Broke and Copasetic

So I began my morning ritual at work today as usual. Hit the “on” button on my laptop, launched Outlook, opened up gmail (with gchat, of course), and added a browser tab for youtube. I’d had a song by Mos Def featuring Vinia Mojica stuck in my head since I left the apartment, so it was “Get Ta Steppin’” that was first in line for today’s playlist. You know how youtube does that semi-pandora music genome thing where it shows you related songs after your track has finished playing? Well, Vinia Mojica isn’t exactly a pop artist, so youtube decided to show me the 5 other tracks that just so happen to feature this talented young lady. And that’s where I discovered them.

I never like to take credit for discovering new music. Mostly because by the time I’ve discovered it, it’s usually not new. And me taking credit for it usually makes me look like an idiot. But today, I “discovered” the underground hip-hop group called Pseudo Slang. If you’ve ever had a conversation with me, you’d already know that “pseudo” is one of my favorite words. I use it about 10 to 15 times a day; usually as a fabricated prefix to some common noun. Needless to say, their name alone was enticing. So I listened to the youtube path-given track “Broke and Copasetic,” featuring none other than Ms. Vinia Mojica. I’ve had it on replay ever since.

Broke and Copasetic took me back. Waay back. You know, because I’m so old and I can say things like “way back” now. It took me back to the Fugees days. Where hip-hop was mellow and intellectual. Where you knew some friends got together on their front steps on some row house in Brooklyn and just started putting beats with rhymes. That “A Tribe Called Quest and young Common” feel. Hip-hop for the hip-hop head. And I realized how much I miss those days in music. I’m not saying that nothing good comes out these days. Heck, Pseudo Slang just dropped their EP this year. But it’s that sound that I miss. The uncomplication. The no-rush, just sit and listen to an entire album through your headphones sound. Maybe I miss something deeper than the music.

We’ll leave it at that for today.