Deen doesn’t dance no more, all he does is diss.
At some point during my adventure with Trackstar the DJ’s Out Of The Darkness – The Best Of Organized Noize, I came to the slightly annoying realization that I’m a bit of an asshole. Well, I’ve known this since I was about seven, but I’m referring to a different kind of asshole. The kind of asshole that gets upset when he realizes that there are things about Organized Noize that he either never knew (insert song) or simply forgot over time. In truth, there’s really no reason for me to trip over these things since I can confidently assert that I know more about ON than most – I say that both as a taunt and as a matter of pride. After all, ON is responsible for my first forays into Southern rap/R&B (I suspect that’s true for many of us) and for that I am eternally thankful. But the nerd in me is still upset that there are other people on this planet that may be bigger Organized Noize stans than I am.
In any case, once I got over myself, I enjoyed this expertly-curated trip down memory lane – forgive the cliche. Simply put, Trackstar really knows his shit. Because of the immense reserves of hate in my heart, I hit “play” on this set hoping to come up with pedantic criticisms about songs or artists he missed out on, but I really only played myself. Let’s face it – there’s no way a man can get THE Big Rube to provide insightful interludes (no, really – I learned a bunch) throughout the project without knowing what the fuck he’s doing. Add in the precise blending and mixing between the tracks and you just know that you’re listening to a labor of love. For a nerd like me, listening to this mix meant immediately delving back into Organized Noize’s vast and scattered discography, which in turn led to questions like “why didn’t we let Bubba Sparxxx cook for a bit longer” and “how the hell do you classify Organized Noize’s sound?”
I suppose the ultimate takeaway one gets from listening to this mix is that Organized Noize is severely under-appreciated. The breadth of the work they’ve done in the last two decades is a little astonishing and that’s before you’re reminded of their R&B footprints (DJ Trackstar didn’t miss that either). TLC? En Vogue? Enya? (kidding). Thankfully, this set exists to help rectify this state of affairs. Shiiiiiiiiet, this shit is really just a cheat code for neophytes and OGs alike. After I force my kid brother to listen to this a few times, I’m certain that he’ll become a slightly more useful human being. These MP3 generation muthafuckas are so damn lucky.
With that last line, I feel the sadness returning again. Now I’m wondering why we don’t hear even more Organized Noize productions outchea. I hear that Cee-Lo is always on TV these days showing off his dinosaur arms and making money off white people and that’s great, but I really just want to hear more Organized Noize beats in mainstream rap. Shiiiet, I’ll even settle for R&B at this point. Is that too much to ask for? Well, at least we have Future to place Big Rube interludes on rap albums in 2012 – that’s gotta count for something (PLUTO!)
Oh shit! Isn’t that the percussion from Outkast’s “Pink & Blue”? But my iPod says this is “Blackberry Molasses” by Mista. I smooth forgot the fuck about that group. Wow. Awww man, this is great. I’m happy and annoyed again. Thank you based gawd… and Trackstar.
Oh, and “pause” on all that asshole talk. Finding synonyms for that word is kinda difficult on a bleary Monday morning…
Download:
ZIP: Out of the Darkness — The Best of Organized Noize by Trackstar the DJ (Left-Click)
Stream:
