So why is Camp Lo’s Uptown Saturday Night on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
Uptown Saturday Night is a gem of a late ‘90s NYC hip-hop album that doesn’t get as much recognition as it should. It’s one of the many joys of embarking on this audacious/ludicrous project if I can turn people onto the funk- and jazz-driven hip-hop stylings of Camp Lo.
“Luchini AKA This Is It” is flat out one of the best hip-hop songs of all time.
Yeah, I said it. Part of its hypnotic, upbeat power comes from the killer sample, which via Wikipedia is “Dynasty’s 1980 song ‘Adventures in the Land of Music’ and the drums from “All Night Long” by the Mary Jane Girls.”
But huge credit must also go to the rap prowess of Camp Lo’s duo of Geechi Suede and Sonny Cheeba.*
And we hailing from the Magic City
Transcending Suede-a on your aura
Found ‘chini in London, relaxation in Bora Bora
* Both artists get name dropped (self-name dropped?) in many of their songs, but for some reason it always pops when “Sonny Cheeba” gets called out.
This is party music, late night lounge music, get in the right head space kind of music.
According to this website, Luchini is a term “used to refer to money”… “depicted as pouring from the sky, symbolizing the desire for financial success.”
I love how well the funky, staccato beat on both “Krystal Karrington” and “Park Joint” continually builds excitement, and all the while the bars just crush.
“Say Word,” featuring Jungle Brown, swings and flows and sweetly bounces, which is to say it’s catchy as catch can.
And “Swing” is jazzed up funky hip-hop at its very best. This one makes me think about how Camp Lo forms a worthy East Coast complement to the brilliant underground hip-hop that Jurassic 5 would start putting out in Los Angeles several years later.
Some stats & info about Camp Lo – Uptown Saturday Night
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? East Coast Rap, Underground Rap, Hip Hop, Rap, Jazzy Rap
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 4 out of 5 stars
- When was Uptown Saturday Night released? 1997
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #299 out of 1,000
Camp Lo’s Uptown Saturday Night on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from Camp Lo’s Uptown Saturday Night that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
This is it, what? Luchini pouring from the sky.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.