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Pop Rock Nation

Author: GG

  • Friday Throwback – I Can’t Sleep Baby (If I)

    Before I get to the Friday Throwback, I wanted to quickly write about an interview that R. Kelly did with BET. Why did he do this interview? I have no idea.

    If you didn’t watch the video, the moral of the story is that whoever told him to do this interview is an idiot. The interviewer asked him if he likes teenager girls. R didn’t immediately say no or get upset about the question. He asked for clarification. Now, I’m not sure if R is just that specific or what, but when you’re a 40 year old man and another man asks you on TV if you like teenage girls, the correct answer is “Hell no!” unless, well, you do. Then R asked if teenage girls meant nineteen years old. The interviewer is so befuddled that he paused and said that it could be anywhere from nineteen and on down. Then R admitted that he has nineteen year old “friends”, but he said he doesn’t like anyone “illegal”. Again R, the correct answer should’ve been no.

    Further on in the interview, R basically says that no one should listen to speculation about his life from people he has hired and then fired, or people he has hired and are currently on staff. Huh? I think what he was trying to say is that people who are no longer on his staff are spiteful and want to bring him down. But that makes no sense as far as why we shouldn’t listen to the people who he hasn’t fired yet. I’m not sure that R is sane.

    Now, after reading about this interview (and now watching it), I started to wonder how I could’ve ever been a fan of the man and his music. I specifically thought about two songs that I can still listen to and not have to immediately turn off. One is Half On A Baby and the other is I Can’t Sleep Baby (If I).

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  • They Put Me In The Mix – JSlow 4 Life

    You can read about JSlo 3 here.

    Ok, finally we have an inspiration. The previous two editions of Jam Slow really didn’t have much of an inspiration except that I just liked slow jams. But I had just met Carol (who eventually became my wife) and she became the inspiration for JSlow 4 Life (as well as everything until JSlow 15). This was one of my favorite editions of JSlow as it was a whopping 20 songs. This was back in the day when I did them on tapes and there were these things called 90 minute cassettes.

    Music is personal. You hear great songs and immediately put yourself into the lyrics. The songs become about you and about your life. That’s what slow jams were for me.

    JSlow 4 Life (circa 1997/1998)

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  • Friday Throwback – Holler If Ya Hear Me

    Photo by the LOCAL

    I posted this a little later than usual because I wanted people to read it closer to the anniversary of Tupac’s death. Saturday, September 13, 2008 marks the 12th anniversary of his passing.

    I know that his name has been brought up again recently because of a Blender article that had to do with him being overrated. I didn’t read it, and probably won’t read it, so I’m not sure what exactly they said was overrated about him. If it’s his rhyme skills, then it’s not that big of a deal. He does get far too much credit for his rapping skill than he deserves, but that’s what happens when your legend grows as his did.

    But as far as influence and inspiration, he’s not overrated at all.

    I told Money Mike that even though I’m such a huge fan of LL Cool J and Jay-Z, that if I had to pick the 10 best songs of any rapper to listen to, I’d probably pick Tupac’s 10 best over anyone’s. He’s that big of a deal to me.

    Here’s to Pac with a Friday Throwback of his classic “Holler If Ya Hear Me”.