Sunday, October 14, 2012

Love & Story

stories, that's all there is, all there could be. we live them, see them, perceive them. fact. fiction. documentary. All stories. Every profession, every action, is either the construction, deconstruction, formation, interpretation, creation, imagination, anticipation of story, of narrative.

dna, music, dance, procreation. all stories. stories all.

geology, anthropology, quantum mechanics, therapy, psychology, biology, the creation of the universe, culture, race, love, religion, truth, reality, issues, therapy, trauma, conflict, plans...

contemplate, meditate upon it. the foundation of all that is human is narrative. past, present, future, possibility. What is the "true" story. what is that which we are, can become. are created to be, to be a part of, to hear, to tell to experience?

all narratives, real, imagined, and possible is human existence.

The unspoken narrative is the narrative. being able to speak or to tell/transmit the narrative, interpret, influence, control, impose, transmit.the narrative is the basis of all technology.

the 'now' is the only narrative escape. 'duality' in this regard is represented by the narrative/non-narrative continuum.

there is no narrative. there only is. this is the narrative entry point. the plunge point. the focal 'it'-truism.

what has no story? the now. even before, even when nameless. now is the constant. now is the endless, indivisible, in-escapable, irreducible. the medium, the potentiality. the now, within the human, gives rise to narrative. since humans are narrative, truth and existence begs narrative, is narrative. time begs narrative. the unavoidable construct of time is narrative.

therapy, pschotherapy, is healing the narrative, understanding the narrative, un-distoring the narrative, re-constructing the narrative, seeing it, hearing it, understanding it, un-distorting the guilt, shame, anger, fear, trauma, neglect, longing, hurt... coming to terms with the corrective experience, of the narrative. evz-yoyo, love and story.

Monday, September 24, 2012

The History of Black Music in 28 Songs

A Short History of the Evolution of African Music in America. Slavery and migration transported African rhythms and structures to new lands that provided opportunities for hybrid innovations with instruments and new musical styles that were previously unimagined.
click to play the excerpt


1. Scott Joplin - Gladiolus Rag
Scott Joplin was a Black man born during reconstruction. Despite this enormous handicap, his talent outshone the specter of racism as he popularized ragtime and became one of the best selling songwriters of the late 19th Century.


2. Original Dixieland with Al Bernard - St. Louis Blues
Dixieland was a code word for Black Music. This clip is a fine example of it's structure and appeal as yet another innovation created by Black artists.


3. Robert Johnson - From 4 Until Late
King of the Delta Blues, Robert Johnson lived the same kind of vagabond life he sang about. A hardscrabble life lived in the heart of the south 50 years after the end of slavery.


4. Paul Robeson - Ol' Man River
One of the greatest athletes, scholars and actors in American history. At one time, he was the highest paid entertainer in the United States. In this song, he sings a well known work song for blacks who toiled loading cotton on the Mississippi while under duress, threat of violence and mostly for free. Robeson's voice is addictive and beautiful.


5. Billie Holiday - He's Funny That Way
Billie Holiday sings the blues like only she can. Due to the effect of racism and 2nd class status, the vast majority of blacks in her era had an upbringing not dissimilar to her. The artistry she brought in voicing the pain and longings of millions was exquisite.

6. The Mississippi Sheiks - Ram Rod Blues
Mississippi Sheiks is an excellent example of a Black country blues group that gained renown in the 30's

7. Mississippi John Hurt - Shortnin' Bread
John Hurt was discovered, lost and re-discovered decades later. His unique 3 finger style brought a homespun charm to compliment his simple vocal style. Hurt was an authentic sharecropper who made money playing his guitar for small dances and clubs. Once his recordings became known he became one of the most admired and covered blues artist in modern times. 'Shortnin' Bread' may seem like a simple children's song on the surface, yet, due to the complexity of American race relations it elicits painful memories among many.

8. Billie Holiday - Strange Fruit
A song about the horror of lynching, based on the poem by Lewis Allan, this one song, a grassroots anthem, did more to give voice to the anti-lynching movement than previous decades of organized protests

9. The Impressions - This Is My Country
One of the freedom songs of the Civil Rights Era written by Curtis Mayfield.

10. James Baldwin - Baldwin's Nigger
During a visit to England James Baldwin Explains that his genealogical search ends with a bill of sale as "Baldwin's Nigger". Baldwin's form was literature, but in The Civil Rights Era, it was his public speaking and essays that influenced the critical analysis of a new black consciousness. Baldwin and a cadre of Black grassroots educators, including Kwame Toure (Stokeley Carmichael), Martin Luther King, Jr., El Hajj Malik El Shabazz (Malcolm X), Robert F. Williams, and many others took the word of a new Black identity on the road and completed the world’s largest and most successful re-education campaign in history, resulting in the transformation of 22 million American Negros into a proud, ambitious and politically active Black people.

11. Dick Gregory - Black Ain't A Color
In this talk Dick Gregory, uses small doses of humor in his un-repentant analysis of the Black/White dichotomy. Gregory embodied a Black power attitude of fearless Black love and truth that demanded recognition and exemplified an intelligent boldness and cockiness that is at the root of hip hop culture.


12. The Last Poets - Medley
The Black Poets were literally "Rap" before Rap was Rap. They had the music, the rhymes and the socially conscious message. The only thing missing was a DJ with a melody, drum machine, hook and bridge.


13. Verrett Lee - Oh Freedom
The great Verrett Lee sings 'Oh Freedom', A post-Civil War era freedom song brought back into fashion by the Civil Rights era.


