Badu @ The Mezzanine SF....can someone name that song?

I went and checked out the Ankh Marketing Anniversary party at The Mezzanine in SF this past Friday (8/13) and the scene was real live! The folks DJ DSharp was spinning his ass off, and really got the crowd goin' I was impressed as I was busy cuttin' it up with my two step! lol! then the set moved to EPMD coming through and doing like 4 songs and bouncing, it was real nice seeing them- especially having listened to them back in the day and seeing them still bring it was very inspiring!! By this time it was like 1 am and most everybody was still waiting on the headliner: Erykah Badu spin her set!! When she got on there was a little bit of technical difficulties, and a voice over the PA going "Engineering can you turn up the levels on the stage!" this was proceeded by a beat playing and Badu saying "That's not the one" which ironically seemed to match the tempo of the beat so folks in the crowd (me included) started rhythmically chanting on the one "That's not the one" then soon after all glitches got worked out and she dropped what seemed like an old school mix that seriously reminded me of being at a family BBQ back in the day the music was solid! I was dancing again!!! Even dropped a gratuitous Bay Area Too $hort "Whistle" song that seemed to send everyone into a frenzy (again, me included!) Then towards the end of her set she dropped this track in the following video clip that had me wondering "Whose song is that??!!" in a good way the track was fresh!!! If anyone knows please reach out to: soul@11525.com! Thanks!!

The Passing of Gil Scott-Heron

(I know this doesn't sum up the man, his life nor the entirety of his work- this is just how his contributions have struck a chord with my me.)


Yesterday (May 27th, 2011) Gil Scott-Heron died. The poet, singer and inspiration for much of my music passed on, and it hit me in an unexpected way. I felt the feeling of immediate grief and a sense that my people, Black people and people of consciousness lost a Garvey, a Malcolm or a Martin. In that those truth tellers unadulterated by a culture of co-opted ignorance, denial, not infected by the slave syndrome that has caused some folks of color to want to comfort white supremacy and capitalism. Gil Scott-Heron was the antithesis of the sellout masked in proper English that soothed the mainstream's denial - he was rather the poet of the revolution, the singer of the blues trying to find its place for a fix. Real and true the feelings evoked in his works that they never felt contrived but lived and breathed like a folk singer, like who he really was: Gil Scott-Heron.

Pieces Of a Man was always my favorite, a true tale of being Black in America, or laid off in America. I understand why my White friends liked his works too. Pieces of a man told to an equally emotional,passionate and soft piano; always felt to me like the kind of music/art that comes from being lived and felt and watched up close in the presence of pain that brings forth light. The light shown bright. Of course another favorite of mine was The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. Turning the commercial symbols of capitalism on their heads to make the point that they will not be the source of our collective empowerment, liberation or enlightenment - this truth is still evident today as commercial enterprise (global commerce, oil/energy and weapons/war profiteers) are seeing extreme profits like nothing seen before in history, yet most Americans do not bask in this financial windfall. Our eduction is being cut, our environment polluted and innocent people near and far are being murdered by these profiteers! The Revolution Will Not Be Televised is as appropriate now as it was 30 years ago! Great art does this, great artists evoke a sense of timeless truth that cannot be taught at Ivy League schools nor formulated into a theory with predictable input, output; these things are lived and breathed and directly experienced. I feel quite lucky and blessed to have heard Gil Scott's voice, music and poetry. My generation of hip-hop has been directly influenced by his body of work and the spirit of it...None the less I must admit that over a year ago I had a chance to go see him at a famous jazz club here in the Bay and didn't go. I invited a friend who quickly reminded me of how Gil Scott had fallen to drug abuse and how sad it would be to see a legend in that state. I was all too quick to agree and didn't go. When I heard of his passing last night I quickly flashed back to this missed opportunity and how 6 months after this show I read an interview he did in Waxpoetics magazine and he talked about how he had got caught with less than a gram of cocaine ($20 worth!) was doing jail time for this possession, and how while it was a mistake, it was blown way out of proportion. Posing the question: How many of us have done something stupid: drove a little drunk, had less than a gram on us, ran a red light etc? but just didn't get caught? The article also talked a lot about the state of America (the arrogance of world domination), as well as hip-hop and how he loved the art form but just wished us mcees would actually say something in our music, and not just talk about the last mcee we disliked. The article inspired me greatly to say the least. Last night I couldn't sleep, thinking "Who will speak for us now?" Then I remembered that like the truth speakers before Gil Scott-Heron (Langston Hughes was a big influence of his), we must carry the torch, the mic, the soapbox forward as well.

Love and peace to an ancestor that has left us w/ a legacy to carry forward!

You ever had one of these moments???

It seems customer service is a thing of the past...not enough sauce on the side, waiters getting attitudes and all, and then this...i would write a song about it, but i think this sticky note sums it up nicely! now for more guacamole on my beats!!!

On the way from the Town to the City

I was in the City today (City is Bay talk for San Francisco, the Town is Bay talk for Oakland ;) and was coming out of the BART train station there on Powell street, when I heard this cat singing a song on a guitar that sounded familiar, it wasn't until I paid my fare that I realized he was singing a guitar acoustic version of Cali Swag's "Teach Me How to Dougie". I can't front I'm not a fan of the radio/video version, not on some ol hip-hop puritan $hit, but just aint feelin it in a "let me hear the next release you got, cuz this one aint doin it for me" kinda thing...In any event I heard this dude rocking the acoustic version of the song, and it sounded kind of dope. So I dubbed a clip to share with ya'll, and promised to pass the clip along for (an)other(s). Dig it...

sOuL in Bolivia...more to come.

Oakland/The Town/Snapshot pieces

Abacush the dilema: to download or support the obscure reggae dubness...

As an artist you sometimes find the funkiest and most unexpected inspiration from the most random of places. Yesterday I was listening to WeFunk radio episode 620 and tripped on a track they played by some group called Abacush, whose song was of the same title. It's a dope reggae song that turned dub at the end, like so many reggae cuts do, but this one sparked my interest for some reason. Perhaps it was the Cush reference or the obscurity of the group that got me, or the the mighty dubbness of it all towards the end (me and the dub/reggae have a close relationship on a feelin' heart and soul thing) plus the song was dropped in the most obtuse and comfortable of places, after a horace andy cut and before a pharrell from the neptunes/n.e.r.d one - talk about a diverse mix of music....anywho, as I digress I found it to be a bad ass reggae track and wanted to be able to listen to it on the go in the ride, the headphones and what not, so I was at a dilemma: do i dub it right off of the WeFunk site and risk being taken to court by the record industry like that poor lady in Minnesota who had to pay 1.5 million for downloading 24 songs, or do I support the artist by looking for them on amazon or itunes etc and pay the .99cents for the mp3?? I decided to look them up on the web to buy their song thinking they were an obscure group and deserved the dap and support. When I did I found nothing to download, nothing! Site after site, didn't offer anything to purchase but I was able to gather from blogs and youtube that the group was an all female group that did their thing in the 80's, but as far as download?? Nada! Nothing but this YouTube clip. So I'm dubbin it and sharing it with ya'll. If anyone comes across a site selling their stuff please do share! In the mean time, enjoy and lets all celebrate great music!