How To Get From The Wu-Tang To Amy Winehouse? Use The Funk.
May 30, 2008
Taking it in a different direction on this Friday afternoon:
Raw I’ma give it to ya, with some trivia: About four years back, I download a track from somewhere (can’t remember where I found it) - it was El Michels Affair, “Glaciers of Ice”. I thought I had found the sample Raekwon used on what I would call the one of the best songs off the Cuban Linx album. It took me a couple of years before I came to the realization who El Michels Affair is.
Turns out that El Michels Affair is a backing band that performs for the Wu-Tang (or, really, for Ghost and Raekwon). Leon Michels is the head of the group, and the co-founder of a record label called Truth & Soul, which specializes in nu-funk/soul music. El Michels Affair has a sound that could be from the 70’s, but that’s not where they come from. Instead, the band is mostly seen playing live for Raek & Ghost, or releasing “instrumental” versions of Wu classics. Peep the video below to see some footage of El Michels Affair and the Wu doing C.R.E.A.M. live: http://www.youtube.com/v/ei2JbYeHl-I&
Why stop there? Here is Raek & the EMA performing Ice Cream live (apparently minus Cab-badonna, who was no doubt making pickups in Baltimore, which he loves like he love his d*ck size):
http://www.youtube.com/v/cVkqfECauSk&
And here’s a soulful instrumental version of C.R.E.A.M. recorded by El Michels Affair (not to be mistaken with the actual song The Rza sampled for C.R.E.A.M., which is “As Long As I Got You” by The Charmels):
http://www.youtube.com/v/Ku2yGHzcCQQ&
Rap styles vary: In case you are wondering how EMA got that sweet 70’s sound down - one of the first cats they signed to the label was an old-timer who goes by the name of Tyron Ashley, from Plainview, NJ. When he was a young man playing in bands in the 70’s, Plainview was the spot for funk/soul music. It’s the hometown of Parliment (yes, George Clinton grew up there), and there was lots of black musicians in the city back in those days - gospel, R&B, soul, funk, doo wop - you name it. And the studio that everyone supposedly passed through belong to none other than… Tyrone Ashley. This is a man who might have heard some good music in his time, you dig?
The Saga Continues: Truth & Soul operates out of a studio in Brooklyn, on North 10th Street in Williamsburg. That’s really Williamsburg, not Bushwick a.k.a. “East Williamsburg” as the realty stars have been known to sell it. That kinda kills me, actually. It’s funny how Bushwick, Flatbush, Crown Heights, and even Bed-Stuy have all sort of disappeared or shrunk over the past ten to fifteen years, to be replaced with new names. Sh*t, from now on I’m no longer telling people I live in Queens, but in “East Manhattan”. But I’m digressing.
Enter the Wu-Tang Zone: Truth & Soul recently did a remix for Amy Winehouse of “Love Is A Losing Game”. This is not Amy Winehouse’s (or her music producers) first foray into North Brooklyn. Not less than a mile away from Truth & Soul’s studio is the Mehanan Street Studio, home of Daptones Records and Amy’s backing band of choice, The Daptones. We wrote about that connection when we did this post earlier this year about Jay-Z , Sharon Jones, the Daptones, and Amy Winehouse.
Rappening is what’s happening: That British cokehead lady sure does know where to go to find some retro-sounding bands, doesn’t she? And the answer is North Brooklyn. The day of Brooklyn as the center of hip-hop may have passed (thank Rudy Guiliani and gentrification for that), but even if D&D studios isn’t as influential it once was, Brooklyn is still churning out hits in a new form. For the record, here’s my favorite Brooklyn track from that era, if only because it still cracks me up to hear Chubb Rock getting angry political on a track.
In ‘95 we take back Ebbets’ Field: Completely unrelated piece of trivia to share - Charles Ebbets’s (the sports executive for whom Ebbets’ Field was named after) nephew (Charles C. Ebbets) was a photographer during 20’s and 30’s, and took one of the most famous and iconoclastic photos of NYC ever - “Lunch Atop A Skyscraper”:
Some more stuff to check out: The El Michels Affair’s cover of “Walk On By” (sounds like the Isaac Hayes soul version, not so much the DIonne Warrick + Burt Bucharach original version):
http://www.ubiquityrecords.com/mpeg/ur195_01.mp3
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6 Responses to “How To Get From The Wu-Tang To Amy Winehouse? Use The Funk.”
