the roots of it all
while i'm slowly moving on my way around the world, i'm spending a lot of time listening to the music on my iPod. since i've copied over the majority of my downtempo music to the iPod, including lots of tracks that i haven't had the time to listen to before now, i'm getting the opportunity to revisit a lot of early downtempo music (and influences thereof).
so i'm going to start blogging about the roots of downtempo to this website until i start getting new music again (or run across some downtempo news that i can spread through this site). it seems the more i get into downtempo music, the more i end up exploring the roots of the genres that cross pollinate "downtempo" (ambient, acid jazz, and hiphop).
the first album that i recently rediscovered through my iPod was called The Roots of Rap. while not really vintage rap music, this compilation contains a lot of classic blues music which in turn went on to influence modern urban music. worth a listen if you're at all a fan of the blues.