1,215.) Tues Mar. 31, 2020

The Song of the Day is:

Naughty By Nature – “Hip Hop Hooray”

From the album 19 Naughty III (1993)

Hip Hop hooray, hey, ho
Hip Hop Hip Hip Hop Hip Hip Hop Hooray!
There’s many hungry Hip Hoppers one reason Hip Hop’s tip-top today
Swerve what ya heard cause I ain’t bailing no hay
Ain’t chopping no crops, but still growing every day

Ronald Isley – Ernie Isley -Rudolph Isley – Chris Jasper – O’Kelly Isley Jr. – Marvin Isley – Vincent Brown – Anthony Criss – Keir Gist

Is there a lot to celebrate today.  Not really. We’re all in the midst of social distancing, or at least the most conscientious of us are. There does seem to be a growing appreciation online for the end of March to arrive. March has not only changed my world, with my change in careers, but it’s also changed the world. So March is in it’s final hours, and while I’m not too thrilled about every prospect that this April has to offer, we can at least do our best to appreciate the milestone of this month passing. In response to the end of this horribly impactful month, we’re listening to a celebratory old school hip hop classic. Today, we are featuring Naughty By Nature, a hip hop trio that are criminally underrated. The group consisted of Vin Rock, DJ Kay Gee and their leader Treach. Now, for what it’s worth, Treach is a well respected rapper, and is also well known for his reality tv career with his Cicely Evans, and his previous marriage to Pepa of Salt-n-Pepa. I’m not sure why the group wasn’t more sustainable, they seemed plenty tough for the era, but perhaps they weren’t gangster enough and got lost in the east coast/ west coast feud of the mid-nineties. They were from East Orange, New Jersey, which in those days wouldn’t earn them any props from the NYC groups. They did have a massive hit with “O.P.P.” in 1991. Though they did have continued success, the magnitude of “Hip Hop Hooray” was a surprise. The song sampled a myriad of artists including James Brown, the Isley Brothers, the Five Stairsteps, Sylvia Striplin and Peter Gabriel, though no one sample dominates the music. “Hooray” had strong showings across many charts, including four #1 slots. This was the group’s pinnacle, though there were still great songs from them, including 1996’s “Feel Me Flow” and the very dank and chill “Live or Die” from 1999. The group has been in various forms of hiatus in the new millennium, releasing albums in 2001 and 2011. I just learned that I am not the only one with this song on my mind lately during my research. It seems that while quarantined with COVID19, Rita Wilson (Mrs. Tom Hanks) rapped the song on YouTube.

If you enjoy the blog, please consider helping me pay the dues paypal.me/MichaelSliwa.  

Thanks!