Well, I got distracted and stopped posting Humpday Happytracks for a few months. I'll try to be more consistent...
When I was a mid-career corporate drone, I realized that there was an entire genre of music that I had been ignoring - hip hop. I decided that I needed to understand the stuff that my middle school kids were listening to, so I started paying attention. The first rapper that penetrated my consciousness was MC Hammer - my reaction was, "meh." My snooty attitude was blown away in 1992 when Arrested Development dropped their first album - 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life of..." This is a record that stands the test of time.
While the entire record is glorious, I found the track Mama's Always On Stage to be especially amazing for many reasons. First, the spoken word brilliance. Here's a sample:
I respect you in a strong way.
Super late nights cause your baby slept all day.
But mama don't sleep, your life's a turning page.
Mama's always on stage.
Oh yeah - that slaps!
The other beautiful thing about this track - Arrested Development samples the great blues harmonica player, Junior Wells. Full disclosure - I am a blues harmonica player and a long-time fan of the late, great Junior Wells. I'm delighted that Speech, Arrested Development's primary lyricist and rapper, understands that hip-hop is a direct descendent of the blues. As Willie Dixon famously said, "The blues is the roots. Everything else is the fruits."
So enjoy this Humpday Happytrack, Mama's Always On Stage. And here's the sampled Junior Wells/Buddy Guy track, We're Ready.
