Lisa Fischer is best known as a background singer. She initially gained prominence working for Luther Vandross, and she was a highlight of his live performances and even his videos, obtaining a featured role in 1987’s “Stop to Love” clip. Her work with Luther caught the attention of Mick Jagger, and she was an integral… Read More “How Can I Ease The Pain” by Lisa Fischer (1991)
Deon Estus was a premier bass player, having apprenticed until legendary Motown session man James Jamerson. Estus’s talents were noticed by pop duo Wham!, and he was hired by the duo and became an integral part of their touring band. Deon appears prominently in the “I’m Your Man” and “Edge of Heaven” videos. Following Wham!’s… Read More “Heaven Help Me” by Deon Estus (1989)
Here are two funky songs with the same title. Both songs pointed towards a shift in Black music. I can explain the difference in the two songs using Soul Train gifs, which is pretty awesome. Here’s a gif that, to me, exemplifies King Floyd’s “Groove Me”. It’s dirty, backwoods funky. Which makes sense, because King… Read More “Groove Me” by King Floyd (1970)/”Groove Me” by Guy (1988)
There was a point in late 1990 when it felt like Deee-lite was gonna be the next best thing. They were multicultural (middle-American lead singer, Russian DJ, Asian secondary DJ). They had pop cred, disco cred and hip-hop cred. They had a multitude of influences and some fairly major juice (“Groove is in The Heart”… Read More “Groove Is In The Heart” by Deee-lite (1990)
For the life of me, I couldn’t tell you how I discovered Edwyn Collins. My best guess is that I was home one day (or night), glued to MTV, and the video for “A Girl Like You” came on. I was immediately smitten. “A Girl Like You” had a lounge-y throwback vibe that was pitched… Read More “A Girl Like You” by Edwyn Collins (1995)
The Tom Tom Club was a Talking Heads splinter group that featured drummer Chris Frantz and bassist Tina Weymouth. I actually heard of the Club before I heard of the Heads, thanks to “Genius of Love”, the quirky funk jam that made it all the way up to the penultimate spot on Billboard‘s soul charts… Read More “Genius Of Love” by The Tom Tom Club (1981)
Apache came out of the Flavor Unit-the New Jersey rap collective that introduced the world to Naughty by Nature and Queen Latifah. “Gangsta Bitch” was his sole hit (relative to what rap hits were at this time), and it’s a tribute to the type of chick Biggie would memorialize a year later with “Me &… Read More “Gangsta Bitch” by Apache (1993)
Back to the era of regional hits for this New York City house classic. I don’t know who Sagat is. I don’t know where he’s from. I don’t even know if his name is pronounced like “Saget” (Bob from Bull House) or “Sah-got” (rhymes with Sadat, as in Anwar or X). What I do know… Read More “Funk Dat” by Sagat (1993)
Early house music produced some absolute bangers. “French Kiss” by Lil’ Louis is one of the songs that defined the genre in the last moments before house became commercial. Truthfully, there’s not much to the song. A wave of synthesizers pulses over the course of nine minutes (in its highly regarded “underground” mix, occasionally punctuated… Read More “French Kiss” by Lil’ Louis & The World (1989)
Puffy didn’t invent the remix. Even the idea of reconstructing a song so it was almost completely different from the original and calling it a remix existed before Puffy. However, his re-rub of Bad Boy’s first hit set a couple of precedents and served several purposes. Oh, and it might also be the best hip-hop… Read More “Flava In Ya Ear (remix)” by Craig Mack feat. The Notorious B.I.G., Rampage the Last Boy Scout, LL Cool J & Busta Rhymes (1994)
