A Proper Doodle of The Late Etta James

This sketch was made by Katie Frasier, a friend of mine from college and the mind behind the new clothing line Feebee.

In my current freelancing days, I cover just about everything that has to do with the arts - from dance to paintings to music to film to theatre - but I usually keep this blog exclusive to music. However, when I spot something that connects to great ear candy - like this great eye candy - I feel it's my duty to post.

I looked at this and saw far more than a neatly drawn picture of the late, great Etta James. I saw just about everything that embodied that singer, from her extremely youthful personality to her from-the-ground-up vocals.

While this could be an ode to "At Last" (or a rant on how every other blog or media outlet dedicates her dedication to other artists who have been inspired by Etta James), she was so much more than that, musically. In certain aspects, mainly speaking when I listen to "Something's Got A Hold On Me" or "Hoochie Coochie Gal" or "I Just Wanna Make Love to You" her classy voice would clash with her raw and youthful personality. Here it is this singer you know from something as dramatic as "At Last" getting down with the rebellious-to-gospel swing sound, or blues rock, or sensual satisfaction (respectively speaking). It was like she rebelled against conserving her swag to big band tunes and dramatic songwriting. She didn't need big red curtains to do her thing. Etta James was that vibrant and bold how she spoke to me loudly like she was that homegirl from around the way.

Not that this picture is "hood" in any sense, but in most artwork that included Ms. James there was a glossy, spotlight-ish, 50s glow surrounding her - even when any true follower of her knew that's not really her. The thing about this photo is it speaks to her vibrant nature, from her booming voice to her various outrage in her portrayal by current R&B artists. The colors used, the fill-in's patterns, the background, her hair, they're all telling a tale that features the entire spectrum of Etta James.

Everyone will miss that. Trust!

Rest in Power Etta James.

The Strike Against SOPA

"Maybe you'll love me when I fade to black"
 - Jay-Z


As this site is dressed in all black and some of you might wonder "hey, where did those annoying bubbles go?!?!" the Internets is fighting to protect what is there's - freedom. Congress seems to be on a roll with their idiocy of ending online piracy by completely ignoring everything that made the Internet great in the first place.

How can something so generic be so tightening on the lungs of the Web?

We featured the Free Justin Bieber campaign recently, but Congress doesn't seem to get it. I understand, though, as I've been part of the movement to help bring together the colliding worlds of entertainment blogging and bloodthirsty lawmakers. Seeing the various interaction, runarounds, and other slippery slopes of being a watchdog makes me realize that the term evolution (at least when it comes to harmonizing and balancing the two aforementioned worlds) is an understatement.

That's why this site is in its all-black-everything phase.

Basically, the government is enforcing that every website polices third party links from everywhere that includes anything regarding all forms of copyright infringment. That was not a sarcastic statement. Due to generic terms used in the bill, S. 968, that is the way it must be examined. Well, at least to avoid catching a flippin' felony!

Here's the Skippy on why SOPA has a dangerous capability of screwing over everything the Internet stands for:

1. Like mentioned about S. 978 (the Commercial Felony Streaming Act) earlier, the incidentals and accidentals will be entirely too vulnerable. If So And So wants to post her favorite song on Facebook because it explains the complex status she posted earlier about being "the baddest btich" (or however the misspelling goes), then she is liable to shut all of Facebook down. Yes, because the site allowed her to post content that enables pirate sharing, all of Facebook is liable to be shut down. Under SOPA's blanket-covering/suffocating definition, sites like YouTube, Facebook, Gmail, Dropbox, Soundcloud, and a big ass etc are sites dedicated to "theft of U.S. property." The thing is that any site with a comment box or upload form of any sort - whether the site complies with the DCMA or not - has the potential to be punished for infringement.

2. Any countering on infringement becomes far more difficult than previous copyright laws. For example, if an artist sends me a direct song they want "leaked," and the attorney general finds out then my ass is grass. Alone. In the bill, there is no clear statement of how they go about notifying the artist or their label - let alone whether or not the government has to! The responsibility is placed in my hands to get in touch with an already nearly untouchable party to send a counter-notice stating that I am allowed to "leak" the track... or picture... or video (just to make sure you understand what all's at stake here). After five days of the site being shut down, if no counter-notice is issued, guess who's going to jail?!

