Song #57: The Dazz Band - "Let it Whip"

Song #57: The Dazz Band - "Let it Whip" (1982)

Keep it Live

"We'll get to groovin', love your body language. Baby, let me know, you got me sorta anxious."

As I said in my writeup for Grand Funk Railroad's "Some Kind of Wonderful" (number seventy-seven on "The One-Hundred Songs of Steve Pulaski"), I need to give credit to the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for introducing me to a wide-variety of music, from rap, heavy metal, soul, classic rock, and classic country. With that, one of the most underrated and unappreciated genres in music, in terms of how it is viewed today, has to be classic soul music, sung infectiously by numerous African-American bands that either endured brief success with one hit or global success with many. From The Spinners, to The O'Jays, to, in this case, The Dazz Band, this writeup not only goes out to an incredible song from the time period, but to all those bands that don't see their dues paid at all today - this one's for you.

"Let it Whip" was on the fictional radio station Bounce FM in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, a station dedicated to funky soul music. I never listened to it much, but sometimes I'd carjack somebody in the game and wouldn't think to change the radio, which is why there are some stations in the video game where I only like one or two songs in their twelve song setlist, where some I like nine or ten. "Let it Whip" never made me want to change the dial, for I adored everything about it. From its jivey instrumentation, to the Dazz Band's wonderful, velvety smooth vocals, to the energy the song presented, I was addicted from the first time I heard it. 

This is the kind of song I wish my school dances would've embraced, especially given our homecoming theme freshman year was "I Love the 1980's," despite no music being played from the time period at all. This is the kind of song I wish more embraced rather than shunned, and I feel that if you want a song that gives off a particular vibe and energy, you wouldn't find anything better than a piece of soul music from the 1960's, 1970's, or 1980's. "Let it Whip" is about cutting loose, embracing the music, and feeling the groove, and despite those ideas sounding depressingly commonplace in pop music today, this song does it with a sound and feel that is far too underappreciated.

Give "Let it Whip" a listen, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccvUstooIfw