Orginally I had this amazing idea to post my favorite albums of 2008. When I started, I began to reminisce over this year and all of its musical disappointments and mediocrity (Common, T.I., John Legend, Robin Thicke,  Gym Class Heroes, Common, Common…Common). However, after a closer examination, I realized that there was a truly solid collection of great music that came out. Looking at incredible releases from Erykah Badu, Lil’ Wayne, Dwele, Nas, N.E.R.D., The Roots (as always), Q-Tip, and Al “Don’t Call It A Comeback” Green, 2008 was a solid year. But, generally speaking, these are names and releases that most people are aware of. So as this post was literally written and awaiting publication, I began to look at other “Best of 2008” lists and realized that every list was basically the same. I’m sorry but I just don’t get down like that. Deciding to not play in the mainstream, I figured I would rewrite the post and drop the “other” best of 2008. So I went back and looked at the musical masterpieces that flew under the radar of 2008. This is for the artists that said “motherf*** the wagon come join the band…” Download/Buy/Listen/Enjoy.

-Kay/Nicolay/Zo!/Phonte-Time:Line, Zo! and Tigallo Love The 80’s, Leave It All Behind

Apparently collabos were hot in the Justus League this year and we should all be thankful. The connection of Dutch producer Nicolay and rapper Kay dropped first with Time:Line in February, which was a great beginning to the collective of albums. It is my belief that Nicolay solely makes beats that transcend genres and just scream “NOT HIP-HOP!” and that’s why they are so powerful. On the other end Houston-rapper Kay brings a very solid flow to the tandem. The album is particularly feature heavy, which usually is not a good look. However, the album showcases many “underground” artists that deserve serious shine. Of particular interest is S1 of The Strange Fruit Project, an amazingly dope hip-hop act out of Houston.

D.C.-producer/multi-instrumentalist Zo! brought the throwback heat with the NC-“rappa ternt sanga (minus auto-tune)” Phonte (of Little Brother). The album explores there take on several 80’s classics. This album is so good it makes me want to pull out the activator and get it extra WET…I’m talking Eriq LaSalle SOUL GLO “Extra Wet Like Stoney Jackson’s Curl” wet. It’s that serious.

The culmination of this musical connectivity came with the second album from The Foreign Exchange, which consists of Nicolay and Phonte. Leave It All Behind is literally like nothing out right now. Seriously. There is no comparison, outside of their first album, Connected. Even then…I just don’t know. Showing off the musical genius that is producer, Nicolay, this album makes absolutely no sense. Nicolay’s production has this odd, European-influenced, insanely timed (7/4 in double time…really?) feel that has to be heard to be fully understood. After showing off his vocals on Zo! & Tigallo Love The 80’s Phonte sings practically the entire album along with amazing singers Darien Brockington, YahZarah, and Muhsinah. As always the members of the Justus League bring great new music to the table.

Jazzanova-Of All Things

I’m going to go ahead and assume I’ve already mentioned Jazzanova at one point on this blog. If I haven’t I’ve really dropped the ball. Basically Jazzanova is a collective of German DJ’s who generally make dope electronic/house/nu-jazz/that wild European ish that they play in discotechs music. However, over the years they have ultimately expanded into full, original, rich compositions of eclectic sounds that again cannot be fully understood/named unless listened too. Even then, you won’t want to label their sound. Because of the nature of their group, they quite naturally need various vocalists to make it really work. Phonte drops a few musical features on this album, thereby giving the album a default status of dope. Other features include Dwele and Leon Ware, like the genius who basically created Marvin Gaye’s amazing album I Want You (one of my all-time favorites). However, a relatively unknown musician/singer Philly native-Paul Randolph completely steals the show. As the showcased vocalist on three tracks he definitely brings something appealing to the stage. On the low, Stevie hypes this guy up…a lot. I mean if Stevie Wonder says that you’re nice, I feel like you can retire on that one. Has Stevie hyped Usher yet? Yeah…that’s what I thought.

Wale-The Mixtape About Nothing

See, I really wasn’t even going to add Wale, because I figured at this point everybody knew this dude. I mean he hangs out with Mark Ronson on some bff tip and everybody loves Mark Ronson. However, upon meeting Wale, he just seemed happy that someone outside of the D.C./Maryland/Virginia area had any idea who he was. Well, considering I had to do promotion for his concert, I should have quickly learned of his semi-obscurity, but I chalked it up to the “usual” any time things don’t work out…Penn silliness/ignorance.  So why is Wale currently what’s hot in the hip-hop backstreets? Is it because he tours with Go-Go band UCB and has these crazy musically-driven concerts. Sure. Maybe it’s the fact that in his track “The Manipulation” he literally goes verse for verse with his inner-womanizer and inner-gentleman (I literally have been fighting my two sides of “The Manipulation” for quite some time). That’s a possibility. He may be hot because of “The Grown Up” another song that epitomizes were I was/am, in regards to relationship/women (“They say love is the slowest form of suicide…” opening line…damn) which he tackles perfectly. It may even be the fact that this entire mixtape is centered on the “show about nothing” concept of Seinfield. That’s could be it. No, no, no. I don’t think so. You know what makes him “that dude” right now. On his lyrically brilliant, album that infuses lines on relationships, “artistic integrity”, and the “dreaded n-word”, around an entire concept from Seinfield, he had Elaine, the Julia Louis-Dreyfus lay a drop down on the album. This dude hit up Elaine from Seinfield and had her do a drop on his album talking about some “Don’t you think I’m cool.” For that Wale, get’s best album of the last 25 years. Michael Jackson never had Michael J. Fox doing drops on his album…I’m just saying…

Esperanza Spalding-Esperanza

It was a great year for Jazz. If you read the blog, you would know that I’ve reminded you of this fact many times. You would also know that Esperanza is one of my new future ex-wife candidates. Unnecessary misogyny aside (or so the “progressives” would say) her new album was fantastic. I don’t need to go in hard on why Esperanza is an amazing artist. I’ve done that enough. The album speaks for itself. Her cover of Body & Soul (“Cuerpo Y Alma”) may be one of my favorite versions of the jazz standard. When I am in one of my melancholic “I really want to fall in love because I just watched Seven Pounds” moods, I simply go to “Precious” or “Fall In” to make everything perfect (yes I even set sardonic temperaments to music). Again…she sings (in Spanish and Portugese) and plays the upright bass. If that’s not wifey material, I don’t know what is. All I’m saying is someone needs to“put a ring on it!” Sorry…I just really felt the need to somehow incorporate Beyonce in my completely serious musical post.

