BEATS OF LOVE
128 Step to the Rear by Brand Nubian
I'M OFF social media sites and it feels great. Facebook was accidental. (A long story.) Twitter; well you'd be mad to stay on there, right? Now I really am just talking to myself without all that toxic noise deafening me.
I still remember the Monday in Musicworld, my town’s only record store, when this track on the turntable completely blew me away. Walking up to shop counters in Mancunia was second nature to me, but not here. Yet, breaking my usual reserve in that shop, I stepped forward to ask.
I admit it was my kid sister playing De La Soul that first got me into Hip-hop. I think I swiped it before realising that the U.S. press was far superior. I love lyrics, sages, and wordplay, so this was tailor made for me. Their LP sounded so perfect on that Monday. And it sounded even better when I cranked it up later on the home hi-fi.
With all the toxic noise that deafened us out of nowhere, I revisit this gem to make some noise of my own. Until the neighbour returns home from work. It sounds perfect and still blows me clean away. Puba just flowing vibrant rhymes effortlessly and elastically on top of some of the dopest, laid back funky hooks committed to vinyl. I doubt you can eclipse the breezy lines, 'But I'm long, I'm like Stretch Armstrong, I go on and on and on and on'. The Mar-Keys’ Plantation Inn was the springboard for them and their extended crew, the SD50s, to get deeply creative. Giving Puba the ideal platform to be brilliant whilst still disarming me with his swaggering elegance.
Music, memory, and escape are my armour. They anchor me against the dread of these dark days; through the noise of a social media detox and the sting of rampant racism. Right now, I can blast this out loud. But in an hour, reality will come crashing back with the heavy slam of my neighbour’s front door.
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