The Liberator Magazine | Blog

Stalley / Savage Journey to the American Dream {ep/mix}

2012-04-01T05:00:00.000-04:00

Savage Journey to the American Dream (download)

Info: "What role is Rick Ross playing in your life right now? ... "He’s like a big brother, a mentor, a friend. He’s just someone who believes in me like I believe in myself. And just to have him being the hottest artist in the game right now and having the best label in the game right now. For me to be the new guy, and the new artist that nobody really knows about — even Meek [Mill] and Wale had some sort of history where people knew who they were even before MMG. But me, I’m kinda out of nowhere like, “Who is this guy?” So for him to believe in me and see that is just a beautiful thing. He plays that role of just believing, and that’s all I ever needed.… It’s all about that opportunity, that’s like when you play ball. It’s like, ‘put me in the game coach, I’m ready to play.’ And if they see you, they know you on the team, they see you do the warm-ups, and they see that you got a little game, but they don’t know until you get out on the court. So now, March 30 is my time to get out on the court. And when I’m out there, people gonna see me shining. That’s all I need. I don’t need no handouts, I don’t need no help, just put me in front of the people and they’ll believe."" (source)

Big KRIT / 4eva N a Day {ep/mix}

2012-03-19T04:00:00.000-04:00

4eva N a Day (download)

Info: "Before we get into the album, tell us about your new mixtape. What were some of the concepts and ideas you had in mind prior to creating this mixtape?

My album was originally supposed to come out September 27 last year and now we’ve changed it to June. So in between then, I wanted to create a body of music. Hence, I didn’t want it to just be a gang of songs and that’s it, you know? I wanted it to be a conceptual mixtape of A day in the life of Big K.R.I.T. because there’s not a lot of footage of me out there, so I wanted people to get to know me.

A very personal project it seems.

I decided to put my whole life on wax for this mixtape and the story unfolds as you listen to each track. You’ll even notice the artwork ties in with this vision. There’s different standpoints that depict what one goes through in a day and the choices and decisions you make whether good or bad. The titles are traditionally in the hook, but these titles reflect more of the emotions and actions. Cohesively, from the songs, artwork, track listing, titles, it's all relative.

You said your put your “whole life on wax this for this mixtape,” are there certain songs we should look out for?

There were a couple, “Yesterday,” “Me and My Old School,” “1986” since that was my birth year, “Handwriting” and last but not least, “Down & Out.” These songs came all came from a special place and I’m hoping there are people that can relate to it so it helps them." (source)

Boog Brown / "Gifted Freestyle"

2012-02-28T04:30:00.000-05:00

Gifted Freestyle

MP3FILE

{*}

BlcTxt / "A Smart Black Boy"

2012-02-01T04:30:00.008-05:00

{liberatormagazine.com exclusive feature}

by Danielle Scruggs

"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without plowing up the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.

This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will."

How many hip-hop artists kick off their albums with a manifesto from Frederick Douglass? How many hip-hop artists sample Jay-Z, Jeru the Damaja, Todd Rundgren, and John Coltrane all on one album? And how many hip-hop artists cite that legendary jazz musician and Marvin Gaye as two of their chief influences? Anthony Marcus Bottoms, better known by his moniker BlcTxt (pronounced "Black Text"), just may be singular in that regard.

The Georgia native---currently based in Atlanta---has recently released A Smart Black Boy: The Sonic Inception, a deeply personal project that goes beyond the braggadocio and party anthems that have come to define the majority of mainstream hip-hop today.

Working with several Atlanta-based producers including AmDex, Illastrate, King I Divine and Siraaj Encore, BlcTxt has crafted an album that is akin to reading the pages of someone’s journal. A Smart Black Boy touches on everything from the grief of losing a parent, to battling depression, to the trials of being broke, to the one who got away over a compelling, somewhat unexpected sonic landscape, thanks to work of his eclectic production team.

BlcTxt was kind enough to grant the Liberator a phone interview about A Smart Black Boy, his creative process, and some of the events as well as people and places that inspired his latest project.

Liberator Magazine:I was reading this other interview with you and you said the concept behind A Smart Black Boy was to give people your head and your heart---

BlcTxt: Yes, ma’am.

LM: …and I was wondering what was the impetus for that, because a lot of hip-hop, I feel, is defined by that lack of vulnerability. So what made you want to go against the grain in that sense?

BT: Well, thank you for noticing. Basically, I am that type of person. I actually don’t do well going with the tide. I don’t do well at all. I’ve never been that type of guy, that type of artist. I’ve been good at being myself and articulating my experience and that was the entire purpose…When I got my first girlfriend, a close friend of mine said ‘you are the catalyst of your entire life.’ I am the main ingredient so I have to figure out how to mix well with other ingredients. I hope that answers your question. (laughs)

LM: How old were you when you first got that piece of advice?

BT: I was fresh out of high school. I was 18. I spent the whole summer with her then that was pretty much it. She had to go to school, she was a year or two older than me and I got my internship at Aquemini, Outkast’s music label. That was my first taste of the music industry.

LM: Can you talk more about your songwriting process? I know you started out in poetry, so do you find music or do you have a song and then write to the music? Walk me through your process.

BT: I’m a writer from the jump. I’m always writing. When I did spoken word, I had a band. The song was already written; the concept was there…I do a lot of reading when it comes down to music. I’m kind of trifling, I don’t study other things the way I should, but I study music. That’s really my songwriting process.

LM: I did want to get back to the song you did about your mother [“Infinity (for Robin)”]. I wanted to ask you about that because, especially in American culture, grief tends not to be so public. People grieve in private and they don’t tell you how they’re really feeling about things. What made you decide to include that song on the album and have it out there for the world to hear?

BT: The biggest appeal of art is communication. My mother taught me the art of communication, very well. I talk too much. It took me years to shake that off and write a song about that situation. Because you know, I’ve listened to so much music over the years. There’s tributes, there’s self reflection, there’s different types of songs. People make instrumental pieces dedicated to people in their lives. For me, I had an idea to convey the situation and that was the out of body experience. It’s reflection. It’s expression. It’s all those things.

