shaking it without breaking it since 2006.

Hey morebounce readers - I’ve come to the kind of inevitable conclusion that I really need to put this blog on ice for a while. I really do wish I could post every day, or even every week, but the realization has finally come over me that I just don’t have that kind of free time any more.

And you know what? I have a feeling that this individual, non-commercial blogging thing just might be seeing its sunset of life. Seems like a lot of us are updating less and less, and moving over to easier and quicker time-wasters like Facebook and Twitter. A lot of the old hip hop fan blogs like The Rap Up and The Smoking Section have been snapped up by commercial media conglomerates, and the most creative, funny ass blogs have changed hands too many times (hi, A Hot Mess!) or stopped updating very often (lookin at you, Oh Word). Hell, even supernerdRobert Scoble hasn’t updated in a few weeks.

And I can’t criticize any of them - every blog i mentioned here or in my blogroll has or had really clever, informative and quality writing. It just so happens that it’s really hard to keep that going indefinitely, especially for people like me that aren’t writers by trade and tend to overthink everything.

So for now, this blog is on hiatus. But that doesn’t mean I’m going away! For one thing, I’m still running the Roller Boogie Audio Successoryâ„¢ of the Day program. I don’t plan on stopping that until I’m sick of roller boogie, and we all know the thought of that is absurd. The morebounce-oz.com site will remain, but just I won’t be posting any more.

You can also find me in other places on the internets:

Hit me up on Facebook
Follow me on Twitter
Listen to my blips on Blip.fm
And if you’re in the MKE, come see me DJ every once in a while - I usually send out notices on Twitter or Facebook.

So - bye, morebounce fam! It’s been hellafied fun. And as a parting gift, I give you:

Rhymefest feat. Talib Kweli
Never Can Say Goodbye
Man In The Mirror, 2008
It’s not really goodbye, right?

Last week, I asked all my Roller Boogie Audio Successoryâ„¢ of the Day subscribers to take a survey and let me know how the service was working for them.

And the public has spoken. Here’s what you had to say about your RBASD service:

“It is a daily joy… I am a shiny disco ball and a pair of blue spandex tights away from being a 12-year old roller disco queen again.”

and

“They’re of a surprisingly good audio quality, bravo! And we love you, too.”

But it’s not just that you enjoy the boogie bliss! No, no. Your daily dose of roller boogie is sending some of you straight to the top of your professions:

“It gets me through the day without weeping or punching someone. This is of tremendous help.”

and

“I had no idea how empty and meaningless my existence was until I discovered Roller Boogie Audio Successoryâ„¢ of the Day.”

and even:

“I think it may have cured my cold AND got me a new manager.”

and would you believe:

“thanks to the Roller Boogie Audio Successoryâ„¢ of the Day i am now the CEO of Asshat Inc.!”

Unfortunately, it seems a few of you may need to double up on your RBASDs:

“don’t understand the question. which career?”

And I’m afraid I’m not connecting with a few of you, but perhaps that’s because you have deeper subject matter expertise than I do:

“… I study business, so I try to listen to as much gangster rap as possible, in order to learn more about storing, distribution and all those things.”

So thanks RBASD followers! Making you successful has made me a better person. Also, based on your feedback, I’ll be sending out tracks using both Badongo and ZShare for a while.

And as a special treat, here is the very first RBASD I ever sent. Have a rollerriffic day!

David Naughton
Makin’ It
12″, 1978
No more fakin’ it!

Hey all! It’s been a minute! Haven’t been up in >bounce for what seems like forever, but I haven’t forgotten about you.

I don’t know about you, but I thought 2008 was seriously wack. I didn’t DJ nearly enough, my day job was filled with layoffs and stress, and a certain milestone birthday crept up on me. So what to do in these uncertain times?

What every other reasonable person would do: bust out the old neuroses and develop new obsessions. So, besides putting everything in my life at right angles and checking the stove 25 times a day, I listened to music obsessively. Not all music (sorry, Juganot!), but just some soothing joints for my crazy head.

