Smoke Signals: Introduction/Jaylib - Champion Sound

I have been gone for quite some time. There are a number of factors. Ummm depression. Pure laziness. Nothing really interesting to say. Sometimes not trusting my intuition. But lately a big thing that affected my absence. A fire which decimated a large percentage of my possessions. I had written drafts for this blog, but we'll see if they can be recovered. If they do, they appear with a special posting with some clever tag so they'll be distinguished.

But the fire has been a blessing in many ways strange as it is. It definitely has made me more spiritually minded. Its made me a lot more aware of myself, where I am, and where I want to be.

And on a lesser note, but really almost as important, it has helped me rediscover music. It all started the same week of the fire. Desperate for a diversion, I answered a call from a old family friend to sing with my home church's Men's Chorale. After having a date canceled to the ice storm, I was particularly excited for the chance to sing again. Man when those harmoies were hitting it was bliss. And weirdly, I saved so many CDs. I even have my old computer already backed up all over again. I've been listening to the music I still have. Devoid of my trusty playlists, I have been forced to play full albums. This has led to new discovery, rediscovery, and ultimately appreciation. Music has been an excellent help during this time and helped me remember why I used to love it so much.

So this little series will be about the albums I have had on repeat. They've all been particularly good for reason or another. Its nice to appreciate the album as a whole, even when spots get mediocre. You still get a full range of artist, or at least what they aspire to be and make their best attempts. Most often they hit the mark with varying intensities, and even if they fail you have to appreciate the try.

First up, Champion Sound by Jaylib

Two of the best underground hip-hop producers got together for a collaborative album that was monumental. Both J Dilla (aka Jay Dee nee James Yancey) and Madlib (Otis Jackson Jr.) were established producers in their own respective rights. But it just so happened that Madlib freaked some J Dilla instrumentals he found and it became a mixtape of sorts that made it back to Dilla. They then began to trade back and forth and Champion Sound is the result. Mostly Madlib (sometimes as his alter ego Quasimoto) raps over Dilla's tracks and J spits over Madlib's beats. Madlib chooses to make a sort of score with each of his beats. It sounds like each is the background music to an important scene of a movie, the type of music that is almost as important as any other aspect of the film. Dilla is his old reliable self riding driving bass rhythms for all they're worth. And neither's rhymes leave anything to be desired. But they know they're limitations and don't push too hard. The music speaks for itself. They're both so jazz influenced it sounds like an extended jam session.

There's not really much to say. The quality is what you'd expect. Neither really claims to be some superlative emcee and they never really try. Talib Kweli offers the most authenticity of skills on a driving Dilla beat on "Raw Sh*t"" but that's mostly it. The album is clever at just being something that can just be on. And periodically while hanging up that shirt or typing that Facebook note, you realize how hard your head is banging to it. I think this marks the beginning of a zenith in Madlib's career. On his songs, each of the soundscapes he creates almost sounds like he's scoring a movie. "McNasty Filth" sounds like a heist scene and the title track sounds like it could have been played in an activist movie about Africa. Dilla is his reliable self, testing out the experimentation with electtronic sounds that was more evident later in his career.

But it is a gem. Two of the best potentially blunted out of their minds just performing their craft. And it holds up more than 5 years after its release.

Sliver: Common - The Light

In my efforts to make myself more motivated to make moves with this manuscript (did you appreciate the alliteration), I keep coming up with crazy concepts for my blog as if someone actually read it. The better to serve my ego. And maybe interest someone in Acccra. Inspired by a Jeopardy answer (or rather question), I intend Sliver to be a series that extrapolates on a single piece of a greater whole. I thought of using the name Exegesis, because that is what theologians do in reference to the Bible. But that is more about finding the true meaning behind scriptures. I'm not exactly trying to find meaning, just pointing out why something is hot on a bunch of levels. Whether it is a track off an album or a scene from a movie, it will be an in depth thing that's very small. The longest I can see it being is a suite of songs, maybe 4 or 5 if they're related somehoww. No more than that though.

For the first installment, I offer a study of The Light by Common. I know of three official versions to commercially available by at least vinyl: the original from the album Like Water For Chocolate, the remix featuring Erykah Badu, and the live version recorded with Erykah Badu and Bilal at Dave Chappelle's Block Party. The original and remix were produced by the late J Dilla then still rolling with the moniker of Jay Dee. The remix was a more slowed down adult contemporary version that was good in its own rights. The live version was a festive affair that turns into a funk jam with Bilal expertly wailing all over the scales with an expert band led by ?uestlove and James Poyser.

But the original is the launching pad for it all. Actually the second single from the album, it was the song that vaulted the Chicago bred emcee into gold selling status for the first time in his career. He was always known amongst the hip-hop cognoscenti as one of the best, but until this song, it had not translated into commercial success. But a respectful and playful love ballad proved to be his ticket. After a slight departure in Electric Circus, he has linked up with Kanye and is now platinum. The Light is still his most popular song. It's evident at each concert when the crowd loses its mind. Even the thug can spit those words and feel good about them, without feeling like the sappy cornball he really is.

Like most of Common's lyrics, they are as thoughtful as they are clever as he lets us in on a letter to his beloved. In his intonations and even word choices ("ticky ta ticky ta ticky ta ta ta") we are in tune with the letter as the pen hits the ink. Another big appeal for this song was the adult content that Common deals with in a respectful and honest way. He lays out his hopes and ideas about love, while also acknowledging the sexual tension that naturally develops. Yet, he is never crude in all his honesty of their passion. He also evokes a need for a work ethic and faith in Divinity ("Close to the Most High"). Throughout, his rhythm is so good, you could nod your head to his flow alone.

However, it must have been influenced by the amazing beat laid down by Dilla. As always an amazing driving bass lines and unbelievable alive snares accompany a piano based sample of Bobby Caldwell's Open Your Eyes. The true beauty comes when you listen to the Caldwell. The hook in Common's version is really a spliced up version of the second verse. When Common rocks his verses, he is actually rocking over the original version's driving piano hook. Most producers leave the hook from the original and make that the hook in the sample but the reversal is so subtly clever. Also in the original's hook, Caldwell sings "let me show you the light." In this way, since this piece is actually the foundation for each verse, you also realize the light is being shown in each verse. And to conclude, he somehow makes a coherent signature with the remaining unused parts of the second verse he uses for Common's hook. It really is magnificent.

So I know that was a raving mess, but man that's what that song can do, especially when you see how deep Dilla freaked it. I hoped you enjoyed the first installment. I'm sure I'll go raving mad on another song in like two minutes.