Scorpeze explains it all…

Yall thought Spike Lee was crazy when he dropped Bamboozled 10 years ago.

I knew that he wasnt.

Here we are, folks!

Blackface in 2010!!!

Not only is she in Blackface, BUT she sayin that she can be a good whore, too…

“I can be a freak!”

Translation: “I can offer up my sexuality to you so you’ll notice me and maybe like me more…”

This some sad sad shit, people.

The effed up part is that Im not even shocked. I’ve seen this kinda shit coming down the pike for a long ass time.

Watch some gump cop pleas:
-”It’s not REALLY blackface…”
-”You guys are too sensitive…”
-It cant be racist, she’s Black!…”
-”Why yall n***as always tryan keep other n***as from eatin’? You cryin about a video??? What has yo ass done for the struggle?…”

etc, etc.

I can hear the chains rattling in the distance…

Im gonna break from the Favorite Albums of the 2000’s series to talk abt a few topics…

First up. The music industry as we know it is a wrap.

Let’s take a moment to be honest about what is happening here.

if you are doing music in any professional capacity right now, make sure that you are doing it because you love the craft.

If you are doing music because you dream of fame and riches, do yourself a favor and stop.

If you’re a great singer and you’re gearing up for American Idol tryouts–save your energy and talent. That shit a TV show. Period. It IS NOT a singing competition.

The music industry has done itself in. The cold, hard facts of it all is that good music and musical talent count for jack shit these days. While there have ALWAYS been successful acts who are mostly style over substance in popular music, we are now in an era where marketability is the MAIN factor in getting over in the industry.

and 9 times out of 10, even THAT wont blow you up.

It doesnt matter anymore whether your music is good or if you have any talent. Even if you have the marketability, that will only get you so far.

Tastemakers run the music industry these days, both mainstream and underground. So no matter how good you are or are not, it will be for naught unless a person of influence of some sort co-signs you or takes you under their wing. Which is nothing new, but the bad part is that most of the current tastemakers are douchebags with awful taste in music and culture. More on that later.

Even if THAT happens, the public still has to buy into your hype and that, my friends, is a variable that NO ONE can control.

Now, let’s be square here. This is not coming from a place of bitterness or frustration. In no way am I tryna piss on your dreams, kids. Check out Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, he’s a mutli platinum artist and producer, he will tell you the somewhat the same thing here.

This is just the pure, hard reality of the industry climate right now. Me personally, I’m satisfied with the way my music career is progressing. I make the music I want and it stands or falls on its own merit. Whatever mistakes are made, I take responsibility and learn from the experience. I knew what I was getting into going in. I dont harbor dreams of limos, industry parties, and pretending to be annoyed by the paparazzi. I’m not that kind of person and I dont need that kind of validation.

But there are many cats out there who do need that, and DON’T know what they’re getting into. The dreamers are still out there, and they still believe in the Cinderella fairytale.

Now what DOES concern me is how the music industry will rebuild itself. While the old industry business model had huge flaws, it still had legitimate purpose.

While the underground cats were whooping it up a cpl years ago celebrating the fall of the major label system, they were missing the big picture. When one system fails, another system must take its place. As of yet, no one has presented a BETTER business model than the one we had before. Is there one? Of course. Has it been implemented or even proposed? Shit, no. Not even close.

The internet changed the game completely. Before that, a personal computer was mostly just a trinket only useful for business, science, and educational purposes. With the advent of the internet, social networking, and inexpensive professional audio/visual technology, making a studio quality record and package has become feasible for the everyman. The personal computer quickly became a staple of everyday life and it empowered and connected the unheard masses. Independent music used to have the stigma of inferior quality and presentation because the musicians involved did not have access to the tools that the pros had.

Now you can record your album on your laptop and have it sound pristine. You dont have to worry about rushing because you dont have money for blocks of studio time. You or your graphic artist friend can put up a website and design the packaging. With a few clicks, your album can be available for sale or free download all over the world for anyone who wants it. Fuck the major labels. Sweet, right?

Wrong.

With any professional craft, there is a bar of entry. A set of requirements or skill level you must meet in order to practice said craft on a professional level. If you play sports, you must prove yourself in smaller capacities before being allowed to play professionally. The major label standard used to be that bar of entry for musicians. With the new DIY ethic in music, that bar has been far lowered if not completely obliterated. Now almost ANYONE can have a record in the marketplace.

The problem here is that we now have a glut of highly visible, commercially available, independent music of wildly varying quality. So there’s alot of wack ass music to sort through. How do you find the good stuff? The die hards say, “GET OFF YOUR LAZY ASS AND SEARCH!…”

Well, you could do that. But the thing that theyre missing is that the average person isnt that passionate about music. Sure, people LIKE music, they may even LOVE it, but its not a driving factor in their everyday lives. Teenagers may consume music voraciously, but they need music to be presented to them. The majors have that market sewed up. Adults have lives. Jobs, children, spouses, finances, career, homes, etc. Those lives cut down on the disposable income one has to go out  and take a chance on buying a terrible record, or to splurge on music in general. Those lives also cut down on the time one has to devote to looking for the perfect beat.

This is why the major label system worked for so long. They have money. Lots of it. They have power and influence. The service that the major label system provided for the average music fan was this:

-Discover talented person
-Supply talented person with the best of what they needed to present their talent(studios, producers, songwriters, musicians, instruments, etc…)
-develop talented person to be presentable and understandable to the masses
-introduce talented person to the masses
-generate interest in talented person through promotion (concerts, television appearances, press, radio)

In short, the majors delivered the good shit to your doorstep…you didnt have to search for the new hot shit cuz it was on the radio, on TV, in magazines, at the local concert hall opening for your favorite artist…the poster is in the record store, the artist themselves are even in the record store…

All of that takes money and influence–which the majors have in abundance.

out of the millions of aspiring musicians, the major picked the best and brightest and said to you, “HEY! This cat is DOPE! Youre gonna love their music!…”.  if you wanted a taste, all you had to do was turn on the radio or check out Ed Sullivan, or American Bandstand or Soul Train.

Now, let’s keep it one hunnid. There are many flaws and loopholes (too many to go into detail here) in that system that would allow a truly talented artist to get passed by or slip through the cracks or to allow some half-talent to blow up. But for the most part, that was a solid business model. Pick a talent, groom them, then tell the world about them.

It just so happened that the industry got extremely arrogant at the same time that the internet was coming to power. Music sales were at an all time high in the 90’s. The money was rolling in hand over fist. The majors decided to follow the money. They got rid of the record/music/creative people and hired a bunch of suits to mind the bottom line. The majors believed that they could sell water (wack ass artists) to a well (an easily manipulated herd mentality public). Two things shattered that dream. George W. Bush and Napster. With Dubya came an America that was vulnerable enough to allow 9/11 to happen, effectively ending the peace and prosperity of the Clinton era. Napster allowed listeners to not have to pay for the amazingly shitty records that the industry was pumping out. You could get the 2 or 3 jams off the albums and be done with it, saving yourself a bundle. it doesn’t help that the industry thought it was smart to eliminate singles a short time prior to the sea change in American lifestyle.

Even worse, now we face the mentality that “music is free”. Many people have become cynical to the point that they believe it is their RIGHT to get music without paying for it. They feel no shame in stealing music and do not attempt to fill the artist’s coffers in other ways. They ignore the fact that any artistic endeavors must be patronized in order to survive.

Fact: Manufacturing ANYTHING requires an investment.

Even if an artist is completely DIY, they must pay for:
-equipment/instruments
-musicians/featured guest artist appearances
-computer
-internet access
-software
-electricity
-distribution fees/expenses
-pressing CD’s and promotional materials
-living expenses (food, clothes, bills)

Snidely, these people say, “WELL, TOUR TO MAKE YOUR MONEY!”

