Let's get this week started off right.
🎶 Come close to me
Come close baby, come close ma (baby, baby)
Let me hold you love, come closer love
Know this world gets
It gets crazy baby, it gets crazy girl (but)
What's it without you, you, you, you? 🎶
While we're talking about great drums, let's keep it rolling.
Scroll down below to listen out for the sample on Common's "Forever Begins" off 2007's Finding Forever.
Tonight we caught Yasiin Bey (fka Mos Def) close out the night at Oakland's Fox Theater, after a performance from the always-entertaining Reggie Watts. Although he was missing Talib, this track is still one of my all-time favourites nearly fifteen years later.
🎶 Breathe in, inhale vapors from bright stars that shine
Breathe out, weed smoke retrace the skyline
Heard the bass ride out like an ancient mating call
I can't take it, y'all, I can feel the city breathing
Chest heaving, against the flesh of the evening
Sigh before we die like the last train leaving 🎶
Mos Def. "UMI Says." Black On Both Sides, Rawkus Entertainment LLC, 1999.
🎶 I want to tell you how I feel right now 🎶
The remixes for this track just keep on coming in, and they are good. Real good. First, Kaytranada's banger dropped last week, and yesterday Common released his version with a verse exclusively on The FADER.
Check out the gorgeous cinematography, choreography, and costume design in the official video below, directed by Alan Ferguson and Solange herself, or visit Solange's website to read her beautiful digital lyrics book via ISSUU.
🎶 Sometimes I don't want to feel those metal clouds 🎶
In an email to The FADER, Common explained just how special the song is to him.
““Every once and a few years, there are certain songs that come out and have the sound of forever. “Cranes in the Sky” is that song for me,” he said. “Every time I listened to it, I keep wanting to hear it again and again. I started mumbling some words to it and then decided I want to write a verse. This is an un official remix simply inspired by the love of art. Check it out.””
Remember this album? Well, if you don't, there was a time when, before Fergie and all that shit, the B.E.P. were a good hip-hop crew, touting positive lyrics and collaborating with some of the best producers, lyricists, and vocalists out there at the time -- Bridging The Gap alone featured guest appearances from Common, Les Nubians, Macy Gray, Chali 2na of Jurassic 5 & Ozomatli, Esthero, Mos Def, and Wyclef Jean.
Throwing things back to the 2000s to start the week off right.
(For those of you who like finding those secret tracks, skip ahead to the 4:57 mark, or just wait through the silence in between.)
I first witnessed Miss Erykah Badu perform at Vancouver's Commodore Ballroom in June 2008. She stepped out on stage sporting a plaid leisure suit and a sky-high afro beaming out in all directions. Touring for her New Amerykah Part One (4th World War) album, she was pure fire, a true artist.
This flip of On & On from her 1997 debut Baduizm always puts me in a state of CAF. For Erykah in one of her cooler moments, check out the video below for "Love Of My Life" featuring former flame Common (skip ahead to 1:24 or listen the whole way through). We won't stop until the break of da-ooh-ooh-ooh-wn.
When we caught The Roots play Oakland's Fox Theater just after Christmas 2014, I had no idea we'd be in for a serious treat care of their opening act. Singer Jill Hervey -- daughter of the stunning Vanessa Williams -- came out on stage with her wild mane, legs for days, a voice reminiscent of Erykah Badu, and a mesmerizing stage presence. "Treat Me Like Fire" instantly got inside my head, as I tried to place the sample (The Guess Who's "These Eyes"? Not quite.), the sultry and soulful "At The Hotel" by Eunice Collins. Production by Lucas Goodman, inspired by the late great J Dilla, Flying Lotus, and Timbaland, is on point (with some help from Pharrell).
Lion Babe returns to the Bay Area for a benefit concert this Wednesday, September 14th with Common at the Masonic. Tickets are $40 and all proceeds support Black Girls Code.
Witnessing two people in love is pure magic to me, especially when the couple includes your oldest friends. This long weekend, I had the pleasure of watching one of the most graceful, elegant, compassionate ladies I know make a promise to her best friend, and they kicked things off on the dance floor with this track. As cool and classy as first dances can go.
Listen to the original below featuring that amazing Bobby Caldwell "Open Your Eyes" sample, or check out the remixed instrumental version chopped up by the late great J Dilla.