3. Still this term "FELONY" puts an awful strain on an already economically struggling field(s). Here's an explanation from Mashable's Opinion page of how quickly casual whoopsies become three years in prison:

Section 201(b)(1) expands criminal copyright infringement to include:
"At least 10 copies or phonorecords, or of at least 10 public performances by means of digital transmission, of 1 or more copyrighted works, during any 180-day period, which have a total retail value of more than $2,500."Now, the way that the value of a work can be computed in court is the very crude (value of the work times number of views).
"Total retail value may be shown by evidence of the total retail price that persons receiving the reproductions, distributions, or public performances constituting the offense would have paid to receive such reproductions, distributions, or public performances lawfully."This means, for example, if you upload a video to YouTube of you singing a popular song, and that song might sell for $1, and your video gets 2,500 views, you are guilty of felony copyright infringement. Furthermore, you can tack on “willful infringement for commercial gain or valued at more than $1,000.”
This would make you a felon, and if a copyright holder were to bring a suit against you, would give you a criminal record that would make it virtually impossible to fain future employment, and may subject you to up to three years in prison for singing a song. You don’t have to receive any money. You don’t have to gain anything from your video. Simply receiving 2,500 views on a song you sung, which happens to have copyright held by someone else, makes you a felon.

 4. This isn't just happening to folks in the U.S., this is for EVERYONE. The power has been put in the attorney general's hands to fully censor - from shutting down the site to cutting the site off from AdSense to cutting the site off from Paypal - any site that isn't even in the jurisdiction of the U.S. Folks first think of WikiLeaks, but what about other sites? Let's not forget about entertainment sites like SoulCulture, Daily Mail, Every Day A Great Song, etc that could be shut down for good. Not only that it's just shut down in their country, but worldwide (they don't call it that for nothing)!

If SOPA passes, then we'll be out here looking like China. Flat out. Big Brother's monitoring will just grow more and more brolick, brolick to the point where any slight instance of opposition is silenced - whether it be opposition of government policy or opposition of society's choice of entertainment.

A Justin Bieber Movement We All Can Agree On!

Congress is at their anti-music freedom antics again. Does the corrupted ever sleep?! Plus, this is looking like it could sweep anyone off of YouTube cover fame, including Justin Bieber.

It's S. 978, the bill that can lock up folks for up to five years for using copyrighted material on the Web. OpenCongress summarizes it like this:

The Commercial Felony Streaming Act (S. 978) makes unauthorized web streaming of copyrighted content a felony with a possible penalty of up to 5 years in prison. Illegal streaming of copyrighted content is defined in the bill as an offense that "consists of 10 or more public performances by electronic means, during any 180-day period, of 1 or more copyrighted works" and has a total economic value, either to the copyright holder or the infringer, of at least $2,500.

While I feel like Justin Bieber should not be as popular as he actually is - in fact I would give him Jeff Cohen's fame over Sean Astin's fame (or as much as I could relate his musical content to Sloth from The Goonies as possible) - he should not be locked up for covering his favorite songs. Neither should Karmin, Greyson Chance or Melanie Fiona.

Thanks to the open-ended language of this bill, three hots and a cot for five years can go to not only YouTubers but to Tweeters, Facebook(ers), MySpace(rs), Google+ers, Pandora(ers), AmazonCloud(ers), GrooveShark(ers), SoundCloud(ers), folks who own iPhones, Androids and email accounts because it's the sharing of streaming media that could be illegal.

Thinking about it, and maybe stretching it a little, bumping the stream of the Danny Brown and Black Milk album on speaker phones and then someone joins in on the tunes could come with a five-year sentence. How awesome is that?!

Here's another slightly-stretched scenario: those who want to make their own variation of The Wobble, The Wu-Tang, The Artichoke, or whatever the hot new dance craze can get the silver bracelets too. Oh, and that cute video of the eight-year-old singing Nicki Minaj's "Super Bass?" Illegal.

While the pressure to protect artists from other people making money off of streaming music without the artist's permission is understandable, the impulsive extremity of this act is foolish. If someone were to steal anything I've written off this blog and post it on their sites as their words, I would be pissed. However, to do it with an adoration for my voice (and attribution), or to do it on the grounds of some editing of some sort, I would understand.

Here's what's being done. Fight for the Future has launched a Free Bieber campaign and a petition people can sign to stop the bill from going forth. Once you visit FreeBieber.org, the petition will pop up asking for your email address. The petition is spread throughout the website as well.

The idea of penalizing folks like Karmin, Beiber, etc for the same reasons (and then some) is radical. Given most musicians feel like they are as good as - if not better - than the next man, most folks who cover other artists do not look to profit off of their adoration. More than likely, they want to place themselves in their favorite artist's shoes in their covers. Show me a band that wants to purely profit off of covering another artist, and I'll show you the Wiz Khalifa costume Billy Gardell (Mike from Mike & Molly) plans on wearing this Halloween weekend.

