naptu2: It feels like deja vu. Like PSquare, like the Gallagher brothers.
In fact, I think what happened at PSquare's US concert was even better than Oasis' US concert. They both went to the US, fought and Noel flew back to Britain without performing.
Just like Oasis, PSquare have had a long drawn out break up and they've attacked themselves on social media. Noel and Liam have been at loggerheads since the 1990s and in 2009 Noel decided that he was fed up of being "bullied". Not even the Olympics could reunite them. Noel performed Wonderwall alone at London 2012 (backed by his new band).
But I hope that, unlike Noel and Liam, PSquare do not look back in anger.
naptu2: A minute's silence in honour of Jam Master Jay.
I'm not certain about who killed Jam Master Jay, but this is the most persistent rumour.
I first heard 50 Cent in 1999 when he released a single called How To Rob. The song caught my attention because it was humorous and he name checked quite a lot of stars (he was rapping about stealing from these stars). Quite a few rappers responded to the track (Jay Z, Big Pun, etc). Most of them launched counter attacks, but the reply I loved the most was not a counter attack. Wyclef replied with, "Low Income, I stay so hungry that if 50 Cent came to rob me, he'd be part of my charity".
Anyway, 50 Cent vanished after that track and I didn't hear him again until he released Get Rich Or Die Trying in 2003 (I was thinking, "I've heard this voice before". It took me a while to remember How To Rob). So, what happened to him between 1999 and 2003?
Well 50 Cent also released a track called Ghetto Qu'ran in 1999 and the track was about the activities of a notorious mobster called Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff and his gang which was called "The Supreme Team". McGriff was not too happy about this and he ordered that 50 Cent should be blacklisted from the US music industry. Columbia Records dropped him and radio stations refused to play his songs. McGriff also put a hit on him and it's believed that this was what resulted in 50 Cent being shot 9 times in the year 2000. He had to move to Canada in order to be able to record mixtapes.
Jam Master Jay had gone into production during Run DMC's decline in the early 1990s (he founded JMJ Records) and 50 Cents was one of the first people he produced. Jam Master Jay continued to mentor 50 Cent after he left JMJ Records and even after he was blacklisted by McGriff. It is believed that this infuriated McGriff and on October 30th, 2002, at least two armed men invaded 24/7 Studios which was owned by Jam Master Jay. They shot and killed Jam Master Jay and injured other people that were in the studio at the time. One of the armed men was Ronald "Tenad" Washington, who was shot dead a few weeks later.
His death pained me because Run DMC were the most peaceful and harmless rappers that I could think of.
Run DMC was made up of rappers Joseph "Run" Simmons, Darryl "DMC" McDaniels and their DJ, Jason "Jam Master Jay" Mizell. Run's brother is the hip hop mogul Russell Simmons (Def Jam, Phat Farm) and he and his Def Jam co-founder Rick Rubin produced and promoted Run DMC.
It was revealed during an episode of Run's House (on MTV) that it was actually Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons' idea that Run DMC should do this song. Run DMC didn't really like the idea of doing the song at first. They eventually did the song and it became the first rap song to get into the top 5 of the Billboard charts. I absolutely loved the original version of this song and I love this version even more because it brings two of my favourite groups together. Many people have tried to mix rock and rap together, but only a few have succeeded. This, in my opinion, is the best mix of rock and rap ever.
In the video we see Run DMC trying to rehearse, but they can't because Aerosmith is rehearsing in the next room and Run DMC can barely hear themselves because of the noise from Joe Perry's guitar. They try to tell Aerosmith to turn it down, but that doesn't work. Then Jam Master Jay had an idea. He went out of the room and came back with ginormous speakers. The wall of sound that emanates from those speakers stops Aerosmith in their tracks and roles are switched as Aerosmith is now trying to get Run DMC to turn down the noise. Steven Tyler eventually breaks through the wall and confronts Run DMC.
Then we see them on stage. The groups are competing over which group can wow the audience, Joe Perry vs Jam Master Jay; Run and DMC vs Steven Tyler. Eventually. . . they collaborate.
The original was
Aerosmith - Walk This Way(1975)
This is
Run DMC featuring Aerosmith - Walk This Way(1986).
Anybody that watched NTA2 Channel 5 even for a second in the late 1980s and early 1990s must know this song. They played it so much that it was like their theme song.
Fine Young Cannibals - She Drives Me Crazy (1988).
naptu2: I remember when I often confused people by saying Bon Jon Jovi and they wouldn't be able to say it properly again. Some people would he so confused that they wouldn't know what I did. They knew that something was wrong with what I said, but they didn't know what.
I remember when this song was released and when it was on the charts. It's the theme song of the hit late '90s and early 2000s sitcom Friends.
So no one told you that your life was gonna be this way. Your job's a joke, you're broke, your love life's DOA. It's like you're always stuck in second gear. When it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, or even your year, but
I can't remember for sure, but I think that this was the only Nigerian track on that playlist. It was quite difficult to get the track back then (2005) and the audio file that I had ended abruptly midway into the song.
naptu2: At last! I've got good quality audio with the original video.
