For the love of you

From 90s hip hop back to 70s disco funk

Okay so this post may not be worth anything to some, but to others it might be fun.  I grew up in the 80s/90s, and got my introduction to music through the emerging Mtv, local pop radio and rarely mix tapes I found randomly through friends or other means.

Most of the music I encountered in the late 80s/early 90s was hip hop/rap.  They had a almost common musical theme back then - steal from the 60s & 70s.  Sampling ran wild in hip hop, and the Isley Brothers were at the top of the list.  I had albums from Tupac, Masta Ace, Ice Cube and so forth.  Probably sad looking, some 14 year old white kid listening to ex-NWA member solo releases in his parent's garage...buuuut I loved it, so who cares.

The most interesting thing to me about that music was that they chose sex-inducing, romantic late night radio music from the 60s and 70s as the basis for their music...not their lyrics mind you, but the actual music was heavily influenced, or straight pulled from acts like the Isley Brothers, Parliament, Kool & The Gang, Bootsy Collins, War or the Bar-Kays.  This never registered with someone at my age in the early 90s.  

Fast forward to high school and college - I became heavily interested in vinyl.  I LOVED the sound, still do, of a crackling and popping record playing music of the past.  There is something about that that you can't encapsulate by simply calling it retro, vintage or nostaglic.  It is a magic all its own.  There was another magic feeling I had the first few times I put on Isley Brother records I had taken out of storage that belonged to my parents and grandparents.  They had discarded these records years and years ago, being a worthless means of entertainment to them in this new era of stereo hi-fi machines!

Those records were exactly what I was searching for.  That music - I had heard it before...sped up, slowed down, chopped and diced to fit something I was use to - but this sound was much warmer, more inviting....less volitile.  I didn't mind the volitilty mind you, but still there was just something exciting about hearing this music in reverse.  I already knew what it sounded like being rapped over, and with as a heavier bass-lined track...but to hear it in its most original, pure form was awesome.  I still am amazed to this day when I put on those records.

There are a few stand out tracks to me - Footsteps in the Dark (being sampled on my favorite rap song of all time from Ice Cube's "Today Was A Good Day"), For The Love Of You" and a few others that I always go to first but almost all of their music is extremely worth while, and their albums typically have very little, if any, filler.

If you know what I'm talking about than just hearing the drums start up on Footsteps in the Dark will excite you forever.