Incognito-Tales From The Beach

The acid jazz movement that has introduce such acts as Jamiroquai, The Brand New Heavies, Thievery Corporation, The Cinematic Orchestra, etc., owes quite a bit to the steadfast strength of British group Incognito. Making music for almost thirty years, the group has dropped another quiet gem. Like most European music groups, it infuses jazz, funk, soul, electronica, ambience, dance, rock, and every other genre imaginable to make great music. Many people may remember the group for their song “Deep Waters” from the 1993 LP Positivity, which garnered much urban radio airplay. Their newest album Tales From The Beach, gives the same fusion friendly sound that would remind any listener of standard Stevie Wonder party music. The group keeps the music fun and exciting, with powerful horns, congos, and up tempo dance grooves. It’s definitely an album for all ages.

Stacy Epps-The Awakening

Recently the music world has been blessed with a group of amazing alternative female vocalists (think Jack Davey, Muhsinah, YahZarah, Janelle Monae, etc.) This year gave the first solo album from Stacy Epps entitled, The Awakening. Some may remember her from the hip-hop act Sol Uprising. Personally, I remember her vocals from one of my favorite tracks from the Madvillainy album, “Eye”. If you’ve heard that then you’ll immediately understand the otherworld appeal of Epps. This new album gives an eclectic taste of progressive soul mixed with rich, funky beats. The closest comparison to her sound is Erykah Badu’s New Amerykah, simply with its offbeat soulful R&B styling. However, Epps is clearly her own artist that is both neo and soulful, but never cliché . Stacy Epps is definitely a vocalist that everyone should keep an eye out for.

Jazz Liberatorz-Clin d’oeil

If it’s not clear by now, I have an open bias towards music that involves overlapping genres and fusion. The continuity of music over type is a powerful melodic mechanism. The French musical collective known as the Jazz Liberatorz do such on their latest work, Clin d’oeil. Coming out of France, quite naturally they have a fond admiration for jazz. Dropping such names as McCoy Tyner, Abbey Lincoln, and Charles Mingus on one track and covering Slum Village’s “Fall In Love” on another, they have a real sense of the historical union of music. They understand where hip-hop and jazz intersect. The album gives a musical history lesson exploring the richness of jazz, while reintroducing the greatness that is 90’s hip-hop. This is greatly assisted by features from Fat Lip (of the Pharcyde), Buckshot, Sadat X, Asheru, Stacy Epps, J-Live and many others. Whether you love hip-hop or jazz, I’m sure that you will love this.

Atmosphere-When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That S*** Gold

Coming straight out of the city Prince built, Minneapolis, Minnesota-natives rapper Slug and producer Ant complete the hip-hop duo known as Atmosphere. The group, which began in 1993, has been steadily creating heat within the independent circuit. The collective is actually more famous than you may think. The independent label that they started, Rhymesayers Entertainment, has artists such as MURS, MF Doom and Brother Ali. For those MURS fans, Slug collaborated with the L.A. rapper to create the duo Felt, which dropped A Tribute to Christina Ricci and Vol. 2, A Tribute to Lisa Bonet. Rhymesayers Entertainment has sent out great music for years now, which definitely includes Atmosphere. Their most recent endeavor may be their best work to date.  Slug is a very talented lyricist who upon being heard deserves more attention. Thematically, he waxes introspectively about cocaine habits, self-entrapment, and backseat love. With such demure topics, producer Ant is able to create daunting beats that work effortlessly with the voice of Slug. Moreover, Ant works with live musicians giving the sound rich quality full of horn-driven beats and elegant piano strolls. This is not like anything you will hear on the radio.

Adele-19

Adele is not Amy Winehouse. I suppose because both are female, white, British, and “soulful” singers I hear the comparison so much. It’s not entirely off; however, it’s like comparing Lil’ Wayne and Ludacris because they are both black, southern emcees, and rap cleverly. The point is Adele is her own artist. What I particularly enjoy about Adele is her raw acoustic styling. Unlike many, if not most contemporary “vocalists” her naked voice provides more than enough strength to carry any song. Because of her vocal prowess, Adele has the ability to powerfully emote the melancholic nature of much of her musical catalogue. Coupling this talent with strikingly expressive and sharp lyrics, she is the farthest thing from pop music. To truly understand the maturity of her work, I would strongly suggest finding the Deluxe Edition of her newest album which includes a live set of her album performed at the up-and-coming performers venue Hotel California in Los Angeles. Most importantly Adele doesn’t do coke or go off on racially-driven diatribes…so again Adele is not Amy Winehouse.

Colin Munroe-Is The Unsung Hero

Colin Munroe is going to be famous. I’m talking about Britney Spears extra-pop famous. This is not to say that the young Canadian-born singer is a car-beating, worst mother of the year nominee, “misunderstood pop star with limited (at best) vocal ability. Like De La said, “It may blow up, but it won’t go pop.” When I consider the possible ascension to stardom for Munroe, I look at what he represents. When you first hear his voice, your immediate reaction is lead singer of an alternative/indie rock band with the name “The_______ (insert noun plural)” Because of this, it is even more interesting that after he lays down his vocals, you may hear those of Wale, Drake, Mickey Factz, or _____ (insert your favorite rapper on the verge). It is this type of crossover appeal that will earn Munroe an immediate following. Again, Munroe is anything but a formulaic pop singer. The talented artist writes and produces the vast majority of his material. If anything, just take a listen to his remix “I Want Those Flashing Lights”, which Kanye himself cosigned. Even with Ye’s sketchy musical choices lately, you’ve got to respect the hustle.

