"Remember female M.C.'s? I pulled out T-Love the other day"
Aside from MC Lyte's first two & Latifah's first album, I'm really not the greatest fan of female M.C.'s.
But something about T-Love's "Return of the B-Girl Ep" really spoke to me back in whenever that was 98-99. I loved the production, her and "That Kid Named Miles" were really ahead of their time and fighting to move L.A. out of the "predictable zone" (Remember when Dre was pushing "Knoc'turnal"?) a lot of L.A. stuff was on back then... which ultimately kind of flourished later in the mid to late 2000's with the rise of Stones Throw and cliques here and there (Blu & Mainframe & Exile, Pac Div, Fly Lo etc.).
But then there's her 2003 album "Long Way Back" which I hadn't put on and listened to since the late great J. Dilla was still alive and kicking. His joints on this album really helped make the sound of the project even more cohesive, and just for historical context date back before he raised stakes and became an L.A. transplant, bringing so much of that same flavor that A LOT OF L.A. cats picked up on (Sa-Ra, Madlib, Mainframe, Brainfeeder,etc.) this record really was part of the vanguard sound putting that Detroit bump/bounce in a West Coast setting. Also featuring production from the likes of The Herbaliser & Dwele that expand the albums sound beyond just Boom Bap into a couple of different elements.
"Long Way Back" is still one of the most solid full length albums I've ever heard from a female M.C., I liked it better than Lauryn Hill's solo joint. It has a Boom Bap feel/appeal without being too "dyke-y"/token-ish...meaning she really did a great job of expressing her feminine essence to the music. A lot of female M.C.'s can not do that...still.
It was nice to revisit this record and lament the dire fate of female M.C.'s since...
_______________________________________ When discourse of Blackness is not connected to efforts to promote collective black self determinism it becomes simply another recourse appropriated by the colonizer
T-Love and Miles were dope live. Love that Siah and Yeshua got some spots on her debut. Miles was a musical cat he was very into live instrumentation. Like dude had a upright bass I think and drums.
4. "Saw he many times with Drez as her DJ" In response to Reply # 2
Shit was incredible. She had some of the best stage presence that I've ever seen, and her and Drez had great chemistry. Always loved it when they did "I Pimp My Lyrics" and "When I Queen Steps to the Mic" (I think that's what it's called).
14. "Saw her a few times when I first got to the Bay" In response to Reply # 2
a little too much "Sista Girl P.S.A." going on for me.
I mean...I really like MC Lyte...but someone like "Medusa", there's just something about hearing a female MC who's every song has a "Call Tyrone" vibe to it. Can't do it.
5. "RE: Remember female M.C.'s? I pulled out T-Love the other day" In response to Reply # 0
Yup.
Love "Long Way Back".
She was never that great of an emcee in terms of flow/cadence; however, she is an excellent storyteller/writer and she put together a really nice album with b-girl flavor and good producers and (as you say) a cohesive sound and overall theme. Everything from the cover design to the sequencing is spot on. The little flourishes of Spanish and French in her singing/rapping are nice as well.
I actually discovered her by *reading* about her in the "Not about a salary'' book where she was heavily featured and seemed really cool. I must admit I mainly picked up the ep because of the Kool Keith-appearance (I was a stan back then) but the whole thing was nice.
Medusa on the other hand? Yuck... Maybe I should revisit but I was so pissed off about that Ep I sold it within a week; maybe it went over my head back then...
BTW, how did west-coasters feel about the ''not about a salary''-book? I liked it because it showcased a different side of west-coast Hip-Hop while still showing love to Dre, Quik etc. but I'm in sweden so indsiders perspective is interesting...
11. "The Medusa EP was terrible without seeing the songs live" In response to Reply # 10 Thu Feb-28-13 05:07 PM by T Reynolds
one of those projects that kind of sucked without that context that comes with seeing how the artist MEANT for it to sound but that was lost in the mix
I never read "Not about a salary" but I really like the "This is the Life" documentary
I also got some crazy Good Life live recordings from Omid (OD) that I bust out once in a while
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