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I bought Licensed to Ill seven times.  Seven.  The follow up, Paul's Boutique, was only purchases three times.  I highly recommend reading Dan LeRoy's 33 1/3 series on that album.  It was a game changer.  The reason that you have to pay for samples now (Paul's Boutique contained "somewhere between 200-300 samples").  It's amazing to see how these cats have endured - without selling out (ever hear a Beasties song on a car commercial?) or relying on gimmicks (I'm looking at you, Matisyahu).  Their only angle was that they were brats.   And in fact, they were the brattiest brats that ever bratted.   Their new album, Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 is due out on May 3rd.  

But first.....it's Throwback Thursday.

It was the summer of 1989 and myself and a few friends had all told our parents the "I'm staying with so-and-so" bit - giving us unlimited freedom for the entire night.  The downside is, there is only so much you can do in rural Parke County, Indiana - especially after hours.  Boredom set in and we took refuge at an all night convenience store near Raccoon Lake Camping Grounds.  We made a midnight feast of microwavable pizzas and rotisserie hot dogs.  The store also had a VHS rental section (for the campers) and without any prompting, the crusty attendant put on the 1987 flop The Disorderlies (starring The Fat Boys) for our entertainment.  Terrible movie, but I'll always associate it with that uneventful, unsupervised night.  

In the clip below, the boys take on The Beatles' "Baby You're A Rich Man".  Purists will be offended, but remember that they did the same thing to both Elvis and The Beach Boys.

It was 1994 and The Arsenio Hall Show was one of the few places for real hip-hop on late night TV.  This collection of talent not only represents the appreciation that the community had for Arsenio but it boasts most of the brightest stars in the mid-school golden era.  See if you know all these cats.

I was 9 years old and making the most of the Midway at the Parke County Fair - which usually consisted of cheap, dangerous rides and hard-to-beat carney games.  I was in the Tilt-a-Whirl when I heard this song come on.  They system was surprisingly loud and I fell in love with this groove.  I included this song on my Old School Mix Vol. 1.  I'm not sure I've ever seen the video until today.  I give you, Laid Back - "White Horse".  Stay off the coke, people.

I was 11 years old.  My family had gone to Danville, Illinois for the day - since my father worked there we would often go for groceries, doctors visits, etc.  On this particular trip we stopped to see my Aunt and Uncle who lived near by.  Only one of my cousins was home at the time, David, 4 years my elder.  He was watching some version early music television (maybe MV3?) and a video came on for "Jam On It" by Newcleus.  I nearly flipped.  My discovery of hip-hop a year prior had sent me on a quest to absorb all things related to the culture.  Fashion, music, dance, art.  This hit the spot.  Still love this jam.