Urban Thought Collective

It’s Christmas time!

In lieu of posting old school Christmas videos, I figured I’d get into the wintry spirit by taking you back to the last year it snowed in south GA. 1989. That year it SNOWED. People were going crazy. It was like how Y2K was supposed to be. Absolute madness! I freaking loved it.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, how’s about a little end of the year house cleaning. Last week, Thelma and Diane complained about my forthrightness, or lack thereof, with sharing info on my personal life. Well, check out my dorm room from senior year. How’s that for sharing? Lol

I decided not to post some of my favorite pop culture videos as well this week. But nothing’s stopping me from linking to them:

EMMETT OTTER (“Barbecue!”)

RAGING RUDOLPH (Have A Merry Freakin’ Christmas!””

THE CHANUKKA SONG (”OJ Simpson. Not a Jew.”)

THE CHRISTMAS STORY(”Where’s Flick?”)

For the next two weeks, I’ll be on vacation. I may be out of town or I may just be in my bed sleeping. The point is, I may not have the time to devote to writing a proper column. So I’ll be posting random vids with a minimal write up.

Finally, I’d like to thank all you cats for reading this column since its inception. You guys have no idea how I often I check the site, on Mondays and Tuesdays, to read the comments. I love the back and forth with ya’ll. So, I hope you guys have a safe and wonderful holidays and I’ll see you on the other side. Holla.

THE D.O.C. | “THE FORMULA”
“High energy roll with the wisdom, sense of a rich man, knowledge and the rhythm. This is what I’m using to come up with a style so I’ll interact altogether better with the crowd.” Seriously, there’s not much to add to that. Dude was unreal.

BIZ MARKIE | “JUST A FRIEND”
“I thought just having a friend couldn’t be no crime.” First, you have to get past the loud, high, off-key singing. OK that’s gonna be very difficult, but give it a try. Yeah, it’s a lot harder than it seems but you can do it. Got it? Cool. Now listen to the words. What guy can’t relate to the heartbreak that Biz is going through? Just a friend? You can miss me with that nonsense. Ladies, why you treat us like so? We try to be good to ya’ll. Honest.

SLICK RICK | “CHILDREN’S STORY”
“Crumbs.” A master storyteller at the very apex of his game, MC Ricky D went solo and crushed everything in his path. Only Rick could turn a gangsta rap into a bedtime story and still make it dope. But, the whole album is pretty much classic. I will bump the hell out of “Mona Lisa” right now, and dare anyone to say something about it. If you’re feeling frisky, how about a triple dog dare?

QUINCY JONES | “THE SECRET GARDEN”
Ahh yeah. We’re gonna slow the tempo down a little bit. I’m writing this in my deepest, sexiest voice. Too bad you can’t hear it. Anyway, with Al B. Sure, James Ingram, El Debarge, and Barry White on a Quincy Jones track, this song couldn’t fail. Come on, this is like stealing. Speaking of, I might have to steal this bass line. I’m not above the occasional musical thievery.

DIGITAL UNDERGROUND | “THE HUMPTY DANCE”
“Samoans. Do the Humpty Hump.” I love how Humpty was so inclusive. He was up on the multicultural tip 18 years ago. Anyways, the dance was pretty stupid. But, it was infectious. You will be doing a tamed version of it in 20 seconds, guaranteed. Besides, it’s just one of those great party songs. Remember those?

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.