The Almighty Tanya Morgan: You & What Army

Tanya Morgan hold a special place in my heart as the group that reignited my love of hip-hop music after years of apathy.

I think it was 2006 when their album Moonlighting was heralded by that evil Bachmann basher, Questlove, as one of his year-end favorites. That co-sign was enough for me to take a listen and what I heard instantly connected with me. Von Pea, Donwill and Ilyas were smart, funny and funky... just like me. What!

Five years, a slew of Tanya Morgan and solo albums and EPs later, they're still trying to carve out a spot for themselves in the music industry, but their art hasn't suffered in the struggle. They continue to grow artistically, even if they're shrinking in number. Ilyas has left group -- a fact that is played out in a really clever (and pretty damn heatbreaking) skit in the intro to "You & What Army?"

It won't be the same without him, but it doesn't have to be. Von Pea and Donwill are two creative cats and they're moving forward with more high quality hip-hop. No, no. Don't believe me. Listen to it yourself. It's free, Emmer Effer:


Like it? Go to their bandcamp page and buy a T-shirt. I'm putting one on my Christmas list.

"That's a bunch of bull, like Jordan in a steakhouse."
-- Donwill

Sofia quote of the day

This came tonight while Sofia was chomping on a cherry Starburst candy cane:

Sofia: Mami's the boss, right?

Me: Yep.

Sofia: Mami's the boss because she says she's the boss, but God is the real boss, right?

Me: Who told you that?

Sofia: Nobody. I just believe it inside my head.

Where does she get this stuff? Not from home.

Sofia quote of the day

Watching the Thanksgiving parade: "That's cool that the Kool-Aid man showed up."

Good News/Bad News

Good News: We actually had chocolate sauce in the fridge to spruce up that remaining vanilla ice cream.

Bad News: It was really just "chocolate flavored syrup."

Good News: It's a "fat free food."

Bad News: The "best by" date on the bottle said November 10.

Good News: Still smells OK.

Bad News: That's actually November 10, 2007.

Good News: Tasted just fine.

Bad News: Tasted just fine.

Good News: Purchased for less than $2 sometime during George W. Bush's second term, Publix brand chocolate flavored sauce survived the worst economic downfall in decades and is still yielding great returns.

Bad News: None. It's all upside.

Getting out of the funk with The Original 7ven

The last couple of months haven't been the greatest and I've been struggling a little to get back to my amazingly upbeat self. Tough times like these call for the right music, and the way I see it, you have two choices: 1) You can dive head first into your pity party with something whiny and sorrowful, and most likely British; or 2) You can try to pull yourself out of the funk with a double dose of the funk.

I didn't think I was quite ready for Option 2, but like a funkin' miracle from above, the Minneapolis branch office of The Adjustment Bureau saw fit to reunite the original seven members of The Time after 21 years to record a new album that makes me smile, dance and laugh every single time I play it.

My friend Prince tried to stomp his pointy heels all over my comeback and theirs by not allowing them to use their Prince-given name, The Time. But just as Prince's other revered side project, The Family, did this year when they regrouped and recorded their own new music under the name fDeluxe, The Time just moved forward and renamed themselves "The Original 7ven."

Although Prince wrote and basically recorded all of the songs on their first three albums, the seven members of The Time were -- and still are -- talented musicians in their own right. Jimmy Jam (keys) and Terry Lewis (bass) wrote and produced a million hits after Prince fired them and they're responsible for producing most of the new album; Morris Day is coolest, most pimping and self-deprecating frontman in the world, not to mention a funky-ass drummer with enough personality in his voice to pull off any line; Jerome Benton is the greatest hype man ever, always stealing the show; Jesse Johnson is an amazing guitarist and should be a household name (Quad Cities, U.S.A., represent!); Monte Moir, who wrote Janet Jackson's "The Pleasure Principle," can play the Minneapolis sound's signature keyboard lines like nobody else; and Jellybean "Don't Be So Mean" Johnson is the drummer in one of the tightest live bands ever to do it.

With all of that said, if they had never recorded this new album, Condensate, their legacy might have been misinterpreted as solely the best band to play Prince songs. Condensate disproves that argument.

While the new music still adheres to the template Prince set out for them in the early 80s, Condensate is slick, funky and really adventurous music for fans of the genre, not to mention way more fun than anything Prince has released in a long time. They don't take themselves too seriously, just the music.

Don't be tempted like I was to judge the album by 30 or even 90-second snippets. There are funky little surprises around every corner that show off their musicianship and make for a great listen all the way through. Also, go to Best Buy and get the CD with special DVD documentary featuring the guys telling their own history. It's really well done and kind of sweet (Morris delivers another classic Morris line when, describing his normal childhood growing up in Minneapolis, he says in his Mr. Day voice, "A new bike for Christmas and shit like that.")

And if this song -- the greatest social media jam ever written -- doesn't pick you up, put a little hop in your step and make you feel like dancing, you might as well just retire and go to bed: