Today is Easter Sunday. Today is also the first day of the 2010 baseball season (or as I like to call it, the year when the Yankees win their 28th World Series title). So I choose to celebrate this Sunday with…a song about sex? Why the hell not?
For most people, you can sum up the love song in hip-hop with a few words. “Bitch”, “ho” and “suck my dick” would probably do the trick (no pun intended) for most. However, those of us headz know that there’s a long string of classic hip-hop jams that celebrate the joys of falling in love, initial attraction or just plain old sex without being graphically raunchy or demeaning towards sexual partners (or without being cheesy, like LL’s “I Need Love”). That list of songs includes “Mahogany” by Eric B & Rakim, “Lots of Lovin'” by Pete Rock & CL Smooth, and my favorite hip-hop sex jam, A Tribe Called Quest’s “Electric Relaxation”.
The song itself has a very hazy vibe to it, like it’s coming to your ears from under muffled pillows (or that could just be my speaker system). It’s got a warm vibe to it, probably due equally to the booming bass (which actually sounds like a stand-up acoustic) and Q-Tip’s nasal voice-one of the most distinctive in hip-hop history. It’s blunt (Q-Tip’s opening line) and occasionally hilarious (Phife Dawg throws out some zingers during his verse…for all you non New Yorkers-Seaman’s is an actual furniture company). Sure, it’s a little juvenile, but isn’t sex supposed to be fun and playful sometimes?
Anyhow, whether you’re just mellowing out enjoying the springtime weather or you need some background music for some afternoon amorous adventures…”Electric Relaxation” works better than Colt .45. Word to Billy Dee Williams.
-by the way, the correct words are “relax yourself, girl…please settle down”.
–I don’t know why the video has absolutely nothing to do with the song, either.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERQzl4xDpXk