SONG OF THE DAY: Somebody's Gone

Brother Theotis Taylor is a nonagenarian (dude in his 90s) down in south Georgia, who apparently for decades has had a piano and an old reel-to-reel tape recorder set up, so that when the mood struck him, he’d record some sounds. He toured as a gospel singers, even played the Apollo, and with Sam Cooke for a while. But mostly he’s just been living his life down in Georgia, feeling the creative spirit as it hit him, and making his art as a conduit from wherever it comes from for whoever might hear it. Even if they don’t hear it, it’s more about a relationship with creation than an end result of consumption. People lose sight of that too often. I lose sight of that too often. (My kids are always like, “why are you saying ‘people’ when you mean us?”) Creation existed long before consumption did, and will continue to exist long after this system of mass consumption – which has poisoned every possible creative outlet you could think of – is dead and gone. Anyways, this song is pretty fuckin’ great.

r r s a m

once road a railroad home from
north georgia, singing this one
jim croce song, loud as fuck

J.J. Krupert Top 13 Countdown - April '11 #13: "High Five" by Rittz

Hate writing these things the month after the list is made, because back then Rittz was in heavy rotation when he first popped off his White Jesus mixtape. But then it just fell into nothing because, for all the talent the dude has, nothing makes each song separate from the next, except for the beat. This, ultimately, is the problem with hip hop music, that being a talented lyricist with good delivery is enough for most MCs to consider themselves The Greatest Ever. There's no songwriting involved anymore, to where you make something that might stand the test of a month, much less be a timeless classic. So what it comes down to is whether or not you get a catchy ass beat from Lex Luger or whoever the flava of the month producer is by the time this is seen by eyeballs come tomorrow morning when the post goes live. Still though, if you had to cull all of Rittz into one song to get a feel for the dude, this is probably your best bet.
STEAL "High Five"
NEXT: A mellow ass song that makes me want to sit around the kitchen table and play cards!

J.J. Krupert Top 13 Countdown – November ’10 #10: “My Time Is Now” by Rittz

Rittz is a longhaired redhead dude from Georgia whose alter-name is Jonny Valiant, which I hope is wrestling-related, and he just raps simple ass hotel room knocking boots party party party until we die music. But he’s awesome at it, and looks like he’d be hanging out at a junkyard in Cumberland County, Virginia. In this song, he very casually rapidfire says “gimme the money and my tail will wag.” That is my favorite rap lyric of 2010, and it is very Georgia whiteboy, yet very rap, and just fucking perfect. I am not going to tangent rant for 2000 words on this one. You should just hit up the DL link, and play it in whatever car has the loudest system you have access to, while you ride around in circles for about 20 minutes.
STEAL “My Time Is Now”
NEXT UP: Ozark kinfolks!