deep.honey's Old School Soul Playlist

deep.honey flew down to the Deeeep South last weekend for her dad's 60th birthday extravaganza.

However, she forgot that she was supposed to be DJ'ing the festivities, and had to make an On-the-Go iPod playlist from some '70s and '80s classics in her collection (good R&B is timeless).  Her audience was mostly 50+, after all.  One 21st-century hit was slipped in for the few Gen Y attendees.

These hits turnt the lakeside cookout out:

1. Before I Let Go, Frankie Beverly and Maze
2. I'm Still in Love (With You), Joe Gibbs
3. Best of My Love, The Emotions
4. I Want to Thank You, Alicia Myers
5. Stir It Up, Bob Marley and The Wailers
6. Groove Me, King Floyd
7. Mothership Connection, Parliament
8. The Glamorous Life, Sheila E
9. Just Fine, Mary J. Blige
10. I Like, Guy
11. I Wanna Be Your Lover, Prince
12. Jungle Love (Live), Morris Day
13. Clean Up Woman, Leela James
14. You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine, Lou Rawls  --Don't hate...one of the best "get ta steppin!" songs of all time.
15. I Want Her, Keith Sweat
16. Brick House, The Commodores
17. Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough, Michael Jackson
18. Rock With You, Michael Jackson
19. Haven't You Heard, Patrice Rushen
20. Boogie Shoes, K.C. and the Sunshine Band
21. I Don't Want Nobody to Give Me Nothing, James Brown --So funky and fierce.
22. For the Love of You, The Isley Brothers 
23. My Cherie Amour, Stevie Wonder
24. Master Blaster (Jammin') Stevie Wonder
25. Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours, Stevie Wonder
26. Do I Do, Stevie Wonder
27. All I Do, Stevie Wonder
28. As, Stevie Wonder
29. Summertime, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince
30. Super Bad, James Brown
31. Mary Jane, Rick James

Could've slipped some "Funky Space Reincarnation" in, but was worried about what that could unleash--nobody wants to see their middle-aged relatives doing a slow grind, so no Marvin was on the list.   And you know deep.honey's mom and her friends just had to close it out with some slides... 

Feel free to share your cookout playlists!

Download This and Thank Me Later

Yeah, it's hot outside.  Here's something even hotter for you from the Dirty South.

WTF of the Week: Russell Simmons Gives Chris Brown a Pass

Source:  Gemma Mary via Wikipedia Commons.  Obtained under a Creative Commons License.

 I am not making this up.  Check out Mr. Simmons' blog article, "Chris Brown:  When Fame Snatches Your Freedom" at Global Grind.   SMH.  Why did he feel moved to write an apologia for this fool?  Yeah, Chris can dance, but there are a million other great dancers out there.  His singing and rapping skills were never all that great either.  As the father of two young girls, Simmons should know better, but he doesn't seem to care how his support of Chris looks to women.  He even threw shade by saying that Chris is "suffering" and comparing Chris' issues to that of misbehaving former Disney stars.  Um, Lindsay, Britney and Miley never bashed someone's face in.  I guess men in hip-hop stick together.

About that Diddy-Dirty Money Performance Tonight...

Maybe it was nostalgia for the '90s, but earlier this week, I put my name on Lux Lounge's RSVP list for the Diddy-Dirty Money performance tonight.  It's supposedly free to those on the list, and any time there's a national act at a downtown club, a decent crowd is basically guaranteed.

Review: Theophilus London at U Street Music Hall

I stopped by U Street Music Hall last night to check out Theophilus London's sold-out show.  He's an underground hip-hop artist with international reach who does a chilled out, hard-to-classify mix of backpacker/alt rap and new wave, seasoned with a dash of progressive R&B.  There was a young, multicultural but predominately African-American crowd at the show, and he's going to be one to watch this year.  I predict that with the right marketing of his Lovers Holiday EP and a more precisely defined musical ethos, he's going to crossover to the mainstream in a Kid Cudi kind of way. 

It's Es-per-ahn-za, People. Get It Right.

Photo by Alessandra Freguja.  Obtained via Wikimedia under a Creative Commons License.

It's Valentine's Day!

From Amazon.com

If you've found your guy, Valentine's Day is great for cheesy, over-the top sentiment.  On that note, I have to dedicate this post to Keith Sweat's classic album, Make It Last Forever.  Yes, I know that some brothers can't stand him, but that's because nobody, but nobody, begs for a woman's love quite like Keith.  Their efforts to woo simply pale in comparison.

Mr. Sweat just wanted the love of a good, faithful woman, and he wasn't afraid to tell us exactly how he felt.  If you don't feel something for somebody after hearing this masterpiece of New Jack Swing-era wooing, your heart's made of cement.  I admit to snickering at the most Velveeta of his lines and some synthesizer-laden breaks, but download it for your man.  He could probably learn something from Keith--romance is a lot easier when you're bold about expressing your feelings.

I was just a little girl when it came out in '87, but it was a staple on V103 in Atlanta for a long time.  I downloaded a copy onto my iPod not too long ago, and was struck by the difference between the love songs of the '80s and the f*** songs of this millennium.  Please believe that I will be singing "Make It Last Forever" karaoke-style at my wedding reception with my future husband, whoever he may be.  It's one of my all-time favorite duets.  "How Deep Is Your Love" and "Right and a Wrong Way" were fire too.

I totally believe that to truly be in love, you have to have the right mindset.  The right music is a part of that.  If I check a man's iPod or his CD collection early in the dating cycle and see only misogynist hip-hop filled with odes to strippers and shawtys down for whateva, I know right then that he's not ready for me.  If his R&B collection starts at the Jodeci era, he might not know too much about love (a real man needs an encyclopedic collection of slow grooves---some Isley Brothers, Sade, Marvin Gaye, Luther, Al Green, Teddy P...) but I'll give him a chance.  If I see only tracks from the Dru Hill era to the current day, I know he knows nothing and I need to bounce.  He gets a reprieve only if I can find sufficient quantities of Maxwell or D'Angelo.

Regardless, I wish you all the good lovin' that you deserve today.  But check his iPod before you leave the driveway.  

R&B Duet Recommendations

It's February and Valentine's Day is around the corner.

YahZarah at Blues Alley

YahZarah is a soul artist that has been getting much love on the conscious 'net lately.  She's coming home to D.C. for a show at Blues Alley on 1/1.

Video Flashback: Remember These "Colored Girls?"

Still love this song.




Recently, Ms. Badu recorded commentary and some tracks for an upcoming documentary called The Black Power Mixtape, 1967-1975.  It is set to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, which takes place from Jan. 20-30.

She should also really think about working on her own film project (remember her excellent performance in The Cider House Rules?), maybe even a self-penned script.  It is evident in her videos and recent singles that she still has a lot to say, and we need more conscious sisters producing positive, intelligent images of Black women. 

Weekend Wrap-Up, 11.12 - 11.15.10

This was an insanely busy weekend, and I am exhausted.  Taking Monday off.

Highlights:

Saw Starshell at Lotus Lounge on Friday night.  Well, it was technically early Saturday AM. 

Starshell at Lotus Lounge

Quick FYI.  Starshell is going to be at Lotus Lounge later tonight.

She has been anointed by no less than MJB herself, and with producers like will.i.am, Swizz Beatz and Ne-Yo, she's probably the next big thing in R&B.

Is it just me, but doesn't she resemble another triple threat (singer, dancer, actress) that we all know and love?