Like It or Not, I'm Saying It...: Feb 9, 2010

My Favorites: Today's 5
M.D. Wright
2.9.10

***EDITOR'S NOTE: My Favorite Top 5 Series, continued.

Today's 5: FAVORITE ALBUMS FROM 1995.

1995 was a seminal year for me. That summer was excellent. It was the first summer that I was eligible to work as a 16 year old and I was coming of age as of that year. I made some pivotal moves and plans that set forth the next decade of my life (and some of the things I did/didn't do are still affecting me 15 years later), so of course the music was poignant to me. As always, these are personal -- and although a soundtrack of my life, I'm sure there are others out there who got some of the same vibes from some of this music.

Here are my 5's from 1995:

1. FAITH EVANS - "FAITH".

This was my joint to mellow out to. One of my vaunted "No Skips" albums -- because of the ability to vibe to the entire album, with all its ebbs and flows from beginning to end. The sound is soft and mellow throughout and rather personal for Faith (although back then, as a 16 year old, I just made believe she was singing to me ha). And it was good slow-dance music at the parties we had back then. Good times. The hit singles were summer classics that year as well: "Soon As I Get Home" and "You Used To Love Me".

2. FRED HAMMOND - "THE INNER COURT".

I got saved in June of 1993, so I was still fairly new to the "Christian walk" -- although I had grown up in church. Fred Hammond was always that dude. My dad loves his music, even dating back to his time with Commissioned, so I am intimately fond of Fred's catalogue. This album does it for me more than any of his albums before or since (including "Spirit of David", "Purpose By Design" or "Free To Worship") and that says something. It was the background for a lot of our youth ministry outings with Minister Kevin B. Lee, that may have been the thing -- because those were some of the BEST TIMES of my teenage years. Anyone who was at Mt. Zion back then would agree (and it has gone steadily downhill there ever since).

3. RAEKWON - "ONLY BUILT 4 CUBAN LINX".

The Staten Island native. Everyone loved "Ice Cream" and "Incarcerated Scarfaces", and I was among them. This was more or less that "Get Ready for the Winter/Break out the Jeff Hamilton Leathers" grind for the latter part of '95 -- but "Ice Cream" WAS that summer jam that year, though. Rae has always been one of my sons and his debut filled the promise of all the anticipation that we had for it after two years of being thirsty for more "darts".

4. R. KELLY - "R. KELLY".

Underrated album. R. Kelly in his prime, if you ask me. Remember, the man wrote, produced, executive produced and performed all of his music. Prince used to hold all those titles (still does) on his albums in the 80s. R. Kelly was definitely the songman of the 90s, without question. He had summer jams for the ages every year from '91 forward. And he hasn't stopped yet.

But you know with all the greatness that is enclosed in this album, my jam was that simple ditty that he did with The Notorious B.I.G. It got moderate airplay, so unless you were real R. Kelly or Biggie fans, it may have slipped under the radar, but that "(You To Be) Happy" was my JOINT the summer of '95.

5. MONICA - "MISS THANG"./MOBB DEEP - "THE INFAMOUS" (TIE)

This album was Monica's best work, for better or for worse (depending on who you ask). I think anything that had a nice vibe to it and came out when I was in high school was a good look. I liked the simple tracks that everyone knows by name -- so I won't list -- and I don't know too many people who didn't.

As for Mobb Deep, Havoc's beats made you want to fight... in Vietnam or something. I still knock "Shook Ones, Pt. II" to this day and I swear it sounds like background music to some war documentary or something -- the bassline and the sample. Then to hear Prodigy and Havoc's lyrics just served as icing on the cake. The entire album was FIRE though. And thankfully, this WASN'T their best work to date.

HONORABLE MENTION:
AZ - "DOE OR DIE".