Urban Thought Collective

This past weekend I attended my ten year college reunion. TEN YEARS! I had a better time than I expected, and it got me reminiscing about the year it all started. 1994. I was a 17-year old know-it-all, that actually knew less than zero. Almost 14 years later, I can still remember chilling in my boy Sean’s room playing “Street Fighter II” for hours on end. Those truly were the good ole days. Enjoy the vids.

KEITH MURRAY | “THE MOST BEAUTIFULLEST THING IN THE WORLD”
“The most beautifullest vocabulist.” OK, I realize that beautifullest is not a word. But I give Keith a pass, ‘cause the song is tight. And, I don’t want him to get in me. That would suck.

CRAIG MACK | “FLAVA IN YOUR EAR (REMIX)”
“The ski mask way.” Was this the first instance of “The Puffy Dance?” Fourteen years later and I still don’t know what the hell he was doing. And why was Rampage on this joint? Never understood that either. Anyhoo, people tend to forget that Craig Mack was way larger than Biggie when this track came out. That would change in about six months.

WU TANG CLAN | “CAN IT BE ALL SO SIMPLE”
“Nah nah, 87. That was my favorite shit God.” In the past I’ve given Hype Williams a lot of grief, because I think he over directs. But this is my favorite Hype video by far. Every single shot is perfect. Perfect use of slo mo. Perfect color palette. Perfect performances. Plus, the kid on the bike always gets me. If he had infused half this much heart into “Belly,” it wouldn’t have sucked the suck of a thousand Hoovers.

DIGABLE PLANETS | “9TH WONDER (BLACKITOLISM)”
“I’m 68 inches above sea level. 93 million miles above these devils.” Butterfly was ill, yo! I remember we used to chill in my boy Brian’s dorm room spitting, or, at least trying to spit freestyles to this instrumental. It wasn’t pretty. We were nerds, not beautiful vocabulists. Cut us some slack

And now…for something slightly incomprehensible but dope…

OHIO PLAYERS | “ECSTASY”
“Loving you is ecstasy to me.” Other than the quote to the left, I have zero idea what the lead singer is singing. Nevertheless, it’s for damn sure funky. I think you might recognize the sample used by a couple of New York Kings.

Diallo Tyson is a filmmaker, comedian and old school music junkie. When he’s not busy, he is a rapper with the group “Two Pimps and a Dream.” Step into a groovin’ time machine every Friday on UTC.