Josie Styles Borrows a Cup Of Brown Sugar From Your Favourite Rapper's Favourite Rapper

I'm going to have a new partner in crime soon at the Themes For Young Lovers HQ.. helping me with content and adding a female touch around the place will be Josie Styles.

When I first approached Josie about helping me out with the blog she started running off at the mouth about all these BIG name artists that she was going to get onboard and at the time I was like 'yeah whatevs'... Well pass me a knife and fork so I can eat my words and make way for the first of hopefully many question sessions that Josie Styles will bring to the table - Maccy

Being one of the world's better cunninglinguists, I am not sure how may people would consider Talib Kweli Greene as a 'ladies man' (especially in comparison to his partner in Black Star rhyming, Mos Def). He only ever does one or 2 love joints per album eg Talk to You (lil darlin'), Never Been in Love, Brown Sugar (raw), Hot Thing and then waxes superb lyrical consciousness in his quicksilver-tongued style (sounds a bit porn related to me!) for the most part.

I was first taken by Kwe's sexy croons on "Brown Skin Lady" from the Black Star album. He came correct on that joint, with ill wordplay and vivid imagery, and of course, anyone who makes reference to Tony Rebel's "Fresh Vegetable" wins me over in a jiffy! "Coppertone? Oh you copyright infringement"!!!

Having spent a bit of time in the USA with Kweli, I can tell you folks that he really is a gentleman and has exceptional taste in music. This is reflected in the artists and producers he chooses to work with and the tunes he drops during his DJ sets (every MC wants to be a DJ right?!)

Aside from completing a relentless worldwide touring schedule, running the Blacksmith Music label (along with CEO Corey Smyth), and helping look after his two children, Talib recently 'rekindled' his Reflection Eternal partnership with producer Hi-Tek. In May 2010 they released RPM, the follow up album to the 2000 debut release Train of Thought. There's a 'love' jawn on that in the form of "Midnight Hour" with UK pop darling, Estelle. Peep the video below and check out Kweli's dapper threads, proving himself to be every bit the quintessential ladies man.

Oh, one thing (and I'm sorry ladies) I should have said before, Kweli is technically 'off the market' after marrying his fiance DJ EQUE last year... now for the saixxy time! - Josie Styles

Name 3 songs that would be no-brainers to put on a mixtape for that special someone you were trying to woo -
Can I by Eddie Kendricks
Waiting In Van by Bob Marley
Sometimes by Bilal

You've turned the lights down low, lit the candles and poured the dom perignon, what LP goes on the stereo?

What is your fave romantic film of all time?

Love and Basketball

You've just had your heart broken, what's the song or LP that you play to ease the pain and get you through?


What song was/or would be your pick to be played during the first dance at your wedding?
I Believe (When I Fall In Love) by Stevie Wonder

If you had to pick one artist or group, who’s music do you think has played the biggest part in helping increase the world’s population over the years?

The Isley Brothers

and finally What's your fave guilty pleasure/cheesiest love song?

Loving You by Minnie Ripperton

Over the years Talib himself has layed down some killer themes for young lovers business, here are a few choice picks -

Reflection Eternal (Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek) feat Estelle - Midnight Hour

Talib Kweli - Hot Thing

Black Star (Talib Kweli & Mos Def) - Brown Skin Lady

The Mayor Of Love Town

Mayer Hawthorne won this blogs heart last year when he delivered an entire albums worth of themes for young lovers on the instant classic 'A Strange Arrangement'. Over the course of the past 12 or so months he's kept himself busy by touring the world and also making videos to accompany every track on his debut record, or at least that's what it seems like.

If you're yet to experience what Mr Hawthorne is all about, do yourself a favour and pick up a copy of his album and peep the great vids below.

Mayer Hawthorne - Your Easy Lovin' Ain't Pleasin' Nothin'

Mayer Hawthorne - One Track Mind

Ol' Dirty Bastard Does The Beatles

It's So Hard To Keep These Thoughts Polite.

