Bluestone's Track of the Day: Blues In The Ghetto

Here's a little something from Pee Wee Crayton, it's called Blues In The Ghetto.  Crayton was born in Texas in 1914, then went on to do most of his recording in San Francisco.  His mellow Blues After Hours reached #1 on the Billboard R&B chart in 1948, and his upbeat Texas Hop had great success, as well.  Blues In The Ghetto is just a catchy tune.  The rhythm section plays the exact same loop through the entire song, as far as I can tell, and it kind of drones on.  I think this is what Crayton intended to do, however, and why the song is titled the way it is.
Listen on Yahoo Music


Buy Early Hour Blues off Amazon.com

Bluestone on Lightnin' Hopkins

Sam Lightnin' Hopkins was born in Centerville, Texas in 1912.  At the early age of 8, Hopkins met Blind Lemon Jefferson and got into the blues.  He played with Jefferson at church gatherings, who supposedly never let anyone else accompany him.  That was about it for his early music career, though.  He moved to Houston with his cousin, Alger Alexander, to try and break into the music industry, but had no success.  He returned home to work on a farm.  In 1946, he tried again in Houston and was discovered playing on the street by Aladdin Records.  Hopkins, a true Texas bluesman, got sick of recording with Aladdin in Los Angeles and returned home to Gold Star Records.  Hopkins' recognition blew up in the 1950s and in 1960 he debuted at Carnegie Hall.  That same year he signed with Tradition Records.  After a treacherous beginning to his career, Hopkins finally became known as one of the greats.
Lightnin' appears in most photographs with dark shades, a goofy smile, and a flask full o' whiskey.  He's just a guy with the blues, who happens to be really good at singing them.  He doesn't play with a back up band, he doesn't need a big stage.  He is, in my opinion, the best at playing bass, lead, rhythm, and percussion all together.  He hammers the low E with a heavy thumb, glazes over the body of the chord, and picks out a high lead with the rest of his fingers.  All the while, using his foot like a drumstick on the floor, and his palm on the body of the guitar; he's a one man show.

 What's great about his style is that it's so universal.  His sound is distinct, but it can also be found everywhere.  The way he played his licks is only one of many; they can be applied to any blues.  The Red Hot Chili Peppers even said they were influenced by Lightnin' around the time Stadium Arcadium came out.
Lightnin's sense of humor shows in a lot of his songs.  Here is Katie Mae Blues; "she walks just like she has oil wells in her backyard," he sings, "some folks say she must be a Cadillac, I say she must be a T-model Ford.  Yeah she got the shape alright, but she can't carry no heavy load."
Listen to Katie Mae Blues.

Buy The Very Best of Lightnin' Hopkins on Amazon.com

Featured Artist: Dosage

Dosage first came to my attention a month or two ago when I first bought my tickets to go see Lupe Fiasco perform in Boston. He was the opening act for the opening act (B.o.B.), so, honestly, my expectations weren't that high.
But when I saw him live, I was in for a dope surprise. First off, this kid is a showman. Starting things up, the crowd was pretty mellow but after one track Dosage collapsed onto the ground and the music cuts. The other guys on stage lifted him up, completely supporting him as if he were passed out. All of a sudden 'All the Way Turnt Up' came on blasting as Dosage jumped back up, bounced across the stage and busted out a quick verse. From there on out, things only got better. The whole time he was on stage, Dosage was getting the crowd amped up, something that is definitely hard to do when no one in the audience knows your lyrics.
Back to his music, though. Dosage has got some incredibly clever lyrics, and a quick spitting style that nicely emphasizes his best lines. His flow consistently falls into an ill rhythm, giving you some solid music to ride to.
At the end of his set, Dosage tossed out a couple of CD's, which my buddy was lucky enough to pick up. I was able to burn a copy off him and so far his tape has gotten more than a dozen spins, enough for some clear favorite tracks to jump out at me. Throughout, the beats are solid and the rhymes are top notch. 'Read the Contract', Git Up to Git Down' and 'Dream Killers' are all absolute bangers.
I've been hittin up his myspace page but, unfortunately, not too much info is available on this rising star. About all I know is that he's from Philly and unsigned (though probably not for long). He's in the group 3rd Degree, though I'm not entirely sure who the other two members are.
For real though, do not sleep on this kid. I'm throwing my three favorite tracks of his down low and will upload the whole album upon request. I've also included his myspace link so you can check him out. Dosage, if you're reading this, keep on doing what you're doing and best of luck!