It’s not a problem speaking on the situation. (long pause)

Honestly, listening to the song helped me and hopefully helped my sister heal as well… that was the main purpose. To get it off my chest. And it felt better but I still deal with certain issues. We have to heal…there was a trial period where I wasn’t doing well at all after Mom passed [in 2005] and maybe that was the reason why that song wasn’t completed until now. I’m okay now I just haven’t fully healed all the way. And that song represents that feeling, if that answers your question.

LM: It does. What happened?

BT: I honestly don’t know what she passed away from. It’s a big mystery. We don’t know. But I do know my mother has had certain issues with her kidney and liver. She had those issues for a while and it trickled down because she hadn’t paid attention to her body over a period of time, almost a year really. She hadn’t taken care of herself for almost a year because she was taking care of her father, our grandfather, and her body shut down. She got sick, and a week after that, she got sicker and died. We didn’t know. The doctors damn sure didn’t know they used a lot of confused terminology but I don’t know---and we didn’t know.

LM: I ask this of every creative person I know: how do you maintain the work-life balance? How do you ensure you create a space for your art while you’re also working and paying bills?

BT: They go hand and hand. They actually aren’t separated. Some people say they’re built to be a so and so. I am a creative person. I got my creative side from my mother and my mechanical side from my father.
My father is one of those guys who can’t do simple things like cook but he can take stuff apart and put it back together; he’s that guy. My mother is the intellectual, and creative and spiritually open, and, you know, cultural. My dad is cultural as well. No one in my family has a background in music so I had to adapt to train myself to listening to music on a consistent basis, different forms of music, and things of that nature. So while I’m listening to music, I am at work, I am at school.

Music, music is like air to me. People say that all the time but music is air…so going back to the first part, them going hand and hand, I have this phrase I say all the time--- “work equals love”, is actually “work is love.“ “Equals” is the mathematical equation for “ is”. Khalil Gibran in The Prophet said that “work is the physical manifestation of love” so the way I look at it is to work towards what you love and ultimately that is all of music: the manifestation of my work and music is the end result, the fruit of all the labor… it’s just a phrase that I now live by. You get out what you put in, so if I’m not putting in no work I’m not going to get where I’m going.

LM: Who are some of your influences? Not just musical but also personal or artistic or just in general?

BT: Again, my mother definitely, my mother and father. My father gave me a whole lot of knowledge on historic things he and my mother made sure I knew my history as far as being a brown person (laughs).
They birthed a creative person, a kid they obviously couldn’t get out in front of the television; they couldn’t keep from listening to music. That was a huge inspiration, family. In general, definitely for this project in particular, always, always first and foremost John Coltrane. John Coltrane is my guy. A lot of producers—hip-hop producers—they love J Dilla. I love him too. Don’t get it twisted. I love Dilla too.

But for me, my guy will always be John Coltrane, [based on] his approach to making music before he got to a certain point in his life with drugs and alcohol and the approach after. The approach after was basically him knowing god existed and he needed to bring forth his message and his legacy before he passed. He felt god spoke to him through music so he worked hard.

This is why you don’t see him---and much respect to Miles Davis---but you don’t see him like Miles Davis…being cool. Coltrane didn’t care about any of that. He was all about the work. He was all about the work. For me, I know I can never be Trane. There’s only one. But his work ethic is something that I look up to.

Marvin Gaye…I was watching the American Masters on PBS and I knew a lot about Marvin prior, I read a lot of books on him and this guy had sessions, actual recording sessions---not the music, not the CD---the tracked out sessions of the I Want You album and what he played were the vocals and there were like nine different harmonies, nine separate parts to a whole and every vocal part was Marvin Gaye.

He wasn’t a saint. He actually created a lot of drama in his life but listening to that let me know that I have a lot more work to do musically in order to [create] a legacy if I want one while I’m here and after I’m gone. So I listened to heavy amounts of Marvin Gaye for this project. Whatever was going on in his life, it was in his music.

The music we have now, whether it be hip-hop, whether it be rock, whether it be pop, whether it be R&B on any commercial level or a regularly accessible level, there isn’t much music that is very comparable to the human experience other than celebration. There is a little bit too much celebration going on; there’s not enough reflection on that commercial level.

I think this is why people enjoy Adele on a huge basis. Adele has the highest selling album this year. All over the world collectively this album has sold 10 million units. 10 million people have latched onto that particular album and it’s hard to show those numbers and get that support nowadays for any artist.

I mean Trane and Marvin, man, their approach to life and music is what I definitely took in on this project. [“god Bless…a Smart Black Boy”] and the song about my mom [“For Robin”], those songs are the most vulnerable that I can possibly be.
And that’s why I said I put my head and my heart in here because, I can think all day. I can give you my thoughts all day. But I don’t think my thoughts are complete without some sort of feeling…they go together like yin and yang.

LM: I know there is not too much you can give away, but what do you see in the future for yourself? How do you see yourself progressing from this project?

BT: Without letting the cat out of the bag, there’s a lot of stuff, a ton of ideas I’ve always wanted to work with musically. I always have some music somewhere but …everyone needs to hear certain things at the right time and I determine when that right time is. I’m always creating; moving forward. There’s always going to be something fresh.

There are different people I want to work with, different styles I want to work with. I’m still going to be rapping. I’m still going to be doing hip-hop. I just want to incorporate different sounds. It’s coming. It won’t be A Smart Black Boy part 2.
//

BlcTxt will be performing at the East Side Lounge in Atlanta on February 8th as part of the BoomBap and Broke tour. A Smart Black Boy is available on Bandcamp. For more information about BlcTxt, check out his website www.contxtclues.com or follow him on Twitter (@blctxt).

Photos by Allison McDaniel

I Self Devine / LA State of Mind [ep/mix]

2012-01-31T05:00:00.000-05:00

One of those artists who will always be on our radar, I Self Devine recently dropped his free LA State of Mind mixtape and video for the new track Sweat Equity. "Justice" and "Thingz" are among our favorites.

