REQUIEM FOR THE 'HIP HOP MAYOR' "Out goes his hand and I cough, he once stole from me, now I wanna cut it off" Public Enemy , "Nighttrain", 1991 Former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was sentenced today to do a minimum of 14 months and a maximum of 5 years in state prison, as ordered by Judge David Groner (http://tinyurl.com/27pptgx ) . The ex-mayor, 39, was the youngest elected mayor of Detroit when he took office in 2002. His youth, flamboyant charisma, snazzy attire, stud earring, and musical tastes led him to be called 'the hip-hop mayor' by many, an unofficial title that he embraced for his first term in office. Kilpatrick cultivated the image of a conscientious, spiritually-grounded family man who was all about spearheading Generation X's leadership role in turning changing the fortunes of a long-embattled city. However, beginning with his reelection bid in 2005, things began to unravel for the married father of three. Local television and
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KEEP TRANSIT ALIVE On May 22, in downtown Detroit's Hart Plaza , there was a rally organized by a public transit worker's union in support of greater federal help in appropriating funds to develop and bolster improved mass transit opportunities in Detroit and greater Southeast Michigan. Metropolitan Detroit is one of the few major urban centers in America without a comprehensive mass-transit system of high-quality bus service, light rail, and other transit options. If one lives in urban Detroit, they are almost surely paying high-end costs for automobile insurance, let alone the annoying cost of gasoline. Urban Detroiters also face a lack of mainstream-quality grocery options. The city government's belt-tightening has cut back on some bus-line services, as the Bing administration attempts to design a comprehensive plan on how to 'right-size' overall city services to a shrinking population. Despite the federal government-initiated taxpayer bailout of General Mot
Detroit Turning Over a New Leaf? http://tinyurl.com/2u643pa Looks as if there are potential proposals in the Michigan state legislature that would clear the way for a ballot proposal to legalize possession of marijuana in the city of Detroit (Medical marijuana is already legal in the state, but laws are fuzzy as to who can produce it). Well, we know what Snoop Dogg might say.. Among the disparate array of individuals interviewed in favor of decriminalization or legalization are Democratic state rep Lamar Lemons, former Republican state rep Leon Drolet and prominent Detroit-based businessman Pete Karmanos. The coalition of professionals involved with the proposal, as well as advocacy organizations like the non-profit Law Enforcement Against Prohibition , go against the cliche' of pro-legalization efforts by aging ex-hippie activists like actor Tommy Chong, or even the fallen-academic example of the late Timothy Leary and his " tune in, turn on, drop out " philosophy. Thi
LGBT Activism and the Black Community On April 30, 2010, the Freedom Institute think tank, led by Rev. Wendell Anthony of the Detroit NAACP organized a town hall meeting as part of the Institute's "Freedom Weekend" string of events leading to the annual Detroit NAACP dinner. During the convention weekend there were seminars focusing on employment and educational opportunities, social assistance agencies, and more. This evening's town hall meeting focused on LGBT activism and urban communities of color, in particular African-Americans: Where do these groups have common ground, where do they differ, what can be mutually learned? Footage from said event can be viewed here:
DETROIT RALLY FOR WORKERS' RIGHTS On Saturday, May 1, 2010, a multicultural gathering of people from Metro Detroit gathered in the Southwestern district of the city, to participate in a march for workers' rights and a reform of American immigration policy. The March took several thousand participants down West Vernor street, where they finally coalesced in Clark Park for a rally where speakers exhorted the crowd to push for a repeal of the recently passed legislation in Arizona that places undocumented immigrants under extreme scrutiny, giving local and state law-enforcement broad powers to stop and question anyone who looks suspicious-- they must produce the proper ID and/or paperwork or risk being jailed and ultimately deported. Speakers at the rally spoke in Spanish and English. Attendees were told to advocate for workers' rights, including union workers, also for a moratorium on home foreclosures.
