Children of Misery: 2020 Sounds & Visuals

 

Didn’t get around to doing the annual summer mixes until year’s end, so they’re fairly indicative of what I was listening to. Only did two this time (a road trippin’ theme never felt right for obvious reasons): bbq and cruisin' jams.

Lots of stuff from the cutting room floor was in constant rotation. Listened to a ton of Nikki Giovanni and Audre Lorde. Plenty of ha has from Jay Jurden Y’all, Who the Hell is Dwayne Kennedy? & Weakness is the Brand. Open Mike Eagle lived my (and I’m sure many others’) dream by interviewing Prince Paul for an entire season of podcast eps. Was also great to learn about Toshi Reagon’s love of Octavia. And I’m always a sucker for fresh Mike Davis content, so this trillbilly chat was a treat.

The best thing I saw—not just in 2020, but in a while—is a generation of youths have a collective lightbulb moment about our carceral culture. Fucked up, f’sure, but happy they have a better sense of how off-course the ship is and where they need to steer it towards.

Otherwise, I didn’t see much worth writing about. We didn’t have the pandemic experience of tucking in and learning new skills or some shit. The main things I ‘watched’ were listenable (and, quite often, tried & true) videos that I would turn on as comfort listening while doing chores. So, loads of Desus & Mero (only the occasional wormhole detour) and talking to myself あっきーさん. john powell & bell hooks came correct. Ocean Vuong is ridiculously talented—and he’s sharing a stage w/ Jacqueline Woodson. Sophia Leung ftw. Btw, I still think Problem Areas season 1 should be required viewing for anyone that comes with that Defund the Police = socialism shit. And thank the content gods for giving us druncle ‘Kiss on the ‘gram.

Screentime generally meant family time, so we had lots of アルプスの少女ハイジ, しまじろうのわお, Molly of Denali, Dr. スランプ, 忍者ハットリくん, ドラえもん, テラスハウス, Hilda, ハイキュー!!, SLAM DUNK, Harvey Girls Forever!, はたらく細胞, からかい上手の高木さん. We exported びじゅチューン！ clips (all of Inoue Ryo’s work is highly amusing) to our constant delight.

Kill The Noise

obama (are we ready for a black president?)

Re-upping this '08 puppy for this particularly special Wednesday.

"To do a dangerous thing with style, is what I call art"

Slam.

Dunk.

Think somebody missed Charlie's point?

h/t to dangerous minds and boing boing.

Headbanger

Business as usual? No surprise considering there will always be a "market for cocaine and hookers."

It's C-time again, so c'mon through and help give a collective finger to the non-(market-)moving spectators.

March 19, 10pm
Cheryl
@
Royale
506 5th Ave (bt 12th & 13th st)
Park Slope
F to 9th St/4th Ave or M/R to Prospect

Primo

times are hard when even stevie can't get a real horn section (via Wonkette)

sintalentos - boys, boys, boys



sintalentos - effaman



A number of you have shown up consistently at the gigs, particularly Cheryl, so consider this my way of saying, "Thanks."

Admittedly, this is thanks by way of thanks to KC, creator of one of my favorite mixes, "girls, girls, girls." Only took me a few years to return the favor, but thought I'd share with with everybody. And, no, this isn't solely for the double-x factor.

On an unrelated note, more proof that good things happen on or around my planned due date.

Positive Contact

I. Introductory Remarks.

Anyone else read James Lieber's Village Voice cover story summarizing the current economic hate f---?

Hardly comprehensive and highly debatable, but Lieber pushes aside the "blame the high risk mortgages" and "f--- Madoff" rhetoric in favor of the hedge fund angle and how they profited off everyone's pain. Wow, that just made me feel dirty about my past temp work.

Spoiler alert: What have they learned? Not just that the gvt will pass them billions after raping our collective face, but that they can make some more cash money off our credit card debt, college loans, and auto loans. Indeed, Smith & Barney are a bunch of b-tches -- Bring the Ruckus!

II. Approval of Past Meeting's Minutes.

A belated shout to those that supported G-Unit and Tony Rico (get well, young'n)'s fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society. Also, mazel tov & Συγχαρητήρια για τον γάμο σας to H & N for the most beautifullest wedding. Evar. Lastly, shouts to the good folks behind last Tuesday's PR in conjunction with Muniz. Yes, I DJ'd b/c a certain billed DJ could not arrive on time. And, yes, you should call the organizers superstars by merit.

III. Action Items.

When the world is running down, Cheryl will always be there to make the worst of what's still around:

Thursday, February 19, 10pm
(I will only be on from 10 to 11:30pm this month, so early birds are encouraged to come and dance)
Cheryl
@
Royale
506 5th Ave (bt 12th & 13th st)
Park Slope
F to 9th St/4th Ave or M/R to Prospect

A Sea of Change

PS: Did Rev. Lowery just say, "When white will embrace what is right"?

Work to Do

The Family Stone

Muddy Waters - "Mannish Boy (I'm a Man)" (mp3)
(Purchase here)

Just don't call him "kid" no more.

P.S. - There's still plenty work to do.

Good Mornein'

please...

Q-Tip - "Shaka" (Feat. Barack Obama) (mp3)
(Purchase here)

Vote.

