Back to Album a Day

Snoop reps the Burgh

Oops. I totally slacked on an album a day, but with a good reason. Sports and sports talk have fueled the last week, from the Penguins struggling against the Islanders and yanking Marc-Andre Fleury, to all the second round NBA playoff games splitting 1-1, to my softball-softball-kickball 3 days in a row this week. I've been watching sports at home, at friends' houses, at Lot 17 around the corner, listening to sports talk on the radio, and hardly playing any music at all.

So today I threw on an old classic, Tha Doggfather, by Snoop Doog, his second studio album, released in 1996, and representing some deep gangsta funk. Oh, hah, I forgot he did Vapors on this album, a la covering La Di Da Di (Lodi Dodi) on his first album! Sick. 

In pro sports some modern players know all the old school guys, all the stats, all the history of the game they play, and they revere the legends. Snoop is this kind of modern rapper. He totally respects the canon and you gotta respect that.

Ok, two thirds of the way through this album, FYI, it's goooood. This is one of the bounciest albums ever. I mean, I tend to associate this album exclusively with "Snoop's Upside Ya Head," which I always thought sounded corny and overly mainstream -- good in the generic Snoop style, but not elite. Calvin does show a little bit of range, though, and the pure g-funk synthesizer melodies sound ... I don't know ... more evolved than those early 90's melodies.

Listening to this album has inspired a Gangsta Funk Mix. It will steady bounce at about 92 BPM and feature Snoop, Warren G, Tha Dogg Pound, etc.

Listening to One New Album Per Day

I've started trying to listen to one new album a day. I can think of at least a few reasons to do this. One, no reason at all, just seems like a worthwhile thing to do. Two, I listen to too much talk radio. I do this partly because I do enjoy it, but partly because I don't have as much new "go-to" music anymore. My go-to music has all gotten old, and I need to force myself to add more. Three, albums deserve to get played whole sometimes [rather than having their songs spread out through playlists or chosen randomly (the ways I tend to listen to music)]. Four, this will force me to seek out and download some albums, after I work through the handful or so I've gotten lately. Five, it allows me to have a dedicated listen rather than just playing something as background music.

Yesterday I listened to the Smut Peddlers' Born Again (2001). Right now I've got Macklemore and Ryan Lewis The Vs. EP (2009). The Smut Peddlers (Mr. Eon and Mighty Mi) rank among the best of the upper underground, and go well with Ill Bill and Necro, in my opinion. Check out the video for Bottom Feeders, which is pretty hardcore. The Macklemore and Ryan Lewis stuff came up on my Pandora, and I love it -- great sample driven, hip-hop fusion! Definitely check them out. Lined up next I have Swedish reggae duo Serengeti's 2010 album Standing Steady...