SAMPLE SUNDAY----THE STATE OF HIP HOP EDITION

BEFORE I GOT MY TIME WARNER, ALL-SEEING EYE ON, I HAD THIS REVELATION, EPIPHANY, INSIGHT INTO THE STATE OF HIP HOP.  WHAT ALWAYS GROUNDS ME IS REVISITING THE TENETS OF THE CULTURE, NOT FORGETTING WHERE IS CAME FROM, IN ORDER TO SEE WHERE IT SHOULD BE HEADED.  EARLIER, I WAS WATCHING INTENTLY THIS "SAMPLING SOUL" DISCUSSION VIDEO BY 9TH WONDER, JAMES PETERSON, AND MARK ANTHONY NEAL.  DISSECTING ILLMATIC, THE MASTERPIECE CREATION BY NAS DURING A BYGONE ERA WHEN LESS WAS MORE, IS A LESSON IN MINIMILIST INGENUITY.  IN OTHER WORDS, IT IS STILL CONSIDERED THE BEST HIP HOP CREATION EVER.  I CAN VIVIDLY REMEMBER THE LANDSCAPE OF OUR HIP HOP CULTURE DURING THE LATTER PART OF THE 20TH CENTURY, WHEN TIMBERLANDS AND BAGGY JEANS WERE THE NORM.  BOOM BAP RULED IN MY EARS, WITH CATS SUCH AS PETE ROCK, Q-TIP, LARGE PROFESSOR, L.E.S., AND DJ PREMIERE BRINGING HEAT THAT HAS BEEN UNSURPASSED, IN MY HUMBLE OPINION.  I CAN GO ON AND ON ABOUT THE APEX THAT ILLMATIC REACHED, BUT SINCE THIS IS MY FIRST SAMPLE SUNDAY EDITION IN A VERY LONG TIME, I WON'T GO ON AND ON ABOUT ITS CULTURAL IMPACT.  WHAT I WILL DO, HOWEVER, IS DISCUSS THE FIRST PROPER TRACK FROM ILLMATIC.  I SAY PROPER, BECAUSE "GENESIS" IS MORE OF AN INTRODUCTORY JOINT, BRINGING THE LISTENER INTO THE AHEAD OF HIS TIME WORLD OF NAS.  "N.Y. STATE OF MIND" SET THE TRUE STAGE FOR THE ALBUM THAT WILL BE DISCUSSED FOR MANY MOONS. 

LISTENING TO THE WAY THIS SONG WAS CONSTRUCTED CONJURES IMAGES OF A GRIMY STUDIO SESSION BETWEEN PREMIERE AND NAS.  THEIR MUSICAL MARRIAGE CAN NEVER BE BROKEN, BECAUSE THIS SONG IS PROBABLY THE PINNACLE POINT IN BOTH CAREERS FROM A PURE STANCE.  YOU CAN FEEL THE WAY PREMO MATCHED BEATS WITH NAS' LYRICAL FIRE. 


"N.Y. STATE OF MIND" STARTS WITH A DONALD BYRD SAMPLE, "FLIGHT TIME", TAKEN FROM THE 1973 RELEASE BLACK BYRD.  REST IN PEACE TO THE GREAT BYRD, WHO PASSED AWAY A LITTLE MORE THAN A MONTH AGO ON FEBRUARY 4, 2013.  THOSE GUITAR NOTES ON "FLIGHT TIME" GIVES A FEELING OF GLOOM BEFORE THE REST OF THE PREMO TRACK TAKES HOLD, SETTING THE STAGE FOR ONE OF THE GREATEST HIP HOP JOINTS.

THE JOINT THAT REALLY LAID THE GROUNDWORK FOR NAS TO EXPOUND LYRICALLY ON WHAT NEW YORK CITY, SPECIFICALLY QUEENSBRIDGE PROJECTS, MEANT TO HIM WAS THE JOE CHAMBERS "MIND RAIN".  CHAMBERS IS ANOTHER DYNAMIC, YET SLEPT ON JAZZ MUSICIAN WHO HAS A DEEP CATALOG OF MUSIC, BOTH AS LEADER AND SESSION PLAYER.  "MIND RAIN" WAS A VERY DARK, GLOOMY, YET JAZZY TRACK FROM THE 1978 RELEASE DOUBLE EXPOSURE.

WHAT DJ PREMIERE DID WITH THIS INCREDIBLE JOINT WAS MATCHED IN TENOR AND TONE BY WHAT NAS SPIT OVER A SPAN OF MORE THAN FOUR MINUTES.  YOU ARE TRANSPORTED TO QUEENSBRIDGE, WITH THE SCENT OF WEED, LIQUOR, AND DESPAIR SURROUNDING ALL WITHIN THAT MENTAL TRIP.  HOWEVER, "N.Y. STATE OF MIND" DIDN'T WALLOW IN THE MUCK, SO TO SPEAK, BECAUSE YOU COULD SENSE THAT NAS WAS A YOUTHFUL VISIONARY WHO WANTED MORE THAN A LIFE OF "SMOKIN' BLUNTS AND HITTIN' STUNTS".  THE STAGE WAS SET FOR ILLMATIC TO BE A CULT CLASSIC, A CLASSIC THAT COULD BE DISCUSSED IN THE CONTEXT OF A DUKE UNIVERSITY SETTING.  NO OTHER JOINT COULD PROPEL A HIP HOP ARTIST TO SUCH MYTHICAL HEIGHTS.  LOOKING BACK AT THAT TIME PERIOD WHEN ILLMATIC REIGNED SUPREME GIVES A CHARACTER SUCH AS MYSELF THE OPPORTUNITY TO SEE WHERE THE POTENTIAL IS IN THIS 21ST CENTURY SOUNDSCAPE.  I SALUTE NAS AND DJ PREMIERE FOR CREATING A MASTERPIECE, ALONG WITH THE OTHER SELECT FEW CAST OF CHARACTERS THAT BROUGHT ILLMATIC TO LIFE.