As well as records, my other passion is photography. Since I’ve moved to NYC I always carry a camera with me, just in case. Last week i was waiting for the L, and I saw this photo. I didn’t think much of it, just keep saying “Rick Raws the Baws” in my head. I thought it was funny. I don’t really fuck with Rick Ross too much, but that street art got me thinking of some of his sampling, so I checked it out. Dude has sampled everyone from Kanye to Tower of Power to Ozzy to Rhythm Heritage to the Beastie Boys to the Friends of Distinction and more. So really, it was no surprise that he sampled the Super Fly Soundtrack and Curtis Mayfield doing “Give Me Your Love” for his track “Ashes to Ashes” off of the 2011 Lp Maybach Music. In the words of Method Man, “Roll that shit, light that shit, smoke it.” If people weren’t getting lifted to this joint (no pun intended), then they were listening to Sabbath instead. I don’t even want to think about how many kids were made as a result of this track either. I’m hoping that on the original dictations from Curtis and Johnny Pate, while they were recording it, mentioned something about this. Great string arrangement from Pate with that sweet high hat and jangly wah wah guitar have always held this song in high regard for me here over at FMF. I mean, if you want some street cred, why not sample Curtis (and I’m not talking about Fiddy)? Rick Ross most likely took the beat and ran when the Nasty Beat Makers threw it at him. Look, this is Curtis Mayfield Ross, you can’t say no. At any rate, we all know about Curtis and Super Fly, but you can’t deny the smoothness of this track, and it got me going back to Chi-Town with this raw “R is for Ross” portrait in the subway. You can also check out more of my photos from the last 10 years or so from tour, traveling, and life over at Gettin’ Down: A Visual Mixtape on the Tumblr that the all the kids are using. Let’s get real though, bottom line, Curtis Mayfield is the Real Boss. Keep Diggin’!

Download or Listen to Curtis Mayfield Give Me Your Love from the Super Fly OST

Ross flipping some Curtis for “Ashes to Ashes” 2011

Fly Shit like Curtis Mayfield in his intro….Midnight Special 1973