random:.....

We layed under the cover of friends
A place where many lovers began
I began, to feel her body shake in my hand
Body language, it's so hard trying to understand

random:....

Pardon the way that I stare.
There's nothing else to compare.
The sight of you leaves me weak.
There are no words left to speak.

me:Unk

I found myself reminiscing, remember this one, when he was here he was crazy nice with his son, I miss him, as long as I'm living he's living through memories, he's there to kill all my suicidal tendecies, in heaven looking over me, or in hell keeping it cozy, I'm coming, life in these streets aint what is suppose to be, remember our mutual friend, me and him fueding, on our life I tried to talk to him, but you know n*ggas, think they gun can stop four n*ggas, fronting like they Big Willie but they really old n*ggas, hoe n*ggas, this year I'm going to show n*ggas, think I'm slipping, I'm about to send you a roommate, no bullshiting, for my hustle is going too well to hit them, you was right they want you to be miserable with them, anyway Im not trying to hear it, I think I'm touched, this whole verse I've been talking to your spirit a little too much

random:......

Think of me,
You know I'd be with you if I could,
Come around and see you once in a while,
If you ever need a reason to smile,
I'd spend the night if you think I should...

music:Why can't they just get to the song?

“Man why can’t they just get to the song. Why do they have to go and keep talking all of the time geesh.”

That was the little me, talking all kinds of crazy. I was foolishly demeaning the timeless interludes that were sprinkled through old school R&b. I’ll admit, like most kids, my attention span was a short as my Osh Kosh overall straps. I looked at the laments of Lenny Williams and Rick James as noisome banter that diluted the song. Oh how wrong was I. Those moments of dialogue added validity to the artist cries for love. The balladry needed to execute a good break down was masterful. But you can’t be mad at me. When I was a child I thought as a child. I spoke as a child. But when I became a man….I learned the opening ad libs on “Fire and Desire”. Of course, there were some interludes that should have never reached my ears. Princes moans and whales on “Do me baby” were wildly inappropriate, and I’d like to thank my mother for not turning when Herb Kent took things a bit far and let em play on the radio. But nothing satisfies like a good mid-song dialogue. Here are some of my favorite break downs and ad libs both old an new.

1. Mr. Telephone Man-New Addition
“Please operator. See what you can do. I dialed the right number, but I still couldn’t get through.”
That was back in the day when you actually got a person to talk to. You think an automated system would make an effort to fix telephonic AND relationship issues? I think not.

2. Imaginary Player-Jay-Z
“What’s the difference between a 4.0 and a 4.6. Like 30 to 40 grand cocksucker. Beat it.”
Unnecessary. Rude. Audacious. Classic. “Do y’all event got leathers?”

3. Lose Control-Silk
“I’m so sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I just want you to sit down and let me talk to you”
I’m sure millions of brothers used that same line in years prior to the songs release, but it didn’t work until after Silk layed it down.

4. Stay-Jodeci
“Don’t talk Just listen. I have to admit. I lied, when I said I never wanted to see you again.”
I mean if you are going to admit to a lie, that is probably the best time to do it.

5. Never Leave-R. Kelly
“Shut Up! I don’t ever wanna hear you say that again. Baby I’m goin nowhere”
Man Kells. If that isn’t the most sincere statement of reassurance even known to man, I don’t know what is.

6. Because I Love You-Lenny Williams
“Maybe you never been in love like I been in Love. And maybe you never felt the things that I felt. But this is what I told my friend. I said you know sometimes you get lonely(repeat)”
Yeah he cried. But nobody cared because when a man breaks down he’s allowed to sit outside and watch your parked car in the driveway. And call incessantly. And knock even when you won’t answer. Wait, he can’t. OJ is that you?

7. End of the road-Boys to Men
“Girl Im here for you. All those times of night when you just hurt me. And just run out with that other fella. Baby I knew about it, I just didnt care. You just dont understand how much I love you do you? Im here for you”
It was a shame that an adult male with such a booming voice would have an issue scaring his girl into submission, but maybe that’s why she cheated to begin with.

8. Back Like That-Ghostface
“And let me get that ring off your finger. Oh it’s stuck. I’ll take the whole finger then.”
Ghost imbued us with his standard barbs of wisdom and wit. To all Tony Starks' future spouses, regardless of his rampant infidelity, don’t sleep with the enemy or be prepared to loose an appendage.

9. Fire and Desire-Rick James feat. Teena Marie
“Remember when I used to…”
You can go ahead and finish it. You know you want to…

10. Cry Together-The O’Jays
“I said you know. We cant go on like this. She said you’re right…You know a relationship is nothing without communication.”
It was true then, and it its true today. That’s what I call timeless.

11. Thinking of You-Tony Tone Toni
“I been missing you know. I want you to know something. I been thinking…”
If there was ever a group that I want to see get back together it’s these guys. Just for moments like this.

