R.I. P.  to the Queen, Aretha Franklin.  A huge musical influence, especially as a young aspiring Hip Hop producer who sampled her sounds and as an emcee who admired the social and cultural transcendence of her music and career.

Her 30 Greatest Hits Album from 1985, in particular, holds a special place in my heart. This was one of the first pieces of vinyl I owned, and I sampled many sounds from this record, and I listened to all the songs on so many different occasions.  Although it is obscure in the hierarchy of the Queen’s anthology, I always think back to my favorite song off of this double LP, “Daydreaming”, with Aretha’s crooning voice, the droning bassline, and then the break at the end into an ambient, dreamscape of sound that personify the literal and figurative “dream” theme of the song. The production value of this song was not only way ahead of it’s time but was a huge influence on my own musical production style.