It’s an insane 90-something degrees out. I’m even told by my buddy minusbaby that the repainting of the Graffiti Hall of Fame in East Harlem this week has slowed down on account of the sun putting too many bubbles in the paint. New York summer, for real. It’s starting to feel like a Spike Lee movie up here. The heat is also really cutting down on my ability to write semi-witty music blurbs. Thankfully, we have Alan Iverson to provide the humor for this post, with fine beats from DJ Jazzy Jeff’s new album, The Return of the Magnificent, so I can slack off a bit.

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(download DJ Jazzy Jeff’s “Practice”)

And, thanks to YouTube, the priceless sample, from Allen Iverson himself, with the real-time Practice Counter:

I mean, I think he’s talkin’ about practice.

Here’s another track off the DJ Jazzy Jeff album I’ve really been digging, “The Definition”, mostly on account of the Isley Brothers sample it uses.

A couple months back I was working on a new beat myself, and was digging through records looking for a nice sample to put with it. I know grabbed that Isley Brothers record, 3 + 3, because I remember getting distracted and listening to “Listen to the Music” a couple times instead of working on the tune I was supposed to be working on. That happens a lot. I ended up grabbing a different sample for the song (Les McCann, I think) and, really, probably never even thought of using any part of “The Highways of My Life”. Then, a little while later, after listening to The Return of the Magnificent in earnest a bit, I hit up minusbaby, asking him what the hell the sample in “The Definition” was, cause it sounded so goddamned familiar. Turns out it was “The Highways of My Life”. I guess that’s why I’m no DJ Jazzy Jeff.

The_Isley_Brothers_-_Highways_of_My_Life.mp3
(download The Isley Brothers’s “The Highways of My Life”)

Speaking of samples, the album cover to Magnificent is also a not-so-subtle nod to one of my favorite MPB records, Deodato 2. And because it’d be pretty lame to dig the record out for a picture, but not pull at least one song off to go with it, here’s “Soul Strut”.

Deodato_-_Soul_Strut.mp3
(download Deodato’s “Soul Strut”)

Anyway, that’s today’s PopCultureShock musical connections. From our turntables to your MP3 players. Now get out there and practice.