Only Built 4 Hyperlinks (Part 2)

Beat-mining the James Brown catalogue always produces great music, and in part two of our Only Built 4 Hyperlinks series we're looking at the rich seam of beats to be found with soul brother #1's stable of divas.

The irrepressible Marva Whitney and Lyn Collins - the female preacher featured on classics that underpinned pretty much the entire hip-hop and dance scenes of the 90s. From NWA to The 45 King's The 900 Number and Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock, they gifted us a legacy of funk in hip-hop that keeps us digging today.

But the person in focus here is Vicki Anderson, in her original guise as Myra Barnes (later to become Mrs Bobby Byrd), and a hard funk groove that has been used in several ways in hip-hop and therefore holds many formative golden-age memories.

Listen here

Message to the Soul Sisters opens with a rousing cry for the sisters to get together and show the brothers they can get down too. It kicks in with a pounding piano loop that riffs with hard, open drums and cries of "Yeah!". It's almost as if JB intentionally wrote it to feed the hungry samplers of 90s New York.

It didn't take long for the keen ears of DJ Premier to pick it up and rock it for Gang Starr's debut album on No More Mister Nice Guy, and then, from the west coast, Above the Law asked the question: "What's a radio cut when ya can't say shit and ya can't say fuck?" – is that Freedom Of Speech?

As Bobby Byrd's head-nodding piano groove rumbles on, it's the screeching horn solos that really grab the attention, as raw funk rains down from the sky and crashes into the brass section.

The energetic chaos builds and provides backing for one of our all-time favourite hip-hop tracks, Nile Kings's Dropping Bombs, using the power of those screeching horns to maximum raw effect. Old-school UK heads can even pick out the Principle's handiwork for Caveman's intro to Streetlife, a track that had me scouring crates for years to track down the source of that infectious baseline loop and sax lick.

Running with that gritty piano loop throughout, the track was perfect for hip-hop heads the day it was written and it still stands out today as a great track. A Soul Brother #1 Classic.

Top 3: Twinight Records

My eyes always light up when I see the distinctive "T" of Chicago's Twinight label when digging through boxes of old 45s. Sadly, it usually turns out to be a common release by Syl Johnson, Twinight's only star performer, rather than one of the label's more sought-after rarities.

This remarkable little indie label, largely funded by Johnson's success – and also aided by his skills as a producer – was responsible for some of the best soul and funk 45s from a city positively brimming with them. But with such formidable competition, hits were hard to come by, and in 1972, after five years in business, Johnson left and the label folded, leaving a clutch of overlooked 45s that would eventually find their way into the hands of soul collectors many years later.

Scans of our pick of the label's output are included below, but honourable mentions must go to Main Squeeze by Nate Evans (a great record to kick-off a Saturday night), Wayward Dream by Annette Poindexter and Pieces of Peace (the Twinight house band) and, of course, Syl Johnson's genre classic, Is It Because I'm Black?.





Click to hear Satisfied

You can get the songs above, plus plenty of other choice cuts from the label, on Numero Group's superb compilation Twinight's Lunar Rotation (a reference to these criminally overlooked records largely being relegated to late-night local radio). Don't sleep!

Zerben R Hicks & the Dynamics, Lights Out (RCA)

"We've got to hold on / A little bit longer, baby / Then one day, baby / I'll be there with you / While they play Lights Out"

Wow. My jaw nearly hit the floor when I first heard this song back in 1997. The third track on Dave Godin's amazing first volume of Deep Soul Treasures, it must have taken me a full hour to get to track four, such is the magnificence of Lights Out.

Click to hear Lights Out

Sung in the first person, this tale of a soldier in Vietnam penning a letter (or perhaps reflecting on a letter he's received) to his girl back home, pleading for her to wait for him to return so they can be together while the band plays Lights Out (which I've always assumed to be a reference to Jerry Byrne's Lights Out, released in 1958 on Specialty, but I could be very wrong about this), is, for me, about as moving as popular music gets.

Beginning with rolling, military-band drums, chugging guitar and distant horns, the song steadily rises to a crescendo, as first a choir and then an orchestra join the march, before Zerben's devastating cry of "lights out, lights out baby" brings the whole thing crashing down. If it fails to sends shivers down your spine, consult a doctor immediately: you might be technically dead.

Flip Lights Out over and you get a lovely mid-tempo number called You Make Me Feel Good, credited simply to the Dynamics, making this rare 45 a double-sided delight that's well worth seeking out.

Click to hear You Make Me Feel Good

Only Built 4 Hyperlinks (Part 1)

Following the excellent Kon + Amir Present: The 50 Greatest Hip-Hop Samples Of All Time, it seems dusty fingers have swapped crates for keyboards, and internet forums have been buzzing with hip-hop heads debating which samples and breaks were key in making 90s hip-hop such a formidable period in the genre's history.

Always digging, the Soulful Strut love to reflect upon our own favourite breaks and beats, and so we're chronicling them with "Only Built 4 Hyperlinks", a series exploring our most-loved funk and soul samples. Over the coming weeks we'll be revealing those rare crate-digging moments when you discover a loop on an old piece of vinyl that unexpectedly gives up a secret from hip-hop's golden age.

We'll kick things off with Bob James, a jazz fusion pianist who is pretty well-known in sampling circles, but who nonetheless created some of the biggest beats of all time. Without Bob James, would we have ever heard Run rock rhymes or Rakim's journey of the journal as a journalist, and would Nas even have picked up a microphone at that infamous barbeque?

There are several outstanding Bob James tracks to choose from, but we've opted for an absolute monster from his 1974 album, One, called Nautilus.

Click to hear Nautilus

The album features James (keyboards), Gary King (bass) and Steve Gadd (drums), the latter being a legend in his own right and worth investigating further.

Listening to this track for the first time still ranks as one of our most memorable beat-digging moments. The first few eeire bars kick in, and from the spacey void some of hip-hop's greatest artists emerge, first with Jeru and Pete Rock, before an awesome guitar lick washes up Ghostface Killah ... and we're only a few bars in!

The track races into a glittering fusion of orchestral swell and classical piano, rolling over a strong b-boy beat before plunging 20,000 fathoms of funk into a deep underwater dimension, leaving only a crashing breakbeat and haunting organ stabs that bubble into classics for Run DMC, Ultramagnetic MCs and Eric B & Rakim, with Main Source (featuring Nas) also floating in the deep soundscape.

The list, of course, goes much, much further, and it's easy to lose count of the funk flotsam and jetsam used by hip-hop all over this track, making it one of the most sampled of all time. But it is also just an unforgettable track in its own right. A real classic.

Anti Radar Funk v Home of Britpop

Oxfam, YMCA, Scope, Cancer Research, Age Concern ... NW1 might be littered with charity shops, but very few of them carry cassette tapes, making this morning's tape drop a little trickier than we had envisaged.

But, as you can see from the photo above, we got there in the end, and mixtape #3 is now in the wild! Hit 'play' on the video below to see our undercover agent, Miss Malone, making the drop ...

Joni Adams and the Fenderman 70, Las Vegas (Zodiac)

One of our favourite funk 45s, Joni Adams absolutely nails this track (hit 'play' on the video below to hear for yourself). This Zodiac label is out of Miami, not to be confused with the Chicago label of the same name (home to the Creations, A Dream, another big Soulful Strut spin).

The track is taken from a rare, privately-pressed album called Miami to Las Vegas, featuring artists and songs from, you guessed it, Miami and Las Vegas.

Flip it over and you get an intriguing medley called Going Back to Miami by Dave Taylor and the Clique, also taken from the Miami to Las Vegas LP, which manages to sandwich a brief version of the Temptations classic Get Ready between a fairly pedestrian soul/r'n'b call-and-response workout.

We don't know if Joni recorded any other tracks, but if she did, it's hard to imagine her eclipsing this funk juggernaut ...

Lee Moses: A complete discography

"Got that will to learn / Gonna be a star one day."

With just eight 45s and one LP to his name, Lee Moses's star shone briefly but brightly. Below you can see the sum of his output, cutting sides for Lee John, Dynamo, Musicor, Front Page and Gates, as well as a 45 and nine-track LP for Maple. In fact he almost had as many labels as he had songs.