LA State of Mind (soundcloud download)

"Sweat Equity"

Related Videos:

"Officer Down"

"I Can't Say Nothing Wrong"

On Tupac Shakur, compassion, faith, justice, and the spiritual art of persona

2012-01-17T09:01:00.000-05:00

Creative statement: "Not only one of the most socially aware musicians ever, but also a huge inspiration for change and progress.Tupac Shakur is one of the most influential people on the planet, even after his life. I've compiled these clips to share with you his great wisdom on life and his strong message that still resonates because of its purity."

"With ... the foundation ... I can take any joint or lyric and flip it the way I would love to hear it" / Mar: Variations [audios]

2012-01-03T16:00:00.000-05:00

This ongoing project is so well executed we'll let it speak for itself.

Creative statement: "I grew up with so many different music genres. With my dad as a professional musician and mom literally starting and ending days with the radio as her bible, I got exposed to music as a whole package. With this as the foundation of Mar Variations, I can take any joint or lyric and flip it the way I would love to hear it." (source)

Single (original: Lil Wayne / "Single")
{*}

Avril 14th f. Szjerdene (original: Aphex Twin / "Avril 14th")
{*}

Inglewood (original: Oddisee / "Inglewood")
{*}

1st Session (original: Louis Bordeaux / "1st Session")
{*}

Last Christmas (original: Wham / "Last Christmas")
{*}

"Michael Jordan dun gon back down ta Carolina and the countdown to the 2020 census" / The Michael Jordan Theory EP

2011-12-26T09:01:00.000-05:00

Miami's Ghostwridah delivers some holiday cheer to a music inbox, quite honestly, often filled with mediocrity. With the free Michael Jordan Theory EP, Ghost speaks the same triumphant energy Ross, T.I., Kanye, Jay-Z, and Jeezy are pushing, but he avoids cliche by using one of the greatest historical icons of his lifetime as his muse for the entire EP. Full of nostalgic 90s memories of the great one built over some bangers, this concise 5-track project is creative, refreshing, and damn good. If the Third Great Migration (see below) is real, this project, speaking volumes to his ability to inspire and lead, might place Big Carolina-to-Chicago-to-Carolina Mike ("I was a anti-Carolina guy") firmly in the Washingtonian legacy.

The Michael Jordan Theory EP (download)

Buzzer Beater

This text will be replaced

{*}

The United Center Intro

This text will be replaced

{*}

Third Great Migration Might be in Progress: African-Americans return to their Southern roots
(SOURCE: VOA)

Now there's a massive reverse migration of blacks back to ... "their Southern roots." Between 2000 and 2010, for instance, Florida’s African-American population grew by 587,000, Georgia’s by 579,000, and North Carolina’s by 297,000. [...] "It’s all about quality of life," Mike Morton told USA Today. "When I visit New York now, it’s culture shock. I don’t hear car horns down here. As soon as you get to New York, you’re hearing thousands of them." [...] Some African-Americans tell interviewers that they moved back - or to the South for the first time - for warmer weather, to distance themselves from high urban crime, to reunite with southern relatives or to take advantage of lower home prices and taxes. (source)

Related
» Blacks Heading South, Leaving The City

Wu-Tang on RZA as a leader, Nas as a comrade, diplomacy, unity & family

2011-12-23T10:01:00.000-05:00

Wu-Tang sits down at Red Bull Music Academy's Five Out of Five concert and lecture series to share the history and decode the mythology.

Have a little faith ... "Excellence is just the bare minimum" / RZA and Kanye West on focus and discipline

2011-12-20T10:01:00.000-05:00

Reminiscent of Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hour theory, master RZA speaks on young master Kanye's worth ethic in a preview from his forthcoming Red Bull Music Academy lecture, and Kanye gets introspective while on tour with Jay-Z promoting Watch The Throne.

"I'ma tell you something this young man does. They get up every morning to eat breakfast together, his whole crew. They talk about yesterday and the next day and the present. They plan, all over breakfast. They sit there and they talk about what they gonna do, what they did and how to make the music better. Then, they go exercise together. They go to the YMCA. They play basketball, lift weights. Focus, get the energy out ... He would do some charity work ... Therefore, he's doing the good deed of the day as well, good karma. Then, he goes to the studio. He stays there from 4pm and when I was there, we left at 4. So, 12 hours of in-studio work. Then he'd go to bed and do it again the next day ... The way everything happened was like focused energy, yo. Actually, I've never seen that from a rapper before. I come from Wu-Tang Clan. Y'all know us. 5 of us show up for the concert, the other 3 late, some ain't doin' it, some are sleeping. It's not only his talent that took him to the top. I've gotta say, it's his focus, y'all."
-RZA on Kanye West

"We have to rethink, reinspire. Wash the brain, don't brainwash. And allow people to think for themselves ... but present people with amazing options, to the best of what you know the truth to be. I feel like people can find themselves sooner. You know, people be like, "I don't know what I want to be." Well you know what you want to be, but you don't want to say out loud what you want to be cause you don't think it's cool enough ... It's crazy and it's delusional until it comes into fruition. You always gotta see the end goal and everything else and just fill in the blanks."
-Kanye West

"One thing Wu-Tang had back in those days was admiration of eachother ... All of us probably ... make our music privately by ourselves. I think that hurts music. Music is actually better when it's shared amongst groups."
-RZA

"Nas is one of the best emcees to ever touch the ~~light~~ mic."
-RZA on Kanye and Nas

Questlove and Black Thought reclaim their pre-colonial African identity

2011-12-19T10:01:00.000-05:00

For all my words and questions about The Roots, I still got plenty of love. I'm elated to see this. #newage

Common / The Dreamer The Believer LP [stream] + "Sweet" [video]

2011-12-15T10:01:00.000-05:00

Damn, Com. I see you getting in 2012 mode.

