World Meet Fela Kuti

Fela was returning from the [United] States circa the Black Nationalist movement back to his native, Nigeria, with his band the "Nigeria 70." It was a promoter that dimed him and his band out; citing the fact that they were in the US without proper documentation that sent him back prematurely. Upon returning to Nigeria, Fela did two things. He renamed his band the "Africa 70" and erected the Kalakuta Republic, a recording studio and a commune for the band. It was Fela Kuti's independent state in the heart of the motherland. His enterprise continued with the emergence of two clubs: the Afro-Spot & the Shrine. The popularity of Fela and his music in Africa as well as his growing political awareness rose simultaneously. This put him in direct opposition with the ruling faction who terrorized the Kalakuta Republic with suspect search warrants and unwarranted intrusions. Fearful of Fela's growing popularity, the government intended to incriminate him by planting a joint of cannabis on his person or in the premises. He discovered the plot and ate the joint. Police responded by taking him in custody and waited until he moved his bowels to examine his excrement. Fela was able to secure the feces of another inmate/supporter and with no evidence of Fela being guilty, the government freed him. The result of this whole ordeal was "Expensive Sh*%," a track describing the whole story.

Most tracks don't have such colorful anecdotes behind them, but we're dealing with an extraordinary character. Fela was the creator of Afrobeat (a fusion between jazz and West African highlife), a fervent human rights activist, multi-instrument musician, composer and "political maverick." My words don't do justice to this man's legacy. Read about him here. Check out Expensive Sh&% and He Miss Road below.

Fela Kuti-Expensive Sh@! & He Miss Road

Quantic: Off The Beaten Track

I always like to know who I'm listening to when I'm enjoying music I haven't heard before but when I'm genuinely intrigued by what I'm hearing I want to know names, dates and more. So, you can imagine how distracting it was to have a friend casually drop a gem in my lap on a CD-R with no track list, no album title, no nothing. Just one word scrawled on it: Quantic.

Quantic is Will Holland, a man who lists both Fugazi and James Brown as influences. That should give you a pretty good idea of the range he possesses and one listen to "Tell It Like You Mean It" from his album An Announcement To An Answer will drive that point home. The song begins with slow, warbling horns alternating between two notes over some extremely subtle lo-fi fuzz before launching into an almost cuban-sounding drumloop. He quickly molds it into an electronic song while still holding onto the same sentiment before bringing you back right where you started. And he does it in less than five minutes.

My favorite thing about this guy? The man loves vinyl. And probably obsessively, if his album Off The Beaten Track is any indication. The album was limited-print CD released almost exactly two years ago of 25 rare soul/funk/afro-cuban/jazz tracks from his 45 collection. The album starts with someone lightly tapping on a snare, barely grazing a cymbal and gently keeping time with a bass drum. The reason I use "someone" is because the official track list for the album might not exist anywhere except on the actual CD insert. Not only is this album no longer for sale anywhere (unless you find it used), but Quantic doesn't even have the track list available on his website. Not even my most trusted vinyl source, Dusty Groove America Dusty Groove could help me out. Interestingly, I found the name for most of the tracks on Vinyl Vulture's Vinyl Vulture message board from a bunch of music geeks who, I must say, had some pretty impressive knowledge. But that was only about 75% of the album they could decipher.

The whole album is flawless, in my opinion, but here are the tracks that made my ears perk up (luckily, I found the titles of them):

Let's Make it Funky

Why Don't They Leave Us Alone

Kristian

Hip Hop is in the Building

I'm not going into some long-winded spiel about how stale rap and Hip Hop is right now as that's the diatribe du jour that's been on repeat for about 6 months now, thanks to your boy Nas. But, instead here's a bit of respite from the trite/tired Hip Hop is Dead cliches that have been provided by blogs, websites, mags and even myself at times.

