it's nothing that new.

Even though the rap on this track is as vapid as some of the aforementioned YouTube videos it is real old school hip hop which embodied the term "fresh" more than ever. We sussed that the drums are a Simmons Kit and not programmed which is kind of neat. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, from my homestate of Minnesota, produced this jam. First on Saturn Records in 1983, I have the release that came bout three years later on JDC/Housejam featuring the same picture of Ice T that's on my Body Rock 12" on a different label, him rocking some crazy bondage gear.


Ice T - Cold Wind-Madness
Ice T - The Coldest Rap

Posted by safetyscissors | 4 comments

Labels: , , ,

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

I Didn't Mean To Turn You On  


Cherrelle, a Detroit R&B singer had a huge string of hits throughout the 80's and 90's. This tune is a great blend of soul, pop and electro, a few years before it became the sound of the late 80's. This tune was covered by Robert Palmer in 1985 and Mariah Carey in 2001.

mp3: Cherrelle - I Didn't Mean To Turn You On


Posted by Joel Brüt | 2 comments

Labels: , , , ,

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)