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Camp Lo - Uptown Saturday Night02 July 2008
Camp Lo are another hip hop duo who created a classic debut but never managed to follow it up in proper fashion, (also see them and them.)
Their 1997 debut, Uptown Saturday Night is an album whose whole concept, from lyrics to artwork to videos is based upon the themes of 1970’s Blaxploitation. Whist sounding like a pretty heavy going subject, in reality its more to do with lush, smooth and uplifting funk, soul and disco samples, colorful flared clothes and a set of lyrics that reference a lot of 1970s pop culture whilst making absolutely no sense.
Camp Lo – Luchini AKA This Is It
Cassanova brown levitation jiggy in da shiggy’s
In la hotta Car 54 chasin’ diamond runners
Headin’ ice bound, where every chilla dime can get
Your Harlem buck strut freezin’ world hice Hollywood
Madame Butterfly let me in your house of pleasure
From the knuckle swat shadowboxin’ catchin’ black-eye blues
Some might find fault in having hip-hop lyrics that make no sense, but Camp Lo manage to conjure vivid lyrical illusions with the shortest of phrases, and without the constraints of having to make rhymes logical, they are freed up to make pleasing use of their skills with assonance:
Camp Lo – Black Nostaljack AKA Come On
Drop cats from BX on the one and the two
We sippin on the booze with the little big league shoe
Somebody pulled a heist but they just don’t know who
I wonder how we do heist the juice how we do
I’m in the airy lye with a little bit of ooh
I do swing my flings but I practice kung fu
Now this here be the end so we will be seeing you
Hailing from the Bronx, aka the ‘birthplace of Hip Hop’, Sonny Cheeba and Geechi Suede partnered their surreal raps on Uptown Saturday Night with the Jay-Z affiliated producer Ski Beatz. Ski Beatz, real name David Willis, was riding a high on a wave of confidence, having just produced 4 tracks on Jay-Z’s critcally acclaimed debut, Reasonable Doubt, (Feelin’ It, 22 Two’s, Dead Presidents and Politics as Usual,) and one brilliant, brilliant stand alone 12”, In My Lifetime. With Jay-Z’s beats, Ski used smooth, often horn based, samples to very sultry and moody effect, but during the making of Uptown Saturday Night, Camp Lo’s obsession with everything Blaxploitation must have rubbed off, as although his style doesn’t drastically change, his beats take a unique turn towards a more bombastic 1970’s Shaft theme tune sound.
Although the album came out to all round great reactions, Camp Lo failed to make a follow up for 5 years. Once again they used Ski Beatz, but he hadn’t exactly been on fire since and the decision to drop their sampled soul sound for a more digital, polished and commercial approach failed miserably, the result being an extremely boring album that sold next to nothing. Such a shame. Anyway, I’ll leave you with another great track from their quite wonderful debut:
Camp Lo – Coolie High
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