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Shuffled! is a regular column appearing most Thursdays here on BPRLive. Each column, we welcome someone from the API* community to share some thoughts about the music they listen to. Check out the Shuffled! archive for past articles.

So please enjoy this one time only 23 song-long episode of Shuffled! Karimi’s real episode of Shuffled! will play next week. (Much thanks to Sham-e-Ali al-Jamil for volunteering to put an imeem playlist together for this entry.)

Today’s Shuffler: Robert Karimi

Robert Farid Karimi is an interdisciplinary playwright, multimedia humorist and poet and the artistic director of kaotic good productions. A San Francisco Bay Area native, son of Iranian and Guatemalan parents and a UCLA graduate, Karimi’s work has been featured from Alaska to Australia. A National Poetry Slam Champion, and Def Poetry Jam performer, Karimi’s writings have been published in Callaloo, Latino Literature Today, and Total Chaos: The Art and the Aesthetics of Hip Hop by Jeff Chang. He is currently developing Farid Mercury, an exploration of Persian politics, masculinity and pop divination, and editing Punto!, a new Latina/o spoken word anthology. He just received a 2009 Creative Capital grant to develop The Cooking Show: Diabetes of Democracy and misses Michael Joseph Jackson very much and hopes his soul is at peaceful rest.

Shuffled! (the MJ remix)
by Robert (#1 MJ Fan) Farid Karimi
Hear, here: I am the #1 Michael Jackson fan. You have more memorabilia, more albums, gone to more concerts. Even have more glittery gloves. I am #1; it’s the only thing in my life I haven’t been graded on, so if you attempt to grade me on it to prove #1-ness; I will rebuke you with a soul hiccup. (I just learned that’s the technical term of the MJ sound.) Also, battling me on which one of us is the #1 fan is like battling about who’s more oppressed and we all know how ugly that conversation gets.

I changed my original shuffled list to honor his role as someone who has affected my life and millions of others. So I present to you, humbly, Shuffled! (the MJ remix):

People Make the Go Round by MJ
This is the Bell/Creed classic originally recorded by the Stylistics. It’s on the same album as Ben, the song about the rat. Michael singing “Go underground young men…People make the world go round.” is such an incredible anthem supported by his voice because it’s not a deep Eddie Kendricks, Issac Hayes, Last Poets call’ it’s Michael Jackson giving the calling for Revolution. After hearing this song, you realize he should be the Voice of Change. I wonder if he is conscious about the lyrics he is singing at this point. There are so many covers MJ was given at a young age, and this is one where it’s not a bubble-gum version, but given the MJ style treatment. The words were changed to fit the singer — instead of talking about trashmen and Wall Street (in the Stylistics version), Michael sings about teachers strikes, air pollution, “old folks” talking down to young people, and equality. Quincy Jones once said that one of the producer’s role is to choose the songs for the singer that best suits them, and this song and this singer, fit, like, you know, hand to glittery glove.

Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough by MJ
When my cousin moved to the U.S. from Guatemala, she joined the Columbia Record and Tape Club where she could get 9 tapes for a penny, I coveted one of her choices, and secretly wanted to join the club (which I did in 1989, waste of money!) When she relented, I jumped at the chance to buy the only album that mattered: Off the Wall, the first cassette I ever owned out right.

Off the Wall expressed what my eight year old self could be. Tuxedo against a brick wall. That was silly cool. Independent. Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough! That was my mantra! Who cared what enough of what. I wanted it all. As long as it went to a Michael Jackson soundtrack.

“The force it’s got a lot of power…It make me feel like…Whoo!”! Moving my ass. That’s right, Michael Jackson and George Lucas were on the same page. I knew it; you know it too. The Force has a lot of power. This is the song for all you nerds, predating Yoda, but if you had watched Star Wars hella times, like I did, Here’s where my two worlds collided. “Keep on, with the force don’t stop, don’t stop til you get enough.” C’mon. I know the teenagers were thinking sex, but I was thinking Jedi. And dancing. This is where my free, style , started. I would dance to this song. My family wondering where the moves were coming from. Weren’t they listening to the music? They thought I was crazy because I would just make up all these moves. This is the beginning of my parents saying aloud “He didn’t get that from my side.” or “Where is he getting this? Not us.” Of course, it’s Michael.

