Change of pace

Here is a treat for all of you today:

For those who do not know, I am an avid fan. I called myself a moderate to medium listener of it to someone only to hear “thats a lie” from a friend, so yeah. I’m pretty into it.

One of my favourite Hip Hop duos that either goes under the radar or doesn’t get the respect it deserves is Nice and Smooth. My introduction to Nice and Smooth starts at 2 points. 1.) Reading about them in the Hip Hop 101 column in SOURCE magazine, a terrible publication that I buy for that one column, and I always get a laugh out of the fly honeys in the back. I mean I guess it was a tough time to come out and really get recognized. Smooth B says in this column that “You had Slick Rick, KRS-One, Kane, Public Enemy, Chubb Rock, and everybody is coming on up to Naughty By Nature. I think what made these guys stand out in the New York hip hop scene was their lack of seriousness but biting rhymes. I mean their first lp “Nice and Smooth” is definitely cluttered but stand out tracks like “Funky For You”, “No Delayin'”, and “More and More Hits” defined their style. You had Greg Nice, who really was half mc, half hype man, while Smooth B was exactly what his name says. Smooth. It also probably helped that they got a spot on the 2nd Big Daddy Kane LP on a well known track “Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy”, a song ruined by Big Daddy Kane claiming to be “strictly anti-faggot”… Daaaang.

The Second point was the fact that they were on the infamous Gang Starr track “Dwyck”, a song I didn’t fully appreciate until i watched the music video 50 times.  Gang Starr also appear on their album “Ain’t a Damn Thing Changed” using an old Gang Starr sample, possibly Words I Manifest if I remember correctly. …Changed is a solid LP all around. Continuning the trend of fun songs about essentially being in effect, drugs, sex sex sex, and the like using the same kind of party samples, and definitely dabbling with the new jack swing sound. And of course, the tracy chapman sampled song “Sometimes I Ryhme Slow” definitely earned them some respect along with probably the quintessential Nice and Smooth song “Hip Hop Junkies”. Funny Story about recording Dwyck:  Smooth B smoked sixteen blunts during the recording process. Nice and Smooth is the essential soundtrack to a party, to a sunny day, they’re even alright at night just hangin around. They are definitely up there in my favourite groups for hip hop, one of my favourite duos. I have strange taste though where I’d rather rock Fat Boys than Run DMC, and Heavy D over Wu Tang (no connection between the 2, Wu-Tang just sucks Adam).

They now live on publishing money, since they secured their shit before their label went under. My copy of Ain’t a Damn Thing Changed is seeing hard times, I think I should just buy a repress just for a clean piece of vinyl to spin.

And I leave you with this crucial piece of awesome:

THE NICE AND SMOOTH SLANG HANDBOOK:

Day at the Beach: When a man is a pushover for a woman

Dead Out of Order: Wrong, Incorrect person.

Dip — Or Honey Dip: Pretty young ladies with golden brown complexions, sweet-looking, tanned –women in general

Fat: Largeness, when concerning many things e.g finance, power, prosperity, lifestyle.

Flake: Not being for real, unreal person

Highell: Corporate Women

On Point like a Needle: Precise, accurate.

P-Noid Like Sigmund Freud: Paranoid, whether naturally or under an influence.

Picnic Down by the Cake: Tells of one man dating two or more women and the women treat him to dinner, shopping spree, movie, etc.

Sex on the Beach: Drink.

Skins: Specifically shapely women, who know the flavour, who never front on activities.

Whip–Auto: Your Car