88-Keys-The Death of Adam

I’ve been a fan of rapper/producer 88-Keys for a long time without even knowing. He co-produced one of my favorite tracks from Mos Def’s Black on Both Sides in “May-December”. The instrumental piece features Mos on the bass and the late great Weldon Irvine on the keys. Most importantly, among his great production discography, he produced Black Star’s “Thieves in the Night”. I won’t even begin to talk about why it is one of my favorite songs of all time. That could be a completely different post. As a proven producer, 88-Keys had much to prove as a lyricist. I must say that he does not disappoint. The entire album follows a conceptual plotline surrounding a character named Adam and his demise from the power of the Pu…Well, let’s just say the duality of female sexuality/empowerment is explored in all its glory. If you’re still confused just listen to the opening track of Prince’s Gold Experience…you’ll understand and thank me later. With such a central topic, the album has its morbid points and its comical highs, which are smoothly captured by the alternative hip-hop sound of 88-Keys’ production. With appearances by Bilal, KiD CuDi, Shitake Monkey, and J*DaVey, the album is definitely for an open-minded crowd.

While you get ready for new 2009 releases from Mos Def, Jay-Z, Eminem (hahahaha), Dr. Dre (hahahaha, lmao AND rofl), and Kanye West, I suggest you take a listen to some of the great albums from the amazing “opening act” artists of 2008. There are many other artists I would like to showcase, but I’m lazy and have no interest in writing these quasi-reviews for a million and one albums/artists I like. So here’s a bigger list of the dopeness that was 2008. I personally guarantee that I will deliver multiple eargasms with this list:

1.     Danny-And I Love H.E.R.

2.     Coultrain-The Adventures of Seymour Liberty

3.     Lina-Morning Star

4.     Wax and EOM-Liquid Courage

5.     Jose James-The Dreamer

6.     Avishai Cohen-Gently Disturbed

7.     Jamie  Lidell-Jim

8.     Nicholas Payton-Into the Blue

9.    Aaron Parks-Invisible Cinema

10.   S1-Music Box

11.   Murs-Murs For President

12.   Ahmad Jamal-It’s Magic

13.   Madlib-Beat Konducta Vol. 5: Dil Cosby Suite

14.   Madvillain-Madvillainy 2: The Madlib Remix

15.   Maiysha-This Much Is True

16.   Soil and “Pimp” Sessions-Planet Pimp

17.   Elzhi-The Preface

18.   YahZarah-The Prelude

19.   Thievery Corporation-Radio Retaliation

20.   eMC-The Show

21.   Jackson Conti-Sujinho

22.   Lizz Wright-The Orchard

23.   Black Milk-Tronic

24.   Angela Johnson-A Woman’s Touch, Vol. 1

25.   Illa J-Yancey Boys

26.   Various Artists-Your New Favorite Mixtape

27.   Murs and 9^th Wonder-Sweet Lord

28.   Jake One-White Van Music

29.   9^th Wonder and Buckshot-The Formula

30.   Nikka Costa-Pebble To A Pearl

31.   Muhsinah-Day.Break 2.0

32.   Anthony David-Acey Duecy

33.   Madlib-Beat Konducta Vol. 6: Dil Withers Suite

34.   Sy Smith-Conflict

35.   Madlib-WLIB AM: King of the Wigflip

36.   The Tones-Dreamtalk

37.   MGMT-Oracular Spectacular

38.   The Mighty Underdogs-Droppin’ Science Fiction

39.   Guilty Simpson-Ode To The Ghetto

40.   Zo!-Re: Definition

Trey Songz and Flo Rida go extra hard on this one…(pause)

wait….

wait…

wait for it…

and…

Just kidding…We would never let you “dash through the snow with Flo Rida and Trey, whip on 24′s…” Enjoy:

Quite possibly the greatest Christmas song ever…Donny (30th Anniversary of his death…Jan. 13th)

His name is Muntadar al-Zeidi and he is my hero.

Out with the old, in with the new is what they say I guess. Check out this long-ish sober (scary) assessment of what the new has to offer us from al-Jazeera English (yeah, al-Jazeera – contrary to popular belief they actually have some of the best coverage of U.S. politics and Middle East policy. Oh yeah, and they are also your one stop source for the latest Osama Bin Laden video).

The second part of the segment – a debate between Black Agenda Report’s Glen Ford and some activist preacher – can be found here.

Over and out,

Eric

Editors Note: This is a review I did over the summer that was withheld due to a conflict of interests relating to the employment situation of one of our bloggers. I am publishing it now because it has been several months, and I doubt Dyson would give a shit about a scathing review of one of his books on a blog as irrelevant as this one. But, if you are reading this Dr. Rev. Mr. MC Dyson PhD (or whatever it is you call your bespectacled self), if you don’t like the harsh reviews, start writing better books. Translation: If you can’t stand the heat, get out the kitchen.

April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King Jr’s Death and How it Changed America

Michael Eric Dyson

Basic Civitas Books, 2008

270 pages, $25

Review by Eric Augenbraun

I intended to write this review sooner, but my principles interfered; in a word, I refuse to pay for books that I expect to be worth far less than the cover price. So, given the fact that professor, ordained minister, and self-proclaimed activist/public intellectual Michael Eric Dyson’s latest waste of paper book, April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King Jr’s Death and How it Changed America, was checked out of the University of Pennsylvania’s library until about a week ago, I couldn’t get around to reading and commenting on it until now. Despite not paying a cent for this cute little mess—aside from Penn’s $50,000 tuition which includes library privileges (imagine that!)—after reading it, I still felt compelled to go back to the library and demand a refund of the time I had just wasted. But alas, the library has yet to invest in a time travel device—I can only urge them to look into it.

