Welcome to The Listening Suite. Here’s where I share the music I’m currently listening to. For me, good music is TIMELESS, so I may be sharing something old, or something new. Feel free to share your recent playlist with us in the comments section.

On to this week’s playlist:

Calls – Robert Glasper Experiment (feat. Jill Scott). This is the first single from the upcoming, and highly anticipated, new RGE release Black Radio 2. I have already pre-ordered the Deluxe Version, which will be available in October. If it’s anything like Black Radio, I hear another Grammy nod and win.

Chamorrita – AfterSix Productions. This is the first single off their upcoming debut release, What Love Is. Listen to my interview with these two amazing artists here. Chamorrita was released on August 9, 2013 and it’s still in heavy rotation on my playlist!

Call it Home – Foreign Exchange. I am admittedly embarrassed – I did not hear of Foreign Exchange until recently (Where have I been? And I call myself a music-lover, HUMMPH!). Call it Home is the first single off their upcoming fourth album, Love in Flying Colors.

Goodbye – Abiah. Again, I heard his name in recent months and finally got a chance to listen to this beautiful tune at a friend’s suggestion the other day. I am feeling this one.

Finally, this week’s Old School pick:

The Cactus Album – 3rd Bass. This Queens, New York trio (yes, they’re from MY hometown!) came on the scene back in the late 1980’s. Like their fellow DefJam label mates, The Beastie Boys, MC Serch and Pete Nice proved that White men could rhyme. I loved 3rd Bass and ran out to buy my cassette copy of their debut release, The Cactus Album. Much like their hip-hop contemporaries, De La Soul, 3rd Bass made use of rarely-used samples of 1970’s tunes from Pink Floyd, Kool & the Gang, The Emotions, Aretha Franklin and others. Here’s one of my favorites from this release – Brooklyn-Queens. Having been born in Brooklyn, and grown up in Queens, I was partial to this one. I often found myself quoting the phrase, “What’s the reason for the drama?” (And I still quote it!).