I mean, if you’re good enough to catch Jay Z’s attention while singing in Central Park…you’re good enough for just about anything.
Tag: R&B
Daily Dose: Priscilla Renea, “Gentle Hands”
Daily Dose: Riley Clemmons, “Broke”
Despite the fact that this is categorized as Christian & Gospel (which is not my personal jam), I’m loving the 1996 middle school dance vibes of this song for the summer.
Daily Dose: Janelle Monae, “Americans”
Patriot.
Daily Dose: The Internet, “Roll (Burbank Funk)
Daily Dose: The Whistles & The Bells, “Year of the Freak Out”
Accurate.
Daily Dose: Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside, “Party Kids”
Daily Dose: TLC, “No Scrubs”
I celebrated a seminal birthday this month, and, instead of going existential about life’s brevity, I decided to run through my 30-year-old music catalog. Belatedly beginning today, the Nostos Algos Daily Doses of September will present the songs and videos that defined certain epochs in my life (in no particular order) because, as I’ve said before, music marks moments.
So here it is, the first installment: “No Scrubs” off TLC’s second studio album CrazySexyCool, which was released in 1994 when I was a 4th-grader learning the complexities of the California Mission System.
Brain Connection: “Grandma’s Hands” and “No Diggity”
The greatest thing about the present is the ability to know the past. That’s why it’s called the present: because that ability is a gift. What we do, what we are now is a patchwork of all the things that came before us. Whether or not this is a conscious facet of our existence depends on our engagement with what surrounds us and the frequency of self reflection.
There are always links. We just need to pause, look and listen to find them. Doing this the other day, my brain immediately connected the 1996 Bilboard sensation “No Diggity” by the utterly forgettable Blackstreet featuring Dr. Dr with Bill Withers’ 1971 classic “Grandma’s Hands” from the album Just As I am.
The first video below is Bill Withers performing some of his iconic songs for the BBC in 1973. The roughly 30 minute show can be seen in its entirety HERE. The second is the official music video for “No Diggity” that dominated the MTV airways, and all of my Middle School dances.
