Category Archive

by Cousin Geoff

I’m rolling out a new feature here on Cousins Vinyl.  It’s called “Guess That Sample”.

It’s really a shame that sampling is pretty much outlawed now in hip-hop; it’s killing the genre.  Sampling is what the art is based on - not only is it a tribute to the funk and jazz that came before it, but it’s how it was born in the first place.  It’s probably why I gravitate towards the old school stuff, yeah - I grew up on it - but I really have no interest in listening to most of today’s rap: some bullshit negative lyrics backed by a generic, synthetic beat made by the same two or three guys that sell ‘em to all the top rappers.  It’s garbage - give me the old stuff with heavy samples any day.

A lot of times I’ll be listening to a 70s funk or jazz album and I’ll have one of those - ”hey! that’s the sample off the so and so record!” - moments.  Justin and I just drafted a bunch of 70s jazz/funk records off a collection we bought recently.  I was listening to this Rasta Afro-funk group called Cymande tonight, their self-titled debut album, and I heard a sample I recognized right away.  It’s from their song, Dove.

Listen to it and see if you can guess who sampled it.  Then click “read the rest…” below to get the answer and hear the track that it’s featured on.

Read the rest of this entry »

by Max Conroy 

If you refer to my post about the jazz flute, you know that I’m just getting into soul/funk-jazz/fusion.  I’m crazy about the stuff.  It’s also allowed my formerly tepid interest in hip-hip to expand slightly.  It’s like punk rock for me; not the music of course but how I view it.  Some of my favorite music, proto-punk, is the music that led directly to the development of punk rock, but I really don’t like straight punk all that much.  I love the Dead Boys and the Sex Pistols, but both bands were badass rock and roll acts before they were punk.  I love all of this music that’s been sampled a ton or could be sampled if it hasn’t but can take or leave the hip-hop that’s made it famous, so far at least.  As my obsession has grown for the (I’ll call it fusion, to incorporate soul/funk-jazz) fusion over the past few weeks, I’ve purchased a shit ton of great records and thank God some of it can be found cheaply. 

I’d heard of the Ramsey Lewis Trio, but that was probably from hearing them mentioned by NPR DJs a split second, before I slammed the radio off in disgust before my appreciation of fusion.  I totally thought that they were venerated by jazzbos and that they were classic bop, but how wrong I was.  Justin hooked me up with a rough copy of the In Crowd, which is apparently an early soul-jazz classic.  After digging the album, I also noticed that reissues of it are advertized in Waxpoetics, and have noticed the record at numerous shops and online.  I thought that the record would be pricey, but since it obviously sold well for a jazz record and was on Chess’ Argo imprint, it’s insanely cheap.  Like you would pay three times what an OG copy would cost to get the reissue.  Dig the ‘In’ Crowd…

I also recently picked up Ramsey Lewis’ Sun Goddess for cheap.  The cover alone is worth the money, but the music could have been sold in a paper bag and it’d still be sweet.  It’s ten years after the In Crowd and the funk had dropped in the meantime, and it’s obvious on this record, that Lewis was hip to it.  Check out Sun Goddess, Livin’ For the City (the S. Wonder jam) and Jungle Strut…

On the Blue side of things; some Blue Note records from the periphery of their dark days can be got fairly cheaply too.  Some of these records sold very well, which makes them easy to find and cheap, but not bad at all.  For instance, Donald Byrd’s Black Byrd (the best selling record in the entire Blue Note catalogue) and Byrd’s Best are about $10 records; the cover of Black Byrd, depicting a black wedding or hoedown of some sort, ca. 1890 is worth it, and the music’s funky as can be, slightly dated, but that’s a large part of the appeal for me.  I recently acquired Grant Green’s Alive! album, which is a live gig recorded in a small club with Idris Muhammad tearing the place up on drums, for $10.  I’m not as much of a purist as the Cousins and will pick up a reissue or a comp here and there, and found a Grant Green record that was part of the Blue Note Breakbeats series for under $10.  Sometimes on these records, as with every record, there are bum tracks, but it seems more common for jazz records to me, so a comp with six of the most notable tracks by someone can be a good thing.  But I don’t necessarily think that’s true for Grant Green; I’m willing to bet that anything he did in ‘70 and ‘71 with Idris Muhammad on drums is good throughout.  Ronnie Laws‘ Pressure Sensitive must have also sold a shitload because it’s everywhere and it’s cheap.  One of my dad’s buddies gave me his record collection when I was about fifteen.  There were about fifty or so records, all early 70s stoner rock…and Pressure Sensitive.  It’s like the fusion Frampton Comes Alive, but way cooler.  Here are Grant Green’s Sookie Sookie (the Don Covay song) and Ronnie Laws’ Nothing to Lose…

