Entries Tagged 'Black Music' ↓

When I saw that the Smithsonian is running an exhibit ’til Nov. 8 on Rastafarianism—“Discovering Rastafari!” is the horrible title—my first thought was this: I’d have given my eyeteeth to have heard the ensuing comedy of errors when white, Ivy League-bred curators negotiated with Rastas for artifacts.

Then, it occurred to me that everything in the show is probably already owned by white Brits.

Then there’s this question, which The New York Times, itself, raises: Why is this exhibit in the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History?

the Rastafari exhibition does not really belong in the same museum as paleontological finds and collections of insects and gems. That placement is a relic of the 19th-century conception of the natural history museum as a temple devoted to exotic “natural” cultures and objects — evolutionary predecessors of the scientific West.

How unexpected.

You might think that a student with a double major in Geography and Russian & Slavic Studies—one matriculating in about a year, before heading to grad school—might have more to do at 4 a.m. than create a geographic outline of the places rapper Ludacris likes to pick up chicks, based on his 2001 Word of Mouf single w/ Nate Dogg, “Area Codes,” above. (Click on the map to enlarge it, then again to see it at maximum size.)

But, if you do think that, you neither know the contradictions of higher ed nor the peccadilloes of Stefanie Gray. (You also haven’t been to the incredible Strange Maps blog, where I first saw this.)

There, the CUNY Hunter College undergrad, right, notes, “I’m a female and a feminist. I dislike the usage of the word ‘ho’. However, as a geography major, I find this song hilarious, and had to map it.”

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Dem bones, dem bones: Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) and Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf) poke around in America’s dark underbelly

In “Keeping Up with the Jones: White Supremacy on BET,” Bro. Tony Muhammad both regards the promotion of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which opened yesterday, and captures that distinct, tacky awkwardness one feels when white people, especially ones who’ve never been to Harlem, try to act like they’re used to being surrounded by Black people, especially when it’s being done for marketing purposes.

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Introducing the dance remix of Bill O’Reilly’s now notorious, “twenty years old” hissy fit, obviously just as NSFW as is Bill.

“Forever and a day”: Heatwave’s Wilder counts the seconds

Here you go: A gorgeous piece of videotape, featuring the funk band, Heatwave, performing live. They’re led by their late co-founder, Johnnie Wilder, Jr. (1949-2006), above, singing their perennial, six-minute, slow jam classic, “Always and Forever.” Proms, everywhere: Rejoice.

And we’ll grow 40-ish together: Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon begin their married life…and Month #2 of knowing each other

Is Mariah Carey getting stupider with age?

Like most, I didn’t get the Nick Cannon connection, when I heard she’d secretly married him. That is, until I read The Daily Mail, yesterday.

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“Now, pretend that you’re Corey Clark”: Paula and Skat role-play

Was Paula Abdul on drugs?

Not last week, when she tried to judge American Idol contestant Jason Castro’s non-existent second performance. No, was she high in the early ’90s, when she agreed to a cameo in the video for MC Skat Kat’s solo debut, “Skat Strut,” a Fresh Prince-ish piffle over Earth Wind & Fire’s “Let’s Groove” bassline.

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If you get a chance, do please take a gander at my review, in Wednesday’s Village Voice, of the Roots’ new, this-is-the-way-the-world-ends-ish album, Rising Down, above.

“Get Busy,” the first single, burns like the bombing of MOVE, mating a weighty kick-and-snare to a morbid chorus of fuzzy synth drones. “My squad half-Mandrill, half-Mandela,” rapper Black Thought intones. “My band ’bout 70 strong, just like Fela.” Coupled with guest lyrical maestros Dice Raw (“I’m half-dead/Never felt more alive”; “I’m kinda W.E.B. DuBois meets Heavy D & the Boyz”) and the reedy Peedi Crack, the whole fest bristles with the nervous energy of riot control on dust.

It’s a jaunty read, if I, myself, say so. Enjoy!

No, your eyes do not deceive you, and, no, we will not see the likes of it again: That’s Luciano Pavarotti and James Brown, together, performing “This Is A Man’s World.” (Brown died in December 2006, Pavarotti in September 2007.)

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“I’m sorry…I meant to go to jail!”: Akon makes a mean face

I’m not even an Akon fan. However, I just couldn’t resist the opportunity to write that headline before another blog did.

The Huffington Post got to The Smoking Gun earlier than the rest of us did, pointing out what rigorously fact-checked hip-hop magazines should have known a long time ago: When Senegal-born singer-songwriter-producer Akon

settled on “Konvicted” for the title of his second album, which sold nearly three million copies last year … “Kontrived” might have been a more accurate choice.

Akon’s ad nauseum claims about his criminal career and resulting prison time have been, to an overwhelming extent, exaggerated, embellished, or wholly fabricated, an investigation by The Smoking Gun has revealed.

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