2011 A3C Festival Photos and Recap

I had the pleasure of doing double duty for A3C this year - holding it down for A3C (of course) and Frank151 Atlanta Backwoods. From many trips to Subway for an Anytober footlong to wacky odes to Trail Mix, I was pretty exhausted by the 3rd day of A3C-ing. Maybe I should save these anecdotes for the actual recap...


From meeting the female emcee of 9th Wonder's Jamla crew to witnessing Big Daddy Kane and Skoob Lover do their trademark dance, the twinkles in my eye never really left throughout all of A3C. Just about every performance I saw at A3C reminded me to never sleep on a hiphop festival merely because it is indeed a hiphop festival.

Not everyone (at least in Atlanta) got that memo. Although the headlining acts get bigger and bigger (mind you, this year's included Freeway, Random Axe, Big KRIT, Dead Prez, Big Daddy Kane), the city's consumption of A3C seems to stay the same, if not grow weaker. It felt like there was less enthusiasm and appreciation of the hiphop fuel A3C had, not to mention the other events tending to the needs of Atlanta's socialites conflicting with A3C's impact. Yeah, the Atlanta City Council awarded A3C with a proclamation for their hard work and diverse cultural programming, but the city itself seemed to yawn it off. 7 years later, and a proclamation by the Atlanta City Council, and they still have to compete with other people in bringing the biggest hiphop names to Atlanta on the first weekend of October? Come on, son!

Aside from all that, A3C continued to accomplished what most big events in Atlanta don't do - break wall(s). Usually people go to an event indirectly masked as certain people: press/media, up-and-coming artist, complete and total fan, socialite (can be V.I.P or groupie, but that's another blog post) and the performing act. Whereas most events, especially "Black Hollywood" events, keep things neatly organized to the point where everything seems fenced to machine-like actions and interactions, A3C doesn't do that at all. Instead, A3C will have you forget that you, the performing act, shouldn't act hysterical over another performing act. Or you, the press guy, shouldn't be so star-struck when a headliner is ready for pictures and questions in the media room. However, when hiphop is being hiphop - familial in all its cultural ways - wear as many masks as you can without being the festival creep.

The biggest highlights of A3C this year came from the most respected names in the entire hiphop community, as many of those cats were there. From Jarobi making a surprise appearance for Eternia's tribute to ATCQ's "Excursions" to a massive amount of white people obligingly yell "I'm down for running up on them crackers in they city hall" to MURS finally unleashing emotionally-deep material unto his fans to 9th Wonder and Dee-1 sit outside of downtown Atlanta's New Era store trade knowledge back and forth like the teachers they are, I don't know what else to actually say about A3C except the twinkle in my eye - you know, that twinkle that's similar to a life-opening experience, that twinkle - never left.

The twinkle didn't even leave when I did this ridiculous interview with the Ying Yang Twins!!! Check out Where My 40 Acres while you're at it too because those cats stayed on it.





I cannot escape without proper props to these blogs too! You must check out:


BombOnEm
Write and Groove
Miss L's
Rhythmic Images
Natasha Williams Photography
Trill Talk Radio
iAm Classic Hip Hop


Artists you must check out because they killed it at A3C:


Jon Connor
Marz Lovejoy
Nikki Lynette (crazy how underrated she really is)
Boog Brown (read Nikki Lynette)
Skewby
Phil Ade
Nikkiya
The 5IVE
XV (again, read Nikki Lynette)
Gods'Illa
Reks
Skyzoo
and really, go to A3C's website and look up all the other artist profiles because there're too many to name!

Check out my Frank151/A3C blog team coverage of A3C, including interviews with MURS, tabi Bonney, The ReMINDers, Eternia, Nikki Lynette, Ultrabeast, The 5IVE, Boog Brown, and more!

Also, my YouTube page has some great concert footage, including MURS' new joint "Remember to Forget" and Freeway's classic "What We Do"

And since you made it this far down the blog, and hopefully read all these words I've typed, check out this video I got of Ski Beatz with his band The Sensei's and Phil Ade getting it on the spot!

SIDEBAR!!!

I often tussle with the belonging and the arrangement of different generations in hiphop. Where do I fit in? Is there even a post-hiphop generation? Did I really need to be alive to be part of the hiphop generation, or is there a nonchronological presence in hiphop that overrides the whole "we started it"/"we, the old heads" mantra? How much does age really matter?