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Ice Cream without “Wack”-adonna? 100% Classic! lol
Use the Funk - or Mark Ronson, who produced/recorded with GhostFace on his first album Here Comes the Fuzz (Ooh Wee) and produced/recorded with ODB and Amy Winehouse (Toxic and Valerie, respectively) on his second album Version as well as her second album Back in Black.
Gentrification is never funny. Granted Bushwick, Flatbush, Crown Heights, Bed-Sty et. al. were never ours to begin with (but that’s only because we were left in the dark regarding real estate and ownership - often intentionally), but whitefolk coming in replacing Dutch names with English ones? after the Dutch names had already replaced the native ones? it’s all really too much. And I despise the fact that we’re losing Harlem to them as well (truth be told, we’ve already lost it). I wonder what waspy new name they’ll come up with for Uptown? Shid, man, the descendants of British cokeheads are busy carving up Manhattan, Brooklyn, and parts of The Bronx, rezoning and renaming it all to suit their purposes. With respect to tapping our cultural expertise in the musical arena, why should Winehouse be any different?
Anyway, that wasn’t really the point of your piece, SML, I know that, and I’m sorry - but you know how I feel about this “East Williamsburg” “East Village” (formerly LES) shit!
On a positive note, I really appreciate you digging up that old Charmels tune - it sounded great, thanks for that, forreal. Now I’m the type of cat who’s gotta take the trek down to Sonny “Abubadika” Carson Av - opps, I mean Gates Ave - in Brooklyn to find the entire album (to hell with downloading digital music, sun, I’m from the ol school)!
SML
I admit I’m not exactly sure of the point you’re trying to make and since I don’t listen much to music made today, I’m in no position to judge the validity of that position anyway.
But I will say that I’ve heard Amy Winehouse and she is a truly brilliant singer. I don’t know how anyone can deny that. Also, chastising her for being a cokehead, is, IMO, a low blow and diminishes any argument you make. Especially when I hear it as a Jazz fan. My favorite singer of all time Billie Holiday, was an alchoholic junkie, The father of modern Jazz and the greatest sax man who ever lived, Charlie Parker, was a junkie as were MIles, ‘Trane, Sonny Rollins, Lee Morgan and more truly great Jazz Giants than you can even name.
Ms. Winehouse certainly seems to be an addict, but she is an unusually uncommon artist with an authentic voice and the bravery to express it. I respect that above all else when it comes to musicians.
Kev: I like Winehouse’s sound. If there was a point to this post - and honestly, not really; it was just a bunch of talk about artists and their connections - it was that Winehouse’s sound is good because of the artists she uses to (re)create that authentic soul sounds of the 50’s - 70’s.
As for calling her a “British cokehead”, that was just a statement of fact; no judgment being passed. I’ve known enough people with addiction problems in my life - I don’t act as anyone’s judge anymore in that respect. It was a low blow, though. I don’t appreciate when people say negative things about rap artists (”felons!), even when they are true, as a means of discredit their work. So, yes, I will try to avoid doing that in the future. But, just to be clear: my intention intent in writing that comment was not to speak about her work, or devalue it.
Last Poet: You know (or should know) by now how I feel about gentrification! I know it’s not a laughing matter, believe me. I hate hearing the name “East Williamsburg” - it’s just a made up name (the real East Williamsburg is like three blocks wide, and just industrial buildings) by realtors to sell Bushwick to people who would be uncomfortable telling their friends they live in Bushwick. But you understand that, living uptown. Parts of Spanish (West) Harlem are now, what… Hamilton Heights? Morningside Heights?
Wanna place bets on how long until East Harlem (my neighborhood until two years ago) is renamed? I’m guessing it’ll be either “North Yorkville”, “Pleasantville (one of the old names of El Barrio), “the Upper, Upper East Side”, or the “Uppiest East Side”….
SML
Thanks for the reply and it’s all good, just a little back and forth between friends my man.