Anticipating Act II: Patents of Nobility(The Turn)

As far as I'm concerned, for all intents and purposes, Hip Hop has long began its (commercial)funerary march. Not that there isn't a roster of artists who are challenging the status quo or thinking critically/creatively about how use the art form, but the industry provides the illusion that this is so--and we know perception is reality. Obviously we're not talking about the Talib Kweli's, The Roots, Mos Def's, Common's, Lupe Fiasco's and the Kayne West's who are unafraid to stand alone AND have cache. I'm talking about the others like: K'naan, Amanda Diva, Umi and Krukid who by in large are outside of the the general public's musical margins and are consequentially silenced. This means how we think about expression/existence has been reduced to this monocular perspective. I find that problematic and saddening. Problematic in that it stifles the way in which we dream and (re)invent ourselves. If Young Jeezy, Lil Wayne, 50 cent, T-Pain and Jay-Z are the only accessories* we have for identity and self-concept formation then there are some serious issues. I find it saddening because it is humanistically and artistically negligent to not create access to expression(s) that inspires something more than consumption and material acquisition. Not that I don't understand where those values are coming from or that I question its validity, but in addition to that perspective there have to be options which are just as visible and accessible. That's why I would like to introduce to Jay Electronica.

A fairly obscure m.c. with an underground-cult following, Jay E. is evaporating all notions of what is Hip Hop. His first 'official' offering was Act I: Eternal Sunshine(The Pledge), which is his unconventional attempt to redefine the hip hop track. The content is dense, the delivery is strategic and the production is peculiar, yet hypnotizing. When listening I found that I had to use a different set of ears(and a different part of my mind for that matter) to fully appreciate his approach(it seems more like a suite than a song, all courtesy of Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind). Jay Electronica is not for everybody, but he is an example of the possibilities that have yet to be explored. Unfortunately, most of the world will never become acquainted with his work. But I and the rest of the okayplayers will be anticipating his next taste of mind-enthralling inspiration. Here’s to the resurrection(of Hip Hop that is)! Do the knowledge, then act like ya’know!

**Stay Sucka Free!
F. Negro.

* I deliberately use the word accessory, because in no way whatsoever should hip hop be completely responsible for such development, but to ignore its power and presence is simply naive.

[Note to self and those who have been drinking, et al. : I am a thief. Only because I knew you would second guess your offering. I had to take it. It belonged to me, and now...]

I am editing my life ad nauseam,
but while sitting in emotional diffusion
I find you inside this moment.
Reminding me of life’s elegance,
kissing me with your essence.
But you can never know,
because it is in conflict with our existence.

Incandescent is your contribution
colliding with my dysfunction, balancing me along.
But I want to shepherd your imagination to my world
where we can muse and fuse, inculcating the darkness
with wine truths that intoxicate our improper reality.
Recovering the tastes from our past lives together, re: live.
How else can we connect so? There has to be history,
intangible, allusive and celestial as it may be.
Even in our most tenuous of breaths, I am secure
and connected to the purpose of this time phrase.
Hoping to never exhaust the invention of our interface,
I remain open to its spiritual notions.
Unsaid and unheard, but felt and uncurbed.
Even though, you can never know.

I stand present, in defiance of what is unpopular
yet in congruence with Vadzimu’s choreography,
allowing our spirits to be conflated ad infinitum.
Let us share our residuals with the emotionally destitute,
maybe we can replenish the barren and disenchanted.
Or inspire a new calendar of moons for Hyacinth flowers to bloom.
Either way you can never know, because I am a thief.
I have stolen the moment to (re)communicate
that my heart is in your possession.
Hopefully you will be at the next train stop,
still fighting my procrastination.

Anti-Requiem:
Sun Ra’s Space Is the Place

I recently had the distinct pleasure of screening Sun Ra’s Space Is The Place (1974). Populated with layers and layers of philo-spiritual commentary and black liberation imagination, this film constructs a hyper-intelligent musical experience that makes it worth adding to the must-see-list.

Plot Summary: Sun Ra lands his spaceship in Oakland, having been presumed lost in space for a few years. With Black Power on the rise, Ra disembarks and proclaims himself "the alter-destiny." He holds a myth-vs-reality rap session with black inner-city youth at a rec center, threatening "to chain you up and take you with me, like they did you in Africa" if they resist his plea to go to outer space. He duels at cards with The Overseer, a satanic overlord, with the fate of the Black race at stake. Ra wins the right to a world concert, which features great performance footage of the Arkestra. Agents sent by the Overseer attempt to assassinate Ra, but he vanishes, rescues his people, and departs in his spaceship from the exploding planet Earth (The Internet Movie Database).

