Music to Dig By: Egyptian Lover, 'Egypt Egypt'

Afrocentric archaeology is an amazing subject and frankly deserves a blog or three all by itself. Many white folks pooh-pooh the notion that ancient Egypt is a part of Black and African history. But Europeans claim all kinds of preposterous things about how they’re the spiritual heirs of the ancient Greeks, without the slightest hint of irony. Serious people even think the Elgin Marbles should stay in London!

The point is, it’s just plain fun to appropriate the past, especially when it gets you in with The Ladies. So when a DJ from LA with extremely smooooth ways wants to become “The Egyptian Lover”, I’ll just chill out and go along for the ride.

Download: Egyptian Lover - 'Egypt, Egypt' (1984)

"Pyramids are Oh so shiny
The women here are Oh so cute
The freaks are on the floor now
Dancing to beats that I compute"

This is a stone cold classic electro jam, no way around it. It has my two favorite things, 80s futurism and mysterious archaeological references, all together in one package. Buy the album “On The Nile” here.

Egyptian Lover was part of the early 1980s west coast electro and hiphop scene, hanging with the likes of Ice T, Arabian Prince, and Dr Dre. In this 1983 nugget from the YouTubes, Chris “The Glove” Taylor explains how to cut and scratch while Egyptian Lover spins and Ice-T raps.



Egyptian Lover’s been on tour lately, and his shows are supposed to be pretty good. He also gives funny interviews, check out the ones at West Coast Pioneers. (He claims 'Egypt Egypt' took him 30 minutes to create!)

I can’t write about the Egyptian Lover without mentioning his most incredible contribution to our understanding of LGBT issues. Click here, you won’t regret it.