Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 512

Built On ‘The Breaks’: The Sounds And Samples Of 9th Wonder

'Patrick Douthit has been making music as hip-hop producer 9th Wonder for nearly two decades. In the early 2000s Douthit gained recognition for his work with the North Carolina hip-hop group Little Brother. He went on to produce music for Jay Z’s 2003 release The Black Album,  Destiny’s Child’s 2004 album Destiny Fulfilled, and he won a Grammy Award for his work on Mary J. Blige’s 2005 album The Breakthrough. Douthit grew up in Winston-Salem and remembers hearing his first hip-hop song in 1982 with Afrika Bambaataa’s “Planet Rock.” Douthit soaked up the sounds of hip-hop and grew in his own musical skills, playing  the clarinet in the school band during middle and high school. Today Douthit consistently collaborates with top names in the industry. Earlier this year, he produced for rapper Kendrick Lamar’s highly-anticipated album DAMN. Douthit is also the founder of the independent record label Jamla Records, an artist-in-residence at North Carolina Central University and an adjunct professor at Duke University in Durham. ' -- WUNC -- The State of Things


 

#UnderTheSoulCovers: “Fire & Rain” -- James Taylor + The Isley Brothers + Bobby Womack

#UnderTheSoulCovers: “Fire & Rain” -- James Taylor + The Isley Brothers + Bobby Womackby Mark Anthony Neal | @NewBlackMan | NewBlackMan (in Exile)
Had James Taylor never sang another note after recording “Fire & Rain,” it would remain a generational statement on longing, loss, regret, and promise. The timeless resonance of the song’s themes perhaps explains why it was taken up by so many of Taylor’s peers, including the unlikely examples of The Isley Brothers and Bobby Womack.  
The Isley Brothers' version appears on Givin’ It Back (1971). Recorded before the commercial breakthrough of the 3+3 formation, these early T-Neck recordings mined the so-called Rock classics of the era, as much out of a preference for the music as it was an attempt by the brothers Isley to reclaim their  legacy in the history of Rock music. That legacy went back to classic recordings like “Shout” (1959)  and “Twist and Shout” (1962), which The Beatles covered -- and made more famous -- on their first album a year later.  
The version on Givin' It Back opens as a dirge -- a seemingly normative attribute in Black music during this era, given the very real loses the movement witnessed in the field. As an example “Fire & Rain” appears on an album that opens with a cover of Crosby, Still, Nash, and Young’s “Ohio,” written in the aftermath of the shooting of four Kent State University students by National Guardsmen; the Isley Brother version also gestures to the shootings of Black students at Jackson State in 1969 and South Carolina State in 1968. “Ohio” was mashed with Jimi Hendrix’s “Machine Gun” -- in case folk missed the point -- and “Fire & Rain” immediately follows as the dirge gives way to plaintive reflection (Hendrix, who had died the year before, was a one time guitarist in the band). It remains a shame that these Isley Brother recordings from 1969 - 1972, have largely been overshadowed by the 3+3 formation -- when the group was formally joined by brothers Marvin, Ernie (a Hendrix devotee) and cousin Chris Jasper -- and Ronald Isley’s later doppelganger “Mr. Biggs.”
Womack’s version of “Fire & Rain” appears on Communication (1971), the album that re-booted his career.  He begins with a spoken word intro, announcing that he was doing the song “may way.” Womack’s version plods, in the way that one might expect a sad country song to plod; at his best Womack was a country music singer capable of Sam Cooke like vocal runs, dropping nods to the likes of Ray Charles, Charley Pride, and Joe Simon, but still needing to survive on the Chitlin Circuit. Tellingly, Womack’s most often songwriting collaborator was Jim Ford, a White Kentucky-bred singer/songwriter, who helped pen Womack’s classic “Harry Hippie” in 1972 and more than a dozen R&B staples on Womack’s The Poet, The Poet II and So Many Rivers in the early 1980s.

Uproar Over Natural Hair? A Trip to Magic Fingers Studio in Brooklyn

'Across the county, several incidents have been reported regarding natural hair. Vanessa VanDyke, 12, of Florida, faced expulsion for her Afro. A Texas cheerleader's braids caused an uproar. And Mya and Deanna Cook of Massachusetts received detention and were barred from extracurricular activities for wearing braid extensions. Despite the natural curly hair revolution happening, institutions haven’t caught on. The “neat and clean” standards found in most handbooks on grooming were not written for black women, for they ignore the fact that kinky and coarse natural hair grows from the scalp. We went to Magic Fingers Studio, a natural hair salon in Brooklyn, and spoke with black women, a father of a young girl and elementary school students, all of whom shared stories of their natural hair struggles.' -- New York Times Student Institute


 

The Combat Jack Show: The Dear White People Episode

'On this episode The Combat Jack Show sits down with Director/Film-maker Justin Simien and leading actress Logan Browning from the Netflix series Dear White People.' #RaiseTheBar

Towards Autocracy: Who Wins Trump's Battle with the Security State?

'Law scholar Michael J. Glennon examines the long, post-Truman transfer of power from democratically elected politicians to un-elected managers of the security state, and explains how Trump's provocation of America's double government (and conversely, its new liberal defenders) could restructure the mechanisms of power in our democracy. Glennon wrote the June cover story Security Breach: Trump’s tussle with the bureaucratic state for Harper's Magazine' -- This Is Hell! Radio

'Day of Absence' Playwright Douglas Turner Ward Talks the Founding of The Negro Ensemble Company

'Artistic Director Douglas Turner Ward talks to Dr. Roscoe C. Brown Jr. about the theatre company he founded in 1967, The Negro Ensemble Company, which broke barriers by using Black actors, writers and producers.' -- cunytv75 

T. Morgan Dixon and Vanessa Garrison: Walking As A Revolutionary Act of Self-Care

'"When Black women walk, things change," say T. Morgan Dixon and Vanessa Garrison, the founders of the health nonprofit GirlTrek . They're on a mission to reduce the leading causes of preventable death among black women — and build communities in the process. How? By getting one million black women and girls to prioritize their self-care, lacing up their shoes and walking in the direction of their healthiest, most fulfilled lives.'-- TED

Going Places with BJ The Chicago Kid

“My family’s been in Chicago my whole life,” BJ The Chicago Kid fondly recalled, riding around his city in The Toyota RAV4. “They named this street after us.” The R&B and soul singer-songwriter has deep roots in the city that made him, and an even deeper appreciation for the Chicago communities and institutions that have encouraged him along his musical journey. In a new video produced by The FADER for Toyota, BJ stops by three landmarks that hold a special place in his heart — his childhood home, where he was first introduced to gospel and soul music, his high school, where he’s able to share a few words of wisdom, and Fat Tiger, the beloved shop and meet-up spot that he dubs “the heartbeat of Chicago.” -- The FADER 

Sterling K. Brown on How 'This Is Us' Tackles Being Black in America

'Sterling K. Brown (This Is Us) joins The Hollywood Reporter for this season's Drama Actor Roundtable. In this episode of Close Up he explains the unique and purposeful approach the show took: "A successful black man, married with two children, who's happy and succeeding in life, but still has to deal with the fact that life is not the same."' -- The Hollywood Reporter 

"This is not just about Fenway" -- Adam Jones on Race and Baseball

'This is not just about Fenway. This is not just about one drunk guy. This is not just about Major League Baseball. For Adam Jones, this is about his three-year-old son.' -- The Players' Tribune