It’s rare that you randomly stumble upon something on Soundcloud that truly grabs your interest, but New York native and Washington Heights resident Frankie P’s recent release “Hazy Nights In The Heights” did just that. A self-proclaimed “instrumental journey through the mind of Frankie P,” the album is produced with maturity, incorporating live instrumentation and […]

Dan Love has returned from the land of the chief rocka to reminisce on one of the most unsung. With the recent resurrection of Curtis and Otis by Messrs. West and Carter, I felt compelled to contact my daddy and remind him that things move in cycles. He managed to miss the Q-Tip reference – […]

Somehow, someway, there were worthwhile records left off our OCD year-end litanies. Accordingly, we’re spending the next few days paying tribute to the rap, R&B, and African records that slipped beneath the surface. [Somewhere in a Detroit basement] Apollo Brown:     We should call our group, The Left.Journalist 103:     Right, ok.Apollo Brown:    No, […]

Even if he now resides in New York, Dan Love remains From Da Bricks. Although hip hop underpins the whole Ninja Tune aesthetic, it would be a ridiculous to tie them too closely to any specific genre, due to the breadth and variety to be found in their two decade strong discography. Like Stones Throw, […]

While he may be English, Dan Love drops nothing but science and mathematics at From Da Bricks.   My Granddad passed away when I was in my final year of primary school, so now he only exists in a state of half memory where I can’t separate real events from imagined realities informed by photographs, stories […]

Kool & The Gang’s, “Summer Madness,” is one of the most gratifying seasonally themed records of all time and the inspiration for a plethora of songs that could lay claim to the same title. Recorded in 1973 (incidentally, the year credited as hip hop’s official birth date) and released on the group’s seventh studio album, […]

  All Reasonable Doubt samples in one zip: here. All posts rolled into one: here.  Dan Love runs this fiefdom: here. ‘Ain’t No Nigga’ The Whole Darn Family – ‘Seven Minutes Of Funk’ From Has Arrived (Soul International, 1976) Unavailable. Four Tops – ‘Ain’t No Woman (Like The One I Got)’ From Keeper Of The […]

  If you’re kind enough to link, parts II and III will be added to the original post as soon as they’re published. Thanks. “Feelin’ It” feat. Mecca Ahmad Jamal – ‘Pastures’ From Jamal Plays Jamal (20th Century, 1974) Think of “Feelin’ It” as an analogue to “Dead Presidents,” with both Ski-laced gems incorporating brooding […]

Dan Love, the man behind Oh Word’s epic de-construction of Illmatic, returns with a sequel worthy of hoverboards and Gray’s Sports Alamanac. A tip of the tilted brim to Hip-Hop is Read, for aiding and abetting the sample collection. For a full Zip of samples, click here.  Despite a plethora of highly acclaimed and commercially […]