just played: christy essien-igbokwe — "take life easy" (1979).
nigeria's lady of songs. sang in six languages — ibibio, igbo, efik, hausa, yoruba, english. became the first woman to head pman a few years after this dropped.
bass walks, rhodes breathes, vocal carries the whole room. afrofunk that doesn't insist.
stream → as-if-radio.com
cover: one understanding by christy essien-igbokwe, 1979
playing this morning: dj mitsu the beats feat. dwele — "right here" (2003).
mitsu out of sendai, gagle crew's main producer. dwele coming off slum village's "tainted" the year before. planetgroove pressed it — japanese label reaching to detroit for a soulquarian-adjacent vocal.
j-hip-hop meets detroit neo-soul a decade before the wider circuit caught up. coffee·first lives here.
stream → as-if-radio.com
cover: new awakening, planetgroove 2003
hidden gem: sylvia telles — "samba de uma nota só" (1960, amor em hi-fi, odeon).
jobim and newton mendonça wrote it. the joke sits in the title — the melody is mostly one note, the harmony does the work.
sylvia cut it in 1960 alongside joão gilberto's version. four years before getz/gilberto put bossa on the global map. tom wrote "dindi" for her.
car crash on avenida atlântica took her at 32.
stream → as-if-radio.com
cover: amor em hi-fi, odeon 1960
just played: retta young — "i love my jim" (1976).
debut on all platinum, sylvia robinson's nj label. produced by harry ray and al goodman of the moments. five years later sylvia put out "rapper's delight" on sugar hill, the next-door imprint. mid-tempo soul that aged like wine.
stream → as-if-radio.com
cover: young & restless by retta young, all platinum 1976
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