Lee Gordon (LGordon@mdyn.com)
Wed, 25 Nov 1998 13:07:52 -0800
I'm trying to catch my breath on this one! Carl Macintosh and Jane Eugene?
That's enough Loose Ends for anyone to groove for quite some time! Loose
Ends is still so fresh sounding to me, even though they've been defunct for
about 6 or 7 (?) years. Big love to Pete Rock for bringing them back; thus
I'll be buying his disc within 24 hours.
Cheers,
Lee Gordon
-----Original Message-----
From: J. Jeudy Jr. [mailto:jjeudy@hotmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 25, 1998 12:30 PM
To: acid-jazz@UCSD.Edu
Subject: Rant & Review: "Sole Survivor" by Pete Rock
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
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