The "picture me rollin" list [audios]

2011-12-02T10:01:00.000-05:00

ASAP Rocky » Leaf

{*}

Final Outlaw » Onslaught f. Homeboy Sandman

{*}

Juvenile » Power f. Rick Ross

{*}

Wale » Lotus Flower Bomb f. Miguel

{*}

Drake » Underground Kings

{*}

Nipsey Hussle » Forever On Some Fly Shit

{*}

Drake » The Ride f. The Weeknd

{*}

Flight Facilities » Crave You

{*}

Flight Facilities » Crave You (Adventure Club dubstep remix)

{*}

Mary J. Blige » Feel Inside f. Nas

{*}

Jhene Aiko » In Love We Trust f. Casey Veggies

{*}

Amy Winehouse » Like Smoke f. Nas

{*}

Birdman » Money And The Power f. Bun B

{*}

Brandon Hines » So Ill f. Dondria

{*}

Aaron Livingston » Alright Then

{*}

Saul Williams » Patience

{*}

John West » Lovely f. Pusha T

{*}

Nas » Film

{*}

Big Sean » I Do It

{*}

Kid Cudi » To Da Top

{*}

TiRon & Ayomari [audios]

2011-11-18T10:01:00.000-05:00

Ayomari from Atlanta, TiRon from Los Angeles. Together TiRon & Ayomari have demonstrated how to begin building a career in hip-hop with integrity. Alongside Kendrick Lamar, their album A Sucker For Pumps, a self-proclaimed "album about boys and girls, dedicated to men and women", is one of the most solid independent hip-hop releases of the year. It's a love album, really, which is rare today. These cats are good storytellers in the theatric sense of the word. Tactically similar to The Foreign Exchange, they construct the album's themes around a soundscape with a consistent, wholly sensual feeling you can trust. That is to say, it's at times sexual and playful at others. Then, they simply honor that trust throughout the project, while bringing you on a journey of multiple perspectives (a direction I hope The Weeknd expands in). It is no wonder that they are doing shows with Kendrick out west. Our favorites are below. Also check out "Back 2 U" from the free En Kärlekshistoria EP.

Her Theme Song f. BJ The Chicago Kid

{*}

Jack Kerouac

{*}

Fin

{*}

If I Had You f. D.R.U.G.S. & Thundercat

{*}

MF Doom, Young Guru / Talks at Red Bull Music Academy, Madrid 2011

2011-11-11T10:01:00.000-05:00

I enjoyed Erykah Badu's conversation from Madrid, but noted to myself afterward that it really wasn't a lecture. Regardless of the Red Bull spectacle hovering over it, it's the sheer amount of time that is dedicated to these artists that make these conversations worth listening to. The challenging medium of uncut long form conversation is much harder for the market to assimilate. It's inevitable that there will be some jewels dropped if you give artists of this caliber the space to tell their own stories.

MF Doom Synopsis: "Hip hop's last enigma sits down on the Academy couch to break down the message behind the mask, rap beef behind his different personas, and why good things come to those who wait."

Young Guru Synopsis: "Artists need their people. Gimel 'Young Guru' Keaton is Jay-Z’s people. When the rap-conquering MC and world-conquering mogul steps into the booth (as he continues to do, despite frequent retirement threats), Young Guru is outside, at the board, making sure Hova sounds good. Since 1999 - a staggering twelve years - this has been the way of things. Along the way, Guru has recorded pretty much every other A-list MCs. Some say he has the Midas touch. Watch as he speaks on doing what you love first and foremost, and a couple tricks of the trade."

J Dilla, "Gone Too Soon" / A retrospective on the life and legacy

2011-11-10T10:01:00.000-05:00

The BBC has an hour-long feature celebrating the life and legacy of one James Dewitt Yancey aka Jay Dee aka J Dilla. Many of his collaborators and family members were interviewed to provide a more in-depth perspective on the man and his music, since Dilla was someone who preferred to make beats, and in turn didn't sit down for many interviews.

Gone Too Soon

{*}

Some days, I still can't believe J Dilla's gone, even though it's been five years since he passed on. I still remember being in a bed and breakfast in Providence, RI, picking up the Boston Phoenix and seeing a blurb on the top cover that made me do a double-take: James "Jay Dee" Yancey, 1974-2006. I thought it was a joke, but I immediately turned to the back, and there was his eulogy in the music section. It's terrible that he died so incredibly young but on another level, he'll never really be gone. Just the other day, NPR played his instrumental for Busta Rhymes' "Show Me What You Got" as its bumper music. That's just one example of how ubiquitous his music is, that it will always be here and he will never be forgotten. And as an artist, that's all you can really hope for.

"I was just a great consumer ... I felt like I could be very effective" / Steve Stoute discusses his book The Tanning of America with Dr. Greg Carr

2011-11-04T10:01:00.000-04:00

Music, advertising, and marketing executive (and recently named NYU professor) Steve Stoute visited Howard University for a talk with African American Studies Department Chairman Dr. Greg Carr to discuss his new book, "The Tanning of America: How the Culture of Hip-Hop Rewrote the Rules of the New Economy". It's really quite interesting and insightful to watch these two engage each other. I believe a businessman like Stoute values the chance to associate with and engage a premiere scholar like Dr. Carr, who, as a master of historical context and the art of the question, proves invaluable to the people's perspective as an interviewer. And what's certainly true, being in conversation is never a bad thing.

In this first part of a three part series, Stoute and Dr. Carr discuss what "translation" means to Stoute, how hip-hop has influenced the world, and the systemic depravity that led to hip-hop becoming a culture of influence.

In this second part of a three part series, Stoute and Dr. Carr discuss using the "tanning shift" to your advantage, understanding the potential pitfalls of the "tanning shift," and the likelihood of the "tanning shift" eventually leading to there being no need for "translation."

In this third part of a three part series, Stoute and Dr. Carr discuss the importance of credibility, honesty, and authenticity when appealing to consumers in the marketplace.

Morse code [audios]

2011-11-01T11:01:00.000-04:00

Take this here grab bag of goodies for the day after the dead. You've sat with your ancestors, now forgive the living for their trespasses, as you did those with wack costumes. The trick to this treat is to make time for all of them. Let the kids gorge on halloween candy, dentists say. Inside, Miguel honors the Midwest roots of his sound with a collab with ~~Prince~~ Twista. We right our Kendrick Lamar record. Jeezy and T.I. stage a comeback. Jay Electronica keeps teasing us with dopeness. Lupe Fiasco does the dubstep, Little Dragon links with Odd Future. Eric Roberson gives Phonte his highlight of the year. Nas is nasty again. The Drum beats real seductively. Big KRIT reworks a southern classic like a great student should, could, and would. And that ain't the half. Gwan'enjoy the rich diversity of harvest season.