Hip Hop music to watch girls by from Cool Calm Pete circa 2008... What's another word for pirate treasure?

Gitty Up Baby! - Cool Calm Pete

Who's Makin' Love To Your Old Lady?

Johnnie Taylor - Who's Making Love (scratchandsniff's extended re-rub) by scratchandsniff

Running From Love

Running From Love (Instrumental) - Freddie Cruger

Gangsta Love

Gangsta Luv (Mayer Hawthorne G-Mix) - Snoop Dogg

Bumpin' and Grindin' with Friction

DJ Friction is another artist who without actually knowing it has been contributing to this blog with his killer re-edits of funk & soul gems for the past little bit... see here & here.

With this being the case I thought it would be worth reaching out to him and letting him know that we were digging his work and also seeing if he'd be up for answering the Themes For questions and not only was he up for that, he also whipped up a tidy compilation of some of his go to slow jams from back in the day. Enjoy!

Name - Martin Welzer aka DJ Friction

A/S/L - 40 / Male / Germany

Name 3 songs that would be no-brainers to put on a mixtape for that special someone you were trying to woo -

Teddy Pendergrass - Come Go With Me
Isley Brothers - Groove With You
Heatwave - Star Of The Story

You've turned the lights down low, lit the candles and poured the dom perignon, what LP goes on the stereo? Marvin Gaye - I Want You is always a winner i guess, same goes for Sade

You've just had your heart broken, what's the song or LP that you play to ease the pain and get you through?

The Five Stairsteps - Ooh Child

What song was/or would be your pick to be played during the first dance at your wedding? I hope i never have to go trough the traditional wedding BS. But it should be something to get the party started like Michael Jackson - Rock With You. If it was just me and my girl we would both wanna hear Teddy Pendergrass - Come Go With Me. That's our song. But at a party i would rather play it as the last song not the first.

If you had to pick one artist or group, who’s music do you think has played the biggest part in helping increase the world’s population over the years? it's so hard to pick just one…my favs would be Marvin Gaye, Teddy Pendergrass, Barry White, Al Green, Sade...

and finally What's your fave guilty pleasure/cheesiest love song? I don't know, i actually don't think it's cheesy as i love it so much but The Carpenters - (They Long To Be) Close To You

DJ Friction - the following mixtape is all 70's& 80's slow jams that i like and i haven't even touched Marvin Gaye, Teddy Pendergrass, The Isleys and other usual suspects that i love too of course. It's not about mixing skills ether, just playing nice slow jams. Recording this reminded me of my teenager years in the 80's when me and my homies made similar tapes that we would play when we where alone with the girls...hahaha.
DJ Friction - For Lovers Only Mix by themes for young lovers

The Jams -

Tavares - Check It Out
Gap Band - Seasons No Reason To Change
One Way - Don't Stop
Alexander O'Neal - If You Where Here Tonight
SOS Band - Weekend Girl
Hall & Oates - She's Gone
Carl Carlton - This Feelin Is Rated X-Tra
Shalamar - You Can Count On Me
D-Train - You're The Reason
Surface - Shower Me With Your Love
Bill Withers - Make A Smile For Me
Tom Brock - There's Nothing In This World To Stop Me From Loving You
Barry White - Midnight And You
Herbie Hancock - Trust Me
Leon Haywood - Long As There's You

It Takes a Muscle To Fall In Love

Love themed joint off the new M.I.A album which highlights the difficulties concerning matters of the heart and falling in love. Judging by this it sounds like even the coolest people on the planet, do it tough sometimes.

Turn You On, Turn You Out

The world famous Dimitri From Paris turns out a crackin' re-edit of Prince's I Wanna Be Your Lover by combining elements of the original along with a great live recording complete with audience participation on the vocals.

Prance - I Wanna Be Your Lober Dimitri From Paris Re-Edit by dfp

Turntabalist, Blend King & Total Cheeseball DJ Platurn Runs Us Through Some Of His Fave Love Tunes

I recently featured a nice little love themed blend with video to match by DJ Platurn of the world famous Oakland Faders and then thought to myself why not get him to come through and let us know some of his fave love jams and artists that create them by answering the Themes For Young Lovers questions and he was down for the cause! and it goes a little somethin' like this...

