ContactMusic — Isaac Hayes longtime guitarist Charles Pitts has died after a long battle with cancer The musician also known as Skip passed away on Tuesday 01May12 in Memphis Tennessee He was 65 Pitts grew up in Washington D C and learned all about guita... more info

Guardian Music — Saxophonist with the Memphis Horns, who made an important contribution to the sound of 60s soulThe precise, rich brass riffs on such records as Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, Sam & Dave's Soul Man and Otis Redding's Try a Little Tenderness we... more info

Guardian Music — An RR a day helps you work, rest and playChocolate makes for a rich metaphor. It's sweet, it melts, it's velvety and smooth – it's the most sexual of sweet stuffs. Its colour, too, lends it resonance – though only in the hands of black artists. S... more info

Popdose — Isaac Hayes and David Porter wrote a string of hits for Sam & Dave in the '60s. Ken Shane recalls perhaps the greatest of them all more info

Guardian Music — Singer with the American vocal group the Soul ChildrenThe soul singer J Blackfoot, who has died of pancreatic cancer aged 65, was a member of the Soul Children, a vocal quartet whose searing ballads of heartache and infidelity were among the last maj... more info

WFMU's Beware of the Blog — On Surface Noise, Joe McGasko presented a show decked with soul. Listen to this New Birth. song. After annoucing, he continued with late 1970's Isaac Hayes. Compare the lush instrumentation to modern, mechanzed grooves: Small Change returned to W... more info

MVSW — Geto Boys ~ “Mind Playing Tricks On Me” This is always one of my favorite Old School Wednesday posts. Geto Boys from back in 1991. Bushwick Bill’s verse makes this a Halloween joint, even though it wasn’t even close to Halloween… Samples Is... more info

L.A. Times - Entertainment — Snoop Dogg, Drake, Lex Luger and B.o.B all took home top honors at BMI's Urban Awards in Hollywood on Friday.Snoop joins a list of past honorees that includes George Clinton, The Jacksons, James Brown, Isaac Hayes, Little Richard and Chuck Berry. more info

Culture Bully — A look back at Ween's contribution to 1998's Chef Aid compilation: the group's collaboration with Isaac Hayes titled The Rainbow. more info

Guardian Music — Tricky's unlikely collaboration with Beyoncé was just the start, as Morcheeba and co set the production tone for 2011When Beyoncé headlined Glastonbury earlier this summer, the biggest surprise wasn't that she managed to pull it off – in spite of... more info