 by Max Conroy:

Until very recently I’ve not really paid much attention to jazz.  As a matter of fact, jazz has almost bothered me for about the past decade.  I used to listen to it back in the day, from about sixteen to nineteen.  Man, reading the Beats and playing the Bird and Diz, that was it.  Also, throwing on 102.1 FM to hear Bob Parlocha, after dropping off my last friend that needed a ride home, for the hazy drive back to the nest was also pretty great.  But I got into rock and roll heavy.  And my girl can’t stand jazz and I am ashamed to say that I kind of didn’t want to hear it if I were to get into it.  NPR also ruined jazz for me for a little while there too.  I know every NPR station is different and some have very well rounded programming, but not the ones that I’ve listened to in the past, 90.5 FM WKAR in East Lansing and 91.5 WBEZ in Chicago.  Both of these stations when not playing classical or the typical syndicated shows like Car Talk, Fresh Air, and All Things Considered, play jazz exclusively.  WBEZ would play like six hours of jazz on a Sunday afternoon, starting at 11 AM, right when I’d want to hear some talk radio or a comedy show.  And they wouldn’t play any of the shit that I’ve been getting into lately at all.

Justin turned me onto Waxpoetics around Christmas time and I’ve devoured the last few issues.  I’ve, as a result, come to the realization that there is more jazz out there than bebop and free jazz.  Soul-jazz and funk-jazz are legitimate categories that I’ve been blind to as a result of my prejudice.  That’s where all the badass samples came from in the heyday of hip-hop.  I had no idea what Blue Note turned into in the late 60s: a jazz label that put out soul and funk records.  I also had no idea that there were people like Eddie Harris out there: check out the article about him in the latest Waxpoetics and also check out Swiss Movement and Silver Cycles, two of his albums.  I read about Blue Note’s Droppin’ Science record somewhere in Waxpoetics, a double record best of Blue Note’s records sampled by hip-hop artists, and ordered a copy.  I’m obsessive when it comes to learning about music, so I’ve been taking some stabs in the dark based on the list of guys on Droppin’ Science in the time that it’s taken to get here.  I found Grant Green’s Alive! at Encore and got a reissue of Lou Donaldson’s Alligator Boogaloo, which the Sugarman Three’s Sugar’s Boogaloo (one of the records that launched Daptone, the first one featuring Gabriel Roth) pays homage to.  Both kick ass to be sure. 

I’m not sure if any of you have seen the Anchorman with Will Farrell, but it illustrates what my thoughts are regarding the flute perfectly.  I tense up whenever I hear a flute on a jazz, soul or funk record no matter how appropriate to the song it seems.  One of the guys on Droppin’ Science that I looked for around town in the past week was Jeremy Steig.  I found a couple of his records at Encore, pulled one up out of the bin and quickly dropped it and piled the records on it hoping no one had seen me even looking at it.  First off, he’s a flautist (I feel strange typing that word); second he looks like a weasely, mustachioed, Yoga instructor.  I’d have to wait to get the comp in the mail to hear this guy.  When I got the record today, I was shocked to hear the hook from the Beastie Boys’ Get It Together and how raw and primal the actual song was, how rock and roll.  Based on the intensity of his playing, he sounds like he could go ten rounds with Hemmingway.

Jeremy Steig’s Howling for Judy from Droppin’ Science, originally off of Wayfaring Stranger/Legwork

Eddie Harris’ I’m Gonna Leave You By Yourself off of Silver Cycle

Cousin Justin posted a nice selection of old school rap LPs and 12″s.