Name – DJ Platurn

A/S/L – 34, manly Oaklander - California

Name 3 songs that would be no-brainers to put on a mixtape for that special someone you were trying to woo –

Rude Boys – Written All Over Your Face
Aaron Neville – Tell It Like It Is
Mint Condition - Breakin' My Heart (Pretty Brown Eyes)

You've turned the lights down low, lit the candles and poured the dom perignon, what LP goes on the stereo?

Air - Moon Safari

What is your fave romantic film of all time? Lots of ‘em, but currently ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall’. Next runner up would have to be ‘Scarface’.

You've just had your heart broken, what's the song or LP that you play to ease the pain and get you through? Sigur Ros – Agaetis Byrjun

What song was/or would be your pick to be played during the first dance at your wedding? Emily King – U & I... love you Mich ;)

If you had to pick one artist or group, who’s music do you think has played the biggest part in helping increase the world’s population over the years?

My generation Jodeci

80’s

Prince

70’sAl Green

60’s

Sam Cooke

50’s Ray Charles

and finally What's your fave guilty pleasure/cheesiest love song? Too many to name, but if I had to pick... Joe Satriani – Always With Me, Always With You

It's a little known fact, i’m a total cheeseball and not afraid to admit it. Mixtape Evidence

Here are a few Platurn bits & pieces to check out, starting off with a tidy little pissed off lover themed Janet Jackson bootleg with the 7" out now on Bstrd Boots. Cop it here

Your Dancing Feet Are Always On My Couch by Platurn

and lets pretend this is the male response to Janet's track! Platurn teams up with fellow Oakland Fader DJ Enki to form The Blend Kings and lay down this beats & breaks remix of the classic Hall & Oates joint I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)

"I Can't Go For That" (The Blend Kings Beats & Breaks Edit) from Platurn on Vimeo.

Set The Night On Fire

Nice & subtle extended edit of Al Green's take on The Doors' Light My Fire.

Al Green - Light My Fire (scratchandsniff's extended re-rub) by scratchandsniff

More Jams Than Your Grandma's Pantry

Clocking in at over an hour is this slow jam megamix by DJ Opus. If you're in the mood for cheesy 80's & 90's slow jams edited and mixed to perfection then you've come to the right place.

Here's what the man himself had to say about it -

A slow jam medley from back in the days when slow jams were love songs and the love songs were classic...

If you feel like they don't make slow jams like they used to, then this one is for you...

Heartbeats by J.Varela aka DJ Opus

Byrd Love

Sublime edit of Donald Byrd's I Feel Like Loving You Today from the hall of fame themes for young lovers album Love Byrd. It's pretty darn obvious Issac Hayes is all over this production. Smoooth.

Feel Like Loving You Today - Cosmic Boogie Edit by Cosmic Boogie

Geek bonus points - DJ Premier sampled it to great effect on Group Home's 2 Thousand Joint. Check the instrumental

Feeling Like a Million Bucks

Scrimshire out of the UK does a 4am whiskey fueled edit job of Whitney Houston's Million Dollar Bill adding elements of the original sample that Swizz Beatz flipped - Loleatta Holloway's We're Getting Stronger for good measure.

Whitney & Loleatta - Million Dollar Bill by Scrimshire

Imagine Not Looking Any Further

In a world where so many god awful mash-ups exist it's always nice when someone gets it right and DJ Platurn of the Oakland Faders crew has gone and done just that. He's matched up Dennis Edwards' Don't Look Any Further with Nu-Mark's John Lennon Imagine cover resulting in a pitch perfect blend for all the young lovers out there. Peep the vid then go cop Platurn's mixtape niceness here.

"Imagine Not Looking Any Further" (Platurn Blend) from Platurn on Vimeo.

Ubiquity Loves You!

