The Breezy Effect Blog. We Represent The REAL Hip-Hop!

Rewind Wednesday: Ahmad - "Back In The Day"

"And everybody say, I remember way back when," rap / rappers ____. Fill in the blank with the first five things that come to mind, in comparison to today's hip-hop. I'll go first and then you guys leave your responses in the comment section. Here we go:

5. Did not do silly a** dances like the stanky leg.

4. Didn't rock nasty dreads or busted fake gold grills.

3. Made songs about realistic things. No studio gangstas or fantasy living.

2. Sold albums based off of pure talent instead of beefs.

1. DIDN'T use AUTOTUNE or VOCODERS. They were proud of their natural voices.

Alright, now let's enjoy the video.

REWIND WEDNESDAY: Heavy D feat Kool G Rap, Grand Puba, CL Smooth, Big Daddy Kane, Pete Rock, Q-Tip-- "Don't Curse"

What up, y’all! I know, I’ve been missing in action like "Paper Planes" (ha) for a HOT minute, but please believe that while my head’s been in the books, my heart’s not only with hip-hop, but with those of you who come back to get affected The Breezy Effect on a regular basis.

Anyway, I knew that for my first Rewind Wednesday in God knows when, I needed to pick a joint that was not only HOT on the lyrical tip but extremely rare. Rare as in it’s not heard on the radio these days, rare as in one of the hottest collabo tracks you’ll EVER HEAR IN YOUR NATURAL BORN LIFE, and rare as in...well, I always said that the true measure of an emcee was one that could spit a verse without cursing, and here we get not one, not two, but EIGHT (Heavy goes in twice).

Rewind Wednesday: Ice Cube F/ Yoyo - "It's A Man's World"

So a couple of years ago, I was in my hip-hop class and our starter topic was battle rap. Our teacher told us that she had a great song to play, that we had probably never heard. This led us all to think that maybe she was about to play some secret Jay Z or Tupac joint that never got released. Instead she threw on this track by Ice Cube and Yoyo. A good old fashion battle of the sexes situation. I was disappointed at first but then I heard the track all the way to the end. I was very impressed, Yoyo really held it down for the ladies and stayed on Cube's level. Plus, I had never heard a track being done quite like this before. And to this very day, I still haven't heard anything that compares to it. So go ahead and check it out.........

Rewind Wednesday: Salt N Pepa - "My Mic Sound Nice"

This is dedicated to the ladies. It's our month and I have failed to represent, my bad ya'll, lol. But I think this makes up for it, Salt N Pepa were definitely females who held us down during their career. "My mic sound nice, check 1. My mic sound nice, check 2. My mic sound nice, check 3. Are you ready?!" Then what are you waiting for, go ahead and press play!

I chose this song because out of the options that I had, this one stood out the most. When I was allowed to listen to rap growing up, I heard tons of Salt N Pepa because my mom was a die hard fan. Though this particular cut wasn't played often, it is still memorable. I think the: catchy opening, clever and sassy lyrics, and DC go-go sound in the production; give the song it's appeal. Plus, people were not quite used to female rappers being edgy yet, and the girls definitely have some attitude going on in this joint. Overall, I'd say this is for sure an under appreciated hip-hop classic by some of the best femcees to ever do it. -MinM

Rewind Wednesday: Nas F/ Lauryn Hill - "If I Ruled The World"

With the remake of this joint circulating the net, I had to remind people of where it came from. So here is the original, the combination of Nas and Lauryn Hill is just brilliant.

Rewind Wednesday: Kris Kross - "Warm It Up"

Kris Kross has been getting some less than flattering media attention lately. So I thought I'd take us back to fonder memories of the once insanely popular duo. I grew up on Kris Kross, it was the only rap I was allowed to listen to. So I wore the tape out, lol. I chose this song, cause it was my favorite. I liked it cause they just seemed so cool for young kids, lol. One particular line will always stand out to me: "So all ya'll with the Dr. Seuss riddles; you can get the finger, the middle." For some reason, I used to say that line all the time and my older sister would get so pissed at me. She thought it was a rude thing for a young girl to say. We had a big argument about it one day outside of the house in the Summer time, lmao. Anyways, go ahead and peep the video.