Many will recognize the date April 4th, 1968 as the day Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated while standing on the balcony outside of his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. The year 2008 thus marks the 40th year since King’s tragic death. On this somber anniversary, Dyson’s deceptively short 270-page volume is an “effort to grapple with King’s death—in [Dyson’s] own mind, and in the life of the nation.” With ten chapters sandwiched between a short prologue and a lengthy afterword, this book is divided into three parts, each with a somewhat distinct area of inquiry. Part one explores how King understood his own mortality and dealt with the looming threat of his death as he rose to prominence in lockstep with the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement. Part two is an examination of the state of black America in the post-King, post-Civil Rights, post-Voting Rights Amendment years. Finally, part three is a look at black leadership since King’s death—namely, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and Barack Obama. Unfortunately, Dyson’s book delivers very little that could be considered new or particularly insightful, and where it strays from the beaten path it arrives at several conceptual and methodological cul-de-sacs.

According to Dyson, from a very young age King was preoccupied with death. As the Civil Rights movement gained steam and King was thrust into the public eye, threats on his life became commonplace. While the reality of the likelihood of a premature death weighed heavily on King’s mind—driving him into depression—he also harnessed it as a motivational tool for the movement. This should not be particularly controversial, but Dyson’s sparse research and use of psychoanalysis to fill the gaps leaves much to be desired. Direct citations are absent from this text and the reader is left with a few short bibliographical notes with no indication of where specific sources are used in the text (as a history major, I am a big fan of Chicago style). But not to fear, the wikipedia page for Martin Luther King could just as easily have been the source of almost all of Dyson’s “research” for the first part of this book. Where archival research is not enough, Dyson simply puts King on the couch and probes his psyche, which is fine, but might not do the trick for people who recognize that, as a very dead man, King is unable to speak back. Thus, instead of serious and careful scholarship we get what boils down to a winding hodgepodge of sentimentalist fluff.

“And how does that make you feel Dr. King?”

While Dyson pays lip service to the fact that the primary strength of the Civil Rights movement lied on the ground, with the ordinary people who gave their time and energy to march and forge connections at the grassroots level, his discussion of King as a near superhuman deity presents a distorted picture of the movement. Dyson makes it appear as if King and his circle of aids were themselves the Civil Rights movement, while little attention is paid to the enormous mobilization of the nameless forces on the ground that ultimately were responsible for toppling Jim Crow. Finally, in the ultimate case of accidental irony, in his discussion of King’s oratorical genius, Dyson references King’s striking ability to be both substantive and eloquent:

King showed that there didn’t have to be strife between lexis (style, such as metaphor) and pisteis (argumentation and proof) as there is in Aristotle’s view of rhetoric. In the best black oratory, style is not juxtaposed to argument; in fact, style becomes a vehicle of substance. Paying attention to how you say what you say doesn’t mean you have nothing to say.

Sadly, these standards cannot be applied to Dyson’s book—a clear lack of substance is compensated for by an abundance of schmaltz and bombast.

Part two shifts the focus to the present day status of blacks in America and how, in many regards, King’s vision has yet to be realized. The first chapter of this section, entitled “Report Card on Black America,” is the book’s strongest, which is not really saying much. Dyson uses an assortment of interesting statistics to make the case that, though the gains of the Civil Rights movement cannot be understated, blacks continue to be the victims of racism and poverty. Still I find it hard to believe that people who would pay $25 to read this book were not already aware of the facts that Dyson highlights in this chapter. Moreover, if one were interested in gathering the same statistics he uses, it is nothing that a simple Internet search couldn’t handle. While Dyson is effective at exposing the objective reality of the persistence of inequality and poverty, he stops short of implicating capitalism and class society as central to the perpetuation of inequality.

The final part of the book takes a look at black leadership since King’s death. Dyson focuses primarily on three of the country’s most visible “black leaders”—Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and Barack Obama—devoting a chapter to each. It is here that Dyson’s own ideological framework prevents him from careful and critical analysis of the broader issues that underlie the notion of a “national black leader.” He appears far more interested in exploring the personal histories and leadership styles of each respective leader than in interrogating the social, political, and economic contexts from which each emerged and the bases of their authority. For instance, the differences between King and Jackson’s leadership are presented as largely personal—rooted in their upbringings and educational backgrounds. Not considered is the fact that the historical context in which King led the charge against Jim Crow differed fundamentally from the context of Reaganism in which Jackson attempted to position himself as “national black leader.” Dyson only goes so far as to mention a handful of the strategic mistakes and errors in judgment that each has made over the years while embracing uncritically their positions as race leaders. This and Dyson’s repeated castigation of members of the black middle- and upper-classes who have “turned their backs on the black poor” reflect the belief in an undifferentiated black “community” that permeates Dyson’s thought.

“Leaders” like Sharpton and Jackson (and academics like Dyson for that matter) who desire to situate themselves as “black voices”—a politics which has its roots in the race relations brokerage that emerged in the context of Jim Crow at the turn of the century—rely on a reified “black community” wherein those elements of the black population that do not conform to an imagined normative blackness are painted as inauthentic. Further, by lumping the black population into a homogenous monolith, black leaders have no need to appeal politically to any specific constituency and are thus not accountable to any constituency at all. In reality, black people exhibit the same diversity of interests and political opinions as any racial or ethnic group—the goal, then, for black and white progressives alike, should be towards the embrace of a politics that acknowledges this diversity within the black population. I also think it is worth mentioning that Dyson’s chapter on Obama is nothing more than an extended piece of campaign propaganda that does not even come close to engaging Obama on a political level.

