What It Is! Funky Soul And Rare Grooves (1967-1977) [ 4 Discs ]
Sitty-fie bones.
Nothing puts a dip in your hip and a glide in your stride quite like a gritty funk groove that hits the beat hard on the one. The polyrhythmic kissing cousin of classic soul and R&B, funk's sinuous slap-bass lines and booming kick drums from its '60s/'70s heyday went on to inspire a generation of hip-hop heads. This month Rhino rocks funk's foundation with a four-disc collection of rump-shaking beats and hard-to-find pimpalicious jams: What It Is! Funky Soul And Rare Grooves (1967-1977).
Arranged chronologically, What It Is! brings together 91 slabs of righteously funky grooves drawn from the vaults of Atlantic, Atco, and Warner Bros. Records. Some of the genre's biggest names -- Sly Stone (under the pseudonym 6ix), Earth Wind & Fire, Aretha Franklin, Allen Toussaint, The Commodores, Wilson Pickett, Curtis Mayfield, Labelle, P-Funk guitar virtuoso Eddie Hazel, The Meters and others - lay down more than five hours of wicked rhythms, badass clavinet, incendiary horn blasts, libidinous wah-wah guitar, and chirping Hammond B3. Although much of the music featured on What It Is! flew under the radar, many of the break beats and riffs will sound familiar thanks to hip-hop DJs and producers who through the years have sampled several songs featured on this compilation in tracks by Kanye West, Snoop Dogg, Beastie Boys, Tupac Shakur, and The Notorious B.I.G., to name a few.
A dream come true for groove gurus who spend hours scouring crates of used vinyl in search of lost classics, What It Is! continues Rhino's tradition of deluxe, imaginative packaging with the four discs nestled in a hand-assembled clamshell box. The set includes liner notes by Wax Poetics contributor Oliver Wang, plus detailed track-by-track commentary and testimonials by such heavyweights as Fred Wesley, Howard Tate, Hank Shocklee (Public Enemy), Bootsy Collins, DJ Pooh (Tupac, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube), George Porter Jr. (The Meters), Clarence Reid, Chuck Rainey, and others in a stunning booklet with rare vintage photos.
