I'm inevitably the only person 'round these parts who feels this way, but this is
stunning. Discovered thanks to Andy's
Walter "Cockroach" Bradley - Back to Mine mix, "One Love" is an aces mid-'80s track, to my ears almost more R&B than hip-hop in that while it's based around a simple synth bassline and some Linn drum handclaps, what sucks me in are the icy-cool keyboard stabs. They're nothing like the
icier-than-Jeezy-ness of Cameo's "She's Strange," but the song's part of the (musical) family tree, maybe a second cousin. The lyrics are some of Whodini's best, up there with "Friends," too. Perhaps it's time for a critical re-revaluation of the 2nd- or 3rd-best hip-hop trio of the '80s (behind Run-DMC and S-N-P, I mean)?