After the devastating floods, fires in Australia, Christchurch and China Earthquakes and the Japanese Earthquake and mind boggling ensuing Tsunami and other natural disasters around the World, 2011 has delivered the World yet another cruel blow and we now lose two more artists that were unique and pure masters at their craft and another that had a lot of potential in his field and sadly had has life cut tragically short.
Nate Dogg:
A crucial and essential figure of the West Coast Hip Hop's G-Funk era has now gone, no one can deny that the Mississippi born and Long Beach bred Nate Dogg, born Nathaniel Hale in 1969 had an unmistakable booming low croon, a croon that was first birthed as a child in a Baptist church and I have not met a soul yet that didn't enjoy Warren G's classic "Regulate" from 1994 (off the Above The Rim soundtrack).
There was a time in the 90's when G-Funk completely dominated Hip Hop and I mean that G-Funk was loved and even imitated on the East Coast in New York... and Nate's voice was everywhere, Nate Dogg first came up through the group 213 ( alongside his cousin Snoop Doggy Dogg and cousin Warren G), 213 had a demo that was heard by Dr Dre and the rest as they say is history, Dre had Nate on The Chronic album (1992) and also on Snoop's classic Doggystyle album (1993).
I won't go into the details on is gang affiliations, how he passed or his poor health because it's not important, was is important is that Hip Hop lost a great artist and voice, to be honest I didn't like some of the artists he worked with, but I will always have fond memories of his presence during the early to mid 90's.
The tribute posts and comments from so many artists he worked with (and he worked with a great deal of artists) have been flooding in thick and it has been really sad to read them.
Here are two of my faves from the late, great Nate Dogg...
R.I.P. Nate Dogg:
Full discography here...
I won't go into the details on is gang affiliations, how he passed or his poor health because it's not important, was is important is that Hip Hop lost a great artist and voice, to be honest I didn't like some of the artists he worked with, but I will always have fond memories of his presence during the early to mid 90's.
The tribute posts and comments from so many artists he worked with (and he worked with a great deal of artists) have been flooding in thick and it has been really sad to read them.
Here are two of my faves from the late, great Nate Dogg...
R.I.P. Nate Dogg:
Full discography here...
On the opposite end of the spectrum was the unique UK reggae fast chat artist Smiley Culture who passed under strange circumstances, I won't go into details but all I will say is that it sounds very sketchy, this isn't a tribute post about how he died, more on what the World has lost...
Born David Emmanuel in 1962 in London, England, Smiley was a fast chat singer and DJ and had the famous reggae hits, the great and amusing "Cockney Translation" and "Police Officer" in 1984 and LP "The Original Smiley Culture" released in 1986.
Smiley first worked as a DJ with the Saxon Studio International Reggae Sound System that catered to reggae artists, "Cockney Translation" gained attention because it was an interesting mix of Jamaican patios and Roots Manuva amongst other UK artists has claimed that Smiley was a big influence on him and was first signed to the London based, Fashion label and London's East End dialect, a famous actor for using Cockney slang was Michael Caine.
R.I.P. Smiley Culture:
Born David Emmanuel in 1962 in London, England, Smiley was a fast chat singer and DJ and had the famous reggae hits, the great and amusing "Cockney Translation" and "Police Officer" in 1984 and LP "The Original Smiley Culture" released in 1986.
Smiley first worked as a DJ with the Saxon Studio International Reggae Sound System that catered to reggae artists, "Cockney Translation" gained attention because it was an interesting mix of Jamaican patios and Roots Manuva amongst other UK artists has claimed that Smiley was a big influence on him and was first signed to the London based, Fashion label and London's East End dialect, a famous actor for using Cockney slang was Michael Caine.
R.I.P. Smiley Culture:
Full discography here...
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Smiley+Culture
Full history here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smiley_Culture
Cockney Translation...Translation...
http://bongolia.blogspot.com/2008/01/smiley-culture-cockney-transaltion.html
Manic D:
Manic D aka Rob Sayster was a producer and MC from Wellington, New Zealand, but was originally from Cape Town in Africa he was part of the Blunt Committee and Thundakatz (Manic D, DJ Ace and DJ Gooda) who myself and Evil Mule recently did a gig with and enjoyed their energy and stage presence.
I only recently met him, but from my Friends accounts, he was a really good dude and a really good Father as well.
Here is Thundakatz free mixtape "Keep It Going"
R.I.P. to the many that have sadly lost their lives tragically in Australia, Christchurch, China and Japan.
Peace (hopefully)
Jaz
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