L-O-fuckingL.

How do you tour when you cant afford to make a record? Who will book you if no one knows who you are? Who will pay for hotels, transportation, and food? Who will come to the shows???

Music is NOT free. The experience of ENJOYING MUSIC is free. The rest of it has a bill attached to it. Even going to a club to dance has a price tag.

Shit, it takes money to even LISTEN to music. You gotta get that mp3/CD player/computer from somewhere.

So. It’s over.

The majors are sitting still while everything burns down around them. Independent artists are just faces in a crowd. A really big fucking crowd.

So let’s say that you overcome these obstacles. You got records out. You play shows. You got buzz (read: co-signage from a tastemaker).

We still got that one variable. The public.

Easy, right? Give em good music and youre all set, right?

Wrong again.

Today’s 20 yr old was born in 1990. Which means that they’ve been raised listening to the rapidly devolving crud that passes for popular music all of their lives. The last musical movement of any real significance was grunge. Grunge was dead by 1995. After that, manufactured pop has dominated since then. After grunge, we got stuff like Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, Britney Spears, and the like. That same manufactured vibe permeated all other genres of popular music. Hip-Hop relinquished its underground status, sold out, and became the pop music of the early millennium. R&B went pop. Country went pop. Jazz continued it downward spiral. No one cared about art anymore. Artists and execs only cared about numbers–and because of the internet, numbers became important to listeners, too.

So back to that 20 yr old. He dictates the direction the people with the money will go in because he consumes the most music, whether he paid for it or not. The problem is he has been raised listening to garbage (and I dont mean the band of the same name). His musical tastes are horrid because they are not based on musical quality. His musical tastes are shaped by conformity, sensationalism, spectacle, tabloid culture, branding, and cult of personality. This kind of kid is the one who ends up being the aforementioned tastemaker in the industry.

You want to win over the public with your original, skilled, and heartfelt music? Good luck, my friend.

And the underground doesn’t really exist anymore. The underground value system and aesthetics are basically the same as the mainstream now. The only difference between being underground and mainstream these days is number of records sold.

As far as numbers go, right now, even your big mainstream acts are only selling a few hundred thousand, AT BEST. There are only a handful or artists seeing platinum.

here are some figures from a recent Soundscan chart:

1 BOYLE*SUSAN I DREAMED A DREAM 136,566 -73 510,166 3,103,828
2 LADY GAGA FAME 82,148 -51 168,568 2,387,666
3 KEYS*ALICIA ELEMENT OF FREEDOM 79,801 -71 279,584 779,093
4 BLIGE*MARY J. STRONGER 62,181 -81 330,354 394,005
5 SWIFT*TAYLOR FEARLESS 59,701 -73 224,270 5,329,167
6 BIEBER*JUSTIN MY WORLD 51,837 -67 156,789 727,914

8 BLACK EYED PEAS E.N.D. (ENERGY NEVER DIES) 47,190 -55 104,050 1,786,825
9 LADY GAGA FAME MONSTER (8 TRK) 44,212 -62 115,482 570,475

11 GLEE CAST GLEE: THE MUSIC, V2 43,791 -57 101,920 429,206
12 YOUNG MONEY WE ARE YOUNG MONEY 43,195 -70 142,118 185,696
13 EMINEM RELAPSE 40,862 -68 127,625 1,735,358
14 RIHANNA RATED R 39,571 -56 90,727 498,595
15 BUBLE*MICHAEL CRAZY LOVE 35,021 -74 136,628 1,222,070
16 VARIOUS NOW 32 34,547 -63 93,133 674,654
17 UNDERWOOD*CARRIE PLAY ON 33,501 -78 152,873 1,183,086
18 GLEE CAST GLEE: THE MUSIC V1 32,105 -64 88,865 641,933
19 MAYER*JOHN BATTLE STUDIES 31,826 -65 90,342 698,068
20 LADY ANTEBELLUM LADY ANTEBELLUM 26,810 -68 83,874 1,351,745
21 THICKE*ROBIN SEX THERAPY: THE EXPERIENCE 25,820 -58 60,828 209,824
22 JACKSON*MICHAEL MICHAEL JACKSON’S THIS IS IT 25,254 -77 108,776 1,287,045
23 JAY-Z BLUEPRINT 3 24,830 -58 58,730 1,514,758
24 KINGS OF LEON ONLY BY THE NIGHT 22,794 -47 43,164 1,708,713
25 BROWN*ZAC BAND FOUNDATION 20,953 -66 62,264 1,456,148

27 NEW MOON (TWILIGHT) SOUNDTRACK 20,393 -76 83,491 964,575

30 JONES*NORAH FALL 19,525 -77 86,260 629,450

33 JACKSON*MICHAEL NUMBER ONES 17,958 -70 58,923 4,063,578
34 BOCELLI*ANDREA MY CHRISTMAS 17,768 -94 283,683 2,207,202
35 GUCCI MANE STATE VS. RADRIC DAVIS 17,704 -58 42,176 191,076
36 LAMBERT*ADAM FOR YOUR ENTERTAINMENT 17,236 -72 61,683 433,834
37 BROWN*CHRIS GRAFFITI 16,903 -72 60,364 232,908

40 SWIFT*TAYLOR TAYLOR SWIFT 15,858 -65 45,935 4,622,024
41 BEYONCE I AM…SASHA FIERCE 15,321 -56 35,184 2,658,822
42 50 CENT BEFORE I SELF-DESTRUCT 15,266 -47 28,950 349,153
43 SONGZ*TREY READY 15,130 -45 27,333 438,434
44 RUCKER*DARIUS LEARN TO LIVE 14,785 -70 49,586 1,240,902
45 CYRUS*MILEY TIME OF OUR LIVES EP 14,690 -78 67,653 1,212,336
46 NICKELBACK DARK HORSE 14,685 -59 35,456 2,533,617

So yeah, man. Its over. At least the way that we know it.

However, there is SOME hope. That hope lies in the ability of someone, whomever that may be, to promote GOOD music (there’s TONS of good music out there going completely unnoticed) again and creating a new retail model to make that good music attractive again. Promoting bad music is how we got here in the first place. That is how we lost the listener’s trust and good faith. Retail and industry would have to come together to make that good music affordable, interactive, and widely available.

The prices have to come down, point blank. CDs should be $5 dollars instead of $10 (it can happen…rmbr in the 90’s when CDs were $15?) and even LESS for digital copies (I’d say $3).

Digital copies need to have downloadable artwork, liner notes, and interactive content. Like what we did with Sinister Beauty, even though we may not have been the first to do that (*pops collar*, and I see some folks have followed suit).

People like vinyl for various reasons. So the industry is smart in bringing it back, but the prices need to come down on that, too. I’d say $10–$12 max.

Record stores are gone, but they need to come back. I suggest the mainstream/corporate stores carry ONLY the Soundscan top 200 and the top 20 in other genres(jazz, latin, dance, country, etc.). That way, they can have better control of inventory and returns. These mainstream stores should offer to special order ANYTHING that is commercially available. They should also sell any digital music that is available. There should be a checkout station for digital music where a customer can tell a cashier what they want, pay for it, then have the cashier upload the purchase to a reusable download card or USB that will allow the consumer to put the music and content(liners, pictures, etc.) on their computer OR have the content uploaded to their listening device right then and there if they choose. Even better, buy a digital album in the store and send it to any email address you choose.

There should be small specialty stores for mainstream and underground records in specific genres/niches. A store that does only metal, a store for only country, a store for only jazz, hip-hop, dance, etc…These store should carry the vinyl for the top selling releases and of course, do special orders. Diggin spots (aka used record stores) should handle mostly catalogue stuff, thus driving up traffic for them because the Top 200 stores wont have that inventory. This saves consumers the headache not knowing where to go for what they want and saves store owners from deciding what to stock. Again, both the mainstream and specialty stores need to be JUST big enough to fit shoppers and inventory comfortably. The only stores with size should be the diggin/catalogue stores. No more mega stores–too much overhead.

