Do you ever have racing thoughts taking over your mind? I sure do! If you’ve read any of my stories you probably know by now that I love beats and instrumentals to calm my mind. I really like modern hip hop producers like The Alchemist, Madlib, Oddisee, and more to give me some beats without instrumentals to vibe too. But sometimes i need to go back way further through the years to some older jazz instrumentals. My dad loves jazz music but I owe my love of jazz to the golden era hip songs I treasure so much. My favorite old school hip hop producers like Q-Tip, Pete Rock, and DJ Premier were all sampling jazz and funk greats like Herbie Hancock, Bob James, The Meters, Grover Washington and so many more on their hit songs. They gave love to the past through their sampling and opened me up to their music.

What I love is that every day I seemed to find older music that I have never heard before. This is what the term “diggin in the crates” is all about! Although nowadays I don’t have many record stores to go dig in and our small apartment really doesn’t allow for me to have a big collection. So I use Spotify to digitally dig in the crates! Below is a playlist of all of my favorite classic funk, soul, and jazz songs from the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s for all of you to enjoy. Just let it ride in your headphones while you work today. Guaranteed to increase productivity for you!

I’m always adding to this playlist too! If I’m missing some good tracks that would fit this vibe please add to the comment section below!