Words By Prop Jay

On a slow day, I reverted to digging through some classics. Therefore, I present you with this old Bay Area Latyrx jam. The Solesides crew is simply legendary, and Lateef and Lyrics Born through their group Latyrx generously helped contribute to earning this title.

This jam is exactly how I got turned on to the crew, and it was this track that later led me to hearing DJ Shadow’s classic album Entroducing. It’s off their second release Muzzapers Mix EP from 1998, but strangely enough the song was released a bit earlier (1996) as a single only to be left off thir first release Latyrx: The Album. Therefore, as Lateef and Lyrics Born give praise to what seems to be the perfect woman, the jazz and funk infused beat hooks you early on and seems to only let go enough to make you pay attention to what is being said about this lost vixen.

Musically, both easily wrap their voices around the melody like no other and I mean that literally; no other rapper/artist is able to duplicate their sound. It is this variation, or play-on, of our beloved genre (Hip-Hop) that has been what has always kept me intrigued enough to follow them. Today, not many Hip-Hop artists truly bring something new to the table when they finally get their break. This track is a perfect example of the simple innovation that I often feel we are missing within the genre that once was prevalent and promoted in the past.

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Download — Latyryx – “Lady Don’t Tek No”