People will never tire of the hands on shopping experience. Its in the human nature to look and touch. So bringing record stores back in a SMART way can only help.

We need record people (aka A&R) again (see my next blog) on both a mainstream and underground level. Those label people who will seek out the good shit at shows, parties, online, and through submissions to sign, DEVELOP, and thoroughly promote artists that have the potential to build a long lasting career.

Its going to take people with vision, loot, and courage to make it happen…and I think it will happen.

I dont have all the answers, but I do believe these are starts to a new and successful industry model. Don’t completely destroy the old model, just modify it and eliminate the parts that don’t work.

Until then, people, all we can do is stop living by the old ways, stop believing in fairy tales, keep grinding, and continue to make, BUY, and spread the word about the best music we can.

I look forward to your comments.

Peace,

Scorp

Al Green – Lay It Down (2008)

Rest In Peace Willie Mitchell.

When a legend attempts a comeback long after their heyday, the emotions are mixed. We hope that they turn in an album that hangs with their best work. But knowing what usually happens when a legend attempts a comeback long after their heyday, deep in our hearts we know that that it isnt gonna go down like that. At best, they will turn in an album that is respectable. At worst, they will turn in an album that should be stricken from the record. Lay It Down is the ONLY album that I know of by a legend made long after their heyday that stands eye to eye with their best work.

In 2003, it was announced that Al Green would reunite with the producer of his best work, Willie Mitchell. Mr. Mitchell is credited for the success of Al Green as much as the artist himself is. Willie Mitchell is known for creating the legendary Hi Records sound–a folksy, bluesy, swampy Southern stew that is instantly recognizable as the essence of Soul music.

The reunion of Al and Willie yielded the album I Can’t Stop (2003). Expectations were high, but the album itself did not conjure the magic of those 70’s Hi Records hits. Al and Willie gave it another shot with Everything’s OK (2005). The magic still was not there.

At some point, Reverend Al crossed paths with two men who know the deepest secrets of Soul. Ahmir Thompson is best known as ?uestlove, drummer and leader of the hip-hop band The Roots. James Poyser is a gospel keyboardist turned music producer out of the same Philadelphia camp as ?uestlove. The two men refer to their production team as The Randy Watson Experience. ?uestlove is a music nerd, bar none. Obsessively learned about the smallest detail of the classic Black music of the last 40 years, he can accurately mimic any classic artist’s sound. Though he has done so sparingly throughout his career, it would be with Rev. Al that he would get to go all out.

Strangely enough, most legendary artists adamantly refuse to revisit the sound that built their legend. ?uestlove once related a story of putting together a track for Earth, Wind, and Fire. He meticulously re-created their classic sound. Upon hearing what he had come up with, EWF leader Maurice White was disgusted. He bitterly exclaimed, “THIS AINT 1975!” before handing ?uestlove his walking papers. Mostly because of age, and being reared in the era of true artists where competition was fierce, these legends fear being relics. They want to be included in what is going on right now. Worst of all, and understandably so, they want to capture the ear “of the kids”. They tend to ignore the fact that reaching “the kids” after you reach a certain age is almost an impossibility. They dont realize that it would be best to appeal to their existent fan base and do what they do best instead of trying to fit uncomfortably in a mode where they dont belong. A prime example: listen to Prince’s attempts at emceeing.

Who knows how Thompson and Poyser convinced Rev. Al to go back to the essence and stay true to the Al Green sound. The result is Lay It Down. Listening to the album is like stepping into a time warp. Everything you remember from Al Green classics is there. You could easily slip the vinyl for Lay It Down into the jacket of any 70’s Al Green album an confuse an old head. For commercial reasons, Rev. Al is forced to share the spotlight with some contemporary artists guesting on the album. Anthony Hamilton, John Legend, and Corrine Bailey Rae show up and distract us from Al’s show. The only worthy guest is Hamilton. Hamilton’s voice is mined from the classic soul tradition, so when he and the Rev trade verses it sounds natural instead of forced. Hamilton knows that he’s in the presence of greatness and approaches his guest spots knowing that he must justify sharing a track with a legend. Even on Green’s classic albums, songwriting could be a problem spot. Thompson and Poyser remedy that by writing songs with the Rev. that are fully formed and stand on their own outside of the context of the album. The standouts are the aching title track Lay It Down, You Got The Love I Need, and Stay With Me (By The Sea). Luckily, the public and the music press were hip enough to appreciate a true return to form by a living master. Lay It Down debuted in the top 10 of the pop charts and has become the Reverend’s most successful album since his days of dominance in the 70’s. No matter what age you are, if you love soul music, this album is must-have. Hopefully, the Rev. has the good sense to not block the blessings and continues to lay it down.

Sy Smith – One Like Me (2002)

Sy Smith is an underground musical journeywoman. TV, film, commercials, stage, records, etc., she’s been there, done that. She is the only artist on this list whose catalogue I am not familiar with. This EP is the only work of hers that I’ve heard all the way through. Sy wrote, produced, and released this EP on her own with help from long forgotten 90’s producers Somethin’ For The People and Bay Area jazz/soul group Soulive.

Each of the 5 songs are winners. They show her versatility and talent for writing. Smith crafts a proud and playful persona on the EP. Backed by live instruments, Smith resists the temptation to go retro, it all sounds current. She gives up on love and becomes a female mack in the opening cut, Lover’s Crime. She teases a reluctant lover (without being vulgar or trying too hard hard to sound sexy) on the strutting groove Bad On You (featuring tastefully restrained backing vox by Anthony Hamilton). The title track is a clever mediation on embracing one’s individuality without the smarminess that female artists tend to indulge in on these type of songs. Love and Peace is a flowery ballad that showcases a more traditional vocal approach. The closing track, Found A Place, alternately floats and thumps over gorgeous chord progressions.

Again, this EP was self-released and little heard so I dont know where you would cop this from if you wanted it. But its definitely worth the effort to find. It’s an easy accessible listen that you’ll be glad you found. Maybe if you hit her on Twitter she’ll hook you up.

The Mars Volta – De-loused In The Comatorium (2003)/Frances The Mute (2005)

Some would say that it would be extremely unfair to call The Mars Volta the Led Zeppelin of the new millennium. So we wont say that. But goddamn if the shoe dont fit.

The Mars Volta is a rock band consisting of vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala and mastermind/composer/producer/guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez. The whole thing is Rodriguez-Lopez’s brainchild. Omar is a tiny Latin man whose creativity knows no bounds. After breaking up their critically acclaimed band At The Drive In, Cedric and Omar created The Mars Volta so that they could stretch out musically. It was also a way to deal with their newfound drug-free lifestyle. After many years of abusing heroin and crack, the duo decided that if they wanted to live they had to get clean. At least for Omar, this new musical freedom replaced the drugs. Omar writes music constantly. Seriously. He has released about 10 solo albums in the past 5 years alone all while doing albums with The Mars Volta.

Coming from the El Paso, TX punk scene, it can be said that Omar and Cedric are very weird dudes. They are all about abstract art, mysticism, and what lies beneath the surface. Cedric frequently writes and sings Spanish lyrics that are largely just made up words (check the song titles for reference). Even though there are loose themes, no one really know what Cedric is talking about, including Cedric himself. Most of it is just poetic free association designed to keep the listener searching for a meaning until they ultimately make up the meaning for themselves. Omar is even more far out than Cedric. But the real point to it all is that their music grooves harder than a motherfucker.