If you’ve been here in the last three months, you already know in October I developed the career-building Roller Boogie Audio Successory of the Day, to help me (and you) get through some hellafied meetings and other bullshit. It works sometimes, but even when it doesn’t - there’s still those funky drums. Can’t argue with that, right?

Also, I went a little crazy again for a certain Common track from 2000. “The Light” has possibly the sweetest rhyme ever in a hip hop song, placed over the impossibly sentimental production of the late J Dilla, and under the impeccable oversight of ?uestlove. And if you have a stress-addled or feeble mind like mine, it’s easy to think “Hey! I think Common probably wrote this for me, not Erykah Badu. Because I am secretly the most amazing woman ever, and he knows that.”

It helps. Hear for yourself:

Common
The Light
Like Water for Chocolate, 2000
The original album track. There was a remix to this for the Bamboozled soundtrack, but it wasn’t that great, so I’m not posting it here.

Common and Just Blaze
The Light ‘08 (It’s Love) Feat. Bilal and Marsha Ambrosius
Smirnoff Signature Mix Series, 2008
Common and Just Blaze put this together for the Smirnoff Signature Series, I guess to sell vodka. I’m not mad at it, though. It’s not a bad reinterpretation, especially when you listen to it with green apple Smirnoff and cranberry juice. Like Common does, apparently.

Common
The Light ‘09 (Beatnick & K-Salaam Remix)
Common - S.T.O.R.Y. (Stories Told Over Remixed Years), 2008
I believe this remix carried me through December. Beatnick and K-Salaam have removed much of the original production and replaced it with their lush instrumentation, acoustic guitars and even a little “Black Cow” on live bass (!?). The result is sublime. Oh and if you like looking at Common as much as I do, please peep the video.

Bobby Caldwell
Open Your Eyes
Cat In The Hat, 1982
“The Light” is based on this song; it’s every bit as lovely as Common’s original redux. But just so you know, that’s a dude singing, not one of the Weather Girls. Easy mistake.

Dwele
Open Your Eyes
Sketches Of A Man, 2008
“Open Your Eyes” is so pretty that Detroit neo-soulster Dwele had to remake it last year, making it modern for you youngstas. Very soothing.

Dear readers, Dr. Morebounce has questions for you:

- When you come in to work in the morning, do you dread getting your day started, even after coffee?

- Do you love the wind in in your hair and funky drums in your ears?

- When presented with a frustrating situation, do you wish you could strap on some skates and roll your troubles away?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you need this blog’s newest feature - the Roller Boogie Audio Successory of the Day.

When you sign up, you will receive a perfectly funky, glidealicious link to an mp3 in your mailbox every day. An mp3 that will make you say, “I can DO it,” “Got-DAMN, that’s fohnky!” and “Why don’t today’s songs have horns any more?” And before you know it, you won’t even care about your 1500 unread e-mails. Because you’ll feel like you’re at the hottest roller boogie party this side of Roll Bounce.

Ready to sign up? Use the form in the sidebar. And remember, I am lazy and uninformed, so I will never use your e-mail address for anything except to send you Audio Successories.

And just because I love you, here’s a successory to get you started.

Vaughan Mason and Crew
Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll (parts 1 & 2)
Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll EP, 1980

Have a rollerriffic day!

Lord have mercy, it’s been a hell of a few weeks up in the Morebounce empire. If it wasn’t horrible tragedies, it was work drama, or the everyday fuckery we see around these parts. (Yes, you may use that word, please and thank you.)

Which is why it’s time for some of those joints that make you think you’re in some alternate universe where everyone is happy, lives on the beach and works at a record store.

Pleasure just might be the most perfect happy music. For all the funk in their collective trunk, they have an incredibly light and melodic sound. With the fat-assedness of Brick and light touch of L.T.D., they’re a funk crate-diggers’ naughty dream.

Coming out of Portland in the early ’70s, Pleasure put out at least seven solid albums (if you know of more, get thee to gmail and hit me up!) without ever really gaining any widespread recognition. Why? I dunno. I guess folks have no damn taste. But today, true heads know about Pleasure’s genius and dance floor magic. Flip one of these on and just try to keep that mean mug:

Pleasure
Let’s Dance
Accept No Substitutes, 1976
Damn, nobody is better at building anticipation than Pleasure, on the real. Sometimes, in the beginning of their songs, you think you can’t wait another bar for the stank to start. But they always pay off with some stank horns or nasty bassline. Also, I love a good wocka wocka.

