Back from an absence of more than two months, I've got a new goal, and it is pretty simple. I want to post five days in a row. The posts are going to be shorter, just to get into the habit of writing every day. But on the last day, I think I will have a pretty good rant readied about my comparison between the lyrical content of soul and funk of the 1970s versus hip hop today, and what outward effects the differences have created. But that's getting ahead of myself...


For this first post, I'm just going to link you to a brilliant article by William Safire about the origin of the word waterboarding. After reading it, you will hopefully laugh when anyone puts forth the ludicrous assertion that waterboarding isn't torture.

Bobby!

So the goal of this week on the song side is to post up tunes from upcoming unreleased albums. Hopefully I can post up these exclusives and get them out to some people, but not get noticed by the copyright fascists. If an artist or an uptight representative from a label wants a song to come down, just contact me and it'll be done.

Anyhow, I'm starting things off from a new cut from Mr. Bobby Digital, the one better known as the RZA. Much like young white suburbanites go through Led Zeppelin and Beatles phases in high school, this grown white former suburbanite is going through a massive Wu Tang phase right now. In the last month, I've purchased the Afro Samurai double LP, the Only Built 4 Cuban Linx LP and the Liquid Swords instrumentals CD. I could spend a year studying the Wu Tang Clan, all of their members, and all of their affiliates and it would be a year well spent. But in the immediate, I am just going to savor what I enjoy the most about Wu Tang, and that is the RZA -- specifically his beats.

From what I've gathered from other blogs, RZA has another Bobby Digital project due out in the summer of 2008. This cut from it, "You Can't Stop Me" has been circulating through the blogosphere, so I'm not breaking any new ground here. The cut features Inspectah Deck (who is my favorite MC out of the 9 main members of Wu Tang). But more than any particular lyrical prowess in the song (RZA's first verse is enjoyable), what is making me play this track again and again is the beat structure, and that wonderful soul hook. Trust me, you're going to rewind this cut a few times too.

RZA ft. Inspectah Deck - You Can't Stop Me