The thing that separates TMV from its peers is that the hardcore rock that Omar writes is armed to the teeth with Latin soul and complex funky rhythm. The easiest way to put it would be to fuse Santana, Fania Records, and Led Zeppelin–what you have will be pretty damn close to The Mars Volta. Im sure they would hate for it to be that easy, but its the truth.

Even though you couldnt call them retro, you cant help but to be reminded of the groove laden rock of the 70’s when listening to TMV. Yes, the guitar is the core, but you will just as often hear marimba, congas, organ, and piano. Instead of just power chords, you can hear Omar scratching out a funky ass lead guitar line.The icing on the cake is Cedric’s voice. Vocally, he is the son of Robert Plant. He emits a soulful high-pitched howl that reeks of a classic rock vocal tone. Dude is a bad ass singer, seriously. For these albums, the drummer was a Haitian brother by the name of Jon Theodore. If Omar’s funk psychedelia under Cedric’s soul wail wasnt enough to get you thinking about hedgrows and black dogs, Theodore’s rhythmically serious pounding pretty much excuses you for wanting to bust out Physical Graffitti after these albums are done.

Dont get it twisted, TMV are definitely not biters or clones. The soul they spill is far more authentic than Zeppelin, and much more dirty and dangerous than Santana’s Latin rock brew.

With all that these boys have going for them, they do suffer from one Achilles’ heel. They. are. pretentious. as. fuck. The wigged out concepts, the 15 min songs, the psychedelic babbling, the made up words, the dungeons and dragons nerdiness of it all can easily put one off. And it has for me. These first two albums are as good as they get in my opinion. The albums that have followed see the boys becoming far too indulgent in their weirdness. The focus is on being strange now rather than rocking the shit out of you. Its what happens when the artists takes themselves way too seriously and spend too much time trying to think above their audience’s heads. The success of De-loused and Frances gave Omar license to pump out loud mystic drivel that only makes sense to him and Cedric.

The rest of the band is along for the ride. Surrounding themselves with top-notch musicians such as the aforementioned Theodore, bassist Juan Alderete, keyboardist Ikey Owens and whoever the hell else is around (which includes Red Hot Chili Peppers Flea -who played all the bass on De-loused and John Frusiciante-who appears on every TMV album, and Theodore’s replacements Deantoni Parks and Thomas Pridgen), TMV albums are a clinic of fine playing. After De-loused and Frances, the grooves went missing and messy weirdness was left in its place.

Despite all of that, TMV has hardcore devoted fans. Some feel that the subsequent albums are improvements. Let them enjoy. For me, when I want to hear some truly exciting, soulful, funky, and blistering rock music, these are the albums I will reach for.

If I said that there was alot of music released in the last 10 years that I loved, I’d be lying…

I witnessed people hype up not-awesome stuff and pretend like they loved that music more than their own mothers in a effort to put on a brave face in the musically barren landscape were faced with these days…

but that’s another post…these are the albums (in no particular order)that really hit me as great fully formed artistic statements in the 2000’s…

Res – How I Do (2001)
Doc must be a fucked-up person. I say this not based on any inside knowledge, but just looking at the fact that he was the driving force behind 2 of the most well done albums in recent years (the other was his collaboration with Esthero, Breath From Another) and the artists he created these works with wont have anything to do with him after the fact. This album was a 3 pronged attack–Doc brought the music, Santi White (aka Santogold–yuk.) brought the lyrics, and Miss Shareese Ballard(aka Res) presented it all to us.

Doc served up music that was far beyond the neo-soul curve of the day. It wasnt quite R&B, not quite hip-hop, not quite rock, not quite pop, and not quite soul. It was all of those things at once, but without having the seams showing. But it grooves. Doc’s songwriting and production walk the tightrope of genre bending without trying and excels. Santi White’s imaginative lyrics are thought provoking and poetic without being pretentious and cliche–which is also amazingly difficult. But this doesnt take away from at all from Res herself as the singer who seals the deal and makes it all work.

With her limited vocal range, Res lets us into the world of a very different kind of chick. Not the one who dresses and acts strangely in a forced effort to makes you think she’s different. With those types, you ask them why theyre different and they dont know. It’s all a charade and ultimately just a plea for attention. Res, on this album, comes off as an aloof and observant coffee house philosopher. A young woman who’s not content to just wring her hands over her feelings and seek pity. She takes her emotions and experiences and analyzes them to their logical conclusion and is fascinated by it. She does not whine, pout, or feel sorry for herself. She takes a picture, pulls on her cigarette, and keeps it moving. Her slightly lower register and detached delivery gives the lyrics just the color they need to feel real.

She comments on the sheep mentality in “They-Say Vision”. She refuses the material gains of her criminal lover and walks away in “Ice King”. She casts a critical eye on the pretty, popular, rich guys in “Golden Boys”(oh, yeah, he song was inspired by Will Smith, not Mos Def). She knows that those guys have no depth, and even though the average girl dreams of being with those guys–she’s not impressed at all.

Since then, Doc has fallen off the face of the Earth. Res has drifted around–forming a retro 80’s rap duo with another girl, singing backup for Gnarls Barkley, released a internet only follow up album that no one really cares about, and currently is in a trio w/Talib Kweli and former Doc protege Graph Nobel called Idle Warship. Interestingly, the only one of the trio that made How I Do to get some limelight is Santi White, who broke up her tolerable faux-punk combo Stiffed and reinvented herself as M.I.A. clone Santigold. The Santigold project made Miss White a hipster darling–too bad the music is fucking terrible.

Q-Tip – The Renaissance (2008)
After Q-Tip’s solo debut, Amplified (1999), horrified and hurt the Black Boho nation that he fathered, he decided to try to find his roots again. Amplified, although a fine album musically–rubbed our faces into a grim reality. That reality was that the Black Boho movement was about to die a quick and violent death. The Q-Tip of Amplified was no longer a playful, witty, and warm quasi hippie, but a cynical leather clad street poseur who only interest in his sisters was purely lecherous. The charming young man who once sweetly wooed Bonita Applebaum became a guy who just wanted to fuck you in the back of his jeep. It was just one blow in a series that laid to waste the hope of a young Black culture that wanted to go against the grain and prove that Black was indeed beautiful. The final blow was the mixed reaction to D’Angelo’s much ballyhooed sophomore opus, Voodoo, and D’s subsequent retreat from public life and tragic descent into drug addiction and paralyzing insecurity. The saddest bookend was the death of Amplified’s chief collaborator and the Black Boho generation’s Quincy Jones, James “Jay Dee/Dilla” Yancey in 2006, a young sonic genius from Detroit that Q-Tip discovered and pulled out of obscurity.Q-Tip hired a band and cranked out 2 albums (Kamal the Abstract and Open) over the decade that his labels refused to release. The Black Boho backlash had trapped Q-Tip in artistic limbo.

In a show of pure Aries artistic will, Q-Tip finally saw record store racks with technically his 4th solo album, The Renaissance, released in late 2008. It was here that Tip’s musical evolution finally gelled. The Renaissance streamlined the clunky band experimentation of the 2 previous albums and blended it seamlessly with the beat science that made Tip a studio legend.

As an emcee, Tip had reached a new level. Dispensing his world weary wisdom and experienced musings with a dizzying display of both complex lyrical dexterity and homespun simplicity, Tip literally sparkles on the mic. Musically, Q-Tip responds to the absence of groove in today’s music by stuffing his record full of tasty soul riffs and funky rhythms using both samples and live instruments to maximum effect (see if you can guess which is which). Tip’s production treats the listener with tastefully sUbtle tricks that make one marvel at his attention to detail.

Most of all, what makes this album beautiful is its unabashed display of heart, soul, and maturity. Tip wears his emotion on his sleeve proudly and shows us that a fully realized man is not an emotionless caricature. He’s telling us that warmth and love for one another does not have to be preachy, sappy, or over affected. Love at its best….just is.

