Humpty Dance.

I have been in an eighties and early nineties rap and hip hop kind of mood lately. Lil M' is a fan of the Digital Underground. They were kind of awesome. With my latest music obsession I rediscovered the West Coast All Stars. Their hit was "We are All in the Same Gang," and it had a message, not only the song, but the video as well. If you don't remember them it was a super group who put out one record in 1990. Some of the players were MC Hammer, Tone-Loc, Young MC, Digital Underground, Dre, and Eazy-E. For some reason I was totally into the song when it came out. I remember watching them perform it on Arsenio Hall.
His guest that night was Bill Cosby and they were getting deep talking about gang violence and Cosby told Arsenio that there was so much violence because they were going after each others turf. Arsenio was very polite and tried to convince him that drugs contributed to the violence and it got kind of awkward.
Another part of the show I remembered was the West Coast All-Stars performing their hit. Everyone did their part and if you are not familiar with the song Eazy-E is the last performer to rap. Each performer came out from behind the curtain when it was their turn to rap, Eazy-E comes out does his part the song comes to a close and the lights go dark. At that moment Eazy-E says, "Compton." I always felt like it was a nice touch, I mean we are in the same "gang," but not really.
Today there are a lot less rivals and beefs and it seems, though I do not claim to have my pulse on the hip hop culture, and there are more collaborations for collaboration sake.
I think that is great, though I miss the super star songs. I am a great fan of the USA for Africa, Band Aid, Hear n' Aid, and my favorite United Artists Against Apartheid.
Before I go on about United Artists Against Apartheid let me say that Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas," was re-recorded in 1989 and 2004. The versions are lame, but not nearly as dreadful as the "We Are the World," remake from a couple of years ago. Now that is pile of garbage.
"You got to say I!"
"I!"
"I!"
"I!"
"I, ain't gonna play Sun City!"
Maybe I long for the song with a message.
Little Steven got together with Danny Schechter and producer Arthur Baker (who produced Afrika Bambaataa and New Order) and put together a super group to record a record.
I cannot remember everyone, but there was Little Steven (of course), Bruce Springsteen, Joey Ramone, Miles Davis, Mellie Mel, Lou Reed, Pat Benatar, Run DMC, and Bono.
I think that Bono would have done USA for Africa had they let him. I realize it would had to been called USA for Africa and Bono.
Ok. So the song is kind of bad ass and kind of cheesy, just like the West Coast All Stars.
I heard the Maroon 5 guy and whats-her-face singing the "Moves Like Jagger," and I got a little angry. The song is not terrible, but I just wish that collaborations had something to say, even if they are kind of I have only read the headline and don't really know what I am talking about...
Y'know?