But the strength of this film note is better understood in the context of Robin D.G. Kelley’s Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination. In this text amongst other topics, Kelley explores the value of the Afrofuturist/Interstellar Movement initiated by Sun Ra and his “Arkestra” and later joined by Parliament/Funkadelic and the “Mothership Connection”. Both of which indicate and address the protracted need within the Black community to escape the present society for something better, an alter/destiny. Kelley escorts the importance of redefining freedom and provides further examples of those who desired, “to escape the wretchedness of daily life through music” such as: Lee Scratch Perry(The Black Ark Studios), X Clan(Exodus in a pink Cadillac…), Afrika Bambaataa(“Planet Rock,” Soul Sonic Force) and Arrested Development (“break / outta of the country / and into more country”). I find it fascinating(though not surprising) that Black popular culture occupies the seat of radical imagination and resistance and am thankful for Robin D.G. Kelley’s contribution, but where are my other non-academic contemporaries who are thinking critically about these issues? How can we (re)read more recent expressions that possess similar elements of freedom-seeking? I think Sun Ra has a clue: "Equation wise, the first thing to do is to consider time as officially ended. We work on the other side of time. We bring them here, through either isotope teleportation, transmolecularization, or better still, teleport the whole planet here ... through music." Let’s revive Bro. Ra and his imagination. Right on to the real/reel!

**Stay sucka free!

F.Negro

Discovering Rumba*

For the past year and a half I have been exposed to a battery of traditions from the African Diaspora that to date had only been noteworthy pages in the many books that I decided to consume in an effort to expropriate some cultural material/capital. Traditions that have been on the periphery, at best, in the Black(African) experience in the U.S., but are connected in very intimate ways nonetheless.

I'm speaking specifically of the Afro-Cuban cultural palette. Without going into great detail, Cuba has been in conversation with the U.S. since the first slaves arrived in the western hemisphere. Most of which were negotiating this new space by preserving, modifying and syncretizing spiritual systems and social traditions in an attempt to respond to a moral and cultural imperative that urges those with any ethnic foundation(e.g. Yoruba, Carabali, Arara, Bantu-Congo) to maintain those traditions to the best of their ability. We see elements of this throughout the Diaspora whether it shows up in Jazz, Spiritual Baptists, Timba, Reggae, Gaga, Candomble, Cumbia or Zouk.

Lately, I've been deeply exploring the Cuban component of these retentions thanks to the many new acquaintances and companions I've made as a result of my current employment situation. And it has been rewarding in ways that words can't capture! It speaks to a place in my spirit that was severely neglected until now. Prior to my recent contact I knew about Cuba through my spiritual practices and my interest in Latin dance, but never had any direct contact with Black Cubans or those who were custodians and purveyors of Afro-Cuban culture. Amongst other things, I've had the opportunity to learn how to play Bata, which for spiritual reasons has been and will continue to be crucial to my development, but I want to dedicate this blog entry to an expression that has slowly captured my attention: Rumba. Rumba emerged in the 19th century as a secular dance and music among Black Cubans from various ethnic groups, including: the Lucumi (Yoruba), Abakua (Carabali), Arara (Dahomey) and other Bantu related groups. Both sacred and secular traditions of these groups influence Rumba, especially the Abakua and Bantu forms such as Yuka and Makuta. There are three main types of Rumba: Yambu, Guaguanco and Columbia.

But why the hell am I writing about this?! Well, because I feel Rumba has created a space for me to re-imagine life. It challenges pedestrian notions of existence, in that, Rumba with its transnational presence transforms once sterile space(physical, mental, spiritual, political) into a dense, dialectic composite of identity in constant maintenance and (re)construction. Rumba urges me to think about how I relate to myself, which subsequently informs how I relate to the world. This I gather even though I don't fully understand it conceptually, musically or choreographically. Regardless of that I found this message, my discovery, critical and important enough to share. So, if you get a minute explore Rumba. It may touch you as well. But for now, enjoy the clip above. Roman Diaz, Pedrito Martinez and Alfredo Diaz rumbeando for a good friend of mine on her birthday. I thank her for being a crucial conduit in my discovery of Rumba. Gracias Berta!

**Stay sucka free!

F.Negro
*This is a Rumba at Berta Jottar's house celebrating her birthday on Ojo-Obatala. (Williamstown, MA-September 24, 2007)