My old mate Logic made a little mix of mainly MF Doom and A Tribe Called Quest hip hop instrumentals for, believe it or not, a wedding he was at recently. I wish they played that sort of things at the weddings I go to, I’d much rather hear that than the Village People.
Anyway, I loved it so thought I’d share it with you here.
MF Doom – Lovage
MF Doom – Camphor
MF Doom – Benzoin Gum
MF Doom – Buckeyes
MF Doom – Calamus
MF Doom – Coltsfoot Leaf
A Tribe Called Quest – Stressed Out (Remix) [Instrumental]
A Tribe Called Quest – Vibes & Stuff [Instrumental]
A Tribe Called Quest – We Got (The Jazz) [Instrumental]
MF Doom – Arrow Root
MF Doom – Agrimony
A Tribe Called Quest – Can I Kick It? [Instrumental]
A Tribe Called Quest – 1nce Again [Instrumental]
A Tribe Called Quest – Ham ‘n Eggs [Instrumental]
A Tribe Called Quest – Find a Way [Instrumental]
A Tribe Called Quest – The Infamous Date Rape [Instrumental]
MF Doom – Dragon’s Blood Resin
A Tribe Called Quest – We Can Get Down [Instrumental]
I might have been young but when this was on TV (around 1990/91) but my older cousin lived at my place at the time and being 18 or so she was out clubbing a fair bit and was well into dance music. She was responsible for getting me into a lot of this stuff and we’d always watch Dance Energy on TV whenever it came on (Friday nights, I think?) It’s odd to think that this was on BBC2 back then, not sure they’d put anything like this on any more.
I always used to love the bit when they’d stick some tunes on and film the audience dancing. I’d try and do the moves at home, with mixed succes (my running man was pretty on point) and always wished I had all the cool trainers & clothes that the people on the show had. Watching the videos now I was expecting everything to look far worse and dated than it actually does. Some of the fashion is obviously terrible, although much of it is what some people actually wear nowadays, but I didn’t cringe too much at all.
The show regularly had lots of awesome tunes on it. Loads of hardcore (that I won’t bother posting here) but also plenty of decent underground stuff from the time. I never remembered what any of the tunes were at the time but I reckon this was probably the first time I’d heard much of the stuff that I’d later get into in a much bigger way.
Big house beats from Joey Negro
Total confusion!
Some Hijack on a UK hip hop tip. The guy who raps second would later resurface as the Unknown MC (ha!)
The show was always a welcome break from Top of the Pops and a reminder that there was actually decent “youth” programming on UK TV at one point. Not sure the same can be said now!
Great tune but probably not remembered as LL’s finest moment. Wicked Neptunes beat anyway. In the video he looks a bit like he’s made of wax and it’s sad to see that no one ever taught him how buttons work. You’ll catch a cold with those shirts undone like that, young man!
