Urban Thought Collective

Folks, this past week was rough. At work we got audited by the home office, so everyone was a little on edge. I had to stay an hour and a half late on Friday. On Friday! At home, my internet was out for the majority of the week. You never realize how dependent you are on something until it’s gone. And I realized that I am an internet junkie to the highest level of junkosity [it’s a word, look it up]. Anyway, this week I’m shuffling the iPod, and hoping the week to come is filled with milk and honey. Holla.

Gangstarr feat Nice & Smooth | “Dwyck”
“And pure knowledge expands from my esophagus. I write in the night to bring truth to the light. My dialogue is my own, cause Smooth B. will never bite.” I hate to be Bitter-Can’t-Leave-The-90’s-30 Year Old Guy, but that’s just some real live authentic hip hop right there. Oh yeah, there are about three or four chicks in this video that should’ve been my first ex-wife. I’m just saying…

Digital Underground | “Kiss You Back”
“Freak me girl and I’ll freak you back.” Doesn’t this song make you wanna go out and plant a big fat wet one on the first person you see? Ok maybe not the FIRST person you see, but you get my point. By the way, anyone know who the honey with the light eyes and short haircut is? I’d like to see her shimmy her cocoa pops.

Slick Rick feat Outkast | “Street Talkin’”
I love this video because even though Dre doesn’t spit a verse, he showed up for the video shoot anyway. And what do we get from Mr. 3000? We get Dre wearing Dre-type clothing, doing Dre-type dances, while being 100% Dre. You HAVE to love this cat.

Snoop Dogg | “Ladi Dadi”
I don’t really need to say much about this joint. When I saw this live, I was in complete awe. You just didn’t see hip hop acts backed by live bands that often, if at all, in the early 90’s. Snoop and crew totally wrecked it.

Jamiroquai | “Return Of The Space Cowboy”
Oh Jay Kay. I don’t know what manner of dance it is that you’re doing, but keep on keeping on pimpin’. I guess the spirit moves us all in different ways. Very different ways. At any rate, this arrangement is different from the album version but the song still rocks. Jamiroquai never puts out a wack product. What about Synkronized, you say? That album was never recorded, so it doesn’t count.

Diallo Tyson is a filmmaker, writer, beat miner, [self-proclaimed] comedian, and old school music junkie. In his spare time, he contributes to the music blog, Finessed & Blessed and is a collaborator for the sports/pop culture blog The Commission. He can be reached at ddog_tap@hotmail.com. Step into a groovin’ time machine every other Monday on UTC.