14. Bob Marley - Concrete Jungle
Bob Marley sings about the concrete jungle in Trenchtown, Jamaica, -a former livestock farm that thousands of destitute Jamaicans called home. Even though Marley sang about Jamaica, those who lived in ghettos and yearned for something better resonated with the message that slavery, oppression and "ghetto-ization" are closely linked.


15. Peter Tosh - Go Tell It On The Mountain
This song is another traditional African-American spiritual song from the Civil War era brought to prominence by the Civil Rights movement.


16. Marvin Gaye - Anger
Marvin Gaye followed up his amazing album, 'What's Going On', with an album composed for and about his marriage and divorce from Berry Gordy's sister, Anna. Part blues, part funk, soul and doo-wop, Marvin expanded the African-American songbook.


17. Jimi Hendrix - Long Hot Summer Night
Hendrix melded blues with rock and pioneered psychedelic rock. As a black man in a game where almost all guitar gods were white, he turned the scene upside-down with constant innovation, a deluge of tracks and a charisma matched only by his voracious need for cutting edge experiences.


18. Richard Pryor - Eulogy
Richard Pryor, the son of a prostitute and pimp was raised in a whorehouse. His comedic routine broke from mimicking Bill Cosby into a whole new political/racial/cultural assault of vulgarity, preposterous scenarios and bitter, cutting truth. Richard Pryor liberated millions of African-American's by saying exactly what was on his mind.


19. Gil Scott-Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
This song is a classic. A black liberationist opus that injected life, consciousness and political awareness into ghettos, college campuses and middle class living rooms across the nation.


20. Curtis Mayfield - Doo Doo Wop
A song about jail, injustice and the effect of incarceration upon the psyche of the oppressed, this song, written for a Miguel Pinero play, gave voice to the trials and tribulations of Blacks and Puerto Ricans caught in New York's criminal justice system.


21. Miles Davis - Honky Tonk (Take 5)
Miles Davis, like Hendrix, did nothing but innovate and push the boundaries of music.


22. The Edwin Hawkins Singers - The House Of The Lord
This song is a gospel classic from an inspired album that brought the roots of gospel into the homes of millions with it's hit, 'Oh Happy Day'.


23. The Sugarhill Gang - Rappers Delight
This is the song that started it all. Soon after Rappers Delight came out, everyone was talking about the song that didn't have singing, rather guys "talking fast" to the music. No one knew the word "Rap" yet. In the days where most people relied on the radio to hear music, everyone wanted to catch this song so they could hear the words and break down the message. For those that could memorize the lyrics quickly, they had to give multiple performances a day of "Rappers Delight". Sylvia Robinson of Sugarhill Records started a cottage industry of purloined beats, borrowed bass lines and stolen bridges to fuel the nations insatiable desire for the next 12" rap song.


24. Kurtis Blow - The Breaks
'The Breaks' was the next real hit song in Rap History following upon 'Rappers Delight'. During the early years of Rap, it was about waiting for 12" tracks to drop.


25. Boogie Down Productions - The South Bronx
In this song, The Blastmaster KRS-One gives a Hip Hop history lesson that marks The Bronx as the birthplace of Hip Hop.


26. Bob Marley - Redemption Song
Perhaps the greatest folk song of all-time, 'Redemption Song' is infused with a deeply heartfelt message that is firmly rooted in the personal, but points the direction towards a political liberationist perspective. This song reveals in an essential way why Rap was necessitated. A new musical form was needed to tell the story of a uniquely Black American human desire for freedom and recognition despite 450 years of oppression and the modern nightmare of techno-marginalization within concrete slums and vertical ghettos.


27. Schoolly D - Black Man
Schoolly D uses a Black Liberationist speech as the core foundation of his song, 'Black Man' illustrating the deep links between Black consciousness and Hip Hop.


28. RUN-DMC with Aerosmith - Walk This Way
'Walk This Way' by Run-DMC and Aerosmith was the song that finally broke Rap into the mainstream for good. When this song came out, MTV had a policy of only playing Michael Jackson while largely ignoring all other Black artist. 'Walk This Way' stormed the nation by merging rap with rock and uniting black and white youth through by way of a love of two musical styles that had previously been seen as incongruous. It was an artistic collaboration that achieved what reason, logic, and love could not, catapulting rap to a plateau from which it would never have to look back.


Frederick Douglass Aint No N*****



Imagine someone calling frederick douglass a nigger... that's so mind-blowing on so many levels. and to imagine what it was like to be frederick douglass and to be called a nigger.. not even really, bein' called a nigger as "the problem". more the fact that he was niggerized. nigger, as in the verb. all day long, every day, all night. when he slept, when he ate, when he worked, when he had little snatches of joy, he was niggerized.

yeah. that's interesting that today, the noun "nigger" is highly problematic. the noun. personally. i don't trip on it so much. it's a word. an artifact. we live in america. folks get to say what they want n all. it's not really against the law.

in part, to deny the power of the word and also to honor the fact that what it used to mean is so different from what it used to mean... but then, there's the problem of the scars and those who are from previous generations, many of which, don't want to hear it.

life is too short. time may be relative, but we all know that life is short, owning largely to the fact that when it's over, that's it, and the fact that the day that our lives are over, every comes.. at all, gives a realness to the fact that life is short.

to continue with the point, if the universe is 15, 18, 20 billion years old... and our share of that, is a sliver. so, i don't try to spend too much of my sliver of time trippin' on "nigger" the noun.

but that was frederick douglass' reality. it wasn't his choice to trip on it, or ignore it, he just had to deal with it. douglass embraced the reality of his situation and fought to make truth out of that reality. to represent the reality, which was, there never was no nigger's in america. it was a fucked up nightmare imposed upon us.

and god bless the african spirit that never accepted it. never laid down with it.

but we've had to, so many of us had to live that reality. to never move outside of that reality, to come from homes, neighborhoods, communities, from families that are still living with the detritus of the whole nigger legacy. it goes on and on and on. it will probably take at least another 200 years for america to get real with it's obsession with enforcing that history.

so, it just kind of blows me away that one of the greatest men in the history of america had to live a legacy that was imposed. not that he was alone in that to any degree whatsoever.

but this isn't some angry thing, it's just to appropriately express a little amazement at the irony of frederick douglass' situation.

