The Friday Five: August 2, 2013

Friday Five : |ˈfrÄ«dā – fÄ«v| : On the sixth day of every week, I hit the shuffle button in iTunes and share the first five tracks and thought for each track. Sometimes there is a playlist involved, occasionally we’ll have a guest, but most of the time it’s just me. The rest is up to you, our friends and readers! Fire up the media player of your choice and share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments.

The Five:

“Mirrors (feat. Bun B)” by Wale (from Attention Deficit, 2009)

I first came by Wale when he featured on The Roots’ track, “Rising Up” in 2008. (The tune was also responsible for my introduction to Miss Chrisette Michele, who has been a favorite ever since.) His flow contrasted Black Thought’s just enough to show and prove that this cat was going to be a force to reckon with. His debut record, however, was a bit of a let down.

“Free Fallin'” by Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers (from The Live Anthology (disc 4), 2009)

She’s a good girl …

I recall growing tired of this tune not long after its release as a single in 1988. Time, it seems, has erased any former irritation and replaced it with a soft-focus lens view that the song so perfectly captures.

“Legal Drug Money” by Lost Boyz (from Legal Drug Money, 1996)

Before crews had the good sense to separate skits out from the tunes they would usually append them to the end of a track. The Lost Boyz, in their infinite wisdom, put that shit at the front of the track, just to make sure you listened to it. I can’t front, though; I love this record. It takes me straight back to 1996, riding in my jeep with the booming system, . It doesn’t matter that the ‘jeep’ was a Geo Tracker, it still had a booming system.

“In taberna: Ego sum abbas Cucaniensis” by Carl Orff (from Carmina Burana (St. Louis Symphony Orchestra feat. conductor: Leonard Slatkin), 1994)