St. Louis Music Blog

This? When it's warm and sunny like today, crank it.

Folks amost regulated on Nate Dogg this week for stalking and threatening his ex-wife -- but because she never contacted prosecutors, charges were dropped.

Tax time is frighteningly near. This 1999 single is entirely appropriate.

Very illuminating for any kid in the '90s. Also, a direct descendant of the Slow Jam.

Last week I posted Lauryn Hill; now here's her group she's a part of, the Fugees.

JAM.

In honor of Valentine's Day.

Is it summer yet? This song is kind of a warm weather jam.

That iPod "name the first line of the song" meme is going around Facebook, and one of the few tracks I guessed was this one.

 

In honor of this weekend's release of Notorious -- the long-awaited movie about the late rapper the Notorious B.I.G. -- here's a 1997 clip we all know and love.

Freak Nasty's "Da' Dip" was a Billboard hit in 1997, reaching No. 15 on the pop charts. The Southern rapper released an album called Freaknotic/Crunk City in 2005, but as his MySpace shows, Freak Nasty is still an active recording artist.

I somehow found myself watching an MTV show about expensive cribs on New Year's Eve, and one of them belonged to Master P. This of course made me think of this song, "Make 'Em Say Uhh!" which is one of the more obnoxious bits of mainstream hip-hop from the '90s.

Mr. P -- and son Romeo, nee Lil' Romeo -- now co-run Take a Stand Records, a label Billboard says aims to clean up "both the image and lyrics of hip-hop music. The new label will represent artists that have pledged to be role models to both the music industry and music lovers of all walks of life through 100% clean lyrics and positive moral values."

Janet Jackson's brother Michael is officially not in need of a lung transplant or at death's door. To celebrate, a classic single "If."

From the album Laface Family Christmas. TLC, well, no intro necessary!

Because people were complaining that the last two hip-hop jams of the week weren't hip-hop enough, here's an undisputable '90s stone-cold classic: Coolio's "Fantastic Voyage."

A #1 hit for Ini Kamoze in 1994, "Here Comes the Hotstepper" was on the soundtrack to the little-remembered flick Prêt-à-Porter. This song takes cues from "Land of 1000 Dances," a Chris Kenner tune popularized by Wilson Pickett (and subsequently covered by Broken Social Scene, Guy, Patti Smith, and others). The Jamaica-born Kamoze actually released his first single in 1981, and his 1983 self-titled full-length was produced by the production team Sly and Robbie. He released Debut, a collection of roots reggae tunes, in 2006.
 

For some reason, I swear I had already used this song as a '90s hip-hop jam. IT TURNS OUT I WAS WRONG. This oversight is being corrected immediately. Snow. "Informer." I tried to memorize the words in seventh grade. I still sort of remember some of them, even though I couldn't tell you at all what they mean.

Not quite hip-hop, but certainly worth a listen.

'Nuff said. Boyz II Men will be on A&E's Private Sessions show this weekend (Sunday, November 9 at 9 a.m. EST -- check our local listings!) to celebrate the Motown: A Journey Through Hitsville USA Live DVD.

Happy Halloween, y'all.

NO MORE DRAMA! Go Mary J.

Much like SXSW, the annual CMJ Festival in New York serves a far different purpose than it once did. While a few bands score record deals from showcases, and you can discover some fantastically named acts -- my personal new fave is Tiger! Shit! Tiger! Tiger!, a dour dance-punk band -- the vast majority of musicians playing CMJ shows are already signed or established.

St. Louis bands playing the fest this year all tend to be on the verge (or in the midst of) great things. Here's a day-to-day schedule of who's playing where in NYC this year.

Tuesday, October 21
DJ Andre Anjos (Knitting Factory)

Wednesday, October 22
(day party @ Rehab) Gentleman Auction House, So Many Dynamos
The Pragmatic (Piano's)
So Many Dynamos (Bowery Poetry Club)

Thursday, October 23
Cameron Matthews (Banjo Jim's)

Friday, October 24
Shame Club (Trash Bar)
(midnight) One Lone Car, Banjo Jim's

Faithful reader Anna sends me news that Naughty By Nature are reuniting for a new album. In honor of that, the group's stone-cold classic, "O.P.P."

Because the show tonight at the Scottrade Center with Bell Biv DeVoe, Keith Sweat and Dru Hill is cancelled, figured I'd make BBD's song "Poison" this week's jam. So we can all imagine how awesome it would have been live.

A good twilight-of-summer jam, this song samples Zapp's "Doo Wa Ditty (Blow That Thing)." According to Wikipedia, this song comes from Paperboy's 1993 LP The Nine Yards. The LA rapper released three albums after Yards and is apparently still recording today.

I am FLOORED I haven't posted this yet. This is one of my favorite '90s jams, hands down. This is from Positive K's only album, The Skills Dat Pay Da Bills. Allegedly, K recorded all of the vocals on this track -- male and female. He was heard on Nas' "Where Are They Now?" '90s remix in 2006.

-- Annie Zaleski

A lesser-known 1993 hit from Run-D.M.C., who's being covered by Robb Steele tonight at the Bluebird. Pete Rock produced this song, and he and C.L. Smooth are on this song.