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Four Scientist

a group of four scientist begin to get ill and two of them die.
it seems to be radiation type illness.
what binds them together is that they were all called to isolate and identify an isotope that was found and secured.
the remaining two realize that there must have been some exposure (or at least that's what they think) becuase the two deaths are similar to other deaths from those that were exposed.
the problem is, they can't understand what must have happened.

they realize they need to get together and retrace what happened if they are to have any chance of understanding what happened.
as they retrace and recalculate the numbers they begin to have nightmares of the incident and memories of random incidents from that time, but there are too many gaps in their memories and what one says the other doesn't remember. there are heated arguments with others, affairs, charges of crimes, violence against one another as if they were on a mission to mars, all alone, isolated, cut off.

despite thinking that they were initially involved in the project for a few days, they soon realize it must have been weeks, and finally they find it was 8 months. they feel they were experimented on. they can't agree the city they were in. affairs they had, disagreements or what they even did.

they do remember who oversaw the project. some dr. they never get to meet him, but they are able to trace snippets of information about the project which seem to be vital and on isues they can agree on, that are very significant.

the story is very andrei tarkovsky-esque.
they realize there was much more to the incident than an isotope, it was a full incident and there were many others involved in the investigation.
they reach out to these other groups. and are able to put only a few pieces together. some have died, some don't remember, or say they were not involved in the project. they are able to get information through other governments freedom of information act on debriefings from the incident

told in a tarkovsky-esque manner
long dialogues, no special effects
talking on the phone with others. very low tech, despite the expense and hi-tech aspect of their work and the incident. typewritten reports, phone calls, transcripts, photos, handwritten notes, word of mouth, rumors, stories verbal communication, dreams, deduction....

as it deepens, they begin to talk about how they begin to make sense of it.
narrowing down parts of the report, deciding to ignore certain information as dead ends.
realizing that they maybe don't care about what "exactly" happened. but wanting to know the "truth" about human memory and the meaning of life, and a short existence and work, duty, family, self-integrity... to certain touchstones and key elements that make us who we are.

as they do this, the information gets more and more strange, and yet it makes more and more sense to them.

told through the low tech means above. flashbacks, interviews, discussions. they meet every few months or weeks or days and keep one another filled in on their report. sometimes they are very united, sometimes they are working out different leads and seemingly on their own.

told over weeks, months, and seemingly years. sometimes forgetting that they are investigating.
wondering to themselves how long this is going on.
are they scientist? what do they do for income? how do they eat, get paid? where do they live?

they are seemingly caught in the very strange and real dream of reality.
this is reality.
this is our dilemma as humans
to figure out who we are, where we come from, what our purpose is, who put us here, who these people are, what our connection is...making sense of it all.
coming to peace with it, and our mortality and the falliability of man, and memory, and intention.
that's what it's about.

inspiration.
i had a dream some scientist were dying and they needed to figure out why and retrace their acions and look at their calculatios and process to figure out why/what happened. it was a disturbing dream.
They want to recalculate their numbers and run some more models because their previous conclusion was that it was safe.

One person tells them they were wrong. That they found it to be unsafe, but they bowed to political pressure, power and financial/academic accolades. They find protestors and differing opinions of the time. The evidence is their income, wealth, etc.
Sent by thewoozy.com® cellular dispatch

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Fourteen Great Hip Hop Classics.

The Woozy Celebrates Hip-Hop
With 14 Rap Classics

From the moment Rap burst on the scene, it seized the nation. It was attention getting, it was robust, it was innovative and it took little time to distinguish itself as a fully realized art form. The innovation of Rap spawned the creation of new musical forms. It influenced drum machines, as it glorified un-natural sounds. It redefined the role of synthesizers, created an industry of sampling and scratching and brought the DJ out of the booth and the hood rat squarely onto the center stage. Rap also was amazingly accessible. All it required was a DJ, microphone, speakers, rapper, a handful of albums and that one amazing ingredient, a killer concept.

Rap, was born out of the social forces of the late 60's and early 70's and given birth to by inner city blacks who were recently armed with new and bold iterations of their identity informed by civil rights, black empowerment and black consciousness. Black, Latino and Caribbean inner city youth seized upon Rap to highlight urban life, hopes, disappointments and experiences as well as to provide entertainment as a relief valve to the despair.

As far as hip hop portraying negative images and glorifying negative occupations and themes of murder, death and violence, let us not forget, hip hop is the voice of the urban landscape and this landscape is rife with these themes.

These problems exist in urban communities not because of hip hop, rather, because of the historical effects of racism, discrimination, poverty, inequity, political impotence, a lack of opportunity, a divestiture of services in the inner-city, failing schools, ineffective law enforcement... THESE are the elements -the chemistry- that serves as the essential DNA and biology of hip hop.

Hearing about these issues IN hip hop isn't the problem. The fact that these problems exist IS the problem. Hip hop IS a vital part of the solution.

Almost all of the songs here are classics while others are included because they are representative of a feel, a moment or theme that is important to the overall hip-hop movement.

