bootyshake top 20
okay, enough seriousness for one week, now for a some random fun
I have compiled my bootyshake top 20 taken from songs released in the past two years. Yes, a couple of these songs are lewd and tasteless, but this is a bootyshake compilation and it's more about the tune than the lyrics.
I have been happy to hear jams come back in to radio play. These songs remind me of some of the 1980's classics like Shannon's "Let the Music Play", Laid Back's "Ride the White Horse", Afrika Bambaataa and the Soul Sonic Forces's "Planet Rock", Prince's "Erotic City", Tom Tom Club's "Genius of Love", "Jam on it" by Newcleus, Salt 'n' Pepa's
"Push it" and of course "Pump up the Volume" by Marrs.Any of you 80's jams fans feelin' this?
I know I was roller skating, or wishing I was roller skating, to some of those back in the elementary school day and this new crop is a happy reminder that the jam is alive and I am not talking about jam bands here (like phish and the dead), I am talking about the hot bass heavy sounds that make even the whitest of the white folk want to get out there and shake it. I also think its great that jam skating is hot again (new ipod commercial for example). Roy and I saw a group of jam skaters at Central Park at this mini concrete roller rink in May 2001. There was a DJ spinning in a little hut right in the middle of the rink and one of the skater ladies was wearing rainbow leg warmers. That moment was was so surreal, in retrospect it seems like a dream ... a damn good dream.
You can go here for a good article on jam skating if you wanna know more http://www.newhousenews.com/archive/sefton061605.html
on with the list:
1. missy elliott (featuring eve) - 4 my people (basement jaxx remix)
2. angie stone -wish i didn't miss you
3. the roots - what they do
4. busta rhymes (featuring p. diddy and the neptunes) - pass the courvoisier (remix)
6. j-kwon - tipsy
7. outkast -- the way you move
8. missy elliott -- pass that dutch, missy elliott -- work it (tie)
9. kelis -- milkshake
10. gwen stefani -- hollaback girl
11. usher -- yeah
12. chingy (featuring snoop dog) - holidae in
13. eve (featuring gwen stefani) -- let me blow your mind
14. snoop dog (featuring pharrell williams) -- drop it like its hot
15. petey pablo -- freak-a-leek
16. kanye west -- the new workout plan
17. nas -- one mic
18. fifty cent -- in the club
19. nelly -- hot in herre
20. outkast -- she lives in my lap (featuring rosario dawson)
(honorable mention: lil' flip -- game over)
omissions? additions to the list? you tell me
Comments
I mean, I am not in a nostlagia trip or something, and I hate being stuck in the past but, much though I may love r&b [and Kanye West is ace], I cannot FEEL it the same way I do for Tom Tom Club or MARRS. On his post punk book, RIP IT UP AND START AGAIN, Simon Reynolds says that the Newcleus track is one of the best ever - and you cannot but agree with him on that - until you recall the Juan Atkins proto-techno recordings, that is... :-)
Anyhoo, I enjoy lists, so this one was pretty welcome - please make some more in the future, whenever you are in the mood.
Till then... the question remains: Southern Culture on the Skids????????????????????????????????????
I agree with you about nothing comparing to these songs from the 80s. I hate to go on nostalgia trips too, but when I go back and listen to those songs I listed and others like Grandmaster Flash's "The Message" and "White Lines" and Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick's "The Show", I can't help but think that those guys were so much more creative and less cliched than the current crop of hip hop (minus Outkast, Missy Elliott and Kanye).
I also think that "Planet Rock" is one of the most amazing songs across the board. Using the Kraftwork sample was such an usual mix of music cultures and I think they created a better song with it. Anyhoo, thanks again for checking my blog. This is the first intelligent comment I have gotten from this list and it will inspire more lists. I hope you have lists on your blog. I will check it out now.
So far... that was the only substantial list I have posted. Now that I come to think of that... it's very strange for a list freak like me...
:-)
Thank you very much for your lovely answer. Cheers!!!