After A3C, not even through the exploration of technological advances in the culture's preservation, I've found out that age is nothing but a number - as long as the community elders (the old heads) continue to build with the youngsters, and vice-versa. Face it, while vinyl will never die in hiphop, the younger generation will forever need to teach veteran DJs how to work the vinyl-to-USB transformation to the max. An old head will always have to teach young breakers proper and well-respected freezes.

A3C was a perfect example of all of that! From seeing breakers of all ages battle to hearing 9th Wonder and Dee-1 give advice to aspiring artists to watching a group like Dead Prez shout out a group like The ReMINDers as "family," the opportunity to dead my on-the-fence grappling of the Hiphop/Post-Hiphop generation(s) was there and ended it.

WTF? Funk Has Slyly Slipped Away

After reading New York Post's story on Sly Stone, and listening to Dam-Funk's newest EP InnaFocusedDaze, everyone should be convinced by now that funk is the most unsung genre in the history of music. Yes, even more than the different layers of folk.

By now, everyone has heard one of Sly& The Family Stone's uplifting records on a cheesy commercial or a self-help flick. From "Thank You (For Letting Me Be Myself)" to "I Want to Take You Higher," people have not only felt Sly & The Family Stone created quality music but transgenerational messages of empowerment. The fact that the group's ring leader is broke - which some credit is due to his abusive drug habits - due to a bad case of mishandling his finances is ridiculous.

Aside from the management in the money and the messages in the music, the art of funk only remains a conversation piece among a small few - let alone expressing it within the music. After hearing "Don't You Know (This Funk Is Real)" by Dam-Funk, it's become apparent that the use of the bass slap is rarely heard in today's music, despite the oodles of enjoyment from listening to similar sounding records from the 60's and 70's. While we try to keep our music, fashion and pop culture vintage and original - even to the extent of overly sampling funk records - we've left some of the most innovative pieces of the genre behind. Same could be said for the use of hi-hat and synthesized snare - no one uses it anymore yet everyone loves to hear it. It's crazy how Dam is the only one that is out right now carrying on the tradition of funk music properly.
Scion A/V Presents: Dam Funk - InnaFocusedDaze by ScionAV
As innovative as funk was when it first came on the scene and as influential as it has become for genres like house, hiphop, jazz, pop, rock, R&B and reggae, why is it that the funk musicians - especially the greatest funk musicians like George Clinton and Sly Stone - currently sit in the worst financial situations as multiplatinum-selling artists? Why is it the hardest for them to fight back for their royalties and properly manage their funds? Why has it seemed like the following generations have raped these cats for all they're worth?!

This rant has come after tiring stories of Sly Stone: living out of his van while fighting in court for millions in royalties, George Clinton: check-to-check from retrospective tours and TV appearances, not to mention Zapp's family, the Sylver's family, and countless others in the mentally-straining struggle to get what they so rightfully earned. I'm just as tired of watching it as they are fighting it.

Let Raekwon and Nas Floss on "Rich & Black"!!

After the release of his latest album Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang, Raekwon harnessed the ability to be flashy and educative at the same time - something that is rarely seen in today's music. This comes in light of his new video with Nas for the single “Rich & Black.”

Before everyone goes on their "here's another 'money, cash, hoes'" kick, please pay attention to the lyrical content of the song and its sampling. Best quote: "I hate to see you act like a slave to get an advance here and advance there because somebody else controls your destiny." This re-tells the flows spat by Nas and Raekwon about being richer - not only in pockets - but in minds. Watch the video for the whole idea of their message.

Yes, the video is not as intelligent as the record, and in fact dumbed down to the average rap industry cookie-cutter video. Nevertheless, give these cats some credit for applying street-friendly knowledge and empowerment to their music.

Nas and Raekwon has always been the type of emcees to kick something for both the streets and the intellectuals to love and relate, and although they've shown growth from that path it doesn't mean they aren't allowed to return to that. We can date these finding back to Nas’s "If I Ruled The World" and Raekwon's narration on the Wu-Tang classic “C.R.E.A.M.” (YouTube videos here - Nas "If I Rule The World" and Wu-Tang "C.R.E.A.M.")

We've been so used to hearing this type of rich and flashy floss music misrepresented by those without knowledge that when someone applies a greater meaning to flossing that it gets ignored. Instead, we should embrace such sophistication that comes out of such a gritty and grimy industry. There's not a simple way to explain the reception of this record and the video, so here's what I got:

It's a shame that music listening has been reduced to keywords, SEO-style lyricism and what the beats sound like. People have taken a expedient effort to listen to their music, like, if they hear "swag" it's an automatic "no" - whether or not it's in a sarcastic context, its definitive form or if the person is against it - it's still received negatively. Same goes for grey areas, such as songs with material-oriented content.

