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January 16, 2006
Lou The Rapper
Bring that dynamite and a crane,
blow it up, start all over again.
-- Lou Rawls
If you're lucky, in these days after the death of Lou Rawls, you'll get to hear some of his raps.
One of the coolest tapes I had in college was one in which Lou Rawls does this monologuing between songs. I'm never going to find that tape but what I remember about it was that he was a very smooth fast-talker. It's safe to say that he was a kind of rapper of his day... Well it turns out that I just found the cut. It's called Hustler's Blues / World of Trouble.
Also, you'll probably hear Tobacco Road, which is, I imagine, the first 'bomb the ghetto' song I've heard from an Old School perspective. Hmm. You learn something new every day.
BTW, Here's a nicely done writeup.
Posted by mbowen at January 16, 2006 03:37 PM
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Comments
Yes! Street-corner hustler's blues has been my jam from back when I was less than a little bit of a thing. I mean to tell you, young folks don't know. And Tobacco Road, what else is there to say?
I know that my appreciation for that Hustler's blues is enhanced by the fact that I remember men and women like that acting out in the street back "in my ex-home town/where I used to stay..."
By the way, I caught a show called Classic Arts Showcase last night and saw Lou singing "Sophisticated Lady" with Duke Ellington. The communication and the appreciation between the (then) young singer and the grand old man of jazz was too poignant for words. I hate to sound like an old curmudgeon, but I'm telling you, young people just don't know.
Thanks for the laugh and the memories.
Posted by: Kim Pearson at January 16, 2006 04:17 PM