Dyson closes his book with a 25-page afterword that is just an exercise in self-validation. To be frank, after his last “book” (and I use the term loosely) in which he enlisted rappers Jay-Z and Nas to sing his praises in the “intro” and “outro” respectively, I am used to such shameless acts of self-promotion from Dyson. His most recent effort is a composed interview with Martin Luther King on his 80^th birthday based on what Dyson believes he might have said. However, the 80-year old King that he imagines is little more than a mouthpiece through which to trumpet his own beliefs and opinions and have them corroborated by one of American history’s most revered figures—albeit a figure that has been dead for 40 years. Of course, this all amounts to a 25-page act of intellectual autofellatio considering that there is no way of knowing what Martin Luther King would believe if he were alive today. While it is possible that he may have respected the “incredible lyrical genius” of today’s hip hop artists, abhorred the prosperity gospel movement, and fawned over Obama, it is just as likely that his thought might have developed in an alternate fashion. Just look at the political trajectories of people like Du Bois, Malcolm X, or even Eldridge Cleaver.

I cannot, in good conscience, recommend you waste your time (at least until they develop time travel technology) or money on this book. Keep your $25 and check out Jack Bloom’s Class, Race, and the Civil Rights Movement for an excellent account of the political economy that underlay the brave activity of Southern blacks and the valiant leadership of Dr. King in the fight against Jim Crow.

Footnote: The views contained in this review are solely those of the reviewer and do not necessarily reflect the perspectives of the rest of the ETHOS team.

No Ethos is not dead, but as overly ambitious college kids, we get busy. The Ethos staff has most likely written around 1,250 pages (seriously…) in a few short years, so sometimes we forget about the important stuff…like the procrastination machine that is this blog. Don’t fret loyal followers. We will be back in about a week or so with the Top Ten Albums of 2008. Should be mildly amusing, in the sarcastic, dark humorish Ethos way you’ve all come to love.

In the mean time just watch this video of Penn’s dopest dance group Freaks of the Beat do one of the greatest things that I have ever seen…it should hold you over for a while.

Song: The Pharcyde’s “Drop”

Merry Christmas
Happy Hanukkah
Happy/Merry/Feliz Kwanzaa (cuz I really celebrate kwanzaa…smh)
Happy Holidays

By Paul Pennington

This thing that we have come to understand as jazz has encompassed a variety of subgenres that have surfaced throughout musical history. Many of these outgrowths were important to the sustainment of one of America’s earliest forms of music. We can take a particular look at the musical path of the original jazz pioneers to understand the evolution of the art form. Adapting and fusing funk, jazz, electric, and rock sounds allowed for Miles Davis’ original love to sustain popularity over the fast-paced cultural explosion and expansion that is American history.

Because of this we gained the smooth jazz styling of George Benson, the funk-fueled sounds of Donald Byrd, and the jazz-inspired hip-hop skills of Digable Planets. What has been relatively absent in the present, particularly in the pop arena, are the older sounds of Hard Bop, Swing and Modal jazz. These sounds made famous by musical geniuses such as Count Basie, Duke Ellington and John Coltrane have, in many ways, been removed from a younger audience. What can be seen and heard, however, is the emergence of a new crop of young artists that I believe will fuse the sounds of today to resurrect the sounds of old, whilst maintaining their stylistic roots. (Sidenote: Sooooo yeah…all the artists are defintely not black…but I just really love that song…and I’m black so I can do whatever I want…)

—ROBERT GLASPER—

I’ve done a good bit of gushing about the 27-year old pianist already on the blog and don’t expect me to stop anytime soon. From jazz classics (Blue Skies/Irving Berlin) to hip-hop classics (Stakes Is High/De La Soul) Glasper does it all. What is so impressive about his style is that it never strays from the cool jazz styling, a sound made popular by artists such as Bill Evans and Vince Guaraldi. Despite the onslaught of “smooth jazz” fusions, ranging from “A Smooth Sax Tribute to Marvin Gaye” to “A Smooth Jazz Tribute to Amy Winehouse” (seriously what idiot is financing these absurd projects…stop it.), Glasper keeps the music sophisticated and yet relevant. For many jazz fans his sound is akin to the percussive and simplistic playing style of jazz pianist and Pittsburgh-native (Shout Outs to the 412/724!!!!) Ahmad Jamal.

If I could have one thing in the entire world it would be a Robert Glasper J Dilla Tribute…seriously I would never listen to a single record again if that ish came out…

A particularly interesting note comes in the form of the Glasper version of “Stakes Is High.” J Dilla who produced the original track actually sampled the powerful piano strokes from Jamal’s “Swahililand.” Because of the two artists similar styles it is not definite which song Glasper is actually playing.

Ok so maybe that’s not interesting, but for a musical nerd, I almost wet myself from the musical intracacy.

In related groupie news, I met dude at the Common/Q-Tip concert (he’s actually the guy playing the piano in the new Tip video for “Gettin’ Up”) last year and literally had nothing to say. I think I mumbled something about his albums being dope or something silly like that. Dude was literally walking through the crowd on some nonchalant, “I’m not a big deal” tip. I completely forgot to get a picture with him and I’m pretty sure I batted my eyelashes once or twice…it happens.

—ESPERANZA SPALDING—

Yeah…Esperanza Spalding is pretty dope. Let’s go through the stats…

1. She plays the oboe, violin, and clarinet but got…”musically bored” and decided to dominate the double bass (that giant monstrosity of an instrument that you have to stand up to play)
2. She sings…well…in two languages (English and Spanish)…I cannot sing well in any languages.
3. She is a professor at the prestigious Berklee College of Music…where she graduated.
4. She has a self-titled album (I want a self-titled anything before I die…)
5. She performed at Penn’s Annenberg Center which gives her baller status through the transitive property of me (I go to Penn, ergo anything associated with the school is by default pretty dope)
6. Yeah….she’s turning 24…this year…24.