Songs are presented in no particular order.


Songs are presented in no particular order.

1. Ultramagnetic MC's - Critical Beatdown
2. Schooly D - Smoke Some Kill
3. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five - The Message
4. Gang Starr - Step in the Arena
5. X-Raided - Lord Have Mercy
6. Boogie Down Productions - Super-Hoe
7. Quasimoto - Spaces
8. Afrika Bambaata & The Soulsonic Force - Looking For The Perfect Beat
9. Rob Swift featuring Supernatural & DJ Radar - Interview with A Colored Man
10. Digable Planets - Blowing Down
11. Diamond District featuring Steve Smith - First Time
12. The Jungle Brothers - Black is Black
13. Snoop Dogg - Gin & Juice
BONUS TRACK: 2 Live Crew - Cut It Up


1.
Ultramagnetic MC's
Critical Beatdown
Ultra is from the era where ever rapper and rap crew had to have raps that include braggadocio about how much better their mc rapping was than “sucker mc” raps. It is presumed that “sucker mc's” are the ones that are unable to secure record contracts. In this era, Rap was treated as if it were Greek God type affair, where those at the top were the ones that had successfully scaled the Rap mountain and were thus rap deities. It is taken for granted that unless named personally, these Sucker MC raps did not pertain to any other rap deity. The Ultramagnetic MC's are an old school rap outfit composed of Ced Gee, Tim Dogg, TR Love, Moe Love and the venerable Kool Keith. Ultra preceded WuTang and set the model for New York rap “crews”. They were preceeded by the first wave of rap crews, such as the Soulsonic Force, Grandmaster Flash, Sugar Hill. Their samples were innovative and expanded the rap volume. Their DJ was also involved in the seminal Boogie Down Productions Criminal Minded disc. This fact alone is enough rap credibility to infuse the entire group across the threshold of Rap Legend status –if they hadn’t already done it on their own accord. Critical beat down features the "spoken word" style of rhyme of Kool Keith. Much like too short and Eazy-E, his raps are not complicated, just direct, heartfelt and delivered with a cadence and unique voice that projects confidence, necessity and immediacy. Critical Beatdown follows the old school rap formula. One MC starts with a concept, or the crew has a concept. One MC Raps about it and the next MC on the microphone must meet the bar and exceed it if possible. In this way all of the crews MC’s get a shot or two at the Microphone. As the song is developed and edited, this can lead to a dizzying display of lyricism and innovation.

Sample Line:

Move, while I enter the groove
I’m on top and having to prove to whack MC's who claim to be better than,
no way, I’m frankly more clever than all of you -each and every one my son
pay close attention -I'll take your brain to another dimension
hold it, -mold it, shape it.- you got a knife? yes I want to scrape it
up and down sideways anywhere i can -be rude to you.- But I’ll rap and be crude to you and eat up, -
toy ducks I beat up…

2.
Schooly D
Smoke Some Kill
Known as “The Illy from Philly”. Schooly is another "spoken word" MC. His formula is simple rhymes told behind the booming bass of the 808 drum machine and stories told with a masculine, no frills matter of fact, crucially black, testosterone fueled confidence. Smoking marijuana, sex, storytelling, misunderstanding parents, silliness and frivolity, slaying sucker mc's, material possessions, and a simple rap theme following the old formula of rapping on a theme and several verses, perhaps a simple chorus. Schooly features liberal, brain damaging scratches from DJ Code Money, and on this particular album, healthy doses of Black Liberationist Samples.

Sample Line:

Woke up early Sunday morn' jumped out the bed -Filas on.
-thought about -the hangover -kissed the dog, called my mom rover.
Went into the kitchen captain crunch, turned on the tube -the Brady Bunch.
Instead of a house, they lived in a palace, Jan was fu**in Mike and Mike was fu**in Alice.
My little eyes opened up wide, the thing in my pants started to rise.
Sat down on the couch to cool and chill -cracked me a forty, rolled some kill.
I was smokin’ I was tokin’, my mom said, “Boy, you must be jokin’!“
Threw me outside it was rainin’ I was soakin, -that weed so damn provokin’.

3.
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
The Message
Not just one of the greatest rap songs of all time, this classic is perhaps the greatest song ever made from the number 1 rap crew of the first generation of rappers. The immediacy of the song, coming off of the bankruptcy of New York City and the age of urban decay with the disaster of central planning, huge housing projects, the oil embargo, inflation, the horrible effects of redlining, civic over-spending, racism, discrimination and de-institutionalization, this song tells the story of this caustic bog from the perspective of their effects upon the ghettos and boroughs of New York City. Starting off with a driving, methodical, steady pounding beat, shimmering synths, and percussion that harkens to the Carribean/Puerto Rican/Dominican/Latin immigrant influence. The cut touts themes of struggle, hopelesseness, depression, human waste, vermin, drug use and crushing despair. The song was an anthem for millions of underclass blacks who struggled to survive day by day, hand to mouth. Several perspectives and first person vignettes form the core structure of the song It is doubtful that any think tank or academic research group could compose a theme more immediate or visceral to illustrate this particular time in NY, without compromising in any way the artistry, beauty, and ass-shaking musical innovation of the composition.

Sample Line:

Broken Glass everywhere
people pissin on the stairs, you know they just don't care
I can't take the smell, I can't take the noise
got no money to move out, I guess I got no choice.
Rats in the front room, roaches in the back
Junkies in the alley with the baseball bat.
Tried to get away but I didn’t get far
Cause he man with the tow truck repossessed my car.
Don’t -Push Me -Cause -I’m- Close To The -Edge,
-I’m -Tryin’ -Not -To -Lose -My –Head -a-huh-HUH-HUH- HUH!
It’s like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder how I keep from goin’ under.

