AllTime8: This Is The (Slept-On) Remix

10/25/2010

Welllll… it’s Hip-Hop Soul Week on DLT90s, as promised at the top of the month. I’ll be showin’ love to a classic hip-hop soul album from ’96, and makin’ the week complete with the DLT90s HipHopSoulMix, but first things first…

While New Jack Swing was on the way out, it gradually transformed into a new subgenre that relied heavily on remixes. Whereas the New Jack sound fused hip-hop and R&B during the late-’80s, the Hip-Hop Soul sound represented a more aggressive, breakbeat-driven style for the ’90s. Mary J. Blige and Puffy popularized it with What’s The 411? in ’92, which later carried over to become a big part of The Bad Boy Sound. By ’95, it was almost uncommon for there to be a single that didn’t either feature a rapper or have a remix featuring one. Most times, these remixes were also built on samples of past rap hits, which further made them palatable to the hip-hop audience. While some of them blew up and took on lives of their own, there were others that only got minor play or none at all. Either way, even though this trend eventually went on overload and played itself out by the end of the decade, it definitely spawned some memorable tracks. Annnd so, in jumping off Hip-Hop Soul Week, here are eight remixes that didn’t really make it over the hump, but to me were still hittin’:

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14 Comments | AllTime8, DanjLovesTheHipHop, DanjLovesTheR&B, Hip-Hop Soul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Danj!

DANJ! Presents Winter Six: 1991 (A Ni**a Remember Them Muhfu**in’ Dances, Bwoy…)

01/15/2010

Aight, so… it was a lil’ quiet around here this week. I had to take a lil’ time to recharge the batteries, and now shit’s back to life. And with that, DLT90s continues with the 1991 edition of the Winter Six series.

The winter of ’91 was a different thing. I was in sixth grade, back around my old neighborhood, known as “The Lake”, after moving away a couple years prior. I was back chillin’ with my friends from elementary school, but wasn’t going to the same middle school as them. My time in Westport was a suspension-filled experience, so I ended up going to an “alternative” school with all the niggas with “behavioral and emotional problems”. Either way, I still looked forward to Fridays- because even though I didn’t go to the middle school, I could still go to their dance every week (and I went to damn near every one). Rest of the time, I was in my brother’s room, either recording music off the radio or “borrowing” his tapes. It was around this time that I started something that eventually became one of my most recognizable traits- being any and everywhere with my headphones on. Here’s some of what I was listening to:

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8 Comments | DanjLovesTheHipHop, DanjLovesTheR&B, My Life, Winter Six, Young Youth | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Danj!

Da Dirty 30

11/25/2009

“You couldn’t pay me a milli to be born in the 80s. You guys can have Keyshia and Wayne. I have Mary and Biggie.” – dream hampton, October 2009

Mama told me one day it was gonna happen, but she never told me when. She said that it would happen when I was much older, I wish it woulda happened then. As of today, I am officially 30, and therefore officially an oldhead. Ah, well. *Kanye shrug*

I’ve been an oldhead for years anyway. Matter fact, I was lovin’ old music back when the old music I talk about on here was new. When I was 5 and Stevie Wonder was makin’ that “Part Time Lover” type shit, I was listening to his ’60s/’70s hits on my lil’ record player. Even as a teenager bumpin’ Mobb Deep and Jay-Z, I was still buyin’ Kane and EPMD tapes from the late-’80s.

Old movies and TV shows? Ditto! I still watch old Martin and Married With Children episodes like I haven’t seen ‘em a GANG of times already. I just bought Krush Groove on DVD, and I remember when it was a new release at the video store. I SAW Gremlins IN THE MOVIES for fukk’s sake. *cringes*

I say all that to say this: it’s all good. You’ll get no “30′s the new 20″ talk outta me- I willingly embrace my oldassness. Would I trade this shit to be 15, wearin’ tight jeans and doin’ the “You’re A Jerk” dance or whatever they call it? Hell nah. Would I rather be 10 years younger and likely have an infinite Gucci Mane playlist on my iPod? FUKK no! #NoShots at the young people at all, I’m just sayin’… not for me. See, I may be old enough to fondly recall stuff that the youngins don’t give a damn about, but I’m glad to have been there. I take pride in all my ancient shit- from that red and blue Helly Hansen jacket that’s still hangin’ up in my closet, to the purple tape I still own.

Annnd so, to all my fellow oldheads (30 and up), oldheads in training (25-29), and future oldheads (teens-early 20′s) who’ve been checkin’ out DanjLovesThe90s: today, I celebrate my life AND old shit. I give you... Da Dirty 30. No definitive list or anything of the sort, just 30 random ’90s joints I fux with, and now you can too (if you don’t already). Click away… Read the rest of this entry »

21 Comments | Classic Material, Da Dirty 30, DanjLovesTheHipHop, DanjLovesTheR&B, Hip-Hop Soul, Love Movement, My Life, New Jack Swing, Random | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Danj!

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