So basically she has done more than anyone else I know…and most people that I’ve heard of before she even can think about her 30’s. Oh yeah and that whole teaching thing started when she was around 21…”But how can you teach when you should still be in school?”…By starting college when you’re 16 like my baby Esperanza…Get on her level.

One more thing: She may have passed up Alicia Keys on the list of women I want to marry…I’m really in love with this woman. She likes The Roots and would def be down for going to jazz clubs…that’s all I’ve ever really wanted in a woman. She’ll def be my girlfriend by November. (inside joke…)

—SOIL & “PIMP” SESSIONS—

I could do an entire post about why Japan (Asia in general really…) is dope. The main reason comes from their affinity for jazz. Looking at artists such as Nujabes or DJ Mitsu, there is a clear and heavy jazz influence throughout Japan.

Soil & “Pimp” Sessions (yeah…that’s their name) diverges from the fusion path and takes it all the way back to the Hard Bop scene. The jazz band plays powerful and exciting up tempo pieces that make you want to wild out on another level…I’m talking old Busta Rhymes’ wild out…knocking ish over and everything…yelling nonsensical jibberish with eyes buggin out…

If the Steinberg-Dietrich Experiment (our tentative college jazz/experiment/new wave/hip-hop band) ever happened…this is what I would imagine it as…peep me on the alto sax…

They’ve come out with at least one studio album every year since 2004 and each one has been quite solid. Their most recent endeavor, “Planet Pimp” (I really need to figure out what the deal with the whole “pimp” this is…do they not get the connotation of “pimp” or do they really just not give a damn…) brings the same powerful, horn-blaring sound to the forefront.

I am by no means a musical expert but I figure if Gilles Peterson invites you to play than you’re pretty dope because Gilles Peterson is dope. The same goes for Jamie Cullum, who had them back him for what I would assume was a top ten concert of all time. They also got an invitation to play in Germany by Jazzanova (find and download/buy immediately…thank me later)…Jazzanova had Tigallo and D-Brock on their last album so they probably make better than music than whatever is in your iPod right now…

If you’re still confused by this completely unheard of group let me clarify their sound a little more: Imagine if you had Duke Ellington and Just Blaze get together to conduct a club band…yeah it’s like that.

—CHRISTIAN SCOTT—

Just because you have a talented relative doesn’t mean that you will automatically be talented (ask Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, Post-2000 Janet…) New Orleans native Christian Scott may not have gained his musical prowess from his legendary uncle, alto saxophonist Donald Harrison Jr. (of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers), but he definitely got his musical stripes playing with him at the age of 15. Like Spalding, Scott was talented at a young age, which gained him admittance to the Berklee College of Music, which he somehow managed to finish in three years, while touring and working on his first album…and probably all kind of other baller activities…

38 seconds of Christian Scott>Anything you have ever done musically…

Scott’s 2007 release, “Anthem” encapsulates the trumpeter’s feelings about the devastation that took his Louisiana home. The album is laden with somber and melancholic ballads drenched with the pain of looking through “Katrina’s Eyes” as well as darker tunes expressing the understood rage and anger of not-so-natural man-made disasters. Interestingly enough, Spalding lends her skills to the album as well as talented young pianist Aaron Parks.

From what I’ve read apparently Scott dresses really well too…like people look at him as a fashion icon…not like his belt matches his shoes “should be done regardless” type thing…I therefore run with Scott now too. I expect a Christian Scott/Lil’ Wayne NOLA collabo entitled Top 5 Dead or Alive: Greatest Jazz Artist of All Time…somewhere after the Da Drought 49.

The stage is set for a resurgence in the jazz scene. Herbie Hancock’s outstanding record River: The Joni Letters won Album of the Year at the Grammy’s, young people are as pretentious as ever which is always a plus for the ever-culturally commodified genre that is jazz and most importantly there is a healthy batch of young artists (also peep Parks, Anat Cohen, Marcus Strickland, Mathias Eick, Derrick Hodge [plays with Glasper and did the real dope Bass sections on Common's Be and Finding Forever]) making great music. The only thing the game is missing are some dope vocalists. Amel Larrieux’s Lovely Standards was gorgeous (another musical crush of mine…?uesto took her to prom…wooow) and Chrisette Michelle sounds like Sarah Vaughan…if Sarah Vaughan was forced to make questionable commercially viable R&B crossover albums..smh. However you want to dice it jazz is reemerging as a popular sound and shouldn’t lose momentum anytime soon…hopefully I’ve put you on to some new solid artists…if so you can find me at the Ahmad Jamal concert in Philly…maybe with my girlfriend…holla.

So….because we here at Ethos are a phenomenally lazy group (or just prefer to enjoy our summers) we have been dropping the ball. We probably won’t step our collective post games up until the fall (although I have a few posts collecting dust). While this makes no sense considering we will be overloaded with work in our junior years, we just like dope distractions like writing for Ethos…or Facebooking. To break the monotony of the Ethos silence I figured I would post this video of the Robert Glasper Experiment. First off Robert Glasper is probably my favorite modern jazz artist. Along with characters like Esperanza Spalding (opened for The Roots), Pimp & “Soil” Sessions (they’re from Japan-a place that still loves and respects jazz and hip-hop), and many other younger jazz artists, he is really bringing back a great musical genre. I recently bought one of his albums (if you know me you understand how extraordinary that truly is…)

For those that were there with me or happened to catch the concert at another venue, Glasper recently toured with Common and Q-Tip. He was the guy on the keys playing jazz guitarist Joe Pass’ cover of John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps”…which in turn was sampled by J Dilla for Q-Tip’s “Let’s Ride” (most people at the concert were confused as to what he was doing…but as a musical nerd and a huge fan of all three songs, I went through what some like to call multiple eargasms). With Glasper added to my list of musical mancrushes that I have gushed over, I’ll move on to the Robert Glasper Experiment. This musical mind trust consists of jazz artists Derrick Hodge, Chris Dave, and Casey Benjamin, and implores the talents of artists such as Mos Def, Bilal and Q-Tip. The group fuses hip-hop with jazz stylings, reminiscent of Illadelph Halflife. They do random shows all the time and if there is a god I will catch one.

