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? 🎶
Inspired by a J Dilla Remix of The Brand New Heavies' "Sometimes (feat. Q-Tip)," this is one of my all-time favourite tracks from Janet.
That Joni Mitchell sample from her folk classic "Big Yellow Taxi"? Q-Tip's rhymes? That beat? And that Mark Romanek-directed, Grammy award-winning music video inspired by the photography of South Africa's Drum magazine? Don't even get me started...
Now, why you wanna go and do that, love, huh?
The opening of this track always transports me to a dreamy place, that funky baseline, the electric keys, those drum beats, and Norah's soothing other-worldly vocals.
"I'm so into your rich histories," she coos, "tell me stories and take me away."
Q-Tip takes the bait and in the second verse goes into an incredible historical overview of hip hop, starting with "a man walked on the moon" and of course ending with the late great J Dilla. It's all a love letter to the genre's greatest.
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.