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Pop Rock Nation

Tag: Friday Throwback

  • Friday Throwback – I Ain’t Mad At Cha

    Tupac Shakur died on September 13, 1996 and I figured it was fitting to showcase one of my favorite Tupac songs for Friday Throwback. It’s crazy to realize that it’s been now eleven years since he passed. Part of the reason I like this song so much is because of the timing. The video was released to MTV only two days after he died. And in the video, it shows him dying and partying in heaven. It was odd timing, but more coincidental than ironic. The video was filmed several months earlier. The song itself was on Pac’s All Eyez On Me and featured a sampling of DeBarge’s A Dream.

    • Where have you gone Bokeem Woodbine?
    • They can get a real actor like Bokeem, yet hire people off the street to play the one scene where there’s dialogue in the ambulance?
    • Redd Foxx greets you after you die?
    • I like the album version of the song much better than the video version.
    • Quick to approach a ghetto cutie with the same line? I remember them hollerin’ at hoochies with the same line.
    • Whatever happened to Danny Boy?
    • That was a broke ass Sammy Davis Jr. in there.
    • While he redid the song entirely for the video version, most of the first and second verses are similar and only changed because of the cursing. However, the third verse is entirely different.
    • Marvin Gaye was dancing like a mad man and Jimmy Hendrix was wearing some loud colors.

    Even though his works were probably a bit overrated lyric wise, there’s no arguing about his impact in hip hop. I still wear my Pac shirt today.

  • Friday Throwback – If It Isn’t Love

    It’s amazing to me how many people don’t know their New Edition history. It hurts my feelings. Ya, people know Bobby Brown because of Whitney. But what about everyone else? As a group, they were one of the best R&B groups of all time. And maybe even more importantly, they were able to make the transition from teenage group to adult group. They were able to grow with the times as seen by Heart Break, their adult careers (which seemed to have sputtered out for all of the members), and the comeback album, Home Again. Here’s one of my favorite NE videos.

    • Are those ballet slippers on Ralph?
    • Who is the dude that talks to them at the beginning?
    • And who is that random Asian girl that turns on the music?
    • I think I saw the New Kids steal these same moves.
    • Johnny Gill has the same haircut as Prince Akeem from Coming To America.
    • What was the reason for shirtless Ralph dunking his head in the water?
    • Do Mike and Ron even need to be in the video? Everyone knows they didn’t sing backup on this song.
    • Love her? What?
    • Ok, were they trying to recreate the Fun Bunch high five?

    I’m all for NE recording until the day they die. They can still sing (well at least Ralph, JG, and Ricky Bell can) and I bet you they’ll be able to throw down on the dance floor for at least another 10 years.

  • Friday Throwback – Too Legit To Quit

    How big was MC Hammer? Considering the dude had a cartoon, a doll, and near 20 years later people still call a certain pair of roomy pants, “Hammer Pants”, I’d say that he was pretty big. It’s funny how people think that Please Hammer, Don’t Hurt ‘Em was his first album. That’s how big he was. He was so big that his first (and better) album Let’s Get It Started is pretty much forgotten. And how many people opened their ears to “rap music”, simply because U Can’t Touch This found it’s way to their speakers. Well, let’s thank Rick James for that one.

    When his third album came out, Too Legit To Quit, I was anticipating something Michael Jackson-esque. And when I didn’t get it, I was pretty disappointed. But I still enjoyed his single for it’s incredible energy.

    • My cousin Bruce thought the song was called Do The Jerk.
    • Who here thought the most catchy part of the song was the girl singing, “Hey, hey!!!!!!!!!”?
    • Looks like Hammer worked out hard for this one after being made fun of for being a little chunky in the U Can’t Touch This video.
    • Bill Cosby would’ve called the dancing in this video, “having a fit”.
    • I wonder if Hammer was going to wrestle in that double singlet after he was done shooting the video.
    • You can see what eventually became the Deion Sanders end zone dance when Hammer is dancing in the streets.
    • How much longer was Hammer on that throne?
    • That’s called the “rock, paper, scissors” dance.
    • Ok, let’s see if I can get all of these guys: Jose Canseco, Isiah Thomas, Kirby Puckett, Jerry Rice, Rickey Henderson, Prime Time, Andre Rison “House on Fire”, Chris Mullin, Roger Clemens, Roger Craig and Ronnie Lott (in Raiders gear, boo!), the woman from the Harlem Globetrotters, David Robinson, and Jerry Glanville.
    • Too bad the 2 legit hand sign didn’t get over, but I’ll still rock it from time to time.
    • Damn, I forgot there was a fake MJ at the end of this thing.

    If you want to keep up with the Hammer Man, you only need to read his blog. He keeps up with tons of stuff and even does some audio messages at MCHammer.com.