This particular video is one of my all-time favorites…I almost broke down completely after hearing this live instrumental of Black Star’s “Thieves in the Night” (understanding this song is like understanding a part of me…) with the Mos Def ad libs. This is music folks…pay attention.

p.s. expect a post soon about those newer jazz artists I mentioned earlier…in the mean time google/imeem/myspace…or buy those names immediately.

p.s.s. To understand my love of Robert Glasper check out this cut of off his 2007 album In My Element…entitled “J Dillalude”…wooooooow.

Quotes from a recent piece of crap journalism in The Economist , an otherwise reputable publication:

“Consider the hot album of the moment: “Tha Carter III” by Lil Wayne. Its central message is that if you are a rap star, you will get laid. The song “Lollipop”, for example, celebrates a young lady who treats Lil Wayne as she might a lollipop.

That’s actually not true…at all. If anything, the central message is: Weezy F Baby…best rapper alive. Or does it have one? Half of the verses on there have the signature Wayne stream of consciousness flow…REGARDLESS, it is obvious this writer has not thoroughly listened to TC3. I mean, he cites the album’s first single that has been pillaging radio airwaves for months to substantiate his claim– great job, buddy.

“The Roots, a group from Philadelphia, are often cited as an example. Their message? “If I can’t work to make it, I’ll rob and take it. Either that or me and my children are starving and naked.””

DIDN’T YOUR HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH TEACHER EVER TELL YOU THAT IT IS NEVER OKAY TO TAKE A QUOTE OUT OF CONTEXT TO MISREPRESENT YOUR SUBJECT? Have you even listened to ONE of their EIGHT studio albums? If i had been reading the actual print magazine, I likely would have ripped up the page.

Do YOU know who this man is? Lexington at The Economist doesn’t.

“But crime and starvation are hardly the only options. Even without a high-school diploma, a black man can probably find a job if he looks. And some manual jobs, such as plumber or cable technician, pay quite well.”

OH MY $*&@^!#(@!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have nothing more to say; this one speaks for itself.

“Mr McWhorter summarises the message of hip-hop as: “Things will keep sucking until there is a revolution where the white man finally understands and does a complete 180-degree turn.” This was true half a century ago in the segregated South. But today, it is nonsense.”

First of all, Mr. McWhorter is farther from an authority on hip-hop than my forehead is from the ground (I mean, what other woman do you know who was 5 foot 11 when she was fourteen years old? But I digress). Don’t read his new book. Actually, what do I know? The Wall Street Journal, a foremost arbiter of all things Black American and hip-hop, calls it “splendid!” However, I haven’t actually read it, so I probably cannot recommend against it…but his recent article in The Root was more than enough for me.

This guy/gal probably graduated from the McWhorter school of hip-hop writers, which champions the following: constructing arguments utterly lacking in nuance, taking quotes out of context, making (predictably shallow and oft inaccurate) blanket statements about its body politic, arguing against an entire THREE people who are convinced that hip-hop today can “save Black America.”

Second, I just wanted to say that there is no segregation today in the South, North, Midwest, or in my diverse, sprawling hometown, Los Angeles, where I can drive for miles on end through COMPLETELY monochromatic neighborhoods. Clearly, the ever-so-swift end to de jure discrimination was a panacea for racial ills, particularly segregation.

Finally, really? It’s nonsense today? Let’s not go too far…I mean, true, “the white man” is not the only one to blame. And maybe you’re right, not 180 degrees…perhaps just…127. But it’s still kind of a far way to go, if you ask me.

“Civil-rights activists in the 1960s were inspired by protest songs, but the songs did not drive the movement. Political change requires hard and often tedious work…”

My high school English teachers always taught me to end my essays on the strongest note possible– so I’ll do that here. Above is the sole good point he made in the article.

Folks at The Economist are better off sticking to their trade. They usually churn out excellent pieces, but really dropped the ball on this one. For the same reason this should never have made it past all those editors and to press, you will never see me writing about textile prices in Bangladesh or the secret to preparing a tasty goulash (actually, I think it has to do with paprika).

And off I go.

“If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. If you start to break it then people aren’t going to go. I’m sorry, but Jay-Z? No chance. Glastonbury has a tradition of guitar music…I don’t know about it. But I’m not having Hip-Hop at Glastonbury. It’s wrong.” ~Noel Gallagher of Oasis

Looks like Jay has been taking classes with Wayne at the Guitar Hero School for Rock&Roll

This weekend Jay-Z headlined the legendary Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, much to the dismay of many diehard fans of the event. One of these haters came in the form of Oasis band member/clown Noel Gallagher. While Gallagher’s distaste with Jay-Z’s top billing is understood, it shows that he does not actually know the history of his beloved event and that he is a world-class douche.

From a historical perspective President Carter is not the first Hip-Hop act to grace the Glastonbury stage. Just to name a few others: Cypress Hill, Michael Franti, Stereo MC’s, The Black Eyed Peas, The Roots and De La Soul…twice. Now, the quick argument could be made that these are “alternative acts”, with sounds more conducive to the Glastonbury norm. This may be true. Said acts are, in fact, more prone to using live instruments, as well as playing sounds relative with the “guitar music” more closely aligned with the events other performers. What this ultimately reveals however, is the blatant ignorance of Gallagher. If he had done his research-even youtubed the guy-he would have noticed the progression of an older, more mature Jay-Z. This is an artist whom, at this point in his heralded career, solely performs using extravagant bands big enough to be a philharmonic. Have you heard “Roc Boys”…with the horns….OHHHHH BAAAABY!!!!!!

