Thee Mighty R.J: Physically Capacitated To Rearrange Your Entire Biological Conception of Womanhood

You know, there are just some records that you are glad exist. It's not that they have any particular cultural value (to the contrary), or that they redefine any one genre or convention. Sometimes a record is just so audacious that it's very existence seems to bolster the concept of artistic merit in a modern world strangely devoid of such perfunctory gestures. The very fact that these kind of sounds exist at all either proves a total lack of judgement (more than likely), or a sophisticated sense of art so inclusive that it challenges the very existence of what we deem as popular music. 'Fungus Amoung Us' is one such song.

I was originally gonna use Fungus (incidentally, not the the Terry Nolan song) to pad out some bald spots in an up and coming BFTRB soul mix. And while it lends itself well to radio bumpers and between-tune soundscapes, it was only upon my getting royally blitzed and giving the single several listens (it really does require several listens to appreciate it's peculiar charm)that I decided that the mysteriously named 'Fungus'(I have no idea why it is called that) deserves it's own showcase with-which to lay down it's thread.

As is to be expected, there is pretty much no copy on this disc. The 'Soulville' label seems to intone a certain late 60's sensibility, even though the track is straight up late 50's R&B. Upon doing a little diggin' I was pleased to discover that 'Fungus' enjoys a healthy, if not widespread admiration amongst hip-hop aficionados, as the rhyme scheme - along w/ the likes of disc jockeys Jocko Henderson & Pete 'Maddaddy' Myers - typify the rhyming couplet which would one day personify Hip Hop, and the abomination which passed for R& B these days.

Note: It seems to me that 'Fungus pt 1 & pt 2 are reversed on the disc. I'd start w/ pt 2 to get the full narrative effect.

Fungus Among Us pt 2 - His Majesty the Mighty R.J.

Fungus Among Us pt 1 - His Majesty the Mighty R.J.