“Boo, do you mind if I take this seat right here
Cuz you’re sitting alone
If you’re sippin’ on Cris’ girl, I’m buying, yeah
And if you got a nigga don’t lie, ain’t got to front for me
I will give you these digits that you can call
You can hit me on my cell if I’m not home” Donnel Jones
I am listening to that song right now, “This love” by Donnel Jones. I just can’t help but smile to myself as I sing along to Donnel. The 90’s music, damn that was the good stuff. I cannot get enough of ol skul music. When I am down, that is the music that I listen to. When I am happy, I celebrate with some good Tupac, Luniz, Lost Boyz or Nelly. Ol skul music can practically change my mood for the better anytime. One minute I may be blue, the next minute, am going like “Oh yeah” with Foxy Brown and suddenly am happy again.
Back in the day, people used to speak through music. That is why we had “dedications”. I don’t know if people still do that though.In the 90’s…
“Hate me now by Nas” went out to the “haters”
“Hard to say I am sorry by Azyet” was the track for apologizing
“First night by Monica” let the boys know that it wasn’t happening
“I wanna be down by Brandy” let the cute guy know that you were into him
“Doing just fine by boyz 2 men” was to convince the exes that you are so over them
“Nobody by Keith Sweat” was the official baby making anthem, back then I didn’t know that
“Little secret by xcape” was for showing love to the “other one” LOL
“The boy is mine by Brandy and Monica” was the equivalent of Bamboo’s “Compe”
“Same script different cast by Whitney and Deborah” went out to the new girlfriend haha
There was a track for everything. Whatever you wanted to say, an artist had already put it into words for you.
Back in the day we had song books full of cut outs from the newspapers. We also had the legendary compact cassette tapes that could be forwarded or rewound using a biro pen.
We used to have a cassette player that used to “meza” the tapes and then this would be the result
Anyway, some of my best memories of my childhood years revolved around the music. Today I pay tribute to some of my best 90’s artist.
Tupac and Biggie
This may have been the biggest rivalry “the west coast versus east coast beef” in the music industry to date but I think it is safe to say that nobody can do what Pac and Biggie did.
Tupac is my favorite between the two though. I have most of his albums to date and it is because of him that I came to love Death row records as a whole and all their artists.
Some of my favorite tunes by Tupac include:
Me and my girlfriend (the original Bonnie and Clyde)
Brenda
Keep your head up
Hail Mary
Do for love
Aint mad at cha
Life goes on
Dear mama
used to have this poster when I was a teen
Snoop was another great artist from Death row records.
My favorite album by Snoop used to be “ The Doggfather”. I still remember watching the video for “ Snoop upside your head”. Great music.
Dr. Dre had some great tunes too.
I remember when “keep your/their head ringing” came out in the early 90’s and all I used to hear was “ring ding dong…..” LOL. Most of the other big tracks from Dre were mainly from his collaborations with Snoop. Such as “next episode “and “still dre”.
Amazing concert though a little explicit but awesome still
Biggie did some good stuff too though I don’t really know a lot of it, though I used to like “Big Poppa” and “One more Chance”. The later has some serious lines.
Lost Boyz
This group was off the chains! Mr Cheeks, Freaky Tah, Dj Spigg Nice and Pretty Lou. I know everybody used to like “Me and my crazy world” at some point, and I still do! I was really sad when Freaky Tah died since it felt like Lost Boyz died with him. Mr. Cheeks did some good stuff after that solo but still it wasn’t the same.
from “Renee”
Jeeps, Lex Coups, Bimaz and the Benz
Shout out to the Jeeps
It’s the Lex Coups, Bimas and the Benz(and the Benz)
To all my ladies and my men(my men)
To all my peoples in the pen(in the pen)
Keep your head up
And to the hoods(the hood)
East Coast, West Coast and World Wide(world wide)
Ain’t nuttin’ wrong with puffin’ on lai(on lai)
And if you’re with me let me hear you say “Ri-ght”
I remember back in the day rapping out loud to these lines with Mariam Waithera Kaboro in high school.
Nas
Jay Z
My favorite female hiphop artists
Da brat
That hair style!
