Melleefresh

Melleefresh

Melleefresh



I’m proud of what Play Records has achieved in the last few years. I heard a song of hers called Attention Whore and nearly had to retire it for fear I’d kill it too much on The Suite Delight. Could it be she refers to me as well?


I’m proud of what Play Records has achieved in the last few years. I heard a song of hers called Attention Whore and nearly had to retire it for fear I’d kill it too much on The Suite Delight. Could it be she refers to me as well?

I Used To Read Word Up Magazine

I stated in an earlier article that my formal and hip hop education were simultaneous. I went from Walk This Way to Walk like a Duck in about six years. Being an energetic, eccentric and excited teen about hip hop, I wanted to surround myself in it, literally. I was in an era where hip hop & R&B magazines were published and for the most part, they were reputable. I took them to be the highest form of journalism back then. Even the photos were National Geographic quality to me. Unlike others who had older siblings for them the learn about music or dances from, I learned the stuff on my own. Magazines, and to a lesser extent videos, helped me along the way.

I’m not sure if the kids of today are as excited as I was to get the newest issues of Right On!, Black Beat, Word Up!, Rap Masters and The Source. Black Beat & Right On! never seemed to cross my path as often as Word Up! or Rap Masters but I checked for them when I could.

Word Up! & Rap Masters were my Rolling Stone magazine. They were packed with posters, crazy with contests and bursting with info on the latest beats. The focus of Word Up! was the R&B artists and Rap Masters dealt with indeed with mid 80s to early 90s hip hop. They were published by Kate Ferguson and I was thankful to her for that.















As young as I was, I didn’t think about planning or coordinating a schedule to know when Word Up! or Rap Masters would be on the shelves. I’d just visit the local mall every week or two and peep for the words Word Up! or Rap Masters among the mags, buy it on the spot if I had the dough, ask the lady to put it aside for me until I had the dough, bring it home, undo the staples in the middle to extract the posters and then re-assemble the poster-less mag to read it. I won’t get into the poster procedure. Some things that go on in a teenager’s room are just private. I’ll say this though. Ever heard of wall to wall carpet? The way I covered my room in posters was literally off the wall at times.

The contests! I entered any and every contest I could. Back then, you had to mail the form from the magazine. I was so hungry to win stuff that I’d even enter contests after the deadline. I’ll never forget the day the postman arrived at my house with a large squared package. I think my love for receiving music in the mail was born that day. The package was addressed to me, of course, and I opened it to see The Alliance's We Could Get Used to This in my hands. I had forgotten it was one of the contests I entered. I play that record on my show up to this day. I’ve never seen that record anywhere. I also won Def Jef’s Poet with Soul audio cassette and 3 Rap Masters t-shirts. I’ve been lucky with contests in my life but I’m convinced they decided to send me some things because I was always entering their contests. Regardless of the case, Kate Ferguson was my lady luck.

As I got older, I wanted my hip hop magazines to have a bit more journalistic quality. Vibe and The Source did that for me for most of the 1990s. I had a Vibe Magazine subscription and remembered receiving the iconic issue with Notorious B.I.G. & Puff Daddy on the cover.

The Source, however, was the source. If an album got 3-4.5/5 mics, you took it. If you loved the artist or album, you burned inside because it didn’t get the full credit you felt it deserved. You still had to respect them for their decision though.

The covers and articles were spot on and even had credibility to spare. Within the last decade, my mentioning The Source, purchasing a Source Magazine or the intention to purchase a Source Magazine has met with ridicule from some of my peers. What a fall from grace. I’ve bought about three Source Magazine issues in that time. I got the one with LL Cool J holding 5 mics on the cover, another one talking about hip hop’s poor record sales of recent and some anniversary issue packed with pictures.

Thankfully, for record connoisseurs and collectors, there’s Waxpoetics Magazine. I look forward to it every two months and have a secret aim to collect all the issues I’m missing somehow someway. I don’t read many magazines but Waxpoetics is one I live by. You can learn more about the golden era hip hop artists & albums, learn about the music & artists sampled and even be up to date on the current music scene. It provides me so many ideas for my radio show and I can’t state enough how glad I am for it.

Before I sign out, I want to thank all the magazines past and present that shaped our lives.

Donny Hathaway

Years ago, after my first listening of Donny Hathaway Live, I learned he had one of the best voices in soul music history. My listening of his debut CD painfully proved what I already knew.

I don’t care much for Live albums but Donny Hathaway Live is one of the best live albums I’ve ever heard in league with James Brown, The Isley Brothers and Curtis Mayfield. His beautiful version of John Lennon’s Jealous Guy makes one mourn both of their losses.




One night while “grocery shopping” (browsing record/CD stores with the sole intent of walking out with music), I noticed one of my favourite stores had a copy of Everything is Everything at a price I could not resist.

The CD is wonderfully smooth and earned my playing it again after the first listen just to hear I Believe it to My Soul again surrounded by its accompanying tracks.






