J. Jeudy Jr. (jjeudy@hotmail.com)
Wed, 25 Nov 1998 12:29:58 PST
There's a lot of unsung heroes in hip-hop, the most influential I say
are the DJ's. One in particular I've loved from way back, Pete Rock.
Many my remember him from his days with CL Smooth and their single "When
They Reminisce Over You" But he has been dropping hits from even farther
back. Back around 1988-89 he was a DJ on one of New York's hottest
underground hip hop shows with Marley Marl (another hip hop legend) on
WBLS. Listening to him made me sit and dream about becoming a DJ. In
addition to that he was producing cuts for his cousin, Heavy D. Ever
since, he has consistetly been dropping some of the phattest beats
around for among the best in hip hop.
What makes him among the best is that he has the ear for new sounds but
he never lets go of the fundamental energy that makes a beat funky.
What some call the jazzy and "organic" sound of hip hop made popular by
(nuff respect!) groups like the Roots, Tribe called Quest, Digable
Planets, etc., Pete Rock was laying down years ago and still going
strong. So when I hear all the rave about DJ's Honda, Shadow, Sppoky,
Cam or the like, I kinda turn a deaf ear cause people still haven't
recognized the real sh*t from someone who has always been in center of
hip-hop.
Now The Creator has come back to bless us with new gift, "Sole Survivor"
Even though I heard half the album before it came out, I'm still amazed
by the amount of gems on it. The album is tight from begining to end
and brings together many hip hop/soul stars (including Carl McIntosh and
Jane Eugene formerly of 'Loose Ends' - instantly blew my mind!)
The only downfall, if you want to call it that, is Pete's amateur MC
skills (everybody wants to be an MC!) They're not top choice but barely
comes across in the final product. It's more than made up for by the
blissful production and tons of co-stars.
You can hear a couple cuts off the album at:
http://www.hiphopsite.com/AudioReviews/inthedeck/
If your ears are still hungry for organic bliss, check out the one of
the dopest album never to be released "Center or Attention" by InI
produced exclusively by the Soul Brother back in '95. For whatever
reason (possibly rule 4,080) Elektra never released this album but if
you heard it you would STILL wonder why. For real cats, it's now
available as ALBUM-ONLY white label. Peep it at the same site as above:
http://www.hiphopsite.com/AudioReviews/inthedeck/
Of course, he's still producing cuts fopr other artists. Check out this
one "Wunderlust" by Rob-O (formerly of InI and who is also featured on
"Sole Survivor"):
http://www.hiphopsite.com/realaudio/robo-wunder.ram
Even though I'm too busy being an M.D. to be a D.J., listening to Pete's
music reminds me of why I love hip hop and that there's much more to it
than what you hear rom Puffy and the like. You can still hear the
Chocolate Boy Wonder spin weekly on HOT97 FM in NY-- "Future Flavas" on
Sunday nights with Marley Marl!
Peace!
-JJ
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Wed Nov 25 1998 - 21:35:21 MET