God Bless the YouTube. God Bless The Ummah. Thanks.

Do you guys remember when Channel O was on KTN in the afternoons?

If you were pre-pubescent or adolescent in the late 90s to the mid 2000s, you probably do. I was. I have to admit that I got a lot of my musical schooling from Channel O. I’m not sure that’s necessarily a good thing.

Not me. I was way cooler. Promise. :)

Anyway, they had a whole bunch of shows that were hosted by VJs (remember them?), one of which was called “Lurv jams”. Lol.

Lurv Jams was an RnB show. Very urban and the selection was not so bad. I first heard Dionne Farris’ “Hopeless” on there, which as you probably know is a gem. (And is that Randy Jackson on the bass?)

Another song which almost always featured on the playlist was Musiq’s (who I could swear was called Musiq Soulchild) “Half Crazy”. It was a classic. I had so many feelings for this song and felt like I related, even though I was prolly 12 or something. I was a weird kid.

Remember how it started with the sweetest, saddest little chord progression on acoustic guitar? Well I stumbled upon that progression on a random song I clicked on, on YouTube this morning (YouTube is seriously the best technological invention EVER, after, of course, the Roland TR-808). This was the track.

It’s by an Australian dude (who I believe is of Asian heritage) called Ta-Ku.

Ta-Ku lost in thought. Nice side profile.

Isn’t it just lovely?

The sample is from of Charlie Byrd’s “Vivre pour Vivre” which is an interpolation of a Francis Lai compostion. (Wikipedia. No Shame.)

I'm a sucker for a good sample and this was no exception. However, I would be keen to hear someone lace this track. I felt like it was a little too bare because towards the end, the repetition was starting to get to me.

Still, it's such a pretty song. And sad.

That’s cause it’s off of an album called Songs to break up to. YouTube has the whole album. Praise God.

Ta-Ku, who has been called a disciple of The Ummah (Blessed are their beats), remixes famous break up songs using sparse, heavy drums, lots of reverb and the saddest synths you’ve ever heard L

Blessed are their Beats

It’s what most people would call “Post-hip-hop” (have no idea what that is, nor do I want to know) but I would call it “James-Blake-that-doesn’t-give-you-a-slight-headache”.

I love it. And so does the world apparently. Homie is an alum of The Red Bull Music Academy and is in quite a bit of demand.

Have a listen to his sound cloud and see if you like.

Then…

Y’all aren’t sharing your finds. Woishe. L

I really want to hear the stuff you are stumbling on or that you’ve always loved. So don’t be shy.

Please.

K.