Every year on Valentines Day, a bunch of artists and DJs drop songs and mixes inspired by love, the pursuit of it, or the bitter fall out from it. It’s a bittersweet time of year all the way around, but the roller-coaster ride of love has always generated amazing art. This year in the Bay we heard a little bit of everything from love’s vast spectrum.
ORIGINAL MATERIAL
Los Rakas gave us a sultry ass retooling of Marvin Gaye‘s classic “Let’s Get It On” with a smooth Latin twist. Producer Mars Today deserves a tip of the cap for this joint.
KnowItAll of League510 tells a space-age Bonnie and Clyde tale called “Against The World.” He had me at the Cory and Topanga reference. #TeamUs
Oakland’s resident maestro/emcee Kev Choice teamed up with the Honor Roll’s 1-O.A.K. to drop a smitten ode to an elusive young lass called “Dear Love.”
1-O.A.K. also dropped “Me & You” (watch below), his first video off his re-released Bay Area classic Special Request (pictured at top). Read our initial review of Special Request here and cop the album with new bonus cuts here. And in case you were thinking of writing off the new editions to the album, we’re nominating “Enough 4 U” into the late-night booty-call Hall of Game.
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Oakland emcee extraordinaire Do DAT dropped Slow Motion Love Potion, a whole project dedicated to documenting the evolution of a relationship from booty calling to falling in love. There’s even a chopped and screwed wooing anthem!
DJ MIXES
DJ Wonway Posibul gave us Later On…, the perfect soundtrack to the late night rendezvous complete with the awkward post-club repartee and the late night booty call audio. It’s a long joint drag of 3am smoothness engineered to set the mood. Expect everything from Jesse Boykins III, Meshell Ndegeocello, and Jessie Ware to Jose James, Prince, and Portishead.
MkSmth of League510 and Hyperspace Music dropped a dubbed-out mix he’s calling the Lovetrap Mix. It’s head-leaning, trippy, electro smooth shit with flashes of both R&B and gullyness. Definitely some saucy shit to ride to.
San Francisco emcee Rocky Rivera and DJ Roza took a slightly different angle on their second annual The Morning After mixtape. This year we’re assuming that even Valentines Day couldn’t heal the wounds inflicted over the months or years. Love is on the rocks and her bags are by the door. I know it’s not the happy ending we all hoped for, but we’ve all been here. Enter and exit at your own risk.
Now that we’re all done crying (Thanks a lot Rock + Roz! lol), we’ll end on a hopeful tip. This POP ETC cover of Whitney Houston‘s “How Will I Know” is a couple months old, but it’s pretty apropos. You can’t help but feel hella middle school as you debate whether or not she likes you. A repeated back-and-forth refrain of “She loves me, she loves me not” ends the song–rose petals falling as Valentines Day fades. Whatever she decides, at least we got some good ass music this year! Enjoy!
