no, no Stryper today, I've just been listening to metal all morning and thought this picture was funnyenough to get a laugh. a very, very cheap laugh. Also, it appears they stil print Kerrang magazine and there's a site that examines all of Axl Rose's relationships. Well, hopefully not all.. who'd have thought?
I’m a little late today, I know, but I’ve been trying to figure out what the hell happened during lost last night for awhile, and oh, I have actual work to do as well. I don’t have much to say today, either. I know, it’s sloppy bookkeeping, but I seriously am just trying to get a lot of shit done before the weekend and I haven’t had much chance to be ruminating as much as I’d like to. I think I’m falling in love with Arundhati Roy , which is kind of odd. She’s a gutsy lady, though, and surely it’s a healthier love than the one I held for an 8 year-old cartoon character. Who’s also a gutsy lady.
So, there’s all sorts of confusion about this first song, which shares a title with one of LL’s greatest known hits. This is not the song that’s on his debut album. My understanding of it is (and my understanding of the inter-office politics at Dej Jam in the mid 80s is about as deep as a bird bath) that LL recorded this song, but due to the fact that Run DMC had just recorded “Peter Piper” (another bell-heavy track), LL was pressured by the label to rerecord the song. And he did, recording the famous song that slays into Madonna and Springsteen and pretty much announced to the world that LL was here. This explains why there’s no bells on the famous version of “Rock the Bells”. It doesn’t explain why this song was kept off an album until ’89 or so when Def Jam put together a comp album. This song is bangin’, and bear in mind that he was 17 when this song was made, if not a little younger. It’s so easy to forget that LL Cool J wasn’t always the muscly dude in shitty movies. I think my favorite story is about when he was in what was then the highest profile rap battle ever with Kool Moe Dee. They’d been going back and forth for awhile, and at some point their tours crisscrossed somewhere in the midwest (St. Louis?) and LL showed up at Dee’s concert, got on stage, and started blowing kisses to the audience. I don’t know why, but that whole image just cracks me the fuck up. Anyways, Rock the Bells:
“Rock the Bells (Non-album version) – LL Cool J (YSI link)
Buy Def Jam Classics, Vol. 1 here
The Beatnuts’ “Watch Out Now” remains one of my favorite hip-hop singles of all time. Pretty much everything they do is gold, but this song is just untouchable. The beat has been sampled all over the place (most notably by J-Lo a few years ago) and I’m still not sure if it’s too soon to post this song since I feel like I’m not ready to bring it back, but goddamnit this is for enjoying yourself. So here it is. Oh, and I just realized that this song is also in The Chocolate Tour. Yeah, I’m a dick, but I promise you that unless I post “Make ‘Em Say Ugh” and half the Rushmore soundtrack I promise you this’ll be the last you’ll hear from that movie in quite awhile.
“Watch Out Now” – The Beatnuts (YSI link)
Buy Musical Massacre here
The last song is also a few years old (what, did you think I was gonna post something remotely current?) and really reinstated my faith in hip-hop at the time I heard it, much like that first Jurassic 5 EP. Unlike J5, though, I haven’t given up entirely on Self Scientific, since they just put out a new album recently and what I’ve heard of it was great. If you’re a J5 fan I apologize, but they’ve really caught the suck since their first full-length. Or IO might just still be lashing out at Cut Chemist for scolding me in Pittsburgh 5 years ago. Moving on, though, this song is “Return”, and it’s just that. Enjoy.
"Return" - Self Scientific (YSI link)
Buy The Self Science here
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