4.
Gang Starr
Step in the Arena
Guru is an intellectual and technician with a unique voice and musical style reminiscent of the Audio Two and beats similar to Das FX. Guru’s raps are smooth enough, but what characterizes them are that , they're mathematical verbal barrages linked together like a old school chain forming a formidable, uninterruptible verbal assault. Where Guru falls short in smoothness and fluidity, he makes up for in intelligence, command, vocal distinction and technical skill. A rappers gift can come from virtually anywhere and any particular talent from cadence, vision, voice, story, personal experience, culture, time... like a giant equalizer, each rapper's skill depends on a unique mix and mojo from the rap "EQ" of vocal attributes showcasing the uniqueness of the human voice and individual MC verbal gifts and talents, much like the qualities we seek in radio personalities. Some voices are flat, others, are melodious, or urgent, or piercing or aesthetically pleasing. Guru was one of the MC’s that ushered in an era of rap that utilized intellectual and technical skills to make up for a lack of “natural” creativity and ambition, thus opening up a a new grab bag for a different type of MC, than the traditional naturally gifted (and this isn’t my quote) “big-cocks/biggest-nigger-on-the-ghetto-block” rappers

Sample Line:

I’m like claws that will rip cause your gift is merely flesh
Superficial and I wish you, would give it a rest
But if you don't, -I'll un-sheath my Excalibur
-Like a noble knight, -so meet a challenger,
A true hero, -while you're a through zero
-Getting’ beat to a pulp so that you can’t run for help…

5.
X-Raided
Lord Have Mercy
One of my favorite and enduring favorite ghetto poets. “X” is a gang banger and a vocal angel. His songs illustrates the “journalism” quality of his raps. He dispatches missives from the deepest, and at times, most disturbed corners of our communities. His talent and the beauty of his flow is a 5 star delight. Spicy, sour, sweet, crunchy, smooth, salty, and chewy. Insight is perhaps his greatest gift. There are but a handful of rappers that can self-reflect, and paint both visual landscapes and internal subjective poets at the same time giving he listener a telescoping view of the carnage. Despite the world X comes from, the sins he’s committed, the sadistic and masochistic repetition compulsion he has with the streets, violence and blind loyalty to his gang banging buddies. X provides a complete unexpurgated view of the ghetto gang banger grind pulled together in a style and flow and musicality and classic song structure. Unfortunately, in real life, X is serving a life sentence for the cold blooded murder of the mother of 2 gang rivals. This song is especially poignant as it acknowledges a wayward life that X is trapped in and unable to escape… a reality that is experienced in inner cities and prisons across the nation.

Sample Line:

Lord forgive me for all the wrong that I did,- all of the pain I inflicted as a kid,
on judgment day consider this before you curse me, -I was only a child so Lord have mercy!
forgive me for all the wrong that I done, -all of the pain I inflicted when I was young.
On Judgment day consider this before you curse me, I was only a child so Lord have mercy! Forgive me!

6.
Boogie Down Productions
Super-Hoe
With Sparse production, a drum machine a few samples and some ghetto-ass back-up singers, The Blastmaster KRS-One and Scott LaRock of Boogie Down Productions unleashed this ghetto anthem during the heightening crest of the Rap Borough Battles. In fact, the narcissistic ego of KRS-One is largely the reason Borough rap battles began, as Kris virtually climbed the Empire State Building, holding the microphone like it was a blonde white virgin and proclaimed to all within earshot that HE was the greatest MC in all of New York, and that the Bronx was the birthplace of the heart and soul of the NY rap genealogy. Legend has it that KRS-One and Scott LaRock met at the Morrissania Men's Shelter where Kris Parker was a youth and Scott LaRock was a social worker. Recognizing Kris’ talent, they formed a partnership that only ended with the tragic slaying of Scott LaRock after the first album. The fact that this song has been a classic since the 80's and lasted over 5 minutes with nothing more than the wit of KRS-One and a every-possible-angle rap on the single subject of his DJ's sexual proclivities speaks volumes to the powers of Boogie Down Productions. [I really should have included, The Bridge Is Over instead of Super-Hoe since ‘Bridge’ is a rap history lesson that discusses the origins of rap, as seen from the perspective of Boogie Down Productions, but as a disclaimer: I was born in the Boogie Down Bronx at the now defunct Morrissania Hospital definitely endears this particular rap crew to my heart.]

Sample Line:

We were bein' interviewed there live on air, every girl in the city and Scott had an affair.
KM in the AM had asked his last question, but Scott LaRock said “Wait, I've got to mention
the fact that I'm single, I like to mingle, and one more time, bust the fresh jingle.”
(chorus) Scott LaRock Had 'em alllllllll. He is a SuperHoe!