Tip writes a tender poem to a young love interest who seeks validation through society instead of the love he offers on Getting Up (the lyrics call to mind a certain person in my life to a T). He celebrates the presence of another lady (the music as love metaphor)on the Norah Jones duet Life Is Better. Hands down, this is the finest Jones has sounded outside of her own debut album. He finally pays a heartfelt, yet upbeat tribute to special people who have passed on in the closing track Shaka.

The Renaissance is a master class on what Hip-hop should sound AND feel like in this new millennium had our generation not lost its way.

Maxwell – BLACKsummersnight (2009)
Poor Maxwell. Even though he is technically a very successful artist both critically and commercially, he cant win.

His audience, while devoted, doesnt get him. He is far too advanced for them. His music is far more cerebral than anyone will ever notice. He is called “The Male Sade” and Im sure that makes him want to break shit. He is seen as the ultimate R&B loverman, and his art is simply reduced to a soundtrack for lovemaking. While it is that on the most superficial level, Maxwell is trying to speak to much more than that in his work.

He made the mistake of thinking that his audience was as intelligent as he is on his sophomore album, Embrya (1998). A staggering work of ambition and sheer genius that flew so far over people’s heads that it was considered a failure even though it still went platinum.

Each Maxwell album is built around a theme. Embrya’s theme was Max’s theory that until we find real love, we are not fully formed. Only when you experience true love do you grow into all you are meant to be. At the same time, it was an elaborate love letter to a woman that Max felt was THE ONE. The album was so far ahead of its time musically and conceptually that people didnt start to get it until many years later. It was then that the album started to get the acclaim it deserved.

Unfortunately, the relationship that inspired Embrya imploded and the next album was the breakup album Now (2001). Forced by the perceived failure of Embrya to connect, Max dialed down his maverick sensibilities. Even though he made things simpler, most people have no idea that Now is about a failed relationship. Maxwell dumbed down was still too complex for his audience to handle. The album debuted at Number 1 on the pop charts and sold platinum but still was viewed as a disappointment. Max responded by taking a very long hiatus from music.

Stories that Ive heard but will not repeat here suggest to me that Max needed to get himself together. Reeling from losing the woman that seemed to be a dream come true and and facing an unsure future in music, Max went underground to deal with things. Luckily, he came out on the other side unlike his soul brother in music, D’Angelo.

Max finally returned with what is said to be the first of trilogy entitled BLACKSUMMERSNIGHT. The album, which is actually titled BLACK, sees a more seasoned and reflective artist than the one who left at the beginning of the decade.

Max’s voice resonates with experience and gained wisdom. The music on BLACK is less eager to please than on previous albums. it coaxes rather than confronts. The tracks simmer to a boil rather than bursting from the gate. The stellar first single Pretty Wings showcases this approach. A subtle and gauzy track that cuts to the core of the listener with its earnestness rather than a fireworks display of emotion. This a new texture to Maxwell’s music that suits his new perspective.

The other standouts here are the almost U2-ish Help Somebody. The song is an urgent plea to recognize how being present in the lives of those around us unselfishly rather than thinking and feeling solely about ourselves all the goddamn time is a duty we should take more seriously. Love You is also a plea, but to a woman. He is asking her to let love grow naturally and just be cool and give him a chance.

The first two cuts, Bad Habits and Cold, hint coyly and pointedly to issues Max was struggling with during his absence. Bad Habits opens the album as Max apologizes for some of his more roguish behavior during his lost period. Cold, on the surface, is written as if its about a woman. All I will say is that its about something else and the woman is pure metaphor.

He employs a crack band here, but the other star of the album is gifted drummer Chris “Daddy” Dave of Mint Condition. Dave’s drumming articulates every mood and point with stunning accuracy.

Most people I know have shrugged this album off, but I guarantee they will get it in a few years. Poor Maxwell.

It debuted at Number 1 on the pop charts and has almost gone platinum (a feat in this industry climate).

Here’s hoping that the next 2 albums in the trilogy appear and that one day people will realize how truly bad this cat is.

Time is a mutha aint it?

Let’s be real, Tony Manero would get smoked in a REAL discotheque(Saturday Night Fever marked the infiltration and subsequent destruction of disco)…but still from that to this? LOL

I make jokes, but I’ll still send peace to JT, he’s going thru a thang right now after losing his son. I guess he’s pulling even closer to his daughter…

Stay strong, Tony Manero…one day you’ll strut again…

“…Man, that shit I told her just fucked her up. She was so fine that she was used to men just falling down over themselves to get her. But I wasn’t like that and have never been like that. Just because a woman is fine don’t mean nothing to me and never did; I’ve always had fine women. For me to really get into them they also have to have a mind and think about something other than how fine they are…”
-Miles Davis, from “Miles – The Autobiography”

I read Miles Davis’ autobiography once, maybe twice a year. It’s obviously one of my favorite books. I usually pull it out when I need some inspiration. I was alot like Miles when I was a teenager. I simply said what I thought without really thinking or caring abt what people felt abt it. I think alot about getting back to that state of mind, and I think I’ve finally become comfortable enough with the idea to do it.  Each time I read the book, I catch somn that I hadn’t before. The above passage stood out this time.

I can’t lie. People on a whole disappoint me somewhat. But as I’ve gotten older, I dont let it get to me as much. We seem to be regressing socially, IMO. Women especially perplex me. I understand how they work in theory, but when it comes to dealing with em, I keep falling back on logic. As any one who deals with women knows, logic gets you nowhere. LOL.

The passage from Miles book hit me like a ton of bricks. A few weeks ago, a woman I know and am not involved with told me flat out, “You never pay attention to me!…”. Her saying that kinda shook me, because I think like Miles does. Even though I’m a Joe Schmoe lookin’ mofo, I’ve been fortunate enough to have spent time with some really physically beautiful women. What man doesn’t like fine women? It’s like good food-everybody likes it! But the outer beauty of a woman is only icing on the cake that decorates her inner beauty. Now, I’m no snob. I’ve been with women who may not be model material, but were otherwise were very attractive in their own way and that’s because of the substance of their character. The same goes for the fine ones, what really attracted me was what was going on inside of them.

A few weeks before that, I heard kinda the same thing from another woman. Now both women I heard this from are stunning and have dudes knocking shit over to get to em. So, Im thinking, “how much MORE validation do you need?…how much is enough?…”. But there I go again with the logic.

The answer is there’s NEVER enough. Women are insecure by nature, and need almost constant validation–ESPECIALLY if theyre young. You kinda have to feed it to em selectively. Give em just enough to keep going, but not too much cuz then they start getting egotistical and stuck-up. I always fuck that part up because I want them to know that Im into them for more than what’s outside, and I figure my attention, patience, and understanding will show what they mean to me. WRONG! WRONG! {(c) Charlie Murphy} I think Chris Rock said something to the effect of, “women need 3 things to survive: food, air, and compliments.” He may be right.

Which is why so many women strive to be entertainers. It’s a woman’s wet dream to be universally adored, envied, admired, and lusted after. Every woman dreams of walking into a room and having everybody stop and stare.

The thing that most people miss is that this kind of craving for attention is based in low self-esteem. The lower the self esteem, the further a woman will go to get the attention she craves. Once she gets it, its like a drug. She cant get enough and will do whatever it takes to keep it coming.

These days, far too many women confuse sexual liberation with sexually exploiting themselves. They put themselves on display for the attention of men. In the process, they reduce themselves to mere sex objects. Not fully formed people with hearts, minds, and souls-just willing sexual conquests with nothing more to offer than the easy access to their vaginas. Ladies, Im’a tell you a secret. A lot of you dont look beautiful, confident, or alluring. You look like a whore. That’s what us guys are thinking when your skirt is above your thighs and you’re making your ass clap on the dance floor. What do we do with whores? We fuck them and and forget about them. Im not trying to be mean, its the truth. We wont tell you that because were tryna gain access. But once we talk to our boys, thats what we say.

