Marvin Sparks

Little John - Clarks Booty One of, if not the, original Clarks tune. Booty = boot. You'll recognise the riddim track from Beyoncé - Best Thing I Never Had I rate this tune highly. As people that follow me on Twitter will know, I'm a ballad man. Written by Babyface, who is am elite songwriter What happened to the motive set in "Nasty Girl" by Destiny's Child? Out the window like "Independent Woman" to "Cater 2 U"? iJoke, iJoke. I've decided I'm turning this into a Babyface appreciation post. He's a ballad Gad Boyz II Men - End of the Road Tevin Campbell - Always In My Heart Whitney Houston - Exhale (Shoop Song) Mary J Blige - Not Gon' Cry I fully expect I may have forgotten your favourite one or a massive one. Those were the first that sprung to mind. Very random post, but that's me. Soz

I'm fiddling about with the "Sample" title until one sticks. In a bit of a reggae mood right now, so trawling YouTube to accompany my ears whilst in a meeting. Weed rapper Wiz Khalifa "Still Blazing" taken from the popular mixtape, Kush & OJ, that enhanced his fanbase. Is inspired by the sample from Italian reggae superstar Alborosie's song of the same name on album Soul Pirate released in 2008. That's all for today. Ta

Long time followers of this blog will know I mentioned Daley as one of my "Looking Forward To Hearing In 2010" alongside J Cole, Chino, Devlin and Maverick Sabre. Chino went on to have a top selling dancehall album in Japan plus one of the most toured artists. You'll probably know the rest. If not, Mav Sabre got signed, released a popular EP and new single "Let Me Go" out soon. Same for J. Cole - album out this year (finally). All that together with Daley's having a reasonably quiet year apart from the Gorrilaz "Doncamatic" , I was a year premature on 60%. Fat lot of good that is. Messed up my 2011 one 'cos I had to carry them over. I've added Ed Sheeran and I-Octane though. Daley's releasing a mixtape 'Those Who Wait' next month. First release is this lovely soulful jam "Game Over". A soulful jam that doesn't patronise or bore the listener. Sounds like a beat Floetry had in their heyday. His vocals are smooth. I

AKS - House Called Home Both the tune and video go all the way in. UK rapper AKS A subject people such as myself can relate to. Opens with that (prick) Enoch Powell's politically controversial "Rivers of Blood" speech, AKS questions whether England is home. I-Octane - Mi Sorry Mi nah stop shout about this artist. He is one of the most consistent and versatile artists right now. Sings, deejay (raps) and combines the two depending on the riddim. Always with a conscious message. He proclaims "No boy can't give me no gun to buss like they don't have a finger too" - which if you don't get it means he will not let a gang leader get him to kill anyone when they're capable of doing it themselves. You can bookmark it in an anti-gun tune. This features on the Don Corleon produced Broken Hearts riddim. Other fave cuts include Professor, Wayne Marshall, Pressure, Richie Spice. Generally a solid riddim. I-Octane - Nah Wash (Too Licky Licky) Just for contrast

I'm one of those people that loves tracing back samples, then hearing what else that band recorded. Good way of discovering old music. I can honestly say I'm rarely surprised by popular songs that contain samples after reading album credits all these years. (click here for previous findings.) At my aunts listening to the radio when this song came on Brenda Russell "A Little Bit Of Love" Wonderful composition. Nothing beats live instrumentation coupled with sweet female vocals on a sunny day/ I immediately recognised the "Still Not A Player" Big Pun ft. Joe But I swear 0:52-0:56 has a similar chord progression to Mariah Carey ft. Snoop Dogg "Cry Baby" I hadn't heard of Brenda Russell, so did a little research and found out she originally wrote and recorded "Get Here" in 1988. It only managed to peak at number 37 on the US r&b charts Covered by Oleta Adams in 1991 and became an international hit This is why I love tracing samples.

12years since his passing in physical, but not vocal and lyrical. I doubt most non-reggae fans under the age of 25 will really know how great this man is. i'm talking British born from Jamaican grandparentage. You know this generation doesn't really have much knowledge of home culture. Any sense of culture they would have had got buy out by America via American TV programs. I'mma drop a couple tunes from the Crown Prince of Reggae Have You Ever - Sly & Robbie went in with this. Basspeare's bassline is hypnotic. As always. Wicked lyrics too. Revolution Promised Land - Live in Crystal Palace, (outskirts of) London (with your CR postcode) (Before the aforementioned got their culture bought out) To The Foundation - possibly my favourite. The Sly & Robbie link up is too much