You've gotta find your way before it's too late

February 12, 2018 8:47 PM

Dionne Farris went from working with Arrested Development [Tennessee] to doing a 1994 solo album which had a pretty big hit with lead-off song I Know [video].. It's a shame the rest of the album didn't garner much attention because Wild Seed-Wild Flower is brilliant: Side A: I Know, Reality, Stop To Think, Passion, Food For Thought, Now Or Later

Side B: Don't Ever Touch Me (Again)[video (which I just found about by making this post!], 11th Hour, Water, Blackbird, Old Ladies, Human, Find Your Way, The Audition, I Know (NY Reprise Remix)

posted by hippybear (11 comments total)

Arrested Development was also an alternative hip-hop group that used to rock pretty hard in the ’90s. We are legally obligated to make the distinction.
posted by little onion at 8:49 PM on February 12, 2018 [1 favorite]

SHE WAS NOT IN THE TELEVISOIN SHOW. LET THIS BE KNOWN.
posted by hippybear at 8:53 PM on February 12, 2018

it's also interesting that both white people and black people felt is pertinent to name artistic exploration groups with this name in the early 90s. It's like in the 90s it was nearly like we understood each other for a tiny minute.
posted by hippybear at 8:55 PM on February 12, 2018 [1 favorite]

"I Know" is the monolithic track from this album, but damn, there's a reason. It's absolutely unassailable, one of the towering singles of its time. That being said, I know the objective of your post is to shift focus a little, and any time spent listening to this album is well spent.

Also, here she is owning the room at the American Black Film Festival last year.
posted by mykescipark at 10:32 PM on February 12, 2018 [1 favorite]

The "I Know" video only having 55K views is a crime against nature, or at least against music.
posted by COD at 4:49 AM on February 13, 2018 [1 favorite]

The "I Know" video only having 55K views is a crime against nature, or at least against music.

Perhaps.

I do know that DionneFarrisVEVO, the uploader, doesn't like me and my people: "The uploader has not made this video available in your country."
posted by Mister Bijou at 6:09 AM on February 13, 2018

I'm not gonna lie, hippybear. When you first started the album posts, I was a little skeptical. But you've posted some pretty good, and non-obvious, records: ones where my memory is just fuzzy enough that your posts give me an "aha!" feeling. Keep it up!
posted by kevinbelt at 6:40 AM on February 13, 2018

I loved them so much when I was 10-13.
posted by Ms. Moonlight at 6:47 AM on February 13, 2018

Wow. Thank you for pointing out this. I had overlooked it for, oh, 23 YEARS. D'oh!
posted by NedKoppel at 11:56 AM on February 13, 2018

A+ for the Lenny Kravitz sample on "Stop to Think."
posted by NedKoppel at 11:57 AM on February 13, 2018

Oh, gotDAMN!

This is one of those early '90s gems that I loved, as it came out right as I was in the prime of most folks' receptiveness to new music (early 20s), and also when I was a college radio DJ and got everything for free. With no adult life, adult responsibilities, mortgage, wife, or child to consume my time, I actually had the time to sit down, put the headphones on, and listen to albums from start to finish. "Wild Seed / Wild Flower" stays with me to this day, and has been on my iTunes playlists since Apple bought SoundJam and re-christened it iTunes in the early days of this century. AD's second album, Zingalamaduni, is underrated.

Farris is closely tied to Count Bass D, a criminally underrated hip hop genius who walked away from a major-label deal in the mid-1990s to go do his own thing on smaller labels . . . well, pretty much ever since. He's still touring and putting out new stuff nowadays. Farris comes at it from the DIY rocky/R&B/bluesy angle, Count Bass D comes at it from the blues-as-the-root-of-hip-hop purist angle, but they both put out ridiculously groovy, fantastic shit.

Excellent post, hippybear, even if there's probably only like 13 of us MeFites who are digging it. We'll call ourselves the Hip 13.
posted by CommonSense at 12:42 AM on February 14, 2018 [1 favorite]