12. Lookin’ at Me-Mase
“Ay yo Mase. You know what I hate? When you at the club. And I’m with my honey. And you got the hater who wants to be a tough guy all of a sudden.”
Not only was Puff good for a video shimmy and recreated production, but he was had some nifty ad libs too. “Take that, take that.”

13. Weekend Girl-SOS Band
“So what are you going to do. Can you pick me up tonight? I really don’t know what to do. I never been in this situation. Yes why not. What time should I expect you.”
That’s the indigenous independent women move. Makes moves on Saturday and Sunday without demeaning the man.

14. Sensitivity-Ralph Tresvant
“Listen Baby. Don’t even waste your tears on that insensitivity. I mean what you really need is someone like me.”
Way to respect another man’s space Ralph. We appreciate that.

15. Can’t Get Enough of Your Love-Barry White
“I’ve heard people say. That too much of anything is not good for you baby. But…I don’t know about that. See as many times as we loved, and shared loved, and made love…it doesn’t seem to me like it’s enough”
Barry couldn’t miss with his ad libs. Love Unlimited was the procreation score of the 70’s and 80’s.

16. Hovi Baby-Jay-Z
“Now I want you to give the drummer some…no ma really give the drummer some”
Jay’s double entendres just never get old. He found a way to laud the band and facilitate an overture in one sentence.

17. Prototype-Outkast
“I cant…I’m not…I can’t afford not to record”
While everybody was going right, Three Stacks went left. This was the soundtrack od dissention…”Are we recording our ad libs? Were we recording just then?” Yes Andre…yes they were. Thanks engineers.

18. Gotta Love it-Cam’ron
“How is he the king of New York and he rockin' sandles with jeans on. Open toe sandles, with jeans and he 42 years old."
Even as a Jay fan, i can admit that the hilarity found throuought this song is side splitting. "you ugly dawg. you sooo ugly."

19. So Much to Give-Barry White
“Baby pleeeeease don’t do that. What are you crying for? Is it because your sad, or mad ?
She had two choices. Get mad at Barry for being overtly aggressive or let him finish his sentence. "Nothing is going to go wrong. Sometimes we feel as if everything we have is only here for today. but every now and then two pleple get lucky to find that certain things that makes them want to keep it going". Word

20. Ice Cream-Raekwon feat. Ghostface Killah, Method Man & Cappadonna
“One love to my Butter Pecan Ricans for calling me papi…that’s real”
Method man envoked some classic comedy(see Eddie Murphy Delirious) and vulgarity, all while recognizing cultural differences. "The ice cream man is comiiiing".

21. To Keep you satisfied-Marvin Gaye
"I guess all we can do is try to be happy"
The most honest account of a man struggling to keep his wife happy, and then failing miserably. Was it the malapropism of the national stage to tell your side of the story? Sure. Good music? Absolutely.

random:.....

No one can always be an angel
When everything goes wrong you see something bad
I'm just a soul who's intention's are good
O' lord, please don't let me be misunderstood

music:Classic? No Classic? Wait, whats a classic anyway?

"Hey have you listened to the new Jay?”

“Nope, not yet. Is it hot?”

“Yeah its pretty dope.”

“Is it as good as the Black album?”

“No but…”

"Well then I don’t want to hear it. If it’s not classic why bother?"

Oddly enough I had an answer to the question, but phrasing it correctly proved to be difficult. I was wedged between the timeless conundrum of aesthetical beauty and subjective listening. It is a question that has plagued most every artist and purveyor of art. The answer separates the work of Van Goh and the water color painters on WTTW 11.

What is a classic? How can we measure the work of an artist and choose to celebrate it over works of the same kind? Can we accurately label one piece a refulgent masterpiece and dismiss another as a pedestrian afterthought? Is there a secret scribe somewhere with the rules of excellence? If there is, When did everyone get to read it and use it as a rubric to gauge transcendence?

These questions made Michael Phelps laps in my thoughts as I turned up the third installment of Jay-Z’s Blueprint 3 on the ride home. The sounds of a fairly good album seeped through my car speakers, but the euphoric feeling that comes from listening to a certified classic masterpiece was conspicuously absent. The lyrics were just as formidable as they were on The Blueprint(in fact they might be even wittier than before.) The production was lacking, but so the production on Ghostface last album, but it has place in my catalogue. I even soaked in a few quotables that music fans love so much.

As I mined through each track to discover what was missing, I decided that listening to a certified musical magnum opus would yield an answer. I popped in Luther Vandross “Never Too Much”. It was like Luther’s sequent riddled sweater was a cape. He was hitting on all cylinders. Classic. I added another controlled variable and listened to Marvin Gaye’s “Midnight Love” to what I considered a middling effort by one of my favorite artist. Next came Purple Rain, then the Blueprint 2, Next was Anita with Rapture. Next “Aja.” Then Quiet Storm. Don’t be Cruel. Purple Rain. In Search Of. Justified. Reasonable Doubt. Claudine Soundtrack. Midnight Marauders. I sampled every record, from the barely adequate to the most heralded in pursuit of a formula.

Some might define a classic by the timeless features that a piece presents. Others verify a classic’s validity through acclaim realized on a grand scale. While those are good baseline measurements, a classic is about more than ubiquitous presence at family BBQ’s or garnering critical awards. A classic usually just has “it”, that unquantifiable element that bears no name. It’s especially difficult to identify in music, where diversity in taste and perspective no longer matter, and collective head nods are the measure of greatness.

The bearing of a classic are comprised by a myriad of elements that combine to form that “It”. We just haven't figured out what they are

On second thought

Take a trip with me to 1978, to the release date of Marvin Gaye’s Double Disc “Here My Dear,” a robust album bursting with honesty and realism that had yet to be realized in R&B. The album featured Marvin crooning the laments of a failed marriage. It was unique. It was unapologetically and gloriously transparent. And it was also panned by critics. The album was instantly dismissed as weird and irrelevant.

Now Fast forward to the 1994 re-release of the album. Same music. Same lyrics. Different reception. The genius of the album didn’t settle into public consciousness until nearly two decades later. Funny how that works huh? A work is initially lambasted or ignored until the material is reintroduced. The same happened with Jay-Z Reasonable Doubt, which serves as the measure against which all great rap albums are measured(at least it should be).

I have been a major culprit of allowing greatness to reside under my nose without smelling excellence. I dismissed The Dreams music as gimmicky until I was humming “Purple Kisses” on my way to class. Growing up I swore Bill Cosby’s “Himself” wasn’t funny, but I still chuckle whenever I think about cake for breakfast. I didn’t even like Sweet Tea when I first came down South. But there I was in Dec. of 2006 visibly upset in a Chicago McDonald's because they gave me regular iced tea and not ice cold Diabetes in a foam cup.

After I combed through my library of tunes, I discovered that I ignored the music I enjoy most enjoyed. Ask me how many times I skipped “Sweet Chariot” on N.E.R.D’s Fly or Die, only to later discover that not only was it the dopest song on the CD, but also my favorite N.E.R.D song of all time.

“But it doesn’t sound like the other one”

A common lament of many music fans is that great artist never sticks to what we like. They go fiddling with a good thing, and that gets our ears all agitated. Stevie Wonder couldn’t just stick with the Motown Sound on Innervisions. He had to go and get synthesizers and start talking politics. Kanye had a good thing going with the chipmunk soul on the “College Dropout” until he went and hired Jon Brion to play(gulp) instruments on Late Registration(I remember playing it in the dorm and hearing people say “Man he used too many sounds this time.) It’s a common sentiment of a fan that formulaic efforts yield the best results

But we are sadly mistaken. Yes, some artist have created world class catalogues without stepping out of the proverbial box. Just ask Jeezy and Barry White who made careers out of crafting the same song over and over again, and making us love every second.

But most classics are products of bold deviation from convention. Andre 3000 reached the pinnacle of his artistry when he decided to let his innermost weirdo manifest itself on the “Love Below”. We would have been deprived of a joyous masterpiece if Outkast decided to re-craft “Elevators” simply because that’s what drew the fans in. True enough, some artistic innovation lacks quality or direction. On “Electric Circus” Common jumped from the Neo Soul Hip Hop plane, but could never find his Parachute ripcord on the way down. Hey, it happens. But I applaud him for not trying to remake “Like Water for Chocolate.” We saw what happened when he tried to recreate “Be” with “Finding Forever.” It was like reheating French fries. You toss them into the Microwave hoping it won’t taste bad, but after the first few bites you realize that it’s an impossible taste to recreate.

It doesn’t happen everyday

In all practicality greatness is a curse. Yes we would all love to be recognized for our illustrious deeds, but as humans the aspiration to achieve such recognition can turn into a prison. A pervasive magnifying glass follows you. And if you try to relax, or suffer a misstep the public is more than willing to tilt the magnifying glass to let the sun enkindle your coattails. It’s the price of fame that nobody ever had enough credit to pay. It’s unfair, but hey its life.

As people lambaste artist for not making a “classic” every time they produce an album, I think its important that those great albums don’t come with much regularity. Critics pan Jay-Z for not making another safe album(cough American Gangster) or making another Reasonable Doubt or Black album. But what they forget is that he has 11 albums to his credit. And only 3 were lauded as classic material. My favorite artist, Stevie Wonder has about 23 studio albums, and only 5 are considered to be classic. Prince? He has 30 and about 7 qualify for classic status. Kanye is 2 for 4.

I say that so tell us fans to give the artist a break. RELAX. What we fail to realize is that artist don’t make music for us. As any musician will tell you, the art they create is a product of their mind and soul. And if we happen to enjoy it…well that’s a bonus. The moment a musician starts trying to please everybody we end up with R.Kelly’s Double Up…and really who needs another one of those?