It’s been a good week everyone. It’s hot outside, but it’s cool in here.

In
Rotation: July 29, 2005.

The method behind the summer madness is as follows:

I started out feeling really good, and being wide awake late at night, and I
thought to myself that I wanted to hear a little but of everything, so I started
out with the following:

01 – Leela James – Good Time. From A Change Is Gonna Come.
I was really encouraged from the feedback from her track Don’t Speak. Strong
vocals with a vibe that’s all encompassing makes it a nice eye opener.
02 – Sy Smith – No Place Like Love. From The Syberspace
Social. Honey featured it as an underground
soul CD, so you know it’s all good, right? It’s airy, funky sound is what
endeard me to this cut.
03 – The Sunburst Band – Everyday (Joey Negro Club Mix). I
got the London Soul CD and I had been checking this cut out and wishing
I could get the extended version. Once I found out where it was, and saw Joey
Negro on the cover, I had to pick it up, no questions asked. 7 minutes plus of
pure goodness.

After all of that head nodding I mellowed it out just a little bit, because
I personally knew that I needed a breather from those tracks, so I put on:
04 – Vanessa Marquez – Day Dreaming. I’m still on the Vanessa
Marquez tip. Special thanks to Nikki.
The guitars and woodwinds made this song a relaxing track.
05 – Jaguar Wright – One More Drink. Everytime I listened to
this track, it made me smile, because I’ve seen this in action at just about
every bar I’ve been at. I can see women vibing to this track and knowing all
of the words, trust me, just as they’d be able to vibe to:
06 – Vivian Green – I Like it (But I Don’t Need It). After
hearing this track though, I’m sure my fellas would take over the turntable
with a track that pretty much describes their thoughts after hearing the Vivian
Green track:
07 – Anthony Hamilton – Love Is So Complicated, am I right?

But after those tracks, I figured I wanted the heads to nod again and to hear
a little hip-hop inflection as well.
08 – Platinum Pied Pipers – Deep Inside. Featuring Sa-Ra Creative
Partners, this track starts heads nodding again.
09 – Ladybug Mecca – Dogg Starr. Now, just two weeks ago, I
mentioned Trip The Light Fantastic. Well, I was blessed to receive
an email from Ladybug who was glad that someone was spinning her record and
she mentioned that it was a little different from what people had been used
to. I found that surprising mostly because I was able to vibe to the entire
album from start to finish. To me, different/eclectic is a good thing. My hats
off to you, Ladybug.
10 – Little Brother – Feelin Alright. Again from The Chitlin
Circuit, which has also been in regular rotation.
11 – Black Eyed Peas – Like That (Featuring Cee-Lo,
John Legend, Talib Kweli & Q-Tip). With those four in this track,
I don’t believe I need to say anymore why I really like this track.

Since the last track had Cee-Lo in it, I decided to pull out a cut from his
from last year to slow things down:
12 – Cee-Lo – Living Again. This track made me pull out another
mellow track:
13 – Esthero – Gone. This track features Cee-Lo. I got to see
them perform this live earlier this month. Since I was still on the mellow tip
and was about to wind down and get some much needed rest, I pulled out:
14 – D’Nell – The Best Way from 1st Magic. With the head nodding
and the strings, I felt pretty mellowed out and wanted to wrap it up with a
track for a warm summer’s night:
15 – Siji – The Day Ahead, from God Given.

And that’s how the flow went. Hope you enjoy.