2 Busy Saying Yeah 10 - Matthew Africa & DJ Fuze Are So International!

This week I'm joined by one of my favorite DJs, DJ Fuze.

Fuze is a Bay Area rap legend best known as the DJ for Digital Underground and the Luniz and for being one half of the group Raw Fusion. He has toured everywhere and has produced Digital Underground, 2Pac, Dru Down & the Luniz. He is also a phenomenally hard party rocker with great skills and deep knowledge of many styles of black music, from rap to funk to the music of Africa and the Caribbean. In the second half of the show, he joins me and drops a great mix of dancehall that's too new for the club plus some classic soca and African hits. I had no idea how big a Vybz Kartel fan Fuze is, but there it is.

In the first half of the show, I play a mix of some of my favorite African funk records. Since comps long ago outpaced my African digging, almost all are from those. Nearly a third were taken from Soundway's phenomenal Ghana Soundz 2, which is a great place to start if you want more in this style.

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The tracklist is this:

Matthew Africa

1. Ebo Taylor Jnr. & Wuta Wazuri: Mondo Soul Funky
2. Honny & the Bees Band: Psychedelic Woman [Bonobo remix]
3. Orchestra Baobab: Kelen Ati Len
4. Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo De Cotonou: Dis Mois La Verité
5. Marijata: No Condition Is Permanent
6. Matata: I Want You
7. Orlando Julius Ekemode: Alo Mi Alo
8. Ebo Taylor: Atwer Abroba
9. William Onyeabor: Body & Soul
10. Sir Shina Peters & His International Stars: Yabis
11. The Sahara All Stars of Jos: Take Your Soul
12. Oscar Sulley & the Uhuru Dance Band: Olufeme
13. Asiko Rock Group: Lagos City
14. C.K. Mann: Funky Hi-Life
15. The Ogyataanaa Show Band: Disco Africa
16. Shina Williams & His African Percussionists: Agboju Logun

DJ Fuze!

17. Demarco: Roof Over My Head
18. Vybz Kartel: Life Sweet
19. Vybz Kartel: Versatility feat. Indu
20. Konshens: No Money to Give You
21. Erup: Pop Dat
22. Laden: Time to Shine
23. Mavado: Mockingbird
24. Beenie Man: Stack & Pile
25. Beenie Man: Pop Off
26. Elephant Man: Horny Wine
27. Vybz Kartel: Mentally Insane (DJ Fuze’s Town RMX)
28. Vybz Kartel: Gaza Commandments
29. Demarco: Some A Seh
30. Mr. Vegas: I Am Blessed
31. Vybz Kartel: Dollar Sign
32. Serani: Badmind
33. Keak Da Sneak: Super Hyphy (DJ Fuze’s Anger Management RMX)
34. Mistah F.A.B.: New O.A.K. (DJ Fuze’s Anger Management RMX)
35. Vybz Kartel: Go-Go Club
36. Konshens & Dario: Do D Ting
37. Mr. Vegas: Gallis
38. Mavado: Never Believe You
39. Isaac Blackman: To the Ceiling
40. Machel Montano: Fly Away feat. Collie Buddz
41. Soca: Hot & Groovy
42. Traffik: Sweetness feat. Shayne Bailey
43. Busy Signal: Up In Her Belly (Magalenha)
44. Fay Ann Lyons: Wine Fast feat. Beenie Man
45. Benjai: Tanty Say feat. Scarface
46. Magic System: Premier Gaou
47. Awilo Longomba: Karolina
48. Les Championnes: La Ronde Des Fillettes
49. Ellon DJ & Mix DJ 1er: Bobaraba
50. Romain Virgo: Mi Caan Sleep
51. Marcia Griffiths: Keeping It Real feat. Busy Signal

Put on your X

He would have been 84 on Tuesday.


Earl Sixteen: "Malcolm X"



Knowledge: "Put On Your X" (Raw Cut, 1992)

The loser

Derrick Harriott: "The Loser" (Trojan, 196?)

I've been obsessed with this song since first hearing it on the Trojan Rocksteady Box a few years ago.

Partly it's because it's a great, great song but also I couldn't quite put my finger on where he'd cribbed it from-- I recognized bits of Billy Stewart's "I Do Love You" (or is it "Sitting in the Park"? they're too similar) but it took me about two years to figure out that the intro was from the Alan Brandt/Bob Haymes tune "That's All", which is one of the prettiest standards I know.

These are two of my favorite versions of that:


Thee Midniters: "That's All" (Whittier, 196?)



Shirley Scott: "That's All" (Prestige, 1961)

Reelin' in the years

Jane Birkin" "69 Année Érotique" feat. Serge Gainsbourg (Fontana, 1969)



Mad Lads: "Monkey Time '69" (Volt, 1969)



Inmates: "1974 Trying to Be a Pro" (Prison, 1975)



Horace Andy: "Africa (1983)" (Message, 1978)



Jimi Hendrix: "1983" (demo) (1968, Rising Sun)

This is nowhere near as good as the regular version or even the demo that appeared on Between the Lines, but it's a revealing oddity.



Ray Luv: "1991 R.I.P." (Strictly Business, 1991)



Common: "One-Nine-Nine-Nine" feat. Sadat X (Rawkus, 1999)



Roy Ayers Ubiquity: "2000 Black" (Polydor, 1975)



Obscure Disorder: "2004" feat. Non-Phixion (Audio Research, 1999)

The producer and manager of Obscure Disorder now record as Chromeo.



Alkaholiks: "2014" (Loud, 1995)



US69: "2069: A Spaced Oddity" (Buddah, 1969)

Let's do it

This was a huge record in Bay rap clubs for most of the 90s:




Jamal-Ski the Bead Master: "Let's Do It in the Dancehall" (TNT Hip Hop Mix) (Sam, 1990)

Originally the song was released in 1990 as a b-side on a reissue of a great but relatively obscure 1980 disco/rap tune, Convertion's "Let's Do It". Two of the remix versions draw heavily from the Convertion song and add a corny ragga-fied chorus, but the third one ditches Convertion altogether for a great Headhunters "God Made Me Funky"/Wilson Pickett "Bumble Bee" pairing. Although the hip hop remix is credited solely to NY reggae don dada Bobby Konders, I suspect Salaam Remi was probably responsible ("additional beat programming by Salamm" (sic)).

The hip hop mix wasn't really a chart or mainstream radio hit but it was popular in clubs for so long that four years later, Columbia signed Jamal-Ski and re-released it as "Jump, Spread Out."

Kinda related:



Bobby Bennett: "Bumble Bee (Sting Me)" (Philadelphia International, 197?)

This is a great and mostly slept-on single by a singer who was a member of James Brown's Famous Flames throughout most of the 60s, along with Bobby Byrd & Baby Lloyd Stallworth. Both this song and the b-side, the searing ballad "Days Go By", were recorded in remarkably similar versions by Wilson Pickett on his 1970 In Philadelphia album; if only Bennett had released a version of "Get Me Back On Time, Engine Number 9", too. "Days Go By" appears on the recent Conquer the World compilation and is worth seeking out.

Alton Ellis, R.I.P.

Man.... First the Warriors lose Monta Ellis for 2 months, then the world loses Alton Ellis forever.



Alton Ellis: "When I'm Down" (Heartbeat, 19??)

If you're not familiar with classics like "Rocksteady", the original version of "I'm Still in Love with You" or "Cry Tough", you really ought to get on that.

I love a rainy night

I didn't know this was a Jose Feliciano song until 30 seconds ago. Whoa.


Bruce Ruffin: "Rain" (Trojan, 1971)