Old School
Another installment of the Alphabetical Listening Project. In this installment, we discuss some vinyl "I's"
Nothing makes you feel more like a forty two year old than when you're spinning Ice T's "Power" from 1988. My intense (and selective) Hip Hop listening years spanned from '88 to '91, which is kind of like saying you stopped listening to rock and roll after Buddy Holly's plane crash. So, laugh if you must, but Ice T still sounds good to me. A little dated, I guess, but not as dated if I really paid attention to rap lo these fifteen years (I still occasionally buy current hip hop, but I'm not very knowledgable).
Anyway, it's almost charming to listen to Ice T's cautionary tales about living the pimpin' life. Mostly he strikes a mild moral tone about the high rollin' street life, kind of like a mock-stern lecture you might get from your cool uncle. Ice T--the badass, avauncular rapper. T's badass tropes are more blaxploitation film than the gangsta narratives of the soon to be released revolutionary NWA and all that it spawned. T himself would get a lot more confrontational with one of his following releases, "Cop Killa."
If I'm not mistaken, Ice's rapping style something to Rakim and Malcolm X and old school Pimp Poets whose names I don't know. "Power"; "High Rollers"; "I'm Your Pusher"; "Soul on Ice" still sound good to me. For the carnally minded, you can ogle the scantily clad Mrs. Ice T holding a shot gun. Subtle!
Mr. Ice T can currently be seen 24-7 on the Law and Order/USA Network chasing sexual predators down dark alleys and bringing them to justice.
The other vinyl "I" for this time is the Impressions Greatest Hits. I also have an Impressions Greatest Hits on CD, but you can't have "Gypsy Woman" on too many formats, if you ask me. Curtis Mayfield has been my number one soul man of the past few years. The hooks, the groove, the orchestrations, the moral imperatives--Curtis is the man! My favorite underated Impressions song? "You Must Believe Me." Expect to hear it on my next mixtape!
Some thoughts on the fate of Vito, the gay gangster, in the Soprano's Season Six, Part One: David Chase made the right narrative decision to have Vito leave his small town escape to return to the Jersey action and his certain doom. Is Vito the cliched, doomed homosexual? Even though he's a brutal thug? I found it interesting that while Vito is being beaten to death (after being sold out by a Machiavellian Tony S), Ro Aprillio is lighting a candle for her son, Jackie, Jr., who I think was whacked by Vito back in Season Three or Four.
I'm back on the Sopranos bandwagon, for sure. When will this series end? I notice on Netflix that not only is a Season Six, Part Two listed (not available yet, obviously) but a Season Seven is listed as well. What gives? Maybe Tony will die from old age...
Nothing makes you feel more like a forty two year old than when you're spinning Ice T's "Power" from 1988. My intense (and selective) Hip Hop listening years spanned from '88 to '91, which is kind of like saying you stopped listening to rock and roll after Buddy Holly's plane crash. So, laugh if you must, but Ice T still sounds good to me. A little dated, I guess, but not as dated if I really paid attention to rap lo these fifteen years (I still occasionally buy current hip hop, but I'm not very knowledgable).
Anyway, it's almost charming to listen to Ice T's cautionary tales about living the pimpin' life. Mostly he strikes a mild moral tone about the high rollin' street life, kind of like a mock-stern lecture you might get from your cool uncle. Ice T--the badass, avauncular rapper. T's badass tropes are more blaxploitation film than the gangsta narratives of the soon to be released revolutionary NWA and all that it spawned. T himself would get a lot more confrontational with one of his following releases, "Cop Killa."
If I'm not mistaken, Ice's rapping style something to Rakim and Malcolm X and old school Pimp Poets whose names I don't know. "Power"; "High Rollers"; "I'm Your Pusher"; "Soul on Ice" still sound good to me. For the carnally minded, you can ogle the scantily clad Mrs. Ice T holding a shot gun. Subtle!
Mr. Ice T can currently be seen 24-7 on the Law and Order/USA Network chasing sexual predators down dark alleys and bringing them to justice.
The other vinyl "I" for this time is the Impressions Greatest Hits. I also have an Impressions Greatest Hits on CD, but you can't have "Gypsy Woman" on too many formats, if you ask me. Curtis Mayfield has been my number one soul man of the past few years. The hooks, the groove, the orchestrations, the moral imperatives--Curtis is the man! My favorite underated Impressions song? "You Must Believe Me." Expect to hear it on my next mixtape!
Some thoughts on the fate of Vito, the gay gangster, in the Soprano's Season Six, Part One: David Chase made the right narrative decision to have Vito leave his small town escape to return to the Jersey action and his certain doom. Is Vito the cliched, doomed homosexual? Even though he's a brutal thug? I found it interesting that while Vito is being beaten to death (after being sold out by a Machiavellian Tony S), Ro Aprillio is lighting a candle for her son, Jackie, Jr., who I think was whacked by Vito back in Season Three or Four.
I'm back on the Sopranos bandwagon, for sure. When will this series end? I notice on Netflix that not only is a Season Six, Part Two listed (not available yet, obviously) but a Season Seven is listed as well. What gives? Maybe Tony will die from old age...
posted by ken at 11:52 AM
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