THE FIRST SCENES I REMEMBER

Aloe Blacc - I Need A Dollar (Teaser) from What Matters Most on Vimeo.

I CAN'T TURN BACK

WHY I'M GETTING HIGH

DazedDigital/Inside The Cosmic Crib Of Flying Lotus

I WONDER WHERE I AM

DANCE TO THE DRUMMER'S BEAT

ART STAR

WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF A NATION

BROKEN SOUL MUSIC

Madlib took it back to the future about six or seven years ago as he smashed out the UK's own "broken beat" genre and foreshadowed dubstep with Theme For A Broken Soul. Fact Mag recently made his one and only Rels related project their surprise top pick when running down his essential albums. With everybody hyped on the stripped-down soul happening somewhere between the new Four Tet, Joy Orbison and the XX, it looks like DJ Rels might need to come back to the future again.
DJ Rels Theme For A Broken Soul
Fact Magazine, The Essential Madlib
Stones Throw Download, DJ Rels Mix

YOU COULD HAVE ANYTHING

GURU IS GONNA MAKE IT

Just caught the news on the net about Guru.
Putting a prayer and praise into the universe on behalf of the MRE crew for one of our great voices and icons.

All of Gang Starr's work and the Jazzmatazz records had a big impact on me but i've posted two lesser known tracks that hit me on a personal level

"The Planet" - Guru's story of making the move from Boston to NYC was my anthem, his story mirrored mine down to saying goodbye to the folks and getting on an Amtrak train with only a bag and enough money to go for broke, heading to the Big Apple. Then finally arriving in Brooklyn on the way to trying to create and make a living in hip-hop.

(Check the poetry at work here. The scene where he leaves Boston, gives his pops a pound, his father gives him a hug - but then the finish - "and then he turned around". This is blue collar rhyming - direct and to the point but there are those key scenes where Guru illustrates very profound moments with just a few words . There is no fronting here about an easy life and no fancy word play - the soul is in the details and the honesty.)

This record was a soundtrack to my day to day life. When he talked about working in the mailroom - well, I thought as I made copies and stuffed CDs and vinyl into jiffy packs at the temp job, if Guru got through this shit then I can too. Whether finding a way to maintain when things were bleak, staying up listening to a young Funk Flex in the mix , escaping life for a minute with help from some smoke or actually managing to pull off a date night in NYC while flat broke - I could relate to the words in this record. "I'm gonna make it God damn it".

I'm pretty sure I played this track from Hard To Earn really loud every morning before I got on the train at Clinton-Washington and again when I got to the job early before everyone else.

"Feel The Music" reminds me of partying at Giant Step at their downtown spots, when I had 'made it' (at least in twenty-two year old terms), having that first real job and a steady place to live and finally getting a grip on a city which had damn near ground me down the year before.

16 years ago that Gang Starr record helped me get from one day to the next, for that I'm always grateful and that's why I'll be saying a prayer for Guru's recovery tonight.

Peace,
LEE
MRE / US&THEM