Think about the climate at the time when Off the Wall comes out. Syndicated reruns of Lawrence Welk and Hee Haw are hot. Folks are talking trash about disco for the good of glam rock and anything white called rock. I hung onto my station KSOL, looking for a gleam of sunshine. Always into funk, Motown, and excited about the cassette about the rebel from Minneapolis. Off the Wall was the first album that I loved every song. Every song moved me. Even now when I am 37, it is the primary reason for me to listen. Someone’s got to wanna move me. Don’t mean I don’t dig slow songs. Michael had the ability to cross the borders of machine and enter into the soul of folks. Not everyone can do this.

Rockin Robin by MJ
This was the song that was acceptable for my parents’ Lawrence Welk tastes, and prove to me if the Jacksons had their own variety show in a less racist America, other than the 70s Archie Bunker America I lived in at the time, they would have smoked the Osmonds and all their derivatives (New Kids On the Block, NSync, Color Me Badd, et cetera (aka Peter Cetera) on TV.

Scream Louder (Flyte Tyme Remix) by MJ
This song off the Blood on the Dance Floor album (Yes, I know it was called Blood on the Dance Floor…last time I saw Blood on the Floor, it was a El Farolito taqueria on Mission and 24th. Real bad fight over a girl.) I love this remix of this song. First because it gives a Shout out to Minneapolis’ Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, and secondly, because this remix makes the song even fiercer. Mark Romanek’s video with Janet & Michael always blew me away, but the song originally didn’t move me. But this remix, with the way the bass of Sly & The Family’s Stone Thank You (Faletinme Be Mice Elf Agin) just slams in, I can imagine Larry Graham plucking his long fingers on his bass, while Janet and Michael croon, made me want to scream for more Janet & Michael duos and really was a good song when someone pisses you off.

Farewell My Summer Love by MJ
The ocean breeze. Michael’s voice. The possibility of summer love. The wish of having that One person hold your hand, give you that first kiss, but it doesn’t happen. Oh! Michael, how did you know? This theme would continue into the 80s for me. (see She’s Out of My Life.)

Black or White by MJ
“Dad! It’s the best part! C’mon…I want to listen to it Ok…I’ll show him…Eat this.” And thus, the magical words that begin Black or White. Which is still and will never be the song I would use to make my parents “eat this!”. For all the kiddoes that want a song that will rile their parents, I would use Iggy Pop’s Raw Power or PE’s Welcome to the Terrordome or if I really wanted my mother to know my teenage angst, nothing did the trick like 2 Live Crew or Black Flag or N.W.A.’s Gangsta Gangsta. However, if you live in a society that sees race as a just two groups: black and white, and everyone else doesn’t matter, then play this song after you say “Eat this!” Hey, wait a minute…

Blame it on the Boogie by J5
“Spent the night in Frisco at every kind of disco…” Blame it on the Boogie, other than “He’s the Greatest Dancer” by Sister Sledge, was the song that I thought were written about me and my people. My thought: Michael had just come to the Bay, partied at the magical clubs (that I had 10 years to wait to go to) that I thought were like the Emerald City in the Wiz, or some studio 54 thang (which was nowhere near San Francisco, where he, Nipsy Russell, Freddie Prinze, and Diana Ross would party. Another dance jam. A foreshadowing to the dopeness of Off the Wall.

P.Y.T. by MJ
I never used this acronym as a young man, seemed cliché. It was the first time I heard the word Tenderoni before I heard it from New Edition years later. The idea my first TV crush, Penny, aka Janet Jackson (mind you, I saw Good Times on rerun), was on this album was so exciting. I had watched Janet on Good Times, the Jacksons show, and other appearances. My thought: I could become Michael’s brother in law by marrying Janet, and we would write songs, and make movies. When she hooked up with latino Rene Elizondo, I thought I had a chance, but then realized when we never connected when I lived in Los Angeles, that it would never happen. Still, P.Y.T. led to one of my biggest call and response conundrums as a teenager, when Michael says “Pretty Young Things repeat after me, say ‘Na, na, na…” I always sing with the P.Y.T.s. I guess we all have a little P.Y.T. in us. Yes!

Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground) by J5
The cymbals, the riff of the guitar, and then “Woooo…” Ah, yes! It’s Shake Your Body to the Ground. The song that probably had all the “disco sucks” people in a tizzy. Well, kiss my arse! This song is much better when a DJ remixes it, like the Extended Disco Mix of the song. It is “I wanna groove”, or “quiero groovear” kind of song. And, when you see the original picture of the J5 with their fros chillin/grooving, you want to do the same. This was free, style, dig? Y’all might think this is mindless music for the masses to just dance around and be silly and jolly, but then you lose the power of dance, funk, and r&b, and the power of dancing. This wasn’t just silly shit, this was the same effect as a good moshpit without violating the space of others to a bloody pulp. Especially when really feeling a damn good groove, just like a slashing guitar, or driving drums. Shake Your Body should be a mission statement for music that wants to move a people, but not like empty vessels, but like cans of carbonated water waiting to explode.

Butterflies by MJ
One of the best songs on the Invincible album. Yes, there are songs that I love on Invincible. Perhaps the staccato nature that Rod Temperton talked about, is what I am attracted to. This song makes me pop lock flow. You know that move.

You can’t not groove to this one. Makes your hands do dolphin dives, and get all jabberwocky. You know, those jabberwockeez.

Be Not Always by MJ
This ranks up there one of the songs that people don’t talk enough about. It’s like Village Ghetto Land by Stevie Wonder, yet a bit more sappy. This song has so much pain, it is almost up there with She’s Out of My Life, but the bridge gets a little sappy, renaissance faire sounding. The bridge’s lyrics remind me of the Last Poet’s Whitey on the Moon, but without the Whitey.

Rock With You by MJ
Drum solos, long intros with string instruments. Ah, the 70s! There something I love about long intros, the compositions, the set up, before I hear the singer’s voice. This song cemented my love for Off the Wall. “There’s a magic that must be love…” This was the song that was about my future love. The girl who loved to dance. The girl who wanted to dance with me all night long, no matter if there was no music. And we weren’t just groovin’, we were rockin. Taking back the Rock in rock and roll from Elvis. That’s right! I said it, Michael and Quincy Jones said we know who invented Rock and Roll, so let’s take back the word. You know, I am making it more political, but hey love and politics mix, well not for Mark Sanford, but that’s another Shuffled.

Ain’t No Sunshine by J5
He is not as old as Bill Withers, but the old soul with a sassy soprano makes for the voice you wished you have when you were 12 years old and the girl you asked to partner skate took off with another dude. Ah…are you starting to see a pattern about my teenage years, yet?

Hum Along and Dance by J5
B3 Organ, Hum Along and Dance…funky …at first I thought this was written by George Clinton, like “I Bet You”, (Ah, yes…listen to the Jackson get funkadelic; it’s funkadelicioso!) Oh, but this is about Hum Along and Dance…I had nothing to say about it, but then I read this, and I hummed along and danced while I read it.

The Wall by J5
Sounds like J Dilla produced this one. Listen to the claps and eat a donut for Dilla and drink a Pepsi Natural for Michael. Dilla was so influenced by Motown, and The Wall reminds me of two geniuses from the Midwest.

Beat It by MJ
Rod Temperton said he made a lot of staccato rhythms to fit with Michael’s voice. Oh, fuck it. let stop with the analytical voice. This is my favorite song when I was a teenager, the bridge of my new love of punk and my old love of r&b. This reminds me of staying up to watch WTBS’s Night Tracks music video show just to see the newest videos over someone’s house that had cable.

I loved this song. I could totally move, and the wavy west side story choreography mesmerized me. These were the freestyle routines. This is what dancing was for me. Get our friends and just move together. This was in opposition to the solitary battles of breakdancing that were going on in my junior high. I didn’t want to battle; I wanted to freestyle. I wanted to get girls. Ok, maybe I did want to battle with my crew against your crew, but I want to flow and pop lock, and do it together.

The other reason why I loved Beat It is because it had a guitar solo, and no one knew how to dance to this. It was always funny when this song came on to see how r&b dancers would interpret Eddie Van Halen’s solo. Delicious.