No A-B-C raps have, or ever will, came out of either emcee’s mouths, but the perceived reception is that no flossing should be celebrated. FOH with that mess! As long as Raekwon, Nas, or whoever spits lyrics that all hiphop fans can relate to, I'm game.

2011 Grammy Awards Recap: WHO IS ESPERANZA SPALDING?!?!?

And yes, this is a rant.... so enjoy!

The Grammy's this year has certainly been the talk on the Web these past 16 hours, especially because of the so-called upsets that took place (and for Lady Gaga's chickenhead-esque entrance). The biggest award surprises for the night were Arcade Fire for Album of the Year, Lady Antebellum for just about everything else, and for Esperanza Spalding beating out Justin Bieber and Drake for Best New/Breakout Artist... Well, at least a surprise for non-bloggers and the quote/un-quote "music elite" (including hipsters and indie folk).

So I guess this is where I enter my thoughts? Ok.


The Grammy's took a major-league turn from the award show we all thought we knew and hated to love before. The sickest thing about last night was that not only did the awards show music is still alive, but it showed how much the Grammy committee listened to the blogs and indie websites (i.e. Pitchfork, Stereogum, etc). Last night's show was heaven for this girl! (minus the whole forgetting to include GURU in their "In Memoriam" session, which I will get to SOON)

I'm sure between the time the nominees were announced and the time the Best New Artist award was presented, I was the only one betting my money on Esperanza Spalding (see tweet here). If you knew her and her music, you would have done the same. Yes, even over Justin Bieber, Florence & The Machine, Mumford & Sons, and Drake folks had plenty of reasons to root for her!

Reason #1: Modernizing Jazz in a Pop World
Esperanza Spalding is more than a chick who play that big ol' bass thing that looks like a cello (hence the diesel-like arms). She is a composer, one who is up on every style and sound of music people enjoy. If smooth and soulful is the call, she got it *cuts to her songs "Precious," "Espera" and "I Know You Know" from her self-titled sophomore album.* Her greatest composition from her six-year career (YES, SIX-YEAR CAREER!!!) comes from her 2010 album Chamber Music Society. It has all the elements of Black music in today's world, from a contemporary, abstract composition to the sexy, sensual and sassy lyricism and sound. Perfect examples are "Knowledge of Good & Evil," "Wild Is The Wind," "What A Friend," and "Winter Sun." Honestly, the entire album is Grammy-worthy!

Reason #2: The Sickest, and Most Unheard Jazz Vocals
When most people think of vocalism in jazz, they think either scat or strong and soft singing. That's not necessarily true for Esperanza Spalding. While she does scat and can sing strongly and softly, she adds another element to her voice, which is sort-of worldly and rhythmic. Whenever she isn't outright singing a song, she's using her voice as a literal instrument to pick up where her bass and other instruments leave off. Although I would say she couldn't last in the music world (especially the game) without her bass and composition skills, she wouldn't be half-bad with just her singing and song-writing. However, she has an angelic voice you can't deny, especially since she uses it to complement her music.... uses it AS her music at that! Perfect examples include "Chacarera," "Really Very Small," and "Apple Blossom."

Reason #3: History Would Be Made If She Won... Much Needed History
Did you know it has been 35 years since a jazz artist was nominated for a Best New Artist Grammy? I surely didn't until this morning. Without jazz, there would be no R&B, no soul, no hiphop, no prog-rock, no experimental, just none of the genres that require both rhythm and improv would exist. In a time where the most popular jazz artist (Black ones at that) have either been through a) four generations of music, b) only doing covers and remixes or c) implement every other genre into their sound, a jazz musician winning a televised award that usually goes to artists who fit the pop culture niche is the breath that jazz needed. Jazz has been used and abused by society as that dirty work genre - yeah, yeah, it's around and has done so much for society but it's boring. You can't dance to it. It's too deep and abstract. We've mashed so much into jazz it's hardly recognizable, let alone recognized, as real music. I'm glad Esperanza Spalding (among other unnamed jazz musicians) have brought jazz back to being a forefront genre in music, at least in the Grammy's eyes, thanks to the slight contemporary and pop culture merge in today's world.

I don't count out Justin Bieber and Drake as folks who won't last. They got oodles of time before they win the Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Album of the Year, etc. I honestly give them as soon as next year, especially if they take heed to the underlying message the Grammy's just sent to American music, including musicians, listeners, composers, producers, mainstream haters, pop culture critics, trend whores, and elitists alike: STEP YA GAME UP! WE DID.