the ultimate ish otc funk/soul/jazz thread

[playtetris]

my nickname is bobby womack. dig that funk.

creation unlimited - chrystal illusion

i caught this next group jamming at union square in frisco when i was recently there. amazingly dope sh*t. if anyone digs, hit me up; i've uploaded their album to zshare.

supa lowery bros - connections

supa lowery bros - fur live

[Dasher]

BMU-You Will Know

The cats in this vid need to start back cranking out material. Outside of Raphael I don't think anyone has released any recent material.
R.I.P.-Gerald Levert

[L.Kizzle]

BMU-You Will Know

The cats in this vid need to start back cranking out material. Outside of Raphael I don't think anyone has released any recent material.
R.I.P.-Gerald Levert

Mint Condition just released a new LP a few months back, the rest of the cats are on the inactive list. El DeBarge-come back.


Christion: Full Of Smoke (1997)
Dionne Farris: Hopeless (1997)
Bilal Love It (2000)
Gene Chandler: Just Be True (1964)
Four Tops: Loving You is Sweeter Than Ever (1966)

[Dasher]

Also R.I.P Kenny Greene of Intro who appears in the BMU vid. He died of AIDS a few years back.

Still thinking about the relevance of Kenny Greene's life and death

Oct 13 '02

The Bottom Line He was a major talent, with major potential and minor to non-existent love and support. For shame.

This is a slight revision, I liked the original but some things needed clarification for me.

Most people probably don't even know who Kenny Greene is. Most people don't even know the buzz that was going on in the industry about this guy before he died in October of 2001 of complications due to AIDS. I could go on and on about how talented he really was and how, at least for the R&B community, he will be missed. And I will, but there is a greater more meaningful purpose to this editorial. And if it gets even one of you to pick up an album by Kenny's group INTRO, that'll be enough for me.


Kenny Greene started out as one-third of the R&B trio INTRO. They dropped their eponymous debut album in 1993 and it spawned the hits, Let Me Be The One and Why Don't You Love Me. And their astonishingly daring ballad Come Inside may have spawned a generation in the same way Marvin's Sexual Healing did. And it is just as good a song. Look at any guy or girl's sex mixtape and I guarantee it is on there. They are credited with taking the New Jack sound farther, giving it what would ultimately be called a "neo-soul" flair. Kenny's writing and arranging was so critically lauded that he and Dave Jam Hall (you know the guy who actually produced Mary J Blige's What's The 411? and much of Madonna's Bedtime Stories) tied with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis for ASCAP's Songwriter of the Year in 1993. If you don't believe he is great you know Mary J. Blige's Reminisce and Love No Limit? Yep, Kenny Greene wrote them.

INTRO’s first album was stellar and more accomplished than any of the debuts by the male groups coming out at the time. If you listen to Shai's ...if i ever fall in love or Silk's Lose Control, H-Town, Portrait, any of those guys, INTRO's music is much more assured and complex. Kenny's arrangements were definitely influenced by the classics, none more than The Blue Notes in my opinion. And over the new jack beats, there is a freshness that is timeless in a way those other albums I've mentioned will never be.

But their second and final album together New Life fixes all the small things that were wrong with the first album. The backgrounds are more pronounced and the production is dialed down a bit. The lyrics are much more insightful, none more apparent than on the metaphoric richness of the title track, a Stevie-esque ode to renewal. Kenny Greene's ability to take simple arrangements and merge them with a modern context made him a hidden gem in a bedrock of more showy neo-soulers who couldn't find a way to make their influences mesh with a modern context. The fact that he and INTRO didn't last is a testament to the radical, and subtle songwriting that didn't quite fit with neo-soul or new jack swing. And it speaks volumes about how knowledgeable the average R&B listener is NOT about the complexities and nuances of songwriting.


