Mixtape Monday is a selection of three tracks following a common theme. Feel free to add your own selections to the theme/mood in the comments. Can be new or old music. Enjoy!
This collection of tracks focuses on the second British Music Invasion in the early 1990s. While hip hop started in New York City in the late 70s, the culture and the music expanded to Europe in the mid-80s. From there, locals on the British dance music scene started experimenting with the beats and samples of hip hop and adding soulful vocals on top. The emerging sound was called Acid Jazz by many and went on to come full circle int he full 90s and capture American audio and video playlists with the hybrid sound.
Soul II Soul - "Jazzie's Groove" (1989)
This album really opened me up to a lot of different sounds including house music and african club rhythms. This was actually one of my favorite songs on the album bc Jazzie B always had the dope speaking voice. Definitely a classic!
Massive Attack - "Unfinished Sympathy"(1991)
Massive Attack came on the scene with their debut album Blue Lines and put Tricky at the forefront of the underground club consciousness. He had the British spoken lyric style (similar to Jazzie B) and laced with the vocals of Horace Andy and Shara Nelson, helped craft one of the more epic releases during the time period.
Jamiroquai - Virtual Insanity (1996)
This song and related video were a huge success for the 8 piece band of masterful musicians known as Jamiroquai. Led by their always engaging frontman Jay Kay, the band (actually Kay himself) signed an eight album deal with Sony that was one of the biggest ever at the time. "Virtual Insanity" was released in 1996 on the bands third album Travelling Without Moving.
