Take A Tour Of Nas’ Birthplace

The prolific Virgo was born in Brooklyn Jewish Hospital on September 14, 1973. According to his father, Olu Dara, a young Nas cut his musical chops on the streets of BK.

“I thought that he would become a great trumpeter because he was playing to audiences in the streets of Brooklyn when he was three or four,” he told The Source magazine in an August 2004 cover story. “He used to draw a lot of crowds [on Eastern Parkway]. It was fascinating to me. But his lip was becoming distorted so I made him quit. I remember him being very disappointed when I told him to stop playing.”

Needless to say Nas has done ok without the trumpet. But maybe it’s something he’ll pass it down to his son, Knight.

More Black History Month content…

FACT OF THE DAY: Common Was A Bookworm At FAMU

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Way Black When Honors: Leon Huff On Making The “Soul Train” Theme Song

FACT: Dungy is the only NFL player since the AFL-NFL merger to intercept a pass and throw an interception in the same game

While the fantasy leaguers were harping over Peyton Manning VS Rex Grossman or that the Colts hadn’t seen the Super Bowl in thirty-six years (damn!) The fact that Colts coach Tony Dungy and Bears coach Lovie Smith became the first two African-Americans to coach in the Super Bowl kinda went under the radar. But when the final whistle sounded, the Colts were now the champions, Manning was now the MVP and a former un-drafted defensive back named Tony Dungy was now the first ever African-American coach to win a Super Bowl.

And even though the NFL has a lot of ground to cover as far as adding a bit more brown to the owners boxes, we’ve got to tip our hat to Tony for still finding and conquering another first.

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Check out the video below. Is this a fitting tribute for Rosa Parks from the kids channel?

Cymphonique Miller (How to Rock)–A Poem for Rosa Parks from Jessica Wilson on Vimeo.

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“Black Republicans”

“We would be at the Spelman computer lab, me and my homeboy Chris. Spelman always had the better computers because they had the Cosbys funding them,” says the Morehouse and Georgia Tech alumnus of his humble beatmaking beginnings.

“Kush and Corinthians”

“I didn’t have a laptop so I had Fruity Loops on a 100MB ZIP disk. I had to install it each time. I’d bang away for a few hours and then delete the program from the computer. It was a demo and with the demo you could export the project but you couldn’t save it. So when I made my beats I had to finish ‘em up, bruh. I had to finish the beat or I’d never hear it again. Low budget? I’ve been there.”

Thanks to that kind of hustle Wyldfyer now holds the distinction of being the only producer (thus far) to have had Jay-Z and Nas on the same track–twice. He programmed the slaps for Ludacris’ “I Do It For Hip-Hop” featuring Nas and Jay-Z and the aforementioned “Black Republicans.”

“God is my manager, bruh,” he says. “Me and NO ID were joking around one time cuz he did “Success” and we were saying ‘we’re the only ones that had Nas/Jay-Z collabos.’  I don’t know what made Luda get Nas and Jay-Z so that was just a blessing.”

Currently Wyldfyer is at work submitting tracks for the next Nas album and is sitting on some unreleased Biggie vocals that could make his career if he wanted to.  He submitted two remixes to the Biggie Duets album that weren’t used, but he still has the acapellas.

“It didn’t make the album so it would be an unreleased Biggie song that no one’s ever heard,” says. “It’s the slow flow Biggie. It might just be a verse, which is probably why [Puff] didn’t put it out. But I’m not that thirsty to put it out there and ruin my career.”

Follow him on Twitter @Wyldfyer

Where Presidents Play and Writers Find Their Muse

The rapper formerly known as Sense had a strict three-hour-a-day studying regimen, but his mind was still on rapping. In his book One Day It’ll All Make Sense, he wrote that he recorded “A Penny For My Thoughts” while in school by listening to beats that producer NO ID would leave on his outgoing answering machine message. “I’d call in and compose my raps like that.”

How did it come out? Take a listen to “Penny For My Thoughts” from Common’s debut Can I Borrow A Dollar?

