LL Cool J - Loungin'

"Chanel on your feet"

This is a classic mid-period affair from Mr. Smith, but it's the sample that makes it. It don't mean I dislike it, I actually really enjoy it. It's an above average LL song, nowhere near as bad as 'Ain't Nobody' (lazy track/awful yet amazing video).

But it's all about the original. I never got exposed to Bernard Wright when I was younger, I think this song was from the mid-eighties, and I haven't got a bad thing to say about it. It really is a fantastic tune and video. There's something about this song (and Bernard Wright) that is really genuine and sincere. The chorus part of the video has a nice effect where they spin around on the floor and the world goes upside down and back again; it really gets the point across.

Ice Cube - Today Was A Good Day

"Hit the the three wheel motion"

Man I love this song - good for the months of summer, or for living in California where it's hot all the time. All the time. This truly is a classic, and so ingrained in hip hop history, there was no way the sample was ever going to work for Usher. I got a lot of time for Usher, but that song just doesn't go.

Based on the Isley Brother's 'Footsteps in the dark', Ice Cube's version goes in the complete opposite direction. The original is a brilliant Isley tune, and it's a pretty solemn and melancholie piece about infidelity.

Mos Def - Ms. Fat Booty

"Ass so fat, you could see it from the front"

I'm gonna be doing a few bits on soul songs from the sixties and seventies that have been transformed into modern day hip hop classics; this one is first up. 'Ms. Fat Booty' is a killer and come from one of those albums that steady mobs all the way through. 'Black On Both Sides' is a lot of people's all time favourites.

I have to admit I never knew the source material until recently, but it's a smash. A not so well know Aretha Franklin tune; 'One Step Ahead';

Blackstreet - No Diggity

No doubt, No Diggity is one of the finest pieces of music written. An overstatement? In terms of what makes up this song, no. No Diggity takes a history of black music and condenses it into four minutes. Starting at the beginning, there's the sample of 'Grandma's Hands' by soul's Bill Withers, a short, blues guitar ode to his aged relative, and her old and worn limbs. She'd have undoubtedly been alive at the turn of the century when life was hella different for a lot of people. Withers' 'Mmm-mmm' at the start and end of the song, strongly resembles the voices of the chain gangs, the field hollers, the work songs of enslaved or imprisoned black Americans one hundred years ago.

The 'shoops' of Blackstreet throughout the song are reminiscent of doo-wop era music, and those piano chords take it back to jazz. On top of all this, there's the perfect fusion of hip-hop and modern rhythm and blues, Blackstreet's smooth sounds, Dr. Dre's rap. Work songs, jazz, blues, soul, hip-hop, R&B, rap, and more I've most likely missed. I know the very essense of hip-hop is to borrow, chop, sample and screw, but very few songs have done it quite so well as this.

Hype Williams is responsible for the video, and it's easily one of his best. Retrained and subtle, with a beautiful colour palette. Highlights are the little puppets playing instruments and the girls dancing on the wet floor in front of the limousines.

Bell Biv DeVoe - Poison

Bell Biv DeVoe: Splinter cell of New Edition. I don't even know where to start this one; the accompanying flick is appallingly amateurish, yet completely amazing in equal measure. The beginning is pretty fly with the lady scientist, And the super-imposed dancing through out is such classic effect. The clothing selections could warrant an entire essay, needless to say the Dennis The Menace shirt is hands down the best.

Overall, I'd describe it as "mentally hip-hop smoothed out on the R&B tip with pop appeal to it". I'd say that's fair.

Silk - Freak Me

Discovered by Keith Sweat, Silk released 'Freak Me' in 1993. It's a solid smooth track, but it's the mildly homoerotic video that stands out. There's two versions to be seen, the only reason I can imagine that a second one exists is that the original was too filthy for 1993 standards. From what I can gather, the complex narrative structure centres around women working out in gym with Silk in various states of undress. There's every possiblity that the video serves as some sort of deep political metaphor, but I doubt it.

Big L - Ebonics

"I talk with slang and I'm a' never stop speakin it"

Funnily enough, I first heard Big L (so called for being little) on a L'il Stevie Williams part (so called for being big). That was 'Size 'Em Up', an abrasive roof raiser, this is 'Ebonics';

2009 is the 10th anniversary of Lamont Colemans death; he was shot on the very same corner he was photographed on for his only studio album 'Lifestyles Ov Da Poor And Dangerous'. At only 24, he was already a Harlem hip-hop legend.

Montell Jordan - This Is How We Do It

Montell rocks a fair number of looks in this video, the best is smoking a cigar on date Montell.

Now, Montell doesn't actually say these exact words, but this song got me thinking; What's the very first recorded example of the phrase 'Throw/wave your hands in the air, like you just don't care'...? The earliest I can think of is Cameo's 'Word Up' from 1986;

Now I might be able to find out if I could be bothered to do the research, but I can't. Your thoughts appreciated.

5ive - Slam Dunk Da Funk

Nah, only joking. 5ive were shit.

R Kelly - Bump 'n' Grind

"My mind's tellin' me no, but my body's tellin' me yes...". So begins one of Kelly's finest works. There doesn't seem to be any official video available, though there is this pretty fruity live performance right here.

You just can't deny the brilliance of this song - it's fire. When me and some friends when to an R&B night in Shoreditch recently, this came on. We drunkenly got on the stage and bumped and ground, we thought we looked amazing. We looked like twats. This is the power of R Kelly.