TALKIN' VIDEOS

Today's selection isn't really a throwback. In fact, it's only a couple years old. However, it's definitely a throwback in the sense that it makes a wholehearted attempt at showing us where this music has come from. Hidden Beach Recordings' Unwrapped All-Stars give us their rendition of the classic brought to our attention by current inmate Mystikal, "Bouncin' Back." [watch it now] Let's have a long hard look at this one. Let's reflect and appreciate.

Being a Harlem kid myself, it's heartwarming to see the legends that tore shit up back when my grandmama and them was twurkin. This was their Jay-Z, their Nas, their Whitney Houston... shit, it was even their Laffy Taffy. I get chills when I think about the pavement I walked growin up. I wish I could have been at the Cotton Club when some of this shit was going on.

I'm not delusional. I don't think it was some magical time where everything was all good. I'm sure you'd find Cab Calloway doin a line off a stripper's ass in the bathroom or something like that. I guess I'm just intrigued because it's different and it's history. What can't be denied though is that the innovative musicality was on some other shit. Sometimes I wonder what happened to the spirit of that.

I wanna crack jokes on some of these cats but I figure if I grew up back then who's to say I wouldn't be rockin the perm like Nat King Cole or something? I know I would have failed that damn paper bag test, and me being who I am today, woulda been like "fuck these coons" and taken my party elsewhere. Like... my spot on 127th with the best bathroom brew in Harlem... and probably whatever young lady failed the paper bag test as well.

I'm definitely buggin off of this video today, but that's just my little imaginary stroll down a vicarious memory lane. Fuck it... Tell a story of your own today below. What do you think shit would have been like for you at the Cotton Club or whatever spot was jumping back then where you're from? White folks are welcome too! Y'all know your grandparents came to the hood to listen to that good ass Negro music that most of them couldn't quite grasp... or have the soul to throw down on.

Game recognize game. Seeing shit like this is definitely appreciated. I hope y'all feel the same way.

Questions? Comments? Requests? Wanna send incarcerated former No Limit MCs care packages in the bing? ronnie_mexxx@yahoo.com