Critical Noire

Tupac’s Book Shelf

[1.May.03] :. Price drew on his own training as a Gospel musician and ethnomusicologist to examine Tupac's spiritual development, suggesting that the late artist had surpassed the legacies of John Coltrane and Mahalia Jackson as spiritual figures within the tradition of black music.

Confessions of a ThugNiggaIntellectual

[27.Mar.03] :. I share a space with them each time I'm profiled in grocery stores, or chillin' with my homies Gramsci and Jay Z at Starbucks.

Still a Riot Goin’ On: Fela Kuti, Celebrity Gramscians, and the AIDs Crisis in Africa

[26.Feb.03] :. Fela's emergence fits the profile of what has come to be known as the Gramscian or organic intellectual.

White Chocolate

[17.Dec.02] :. In the past, it has been all too easy to identify many of these white artists under the rubric of 'blue-eyed soul'. But I'd like to argue for a separate category known as 'white chocolate' -- that which 'looks' different but contains all the flavor and the texture of the original.

Still Love H.E.R.

[30.Oct.02] :. . . . I've come across more than a few hip-hop generation artists and intellectuals who are beginning to show strains of gray in their locks, twists, beards, and fades.

Cosby Redux

[18.Sep.02] :. The root of hip-hop generation displeasure with The Cosby Show was not simply that the show wasn't 'political', but rather the show did in fact serve the political function of diverting attention away from the harsh realities of Reagan-era social policies.

Three the Hard Way: Black Art Outside the Flow

[19.Jun.02] :. Ain't nothin' wrong with cats payin' the bills with their art. But there's always a real cost associated with stayin' true to your art, when market demands suggest that there's more money available following trends.

Revolutionary Soul Singa: Meshell Ndegeocello

[15.May.02] :. Critical Noire -- Revolutionary Soul Singa: Meshell Ndegeocello -- Ndegeocello has never felt a need to defend or explain the supposed ambiguity that is so crucial to her music . . . an admittedly complex and creative articulation of what it means to be 'blackwomanbisexualbassplayersentientbeingGramscianintellectualandrevolutionarysoulsinger'.

Nuyorican Nostalgia

[23.Apr.02] :.

As the post-9/11 politics of New York City threatens to force the city’s “people” into small self-interested enclaves, the music of Masters at Work is an all too timely reminder of the common vision that the Nuyorican spirit has forged with some many of New York City’s inhabitants.

Lifestyles of the Rich and Tenured?: The Black Public Intellectual Under Siege

[1.Mar.02] :. . . . (T)o raise questions about black faculty who are 'intimidated' by gatekeepers within black institutions is to risk access to and influence within those very institutions. No politically astute black mainstream politician is willing to do that.

Bellbottoms, Bluebelles and the Funky-Ass White Girl

[15.Jan.02] :. . . . the collaboration between Nyro and Labelle . . . placed the issue of gender and sexuality in the mix alongside traditional critical musings about race.

The E-Double and the Trouble Man: Marvin Gaye and Erick Sermon “Turn on Some Music”

[30.Aug.01] :. Music aficionados and classic soul listeners are also likely up in arms at 'Music', Eric Sermon's digitized duet with the late Marvin Gaye, who was murdered by his father on April 1, 1984.

Big Pimpin’ Bourgeois Style: the Demise of Tavis Smiley’s BET Tonight

[29.Mar.01] :. : Like the surreal Laura Esquivel novel that Rashid 'Lonnie' Lynn invokes in the title of his brilliant new release Like Water for Chocolate.

Like Water for Chocolate: Common’s Recipe for Progressive Hip-Hop

[5.May.00] :. Like the surreal Laura Esquivel novel that Rashid 'Lonnie' Lynn invokes in the title of his brilliant new release Like Water for Chocolate.

McGruder’s Follies: Playa Hatin’ BET in Public

[15.Feb.00] :. In my last two columns, I have come dangerously close to setting a trend in which I consistently attack the 'hick' culture. Not wanting to make enemies among people I don't hate, this time I'm turning the microscope on a general suburban blight of conspicuous consumption: the SUV.