7.
Quasimoto
Spaces
Quasimoto is a cutting edge beat junkie with the creativity of a schizophrenic savant prodigy who has dedicated himself to his own particular form of hip hop artistry with the dedication of a cult leader. Quasimoto is one of those rappers that are so prolific and immersed in the genre that he has to release albums under multiple names and with multiple collaborators to satiate his need to create and his need to give voice to the various angles and personalities his creativity takes. Lord Quas is a student of the game, firmly founded in the history of rap, and forcefully pushing into the unknown territory that lies ahead. Creative songs, innovative samples, eclectic vocal and musical styles, he employs an urban graffitti style sensibility to the musical tags he leaves. This particular song, Spaces is a perfect showcase of his talents. In it he creates a 7th heaven, dream like mix of an audio interview with a white stoner and the voice of Quasimoto rapping from multiple tangents about literal mental "spaces".
Sample Line:

Hey Yo, it's the mastadon, yo I'll hit you all spacey.
Lord Quas, Mister Buddha Madlib Master Bass MC's.
Comin' through like Thelonius Monk,
Came real dropped harmonius Funk.
I'll leave you suckin' like a crack heads ass
dropped the math on that ass fast cause if we in a battle you know you end up comin' up in last place.
Hit you with the slow and fast pace -on conceptual mode agree to wreck the whole space…

8.
Afrika Bambaata &
The Soulsonic Force
Looking For The Perfect Beat
This song is just amazing. The raps aren’t whack, but there’s just not much to them. But this song definitely belongs on this list because of the pedigree of the group and its contribution to the early phase of rap. music is timeless and Afrika Bambaata took the nation by storm with funk, rap, electro-dance grooves and a rap crew made up of Afrika Bambaata, Mr. Biggs, Pow Wow, and The G.L.O.B.E.,. Bambaata himself was a DJ who used his particular skill to take rap, at a nascent age and turn it into a purely infectious dance hit of synths, drum machines, scratches and an old school rap crew. The theme of the song centers around the Hero’s quest, search for and capture of “the world's perfect beat”. In this song, the perfect beat takes the place of the the chalice. It certainly doesn't hurt that the song is rave worthy and one of the few songs that can motivate even a quadruple bypass candidate to sprint on a treadmill for the last 5 minutes of a grueling workout.

Sample Line:

Universal people looking for the perfect beat
Mortal world of nations looking for the perfect beat
Mighty Zulu Nation they have found the perfect beat
I’m mighty Afrika Bambaata, I present the perfect beat.
Beat, Beat, Beat, Beat (Scratchin’)

9.
Rob Swift featuring Supernatural
& DJ Radar
Interview with A Colored Man
A unique opus/mix of several song fragments (samples) based around a fictional live audience interview of “Colored Man”, an Af-Am superhero Af-Am special powers that are revealed through the course of this short and sweet song. “Colored Man” has a firm MC/hip hop veracity and black liberationist perspective relating a depth and complexity of character that expands the genre of science fiction rap and reality from a Neil DeGrasse Tyson type perspective.

Sample Line:

Interviewer: Let’s get right to the First Question. We all know you were born on planet Ebony. Now just how far is planet Ebony from Mars?
Colored Man: 300 and 60 degrees from Mars and we got Black Stars
7 suns, -that's what we got -we run on Ebony -yo we speak ebonics
-smoke chronic, -got robots that got bionics, -think we on planets, -don't understand it?
-do you understand? -it's me your friendly neighborhood colored man.
-Walking through, -on my T, my colors are red, black and green
- on the back of my cape is, “no escape”, -the planet ebony I live on is truly great.

10.
Digable Planets
Blowing Down
From one of the most unique and creative rap albums of all time, The Digable Planets are frequently erroneously referred to as a “one hit wonder” completely ignoring the majesty of their follow up album and the top to bottom quality of songs on their debut. Blowing Down is a unique creation that illustrates the magic that can happen when pure ambition meets raw talent among several MC's who combine talents and produce something that is greater than the sum of their parts. Blowing Down is a fine illustration of their rhymin’ style, which could be said to sacrifice clarity and succinctness for the sake of the cadence, syncopation and rhyme flow. Here, The Planets take a page from most rock groups who have nonsense lyrics that sound good, but make absolutely no fucking sense upon closer inspection. Sometimes this works, as it does with The Planets, seeing as the lyrics leave enough of a poetic flow and fragments of almost full ideas that anybody from he hood can “feel” to hint at/suggest at an underlying camouflaged coherent thesis that allows the mind to delve into an unconscious meditation/”planet-ary” groove. The Planets were composed of two fellas and a female, “Doodlebug”. The music and the rhymes mixed beautifully creating a sonic space that fully embraced a higher consciousness while never losing sight of the fact that it had the responsibility of reppin’ Crooklyn. The Planets were more than rappers. They were true entertainers that created mood music that provided fertile ground and a positive auditory relief to the issues confronting the youth of the early 90’s.

Sample Line:

No doubt we turns it out
'Cause we keep black movement and castle keep rockin' plus hang with my niggas and hit the dope spots.
Play in the corners and maybe even boogie ‘till the sun come up or a gun come up...
Shootin' at the breeze the local emcees,
stylin' wit ease,
doin' it like the sun is in here ‘cause we bomb rhyme, sayin', butter ain’t playin' Blowin out…

11.
Diamond District
featuring Steve Smith
First Time
One of the most creative rap groups ever assembled I’m eager to hear a follow up to this grand opus of grandmaster level of word wizardry. Old school beats, old school raps updated with an amazing cadence and style that's barely decipherable, due to a complex infection of alliterative machine gun verbal assaults from all three MC’s. From top to bottom, every cut works, is complete, is coherent and stupendous. The full effort is nothing less than mind blowing. The whole flavor of the album is so stunning I was expecting to see 3 well known producers/rappers or vagabond cast off members from 80’s an d90’s hip hop hall of fame groups. I was shocked to see this crew was organic and young. 3 ghetto wildflowers blossoming and in fact fully bloomed at the pinnacle of rap power from Chocolate City’s Diamond District. Neither the needs of the message or the lyrical mysticism are compromised. once again there are multiple layers that can be unpacked in each sentence, let alone song. The entire album keeps coming song after song after song.

