“Hear that, Helen? He’s tearing it up, that fella. I’d love to get my hands on those acapellas.” About 45 seconds into “Hit It”
Mystikal takes on the voice of an older white woman who is watching him
perform the song, which is a stunningly good update of vintage James
Brown funk. He’s catching feelings, riding the speedy beat, virtually
speaking in tongues. He’s in the song and then outside it, calling out
instructions to the band — which includes the New Orleans musician
Trombone Shorty, according to the Twitter feed of DJ Don Juan, who
produced the song with KLC — and talking about all the instruments he’s
in charge of. His rasp is intact from his mid-1990s heyday, and his
energy is stratospheric. The song is a leak; it may or may not appear on
his coming album on Cash Money, his first in more than a decade, a span
that included time in jail.
Whatever happens, though, “Hit It” — or “Hit Me,” depending on whose
Twitter feed you believe — is either a late contender for best song of
2012, an early contender for best song of 2013 or proof that time travel
to and from 1968 is possible and happening right before our ears.
Web link: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/06/arts/music/new-cds-from-capital-steez-the-departed-and-too-short.html?_r=0
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