selection number five from my top ten albums list. missy elliot. ‘supa dupa fly’. released 7.15.97. that was a golden time. electronic music was going through an amazing renaissance [a ‘golden era’ if you will] and commercial hip hop was becoming a dominant force. i was living in Monroe, Louisiana and while all my peers were listening to ‘no limit’ - who seemed to be dropping an album damn near every week - i was fixated on jungle and drum & bass. specifically metalheadz, roni size/reprazent and anything from Bristol and South London. there simply was nothing like it. all these years later, the music coming from those scenes [roughly between ‘96-‘98] is still unparalleled and far ahead of most music being made now. my older brother was living in NYC and had already turned me on to timbaland’s production. aaliyah’s ‘one in a million’ had already dropped, but it was ginuwine’s ‘the bachelor’ that really caught my ear. specifically his single ‘i’ll do anything/i’m sorry’. there was something in timbaland’s drum patterns that captivated me in the same way that the UK drum & bass i was listening to had. like the tempo of a drum & bass track was chopped in half and the drum tracks were stripped down only for him to insert percussive elements around the drums, subtly making it feel like the track was moving faster than it really was. ‘supa dupa fly’ took all that to warp speed. the turnarounds every four to eight bars, the tripped up drum fills, placing the kick where the snare should hit & vice versa. and the drums. the druuuuuuummms. fatter than a marching band’s drum line. i bought this on CD and this was one of the first projects that i read the liner notes thru from beginning to end. two things were immediately clear to me. firstly, the music on this album was really a very intimate creative dialogue between timbaland + missy. secondly, i got that she was just as much of a genius [if not moreso] as timbaland was. read those credits. she flexed all over every single track. this album really wouldn’t come anywhere close to being what it is if it wasn’t for her involvement. i still go back and study this one. absolutely essential. #toptenalbums #supadupafly

selection number four from my top ten albums list. gil scott-heron & brian jackson. ‘winter in america’. as i’ve grown, i’ve found that the records that i own do, as well. much like wine, they take on new shape, form and meaning for me in my life. at 38 this album has never been more important to me than it is now. prophetic in nature, i am equal parts inspired, equal parts saddened listening to it. my heart bursts at the raw tenderness in Gil’s voice [he was at his apex] while a very real mix of gratitude, love, hope, fear and dread starts to surface for me when i begin to focus in on the messages contained within. tho ‘winter in america’ was released in May 1974 [the same year nixon resigned] i’m beyond certain that the album, in its entirety, is a perfect reflection of the time that we are living in now. a commentary on the Black condition within a land not our own, at a time when our utility - for many - has run its course. this album represents Black Love, Black Power, Black Courage, Black Strength + Black Determination for me. simple and stripped down in form, gil successfully navigates the entire spectrum of Black existence and emotion in just under forty five minutes. the peace, solidarity and kinship felt between Black men. the beauty and wonder that is Black youth. the acknowledgment of the pain that young Black women feel when their father leaves the family. the innocence and preciousness that is new love. the cunning, baffling insidious nature of addiction. and the absurdity of the politricks of the day. forty five minutes of sheer genius. the fact that a song about alcoholism, ‘the bottle’, is still a dance floor staple is indicative of how great and expansive this project is to me. even the title is an accurate description of the season that this country is in RIGHT now. and two of my favorite songs of all time - ‘a song for bobby smith’ & ‘your daddy loves you’ - are on this album. it’s not available for streaming, but the album is on YouTube in its entirety. i highly encourage you all to take a listen. prophetic, indeed. on so many levels. #toptenalbums #fieldresearch #gilscottheronandbrianjackson #winterinamerica

6.22.2018. 9-2am. no cover. pull up. get comfortable. strictly selections from the shelf. no requests. thank you to @ask4dave for the plug. thank you to @byggie for the flyer 🎨🔌 #odetobabel #fieldresearch #selector #vinyl #33rpm #45rpm