You are there…by J5
Skip. Well. There are songs that tell a story on how record companies could squeeze the lemon that was Michael Jackson. Oh, and did they squeeze. Go here

State of Shock by MJ and Mick Jagger
This is the best song off the Victory album. The interesting thing that Michael did not do a Thriller tour; instead he did this Victory tour. You can’t help thinking that he did that tour to support the family, because he should’ve done a solo Thriller tour. Ah, the family’s shadow on that man. Crazy. Also, in the what-if column, is the what if the original singer, Freddie Mercury, would have remained alive, to complete this song. I have the early version with Mercury, and it’s hot! Mercury and Jackson should have done an album and tour together; it would’ve been the 80s version of Elton John and Billy Joel. Jagger is coo’, but he ain’t no Mercury.

Mama’s Pearl by J5
This is it! This is the J5 song that makes my blood rise to jump for joy. This is the song I would sing. This reminds me of the animation, and everything. This is the roller skating jam. This is the one I am bobbing my head right this minute while I write this. Ah, those darn Osmonds wish they made this song. Oh, Donny and Marie, why couldn’t American love all races. “I GOT WHAT YOU NEED…WHY DON’T YOU GIVE MY LOVE A WHIRL!” Oh America, why couldn’t you love the image of J5 on TV? Why’d you only love to hear them, not see them? Why’d you have to be so racist?

Doctor My Eyes by J5
First: I love Jackson Browne. I love this song, but I just heard this song. I didn’t know that the J5 did this cover. I feel like my keyboard is a piano while I type. I wish Michael sang all the lyrics, but you have brothers, and you’re the youngest, you got to give props. Noticing a theme, here? But this version shows the power of J5, and Michael’s riffs behind the brothers give an exclamation and a Joy! to this song that makes me groove. I had to put this song on repeat; I thought I was going to send you a Shuffled with just this song because it’s so damn good. I am going to clean the house to this song, dance with my love, do amazing things, write poetry to this song…it’s Joy! Wish I could see them do this song live. I would be jumpin!

Enjoy Yourself by J5
This is the song that I couldn’t get enough as a little kid. When the local AM station (yes young ones, AM!, that’s where the best station in the Bay at the time was) KFRC did their Michael Jackson Marathon. I taped every song; this was the beginning of my mixtapes. I taped over one of my father’s Watergate tapes (he taped the entire Watergate hearings, sorry Dad!) just to get this song. I think I have this song recorded 3 or 4 times because I loved it so much. This song represents the bursting of Michael’s chrysalis. You can feel his burgeoning wings wanting to crack the J5 cocoon.

She’s Out of My Life by MJ
I can’t help it. Every time this song comes on, I stop every thing I am doing, and just listen to it. I want to sing with Michael. I have sung this song so many times I can’t even count. Every time a girl broke my heart, or rejected a date or went out with someone else, I would sing this song. I would sing it in the shower, or alone in my room, writing my early 14 year old poetry. I even sang this song when my grandmother died. This song best describes my sadness, and when I need relief from it, because it is an eruption from a silent volcano of disappointment or silence. I want to cry even at the end because it sounds like Michael is going to as well.

Thriller by MJ
What made Thriller so scary? C’mon! That the White man was the scary voice. Now that’s a metaphor reflective of the times. Can you just imagine Ronald Reagan laughing: “Ha, ha, poor people I got ya! Hahahahahahaha…El Salvador. Nicaragua. Hahahahaha…”

I remember staying up to watch the premiere of the video, and to watch the making of it. It was so exciting. The song’s cinematic quality was the perfect soundtrack for the video. And, Thriller, the album seemed like it was meant for videos. There were so many lyrics that I still hear myself riffing off of, and thinking about. From Wanna Be Startin Somethin’s “mamasemamsawmacoosaw” to this, which I ended up using for a performance piece called Discochurch I did with Guillermo Gomez Peña, where the Reverend Alma prayed, chanted lyrics as prayers while dervishing and washing people’s feet to help people find their movement in the Movement. Ah, yes, memories. Price’s voice was the perfect end:

“Whosoever shall be found/ without the soul for getting down/shall stand and face the hounds of hell/and rot inside a corpse’s shell./ Hahahahahhahahahahhaha…(Sound of coffin closing.)”

Last 5 posts by shuffled

• Shuffled! North Star of the BROWNSTAR Revolution - December 10th, 2009
• Shuffled! Pen Khek Chear - November 25th, 2009
• Shuffled! Maanav Thakore - November 19th, 2009
• Shuffled! Jerry Ma - August 13th, 2009
• Shuffled! Tanzila Ahmed - August 6th, 2009

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