The Lyrics Thread

[Beechwoods]

I must say I'm liking how this thread is shaping out. I saw it a bit like the 'what's spinning' thread but it's actually a bit like that crossed with the 'three words daily' thread

[Beechwoods]

Ok. Something different. Hip-hop. This is by East Flatbush Project and released on Ninja Tune in the UK. I love the backing track. Very oriental.

I know that audiophiles and hip-hop / rap don't generally mix. I know that 'gangsta' rap is detested by many. But this song says a lot from the perspective of someone in a gang. Far more intelligent than a lot of the stuff that pretends to be from the streets.

And I know 'cos I'm a middle class white boy from Bristol...

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=yXBckFyiMyU

Forgive the awful video.

Don't say sticks and stones
They might break your bones
But the nine millimeter, it'll bore your dome
I'm talkin about the toe-taggin
Huh, the body-baggin
Man, niggas are dyin, huh, mommas are cryin, casket buyin
Who, me dyin, leave my family cryin?
Hell no, I cause, um, bloodbaths and showers
Send me commissary, motherf--- them flowers
Thoughts of slaughter, of leaving my daughters
Hours and hours of fears running through my mind
As I pick up the Zig 9

Beef starts with the shove and ends with the shovel
And niggas standing on your corner reminiscing of you
But your ass is out and you're dead and gone
So who'd you rather be?
The murdered, or the murderer?
Niggas got me stressed - I got my Tek and my vest
And I sing who Jah bless, let no man curse
Or one of us will leave here tonight in a hearse
When we'll be tried by 12
And fertilizing daisies

..

Cause I'd rather be tried by 12 than carried by 6
Nigga
I sign my name on the book at your funeral
The Zig's on my hip with an extra clip
Cause I'd rather be tried by 12 than carried by 6



Don't know the lyricist, but East Flatbush Project is an alias for Brooklyn producer Spencer Bellamy.

[Filterlab]

Too much for me to be honest, although my girly will attest to my excellent impression of a New York based rapper.

These lyrics are from Pressure by Sunscreem from their album O3. The vocalist (Lucia Holm) has a particularly soft tone to her rather strong voice and can switch from gentle to a scream very quickly. The middle eight is one of the finest contrasts ever written into a dance track (in my opinion), the hard pace of the track is dropped immediately and replaced by a quartet of strings with a closed/open high hat playing a 16th/4th over to right. Sublime whilst paying attention to maintaining the rhythm.

The sound flew in the bare room

The ride's no longer spare

And time will always fall apart

In a house where they don't care

We fantasised your life

And recognised the sins

But it's tit for tat

You take the rap

Now it's me that's going to win

[Mike]

Here's one from the John Fox era of Ultravox. The wild, the beautiful and the damned

Calling cards of madness

Pull the brass men from their knees

To petrify more images to dangle just outside the reach

Of the stunted and the dreamless ones who have nothing left to keep

For frozen dawns or nights as cold as these have been



Don't ask for explanations

There's nothing left you'd understand

You're one of the wild, the beautiful and the damned

[Beechwoods]

Too much for me to be honest, although my girly will attest to my excellent impression of a New York based rapper.

Go on, which one? Not Eminem... grew up in Detroit... Not Vanilla Ice, he was born in Dallas... Don't tell me it's Jay-Z

These lyrics are from Pressure by Sunscreem from their album O3. The vocalist (Lucia Holm) has a particularly soft tone to her rather strong voice and can switch from gentle to a scream very quickly. The middle eight is one of the finest contrasts ever written into a dance track (in my opinion), the hard pace of the track is dropped immediately and replaced by a quartet of strings with a closed/open high hat playing a 16th/4th over to right. Sublime whilst paying attention to maintaining the rhythm.

I remember Sunscreem but I can't remember their big song. Just checked out 'Pressure' and it's got some great old-school house piano on it, and the guitar into the middle eight builds the pace nicely, to the drop...

From my clubbing days (prog house / trance and acid) the track that left the biggest impression on me (because it was absolutely massive for about a year) was Mory Kanté's Yeke Yeke (the Hardfloor Remix). From about 3'15" to 4'25" the tracks builds and builds - it'd go on for so long that the folks would be going absolutely bonkers by the time the track kicked back in. It was a Hardfloor signature and ended up being overused and ripped off all over the place...

Can you imagine how this sounded over a club soundsystem with 15" drivers? I can still remember how it felt Happy days :

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdvx7AFsKrk

[Filterlab]

Go on, which one? Not Eminem... grew up in Detroit... Not Vanilla Ice, he was born in Dallas... Don't tell me it's Jay-Z

Nobody in particular, I just walk around the house doing that finger thing and making up rhymes about my bee-atch.

I remember Sunscreem but I can't remember their big song. Just checked out 'Pressure' and it's got some great old-school house piano on it, and the guitar into the middle eight builds the pace nicely, to the drop...

From my clubbing days (prog house / trance and acid) the track that left the biggest impression on me (because it was absolutely massive for about a year) was Mory Kanté's Yeke Yeke (the Hardfloor Remix). From about 3'15" to 4'25" the tracks builds and builds - it'd go on for so long that the folks would be going absolutely bonkers by the time the track kicked back in. It was a Hardfloor signature and ended up being overused and ripped off all over the place...

Can you imagine how this sounded over a club soundsystem with 15" drivers? I can still remember how it felt Happy days :

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdvx7AFsKrk

Sunscreem weren't all that massive to be honest, but they did well at the time. Mory Kanté on the other hand had a massive hit with Yeke Yeke! "Yek yek yek no more, yeke yek yek", loved that track and you're right, the build used to get the floor pumping. Man I loved clubbing, proper clubbing rather than that commercial shite. I have a single by Soundsation somewhere, I don't recall the name of the track though but it was a massive club hit. I'll dig it out.

[Filterlab]

Peace and Joy - the single includes remixes by Tin Tin Out.

[Primalsea]

was very Siobhan Fahey-esque with a lovely rich darkness.

Sounds like chocolate to me, maybe Hot Chocolate

[Beechwoods]

Mory Kanté on the other hand had a massive hit with Yeke Yeke! "Yek yek yek no more, yeke yek yek", loved that track

I'm glad you remember it. I've got a tape of a Kiss FM mix from around 1996, with the DJ introing the track "This... is... massive..." and it was

It really is one to play extremely loud on a very good system with tight bass and great handling of the voice and the ringing strings (not sure what instrument it is). Sound can get very wallowy if you're not careful!

[Filterlab]

Sounds like chocolate to me, maybe Hot Chocolate

Oooh, writhing in melted chocolate with Siobhan Fahey, sounds rather like a fantasy of mine.

I'm glad you remember it. I've got a tape of a Kiss FM mix from around 1996, with the DJ introing the track "This... is... massive..." and it was

It really is one to play extremely loud on a very good system with tight bass and great handling of the voice and the ringing strings (not sure what instrument it is). Sound can get very wallowy if you're not careful!

I think I have it on a Kiss CD somewhere, one of those Kiss in the mix jobs. Man, I should dig out more of my dance stuff, really takes me back to my stomping days.