selection three from my top ten albums list. jay dee aka j dilla. ‘welcome 2 detroit’. never have i heard an album that was so easy to listen to from front to back. it’s just that good. magnum opus. all these years later, i’m still gleaning gems from it. i learned how to use silence + space from this album. how anything over five or six sounds [including the drums] was overkill. i learned to never use a drum kit + to make my own drums from this album. i learned about timing & swing from this album. and so much more. i mean....this was the album that made me really want to make beats. what’s wild, tho, is that as much of a gift that this album has been for me, with all of its discoveries + lessons, i came very close to never getting any of that. i’m not ashamed to admit that when i first heard W2D, i threw it away. well....what actually happened was i skimmed through it, ejected it and tossed it on the floor in the back of my car. i just couldn’t ‘get it’. i grew up almost exclusively on NY hip hop, m.o.p.’s ‘warriorz’ was on repeat and the Roc was six months away from executing a global takeover via jay’s ‘blueprint’. neatly packaged, commercial rap was winning and this was NOT that. it was......sloppy. almost like he didn’t know how to make beats. in hindsight, i simply didn’t know HOW to listen to his beats. while i was used to beats that made my head go up and down, dilla was making music that made your head go left to right....and a step or two off beat at that. i got ‘fantastic, vol. 2’ a couple of months later while in Japan. still couldn’t ‘get it’. and then i stumbled on ‘like water for chocolate’. i tolerated it, not knowing dilla was behind the boards and not really paying attention to it. and then one night, on the way home from masjid, it hit. like lightning. ‘nag champa’. goodness. i’d heard it at least ten times before. but this time i HEARD it. when i got home i checked the credits. ‘?uestlove....cool. preemo....word. oh yeah....thought i heard mos’ voice on that.’ my eyes kept skimming down to track 11. ‘nag champa....hmmm. jay dee. wait. jaydeejaydeejaydee. ohhhhh SHIIIIIIIIIIT. that jay dee?!!!’ [cont. below]

an interruption in my train of thought is responsible for this addition to today’s #toptenalbums contribution. well, that an @instagram‘s character count. c’mon....y’all know that this is the new FB. many of you don’t know that pharoah sanders’ ‘thembi’ was the catalyst to @byggie and i being together. back when FB was king and MySpace was an afterthought, i would post music that really meant something to me. this served two purposes. firstly, i was fresh out of the military and desperately searching for direction & connection. i had left the continental US a boy and returned a full grown, 6’0”, 230 lb. Black man who was also a military veteran trying my best to be a ‘civilian’. and i was grappling with the fact that i was in just as much [if not more] danger as i had been in Iraq because of those characteristics + experiences. secondly, my experiences in a combat zone were still very, very fresh. i was firmly in the grips of post traumatic stress disorder and had been using food & alcohol to cope with the fact that i had seen/experienced things that no human being should ever have to. music was the one healthy coping mechanism that i had in those early days of social media. it provided me with the connection that i so desperately needed. nothing is coincidence. B and i had become FB ‘friends’ only a month earlier via Black Spade. i had a particularly down day and posted a track from ‘thembi’ the following morning. now, if you know me, you know that once i’m given an opening, i’ll talk forever. i’m from the Deep South. it’s what we do. B commented that ‘thembi’ was her favorite album. comments turned into DM’s. DM’s transitioned to emails. 2,000+ word emails became texts and then eventually phone calls. and phone calls resulted in my flying to NYC to meet her in person for the first time ever. the rest is history. within a year i had moved in with her and my brother @oddisee and had enrolled in @thenewschool. again, nothing is coincidence. and the power of music is very real. forever indebted to pharoah for facilitating my greatest cosmic connection. now that’s real astral traveling, y’all. stay tuned for my third selection tomorrow. #toptenalbums #fieldresearch

selection number two of my top ten albums. pharoah sanders. ‘thembi’. essential listening. i would assert that no ‘collection’ is a collection without it on your shelves. i have two copies. one framed and the one that you see here....which i use for listening and playing out. make not mistake about it. this is probably pharoah’s finest offering. like qawwali’s and ghazal’s, i view the music on this record - like much of pharoah’s work - as devotional. it transcend jazz. cosmic communication. modern Islamic spirituals. certain cuts are almost like raga’s in their form, color and purpose. wait until late night, light some incense + candles, open a window, play ‘astral traveling’ and tell me it doesn’t put you into a state. similarly, listening to ‘morning prayer’ has an almost eerie way of awakening the senses if played while the sun is making its climb into the sky. i should know. it was the alarm that i woke up to for nearly a year straight. this entry marks pharoah’s departure from my top ten list, but i have nearly every other release of his, as well. i implore you all to study and immerse yourselves in his work as i have. also, special thanks to my brother @sinkane who made my dream of meeting and sitting with pharoah happen a few years ago. i was first in line to see him at baby’s alright in williamsburg and had to use the restroom. as i was preparing to relieve myself someone hit my shoulder. it was sinkane and he just said ‘follow me’. instead of going to the restroom, i zipped my pants up and went with him. hahaha. we went down a hall, through a curtain and he sat me down. i looked to my left and damn near burst in tears when i realized i was sitting next to pharoah. we exchanged salaams, i got to thank him for his contribution to my life and talked music a little. one of the gentlest giants that i have ever encountered. that really brought this circle complete for me and i will forever cherish that memory. thank you, Ahmed. you are a good brother for that. salaams. also, if you have never seen him perform and are in a position to do so....GO!!! pharoah truly is a living treasure. #toptenalbums #fieldresearch

