beats ↘↖
dig this! (v. 1.5) - “love is here, standing by…”
this won’t be an “official” dig this! post. so, we’ll just call number it “1.5” in the series.
today, while trying to free up some space on my hard drive, i came across a beat that i put together a while back. it’s nothing spectacular, but it’s not bad either. so, i thought i’d share.
the original song (that i sampled from) was a top 10 pop hit recorded by smokey robinson and the miracles in 1968. the song was written by smokey, (motown staff writer) al cleveland, and terry johnson (who was an original member of the flamingos). you can dig this track on the miracles’ 1969 album, “time out” (released on motown’s tamla label). if you don’t have this album in your collection grab it. you will not be disappointed.
so, first up we have the original:
smokey robinson and the miracles - baby, baby don’t cry
and lastly, here’s my take on it…
slo- cry if you wanna (a.k.a. samokee)
wwdd?
i’ve been going back and forth on whether or not i should post some of my own music here. i guess i am what you would call a “closet beat maker/producer.” it’s just something that i’ve always done for fun, or for piece of mind. call it a hobby if you will. i usually sit at home, alone in the dark, headphones on, digging through stacks of records, mining for sounds. this is my happy place. and for a long time, that’s just how it was - just me and my secret stash of beats. i guess i never thought that people would actually want to hear my little “noise”. then one day, a friend heard some stuff that i put together and the rest is…well not quite history but you get the point. since then, i’ve been fortunate enough to work with some really talented artists who have recorded to a few of my tracks and made me look like i actually know what i’m doing (whattup smoke, big sisco!).
anyway, earlier this year i put together an original piece of music entitled, “wwdd?†” it was meant to serve as a tribute to the late, great mr. james yancey a.k.a. j dilla. a “thank you” of sorts…for the many years of inspiration he’s provided me with. i emailed the piece to a few people that are close to me and got some pretty positive feedback. a good friend and phenomenal producer (seriously, this brother is DOPE!!! you’ll see. i can’t wait for you all to bear witness.), mikaal sulaiman hit me back and said that i should, “get it out to the blogosphere and see what people think.”
so…here i am.
(this is me letting go…)
enjoy(?).
ps: the above track was created solely by me (slo) and is in no way connected to the yancey family nor the j dilla estate. again, it is simply my tribute the artist we all know and love…j dilla (jay dee). thanx.
† i called it wwdd? (what would dilla do?) not because i felt like i could even come close to recreating dilla’s genius. but simply because when i was in the middle of creating it, i tried my best to pull from the many techniques and tricks that i had picked up from studying dilla’s music throughout the years.
From: me
Date: Tue, Feb 17, 2009 at 2:18 AM
Subject: J Dilla tribute (Please listen to my demo…)
To:
whattup my peoples,
i just wanted to share something i put together. some of you may not know but this past week marked the 3 year anniversary of J Dilla’s death. (Feb. 7 06).
some of you may also be unaware that Dilla had a huuuge influence on my desire to make music as well as my ability to do so (i learned a lot from studying his music.)
i just wanted to share something i put together. some of you may not know but this past week marked the 3 year anniversary of J Dilla’s death. (Feb. 7 06).over the last 48 hours i made about 20 beats. (some wack…some not so wack). and my initial intention was to create a song/beat to pay homage to Dilla. just one. but they just kept coming and coming so i kept creating.
anyway…maybe somewhere down the road i’ll put together an entire project based on the material i created over the last few. but for now…here is a “snippit” of what i came up with.
it’s rough. but it’s meant to be. that part is on purpose (in fact, every pause&skip&stutter&crackle is on purpose (Dilla would approve)). for those of you who followed Dilla, you know that “rough” was his forte.
i only ask that if you do decide to listen, take your time with it and listen to it all the way thru to the end.
so…enjoy…or not. but it’s 2 am, i haven’t slept much in the last 2 days, and it is exactly what it is going to be/what it is meant to be at this point.peese owt!
let me know your HONEST opinions.slo