In July of 2001, Kenny Greene came out as a man who had been living a life as a bisexual. It was important for him to do so because he had been irresponsible and the pressure to be a straight man in the alpha-male world of being a black man and a R&B singer was enormous. He didn’t want to allow the pressures and hate that goes on toward gay and bisexual men in the R&B world to go on in secret. It was important to him to make sure that people understood that what they see isn’t necessarily who the artist is.

I'm not excusing Kenny's actions, but it must have been excruciating. Let us remember that this was the early 90's, pre-Ellen, pre-Will and Grace, before Greg Louganis came out, before Melissa Etheridge was a household name, before the countless gay-themed movies, Queer as Folk , and Rupert Everett and George Michael came out (officially).

And in the black context it was before Dwight Ewell's gay militant in Chasing Amy or Michael Boatman's Carter on Spin City . Why do I say that? Well think of other prominent black gay actors or characters in the media. There aren't any. And Ewell and Boatman aren’t even gay.

The black population is overwhelmingly Puritanical, due almost entirely to the Big Brother like presence (and importance) of the church in our history and culture. Black people are frighteningly homophobic mostly because black masculinity in this country has historically been linked to his ability to procreate. The more women a black man got pregnant the more valuable he was to the master and the economy of this country. Sexuality and virility in black men is intrinsically linked to economics. But more interestingly, our Puritanical pariah-like faith is a direct response to our oppressors who said one thing in the name of God and did the exact opposite. For black people, it wasn’t about lip service but real spirituality and faith. And while that is changing, the mindset prevails.

Kenny Greene was in a high profile position where he was making very erotic and sensual music and if the public knew it could have been about a man, it would have sent shockwaves through the black community...in a way that we may not be ready to deal with. This is inexcusable. In my mind, a population still persecuted should not persecute another, but I’m smart enough to know it is not that simple. The bottom line is Kenny Greene’s music was damn good and no one in our community could have dealt with the ramifications of intense sexual and emotional bonds between men. And since he was bisexual, the not knowing would have made it worse. We like our demons and hatred clear-cut in America. Context is just too much for our minds. He’d have been run out of the industry.

Kenny Greene was a man who never really got the opportunity to really grow. Mary J Blige got her start with Kenny Greene’s music but since then we’ve gotten a chance to see the woman and artist that she is. Kenny doesn’t have that luxury. The growth between the two INTRO albums is astonishing and those albums are nearly 10 years old. It is daunting a task to think about where he could be. Perhaps he could be where R. Kelly was. Perhaps he could have surpassed him. Possibilities are endless. His time in the industry was just under 10 years and he had only did a handful of stuff. His backing vocals for everyone from Will Smith to Cam'ron will never be indicative of the burgeoning talent in the man.

I loved INTRO. Their debut was the third CD I ever owned after Expose and SWV. I remember hearing about all the fighting and ego stuff that went on after the release of New Life. And I desperately remember wishing they'd drop another album. Kenny's debut release never materialized and I'm not even sure how much he even recorded. But I'm sure those masters, if there are any, have some great material on them.

And I wanted to talk about him because there are lots of other closeted men in the music industry and Kenny Greene's death should not be in vain. E Lynn Harris's novels featured a closeted R&B singer who was leaving his group to launch a solo career...out and proud. The general consensus is that that character was based on Kenny Greene. While that is entirely possible the simple fact that Harris chose to address this issue speaks volumes about the prevalence of such a phenomenon. Who knows how many men are living as dangerously and with as much self-loathing as it seems Kenny Greene did. We owe it to him to not allow this to continue. Yes, it is those closeted men’s decision, but they shouldn’t have to forgo their musical ability just because the environment and public response is hostile.

