I Spent 2008 Obsessing

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.