Joyous
Joyous, 1977
A friend introduced me to this when I was having a shitty-ass day. He sent it to me and simply wrote: “go to 1:05.” He was so right.

Glide
Future Now, 1979
Straight ahead low-bottomed disco. Does what it says - try it on roller skates.

I’m sorry to break up the usual nonsense up in >bounce, but I need to be serious for a minute. Those of you with no tolerance for seriousness (I don’t blame you), please come again later in the week. [-gforce]

Last Friday, Milwaukee DJ Rock Dee passed away. Actually, saying “passed away” seems to minimize what was certainly a horrific episode; for some reason, Rock Dee committed suicide (according to this). He left behind a wife, a two year old daughter and I think at least one other child from a previous marriage.

I didn’t know Rock as well as others in the Milwaukee DJ community (that’s us in the photo above). He’d been to my house a few times, and he gave me my first DJ gig. He was a fixture in the local house scene, and everyone seemed to know him. He’d been DJing and producing since the ’80s, and had a few notable records on his resume, including one with Speech from Arrested Development. Heartbreakingly enough, he signed all of his emails with “No Stress - God Bless!”

But the reason I’m writing this post isn’t really to eulogize Rock Dee. I’ll leave that to his best friends, wife and family. It’s because I just feel like I need to speak up about suicide.

Six years ago, my father died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. It was horrible to grieve his death, and even worse to endure other people’s discomfort with the way he died. I lost friends, listened to moralizing condemnations and watched my family try to cover it up. It was the worst trauma I ever hope to endure. I know I’m stronger for it, but I would never wish it on anyone.

Folks, we need to start talking about this shit. Did you know that twice as many Americans die by suicide than get murdered? And about 90 percent of those that “complete” suicide suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder?

What does that mean? We all need to be less afraid of getting killed and more afraid of getting depressed. We need to recognize depression in ourselves, our friends and families, and treat it. We need to be able to talk about suicide and bring it out into the open if we want to make a difference. Of course, you can’t stop somebody if they’re determined to take their own life. But I have to think some lives could be saved if we weren’t so afraid of the subject.

Take care of yourselves and your loved ones. If you think somebody is going to kill themselves, have the courage to ask. Let them know you don’t want them to die, and call a suicide hotline (1-800-273-TALK) to ask what to do next.

Let’s not let Rock Dee’s death be marked with just another whisper-filled funeral. I have no idea what his circumstances were that made him make this decision, or even if anybody could have known. Rock Dee was a proud guy, and I suspect he was very secretive about all of this. But what I know is this: we need to start talking about this awfulness so that we might have fewer funerals.

Jimmy Spicer
Money (Dollar Bill Y’all)
12″, 1983
The first record I played for my that first DJ job that Rock Dee set me up with, at Milwaukee’s Summerfest. I was terrible, fumbling and embarrassed. But Rock Dee was very kind and encouraged me to keep on, even giving a little speech afterward about how even a 30something mom-of-two can decide to be a DJ, if they love music enough.

Almost 14 years ago, Sean “Puffy” Combs released a single from his latest protegé, a chubby rapper with a wicked wit who sounded like he was talking into a jar. Four days earlier, the MC with the ever-present Kangol and the sad eyes married his girlfriend of two weeks, and was still itching to sell crack, a routine he’d taken up in order to support his two year old daughter.

After August 8th, 1994, the rap game was never the same. “Juicy,” The Notorious B.I.G.’s lazy tale of makin’ it over a smooth Mtume sample, went on to sell 500,000 copies by November and started an entire hip hop movement, the remnants of which can still be seen today.

Biggie went on rule both charts and radio waves, and started all kinds of drama along the way, beginning with his flagrant affairs, continuing with his West coast rivalries, and ending with his 1997 murder, just a little over three years after it all began.

