Special Ed - Youngest In Charge (Profile Records - 1989)

Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention please: you're about to download a true hip hop masterpiece. Released by a then unkwown sixteen years old Flatbush alumni, Special Ed, Youngest In Charge starts with two absolute classics, so often sampled and quoted you probably know them even if you never heard them: I Got It Made and I'm The Magnificent. Boosted by Howie Tee stallar production, the teenager boasts classic verses of braggadocio with a perfect flow, slowly leaving the old school rhyming style to head in in a more modern direction. On Club Scene, Special Ed ventures into hip-house with an equal success while on Heds and Dreeds, he pays respect to his Jamaican roots. With this record, Special Ed made a very impressive entry in the hip hop game, with an album as good as Eric B & Rakim, EPMD or LL Cool J releases of the time. Unfortunately, Special Ed gave almost everything he had in the guts with Youngest In Charge and never released anything else that much interesting. I have posted the 2009 CD reedition that comes with must-have bonuses: a handfull of very good remixes of I Got It Made, Think About It, I'm The Magnificent and Club Scene and two rare tracks, One In A Million and Ready 2 Attack.























Download => Special Ed - Youngest In Charge

Laura Villa - Bossa Nova (Polydor - 1962)

Recently rediscovered thanks to rare groove reissue label Vadim Music, this little gem is one of the first bossa nova record ever recorded in Paris. Born in Italy, Laura Villa discovered bossa nova during a stay in Portugal. Back in Paris and signed to Polydor, she recorded this bossa nova album with the help of members of the Brazilian diaspora in Paris. Made of covers of Brazilian, and most notably Jobim, classics (Desafinado, Chega De Saudade, Corcovado, Samba De Uma Nota So) and original songs, nicely and originaly orchestrated, Bossa Nova has absolutely nothing to do with a kitsch easy listening experience. It's rather the kind of music you expect to hear in the club scenes of a Jean-Pierre Melville movie.

Download => Laura Villa - Bossa Nova

Sheila & B.Devotion - Spacer b/w Don't Go (Carrere - 1979)

Once an average teen 60's French pop singer, Sheila enjoyed a huge success in France until the end of the 70's, churning out middle of the road and unbearable shitty records, completely in the hands of her producer and her record label. Her only good career choice was to capitalize on the disco craze to try a come back and to choose recording with the kings of disco Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards, then at the best of their inspiration. It's even a surprise to consider that those two geniuses accepted to work with Sheila. The story goes that they were looking for a European singer to break the European market. Sheila's label, Carrere, heard the story and proposed to the duo to produce an album for the fledging artist. Nile Rodgers and Benard Edwards accepted to the condition to have a complete freedom and the final say on the record. They locked Sheila in a studio and made her work The Chic Organization way. Sheila notoriously didn't like the result of the recording sessions but changed her mind when Spacer stormed the charts and still is her biggest hit to date. If The Chic Organization fans can go for the complete album, King Of The World, the two best cuts, Spacer and Don't Go, are on the 7'. Sheila's career never really recovered from this huge success and she felt back into mediocrity and low sales. Despite several liftings and several tries, she never really came back one more time.





Download => Sheila & B.Devotion - Spacer b/w Don't Go