Miguel: Quickie (remix) f. Twista

{*}

Kendrick Lamar: The Relevant

{*}

Young Jeezy: F.A.M.E. f. T.I.

{*}

Jay Electronica: Rough Demo

{*}

Lupe Fiasco: Lightwork f. Ellie Goulding And Bassnectar

{*}

Little Dragon: Seconds (SydtheKyd remix)

{*}

Eric Roberson: Picture Perfect f. Phonte

{*}

Nas: Nasty

{*}

The Drum: Omar

{*}

Big KRIT: Money On The Floor f. 2 Chainz, 8Ball & MJG

{*}

Goapele: Play (Los Rakas remix)

{*}

Cavalier: The Rock _ 堅固

{*}

The Internet: Love Song-1

{*}

The Stuyvesants: Ewww (LaLaLa)

{*}

Ceewhy: Easy Money

{*}

T-Rock: I Don't Love You f. Dirty

{*}

Prodigy: Black Devil

{*}

Common: Blue Sky

{*}

Pusha T: Body Work f. Juicy J, Meek Mill, French Montana

{*}

Stalley: Jungle f. Freeway, Rashad

{*}

Future: Magic (remix) f. T.I.

{*}

One Be Lo: The ANT i matter

{*}

Jesse Boykins III: Island of Greatness

{*}

B. Young: Done Fi Dem f. Messiah

{*}

Villa Rosa: Chico f. I Self Devine

{*}

Immortal Technique: Toast to the Dead

{*}

Anthony Hamilton: Fantasy Girl

{*}

Doomstarks: Victory Laps

{*}

Kings of the City: Stop Uss f. I Self Devine

{*}

King: Hey

{*}

Evidence: Late For The Sky f. Slug, Aesop Rock

{*}

Drake / The Weeknd [audios]

2011-10-14T12:01:00.000-04:00

"You think I'm so caught up in where I am right now, but believe I remember it all."
-Drake

It's really simple to me now. Either you take him at his word or not. Lessons always catch up to us, no man is immune. Amnesia fates us repetition of the past and memory grants karma its momentum and reign. We tease out the fronts here/ all/ the/ time but I simply remember when Drake was some dude from Toronto with a blog, and "Say What's Real" was real to me. Add that he puts his city on -- Toronto's The Weeknd has blown up recently with two quality free albums that sound winter fresh to us like if Apollo Heights or ACME was born in Grandmother's Land and sometimes they sound like they could have scored the movie Drive (don't gotta like Wale either, but hey) -- plus even radical hearts in the streets hype-humming to ourselves that we "on one", and you know something has resonated out here. For certain, I'ma always push for acceptance of reality and reconciliation of the entity.

The only critique I'm interested in hearing about now is from him -- "I had to become a man very quickly and be the backbone for a woman who I love with all my heart, my mother" -- because the black dad from Memphis, single white jewish mom thing* seems relevant somehow; like a Canadian version of the black dad from Kenya, single white mom from Kansas thing ("the dominant figure in my formative years... The values she taught me continue to be my touchstone when it comes to how I go about the world of politics"). I will not take away from her moment by any means, but you telling me you don't hear something deeep* when Nicki Minaj shares that, "this night just remind me of/ everything they deprived me of"? Personally, I'm tryna learn my lessons early and remember far past my deprivation. In the mean-time, this must be (part of) what time it is, because it's pretty hard to not like at all.

*References: "The (mixed race) bastards of our colony"., "On Wenches and B-sides"

The Morning

{*}

High For This

{*}

The Knowing

{*}

Wicked Games

{*}

House Of Balloons / Glass Table Girls

{*}

What You Need

{*}

The Zone

{*}

Thursday

{*}

Heaven Or Las Vegas

{*}

Lonely Star

{*}

Trust Issues (remix)

{*}

Club Paradise

{*}

Moment For Life

{*}

Marvin's Room

{*}

Dreams Money Can Buy

{*}

I'm On One

{*}

She Will

{*}

What's My Name?

{*}

What are the six degrees separating Bill Cosby from A Tribe Called Quest, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, Norman Connors, Mos Def and Alicia Keys?

2011-10-06T12:01:00.000-04:00

{liberatormagazine.com exclusive feature}

Six Degrees of Separation: The Bill Cosby Edition
by Nia Smith (Intern, The Liberator Magazine)

Stating that “everyone in the world is separated from everyone else by six links”, the theory of “Six Degrees of Separation” has been used to connect everyone from me and you, to yo momma and yo cousin too. So what are the six degrees separating Bill Cosby from A Tribe Called Quest, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, Norman Connors, Mos Def, a “mystery person” I'll let you figure out, and Alicia Keys? Check the connection:

1) Martin's Funeral: Bill Cosby from the album, Bill Cosby Presents Badfoot Brown and The Bunions Bradford Funeral and Marching Band (1971)

Before becoming “America's Favorite Black Daddy” (step aside James Evans, Sr.) and an avid hater of black men named Muhammad who steal poundcake, Mr. Cosby counted “musician” as one of his many titles -surprisingly creating music that was much funkier than his comedic routines. A frequent collaborator with Quincy Jones, Cosby released this 1971 track under the alias “Badfoot Brown” in tribute to the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (and yes, I put the “Rev.” in there). This melancholy track features ~~Mr. Cosby~~ Badfoot Brown on keys.

2) We Can Get Down: A Tribe Called Quest from the album, Midnight Marauders (1993)

Badfoot Brown's track gets a sample shoutout by ATCQ on the group's self produced track, “We Can Get Down” from 1993's Midnight Marauders. Sworn by many lovers of Hip-Hop to be the album that changed their lives, and the landscape of Hip-Hop as it was known, this track features both Tip and Phife on lyrical duty.

