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:

“The Symphony (feat. The Juice Crew)” by Marley Marl (from Tommy Boy Presents: Hip Hop Essentials, Volume 1 (1979-1991), 2005)

Listen closely, so your attention’s undivided, many in the past have tried to do what I did…

This is Hip-Hop 101! For the uninitated, The Juice Crew is Big Daddy Kane, Craig G, Kool G. Rap and Masta Ace. “The Symphony” is the easily one of the greatest ‘Golden Age’ posse cuts. Think of it as the grandady to Tribe’s “Scenario,” with four super hype MC’s grabbing the rock and taking it higher and higher over Marley Marl’s cut up of Otis Redding’s “Hard to Handle.”

“La La Means I Love You (remix 1990)” by The Jets (from The Best of The Jets, 1990)

For as many times as this tune has been covered, no one—not even His Royal Badness—can touch The Delfonics original take. The Minneapolis nonet does an earnest version, not straying very far from the melodies that make the song so memorable in the first place.

“Eye Know (The Know It All mix)” by De La Soul (from 3 Feet High and Rising (disc 2: bonus disc), 2001)

Now, i don’t want to jinx it, but this is shaping up to be one of my favorite Friday Fives, ever. How can you not vibe to a laid back groove that spins Steely Dan’s “Peg” (a perennial favorite ’round these parts) on it’s proverbial head, while plugs one and two spit mad game to a tender Jenny. Ya’ll grabbed this joint when De La gave it away for free a couple of weeks back, right?

“I Thought It Was You (feat. Jake Shears)” by Andy Bell (from Electric Blue, 2005)

Okay, one more song to redeem this less-than-great-but-not-awful one. To be fair, I’ve not really listened to this record. I picked it up as a fan of Bell’s voice, but never got around to devling into it.

“Wasted” by SÁ©an McCann (from Lullabies for Bloodshot Eyes, 2010)

Shit. Well, there goes that… Mr. McCann was never my favorite member of Great Big Sea and his solo records have only amplified the specifc things that I dislike about his GBS contributions. His departure from the group probably will hasten the end of the band, but (frankly) I’d be okay with an Alan/Bob show.

What’s on your shuffle today?

About the Author

Michael Parr

Husband, Father, Writer, Musical Voyeur, Pop Culture Glutton, Gourmet in Training. I'm the tall guy behind all these short guys. You can find me on the Twitter.

View All Articles