03/16/2011
After Nate Dogg had his second stroke in 2008, and news on his condition since then was scarce at best, I had a feeling that his health wasn’t on the up. Still, it was a shock to wake up at 2:30 this morning and see that he had passed last night.
As one of the original “Death Row Inmates”, Nate was the writer and performer of some of the catchiest and most familiar hooks in hip-hop. For years, he was a reliable guest star on tracks by everyone from Snoop and Dre to 50 Cent and Ludacris. I don’t even know what I can say about his influence and importance to the game that hasn’t been said today. But I’ll suffice it to say that he’s participated in a number of classics that may not have been as classic without him.
In paying tribute to Nate’s life, DanjLovesThe90s drops eight of my personal favorite guest appearances by him- here they go:
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Posted by Danj!
02/01/2011
Welcome to February on DLT90s, where I’ll be remembering an album you mighta heard of called All Eyez On Me , speakin’ on the great DJ Premier, and for Valentine’s week, dropping my 25 Favorite Love Songs of All Time. And speaking of all-time, today would have been the 63rd birthday of one of the baddest muthafukkas of all-time… one of the best-singin’, best-lookin’ muthafukkas you ever seen… hold my drink, bitch.
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Posted by Danj!
12/27/2010
Unfortunately, DLT90s returns on a sad note. Yesterday, Mary Christine Brockert, better known as Teena Marie, passed on at the age of 54, after falling asleep on Christmas night and being found by her daughter Alia Rose the following morning.
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Posted by Danj!
06/16/2010
OK… before anyone says it… it has nothin’ to do with the fact that this fella is my favorite MC. I was never of the belief that I had to dislike one in order to like the other. I never really got into the taking of sides while that shit was goin’ on, and I don’t even compare them to each other today. I’ve always felt that the only reason people connect them anyway is because they’re both deceased and the rivalry they had when they were alive- the same way people still compare Jay-Z and Nas because they had a feud nine years ago. To me, 2Pac and B.I.G. as two almost completely different things musically, both of which I like for different reasons. They shared some of the same subject matter, but that’s where it stops.
Now that I got that out the way… Being a lifelong hip-hop enthusiast, I’ve had all kinds of Tupac Shakur convos over the years- before and after he died, pro and con, in real life and online. If nothing else, he’s always been one that gets a strong reaction one way or the other. Rarely have I ever had a convo about him with someone who doesn’t feel some kind of way about his music, or about him as an individual. But at times, the love AND hate he’s gotten have bordered on insane- which is why I can say, ‘Pac is the most overrated and underrated of all-time. Let’s speak on it.
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Posted by Danj!
05/28/2010
Not tryna turn this site into a big memorial wall- what with the Group Therapy post from the other day and the B.I.G. post from last week and whatnot. However, this weekend marks what woulda been the 36th birthday of another great MC who lost his life at age 24.
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Posted by Danj!
05/21/2010
My name is DANJ! and the The Notorious B.I.G. is my favorite MC of all-time. I need y’all to feel me on this right now…
Maaaan, lemme tell y’all. When he was just the big guy with the gold fronts in that SuperCat video talkin’ ’bout “I love it when ya call me Big Poppa/ The show stoppa/ The rhyme droppa…”, I was rockin’ with that crazily. When I listened to DJ Celo‘s Saturday Night Megamix on WKYS in April ’93 and heard “Party & Bullshit”, I went out and copped the Who’s The Man? soundtrack the following week. When I’d read The Source and see how much they bigged him up, I had the feeling he was gonna be one to check for. And when Ready To Die dropped… well sheeeit, the rest was history.
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Posted by Danj!
04/20/2010
Not the first news I expected to see this morning. Keith Elam, aka Guru has passed away after a battle with cancer at age 47. He was expected to make a full recovery about a month ago after going through surgery, but ultimately, he died yesterday morning. Big respect to this man, who was best known as the voice of GangStarr from 1989 to 2004, and for his own Jazzmatazz series. Regardless of any bullshit that someone’s been shoveling in the wake of his passing, hip-hop has lost another of its most dedicated. This is in memory of…
GangStarr “Step In The Arena” (1990)
Guru feat. N’dea Davenport “Trust Me” (1993)
Group Home feat. Guru “Serious Rap Shit” (1995)
Guru feat. Chaka Khan “Watch What You Say” (1995)
GangStarr “In Memory Of…” (1998)
-D!
(PREVIOUSLY: The Chain & The Star)
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Posted by Danj!
01/23/2010
Big Rest In Peace to Apache, who’s best known for his 1993 hit “Gangsta Bitch”. He was a founding member of the Flavor Unit (that later included Queen Latifah, Naughty by Nature, etc.), in addition to becoming a primary ghostwriter and collaborator for Latifah, most notably on her biggest single, “U.N.I.T.Y.” He dropped one album (Apache Ain’t Shit) in ’93, but mostly fell back and kept ghostwriting after that. He died yesterday from what’s being described as a “protracted illness”. R.I.P.
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Posted by Danj!
01/16/2010
The first time I heard Aaliyah was in ’94, at the rec I worked at for my summer job. We usually played the radio all day, and “Back & Forth” was getting airplay out the ass. I wasn’t mad at it, but the one that really got me was the Isleys cover “At Your Best”, which became one of the few R&B songs of the time that I had serious love for. Of all the new singers that were poppin’ up back then, she had a couple of songs that helped her stand out from the pack (courtesy of her mentor and producer R. Kelly). It also didn’t hurt that she happened to be hot as all hell to a youngin like myself. If nothing else, she seemed like someone who’d at least be around for a while.
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Posted by Danj!
01/13/2010
Y’all know who this man is… and if not, you’ve at least heard of him. Maybe your parents used to play some of his records, or if you’re real young, your grandparents did. Or maybe you recall the part in Nutty Professor when ya man Sherman Klump gets to rockin’ with “Close The Door”. Or maybe, you’ve heard some of his work sampled before (Mobb Deep, Ghostface, Kanye, D’Angelo, Cam’ron, MC Eiht, etc.) He was one of the great soul voices of the ’70s and early ’80s (as lead singer of Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes and with his solo career), and he passed away earlier this evening at age 59. R.I.P. Teddy Pendergrass.
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5 Comments | Classic Material, DanjLovesTheR&B, In Memory Of..., Love Movement | Tagged: R.I.P., TEDDY PENDERGRASS | Permalink
Posted by Danj!