dad. you know....the relationship between a father + son is a unique one. especially a black father + son. it is one that is both delicate and heavy. and ours was no different. complex with its dualism. yet strangely familiar as i have grown older. a constant ebb and flow. strength and vulnerability. love and discipline. harmony and chaos. and ever present in the background, the silent weight of the world and all of the expectations it would eventually place on me. as i’ve grown, i’ve come to understand. like a slow unraveling. retracing your footsteps and picking up the breadcrumbs you left for me. as if you imprinted your experience on mine when i was born. a roadmap. thank you for not placing it all at my feet at too young of an age. maybe you knew i wouldn’t be able to handle certain truths then. maybe you were still navigating them yourself. or maybe you knew that i would eventually have to grow and make my own decisions about my own life. whether you agreed with them or not. thank you for that. no matter how divergent our pathways, you’ve always been there. no matter what time of day or night i’ve called, you’ve always answered. and no matter how big my request, you’ve always given. thank you. your example has guided me through some of my roughest moments as i have grown. whether you know it or not. i love you. always.

i was nominated by my brother + mentor @bareknucklebeatz to post my favorite ten albums after he wrapped up his wonderful list a couple of days ago. unbeknownst to him, my dear friend and former New School professor @jimbriggs3 (happy father’s day!!) had made the same request of me last week. it’s been busy, but i’m here for it now. these next ten days go out to both of you. okay. selection one. pharoah sanders. ‘journey to the one’. a lot of folks don’t know this, but my former wife (who will always remain one of my life’s soulmates) taught me how to record dig when i moved to Tokyo. i had, like, ten records. she had a few thousand. they were all in beautiful condition. and it was immediately apparent that she had immaculate taste. i mean....she had THAT heath brothers joint. you know...with the Nas sample. straight up....she taught me how to listen for samples. and she came up listening to @dj_muro at Organ Bar, so of course she knew the deep cuts. of all the records she turned me on to, this was my favorite. in fact, this copy was the one that she gifted me when she sold off the rest of her collection with the help of one of Muro’s crew members, Oyakata. though her cut was ‘you’ve got to have freedom’ (which should always be in any jazz mix), i instantly fell in love with ‘greetings to idris’. timeless. i’m forever indebted to her for the early education that she gave me. stay tuned over the next week and a half as i run down my personal favorites. #toptenrecords #fieldresearch

gratitude is in order. firstly, thank you to my friends and family who came out last night. seeing you all meant a great deal to me and i hope that you each left with something from the experience. thank you again to @odetovinyl for facilitating a great conversation about my life through some of my favorite albums. shouts to my @humanheadnyc family. that wall looked absolutely amazing. trust....it was NOT an easy task restraining myself from buying a couple. and deepest gratitude to @weareeven for hosting all of this. i’ve been under the weather, but i wasn’t going to miss this for the world. a special acknowledgement is due to @niarasterling for lining this all up and introducing me to @ask4dave in the first place. thank you, sister. finally folks, this pop up is going until the 4th of July. #humanheadrecords will be there and there will live programming every single night. make sure you stop through, sample the wares and build a little. 📸: @ilanharel

compiling talking points for my Audiophiles session with @odetovinyl at the @weareeven pop-up shop. i’ll be talking through my life via these records. picking a top five is so hard. it’s a list that literally changes for me every single day. but i was able to focus in on pivotal moments within my life and the records that i discovered that informed those times. hope that you can make it through. 7pm-9pm at 130 Greene St. in Soho. this is going to be a discussion so i recommend coming early to post up and get comfortable. see you soon!