Solid as a Rock

And you're worried about hip-hop's endorsement?

PopMatters posted my column about the impact of hip-hop on the Obama campaign. Would have gone up sooner... except I missed my deadline... and my editor graciously accepted it late. I know, shame on me. That said, been trying to produce as much content as possible about this year's elections, so hopefully y'all find it relevant.

If you need to take a break from the chatter, and still got zombie on the brain, check out my latest for Prefixmag. It's a rundown of "zombie music," or posthumous music wherein the voice or performance of an artist is appropriated after their death for another song. Think 2Pac. Or Natalie Cole's "Unforgettable." Yes, those two can be found in the same sentence.

One nation under zombie, y'all.

No More Kings

(via hana)


(via poplicks)

Call the People, Are You Ready?

sintalentos - obama (are we ready for a black president?) (.zip file)
(please show your appreciation by making a contribution to the obama-biden campaign)

(intro from our sponsor...)
2pac - changes
will.i.am & the a-b-c-d list all-stars - yes we can
john legend - if you're out there
janelle monae - mr. president
joell ortiz - message to obama
(words from our sponsor...)
mavado - we need barack
ludacris - politics
young jeezy - my president is black (feat. nas)
prinz - barack obama freestyle
cocoa tea - barack obama
big boi - something's gotta give (feat. mary j. blige)
the roots - master of war (live)
(more words from our sponsor...)
kam moye, probz, royce da 5'9" - change
nas - black president (feat. johnny polygon)
common - the people (feat. dwele)
kidz in the hall - work to do (obama for america)
(outro from our sponsor...)

Daily Monthly Bi-monthly Twice-annual updates doth not make the popular blahg. But, hey, I've been doing my part for the team:



Wax Poetics #30, "Back in Black" (interview with VC Veasey of Black Merda).









Made a decent splash on DIGG with my Detox "prequel" piece (also did similar pieces on Q-Tip's The Renaissance and Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II).




Several nice weddings for several nice couples.







Donated the aforementioned mix for my friend's Obama fundraiser (which you should not feel shy about supporting).








Landed a gig DJ'g Park Slope's best cat-themed, bloodbath of a monthly dance party aptly named "Cheryl." Hope to see you every third Thursday at Royale.

And wrote some other stuff that I've lost track of.

And the wild part? There's still more to come:

* Another installment of my Call & Response column for PopMatters about Obama and the myth of the hip-hop Achilles Heel (should post the week of October 27);
* Playing the role of "Music is included" at MoMA's Free Teen Nights on October 31;
* And DJ'g an upcoming PopRally event.

PS - Have you registered yet?

Can We Kick It?

clickety clack (from clared23's flickr)

Marvin Gaye - "You're the Man (Parts 1 & 2)" (mp3)
(Purchase here)


Yes, we can can.

Been a long time, but here's a shotta for now.

We All Must Learn

One step beyond?

KRS-One - "The Way We Live" (mp3)
(Purchase here)

KRS-One - "Mr. Percy" (Feat. Triune) (mp3)
(Purchase here)

Sam Cooke - "If I Had a Hammer" (live) (mp3)
(Purchase here)

Call and Response is back at PopMatters (quick aside: KRS' Life dropped this past June ~ is "The Way We Live" a response song to... a conference? I keed. But the chorus amuses me).

Just in time as I've caught a case of holiday anxiety. Not because my Slavemaster Republic discount got cockblocked, or because Katrina's seed weren't invited back to the annual tree lighting (though that is telling). Rather, seems we can't go a year without some XTREME! GGW behavior. WTF, indeed.

Peace to Dallas and Dan: DP spotted first blood on the Black Friday Firing Squad, while Charnas brought the Michael Richards debacle (not Richards himself -- an important distinction) into context. Stepping out from the haze of these infuriating events, I am struck: are they a perverse re-up of Kanye's clarion call? And a disturbing sign of how polarized our society remains?

***

Nearly ten years ago, Robin D.G. Kelley described his book Yo' Mama's Disfunktional! as "not the sort of defense that turns the discourse [on 'urban populations,' race studies, and 'cultural wars'] on its head, 'flipping the script' in order to paint a noble, unblemished portrait of the black poor. Instead, I see this book as a defense of black people's humanity and a condemnation of scholars and policymakers for their inability to see complexity." These words, and the content of that prescient book, have been echoing of late because they remind me how race remains present in our society. Admittedly, race has played tricky post civil rights; you'd think that all that institutional change would prop up Sam's soul stirring invocation and trickle down some public spaces of goodwill towards fellow humans. But hearing the Blastmaster rail about basic housing rights in 2006 isn't surprising (tho that beat is thick). Nor is Papoose placing Sam in his sights an illustration of how much further we need to go. The murder of Sean Bell or the rants of Michael Richards aren't even needed to prove this point. Because enough was never accomplished in the first place, top down and bottom up. Nor is "enough" what it will take to bring the change. If love and peace are without boundaries, then it's time to stop measuring accomplishments ~ does/did your love prove his/her love by giving you just enough, or by going above and beyond?


Billy Sunday unloaded a Pod's worth of fiyah, but I'll also offer some words from Lee Hays and Pete Seeger through Sam Cooke, one more time. If you had the hammer, what would you do?