The liner notes have Joel Dorn claiming Donny’s debut is his best album. I had been leaning more towards Live but I might be inclined to agree with him. I still have his Extensions of a Man to discover, among others, and who knows if those will also shift my opinion.

Regardless of which album Dorn or I feel is his best, what is agreed upon is that Hathaway was a once-in-a-lifetime talent.

Frank Dukes

The name Frank Dukes was dropped during a conversation about hip hop producers I should take note of.

I got familiar with Frank Dukes’ music and was pleasantly surprised.





The song that hit me hardest from what I heard was Flawless with Shad on vocals. The song basically proves what the buzz surrounding Frank Dukes is all about. At the same time, it demonstrates once again that Shad is not only one of Canada’s best MCs, but one of hip hop’s best hopes on a whole.

I took to Twitter stating my wish for a Shad/Frank Dukes full-length release. Until that glorious day, I will keep fiending for more Frank Dukes and Shad music.

Bee Gees - Mythology

I’ve been playing The Bee Gees like crazy for about a year. I removed most of their music from my Sansa Fuze+ MP3 player but still kept a handful of songs to enjoy.



The good people at Rhino put this 4CD collection together to commemorate the group’s 50th anniversary. With most Best-Of, Greatest Hits, Ultimate or Definitive sets, some songs can and will get omitted from the track listing. Such is the case with Bee Gees Mythology. The Bee Gees have countless cuts that could or should have been hits.



I will say that the omissions of Let There Be Love, World, Every Christian Lionhearted Man Will Show You and even One are glaring.



After multiple listens of Mythology, including now as I write this, I will not fault the creators too much because as the liner notes state, The Bee Gees themselves selected the songs.



This proves that individual tastes are unique and not everyone can be happy with a greatest hits package. Where the Bee Gees are concerned, there is more than enough to be happy with on one disc of their music let alone four.

Ego Trip Magazine

I once dedicated the month of September’s playlists to magazines that I enjoyed reading or intrigued me. Ego Trip was not among them.

I don’t remember much about the magazine in the 1990s. I either never saw it on the stands or saw The Source as just that for my hip hop news and reviews. I was definitely aware of the magazine when it published its Book of Rap Lists.

Ego Trip's Book of Rap Lists is one of the most, if not the most, important books related to hip hop ever produced.

I’ve been reading my copy for the last few days and an idea for an upcoming Suite Delight radio show theme came to me. If Ego Trip magazine would be the theme, I would need a great place to start from. As I got to the end of the book, there was a chapter discussing the artists that have been written about and appeared on the magazine cover.

I want to extend a thanks to the writers and creators of Ego Trip Magazine. Ego Trip's Book of Rap Lists is of biblical proportinons as far as hip hop is concerned and I’m glad it was made. Similar to The Source of the 1990s, Ego Trip Magazine represents what I needed and ironically still need from a magazine dealing with hip hop.

Rocket Robin Hood

I haven’t seen or thought of Rocket Robin Hood since I was about 5 or 6 years old. My gentle reminder was presented to me during a casual browse through Archambault one day. I couldn’t believe the cartoon series I used to watch as a boy was in my hands as a man.

The nostalgia of watching the show washed over me and my immediate memory was of Friar Tuck taking one bite of each food item in front of him and tossing it behind his back.



I saw the DVDs at Future Shop but the price was just as out of this world as Rocket Robin Hood's adventures. One of my favorite downtown depots had the second season for a very reasonable price and I couldn't leave it behind.



While preparing this post, I just discovered Rocket Robin Hood was a Canadian cartoon from the mid-1960s. It gives me a warm feeling inside knowing that this program was not only made for us but by us as well.

Jill Scott

It had been a long time since I heard Jill Scott’s A Long Walk until a DJ dropped a smooth remix from the 12” in the middle of a mix session.

Jill Scott had been away from my consciousness for so long that she somewhat slipped my mind. In a conversation with an R&B fiend and friend, I pined that she may not release another album anytime soon. I was aware she was raising a family and must have convinced myself I’d see and hear of her whenever I’d see or hear new music from her.

I was never as big a fan of hers as other members of my immediate circle. I believe her debut CD was in the very early 2000s when at the time I was rather disappointed in urban music. I may have fronted on her a little but came to my senses and made sure I had her discography, minus the live CD, within arms’ reach.

Possibly my most enduring memory of Dave Chappelle’s Block Party was her response when asked if she was worried about having to follow Erykah Badu. I’m not sure if I fell in love with her then and began scooping up her CDs or after learning she was an Aries like me. Regardless of the order of events, that scene is pivotal and where my love for Jill Scott got solidified.

On the subject of her live performances, I heard the Live CD once around the time of its release and it was more like background music due to my previously explained mind frame towards urban music at the time, subsequent fronting and disdain for live recordings on a whole. I was also playing dominoes at the time which didn’t help either.