Dosage's Myspace

Download: Read the Contract
Download: Git Up to Git Down
Download: Dream Killers

Weekly Mixtape: Volume 1 (April 26th)

So I'm getting the jump on this a night early, but usually these will go up Sunday nights. Basically, every week I'm going to throw together a mixtape of 10-20 songs that particularly stood out to me this week. Most of these won't be taken from old posts from the week so this is definitely something worth picking up. Since this is the first edition, I stretched a little bit further back than a week and pulled some choice tracks off of Wiz Khalifa's Kush and OJ mixtape, as well as The Game's Red Room. If anyone has any tracks they think should have made the cut this week, leave a comment. Tracklist and download link down low.




1. I'll Find You-The Game
2. The Professionals-The Game feat. Kanary Diamonds, Menace and Mad Maxx
3. Beaming Freestyle-Nero
4. Love Letter to the Beat-Lupe Fiasco feat. Alicia Keys
5. Still Blazin-Wiz Khalifa
6. Not Lost-B.o.B. feat. T.I.
7. Good Dank-Wiz Khalifa
8. Dopeman Music-Scarface feat. B.James and Monk Kaza
9. Over Freestyle-Bad Meets Evil (Eminem and Royce da 5'9")
10. White Tees-Slim Thug feat. Boss Hogg Outlawz
11. Who Dat-J.Cole
12. Who to Trust-Jay Rock feat. Sean McGee

Download-Weekly Mixtape Volume 1 (April 26th)

Jimi Hendrix: Blues (Track 2 of 11)

Johnny Allen Hendrix was born in Seattle, Washington he 1942. Hendrix is in the U.S. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the UK Music Hall of Fame, the Native American Music Hall of Fame, and he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It all started at the age of 15 when Hendrix laid down $5 for his first acoustic guitar, which he bought from a friend of his father's. Hendrix's first gig was with an unnamed band in the basement of a synagogue, Seattle's Temple De Hirsch. After too much wild playing and showing off, he was fired between sets (Wikipedia.org).

Hendrix grew up in a poor, unstable family. His father was in the army, and separated from his mother. He even spent time living with his grandmother in Canada, when things were bad. He took what he could get and ended up playing a right-handed guitar lefty... and being one of the greatest musicians ever.

This track is called Red House. It's another another typical Hendrix blues in B-flat, but there are a couple things I really like about it. First, the intro. It's just really good, that's all there is to it. The licks are really simple, but sound great. The second thing I like is that the song his hilarious. You have to listen to it twice, once to laugh, and once to cry about how much better he is than you.  If my baby don't love me no more, i know her... sister will!

Buy Blues on Amazon.com

Here is the video of Hendrix playing Red House at Woodstock. Watch it.  It's strange, he plays the intro looking incredibly focused, almost nervous.  When the lyrics begin, however, his godlike persona emerges.

The Game-I'll Find You

Finally, we've got The Game back on a Just Blaze beat. Even if his lyrics are still all cars, clothes, bling and women, you gotta love his flow over these drums. Supposedly a cut track off of Detox. If this is getting cut, I'm definitely looking forward to the stuff that makes it.
Download: I'll Find You

French Montana-I'm On It (feat. Big Sean, Nipsey Hussle and Wiz Khalifa)

The line-up on this track is just too good for me to wait to post it until the end of the day. Goin coast to coast with the features on this one, French Montana definitely brought it.
Download-I'm On It (feat. Big Sean, Nipsey Hussle and Wiz Khalifa)