Included is Run DMC’s first, self titled LP:

From All Music:

Prior to this, rap felt like a block party — the beats were funky and elastic, all about the groove. Run-D.M.C. hit hard. The production is tough and minimal, built on relentless drum machines and Jam Master Jay’s furious scratching, mixing in a guitar riff or a keyboard hit on occasion. It is brutal urban music, and Run and D.M.C.’s forceful, muscular rhymes match the music. Where other MCs sounded cheerful, Run and D.M.C. prowl and taunt the listener, sounding as if they were a street gang. And while much of the record is devoted to braggadocio, boasting, and block parties, Run-D.M.C. also addressed grittier realities of urban life, giving this record both context and thematic weight. All of this — the music, the attitude, the words, the themes — marked a turning point for rap, and it’s impossible to calculate Run-D.M.C.’s influence on all that came afterward. Years later, some of the production may sound a bit of its time, but the music itself does not because music this powerful and original always retains its impact and force as music.

Check out the rest of the All Music review on this LP and listen some audio clips.

There’s also Lord Finesse and DJ Smooth, Funky Technician:

Both Justin and I have heard this played a lot on Sirius on XM - it’s definitely a classic among classics.  From All Music:

It’s a simple formula: bring together one of the East Coast’s finest rappers with some of the most clever trackmasters in hip-hop, then add in a stellar DJ, and the results are bound to be exciting. Funky Technician was just that, an excellent LP of battle rap with Lord Finesse simultaneously claiming and proving his immense skills over a set of funky backing tracks that used the familiar James Brown blueprint but delivered it with unobtrusive class and innumerable displays of deft turntable wizardry.  read the rest of this review and listen to some audio clips

The Detroit Blue Pigs were a group of rapping Detroit policemen who went around to schools talking about fighting crime and being safe.  I found their 45 today called “Fight The Crime”, so I thought I’d post it right away.  With all the negative publicity they’ve been getting lately they deserve some props.  My wife went to Pontiac Central high school and she remembers when they came to her elementary school and the kids went crazy.  She got a big kick out of the song and I hope you do to. 

I have a good friend who regularly hangs out with some Detroit police, and I’ve got nothing against them.  I also know someone who is a former Detroit cop, and he had some interesting stories to tell.  You guys have a crazy hard job, day in and day out, so MUCH RESPECT DETROIT POLICE!  I’d like to see you cut another track to follow up this one.

listen to “Fight The Crime” on the Det Mi label, 1986:

The Cousins drafted some records out of the old school rap batch we just listed.  We took home about 20 each.  I’ll probably tell you about some others, but I thought it would be good to let you hear a couple old school Detroit tracks I got, like the one below by Playskule.

I remember hearing this back in the day when I was in high school.  They would play it on the radio on WJLB late at night on the weekends.  These guys are still around, with a slightly different sound.  Check them out here.  This track, Slap Dat Ass, is a fine example of 90s Detroit electro booty rap.

listen:

This track by Papa J. Smoove on Hittin Home Records takes it back a little ways to 1990.  I’m going to need some help on this one because I was in middle school when this record was hitting the clubs.  This is that good old early boasting rap, with that distinct Detroit club sound.

listen:

Justin is getting ready to release an absolute monster batch of old school rap LPs and 12″s.  Look for them to go up today or Monday.  Some really rare stuff will be in there.

****JUST LISTED****

CRAZY CRAZY CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We’ve never had a batch of old school hip hop like this, EVER.  Included is some extremely rare Detroit old school, private pressings, test pressings, rare versions, funky, booty, soul, an absolute DJ’s treasure.  Some of these I know we’ll never come across again.

And all this came as I’ve really been into XM’s Channel 65 The Rhyme, which is classic and old school hip hop.  I was pretty much drooling over the collection, as was Justin, but we did our best to restrain ourselves as we’ve dumped a little bit of cash to aquire this.  The whole collection came from an old Detroit DJ and producer, who brought it in little by little over the past week.  Justin has been listing like crazy - I think there are close to 500 listings.