Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Songs You Should Know: Urban Dance Squad - Deeper Shade of Soul

So the local Hip-Hop/R&B station gets a DJ for live mixes during drivetime and I've been really impressed, especially with the Rewind Wednesday sets he's put together. I've heard cuts of gems like Mellow Man Ace's Mentirosa, K-Solo's Your Mom's in my Business, and Main Source's I'm Looking at the Front Door which are all songs that I never thought I'd be hearing on commercial radio at this day and age. Anyway a song that elicited a huge "OH SHIT!" from me was the song Deeper Shade of Soul by Urban Dance Squad. This was a throwback to the early 90's and I flipped out! It's one of those songs that was released in the wrong period. With it's laid back groove and sampled chorus it really didn't find a place in a hip-hop world that was powered by Gangsta Hardcore, Native Tougue-ish Afrocentrism, or High Powered Dance Jams. Still, it was a buzzworthy clip back then and I think it would have been huge if it were released in the last few years. Not saying it would have been highly original or anything but it just seems perfect for today's airplay.

Anyway, the reason this song got to me was that I was driving and I thought to myself "Hey the chick in that video was really f'n cute". Then I'm thinking to myself how the fuck do I remember that? I mean I don't even know where my keys are currently, but I can vividly recall a chick in a video that I saw a handful of times fifteen years ago? How screwed up is that? What's worse it that when i actually saw the video recently, she's on the screen for like, a second. Yep, it was that same girl taht popped into my head earlier. Then I felt creepy, like Matthew McConaghey in Dazed and Confused. I get older and they stay the same age. And yes, if you have to know I was making a smoothing motion with my hand and I followed it with an "Alright, alright". That's just how I roll.

So I thought it was strange how a throwaway image can link itself permanently with a song, but after asking friends, they also came up with their personal examples. For me, other burned-in images include, Huey Lewis' girlfriend walking on the beach in a white bathing suit, LL Cool J's colagulated deodorant, Baby Spice's skirt flying up, and Steve of the Fabulous JP's boots dangling out of a window. If you got some similar music video images y'all wanna share, post it 'cause suckas gots ta know.

So here's Urban Dance Squad's Deeper Shade of Soul. Oh yeah, the girl in question is like at approximately the two minute mark.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Whenever I hear Allstar by Smash Mouth I think of the little girl who holds her fingers up to her head in the shape of an L.

Or the scene in Chains Hang Low where the ice cream truck man stops to let the kids catch up, then drives off again.