IN MEMORIAM: KEITH 'GURU' ELAM Rap musician Keith ‘ Guru’ Elam has died (born July 17, 1961). Long considered an elder statesman of hip-hop music, Guru was a founding member of the hip-hop group Gang Starr (above right, started in the 1980s), as well as having had a parallel solo career of importance from the 1990s forward. According to a recent article by his brother, Elam was 48 years old, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Morehouse who veered into rap music where other family members became attorneys or joined academia. As a lyricist, Guru joined contemporary ‘street intellectuals’ of hip hop, delivering a mixture of MC battle-aggression on certain songs as well as thoughtful moral observations on the contemporary music industry and social conditions in the inner-cities of America . On his solo albums, Guru eased off of cursing and invited an assortment of veteran and contemporary musicians to collaborate on his Jazzmatazz offerings. Some of the collaborators in
WWJB? (What Would Jesus Blog?) On the Afro-Punk website message board (I think my link to the right still works), someone started a discussion on contemporary religious practices in the USA and the views towards non-mainstream faith practices. At some point, this author chimed in regarding his general preference for a more liberal-leaning faith community. The poster Something Else wanted me to elaborate on this angle. And so: In short, I'd define such a community as one where, philosophically, it is not inordinately focused on dogma .. Pragmatically speaking, this would be a place where, for example, gay folk are not called out for being part of the "reason" why there is suffering in the world/USA; where Intellectual honesty is uplifted rather than baseless rumormongering, i.e., Obama is a closet muslim & Marxist-style socialist/communist. This would be a community of folks who genuinely look to the examples of Jesus in the Gospels (reaching out to the sick, outcas
TRIBUTE: MALCOLM MCLAREN, 1946 - 2010 Malcolm McLaren, a British-born music industry impresario, has just died, as documented in the New York Times- http://tinyurl.com/yhlyffh. In mainstream pop culture, McLaren is most famous (or infamous?) for his managing and promotion of the pioneering Sex Pistols punk-rock band during their meteoric rise and fall during the 1970's. At the beginning of the Reagan era, however, he found himself dabbling in another underground music culture with roots in New York City--hip-hop. The CD Buffalo Gals: Back to Skool compiles virtually all of the hip-hop related recordings that McClaren had a hand in producing, primarily with the World Famous Supreme Team : According to McLaren, they were a duo of part-time 3-card-Monte hustlers who caught his attention in Times Square, who happened to also host a community-access radio show in New York City where they showcased early hip-hop records, and eventually their collaborations with McLaren. "Buffalo
GETTIN' JANKY WIT' IT “ Janky Promoters ” is the latest gleefully low-brow buddy comedy pairing Ice Cube and Mike Epps . Here, the duo star as a pair of improbably incompetent concert promoters. Russell Redds (Cube) and Jellyroll (Epps) have just struck a deal with popular hip-hop artist Young Jeezy (playing himself), and have less than 24 hours to finalize the logistics, despite the fact that they have less than $1,000 between them. Thus begins a series of increasingly grating misadventures, as Russell and Jellyroll seek to con their way into having a successful show. The filmmakers could have made the lead characters more likeable, despite their slacker status. As it stands, despite the efforts of Cube and Epps, Russell and Jellyroll mainly come across as boorish clowns that you want to fail—Russell steals his fiancée’s checkbook to pay his share of the concert costs, and Jellyroll brags to a reality-TV crew that he’s sleeping with a married woman (Character actors Tama
SNOOP’S BLUEPRINT LAID THE FOUNDATION The West Coast Blueprint is a compilation album from Priority Records , chronicling the general history of the storied hip-hop label. Snoop Dogg , recently signed to an executive position at the label, has personally compiled this set of songs featuring rap artists based out of California. The set culls its songs from the EMI umbrella of label imprints including Priority , Virgin , and Capitol . Pros Starting with the release of Eazy-E ’s Eazy Duz-It LP, Priority Records started a now-legendary relationship with hip-hop that has included artists such as N.W.A. , Ice Cube , the Geto Boys , Master P , Mack 10 , and others. Presented in largely chronological order, listeners will hear King Tee ’s “Act a Fool”, The D.O.C. ’s “No One Can Do it Better”, the Luniz ' “I Got Five on It”, Mack 10 & Dogg Pound ’s “Nothin’ but the Cavi Hit”, Kid Frost ’s “La Raza”, and more. Listeners will hear the evolution of California’s hip-hop music, which broug
EMERGENCY ROOM THEATER A 'final' vote on American health care reform may not come by the end of the year. A recent Associated Press article discusses this- http://tinyurl.com/yc6zp4a Apropos of nothing, yours endearingly has an anecdote to share: So i have this infrequently recurring condition where a knee and/or foot will swell up, get painful & stiff.. usually it's only moderately annoying, but this time it's laid me out and I had been more or less bedridden for a few days before grudgingly heading out to an emergency room.. ..after check-in, I’m laid out on the gurney, with a hospital gown on. My roughly 6'5" height leaves my exposed feet clearly hanging over the edge (which adds a slight amount of pressure to my already ailing left foot), and it’s chilly; so I’m frequently shifting my legs to get comfortable, and it doesn’t work.. I've got my own 'space' here but it's crowded in the service area, and people are being attended to in hallw
