1. Friends- Whodini

• "Friends...how many of us have them, friends...ones we can depend on, friends...how many of us have them, friends...before we go any further, let's be friends." There is no mistaking Whodini's "Friends" as mid 80's hip hop. The production dates it fairly instantly- the simple beat and the synth bass are telling you the year is 1984. If that doesn't do the trick the lyrical flow will cement the fact. All that being said there is a keyboard part so good that sounds like it could have come out of Wu Tang Clan's "C.R.E.A.M". It has been sampled in a number of hip hop songs including the 1996 NaS hit "If I Ruled The World (Imagine That)". Whodini was on top of their game in 1984 with the release of "Escape"- the album that gave us "Friends", "Big Mouth" and "The Freaks Come Out At Night". I can remember being on the playground in elementary school and hearing someone rap all the words to "Big Mouth". I'm not sure I ever heard the song on the radio and I didn't have the tape, yet I knew the song. This past weekend I was acting as a tour guide in Philadelphia for an out-of-town friend . Upon passing the Gallery Mall I asked my friend is she remembered the song "Parent's Just Don't Understand". Not only did she remember it, but she broke out an entire verse on demand. Kinda makes you nostalgic for the old school lyrical era of hip hop.

2. On and On- Girl Talk

• "(Notorious B.I.G.) Uhh, I go on and on and then take her to the crib and let your bone in, easy, call em on the phone and, platinum Chanel cologne and, I stay dressed to impress, spark these b*tches interest." Have you ever wondered what it would sound like to have Eric Clapton/Cream collaborate with Biggie Smalls? Well, Gregg Gillis (the DJ known as Girl Talk) must have and I'm glad he did. The results are quite good. The Girl Talk formula is to mash up songs from a wide range of disparate genres into something surprisingly cohesive. In 2008's "Feed The Animals" the samples were coming fast and furious from all directions. In his latest work, 2010's "All Day" (where "On and On" is found) things are less dense and the samples are allowed a bit more time to stretch out and breathe. There are a number of brilliant moments on "All Day"- Ludacris paired with Black Sabbath, Joe Jackson teamed with Lil Wayne (the Joe Jackson "Steppin' Out" sample is so good it manages to make Lil Wayne sound good) and the aforementioned combination of Cream and B.I.G , but on the whole I don't think "All Day" matches "Feed The Animals".

3. Black Country Woman- Led Zeppelin

• "You didn't have to make me a total disgrace, you didn't have to leave me with that beer in my face, hey hey mama, what's the matter here, that's alright, it's awful dog-gone clear." If Led Zeppelin only played amped up blues rock I may be inclined to agree with Homer Simpson's assessment that Jimmy Page is "the greatest thief of American black music who ever walked the Earth." A number of early Zeppelin tunes "borrowed" from blues without any citation. However, it turns out that Page and company also explored English folk music and it was the fusing of these two dominant influences that made their music original and interesting. "Black Country Woman" is a great example of this duality...it's acoustic and folky but with a blues sensibility. It comes courtesy of the band's 1975 double album "Physical Graffiti". The album is best known for the song "Kashmir". I don't recommend sleep deprivation or casual drug use but if you're into that sort of thing "Kashmir" is a good companion song to help you lose track of the space/time continuum. This past weekend I found myself in my car listening to the radio (I only do this on short drives) and both 93.3 WMMR and 94.1 WYSP were playing "Kashmir" at the same time. Thank you Philadelphia rock radio for running this band into the ground.