3) If You Don't Know Me by Now: Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes from their self-titled album, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes (1972)

0.36 seconds into “We Can Get Down”, Phife makes reference to this 1972 classic that I'm sure everybody is familiar with via the famed Body and Soul infomercials of the late 90’s or your local radio station's “Quiet Storm” hour. Featuring lead vocals by the great Teddy P (not, in fact, the group’s namesake Harold Melvin-Harold was relegated to background vocals once sexy Teddy joined the group), this song is arguably responsible for one of the coldest lines you could EVER say to your lover: “if you don’t know me by now/ you will never never know me.” The next time you get into an argument with him or her, try it out and let me know how that goes.

4) Invitation: Norman Connors from the album, Invitation (1979)

Hailing from the same city as super producer/songwriter Kenny Gamble (who along with Leon Huff produced the song mentioned above), Philly's own Norman Connors is responsible for such hits as “You Are My Starship”, “Valentine Love,” and a string of other classics from the 70's and 80's featuring the vocal likes of Jean Carn, Micheal Henderson, and the late, great Ms. Phyllis Hyman. This track should be recognized by all you lovers of early 2000's black romantic comedies.

5) Brown Sugar (Fine): Mos Def from Brown Sugar: Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2002)

For all of you who guessed that Mr. Connor's song was sampled for this Mighty Mos Def track you get 15 bonus points. For those of you who didn’t, go on Netflix and watch the film now! Like RIGHT NOW...it's the last time you'll see the dynamic duo that is Saana Lathan and Taye Diggs in action. Hell, it might be the last time you see a happy black couple in mainstream black film (here’s looking at you Tyler Perry).

6) “The Mystery Person” (But I’ll be nice and give you a hint: If I could go anywhere it the world, it would be to the ____ African country of Ghana.)

7) You Don't Know My Name: Alicia Keys from the album, The Diary of Alicia Keys (2003)

To quote Ms. Keys, this video “sets my soul on fire” and here are the reasons why: 1) I have been “the waitress in a hairnet” who crushed on one or several customers; 2) I love seeing black men wear suits. I love black men who have business cards. I love black men who wear suits and have business cards. I love when Mos Def is this black man; 3) The video pays homage to the classic movie “Cooley High” featuring the likes of a young Joe Jackson and “Col. Bradford 'Brad' Taylor”

and finally...

Slumber Party (Season 1, Episode 22): The Cosby Show (1984)

Admittedly, I didn't grow up watching The Cosby Show, but have caught this episode off the late night via the blessing that is syndication many a time. So in this classic episode who is “America's Favorite Black Daddy” (step aside Frank Mitchell) bouncing on his knee at the 4:48 mark? You guessed it, none other than a young Alicia Keys.

And this concludes “Six Degrees of Separation: The Bill Cosby Edition”.

On the oversaturation of the untalented in the hip hop arts / "A musical art which, at every turn, is being fleeced and bombarded with niggas who have no interest in artistry, only profit"

2011-09-26T12:01:00.000-04:00

{liberatormagazine.com exclusive feature}

Truly, the practitioner of hip hop, the rapper, must come from a background in which he has been exposed to the experience of poor niggas at the close of the 20th century. The closer a rapper is to that scenario along with his ability for wordplay and narrative construction, the better the rapper will be. The best rapper to have lived was Tupac Shakur, without argument.

How many of today’s rapper can be said to approach the brilliance of Tupac? Hardly any and this is because hip hop is no longer being practiced in the same fashion. The rap artist is no longer expected to “earn his stripes” nor is he expected advocate for the group. He is expected merely to tease his audience with his façade of success in rapping, drug dealing, or both.

Another hindrance to good rap is the savagery and lack of refinement in the hip hop audience. Millions of listeners with so many different expectations allow rappers to offer low quality works. It is enough that a rapper produce multitudes of work with no attention to mastery. Add to this the fact that any rapper can present himself to millions of listeners for free via the internet and without being vouched for by expert ears, and we have the makings of a musical art which, at every turn, is being fleeced and bombarded with niggas who have no interest in artistry, only profit.

"Culture is synonymous with answers" / A conversation with Brady Goodwin: The Death of Hip-Hop, Marriage and Morals

2011-09-07T12:01:00.000-04:00

{liberatormagazine.com exclusive feature}

The Death of Hip-Hop, Marriage & Morals?
by Rohiatou Siby (Contributing Writer, The Liberator Magazine)

Hip Hop will simply amaze you
Craze you, pay you
Do whatever you say do
But black, it can't save you
-Mos Def ("Hip Hop", Black on Both Sides)

I think black Dante is correct; hip-hop does not have the power to save anyone. Hip-hop is dead; shot execution style. All that remains is the sickening stench of her corpse. Regrettably, the inviolable sanctity of marriage and morals are on the execution line as well. Consequently, I’m left asking the question: How did we arrive here?

Many of us have heard the various personifications of hip-hop and her dramatic life but, apart from being comic-book-esque, they are also true tales. My grandparents’ generation marvels at the devolution of the social mores of the hip-hop generation. The collective self-dignity that guided my forefathers, even through the psychosis that characterized slavery in the United States, is clearly lacking in my day. This observation leads me to reflect on the sacrifices my ancestors made and what gave them the strength to anticipate better and persevere. The hope of a future legacy, a strong and enhanced generation was the driving force. As Dr. Maya Angelou says, I am “the hope and the dream of the slave.”

A brief comparison of our historic and present culture leads to the supposition that my forefathers in no way envisioned misguided youth, broken families and “single ladies” anthems when they were brutally beaten, killed and imprisoned for their thirst for knowledge, desire for equality and hunger for life.

The Death of Hip Hop, Marriage & Morals, a book written by emcee and educator Brady “Phanatik” Goodwin, thoroughly addresses my question, by examining one of the most influential expressions of black culture-turned global culture. Goodwin, the co-founder of the Grammy nominated christian hip-hop powerhouse collective The Cross Movement, chronicles hip-hop's transition from a lifestyle that united urban youth through self-expression, to an instrument of self-repression. Eye-opening and intriguing, it is a scholarly piece laced with tough wordplay.