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Exploring The Sound Of Philadelphia

..It was a dance show and he[Don Cornelius] was very excited about it. He had everything in place, the only thing missing was a theme song. When he came to us he called Gamble, they communicated and he flew into Philadelphia. He talked about the concept…we didn’t have any ideas but I said me and Gamble will come up with something quick. We always rise to the occasion when it comes to a song.

Seven Memorable Soul Train Moments

[But] we went into the studio the first night and nothing really clicked. So Don Cornelius got a little nervous and I said, “Don’t worry. We don’t force creativity. Let’s come back tomorrow.” It was on a Friday,  I’ll never forget it.  The next day Saturday me and Gamble went back into the studio with the musicians and we grooved all day with that “dun dun dunnununua.” He was very happy. Everything turned out great. The MFSB orchestra and Three Degrees put it out as “T.S.O.P (The Sound Of Philadelphia) and it went #1. Their album and the single were #1 at the same time. Plus his show was red hot. So it was win-win for everybody.

Don Cornelius coming up with that Black concept show to expose Black R&B artists was right on time.

While Gamble & Huff’s theme song is the most recognized, it was not the first or only theme  song “Soul Train” would have. Take a look at the list of Soul Train’s opening theme songs.

Soul Train used various original and current music for theme songs during its run, including:

1971-1973: “SoulTrain (Hot Potato)” by King Curtis (Curtis Ousley) and later redone by the Rimshots as “Soul Train, Parts 1&2″. [The original 1962 version Curtis recorded 9 years before the show was named "Hot Potatoes (Piping Hot)"]

1973-1975: “TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)“, composed by Gamble and Huff and recorded by Philadelphia soul studio group MFSB with vocals by the Three Degrees. Released as a single, this song became a pop and R&B radio hit in 1974 and the show’s best-known theme.

1975-1976: “Soul Train ’75″ by the Soul Train Gang, which was later released as a single for the newly formed Soul Train Records

1976-1978: “Soul Train ’76 (Get on Board)”, also by the Soul Train Gang

1978-1980: “Soul Train Theme ’79″, produced by the Hollywood Disco Jazz Band with vocals by the Waters
1980-1983: “Up on Soul Train”, first by the Waters and later by the Whispers, whose version appears in their 1980 album Imagination.
1983-1987: “Soul Train’s a Comin’” by R&B artist O’Bryan^[18]
1987-1989: “TSOP ’87″, a remake of the original “TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)”, composed and produced by George Duke
1989-1993: “TSOP ’89″, a remixed version of “TSOP ’87″, also by George Duke
1993-1999: “Soul Train ’93″ (Know You Like to Dance)” by the hip-hop group Naughty by Nature with a saxophone solo by Everette Harp
1999-2006: “TSOP 2000″, with rap vocals by hip hop artist Samson and music by Dr. Freeze, and again featuring an Everette Harp saxophone solo. However, a portion of “Know You Like to Dance” was still used in the show’s second-half opening segment during this period.

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TMZ reports “During Don’s bitter divorce proceedings in 2009, he told an L.A. judge he was suffering from ‘significant health issues’ and wanted to ‘finalize this divorce before I die.’

RIP to a legend!

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Fact: Lenny Williams won a BMI Award With Kanye West for Twista’s “Overnight Celebrity”

The Arkansas-born California native was once the lead singer of the group Tower Of Power and has had much success as a solo artist. Now, thanks to Young Jeezy, a newer generation of music fans are being exposed to his music.

On TM103  Young producer M-16 samples Williams “Let’s Talk It Over” for Jeezy’s latest hit “I Do,” The original song was released as a single in 1979 on MCA Records.

“I thought it was going to be my follow-up to ‘Cause I love you’ and I was trying to do a similar song,” says Williams of the track. “But we ended up doing it a little faster than I wanted to at the end. So I couldn’t get my talking on. It’s a good song, I always felt it was kind of wasted and here it is all these years later and Jeezy found it. It’s exciting to see what touches people. It’s gotta be thirty years later and they found it. Their version has a lot of nice strings. They got me humming in the back. I love it.”

