Old School Mondays:: Juice Edition

It's weeks like this one that demonstrate why I do OSM on Mondays. Like most working stiffs, Sunday night finds me trying to shake off the effects of the weekend (having kids now makes that more like shake off the crumbs from the weekend), and get prepared to drag my carcass into work the next morning. Hence, prepping a post on Sunday night isn't something I'm always looking forward too, and some Sundays when I have nothing immediately coming to mind, I don't feel like doing one at all. But then I think of some song I used to love in 1991, and bam, we're off to the races.

That was the case this week, as my OSM landscape was barren, so I was going back through last week's posts, and whilst re-reading my review for D-Sisive's great new album Jonestown, the answer became pretty obvious: Juice. If you read the review, the reasons are obvious, but I shall explain anyway (un-necessary explanations are how we roll). On Jonestown's Boom Baba Boom, D makes mention of Biggie smiling as he watches Bishop (Tupac) falling off the roof at the end of Juice, he then goes on to break down the whole reference - why it would make Big smile, etc. So that would be enough, as Juice should easily be in anyone's "top 5 hip hop movies" list, but D also uses the line "I got the juice now, so you catch the taste", which is a ref to a much-loved Robbie Alomar juice commercial that was on Canadian TV in the early 90's. If that doesn't beg for a Juice-related OSM, I don't know what would.

Seriously, if you have never seen this Omar Epps starring, Tupac scene-stealing (his multi-level fade alone was killer) 1992 film, I suggest you do so. It has easily one of the best hip hop soundtracks ever put out, which, I know, isn't saying too much as most of them were disappointments, but it also deserves credit for appearing to have some songs written expressly for the soundtrack. Even if it's just for the 4 songs below, this one is one of the best in my humble.

I think people sleep on Naughty By Nature, but Uptown Anthem is excellent, Treach at his barely-coherent, speed-flow best. If anyone is skeptical about the excellent of Ra or BDK, just check Juice (Know The Ledge) and Nuff' Respect to be set straight. And EPMD's It's Going Down was always a sludgey favorite of mine. I should also, somewhat sheepishly, mention that the new-jack swing style R&B jams (Is It Good To You & Don't Be Afraid) were also much-loved back in the day. Enjoy!

MP3:: Naughty By Nature - Uptown Anthem

MP3:: Eric B. & Rakim - Juice (Know The Ledge)

MP3:: Big Daddy Kane - Nuff' Respect

MP3:: EPMD - It's Going Down

Big Daddy Kane - Nuff' Respect

Labels: Big, EPMD, Eric B. and Rakim, Hip Hop, Old School Mondays, Tupac