Before anyone starts tripping, this post isn’t about scantily-clad female dancers at a club. I’m taking about the subgenre of Go-Go which is a sibling of Funk, Soul, Disco and a pre-cursor to what we now call Hip-Hop.
It was a basement party during my sophomore year in high school when I first heard my first Go-Go song, “Bustin’ Loose” by Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers. Growing up in Jersey about an hour south of NYC we never heard anything like this before. But it was damn sure funky and we got our groove on in that unfinished basement. “Bustin’ Loose” ended up reaching #1 on Billboard Hot R&B singles for about a month in early 1979 knocking Parliament’s “Aqua Boogie” out of the top spot (a task not easily achieved given Parliament’s rule on the chart during that time). I really didn’t know that song was “Go-Go” or that this subgenre even existed. I just thought it was funky and great song to dance to.
Fast forward a couple of years to my freshman year at Howard University. It was August 1981 and the summer temps in D.C. was blazingly hot! I’m at freshman orientation meeting my classmates and getting use to the campus scene before the upperclassmen joined us in a week or so. There’s a block party one evening in front of the Fine Arts building on the yard. The DJ was mixing his ass off with all the latest cuts including a new genre called Rap (well, it wasn’t that new to those of us from the NY area but for most at HU at the time, it was relatively new). The DJ puts on a song from a group called Trouble Funk entitled “Drop the Bomb.” I think everyone there (which numbered three or four hundred people) completely lost our mind. I never heard driving percussions, horns and call-and-response like that before. But more so, the song had two parts that ran about 20 minutes each…..and the DJ would play the entire thing (so you better like who you were dancing with). That night in front of the Fine Arts building, I became hooked on Go-Go.
Go-Go never really became a major subgenre in the R&B sphere though Experience Unlimited (E.U.) “Da Butt” brought it to national attention in a big way in Spike Lee’s 1988 School Daze (the song reach #1 on the Billboard R&B chart in ’88). Salt ‘n Pepa sound was influenced by Go-Go as well as some of Jill Scott’s songs. But other than that, Go-Go never received the props it deserves. Last year, TVOne featured an episode of UnSung on Go-Go finally giving props to his music. They did a pretty good job at providing a historic retrospective of the subgenre. But if you require a more complete taste of what Go-Go is all about, check out the YouTube clip below from Chuck Brown. You’ll get a pretty good flavor. And if you not head-bopping or toe-tapping, I’ll need to check your pulse.
I travel to D.C. a few times a year and the Go-Go sound is still thriving over 40 years after its founding. So this post pays homage to Go-Go, that unique sound born, raised and living in Washington, D.C. And a little word to the wise: if you’re moving or planning to move to our nation’s capital, be prepared for a new sound immersion. You’ve been warned.
Respect to: the Young Senators, the Junkyard Band, Rare Essence, Little Benny & the Masters, DJ Kool, the Backyard Band, E.U. and of course, the Godfather himself, Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers.
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The t-shirt we use to print the designs is from a company call Next Level Apparel. They make some of the best t-shirts in the apparel biz. Our base t-shirt is their premium tri-blend crew neck t-shirt. This t-shirt is a mashup of 50% polyester, 25% combed ring spun and 25% rayon. That mix makes for three things: an extremely soft t-shirt that drapes nicely with a vintage-type look. So you’re getting a cool looking shirt that feels great. The t-shirt weighs 4.3 ounces. So you’re not wearing a bulletproof vest but a mid-weight garment. And since the fabric is mostly polyester and rayon, there is little, if any, shrinkage. Now the t-shirt does run a little small so if you like a roomer fit, please select the next size above what you normally wear.
Also, we don’t believe in offering you a one-style-fits-all or “unisex” t-shirt (whatever that is). We give the fellas and ladies a t-shirt that’s specifically made for them and their unique features. If a particular style of t-shirt isn’t available for a gender then we’ll let you know and recommend a size in that shirt that may accommodate you.
In the future, we’ll rollout different styles of tees like a scoop neck (for that off-the-shoulder Flashdance look), long sleeve, hoody and ¾ sleeve raglan so you’ll have a variety of options to choose from year round.
We recommend turning your t-shirt inside out when washing. Please machine wash in cold water with like colors. It’s best to hang dry but it’s cool if you tumble dry on low setting. Please do not iron on the decoration.