“I Do, I Do”

So with two of his songs anchoring hip-hop hits is there anything else he feels could get the sample treatment?

“I always wondered why nobody ever sampled ‘Choosing You’,” he says. “Especially the New York rappers.  ‘Choosing You’ was  a #1 hit in New York on WBLS. It’s an uptempo song with the strings. I think Ray Parker, Jr. is playing on it and the guys from Lakeside are signing and playing on it.”

“Choosing You”

In addition to his considerable catalog from the 60s and 70s,  Williams has been recording new music as well. He released an album in 2009 called Unfinished Business with the hilarious “Sorry I Didn’t Know That Was Your Momma”, which he says is based on a true story.

“I was at a club one night with the band and I was walking around on a break and I saw this table of ladies,” he begins. “I walk over and holla and you see they look like a certain age. But one of the girls at the table said ‘hey don’t be talkin like that to my momma.’ It’s interesting because momma had the little tattoo, the nose ring, earring, tongue ring…They dress like Beyonce and want you to treat ‘em like Eartha Kitt.”

With stories like that it’s easy to see why Lenny Williams will have more music coming in 2012. In the meantime hit him up on Twitter @LennyWilliams

The D.C native’s affinity for hip-hop and fearless approach to sensitive topics made him an instant hit. Whether it was “The Racial Draft” where Tiger Woods became Black or the classic Charlie Murphy’s Truth Hollywood Stories with the late Rick James Chappelle took made sketch comedy feel like oral history. In fact, mere phrases from the show (“I’m Rick James, bitch!” ) have become ubiquitous, embedding themselves into the American lexicon.

Add performances from some of hip-hops best like Kanye West, Erykah Badu and Snoop and Chappelle’s Show was must-see TV. Sales of season 1 and 2 on DVD made it one of the most successful of all time, beating out The Simpsons in 2005.

Unfortunately, Chappelle would take his talents back to Ohio and Season 3 never officially materialized. Fans still pine away for the return of Chappelle to TV and Chris Rock recently hinted that the two may tour together.  In any respect we need him back.

“He was the new generation Eddie Murphy,” says DJ Rob Flow, who walked away with a jar or Pomade and a pack of Newports after winning the “I Know Black People” contest on Chappelle. “Every generation has a black comedian that expresses a particular type of angle on the culture. In ’70s we had Richard Pryor. ’80s we had Eddie Murphy. He was definitely a part of hip-hop culture and he loved conscious artists. He was important to the culture for that.  He ended up really pushing the racial lines and that’s what freaked everybody out. It got really popular and he realized white people aren’t laughing with us.  That’s my theory. I think that’s why he left. But he needs to come back and finish the thought. Get white people to laugh with us, not at us.”

Throughout the month of February TheUrbanDaily.com will be celebrating 25 of the biggest  moments in pop culture, sponsored by Gillette.

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You’ve heard it from the pundits:  ’Obama is cloistered in the White House.’ ‘He’s aloof.’ ‘He’s in the bubble.’ He’s not connecting,’ joked Obama. “And that’s why one of my big goals this year was to get out and be among every day, ordinary Americans — like the men and women of the Alfalfa Club.

Obama even mentioned his surprisingly formidable singing talents at the dinner as well:

At least my harshest critics can agree, I have a promising future as an Al Green impersonator, said Obama.

The president kept the jokes flying, even poking a bit of fun toward the direction of Speaker of the House Rep. John Boehner:

John, I want you to know – I am eager to work with members of Congress to be entertaining tonight. But if Congress is unwilling to cooperate, I will be funny without them.

It wasn’t all jokes at the event as Occupy DC protestors gathered outside the Capitol Hilton, glitter bombing Senators Joe Lieberman and Mark Warner, who reportedly still had glitter in the hair. Police also reported that some of the female protestors taunted guests by ripping off their shirts.

The Alfalfa Club counts former presidents as part of its selective membership. George H.W. Bush and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush were guests at the dinner. Michael Bloomberg and former presidential hopeful John McCain were also in attendance.

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