With so much on my mind during the month of October, music was the John Stockton to my Karl Malone of adversity and dished a much needed assist. For a while, most of the songs which made the list at the beginning of the month seemed like they would prevail. Alexander O'Neal tried to do like his entry attempt and "Hang On" by virtue of The Original Quiet Storm nostalgia and a "RANDOM THOUGHT ALERTS!!!" post. Composer Vangelis' "Love Theme" from Blade Runner possessed more sparkle within the song than its possibility of withstanding the challenge from its future competitors. George Benson tried to sneak in a second entry (spoiler alert) with "Turn Your Love Around," but couldn't reverse his fortune. With appearances in commercials and made-for-TV biopics, Chance The Rapper and Michel'le both had late pushes with "No Problems" (featuring Lil Wayne & 2 Chainz) and "Something in My Heart", respectively. However, with the passing of a legendary producer, songwriter, musician and singer as well as brand new music surfacing, it created the following playlist inside of my head which ended up more like a predominantly 80s version of Black Music Month...
When I heard news of the passing of legendary music producer, songwriter, musician and artist Kashif Saleem (born Michael Jones) at the age of 56, I was heartbroken and could only think was, "Another person connected to my youth has died??? Seriously...2016 is the worst year of all time." It wasn't long ago when TV One profiled him on their critically-acclaimed Unsung series and took us R&B lovers down memory lane from his beginnings with B.T. Express to his unmatched production and songwriting resume to his solo recording career. So when I was figuring out what my favorite songs of his were, the top three choices were pretty easy. However, I felt some kind of way leaving out such great songs like the majority of his eponymous debut, "Are You the Woman" (featuring background vocals by two of my favorite artists in Whitney Houston and Lillo Thomas), his remake of Mother's Finest's "Love Changes" with Meli'sa Morgan, "Love the One I'm With (A Lot of Love)" with Melba Moore and arguably the biggest snub in "Love Come Down" by Evelyn "Champagne" King. Nevertheless, y'all know how my anything-but-typical countdowns work, so let's celebrate some of Kashif's best work New Problem Tuesdays style...
