Urban Thought Collective

Class, today we’re gonna set the dial to “Laid Back Groove.” I got a little neo-soul in the on deck circle to start your week off. Some of you are saying “D, how can neo-soul be old school?” You know why it is? Because I said so! Got it? Good. Now, there is discussion about what makes someone a neo-soul artist. Some cats don’t even want to be classified as neo-soul. To be honest, I don’t have a dog in this fight. Good music is good no matter what label you slap on it. So why don’t ya’ll just sit back, relax, light some incense, and chill out with some good music. Holla.

JAHEIM | “COULD IT BE”

This was my joint! This beat has the bird flu. Seriously, it’s a problem. Matter of fact, my eyes are starting to water and my throat’s getting scratchy just listening to it. Anybody got Dr. House’s number? He might need to write me a prescription.

LUCY PEARL | “DANCE TONIGHT”

I don’t understand why this group didn’t make it. I thought it was a great combination, exemplified by this track. Why couldn’t they have kept it together? They could have made some serious waves. Oh yeah, can we agree that Dawn was the baddest En Vogue chick? Can you say total package? My God.

MAXWELL | “ASCENSION (DON’T EVER WONDER)”

Here is the legend, as told to me. Maxwell, The Fugees, and The Roots perform at Morehouse College circa early ‘96. During Maxwell’s set, he gets booed for supposedly being a D’Angelo clone. What people didn’t know is that Maxwell’s album was done in ‘94, so he actually could’ve come out before D’Angelo. Crazy, huh? Anyway, not that you needed to hear from me, but this cat has the goods. The bass line on this track is pretty ridiculous. Maybe Black Summers’ Night will come out some time this decade. We can only hope.

GROOVE THEORY | “TELL ME”

OK, follow me because it’s gonna get slightly convoluted. Amel is my boy’s Spelman sister’s cousin.[Got that?] We’re supposed to be best friends, but the dude never hooked me up. Yeah, she’s totally out of my league. And even though she’d rather I serve her dinner than take her out to dinner, I would’ve liked the chance. Now he says that he tried, but his Spelman sister wasn’t having it. But he’s from South Carolina, and you just can’t trust them dudes.

D’ANGELO | “CRUSIN”

I seriously considered putting “Untitled” in this spot, because it’s such a dope song. Then I realized that all the fellas that read this blog would wish upon me a plague of Biblical proportions. So Cruisin’ gets the nod instead. At any rate, D’Angelo has to be the poster boy for wasted potential. He only released two albums. Two albums! I don’t know what happened. I guess he thought being Rick Ross’ stunt double was more lucrative. Oh well.

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 his groovin’ time machine every week on UTC.