The emotional fallout from Kenny Greene's death has been minimal and I think that is what disturbs me most. I can understand how people in the industry don't want any confusion if a fuss were made over Kenny, but I don't agree or support it. It’s not about condoning a lifestyle choice. As some point we need to realize that some things in life aren’t a choice. And not just nod when you read this and agree, but live out what that means. Open your minds, understand that love and sex are what they are. There don’t have to any rules that the people involved don’t impose on themselves. And music is music. If it is good does it really matter where it comes from? For all the hoopla they make about dead artists, this one deserves just as much if not more. And some of these dead artists did worst things that Kenny Greene did. Some are a part of a generation that ripped off an entire genre of music and passed it off as their cultural bullhorn. I think it is disgusting that nothing will be done publicly for fear of rumors of being gay or bisexual.

This might have to be Kenny Greene's legacy, that of forced obscurity because who he was and the politics of his chosen profession don’t mesh in a way that is comfortable for a country that is economically and technologically on the cutting edge, but culturally so old-fashioned, ignorant, and hateful. Who he was didn’t make room for his artistry, however little, to be celebrated and appreciated. That is just inexcusable. People do horrible things, people do things that we don’t agree with, that has nothing to do with their artistry.

At the very least, he should be credited with giving Mary J. Blige two of her best songs ever. But that would be insulting and I guess I would rather him forgotten than trivialized and belittled by throwing him the metaphoric bone of "Aww, we're sorry you're gone...what you could have been."

[L.Kizzle]

RIP. Dasher you mentioning INTRO made me think of this 90s' song.

Hi-Five: She's Playing Hard To Get

[Dasher]

I remerber that joint. I miss some of those late New Jack Swing joints from back in the day. I performed this joint: Shai-If I Ever Fall in Love when I was in 8th grade at a talent show. Let's just say the honey dips were all on my tip.

[L.Kizzle]

I remerber that joint. I miss some of those late New Jack Swing joints from back in the day. I performed this joint: Shai-If I Ever Fall in Love when I was in 8th grade at a talent show. Let's just say the honey dips were all on my tip.

LOL, I've been on a early 90s' RnB mood recently, remember these joints ...

Aaron Hall: Don't Be Afraid
Jade;Don't Walk Away
Ralph Tresvand: Stone Cold Gentleman
DRS: Gangsta Lean

[Dasher]

Tevin Campbell had a cut that had the words "shower me with your love" in the hook. Do you know the song title? I have been looking for it.(nostalgia/first piece of the akshone purposes).

Homie from H-Town died too. Damn I am starting to feel old.

Edit found it. Surface-Shower Me With Your Love
It is cheesy, but it makes me fell 13 again.

[playtetris]

syreeta - black maybe

produced by stevie. amazing track. syreeta's voice is teh sex

[RainierBeachPoet]

it always makes my day when this thread gets bumped!!

how about some mid 70s commodores:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fJaR...eature=related

i think it would make a good sample for someone

i like this one too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxNRQ...eature=related

[playtetris]

it always makes my day when this thread gets bumped!!

how about some mid 70s commodores:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fJaR...eature=related

i think it would make a good sample for someone

i like this one too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxNRQ...eature=related

you're one funky mofo, rbp! the commodores kill it!

speaking of funky:

gary bartz - music is my sanctuary;

not so funky, but dope nonetheless:

weldon irvine - here's where i came in

[DreamShake34]

I'll chime in with some Lake Side

Fantastic Voyage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_Sht9nE7Pg

[RainierBeachPoet]

I'll chime in with some Lake Side

Fantastic Voyage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_Sht9nE7Pg

here is my fav lakeside jam

its all the way live

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8ML-...eature=related


edit: i just found a great brick song!!

aint gonna hurt nobody
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZQ24...eature=related

[playtetris]

time for another bump.

john dankworth - return from ashes (funky motherfunkin track. the strings are killer)

eddie holman - i love you

lou donaldson - caracas (feat. my man grant green on the geetar)

the three sounds - once in a lifetime (produced by the master, quincy jones)

[L.Kizzle]

Ray, Goodman and Brown: Special Lady

James Brown: Nose Job

David Ruffin: Walk Away from Love