Wednesday, 25 November 2009
The Aftertaste: 2009 AMAs
Adrien says: Jay-Z might represent the old guard of hip-hop royalty, but the white tux worn during his performance of "Empire State of Mind" signified the new dapper age: No saggy jeans, no over-sized T. Sinatra would be proud.
The Aftertaste: 2009 AMAs
Adrien says: Jay-Z might represent the old guard of hip-hop royalty, but the white tux worn during his performance of "Empire State of Mind" signified the new dapper age: No saggy jeans, no over-sized T. Sinatra would be proud.
Singled Out: Usher Feat. T.I. "In My Bag"
Two of A-Town's finest trade haughty bars over this Scott Storch production, leaked from Raymond Vs. Raymond. Does Usher finally have his mojo back?
Fela's monologues become music without beats, simply his heart beating to memories.
Choreographed and directed by Bill T. Jones, Fela! is the stage adaptation of the provocative and strange life of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, an afrobeat star, an activist, an attractive black man who had a lot of women, a Nigerian who called himself the president, a man who lived hard and never died.
Fela's spirit parted ways in 1997 due to AIDS. Yet because of his work's transcendence, it's no wonder his story is now a musical. Set at the Shrine, in Lagos Nigeria, it's Kuti's last concert at the venue. The man himself is played by ridiculously convincing Sierra Leonian actor Sahr Ngaujah, who hypnotizes the audience with his bohemian rhapsody, talking to the crowd like buddies, maybe citizens of the climaxes in his head.
He talks about his life. He talks about the government, his mama, the police, his women, smoking herb, getting arrested, James Brown, and black power (of course). His monologues become music without beats, simply his heart beating to memories.
In-between his ramblings, his crew break out in outrageously festive dance and the almost too-good-to-be-true band boldly back it up. The dancers get drunk in the rhythms of afrobeat--a jam of jazz, psychedelic rock and funk. They sizzle their behinds, and pop it. They even salsa. Yes, we've heard that the audience gets so high they dance in the aisles during the performances. That is true. The dancers boogie through the crowd as well. The party breaks out, specifically, to "Mr. Syms," "Originality / Yellow Fever," "Na Poi," and the crowd favorite, "Kere Kay."
With the amazing skittles of lights, wall paintings and overall stage effects, each new song turns the entire dark room into a club of rainbows, claps and gyrations.
But Fela! isn't all about hitting people with head-bops and beats. Everything enters dark terrain when Kuti began to take the audience through the 1977 raid on his Kalakuta compound, which resulted in certain women having their pubic hair ripped out, their butt carved with a razor by Nigerian soldiers, and Kuti's mother, Funmilayo, being thrown out of window resulting in her coma and eventual death.
"Two-hundred times I've been hauled to court," Ngaujah, as Kuti, says. "Two-hundred times I come fighting back."
By 1979, Kuti decided to pick up the pieces and run for president. The government wasn't having it. To his people, though, Kuti already was the president.
The greatest triumph of Fela! isn't the music, dancing or lights. It's its amazing ability to convince the world, twelve years later, that Kuti, like so many of his musical giant contemporaries, was one man who lived hard and never truly died. -Linda Hobbs
Fela's spirit parted ways in 1997 due to AIDS. Yet because of his work's transcendence, it's no wonder his story is now a musical. Set at the Shrine, in Lagos Nigeria, it's Kuti's last concert at the venue. The man himself is played by ridiculously convincing Sierra Leonian actor Sahr Ngaujah, who hypnotizes the audience with his bohemian rhapsody, talking to the crowd like buddies, maybe citizens of the climaxes in his head.
He talks about his life. He talks about the government, his mama, the police, his women, smoking herb, getting arrested, James Brown, and black power (of course). His monologues become music without beats, simply his heart beating to memories.
In-between his ramblings, his crew break out in outrageously festive dance and the almost too-good-to-be-true band boldly back it up. The dancers get drunk in the rhythms of afrobeat--a jam of jazz, psychedelic rock and funk. They sizzle their behinds, and pop it. They even salsa. Yes, we've heard that the audience gets so high they dance in the aisles during the performances. That is true. The dancers boogie through the crowd as well. The party breaks out, specifically, to "Mr. Syms," "Originality / Yellow Fever," "Na Poi," and the crowd favorite, "Kere Kay."
With the amazing skittles of lights, wall paintings and overall stage effects, each new song turns the entire dark room into a club of rainbows, claps and gyrations.