Dont get it twisted. Aint nothing wrong with confidence or sexuality, or confidence in sexuality. But that sexuality has to be balanced with respect for one’s self, being aware of reality, and a personal depth that would make someone be interested in more than just a casual sexual encounter. Like Chris Rock said, you may not be a hoe, but you might have on a hoe’s uniform. I’ll add to that that you may not even be aware of how well you play the hoe role. Depth is sexier than any streetwalker dress you can squeeze yourself into. Sexiness comes from within.

I dont even think there’s anything wrong with casual sexual encounters as long as both people involved have some level of respect for each other and are mature enough to know what they will get out of it and what they will not get out of it and can handle the encounters with discretion and class. Unfortunately, that too often isnt the case.

This new desperation naturally pops up in our entertainment.  Our popular female entertainers have no qualms about presenting themselves as tawdry objects of sexual fantasy.

I just saw this video a few weeks ago:

Yes, Beyonce is a beautiful girl. We get it. However, you can cut the desperation in this video with a knife. She gives us this empowered woman rap all the time, but before you know it, here she is doing a stripper routine. Rolling around on the floor, spreading her legs and sticking her ass out. What am I supposed to respect about that? Does the fact that she’s rich make it any classier or evolved than if the chick at the hood club is doing the same thing? Nope.

The Single Ladies video concept was sexy, but it was restrained and classy. As a music video, it works. In real life, it looks kinds hoe-ish. The slope is slippery. It obviously wasnt enough to toe the line for Mrs. Knowles-Carter. Not knowing when to quit, you can see her above stepping over the line. As slutty as that looks on screen means that it looks 100 times sluttier when you bust these moves.

Or we can look at Rihanna. I saw her say in an interview abt how she decide to quit Chris Brown because of the message that would send to young girls and that she realized that her decision was more than about just her. I gained some respect for her upon hearing that. Then her new album comes out and she’s everywhere in various stages of nudity. What message is that?

At this point, you’re going beyond entertainer. When everytime I see you, you are topless, nude, walking around with your nipples showing in a see thru shirt, wearing short skirts with no panties, or doing any other common raunchy shit and your music/acting/modeling is secondary to your image at BEST– youre not an artist, youre a hoe. A hoe in media. An E-hoe.

Even Madonna scaled it back when she took it too far with the Sex book and the world told her, “Madonna, you a hoe…”

These days, even straight up hoes have become celebrities. They just eschew the pretense of having some kind of talent and just get down to the nitty gritty. “You wanna fuck me, and Im going to use that to make myself well known.” From Pamela Anderson (whose recent antics as woman in her mid 40’s who is the mother of 2 young boys are just sad), to Superhead, to Tila Tequila, to Jenna Jameson, to video hoes, to internet models. Let’s not even talk about “models”. Models used to serve the purpose of demonstrating fashion. Now, youre more likely to see a model butt naked than modeling any clothes. Making your ass, titties, and pussy the MOST interesting thing about you has become a legitimate way to get people to take interest in you. It’s gotten so bad that even GUYS do it now. You got dudes walking around shirtless and greased and showing off their pubic mounds on social networking sites.

Remember that jag-off from Pretty Ricky flouncing around in his draws on You Tube? When women do stuff like that, we men admire the ass and what have you, but we still clown yall in secret the way yall clowned that dude openly.

I’m WELL aware that a good number of guys dont think about it that way. They just wanna get off on the masturbation/fantasy fodder. When they see Miss Non-Celebrity at the club dressed like a hoe and and doing hoe shit {(c) Fresh}, they scheme on the very real possibility of fucking. What they wont tell you is that they dont want their mothers, wives,  sisters, nieces, and daughters doing anything of the sort. That says something.

This culture of e-hoein’, or cyber-hoein’ is not only sad but disgusting. For the women and girls out there who are not public figures, that e-hoein’ too often turns into real hoein’. The rapes, the beatings, the abandoned children, the sexually transmitted diseases, and the short lived sex worker “careers” are the results. Next time you pull som hoe-ish out of your closet or set out to the dance floor to simulate sex with a stranger, remember–everyone in the room and everyone who sees you is clowning you in their heads. The guys are thinking of ways to swindle you out of some quick pussy and the other women in the room who arent participating in the hoe-style activities are repulsed by you. If youre lucky, someone might pity you and wonder why you dont love yourself enough to do better.

The huge irony in all of this is that the folks who are into this kind of new age exhibitionism sometimes turn out to be not very sexy people at all. its just role playing and copycatting. Get them in bedroom and you feel like you could have had a V-8.

“Beautiful as Betty was physically, she didn’t have any confidence in herself as a person. She was a high-class groupie, who was very talented but who didn’t believe in her own talent. Jackie and Marguerite didn’t have that problem, and so I was relaxed with them…”
-Miles Davis, from “Miles -The Autobiography”

Nothing I will say will change any of this, but hopefully more often than not, young women will come to realize that the thing that REALLY gets our attention is intelligence, elegance, class which blends to form true sexiness. THOSE are the women that turn heads in the room. Any man whose worth a damn will recognize it, too. The type of cats you meet doing hoe shit, naturally wont be worth a damn.

“See Betty was too young and wild for the things I expected from a woman. I was used to a cool, hip, elegant woman like Frances or Cicely, who could handle herself in all kinds of situations…She [Betty] was raunchy and all that kind of shit, all sex…I just didn’t pay much attention…the kind of shit she would do and with the other stuff she was doing I just got tired of it…”
-Miles Davis, from “Miles – The Autobiography”

Again ladies, Im not tryna to put anybody down, I just think you’re better than that. Bad bodies and pretty faces are a dime a dozen. Find out what you have going for you that really makes you special. Let that be the thing that draws people to you. Nothing is black and white,  and a small touch of scandalousness is healthy–but at the right time and in the right place.

…and I say it with love. L-O-V-E.

Saturday June 27th, 2009

It has taken me this long to get my thoughts together.

I’m not trying to make this some definitive tribute statement, either…I’m just speaking from my soul…

Another Black man is gone before he could grow old…that in itself is a tragedy…but what makes it significant is that that Black man is the greatest entertainer ever…

Yes, I said it.

Michael Jackson is the greatest entertainer ever.

I definitely do not wish to shortchange James Brown. James Brown is the blueprint of modern Black music. Michael knew this and studied JB’s every move. He loved James—as a mentor, as an entertainer, and as a person. To me it speaks volumes that Michael came out of his exile to honor James when he passed….

Michael put his own issues aside and came out for JB when so may of JB’s disciples and progeny were shamefully absent….

James Brown lived a long life, and good sense would tell you that JB was older than what he said he was….so when JB passed, it was major but not unexpected…

I haven’t told anyone this until the last couple of days…Michael Jackson introduced me to music…It was because of him that I made up my mind early in my childhood that I would make music…

I’ve heard quite a few other people, famous and not, say the same thing over the past few days…

Over the years, I have defended him against unfair and false criticism…the thing that angers me the most about his life is the willful ignorance of those who hate him…

I’ve never seen anyone be hated with the fervor I’ve seen some people hate Michael Jackson…

I’ve heard people call for his death…and now that it has happened, I’ve heard people say that they are glad…

and they base these feelings on what exactly?