Liberatormag: You’re not the first to declare hip-hop dead. In your book you cite Mos Def and Nas among others as emcees who’ve discussed the death of the culture. In order to fully understand this statement we have to establish that hip-hop is not just a music genre, but also a culture. Next, we must define culture.

Brady: Culture, is synonymous with “answers.” It is not a noun as much as it is adjectival. It is comprised of the ways that a group of people come together to answer life’s whats. For instance, fashion is a culture’s answer to the question, “how do we cover the body and protect it from adverse elements and unauthorized eyes?” In the book, I go down the list to outline the cultural questions of food, heroes, values, art, etc.

Liberatormag: I’m glad you referenced heroes. A brief examination of the people most admired in a particular society can be indicative of its overall moral standing. Present day mainstream, youth culture highly esteems celebrities such as Lil’ Wayne and Nicki Minaj, who are artistically talented but lack moral substance. What does that reveal about the culture’s success in answering the hows of life?

Brady: It confirms that there is a disconnect between hip-hop's answers to many of the cultural questions previously mentioned and the parallel necessity of preserving a system of values. Commercialism does this to many cultures.

Liberatormag: True, but why does it seem as though hip-hop has been left more destitute than other cultures?

Brady: The fact that hip-hop was born into a capitalistic society handicapped it. Hence, thriving, in a capitalistic sense, required the adoption of commercial characteristics in its pursuits and efforts. In order for the culture to have survived without commercialism, the American civil rights generation would have had to impart the value of community over economic gain. By and large, they were too sanctimonious for that, viewing hip-hop as street-culture, or otherwise preoccupied to help mentor the hip-hop generation. As a result, hip-hop continues to thrive much like a pyramid scheme in which people continue to buy in hoping that they will profit, in some essential way, from the culture’s perpetuation.

Are We There Yet? Hip Hop and Self Realization

Liberatormag: You refer to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and suggest that, in the quest for success, this hierarchy be flipped upside down. You propose, as W.E.B DuBois, that it’s more important to focus on “Who I am,” instead of “What I have.” How do you think this mindset would change hip-hop's landscape?

Brady: Since hip-hop was born on the turf where gang wars were once fought; lets approach this question through battle rap which is in the DNA of almost every hip-hop form. When emcees grasp the concept of DuBois’ self-realization or the idea that we are made in the image of God, rather than battling for the lower levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, emcees would rest in the awareness that they have already reached the top. They are then free to turn their attention to battling destructive ideologies and to help secure, for the self and community, the lower levels of human need as defined by Maslow.

Liberatormag: Hip-hop's edutainment stage was marked by emcees who held this belief. Is it possible for current mainstream urban youth culture to embrace this new or rather old approach to hip-hop? On a grander scale, can American culture turn from embracing capitalism as a core value to community building, and self-worth independent of financial status?

Brady: The very fabric of our country is threaded with capitalistic ideology. Capitalism touts the prospects of becoming personally wealthy as a means to motivate people to be as productive as possible; although this works in many cases, it can be a confusing source of motivation. What is the end goal? Is it productivity or personal wealth? If both, which is more important? If it is being productive, then a good definition of true productivity must be established to ensure one does not engage in unproductive pursuits along the way. I look at productivity through the lens of the opening chapters of the Bible’s book of Genesis. It is interesting that Adam was placed in a garden where his job was to cause (generate) as much life as possible without letting anything die. That is the goal for my relationships, pursuits and life in general.

Liberatormag: I like that. In addition to culture, you address family and ethics in the book. Why these three?

Brady: The goal was to start broad and narrow the problem down to the heart of the matter. Culture is the broader scheme that affects the way we live. If we zoom in closer we end up with family as the socializing mechanism. Finally we are left with the inner workings of our own hearts which deals with what I personally believe to be right and wrong and how I sustain my answers to those questions -- ethics. Ideally, we would start with ethics and work our way out but, in order to draw attention to why this self-introspection is necessary, I felt it would be better to address the issue in reverse.

Da Youth Dem

Liberatormag: You have the privilege of working with youth in a unique setting teaching character education; how did that opportunity arise? What are your students saying and what might that reveal about the future?

Brady: In 2008, I began teaching character education in Philly high schools. Initially and humorously, I was enlisted to teach abstinence with a “hip-hop approach,” utilizing a curriculum developed by someone on a cornfield in Nebraska. They made the curriculum “urban” by coloring the children in the booklet brown. I tried teaching this curriculum at my former high school and a kid literally fell out of his chair laughing at me -- I decided that would never happen again. After designing my own curriculum I soon realized the issue was much bigger than sex. Even though recent studies report that Philadelphia has the nation’s highest rate of sexually active preteens, there were also many character issues that needed to be addressed such as: anger, violence, leadership, character, manhood, womanhood and a host of others.

Liberatormag: How do you see the curriculum impacting students? How can we read it?

Brady: Yes, it is. I am currently plotting ways to get my programs funded and to have more individuals like myself to facilitate them in the schools, because it’s going to take more than just a small percentage of the city’s youth seeing me once a week, especially when the culture and the media bombard them with the opposite of everything I’m saying. It takes a counter-culture to counter a culture and until they come into contact with such a community, I’m just going to look like a fascinating anomaly.

Grown Boys

Liberatormag: The chapter “Grown Boy Syndrome” contains one of the most masterful pieces of alliteration in the book; it reads: “Even if young males don’t look to their own fathers, they make up composite sketches of foster father figures ... Young males will find a father figure for their family portrait, even if the foster father has to be formed from fragmented photos of fact and fiction and forced in the frame.” How exactly do young males form these composite sketches? How do men who’ve navigated their lives in this way break the cycle?

Brady: In the book I give several examples. Not the least of which is 50 Cent, who lifted his name from a Brooklyn hoodlum of the 1980s and made it his own, and Lil’ Wayne who was determined not to be like his own absent father but yet chose a grown man named Baby as his father figure. I think it’s only natural for males to find fill-ins for their failing fathers. That’s not the cycle that needs to break. The problem is that as a society, we don’t shine enough light on good men and many of these good men are so busy being good to their own that they do not look to find ways to become available as surrogates to those in need.

