Urban Thought Collective

There will be a black family in the White House for the next four years…at least. That fact really has nothing to do with this week’s videos, but I just loved writing that sentence.

This week is all about the remix, an art form NOT invented by Puff and Bad Boy. Remixes are always fun because you’re often left wondering, “Why didn’t they just put that version on the album?” Why? Marketing baby! They need you to buy the album AND the Maxi-single. Wait, are maxi-singles even sold anymore? Just pretend its 1993 and this will make sense. I promise. Holla.

SWV | “RIGHT HERE (HUMAN NATURE REMIX)”
Top five greatest remix ever? OK, I’m not going lower than top 10. If anyone can name 10 better remixes in the comments, I’ll send you a case of Champipple In all seriousness, this may have been the first remix I heard where I went “Whoa!” No one was expecting this combination of sounds and styles to be so simpatico, but I’ll be damned if it didn’t turn out perfectly.

ICE CUBE | “YOU KNOW HOW WE DO”
“You think you stuck yourself with a #2 pencil.” Me and my roommate used to bump the Hell out of this, freshman year. Even though I love the original, this beat still gives me the warm and fuzzies. You also have to give a shot out to Evelyn “Champagne” King for providing that classic voice sample. Oh yeah, you might be seeing Ms. King in the near future.

LL COOL J FEATURING TOTAL | “LOUNGIN”
You know, I forgot how dope this song was. This track definitely got the masses moving towards the floor. And, ladies please excuse my objectifying for a sec, Total was looking pretty decent. And to echo what Ken Boston said a couple weeks ago, LL is truly underrated. Looking back on his 20 year career, dude has made some seriously good music. Good job James Todd.

SNOOP | “MURDER WAS THE CASE”
“Mad dogging ni**as cause I don’t care. Red jump suit with two braids in my hair. Ni**as stare as I enter the center.” Pretty much my favorite Snoop line ever. That’s just some classic D-O-Double G right there. Anyway, I think I’m feeling this one over the original. What Dre did to the drums is just hypnotic. Hey, can we get a reunion album from those two? No, I’m serious. Anyone out there with enough influence to get that poppin?

CRAIG MACK FEATURING EVERYBODY | “FLAVA IN YOUR EAR”
“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. At any rate, I’d be remiss if I didn’t include this particular track. I remember chilling in my boy’s room in Hubert Hall, watching The Box, waiting for this video to come on. If we weren’t watching The Box, we were playing Street Fighter II. Oh, the memories. HADOUKEN!!

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 week on UTC.