Sample Line:

First things first, the first born, -wanted to be the first to put D. I. C. on
-First to cross the finish line for my first y’all
First to see the flow list yes first to serve y’all
First person that I met was mom's,
-First song I remember hearing I think was 'after the love is gone'
by earth first element then with fire inspired by the most higher person that I admired…

12.
The Jungle Brothers
Black is Black
One of the first "conscious rappers" and original “Native Tongue” rap groups, The Jungle Brothers black is black pride divined into a maple honeyed ecstacy. It’s true first generation “Edutainment” rap with old school James Brown samples, a drum machine and two Jungle Brothers tossin’ the mic back and forth. The Jungle Brothers were from that generation of rappers that felt the calling to provide the vital history lessons that were so woefully missing and are still missing in our schools curriculum. Issues of race, class, culture, skin tone, liberation, discrimination and black power realism are all covered at least to a high school proficiency with enough clues for intrepid listeners to follow up on Wikipedia. As a forerunner and original of conscious rap and a deep collaborative influence on BDP, A Tribe Called Quest, Black Sheep and De La Soul, this album and song are undeniable all-time classics.

Sample Lyric:

Today's the day we get together to try to change and make things better
If not where will be be tomorrow? Drowning in a pool of sorrow
Daylight shines but still few see that we must fight for unity
In a picture that's fixed as black and white why's it both that have to fight?
Uplift the race UPLIFT THE RACE! Leave the soul and out my face
All for one and one for all, Black is Black.. That’s right ch’all…


13.
Snoop Dogg
Gin and Juice
If there was ever a rapper that earned the right to say, "I did it my way" (more than likely Doggystyle), it's Snoop Dogg. Who can forget when Snoop snapped onto the scene alongside Dre singing, “1-8-7 on an undercover coooop!”. Snoop amazingly is an unrepentant gang member, hard core, I mean, HARD CORE dope smoker, misogynist rapper, family man, entrepreneur, businessman, comedian, athlete, mentor, record company executive and evader of a murder conviction, the venerable Mr Calvin Broadhaus is perhaps the most sought after music collaborator in the hip hop scene of all-time. Even ten years ago, Snoop had reached the level of National Treasure. I can quite seriously say that the Smithsonian should consider placing him in the Institute while he’s still alive. Not only is his rap style one of the most unique, but he’s unmatched in his ability to freestyle. His songbook has the mojo to convulse scantily clad assess from Tehran east to Timbuktu. Gin and Juice is a classic that illustrates Snoop at the height of his powers. Perhaps the greatest testament to his legendary artistry is that even though he’s a confessed dope fiend, gang banger and rapper who has lyrically degraded women, condemned “snitches” and glorified virtually ever taboo subject imagineable, he was still afforded a White House visit.

Sample Lyrics:

-May, -I, kick-a-little-somethin’-for-the-G's, –and, make-a-few-ends-as-I-breeze,
through
-Two-in-the-mornin'-and-the-party's-still-jumpin'-'cause-my-momma-ain't-home,
-I got bitches in the living room gettin' it on,-and, they-ain't-leavin'-'til six-in-the-mornin'
So what you wanna do? Shit… I-got-a-pocket-Full-of-rubbers-and-my-homeboys-do-too!
So turn out the lights and close the door, but.. (but what?) We don’t love them hoe’s!....
…G’s up, Hoes down while you motherfuckers bounce to this…
Rollin down the street smokin’ Indo, sippin’ on gin and juice!


BONUS TRACK
2 Live Crew
Cut It Up
2 Live Crew is an excellent example of an old school classic Rap that uses very basic elements consisting of 2 MC's (Fresh Kid Ice and The Brother Marquis) a DJ (Mr. Mixx) a drum machine (the classic 808), samples (Soulsonic Force's Planet Rock) and a classic rap song structure based on praise for the groups abilities. 2 Live Crew is also an important footnote in rap due to their prosecution for *obscene lyrics on the single "Me So Horny". The case went to U.S. District Court, and the Eleventh Circuit for appeals whereupon 2 Live Crew emerged victorious. 2 Live Crew's victory in these two cases is seen as key in defining and establishing the rights of Rap artist to exercise free and protected speech. Henry Louis Gates even testified in the obscenity case in defense of 2 Live Crew. 2 Live Crew is also notable for having perhaps the best known and most popular Asian Rappers, Fresh Kid Ice (Chris Wong Won).

Sample Lyric:

I must give credit where credit is due
and at the same time make known to you
Because when you see is when you believe
that there is not another DJ with cuts like these
and I’m not making false accusations when I’m sayin’
he rocks the house every show he’s playin’
and with the addition of a rappin’ technician, someone quite like myself
enhancin’ all the cuts he makes and keep his mixes in perfect health...


*From Kimberly Crewnshaw’s, Beyond Racism and Misogyny:
Black Feminism and 2 Live Crew.
“Two positions dominated the debate about 2 Live Crew. Writing in Newsweek, political columnist George Will staked out a case against the Crew, arguing that Nasty As They Wanna Be, was misogynistic filth and characterizing their lyrics as a profoundly repugnant ‘combination of extreme infantilism and menace’ that objectified Black women and represented them as legitimate targets for sexual violence. The most prominent defense of 2 Live Crew was advanced by Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr.,… In a New York Times Op-Ed piece, and in testimony… Gates portrayed 2 Live Crew as brilliant artists who were inventively elaborating distinctively African-American forms of cultural expression… Gates argued, the characteristic exaggeration featured in their lyrics served a political end: to explode popular racist stereotypes about Black sexuality precisely by presenting those stereotypes in a comically extreme form.“

Sunday, August 12, 2012

A Curative/Healing Botanical Evolution

A little known plant was discovered in the small desert regions of the tiny African nation of Barundi, one of the poorest nations on Earth.