The riff gets me every time. His guitar playing was simply out of this world.
O yeah!
In France, a skinny man died of a big disease with a little name, By chance his girlfriend came across a needle and soon she did the same. At home there are seventeen-year-old boys and their idea of fun, Is being in a gang called 'The Disciples' High on crack and totin' a machine gun.
Time. Time.
Hurricane Annie ripped the ceiling of a church and killed everyone inside. You turn on the telly and every other story is tellin' you somebody died A sister killed her baby 'cause she couldn't afford to feed it, And yet we're sending people to the moon. In September, my cousin tried reefer for the very first time Now he's doing horse - it's June.
Time. Time.
It's silly, no? When a rocket ship explodes and everybody still wants to fly. But some say a man ain't happy unless a man truly dies. Oh why? Time.
Time. Time.
Baby make a speech, Star Wars fly Neighbors just shine it on But if a night falls and a bomb falls Will anybody see the dawn?
Time. Time.
Is it silly, no? When a rocket blows, and everybody still wants to fly Some say man ain't happy truly until a man truly dies Oh why, oh why? Siiiiggn o' the times.
naptu2: This song is very special to me. This is the first time that I heard Prince infuse hip hop into his music and I was really into hip hop then. This song is a very funky combination of soul, rock, hip hop and pop.
I’m glad that I found the original video. This video messed with my mind.
But more importantly, this song would touch you if you knew what was happening in the world at that time.
This was 1986/87 and AIDS was real serious business then. The symbol for AIDS at that time was a skull and cross bones. The information campaign around AIDS at that time was designed to scare the hell out of you. It felt like HIV/AIDS was a death sentence and that the person was condemned to die a slow and horrifying death. And then there was that night in 1986 when Professor Olikoye Ransome-Kuti announced the first case of AIDS in Nigeria. It was incredibly scary.
People rarely talked or sang about AIDS then, but Prince did. He sang, “In France a skinny man died of a big disease with a little name”.
He also sang about gangs, “At home there are 17 year old boys and their idea of fun is being in a gang called the disciples, high on crack and toting a machine gun”.
He sang about poverty, “A sister killed a baby because she couldn’t afford to feed it and we’re sending people to the moon”
This song was released just a few months after the space shuttle exploded and he sang about that too.
“It's silly no, when a rocket ship explodes And everybody still wants to fly? But some say a man ain't happy Unless a man truly dies O why? Sign O The Times”
He sang about drugs, “September my cousin tried reefer for the very first time, now he’s doing horse. It’s June”.
He also sang about atomic bombs. "If a night falls and a bomb falls, will anybody see the dawn?"
And the thing was that this was a really cool and funky song. It was message music, yet it wasn’t a sad song.
This song was a big hit in Nigeria and it had very good airplay on NTA2 Channel 5.
I’m tempted to post the entire lyrics, but I won’t. Still, you really need to listen to this song. Listen to the lyrics.
naptu2: I read the silly British tabloids in the late 1980s and early 1990s and I could very clearly see what they were doing, although, at the time I didn't know why.
It was quite obvious that they were trying to hound Princess Diana. There was a particular story that angered me. It was a story about William and Harry. At that time they were in kindergarten and primary school, so I wondered how a paper could be writing about what little kids said in school and taking it so seriously, as if they were adults.
Anyway, the tabloids tried to link that name, Dirty Diana, to Princess Diana. It was reported that Michael would not perform the song during the UK leg of his "Bad" tour, because of the way that the tabloids tried to link the song to Princess Diana.
I have since found out that Michael actually planned to remove the song from his set list during his performance at Wembley Stadium, but that he reintroduced it and performed the song after Princess Diana told him that it was her favourite.
This song is just like Billie Jean in the sense that it is actually about groupies. It's the second hard rock song of Michael's career.
This song was not on the playlist, but I was reminded of it when I posted the last song (which was on the playlist).
En Vogue appeared on the popular sitcom, A Different World on January 21st, 1993 and posting the last song reminded me of that appearance.
They acted as Mr Gaines, shy, nerdy, awkward and Christian nieces.
Ron and Mr Gaines opened a new club. The club was funded by Ron and they were going to leverage on Mr Gaines' experience of running a restaurant.
However, unfortunately, Ron had overspent and he was broke and to make matters worse, the act that he had hired for opening night cancelled at the last minute. Mr Gaines told him that he shouldn't worry because his nieces are great singers and they would fill in on opening night. Ron believed that the customers would not be happy with a performance by these nerdy and awkward girls. They proved him wrong.
I searched and can you believe that there's actually a clip of that performance on YouTube? Here it is.
I'm sure that the anti-spam bot will ban me if I post what's in my mind, so I'm just going to post the video.
This song reminds me of Bobby Brown's On Our Own (Ghostbusters) because the video is filled with stars.
I would have liked to post the names of all the stars and what they are lipsyncing to, but I'm afraid of the anti-spam bot, so I'll just post the video.
This was my favourite video in that playlist. I love the beginning when they were waiting for Rod Stewart to arrive. 
It's Jon Jon Jovi! Wait, what did I just say"?