2.25.13

On February 25th I listened to Miles Davis Bitches Brew, Mos Def Black On Both Sides, and A$AP Rocky Long.Live.A$AP.

Jazz is patience.

About a minute into Bitches Brew I didn't know if I had the patience. Turns out I have some. If you give “Pharaoh’s Dance,” the album’s opener, a chance to breathe it will give back to you. It’s a great soundtrack to a gray busy New York City afternoon.

I’m an idiot when it comes to Jazz, but Bitches Brew has encouraged me to fix that problem. The only problem is that I have no idea how to do that. If somebody asked me what my favorite Jazz song was, I would have said “Salt Peanuts,” and the reason why is because of the movie Cable Guy. Seriously, why do I suck so much?

Someday somewhere Jazz and I are gonna be friends!

I love Mos Def! Except, when it comes to listening to his albums or watching any movie where he is in a lead role. What the fuck was that one with Bruce Willis? He was great with Dave Chappelle in Block Party and The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy. The only problem with his albums was I never bothered to listen to them.

I guess I can lump Mos in with The Roots and in 1999 when they were blowing up, I was doing something else. Sometimes I was in the right place at the right time, but most of the time I was wishing for more time to listen to more stuff!

Mos Def is so likeable that I have no excuse for not bothering to listen to his music.

Black On Both Sides is another dense Hip Hop record that I wish I had logged in the hours on back in the day.

Perfect example is a little Easter egg I caught on “Speed Lover.” Mos breaks into the “slow down” hook sampled by Brand Nubian from “What I Am,” by Edie Brickell. I’m actually proud of knowing that cause I loved that Brand Nubian song and cause I’m white, I loved “What I Am.”

“Love,” “Miss Fat Booty,” “Do It Now,” “Rock ‘N’ Roll,” “Brooklyn,” and “Mista N****” all need more attention from me.

In order for history to stop repeating itself, or at least to prevent it just a little, I am listened to A$AP Rocky. I keep going on and on about how much I ignored great Hip Hop records from the 90’s, so you can only imagine how much of it I’m ignoring now. I’m not hip, so I can’t imagine what the Rappers are going on about nowadays.

Here’s the funny thing. I live in New York City. The place I read about A$AP Rock the most? NME! It’s an English music rag, and they talk about him all the time! I finally gave in and it took a lot because I hate his jerk off name.

I was basically hating on this record and then “PMW” kicks in. I love it, “pussy, money, weed?” Shit yeah. What else ya got A$AP?

Quite a bit apparently! There’s a lot of great stuff on Long.Live.A$AP. “LVL,” “Fuckin’ Problems,” and “Wild For The Night” are lotta fuckin’ fun!

I’ll come back A$AP. You got my attention. Now when I read your stupid name during my morning dump in the NME headlines I won't say, "who's this guy?"