Shane Okouchi is an employee of Kinfolk Studios and a very excellent DJ from Oahu, Hawaii. In accordance with internet’s #MusicMondays laws, Shane has agreed to share some of his favorite gems with the Kinfolk community and provide some of his unique personal incite along with.

If you grew up in the 80′s and 90′s like I did, you probably heard WAY more 60′s and 70′s music than you realize. If you listen to hip hop, that is. And if you were into it as much as I was, you got very excited when you discovered an old sample. What I mean by that is discovering Beastie Boys’ “Brass Monkey” was Wild Sugar, “Bring It Here,” B.I.G.’s “Juicy;” Mtume, “Juicy Fruit,” Ice Cube’s “Today Was A Good Day;” The Isley Brothers’ “Footsteps In The Dark,” Dr. Dre’s “Nothin But A ‘G’ Thang:” Leon Haywood, “I Want To Do Something Freaky To You,” and on and on ’til the break’a’dawn.

Some of the samples used in hip hop aren’t as easy to pin down as others. Like Skull Snaps, “It’s A New Day, David Axelrod’s “Holy Thursday,” or the Mighty Ryeders’ “Evil Vibrations.” Rare records, and not exactly chart toppers either so the likeliness that you’d just happen upon these songs were/are very slim. Unless, of course, you’re on obsessive music freak like me.

One of my favorite breaks of all time isn’t from the 60′s, or 70′s, but from the 80′s, a time when a lot of people feel like the music got cheesy and over produced. The truth is it did, and it didn’t. It’s just like any other decade, year, month, week… All the newer pop music buries the stuff that came before it, and all the unlucky ones who don’t have the financial backing of large companies never get heard at all. So how does one come up on audible gold? The same way you come up on real gold: you gotta dig. One of my biggest come ups was on a vinyl excavation a few month back. I was digging for records at the Brooklyn Academy on North 6th, and it was just one of those days. My radar was on, and the vibrations were strong. I walked in and went straight to the 45 section and the second record I touched was Michael Wycoff’s “Looking Up To You.” CHOOOOOOOOON!

Michael Wycoff was one talented dude when it comes to making sweet, uplifting music. And “Looking Up To You” might be one of his sweetest and most uplifting. It got sampled in 1993 for Zhane’s R&B hit “Hey Mr. DJ,” and was semi-immortalized from there. But at the time when I first heard it, I had no idea that song was sampling another track. I found out about the original from this record dealer from France who was trying to sell it for 32 euros (about 42 american dollars). To the non-record buying public it might seem absurd to pay 42 bucks for a single 7″ record with only two songs on it, but if you’re one of those obsessive music freaks, it’s really not that that bad. I decided not to buy it, assuming I’d be able find it again for cheap, seeing as how it came out on a big name record label. Assumption INCORRECT. I’d see it on ebay a few times and each time it went for 70 bucks and up. That’s why I was stoked to find it at Academy, in great condition, for 2 bucks. Hell yeah. The fact that I got a 70 dollar record for 2 dollars isn’t even what made this find so awesome, it’s the fact that this song is so damn good. That familiar keyboard, that guitar lick and that sick, sick bass line make for more than enough elation to send you sailing skyward. And once that chorus comes in it’s over. And that’s not to mention the lyrics. Good lord! “There’s some things never simplified, only mastered by those who take the time, don’t you know good judgement could keep it on your side, the rules are varied, emotions often decide.” Man, they don’t write ‘em like that any more. Zhane did a great job on remaking/reworking that tune, but the original just takes me somewhere that only Michael Wycoff could. Soul Heaven. It’s a great place, you should check it out sometime.