Rewind Wednesday: Notorious B.I.G. - "I Got A Story To Tell"

First order of business, apologies for missing a few Rewind joints. We working on preventing that from happening, but we chose a good way to come back right? I mean it's been Biggie mania in the hip-hop community since January hit. With Notorious dropping Friday, we only saw fit that we get in on things.

This joint is hot, one of the more chill and fun sides of Biggie. I think it's one of the slept on tracks on the album though. Which is understandable cause, "Life After Death," had a ton of hits on it, so it's kind of hard to give each one the proper respect all the time. My favorite thing about this track is Big's creativity. He chose a typical theme but the way he got out of the situation was pretty clever. And the production was hot too. The sample of Al Green's, "I'm Glad You're Mine," was put to good use. Overall, banging production + story telling + entertainment + cleverness = a classic to me. Not one of Biggie's all time greats, but I'd say it ranks pretty high. What Biggie joints would you bump to honor the film premiering this weekend? Drop a comment and share your favorite Biggie songs with us. -MinM

REWIND WEDNESDAY: "This Christmas" -- Donny Hathaway

Yesterday on The Ed Lover show on Power 105.1, the popular on-air personality posed the question to his co-hosts and audience to name their favorite Christmas Carol and their favorite Non-Traditional Christmas song. And you know what? It didn't take me long to think. While my favorite carol is "Rudolph The Red-Nose Reindeer" (I'll ALWAYS feel like an outsider, so I feel Rudolph's pain... HATE ON PRANCER, DANCER, VIXEN, YA SONS OF B*TCHES! oops, sorry.. back to Christmas) my non-traditional Christmas song is none other than "This Christmas" by my FAVORITE male vocalist, Donny Hathaway. In general, Hathaway's voice can evoke feelings from a soul that even your sub-conscious can't manage to do. Evertime I hear this song, all of a suden, WHAM! I'm five years old again with my box braids and red thermal pajams, dancing with my father in the living room around our tree. In fact, sometimes I even tear up a bit listening to this song because it makes me feel sodamnhappy. I'll really wanna go out and shake a hand, you know?

That's enough of my mushy stuff for today. I hope your Holidays are safe and special. From us at The Breezy Effect to you, HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!! (and let us know what's your fave Christmas songs, too!)  

Rewind Wednesday: Another Bad Creation - "Iesha"

When this was suggested to me for Rewind Wednesday, I just thought it was too funny. This takes me way back to my early days of listening to music. I had a strict mother, so when I start asking her for music, Another Bad Creation and Kriss Kross was all she would approve at first as far as hip-hop music goes. I got teased without mercy by my brother and his friends, but I thought this was the ish until I got about 12 and my mom started slacking up. Then, I progressed into older artists with more explicit content. At least openly, even though I thought this music was cool, I still snuck and listened to the forbidden stuff too, lol. And whether ya'll admit it or not, I know I am not the only one who went through this.

"Yo Red, where'd you meet her? At the playground, ya know? That's where I saw this cutie, this girl was swinging and she looked so fly. On the monkey bars, we climbed up to the top. And she touched my hand, that's when I fell in love." What you know about that, don't act like when Red's verse started you weren't singing along word for word, lol. Don't worry, I won't tell.

Rewind Wednesday: Lost Boyz - "Lifestyles Of The Rich And Shameless"

So I chose this video for a few reasons, one is I was told to pick something that it might shock you to see. It's been 13 years since this video was released, so I figured this would qualify, lol. But my second reason for choosing this video, was that it was one of the first TRUE hip-hop songs that I came to appreciate as I began to get into music. Going along with that, my last reason is, hip-hop today is just down right garbage. Therefore, I felt it would be nice to go back and see that at one point and time, the genre did have some quality to it. This is a great example of what hip-hop should be: skilled rappers who make kick a** videos and insane tracks.