Ubiquity is one of those record labels that never fail to deliver music of the highest quality, whether it's by way of their amazing reissues on the Luv N' Haight imprint or on the Ubiquity label itself which is home to some of the best funk, hip hop & electronic music you're likely to hear.

I was on their website recently and came across these compilations below, they've gone and selected a bunch of love themed joints from their extensive catalogue resulting in two 'all killer no filler' sets of love makin' & heart breakin' tracks. I can't recommend them enough.

V/A - Ubiquity Loves You

V/A - Ubiquity Loves You Too

DJ Day Talks Jnr High Love Jams, Eloping, Pretty In Pink & Tunes That'll Have You Weeping Like a Baby

I was introduced to the sounds of DJ Day a few years ago by way of his debut album 'The Day Before'. The fact that it was released on one of my fave labels Melting Pot Music was enough for me to pick it up on spec and upon hearing it I wasn't disappointed. It came at a great time as it helped fill a gap in my instrumental hip hop collection that was left when DJ Shadow went hyphy (The Outsider) and RJD2 got behind the mic and did the indie thing (The Third Hand).

Since the release of his debut, Day has gone on to produce some great remixes of Marvin Gaye, People Under The Stairs and Erykah Badu (see below) to name a few, run a great blog - Like a Throttle as well as tour the world with fellow west coast producer DJ Exile, showing off their amazing MPC skills

Day recently took time out from all this busyness as well as working on new business for his eagerly awaited follow up album to answer the Themes For Young Lovers questions, and here it is!

Who & where? - DJ Day, Palm Springs, California

Name 3 songs that would be no-brainers to put on a mixtape for that special someone you were trying to woo -

Off the top from past mixtapes, I'd say:

King Crimson - Cadence and Cascade
Outkast - Prototype
Stereolab - The Flower Called Nowhere

I could (and should) make a whole mix of joints, cause there are far too many to name just 3, here's a bonus Jr. High 3: Surface "Shower Me With Your Love", Whistle "Always and Forever" and The Deele "Two Occasions"

You've turned the lights down low, lit the candles and poured the dom perignon, what LP goes on the stereo?

Marvin Gaye I Want You. Solid all the way through. I have a story to go along with this, but it's not fit to print unless I want to end up living alone in a studio apartment.

What is your fave romantic film of all time?

I'm honestly not a big movie dude, but I'd have to go with Pretty In Pink. Who hasn't been Ducky?

You've just had your heart broken, what's the song/album that you play to ease the pain and get you through?

John Coltrane Ballads.

What song was/or will be played during the first dance at your wedding?

We eloped to Vegas to escape all this kind of schitt, but if I had to choose, I'd go with the classic "Ribbon In The Sky" (Stevie Wonder). It would probably make me weep like a baby at my own wedding, but it gets no better.

Who's music do you think has played the biggest part in helping increase the world's population over the years, Al Green, Barry White or Marvin Gaye?

That's a tough one for sure (where's The Isley Brothers?), but I'd have to go with Marvin on sheer personal experience.

and finally What's your fave guilty pleasure/cheesiest love song?

Personally, I don't think they're cheesy, but Todd Rundgren's "Hello It's Me" or Ambrosia's "That's How Much I Feel" are neck and neck. I actually got on the mic and sang Ambrosia while I was DJing a few weeks ago. That's how much I feel.

Erykah Badu - Honey (DJ Day Remix)

This Bed's Too Big Without You

Tony Johns does a tidy little edit job on this Sly & Robbie produced Sheila Hylton lovers rock tune from 1980 which covers The Police's 'The Bed's Too Big Without You'.

Sheila Hylton - Beds Too Big Without You (Tony Johns edit) by Tony Johns

I Want You.

DJ Friction is prolific not too mention terrific when it comes to the business of doing tasty re-edits of old funk/soul/disco tunes and this re-rub of Marvin's I Want You is no exception.

Marvin Gaye - I Want You (Frico 2010 Re-work) by DJ Friction