J. Carter Takes on the Haters Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter recently said in an interview that the heated animosity directed towards President Barack Obama is largely inspired by racial bigotry: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/16/jimmy-carter-racism-barack-obama I happen to agree with Mr. Carter's assertions. Some concerns, though: Those folks who reflexively hate Carter don’t care (“rawr! The peanut farmer who let us get punked by Iran?! Whatever!” ) Most ‘mainstream’ media pundits (papers, radio, tv)—even in editorials—won’t call it racism for fear of being labeled biased, or even ‘Politically Correct’. Don’t expect Prez Obama to speak on this, except to “respectfully disagree” with Mr. Carter, especially after what happened with the Skip Gates case. I can empathize that the Prez doesn’t want to get caught up constantly discussing racial conflict at every perceived opportunity, and it "is" a distraction; President Obama definitely has serious policy issues
Mouse, Meet Spider http://tinyurl.com/mls974 It took a Jimmy Fallon monologue for me to find out about it. According to recent reports, The Walt Disney Corporation is acquiring Marvel Entertainment for 4 billion dollars (US). This offers new possibilities—and complications—for both media companies. This author's first reaction was one of shock, then denial, then, acceptance. The buying-out of Marvel makes the latest in a series of entertainment-property acquisitions for the Disney Corporation, spanning the last 20 years or so. In 1990, Disney acquired the Jim Henson Company , home to the Muppets characters and TV shows. Skeptical Muppet fans quickly were turned off, pointing out Disney’s very mainstream (read: boring) output and the satirical edginess ( Sesame Street notwithstanding) of the Muppet Show-derived characters. Jim Henson died before the deal was finalized however, and the new corporate relationship soon became contentious as Henson stakeholders fought in court
DJ Marley’s Magnum Opus In Control Vol. 1, Deluxe Edition is a 2-disc re-release of the first album from pioneering hip-hop musician/DJ Marley Marl . Traffic Entertainment oversees the release, poring from the Cold Chillin’ Recordings catalog. Starting in the mid-1980s, Queens-bred DJ Marley Marl (Marlon Williams) was the primary producer for the indie label Cold Chillin’s roster of rap artists and hosted a rap radio show in New York City, ‘In Control’ . He produced a long string of singles (and later albums) for rap artists like Big Daddy Kane , Biz Markie , MC Shan , Roxanne Shante , and more. In 1987 “He Cuts so Fresh” was credited to Marley on the Uptown is Kickin' It compilation ( Uptown/MCA Records , 1987). A full-length followed in 1988 on Cold Chillin’/Warner Bros. Marley’s profile as a producer expanded well into the 90s, working with artists like LL Cool J , TLC and others. The unfamiliar listener might assume that Marley was a rapper since he gets top billing here. H
‘BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATERS “Go to the door, get frisked, just in order to get in.. and if you wasn’t from this town, then you couldn’t fight and win…” MC Shan, “The Bridge”, 1986 So, as President O bama made his pitch for health care reform at a White House press conference, a seemingly left-field question asked him to address the recent confrontation between Harvard Professor Henry Louis ‘Skip’ Gates and members of the Cambridge, Massachusetts police force. What is known is that Professor Gates had recently returned home from a trip overseas. Apparently at the time, there was a call made to local police alleging two black men were trying to break into a local home. The slightly built Dr. Gates had trouble opening his front door, and asked his driver’s help. Shortly after entering his home, police showed up. “The bridge is over, the bridge is over… biddy-bye-bye.. the bridge is over, the bridge is over, hey-hey…” Boogie Down Productions, “The Bridge is Over”, 1986 Arrested Deve
Black Is Back (All In We’re Gonna Win?) “Radio stations, I question their blackness; they call themselves black but we’ll see if they’ll play this” Public Enemy, “Bring the Noise”, 1987 Longtime U.S. congressional representative John Conyers is promoting a bill (H.R. 848) that would revise practices in American radio stations. Specifically, it would call for royalties to be paid to artists whose songs are played on the air (even if they are not the composer or hold the publishing rights). Cathy Hughes —who is African-American—is one of the most prominent voices against the bill. She’s CEO of Radio One Network , which in the Detroit area owns WCHB 1200 AM (Gospel & Talk), Hot 102.7 FM (Hip-Hop/R&B) and 105.9 KISS FM (Contemporary/Classic Soul). The ‘Save the Radio’ campaign seeks public support to stifle the bill. The argument is that the implementation of paid royalties for every spin would bankrupt minority-owned and low-power radio operations. The website http://www.savey