FREESTYLE FELLOWHIP feat. DADDY-O | “INNERCITY BOUNDERIES”
“I gotta be black.” Ahh jeah. How about a little smoothed out jazz to get things popping this week? I know next to nothing about these cats, but when this song came out I remember thinking “These guys are from L.A.? Really?” This song came out in ‘93, during the height of “The Chronic/Doggystyle” pandemonium. Talk about your uphill climb. In ’93 I would’ve had better luck taking Lark Voorhies to Prom, then Freestyle Fellowship going platinum. They never had a chance at commercial success. Too bad.

THE D.O.C. | “FUNKY ENOUGH”
“And with no rehearses, I’m dropping funky verses.” OK technically The D.O.C. is from Dallas but his music, flavor, and persona is pure west coast. Now with that bit of business out of the way, my God I love this song! I love this song so much, I want to make it my first ex-wife. Then after we get a divorce, I want to marry it again. This beat makes me stupid. When I get stupid, I do stupid things…like marry and re-marry sounds. What can I say?

DEL THE FUNKEE HOMOSAPIEN | “CATCH A BAD ONE”
“You might win if you start writing.” You know what? Maybe I wanna make THIS song my first ex-wife. [Feeling a cold stare through the monitor from a woman mad annoyed by all this ex-wife talk.] The beat. It’s so….hyp-freaking-notic. Skee-Lo could spit over this beat and it would still be “aight, yo.” Plus you can’t ignore the fact that Del rips this track into mangled shards, dumps said shards into a bag, lights it on fire, then cusses out the ashes. Lyrics, folks. Lyrics.

THE PHARCYDE | “PASSIN’ ME BY”
“There she goes again, the dopest Ethiopian.” When it comes to the classics, the less said the better.

KAM | ‘STILL GOT LOVE 4UM”
“Thought they were smart and got crushed like relish.” Here is a song that was practically tailor made for Old School Spotlight. Just listen to that groove. It just takes you back in time, practically forcing you to reminisce on the good ole days. Now even though the song is dope, the video is funny to me. Why is Kam wearing so many clothes? He’s got a t-shirt on under a long sleeve shirt, and later throws on a jean jacket. It’s LA. You don’t need layers in LA. Like Tommy Chun said, there’s so much gang violence in LA because cats are mad hot.

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.

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ODB | “BROOKLYN ZOO”
“You go’n loooove this.” I do miss the unfettered insanity of ODB. At first I thought he was a clown, but then I warmed up to him. I’m not sure when the light finally came on, but when it did I just couldn’t get enough. Every time this song comes on in the car, I damn near wreck because it gets me so amped up. He also gets respect for introducing “nuh” into the English language. Gotta love the edited version. R.I.P. Russell Jones.

JAY-Z FT. UGK | “BIG PIMPIN’”
“Now what ya’ll know about them Texas boys?” You gotta say it with that “suthun drawl.” If you’re not from the south, you may not understand the power that UGK wielded in the mid 90’s. True to their name, they were indeed Underground Kings. Their catalogue is littered with classics. Don’t bother trying to argue with me in the comments, cause I will ignore you like Taye Diggs ignores black women. R.I.P Chad Butler.

THE PHARCYDE | “RUNNING”
Nope no one from the Pharcyde is dead, although the same probably can’t be said of their careers. At any rate, this track was produced by J-Dilla. Come to find out, he produced about half of “LabCabinCalifornia.” I had no idea he had been putting in work all they way back in ’95. Unfortunately, I’m kind of late to the party when it comes to Dilla. But I have the internet and Limewire on my side, so I shall be brought up to speed real quick. R.I.P James Dewitt Yancey.

BIG PUN FT. JOE | “STILL NOT A PLAYER”
“Boriqua. Morena. Boriqua. Morena.” I remember being in Key West, drunker than a drunk-ass drunk, dancing my arse off to this song. Well, at least I thought I was. I was probably just dancing my integrity away. I couldn’t help it though. This is one of those songs that forces you onto the dance floor, even if your only option is an ugly chick with bad breath. Joe and Pun made it all better. R.I.P Chis Rios.

And now…for something a little smoothed out….

MINNIE RIPERTON | “BABY, THIS LOVE I HAVE”
Minnie had one of the sweetest voices ever. Unfortunately, her life was cut tragically short. If you don’t know who she is, you definitely need to look her up on the net. Meanwhile, check out this classic jam that is definitely on point.

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