But earlier this year, Biggie’s been spotted online, commenting on blogs here and there, and gaining over 225 followers on his Twitter account. Is he alive? That’s not for us to ask; the question is too weighty. But what is for us to ask is this: what the hell has he been doing in the last 11 years?

Investigative reporter Aaron Matthews is on the case.

Continue reading →

This morning Metallungies posted a new Beat Drop on the Neptunes, and OMG it is SO. GOOD. It even includes contributions from blog visionaries like AaronM, $port, Skillz, and me!

Check it here.

I think it’s been well-established in this blog that >bounce publishers deeply dislike music that requires thinking. Oh, sure, every in a while we notice a message in between our Roger Rabbitting, but for the most part, we’re just here to dance or make out. Keep your manifestos for the poetry slam, thank you.

And lately, we’ve been listening to some particularly vapid lovelies. They remind us of 1984, when you just needed a drum machine and a shit-talker from the neighborhood to cut a record. In fact, a couple of these have no melody at all - their whole purpose is to bounce that ass. So get it warmed up:

Detroit Grand Pubahs
Sandwiches
12″, 2000
Paris the Black Fu was a DJ friend back in my old dusty days in Detroit. He used to write crazy deep poetry with serious illustrations. But he also used to make his own jewelry out of found wire, clear the dance floor with his high kicks, and wear his hair like a pineapple. (Not unlike one of my other favorite crazies!) So I’m glad he didn’t turn out to be a thoughtful emo producer. He makes music about asses.

Def Cut
Street Level (Original Tokyo Mix)
Street Level: Remixes EP, 2002
This song is really electro, pretty house-y, and has nothing more than a Doobie Brothers sample. I don’t really know why that guy keeps saying “That’s My MAN Throwin’ Down!” but maybe it’s a European thing. Crazy Swiss.

I:Cube Feat. RZA
Can You Deal With That?
12″, 2003
This beat is straight filthy 1983, and I’ve never heard RZA sound so laid back. I was so excited when I discovered this song, I made it my ringtone.

Twista Feat. Pharrell
Give It Up
12″, 2007
You can be sure that anybody who wears an angry ice cream cone t-shirt is gonna write some dumb rhymes. But the thing is, if that person is Pharrell, it’ll also be over a beat so hot, it could make you consider stopping to pop your ass on your walk to work. What. Nobody saw me.

Hey y’all! I know >bounce has been a little less bouncy lately. Even though I’ve been mad busy, I hope you know I’m still thinking of you, readers. Even when I’m drinking Courvoisier and lampin with D’Angelo and Common, my loyal >bounce crew is always front of mind.

And! I’ve been thinking hard about life, and happiness. The conclusion I came to is this: I like ridiculous shit, and Busta Rhymes makes me happy. On the real. Let me count the ways:

1. He Looks Like a Muppet.
He’s got a big, wide mouth, a ridiculously long index finger, and giant pants. Yay!

2. Actual Insanity
This man keeps a machete in his car. Why? To defend against the people he’s kicking in the head, of course.

3. Rhymes Really Fast
Busta Rhymes raps so fast, he can finish a sentence before starting it. In fact, I never know what this old turnip head is saying. But who cares? He could bust it about federal interest rates, backgammon, or oatmeal, and I’d still bump that shit in the Honda. THAT’s how happy he makes me.

Go ahead, try him:

Leaders of the New School
Case Of The P. T. A.
A Future Without A Past, 1991
Not sure what this song is about. Something about high school and the Kid N Play kick step?

Busta Rhymes
Woo Hah!! Got You All In Check
The Coming, 1996
An entire song based on an offhanded callout in an old Sugarhill Gang joint. It’s in this video that Busta debuted his giant index finger.

I Love My Bitch
The Big Bang, 2006
So romantic. How could you refuse a man who admires how you fuck with the thugs? It’s not only a weeper, it’s also a perfect will.i.am-produced track.

Don’t Touch Me (Throw Da Water On ‘Em)
Blessed, 2008
This is seriously my new favorite. I mean it this time! This head nod shit will make you break ya neck.