22 June 2011

Gaga for Go-Go

I've been busy, which is no excuse for not writing about music, because I've been listening to a lot of it while I work. Bad me.

Truth is, I was listening to something I really love and wanted to write about it, but I made the mistake of trying to find the perfect video and get all the historic background to lay on you. Someday, I'll write the complete book of go-go, but today I'll just give the short version.

In the 1970s, a new style of music became popular in Washington, DC. (Chocolate City, baby.) Chuck Brown developed the style by mixing Latin rhythms, funk, and call and response rapping. This music is called go-go because Brown's band plays fewer longer songs, with no breaks in between. They start playing and go go to the end of the show. Even if you have never heard go-go yourself, there's a good chance that the musicians you do listen to have been influenced by it. Or sampled it.

Here's a sample from Chuck Brown. Sorry that you don't get to have the full live experience.

This is from EU (Experience Unlimited). It's a more locally-authentic version of the song that Spike Lee used in School Daze.

Get your butt in motion!

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