Liberatormag: The repositioning of the nuclear family, in which a man and woman are committed to living under the same roof as their children plays a huge role in this turnaround. This can be achieved in many ways, couples have remained committed to common law relationships longer than some legally married couples; why is marriage so important?

Brady: Marriage is the strongest form of a monogamous relationship we know of. It is strong because it invites accountability and community into the keeping of vows. It also has the state’s assistance in lifting or lessening socio-economic burdens, thereby giving the union even more fuel to successfully fly. Children deserve to know that the members of their family are committed to that union through the ups and downs of life. Spouses, who engage in the physiologically life-altering phenomenon of sex, also deserve to know that their partner is committed to their union throughout the ups and downs of life. And, contrary to growing popular opinion, society deserves to know that an individual’s sexuality is not going to be a threat to society’s well-being, i.e., the sexual threat of spreading STDs, leaving a family for another lover, or potentially breaking up someone else’s home.

Liberatormag: Although I do not know if contractual marriage as practiced today can actually guard against those assailants just mentioned, I do agree with you. None of our decisions can be made in a vacuum and when irresponsible choices are made there are always consequences incurred by the community -- the bond of marriage, holds the individual to a higher level of accountability, in the eyes of the community, than a dating or common law relationship. Before concluding the interview, are there any words you would like to share with the readers concerning who this book was written for and what can be expected in the forthcoming books?

Brady: In teaching, I noticed there was something that my generation missed and I wanted to find a way to get this missing ingredient into the community’s “drinking water.” So I say this book is for anyone working with, raising or simply concerned about urban youth and young adults. As far as subsequent books, this may sound a bit prophetic, but I wrote this book as a single man. There are issues that I left out of the book because, even though I believe very strongly in my views, I also feel that those issues are better addressed as a married man and perhaps as a married father. Nonetheless, if it takes too long for wifey to come along, I may have to go ahead and pull the trigger and produce the next gem ... time will tell.

NYC / 14th annual Black August hip-hop concert at S.O.B.'s ft. Les Nubians

2011-08-22T09:00:00.001-04:00

We're helping bring Les Nubians and Saigon to S.O.B.'s on August 25th to celebrate the 14th annual Black August hip-hop memorial concert. Also on the bill are Hasan Salaam, Mike Flo and The Reminders. Plus, the New Rap Order is representing, sending Faro-Z to hold it down. Tickets start at $15, with proceeds going to support Malcolm X Grassroots Movement's ongoing project to connect with and care for political prisoners in honor of the Black August tradition.

Kid Cudi [audios]

2011-08-16T13:01:00.002-04:00

After he discovered and declared that "hell does have an exit, and i found it," it was time for us to give Cudi a proper feature (previously: The Moon Man). After starting his career off with "The Prayer," "ready for the funeral," and then stoning and raging in the "Pursuit Of Happiness," he ended up being one of the quickest reform stories in 21st-century Hip-Hop.

Dat Kid From Cleveland (download)

A Kid Named Cudi (download)

Perfect Is The Word

{*}

Hyyerr

{*}

Cudi Zone

{*}

The End

{*}

All Along

{*}

Switchin Lanes

{*}

Cleveland Is The Reason

{*}

Man On The Moon (The Anthem)

{*}

The Prayer

{*}

"My elders taught me to see" / Spiritual Beings Having a Hip-Hop Experience

2011-08-03T12:01:00.006-04:00

{liberatormagazine.com exclusive feature}

Spiritual Beings Having a Hip-Hop Experience
by Ezir’ra James (Guest Contributor, The Liberator Magazine)

Born in Oklahoma, my political reality growing up was that we belonged to an unfortunate class of people that didn’t have a voice. No one believed in us, or our creative abilities, so our spirit went through outbursts of loud lyrics and beats, scratched records, body jerks, and spray paint all over city walls and public spaces. Through this spiritual outburst, we found fragments of our voice and, over time, put the pieces together in a more conscious form, creating a collective sense of self. Continuing my journey to New York at the age of 19, after submerging myself in the roots of hip-hop culture, much of its interpretation in the media displayed a downward spiral of integrity and self-realization. This psychologically concerned me, and I gravitated towards elders who were the mothers and fathers of our generation and was introduced to the spiritual practices of yoga, tai chi, qi gong, and meditation. I was introduced to yoga at the age of 22 by renowned healer Queen Afua, who became my mentor allowing me to substitute teach her Hatha yoga class in her Brooklyn neighborhood.

Concerned with the growth of my culture, my elders taught me to see my peers as spiritual beings, being given special abilities to experience and interpret life on earth, and these spiritual practices helped to maintain a deeper connection to our creative abilities. I began to intuitively explore yoga with hip-hop, through movements, music and spoken word with my peers at a community center in the middle of Crown Heights, Brooklyn. This is when I began to explore hip-hop as an open interpretation of life on earth as a spiritual being. Shortly after, I began traveling back and forth between New York and Atlanta, sharing my passion for hip-hop and new found love for Yoga, working with activists, artists, and organizers holding Yogetry [yoga + poetry], and B-Boy Yoga events that summoned youth into class wearing street and club clothes with yoga mats. I decided to write a book, Spiritual Beings Having a Hip-Hop Experience, to explore this era’s hip-hop experience as a conduit for spiritual growth.

Shortly after writing the book, I went through a tremendously spiritual period of my life that I couldn’t manage within the environment I was in. I ended up in a psychiatric ward with un-nurtured and neglected experiences that I had to keep to myself. I couldn't conform to political systems and institutions that create a psychological interpretation of who we should be. Being included in corporate America and the working class felt like a slow means toward retardation and depression. Our generation is taught the classical structures of living in our country and, upon being given suggestions to comply, we close our eyes with headphones, seeking to interpret a new one. As spiritual creative beings, hip-hop gives us space to. My book is an effort to administer tools to build upon this new and evolving experience with: essay’s on hip-hop, social studies and spiritual science; illustrations; psychotherapy exercises; ritual exercises; and poetry, prayers and affirmations.

Ezir’ra James has worked in Atlanta as a youth yoga instructor for at-risk teens within a mental health care institution and continues to hold classes while pursuing music and creative therapy studies.