To my knowledge, Jill Scott has made one visit to Montreal. In hindsight, if I had studied her albums more prior to her Montreal performance, I would have watched her instead of Tha Alkaholiks performing that night. Knowing and feeling what I do now about Jill Scott, I realize what I missed. I hope to rectify this with my own Jill Scott live experience to speak of one of these days.




I love strong, talented female vocalists and see her as a modern-day Aretha Franklin I can rely on as a voice of choice.

I can be counted on for Jill Scott spins soon to keep your listening to The Suite Delight golden.

Magneto

I love Marvel Comics and their movies. Anytime I hear or learn of a Marvel Comics film being released, I clear my schedule to see it at my earliest convenience. From 3 Spider-Mans & X-Men films, 2 Hulks (one being better than the former) & Fantastic Fours to even Elektra (not too happy to state that but Jennifer Garner’s hot), I’ve been there when Marvel Comics movies call.



When I heard they were giving the X-Men movie franchise a reboot, I was slightly apprehensive. The trilogy of prior X-Men films are my favourite in the Marvel Comics repertoire and I firmly believe that if Bryan Singer had directed The Last Stand, it could have been my favourite comic book adaptation movie of all time, Marvel or otherwise.


With the X-Men movies so near and dear to me, I was going to see First Class regardless.



When I was collecting comics in the late 80s/early 90s, the X-Men and Wolverine books intimidated me because of all the characters and mini-series that I knew little to nothing of. That didn’t stop me from collecting some X-Men books at the Extinction Agenda storyline, of all times, due to the artwork and hype surrounding the series.

I may have known little about the series at the time but knew that Magneto was a force to be reckoned with. He has always fascinated me even if I never owned a book with him in it. My imagination ran along with the idea that he was one of the series’ most powerful mutants. Matched with his dogged determination to see his ideology about humans and mutants come to fruition, he was simply one of the most dangerous villains in the Marvel Universe.



I mentioned Magneto’s ideology about mutant superiority over humans to be unfortunate a few paragraphs back. It’s truly a shame to be on the other side of the fence with a character that I admire so much, especially an opponent as powerful as Magneto. However, there is something magnetic about his character to me.

I can identify with the part of the movie where he was provoked into unleashing the power he barely understood he possessed. If I had discovered I had a fraction of Magneto’s powers and some people took something as precious to me as young Erik’s mother, the scene would have been different if I were in that situation. I would not be the one yelling like Erik in the movie. I would make those that took from me do the yelling.


Good people do bad things sometimes and bad people do good things sometimes. We can naturally disagree with his ideology but I respect him for it and his conviction to see it through. While some people are more talk than action, Magneto is more than ready to take matters and anything magnetic into his own hands to make things happen.



Enjoy this mix I compiled with Magneto and Fassbender's performance in mind.

The Magneto Manifesto Mix from DJ Solespin on 8tracks Radio.

Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & The Trinity

The Montreal Record Convention has been very good to me.

During one of my last-call runs to make sure no big record I may need got left behind, I came across a young vendor’s stand. He had some good records but for the most part, they were slightly pricey for my taste. That was until I came across the Streetnoise album.

Before I continue from that part of the story, let me give a little back story to help explain why I’m writing this.

Years ago, I started exploring breaks and original samples used for hip hop and modern music. I have mentioned many times that the BBE & Harmless labels are instrumental in making me the blogger, radio show host, music director, DJ and music collector I am today. I learned through the DJ Spinna & Monty Burns Funkrock - Rock Breaks & Guitars For Funky People compilation that there were classic rock songs that were also sampled to make hip hop. I also learned it would be to my disadvantage to ignore or not educate myself about the artists on that compilation and ANY 1960-70s rock band discography.


On that compilation was a track called Indian Ropeman that I loved from the moment I heard it. Years later, I would find a Best of Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & the Trinity but not buy it because I wasn't that familiar with the group enough for a purchase. I would however get myself a vinyl copy of Open with an incredibly not surprising and unfortunately scratchy Tramp.

There is also a compilation called Version/Excursion which includes their cover of The Doors’ Light My Fire.

A DJ on the Main played a groovy track that I just had to know who sang it. My eyes widened in surprise and pleasant amazement at the sight of Flesh Failures by Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & the Trinity on the laptop.

This brings us to the convention with Streetnoise in my hands. I opened the gate fold to see the songs Indian Ropeman, Light My Fire and Flesh Failures on the same side of one of the 2-LP set.



I’m not sure what made him to do it but the young vendor immediately offered me a 50% discount. Among my theories are that it was near the end of the convention and he had to take advantage of any opportunity presented to him. He saw me with my bursting bags and felt I still had some shopping left in me. Third is that he knew his prices were a bit too high and I’d leave that album behind otherwise. Fourth is that it was the only record I pulled up from his crate to look at in depth. Quite possibly it could have been the look on my face when I saw the three tracks on the same side along with any and all of the other guesses. I didn’t refuse the offer because I had at least three reasons not to.

Without question, Streetnoise was my find of an already wonderful Montreal record convention day.