Being the 30 Something grown man that he is, Shawn Carter was humble and dignified in his response to Gallagher:

“We don’t play guitars, Noel, but Hip-Hop has put in its work like any other form of music. This headline show is just a natural progression. Rap music is still evolving. From Afrika Bambaataa DJ-ing in the Bronx and RUN DMC going platinum, to Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince winning the first rap Grammy, I’m just next in the line. We have to respect each other’s genre of music and move forward …. I’ve never ever had a show that’s caused this much of a stir so I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve never been involved in anything this controversial. What’s the big deal about doing a show? I guess it’s heritage and people hold that dear to their heart and see it one way but that’s how the world is.”

We should all applaud Jay-Z for being the bigger man…oh yeah he did this too:

I’m sure that Jay-Z covering Noel’s song “Wonderwall” and then doing “99 Problems” was not necessarily the most epic ethering in history…I mean Hiroshima was pretty bad too…

Now to be fair, Oasis is dope. I mean the UK basically pumps out amazing bands (Jamiroquai, Coldplay, Zero 7, Radiohead, 4hero, Brand New Heavies) that may or may not get much American love, despite being better than 99.9% of the music that comes out of the US. I mean Oasis only makes #1 studio albums in the UK…literally. Because of this, I definitely do not want to simply brush off Gallagher’s comments as mere hate…almost. However, it seems that he might be a bit out of touch or maybe just a little bitter. Apparently he didn’t get the memo that Jay-Z will be headlining the O2 Music Festival in London as well as embarking on a UK tour later this year…I guess they don’t like “Hard Knock Life” overseas. Furthermore these comments are coming from a guy who once said that he hoped that two members of the competing English band Blur (also pretty dope) would “catch AIDS and die,” thusly solidifying his place as a grade-A jackass and/or clinically insane individual.

Beyond Gallagher being a hater and just a mean-spirited person (even impressing me…), I must say that the larger point is how awe-inspiring Jay has become. What can be taken from this event is that he is truly bigger than Hip-Hop. I don’t think people have really come to terms with how ginormous it actually is to headline Glastonbury (next year’s headliner will either be Coldplay or Radiohead…and I’m booking my flight already)…and as a Hip-Hop act…it’s unimaginable. On that stage was a very smart and sophisticated artist. He understood the audience and adapted to it-all the while maintaining his artistic integrity. This guy had the ten bajillion person audience at Glastonbury throwing up the roc for an entire set (although having them shout “Jigga What…Jigga Who” was a lil’ bit awkward). That’s a very big deal and if you really think about it pretty dope. Overall, the concert (which can be found on my youtube page) has gotten phenomenal reviews from both sides of the battle, showing how groundbreaking the concert was-transcending any specific genres. Jay didn’t just do Hip-Hop, he did music and that’s why the crowd hung on to every verse and that’s why he’s the best ever…because everybody from Brooklyn to Britain loves H to the Izzo.

At least he didn’t bring out Memph Bleek, Noel…even I would have been on your side for that one homie.

Some artwork from my brother: 

The Obamamobile heads to Washington

(Artwork courtesy of Danny Augenbraun, click image to enlarge)

Considering that it has been nearly a month since Obama became the presumptive Democratic nominee and at least some of the unrestrained euphoria has worn off among his supporters/fans, I figured I would take this time to do a quick recap of some of the recent developments in his campaign. It is hardly a secret that since the late 70s and early 80s the Democrats have embraced a national strategy that attempts to appeal to the same constituencies that the Republicans have been able to ride to electoral success for the last 25+ years. This, in turn, gives the Republican Party an enormous amount of leverage in setting the terms of debate in the run up to elections and also produces the inevitable rightward shift taken by every Democratic candidate over that same time period. Moreover, it should come as no surprise that the Dems are every bit as beholden to the same set of corporate interests as the Republicans which largely explains their unwillingness to reject a national strategy based on constituencies constructed by the Republicans and to attempt to create and appeal to an alternative constituency–namely one organized around a program that can be of immediate benefit to the working class.

But, without further adieu, let us take a trip back to the not so distant past:

1. Not 24 hours after he had secured the nomination, Obama stood before a gathering of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in an attempt to assure Zionists of his pro-Israeli occupation credentials. Here he pledged his support for an undivided Jerusalem and stated that he would rule out negotiations with Hamas–a position not even the Israeli government has taken.

2. On Father’s Day, Obama echoed Bill Cosby’s victim blaming criticisms of Black men as a cause of the problems of the America’s Black population. 

3. While he criticized HRC for once sitting on the board of Wal Mart and positioned himself as a champion of the “little guy” during the primary battle, after securing the nomination Obama chose Jason Furman–a well known defender of Wal Mart and neo-liberal ideologue–to head his economic team.

4. Oh yeah, and then there was this: 

5. Finally, there was last week when Obama voiced his disapproval of the 5-4 Supreme Court decision that barred executions for people convicted of raping children. Right, so Mr. Hope has aligned himself with the likes of Scalia, Alito, and Thomas. That makes sense.

There is no shortage of examples to illustrate the clear right turn that Obama has taken and will continue to take as the election nears and these are but 5 of them. 

The most common defense I have heard of Obama’s rightward shift is that “he has to say the stuff he says,” that “it is the nature of electoral campaigns for Democratic candidates to move towards the center to appeal to voters.” While there is some truth to these statements, they do not reflect some universal truth about the American electoral process so much as they underscore the bankruptcy of the strategy pursued by the Democratic Party for the last 25 odd years. In other words, the only reason Obama has to say the stuff he says is because he is attempting to court the same constituencies that the Republicans have been able to mobilize with such success (and ultimately devastating effects for the vast majority of the American population).

Finally, an underlying assumption of the “he says it because he has to” argument is that Obama is actually far more progressive than his rhetoric would suggest–that he does not truly mean the things he says. But given his record dating back to his days in Illinois state politics, I have no reason to believe that Obama is not just another neo-liberal Democratic politician dedicated to securing the profits of corporations and upholding America’s economic and military global dominance.