I think emcees and rappers are starting to get the picture. Major record labels and their multi-million dollar marketing budgets are not going to jolt fans out of their album-copping hibernation; neither are pre-orchestrated or spontaneous beefs that spur from nothing more than a passing whim. What's going to get people excited about Hip Hop again is the same thing that got people excited a decade ago or two decades ago: quality music. A recent trend has emerged on the net; one that is pleasing to my taste and my slim pockets. Emcees are leaking their own music and not just the crap were they throw a bunch of feckless rhymes together and say something along the lines of "what do you expect, it's just a freestyle" but they're actually putting out tracks of considerable substance. And the ironic thing is that the person who started this trend is none other then the one who underground enthusiasts consider to be the anti-christ of all that is Hip Hop, Lil Wayne. However, I'm not going to go down that route as that's another discussion for another day on another site. With that said, below you'll find some links for FREE mixtapes of artists who leaked their own music that's actually...well, kind of dope.

SkyZoo-The Cornerstore Classic


Naledge-Naledge is Power


Chamillionaire-Mixtape Messiah pt. 3


Sean Price-M.a.s.t.e.r. P


J. Burnett

Betty...Ms Davis If You're NASTY

Before Lil Kim was even old enough to gurgle her first sexually-explicit phrase through the bars of her crib, Betty Davis was making jaws drop with her straight-forward sexuality and indisputable talent.

Even if given only a quick listen, the music from her albums paint grand pictures of her live performances but it's the lyrics that provide even more vivid ideas of what her on-stage persona must have been like. Imagine, if you can, what the music entertainment landscape must have looked like when she appeared.

It's 1973. The top three songs getting rotation on African-American radio stations are Marvin Gaye's 'Let's Get It On', Stevie Wonder's 'Superstition' and Gladys Knight and The Pips' 'Neither One of Us (Wants To Be The First To Say Goodbye).' Now, even though Marvin's song sounds like cotton candy compared to most of the music made today, it's true that for that time it was probably one of the more comparatively vulgar songs getting played. However, one glaring fact remains: Marvin was a man and, let's face it, it's never been incredibly shocking for males to express their sexuality or make their erotic intentions public information especially in the music industry. So, when an overtly sexy woman comes along singing a song called "Shoo-B-Doop and Cop Him" about how she 'can't help herself', you can imagine the stir it might have caused. Let a few more lyrics digest:

"I'm going to do it 'til the cows come home/
I'm going to do it 'til the chicken crows/
I'm going to move it slow like a mule/
I'm going to do it, yes, I'm going to do it"

You couldn't expect much less from a woman who was able to intensely influence the personal and professional life of Jazz giant Miles Davis whom she was married to for only one year. Aside from appearing on the cover of his 1969 album Filles de Kilimanjaro which also featured a song entitled "Mademoiselle Mabry (Miss Mabry)", she also served as the link between soul, jazz and rock. Not only did she introduce legends Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone to Miles Davis, she also found herself sonically supported by a number of impressive musicians. From Sly and the Family Stone and Tower of Power to the Pointer Sisters contributing to the tone and texture of her music, Betty was obviously a powerful performer if she could garner not only the respect but the help of artists of that caliber.

Sadly, history swept soul's sexy sweetheart's artistic endeavors beneath the proverbial rug and hid a true gem that defied the era's social and artistic expectations. Her self-titled album was released in 1973 and although it included all the big names, it still did not gain any commercial success. The same was true for the following two albums. It might have been due, in part, to her overtly sexual persona which drew protests and boycotts to her live performances and got her music banned from radio stations across the country.

But, to the glee of music geeks and vinyl vultures everywhere, her first two studio albums were re-released on May 1st by Seattle label Light in the Attic Records proving true talent is truly timeless. Do yourself a favor and purchase her music. It's worth pulling your wallet out.
Keep your ears open for the masochistic tune rumored to be about innovative guitarist Jimi Hendrix on her second album They Say I'm Different. Yes, she said 'turquoise chain.'


Kristian