But Fela! isn't all about hitting people with head-bops and beats. Everything enters dark terrain when Kuti began to take the audience through the 1977 raid on his Kalakuta compound, which resulted in certain women having their pubic hair ripped out, their butt carved with a razor by Nigerian soldiers, and Kuti's mother, Funmilayo, being thrown out of window resulting in her coma and eventual death.
"Two-hundred times I've been hauled to court," Ngaujah, as Kuti, says. "Two-hundred times I come fighting back."
By 1979, Kuti decided to pick up the pieces and run for president. The government wasn't having it. To his people, though, Kuti already was the president.
The greatest triumph of Fela! isn't the music, dancing or lights. It's its amazing ability to convince the world, twelve years later, that Kuti, like so many of his musical giant contemporaries, was one man who lived hard and never truly died. -Linda Hobbs
Friday, 20 November 2009
Jennifer Hudson to Play Winnie Mandela in New Film
After the still-talked-about success of Dreamgirls, actress and singer Jennifer Hudson has found her next big role: Winnie.
Hudson is set to star in a film based on the life of activist Winnie Mandela, which will be depicted from the Anne Marie du Preez Bezdrob biography Winnie Mandela: A Life.
"I was compelled and moved when I read the script," Hudson told Variety. "Winnie Mandela is a complex and extraordinary woman and I'm honored to be the actress asked to portray her. This is a powerful part of history that should be told."
Mandela's life is definitely full of complexities. The wife of South Africa's former president Nelson Mandela, Winnie is a paradoxical figure who supported a freedom fighter, and led her own activist movements, but was also convicted of fraud following a scandal involving the murder of a 14-year-old.
Winnie will be directed by Darrell J. Roodt, who's best known for his films Cry, The Beloved Country and Sarafina! --Linda Hobbs
Hudson is set to star in a film based on the life of activist Winnie Mandela, which will be depicted from the Anne Marie du Preez Bezdrob biography Winnie Mandela: A Life.
"I was compelled and moved when I read the script," Hudson told Variety. "Winnie Mandela is a complex and extraordinary woman and I'm honored to be the actress asked to portray her. This is a powerful part of history that should be told."
Mandela's life is definitely full of complexities. The wife of South Africa's former president Nelson Mandela, Winnie is a paradoxical figure who supported a freedom fighter, and led her own activist movements, but was also convicted of fraud following a scandal involving the murder of a 14-year-old.
Winnie will be directed by Darrell J. Roodt, who's best known for his films Cry, The Beloved Country and Sarafina! --Linda Hobbs
VIBE TV: 50 Cent Speaks on Meeting Rick Ross' Son
50 Cent speaks on bringing Rick Ross' son to Floyd Mayweather's house, and why his beef with Rick Ross has no limits, word to Master P
Thursday, 19 November 2009
HIPHOP ROOTZ
HIPHOP HISTORY.
The roots of hip hop are found in African American and West African music. The griots of West Africa are a group of traveling singers and poets, whose musical style is reminiscent of hiphop and who are part of an oral tradition dating back hundreds of years. Within New York City, griot-like performances of poetry and music by artists such as The Last Poets and Jalal Mansur Nuriddin had a great impact on the post-civil rights era culture of the 1960s and 1970s. Hip hop arose during the 1970s when block parties became common in New York City, especially the Bronx. Block parties were usually accompanied by music, especially funk and soul music. The early DJs at block parties began isolating the percussion breaks to hit songs, realizing that these were the most dance-able and entertaining parts; this technique was then common in Jamaica and had spread via the substantial Jamaican immigrant community in New York City, especially the "godfather" of hip hop, DJ Kool Herc.
Dub music had arisen in Jamaica due to the influence of American sailors and radio stations playing R&B. Large sound systems were set up to accommodate poor Jamaicans, who couldn't afford to buy records, and dub developed at the sound systems (refers to both the system and the parties that evolved around them). Herc was one of the most popular DJs in early 70s New York, and he quickly switched from using reggae records to funk, rock and, later, disco, since the New York audience did not particularly like reggae. Because the percussive breaks were generally short, Herc and other DJs began extending them using an audio mixer and two records. Mixing and scratching techniques eventually developed along with the breaks. (The same techniques contributed to the popularization of remixes.) Such looping, sampling and remixing of another's music, sometimes without the original artist's knowledge or consent, can be seen as an evolution of Jamaican dub music, and would become a hallmark of the hip hop style.
