We’ve watched the movies, seen the photos, heard the stories. As in all of New York City, crime was as rampant in the subway as it was on the streets. Thefts, robberies, shootings and killings were a frequent reality throughout the 1970s. In 1979, a group of angered residents led by Curtis Sliwa began taking crime prevention into their own hands, donning red berets – looking very much like a gang and calling themselves the Guardian Angels. This funky track produced by the Legendary Patrick Adams and uptown empresario Peter Brown is an ode to what was hapenning at the time. Like many of the P&P records of the time, this wasn’t dance music for flashy downtown clubs, it was the real uptown funk! “With bass as heavy as rolling stock, and field recordings from the subway tannoy echoing along almost empty train carriages late at night, Margo Williams's vocals supply the inner city funk menace with some almost ethereal soul.” At a crossroads between funk, soul and an emerging Hip Hop culture this track apealled to both the disco crowd and the bravado of the uptown b-boys.