I used to completely adore this women. From her tom boy dressing style to her signature hair style. Her music was unrivaled in the industry. Everything she did from solo tracks to collabos was great. Some of the stuff that I like from her includes:
Sitting on top of the world
Funkdafied
Whatchu like
In love witchu
Ladies night with Missy Elliot, Left Eye, Queen Pen….
Mc Lyte was really good too. I liked “Cold rock a party”. However, “keepin on” still remains my favorite.
I used to like the earlier stuff by Missy. Such as “Sock it to me”, “for my people”, “pass that dutch”, “one minute man” and freak on”.
Westside Connection
I remember back in the day when “Bow Down” came out. I first saw it on mcm then on rap’em. I was hooked. The video was just perfect. I also used to like “The gangsta, the killa and the dope dealer”.
Westside connection was awesome n Ice Cube ruled even in his solo career.
LL Cool J
I used to love LL Cool J. I still think he licks his lips a bit too much but he was awesome. To date my best track by him is “Hey Lover” ft Boyz to men. It was too deadly. I liked him in “hit em high” too.
He looked good too
Heavy D
Remember that tune? Heavy D was awesome too. That is my favorite track from him.
Ain’t nobody like Heavy!
Naughty by Nature
C’mon I know I jam, I know I jam jam, while oh damn I know I jam, I know I jam jam boree I know I jam, I know I jam jam Well oh damn, why don’t you jamboree for me? Yes, indeed
I so used to like Jamboree and “feel me flow”. N by N was a great group with some awesome music.
The Luniz
I have to admit that the only thing I know from Luniz is “5 on it” both the original and the remix. I really love the remix especially the part by Richie Rich. I don’t know if it is the voice, they rhyme or whatever else it could be but I always wait for that part. Speaking of Richie Rich. I do love his track “Do G’S get to go to heaven”. That was awesome. I also loved him on “Id ratha be ya nigga” with Pac. Rich made me want to go to Oakland by the way he was representing.
Eminem
I know he has some done stuff lately but for me, nothing will ever beat the ol skul stuff that he did.
The Marshall Mathers used to be my favorite album. I almost got beaten up because of this album. I borrowed it and refused to give it back. My favorite track on it was “Kill you”. I know a lot of people liked “Stan” back in the day.
I had a friend, Kevin Mathangani who still remains the biggest Eminem fan that I know to date.
Nelly
Ol skul Nelly was dope. “ E.I”, “Air Force 1”, “No. 1”,” Country grammar”, “ Hot in here” are some of my favorite tracks from him. In high school, we used to love “ride with me” which was a hit by then.
The Ol Skul Slow Jams
Druhill
To date, Druhill remains my favorite R n B artists. I still have the “ Enter the Dru” and “ Year of the Dru” albums. I absolutely love this group. When in high school, the girls used to love Nokio. I even remember one girl used to be called “Jackie Nokio” but my favorite artist in the group was Sisqo.
Jodeci
If I ever get married, my dream is to walk down the aisle to “Love you for life” by Jodeci. These men used to give their all in every single track and they made magic each time. Amazing!
New Edition
“Hit me off” was one of the biggest tracks by the group. However, for me, I will always love” still in love”. I remember there was a time the group sang that song on “Family Matters” and to date I still remembering that scene. Most romantic thing ever!
TLC
They have so many awesome tracks. I love” Red Light Special” the most. I remember back in primary school, we used to love “Waterfalls” although by then we had no idea what the song was really about. In high school, all girls loved “scrub” though I am not sure we really knew any scrubs in real life anyway.
SWV
This is another group that made some awesome tracks.
Xcape
I remember in high school, we would patiently wait for Rythmix and pray hard that they play” The arms” or “little secret”. xcape was awesome.
They both had some really good music back in the day.
BONUS
Bone Thugs and Harmony
“Wake up, wake up, wake up it’s the 1st of the month
To get up, get up, get up so cash your checks and get up”
These guys were definitely in a league of their own. Awesome, awesome!
Tha Crossroads
1st of the Month
East 1999
Days of our lives
Well that’s some of my favorite artist from the 90’s. Got nothing but love for that ol skul music!
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