DJs and "MCs" would often add call and response chants, often comprising of a basic chorus, to allow the performer to gather his thoughts (such as "one, two, three, y'all, to the beat, y'all").
Later, the MCs grew more varied in their vocal and rhythmic approach, incorporating brief rhymes, often with a sexual or scatological theme, in an effort at differentiating themselves and entertaining the audience. These early raps incorporated similar rhyming lyrics from African American culture, such as the dozens. While Kool Herc & the Herculoids were the first hip hoppers to gain major fame in New York, more MC teams quickly sprouted up. Frequently, these were collaborations between former gang members, such as Afrikaa Bambaataa's Universal Zulu Nation (now a large, international organization). Melle Mel, a rapper/lyricist with The Furious Five is often credited with being the first rap lyricist to call himself an "MC."[3] During the early 1970s, breakdancing arose during block parties, as b-boys and b-girls got in front of the audience to dance in a distinctive, frenetic style. The style was documented for release to a world wide audience for the first time in documentaries and movies such as Style Wars, Wild Style, and Beat Street.
Although there were many early MCs that recorded solo projects of note, such as DJ Hollywood, Kurtis Blow and Spoonie Gee, real notoriety didn't appear until later with the rise of soloists with big stage presence and drama, such as LL Cool J. Most early hip hop was dominated by groups where collaboration among the members was integral to the show.
The roots of hip hop are found in African American and West African music. The griots of West Africa are a group of traveling singers and poets, whose musical style is reminiscent of hiphop and who are part of an oral tradition dating back hundreds of years. Within New York City, griot-like performances of poetry and music by artists such as The Last Poets and Jalal Mansur Nuriddin had a great impact on the post-civil rights era culture of the 1960s and 1970s. Hip hop arose during the 1970s when block parties became common in New York City, especially the Bronx. Block parties were usually accompanied by music, especially funk and soul music. The early DJs at block parties began isolating the percussion breaks to hit songs, realizing that these were the most dance-able and entertaining parts; this technique was then common in Jamaica and had spread via the substantial Jamaican immigrant community in New York City, especially the "godfather" of hip hop, DJ Kool Herc.
Dub music had arisen in Jamaica due to the influence of American sailors and radio stations playing R&B. Large sound systems were set up to accommodate poor Jamaicans, who couldn't afford to buy records, and dub developed at the sound systems (refers to both the system and the parties that evolved around them). Herc was one of the most popular DJs in early 70s New York, and he quickly switched from using reggae records to funk, rock and, later, disco, since the New York audience did not particularly like reggae. Because the percussive breaks were generally short, Herc and other DJs began extending them using an audio mixer and two records. Mixing and scratching techniques eventually developed along with the breaks. (The same techniques contributed to the popularization of remixes.) Such looping, sampling and remixing of another's music, sometimes without the original artist's knowledge or consent, can be seen as an evolution of Jamaican dub music, and would become a hallmark of the hip hop style.
DJs and "MCs" would often add call and response chants, often comprising of a basic chorus, to allow the performer to gather his thoughts (such as "one, two, three, y'all, to the beat, y'all").
Later, the MCs grew more varied in their vocal and rhythmic approach, incorporating brief rhymes, often with a sexual or scatological theme, in an effort at differentiating themselves and entertaining the audience. These early raps incorporated similar rhyming lyrics from African American culture, such as the dozens. While Kool Herc & the Herculoids were the first hip hoppers to gain major fame in New York, more MC teams quickly sprouted up. Frequently, these were collaborations between former gang members, such as Afrikaa Bambaataa's Universal Zulu Nation (now a large, international organization). Melle Mel, a rapper/lyricist with The Furious Five is often credited with being the first rap lyricist to call himself an "MC."[3] During the early 1970s, breakdancing arose during block parties, as b-boys and b-girls got in front of the audience to dance in a distinctive, frenetic style. The style was documented for release to a world wide audience for the first time in documentaries and movies such as Style Wars, Wild Style, and Beat Street.
Although there were many early MCs that recorded solo projects of note, such as DJ Hollywood, Kurtis Blow and Spoonie Gee, real notoriety didn't appear until later with the rise of soloists with big stage presence and drama, such as LL Cool J. Most early hip hop was dominated by groups where collaboration among the members was integral to the show.
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