For generations Hutu tribesmen have used the plant for traditional herbal sprit quests and for it's healing properties. The curative effects are often likened to the Aloe plant for burns and cuts. The pulp of the plant has been shown to accelerate healing more than any known pharmaceutical agent. The pulp seems to mimic human plasma while also providing a protein that promotes dermal generation.

The plant is used for vision quests, and also during the main Hutu right of passage ceremony, where young tribesmen have their palms cuts in a crosshatch pattern and they are made to hold a hand full of the pulpy cactus like substance while the hand is wrapped closed. The tribesmen are also held in a hut where copious amounts of incense made of the flowering buds are blown through open holes, while chanting and and the singing of traditional songs goes on through two nights. with breaks being taken during sunrise and sunset and a noontime ritual.

As an added bonus, the pulp also contains a mild psychoactive agent that chemically resembles some mild hallucinogens. The effects are said to be meditative, and not to alter perception of the outer world rather its effect is felt most greatly on the subjective/inner experience. While dreaming, or in environments with diminished sensory stimulation (dark, quiet, non-textured settings), the effects are felt more greatly. Perhaps its most exciting effect is upon meditative practices. If one meditates or dreams within hours of ingesting the pulp or smoking/vaporization of the flowering buds.

Subjective measures tell a story of individuals being able to more easily block out unwanted thoughts and to allow individuals to meditate for exponentially longer periods of time and to derive a greater degree of personal satisfaction as well as greatly enhanced objective scientific measures of calmness, stress reduction, satisfaction, happiness and less reactivity to all top 15 measures of urban stress producers.

Although through traditional lore there is no addictive quality to the plants, those who have partaken of the plant who from the west have reported psychological, and at times some mild physical dependence symptoms.

The plant is not easily maintained indoors or in environments that do not closely resemble arid megathermal climates (areas where more water is lost by evapotranspiration than falls as precipitation).

Trafficking of the drug has resulted in the plant becoming endangered. The plant has been bred and cultivated through a joint collaboration between The New York Botanical Garden & International Plant Science Center and the University of Texas at Austin Plant Biological Sciences Division.

Research has been ongoing and the active akaloid has been isolated and synthesized and is currently being studied to investigate if the effects are similar to the active psychoactive ingredient of the plant.

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Joseph Hayne Rainey: the world's oldest ex-slave turns 177

Oct 4, 1834-20??
The world's oldest ex-slave amazingly is still alive and turned 177 today. Still clear of mind and radiant, he says that his memories of the condition of slavery, his escape, his return to slavery due to the fugitive slave act, and purchase by a group of abolitionist lead by Theodore Dwight Weld as well as the nation's reaction to the Dred Scott decision are all fresh in his mind.

Amazingly he not only survived slavery, but also 4 years as a Union soldier and part of Sherman's scorched earth campaign. After the war, he returned to the South Carolina Sea Channel Islands and was one of the original group of black representatives to the United States Congress. after black codes and voting laws were passed to suppress the black vote, Mr. Rainey was voted out of officer, whereupon he returned to college, studied history and was a historian and eventual chair of the history department at Lincoln University. He received Ph.D's in American History (Lincoln), European History (Princeton) and African Antiquity (Fisk).

His recollections of working with the world's greatest historians, hearing their perspectives, reading source materials and vast first hand personal accounts area treasure trove for modern day historical scholars who want to get a real feel for the 360 degrees of history. He has served as a mentor to Carter B. Woodson, John Hope Franklin, Steven Craig Wilder and Chiekh Diop. "They were all incredible. I learned as much from them as they did from me, maybe more. I love working with young people." He gave a laugh, "I guess I'd better right?"

There aren't that many people that can count A. Philip Randolph, Frederick Douglass, Madame C.J. Walker, Marcus Garvey, Paul Robeson, Richard Pryor, Bill Cosby and Skip Gates as personal friends

A masterful storyteller and lecturer, he can speak comprehensively on virtually any aspect of Black history and culture for hours at a time. He still gives guest lectures at Universities within 100 miles of his home in Oberlin Ohio and is emeritus chair of the Oberlin History Department and emeritus Vice-Provost.

His amazing longevity has doctors baffled, but he comes from a family of centurians. His father had him at age 74 with his 4th wife (who was born in 1800 but only lived to be 104). Mr. Rainey's father, Moses Rainey worked the cotton field's for over 95 years and died while picking cotton 4 days before the farm was liberated by Union Troops and the Emancipation Proclamation was read aloud to the newly liberated field hands.

Mr. Rainey's mother lived to be 127, dying in Harlem in the midst of the Harlem Renaissance. "I was only 93 when my mother passed away. She was doing so well, It was unexpected." Mr. Rainey said while dabbing his eyes.

Although he was eligible to draw social security old age pension in 1942, he was still actively working and teaching and didn't official retire until he was 120 the day the Voting Rights act (1965) was signed into law.

He had 39 children by 11 wives, the last, "Harriet" in 1994. Harriet plans on attending Oberlin College to be close to her father, "I'm beginning to see some signs of old age" she said. She is currently a senior in high school. When told that the Wikipedia site has him listed as having passed away, she laughed and said, "Yeah, he told me about that. What happened was that the United States had just Settled a lease with Hawaii for Pearl Harbor in January of that year. My father sold his bank and went out to help oversee recruitment of Black and Hawaiian work crews. At the same time another Man named Joseph Rainey died. Since my father left abruptly, some folks thought it was my dad. He was 53, which would have been short, but a full life for an ex-slave and civil war vet. I've called Wikipedia numerous times and they refuse to change it."