But fleeting as his contribution to soul music was, his records – which range from raw deep funk to achingly powerful deep soul – are some of the most startling examples of the genre we've heard. His complete discography is as follows:

Lee John 618
Diana (From NYC) / My Adorable One


Dynamo 115
Never In My Life / If Loving You Is A Crime (I'll Always Be Guilty)


Musicor 1227 (Lee Moses & the Diciples)
Reach Out For Me / Day Tripper


Musicor 1242
Bad Girl (Part 1) / Bad Girl (Part 2)


Musicor 1263
How Much Longer (Must I Wait) / I'm Sad About It


Front Page 2301
Time and Place / I Can't Take No Chances


Maple 1001
Got That Will / Free At Last


Maple 6001
Time and Place (LP)


Gates 1502
Dark End of the Street / She's a Bad Girl


For detailed information about Lee, and the songs above, check out this excellent and informative article at In Dangerous Rhythm: http://indangerousrhythm.blogspot.com/2005/10/lee-moses.html

Means of Persuasion, One Way Street (1972), C&J

It's been a while since the last 45 and counting ... To get things back on track, we're posting one of our favourite recent discoveries.

This seemingly un-Googleable 45, as far as we're aware, is pretty much as rare as they come. We have no information about it whatsoever, other than what we were told by George, the chap who sold it to us. According to George, the band cut an LP (although no one seems to have seen or heard it), and the flip to this 45, Be My Friend, despite being a bit shit, got some spins on the northern scene many moons ago. And that's it.

With such pitiful context to set the scene, perhaps it's best to let the music do the talking (click play on the video below to hear the track in full).

Mixtape #2 is in the wild ...

North may be the Soulful Strut's default setting when it comes to hanging our hat, but we're certainly not afraid to venture further afield in our quest to share rare, unusual and downright funky soul 45s with unsuspecting Londoners. This afternoon we headed east to deposit our second Anti Radar Funk mixtape at one of the capital's trendiest branches of Oxfam.

We can approvingly report that during our brief stay the plaid-shirted shop assistant gave Neil Young's On The Beach album a well-received outing on the in-store sound system. Sadly our dig through the 12"s and LPs proved fruitless, but we couldn't help smile at the thought of our little addition to Oxfam's family of unwanted cassettes nestling snugly between albums by Lenny Kravitz and the Charlatans, its destiny unknown.

Anti Radar Funk tapes are go !!

Analogue fans rejoice! The first batch of Anti Radar Funk mixtapes are complete. One could be winging its way to a charity shop near you (snail not included). Inside the case you'll find a high-quality Type II Chrome cassette packed with 90 minutes of killer funk & soul 45s mixed by the Soulful Strut. So set your EQ to 70 and get hunting!

Check out the video below to see the first tape-drop taking place at an Oxfam located somewhere in the capital.

Anti Radar Funk mixtape: coming soon to a charity shop near you ...

Behold London-based funk fans, thrift fiends and cassette nerds! The Soulful Strut Anti Radar Funk mixtape is coming to a charity shop near you. That's right, we're busy making cassettes of some of our rarest and most mind-blowing 45s and, over the coming weeks, we'll be dropping them at random in branches of Oxfam, Scope, Cancer Research etc around the capital. Each Anti Radar Funk tape features a different mix of original 45s, from psychedelic soul to break-laden jazz jams to deep funk holy grails. Keep your eyes peeled and you could be one of the lucky recipients of our guerilla tape-drop project. Watch this space for updates ...

Anti Radar Funk mixtape

Anti Radar Funk - by Thesoulfulstrut on Mixcloud

Back with another one of those block-rockin' jeeps! From the east coast to the west and back again, check your mirrors then head out on a high-octane, psychedelic funk-vinyl roadtrip. Forty minutes of Anti Radar Funk to take you over the county line!

Busy week for the Soulful Strut ...

... bringing the funk to not one but two parties!




Age of Aquarius poster design www.quillustration.com

Everything We Do Gonna Be Funky

Thesoulfulstrut - Pt 2 by Thesoulfulstrut on Mixcloud

Our new all-45 mix tape has dropped!

Thesoulfulstrut - Pt I by Thesoulfulstrut on Mixcloud