Because he was eccentric? I bet you there are weirder people in your family…

this didn’t start with the allegations, this hatred of Michael Jackson has been building steadily since 1987….I’ve watched it with my own eyes…

I watched the press start going out of their way to make it seem like everything he did was cat shit crazy…

“Bizarre singer Michael Jackson flew a kite in his yard today…the famously weird singer for some odd reason flew a kite for about an hour this afternoon ….some found the scene disturbing…”

Silly shit like that…

A real life example is when Michael bounced his baby on his knee to calm his crying…Martin Bashir acted like he was choking the baby…

Who DOESN’T bounce crying babies on their knee?

I think the thing I found most disturbing about the venom directed at Michael Jackson was the Black people who turned their backs on him…

Michael Jackson represented for Black people all of his life.

His career is based on his Blackness…

He paid for David Ruffin’s funeral.

John H. Johnson (publisher of Ebony and Jet) was one of his advisers.

He owned Sly Stone’s publishing and made sure Sly was taken care of.

His heroes were James Brown, Jackie Wilson, and Sammy Davis., Jr…he spent his 50th birthday listening to James Brown…

There are rumors that after acquiring the publishing rights to Little Richard’s songs, Mike gave them back to Richard…not sold, gave…

Michael would bring in busloads of poor children South Central, Watts and other black populated areas of LA county to Neverland to have their run of the place…

Saul Williams said that his education was funded by part of a 25 million dollar donation by Michael to the United Negro College fund.

Michael was friends with Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.

He loved to vacation in Africa and tried to spread the word about the historic and physical beauty of the continent…he stated that he believes all things come from Africa….

He made a song called THEY Don’t Care About US (feel free to read between the lines)

He loved the documentary Unforgivable Blackness about the story of Jack Johnson.

He made street dancing popular long before the breakdancing phenomenon of the mid-80s….in the mid-70’s, Mike was popping and locking. He always gave credit to the dancers in the streets, many times hiring them for his videos.

He made a video with real gang members, long before gang-banging became chic.

He made a video showing Black people as royalty in Africa.

His vocal style with all the ad-libs, scatting, and slang is undeniably Black.

Michael NEVER looked down on hip-hop…he reached out to, collaborated with, and mentored many young hip-hop artists.

He called Tommy Mottola a devil, loved to eat KFC (with the skin removed) and drink Crown Royal, his first date with Lisa Marie was to go see the Temptations and The Fifth Dimension in Las Vegas.

She asked him, “Where will we stay?

“In my room.”, he replied.

“Will we sleep in the same bed?” she continued

“Hell yeah, girl!…” was his answer…

was he not Black?

He had a perm and married a white girl…how Black is that?…LOL

I kid….but I never felt that Michael did not want to be Black.

I don’t want to focus on the controversy because that cheapens his legacy…as a man, he had faults…but who among us does not?

The plain and simple truth is the reason why Michael touched so many of us in such a personal way is because what his mission was….

he summed up it here, very succinctly:

“Love is my message….”
-Michael Jackson, 1980

he told us many times over the years…

“All the colors of the world should be lovin’ each other/wholeheartedly/Yes, its all right/take my message to your brother and tell him twice/Spread the word and try to teach the man/who’s hating his brother/when hate won’t do/When we’re all the same/cause the blood inside of me is inside of you…”

Michael Jackson was not just a simple singer and dancer…he was a revolutionary…

As a songwriter and producer, he does not get his due…he is the definitive for behind the sound…he is the funky one…he is the one with the gift…

he used Quincy to articulate his intent, but he did it without Quincy, before and after Quincy….

He is a musical genius…bar none…

His lyrics are rich with meaning and emotion…people get caught up in the spectacle and miss what he was saying…

“something’s soon to come over you/you just cant please the world and yourself/gotta start doing what’s right for you/cause life is being happy yourself…”
-Bless His Soul

“live inside cryin’ eyes/your touch/your heart/your warmth/lullaby/love to dream/don’t it seem/the tears/the pain/reality/

don’t cha know/these dreams I wish could be/the real you and me/I come running back to you/you push me away/you push/you push me away…”
-Push Me Away

“I am the damned/I am the dead/I am the agony inside the dying head/this is injustice/woe unto me/I pray this punishment will have mercy on me…”
-Who Is It

“this time I’m leaving all of my cares behind/I taste the good life and its fine/no more this pain and strife/this life’s willing to be/and I’ve got enough/and I know what’s right for me

I’ve done my time and I have paid the price/all you have to do/is state my name out loud/forget your worries/and let’s dance and shout/cause we’re here to live so free/Ive got to let me be…”
-Everybody

“the world keeps changing/rearranging minds and thoughts/predictions fly of doom/the baby boom/has come of age/we’ll work it out

I told my brother/don’t u ask me for no favors/I’m conditioned by the system/don’t you preach to me/don’t scream and shout

she pray to God/to Buddha/then she sings a Talmud song/confusions contradictions/the self/do we know right from wrong?

I just want you to recognize me in the temple/you cant hurt me/Ive found peace within myself…”
-Jam

“Now, I’m a man whose for all seasons/and what the city offers me/ain’t naturally/I live to greet the stars but there’s no stars to see/ I’m gonna search this world until I find my destiny…

If its the rich life/I don’t want it/happiness ain’t always material things

I want destiny/its the place for me/gimme the simple life/I’m getting ‘way from here/let me be me/cmon/let me feel free…”
-Destiny

These are words that came from his heart and his pen…incredibly profound words….a lot of us were listening…

This is why we felt Michael, because he reached out and did his best to make us feel, to unite us, to make us dance…

His voice is instantly recognizable…a beautiful, soulful instrument of both joy and pain…from his first songs to his last…

When I listen to Get On The Floor, I am captured by the breakdown….he breathes and scats in amazing rhythm…then he begins to chant:

“get up/wontcha gon’ get down/shake ya body/wont cha gon get down….”

he repeats this over and over….his vocal percussion blending in with the the drums and tom-toms…

he keeps repeating this until you feel like you are in some kind of voodoo ritual….he brings the groove back with a scream…he’s still chanting but harder…urging you to move…

the groove climaxes and he is whooping and screaming as if possessed…

when he comes back to the lyrics he is so exhilarated that he is laughing out loud while he sings…

he was feeling the groove as much as we were…we had no choice but to surrender…

many other folks my age, when we were kids, and we watched Michael sing and dance, he seemed to be a supernatural force of nature…he seemed more than human…

it was the little things…the glowing socks…the glowing pavement when he walked on it…the laser light behind him in Rock With You…it felt real….it felt natural…like he was some kind of funk sorcerer who knew magic…

Magic.

That’s the word that keeps coming up when people talk about Michael…his mystique and his brilliance made us think somehow, someway magic was real….

You watch him in The Wiz…and you realize that he really is The Scarecrow…

His music at its core…was primal…there was a combination of darkness and light behind it all…he could do the ballads and the smooth stuff….but when he was unleashed over a funk groove, that’s when we got the raw Mike…

songs like Workin Day And Night, Wanna be Startin Somethin’, Heartbreak Hotel, Remember The Time, Everybody…

We fed on his energy and we couldn’t get enough of it…

If you really listened to his music…I mean REALLY listened…he told us everything we needed to know…

One of his most enduring and heartbreaking songs is That’s What You Get (For Being Polite)…it is pure autobiography…

“love’s not harsh/love’s not bad/ but what he’s doing for love is so sad…

he wants to be so bad/he wants to be so bad/all the time/gettin in/thinks he can get out/something’s deep in side of him/eating up the pride in him/that makes him buy things for the girls/that’s what you get for being polite…”
-That’s What You Get For Being Polite

But even though we are grown men and women and we know that he is human just like us…we still have the notion that he is really some kind of spiritual force in human form…as we all are really…

But now that he has passed, it underlines with mean finality that underneath it all, he was flesh and blood…

All of that wisdom, artistry, energy, excitement, sensitivity and love seems like its been taken away from us….

People, my heart is heavy…because for all that the brother gave to us all,we did not return his love like we should have…

It is not just that it ends this way for Michael….for all the respect shown, the media still will not let go of their bigotry and disdain….they still allude and make innuendo…they fear his power and refuse to let the brother shine and go on to his glory like he deserves…

But then I think about it, and all of that wisdom, artistry, energy, excitement, love, and sensitivity will never die…Michael will live on forever…

We will never forget him.

We will still sing along, we will still dance, we will still watch and listen.

We mourn the loss of him not as a celebrity, but as a friend….he was a friend to us…

I listen to the people who knew him personally and I hear their devastation…I listen to what THEY say about him and I know I was right about him…if he wasn’t as special as he seemed to be, this might be just a little easier to take…

I’m not ashamed to say that I love Michael Jackson…and the world doesn’t feel the same without him here…

you kind of always expected him to be here…

Through his life, he taught me so much about life, music, compassion, survival, expression…and I feel I’m a better person for being a Michael Jackson fan…

I pray for his family, especially his parents, and his children.

I pray that people will show respect, restrain, and compassion now that he has moved on.

I pray that people will move away from the spectacle and really and truly re-discover his music and his gift…and even though its far fetched, maybe see him for who he really is.

Michael Jackson sacrificed his life to entertain us, to make us happy, and possibly teach us a thing or two…no matter what you thought of him, that deserves respect….

Michael Jackson is the greatest entertainer ever.

We will not see a phenomenon like him again.

Michael Jackson was more than the greatest entertainer ever…he was a great man…

and the world was a much better place when he was here with us.

He is The King.

I don’t know if these words made any sense to anyone, but I felt they needed to be said.

Rest In Peace, Brother Michael

Thank you. For everything.

Unlike most teenage African-American males in the early 90’s,  I didnt have any hate in my heart for Albert Brown, III…known to the world as Al B. Sure

I dug his actual music….I felt dude had a unique and actually funky sound and he wrote good songs…

on the production tip, Al and Kyle West was killin shit…let’s not get into the jams he produced…

I guarantee you liked at LEAST one of they joints, whether you admit or not…

1992:  I was in HS and I was with, let’s call her Chironda…I didn’t want to be seen with an album by a grown man called Sexy Versus but I bumped the shit out of this record…

I wasnt into Chironda to the point where I was cryin over her, but she was fucking up royally, and this joint kinda detailed the frustration…it was less “why is she doing this?….it was more “Jesus Christ, dumbass…”

I think Al B helped me make up my mind to give her the heave-ho…Chironda wrote me dumb-ass grammaticaly incorrect poetry and letters with monstrous spelling errors to mend fences but I wasnt tryna hear it…Looking back, I feel a lil bad cuz I heard through the grapevine that she thought she was really in love and me telling her to kick rocks put her through a thang…I could have been more sensitive abt it, but there are times in life when patience is thin and you dont feel like being understanding…

Winter 91/92:  It was a known fact that Jodeci’s Forever My Lady album only had one good side…the first side with the slow jams…well, what is NOT well known is that that side was produced by ya boy, Albert J. Brown Sure. DeVante produced the uptempo New Jack Swing garbage side 2 by himself…However, Al B came back to lace the last joint on the album, which I’ve posted below…

Boy, do I remember this shit…I’d just gotten the heave-ho from Carlene, the chick one grade up that made me forsake all others…

May winged monkeys wipe they booties with her shiny, luxurious mane of silky black hair…

When I met Carlene, she was the sweetest, most adorable, sunshine and kittens thang ever….she turned out to be a ice cold asshole…

One day, everythang was lovely…next thing I knew, I’d been fired…she used to stroll by me and give the smallest, yet most smug look/nod combo…

kinda like, “sup, n***a?…”

I’d try to give her my best “fuck you, whore” look in return…but somehow I think that just tickled her even more…she prolly laughed her ass off as soon as she was out of eyesight….

So I would go to my piece of shit job after school, then come home, go up to my room, turn off all the lights and listen to selections from this album…

Xs We Share(read as: Times We Share for those not hip to Modern Negro Song Titling Linguistics) really made my chest burn…

The scenes that flashed thru my mind of our long good-byes when I dropped her off at home or her calling me to tell me that her mother was gone and it was all clear for me to fall thru made me reach for the phone to try and recreate the late school night phone magic that we’d once shared…

No answer.

After I got myself together and started moving on, this bastard had the nerve to propose a late night creep…

Now normally, that sort of thang wouldnt have sounded so bad to teenage Scorp…but  considering the cold-blooded dismissal I’d received–this time I was offended…I declined…

her reply:

“Suit yourself…”

I dunno if I can really thank Al B for this joint…LOL

Summer of  ‘88 this jam below was out…I wasnt really old enough to think straight yet, but I was in the midst of one of those “girl, beat it–I’m about to get my swag on (c) DeAndre Way…wait, please come back” thangs…so I rocked this on my canary fucking yellow Magnavox boombox….Al spoke the troof to this young Black youth…

Sometimes, Al be preaching on his jams….vocal limitations aside (let’s be real, he’s not a great singer)…Al was one of the last R&B cats to speak for real bruhs when it came to matters of the heart….even though Al was most likely to be the cat your lady was thinking abt while y’all were foggin up the windows of ya mom’s Taurus in the late 80’s/early 90’s, he didnt play it that way for the most part…

In Al’s songs, he doesn’t end up on top all the time…he wrote alot about being dumped, cheated on, neglected, etc…it was around this time that I started noticing a trend among “desirable” singers…most of them who wrote their own stuff wrote abt being dissed and alone…a few years later, I made the connection that “the beautiful people” struggle with love just as much as anybody else–sometimes even more…

look at Al’s friend Halle Berry, who is an international movie star and considered to be one of the most beautiful women in the world–it took her until age 40 to find somebody to treat her right(or so we assume) and give her a child….and when she was having relationships difficulties, most folks assumed that SHE was the crazy one…

Marvin Gaye was one of the most gifted artists of our times and also desired by millions of women…a friend recalled that during Marvin’s last days, she found him in his room crying…she asked him what was wrong and Marvin replied:

“Nobody loves me.”

Prince is a two time divorcee’ and single at age 51…

sample lyric:

“all of my purple  life/I’ve been looking for a dame/that would wanna be my wife/that was my intention main…”

Madonna is a two time divorcee and a single mother…

let’s not get into the many civilians I know who would be considered attractive and have ahd trouble sustaining long term-relationships…

But I digress…

So when I heard The Monobrowed One had a new joint abt to drop, my ears perked up…I checked the snippets…

Yo.

Not bad.

I might have to cop that….and Ive heard other cats sayin the same…

Clown me if you wanna, but dig…a cat dont get blessed by Quincy Jones, win the Sony Innovators Award, and serve as MJ’s understudy on one of the deadliest slow jams of all time if he wack, ya dig…..

Now his sons on the other hand…let’s just say I hope they find another career path…

The new Al B joint is called Honey, I’m Home and it drops today, June 23rd.

Buenos noches,

Scorp

WTF is this, Scorp?

Here’s the backstory:

2000.

Dearborn, MI

My brother paid me a visit, so we decide to hit this new bar by my crib…

We’re standin around waiting on drinks…they got video screens errywhere…

This video comes on.

Wauw.

WHO is THAT?

I continue to shoot the shit with my sibling while keeping an eagle eye on this video…Im waiting for the end so I can find out who this bouncy young lady is…

um….this is a scene plucked right out of my g*ddamn fantasies…

do they even make women like that?

and she hollarin at a big dude?

F’REAL????

Sheeeeeeeeeeeit.

*schmooves eyebrows*

Tarsha…if you out there…and you see me at the local watering hole…

*fanger guns*