Sunday, May 24, 2009

boyfriend numbers and semantics

I just heard a song called "Boyfriend Number 2"....waaaaaaat?? Who is responsible for this disappointing example of the deterioration in societal values ? Marcus Cooper aka Pleasure P..formerly a member of Pretty Ricky...some of the groups more famous titles include "Grind with me' and 'Push It Baby'......:s Im not sure how new the song is..But unfortunately the tune isnt too bad..so it and its tired lyrical content is likely here to stay...

In better music news I just discovered this chic, Laura Izibor, a 22 year old R&B/Soul singer from Ireland...I think Ive been kinda slow on the uptake cause the song below apparently already appeared on an episode of Greys Anatomy...I love it...





By the way is the term 'neo-soul' relevant anymore? I think we've moved onto to something different somehow, India 1999 is not India now, Erykah is definitely not Erykah 1997!....So cause naming it 'neo neo soul' would be redundant..should we just call it Soul now..? Which is maybe what it should have been called anyway..Look out for 'Neo Soul is dead' album from someone whos been relegated into limbo cause they didnt keep up with the evolution...
And because I believe that is really where the term 'Soul' belongs, to music that was then- Marvin Gaye, Al Green, now - Musiq, Maxwell, Anthony Hamilton...etc.. what do we then call that music played at Carni on Sunday nights? The 'Automatic' Pointer Sisters,'Rhythm of the Night' El De Barge and co..?

Whatever its called Soul/RnB/Neo neo soul music is on fire right now!..Maxwell, Chrisette Michele , Anthony Hamilton ("Point of It All" this man never lets me down! beautiful) all with new albums..And Im still on new Raphael Saadiq...Aah bless...This music by any other name would sound as sweet...


Favourite Gospel on repeat right now : Kirk Franklin "September"

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Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Legends and Pretty Wings

So I finally watched 'I am Legend' [spoilers follow].I have to say its actually a really good movie...I liked it and thought some bits were actually kinda scary - conceptually - possibility of the world being wiped out by a deadly virus and literally: roaring see-through skinned human mutations - scary!
However one thing about the movie was just ridiculous and I thought I have to comment on it. So ok,according to me..here is a little feasibility breakdown:

1. person discovers how to 'cure' cancer, but in the process creates a deadly virus that basically wipes out the world - I think in these times -Feasible

2. A man as pretty as Will Smith being the man that survives it all, 'the last man on earth'- Feasible, i believe he is the kind of specimen God would choose as a neo-Adam, to re-procreate the world

3. Random woman who is also left over, has been living in Washington DC, looks about 27 in the year 2012..i.e, she was born in approximately 1985 doesnt know who Bob Marley is? - NOT FEASIBLE!!

How?! Thats just about where I had to un-suspend my disbelief! Ok, maybe Im a bit biased, being a Kao born and bred in Kenya, with older brothers playing the music and occasionally my mother singing a random 'mBuffalo soldier' I dont actually remember a time in my life when I did not know who Bob Marley. Im sorry I just dont see how this can be logical in the storyline. I did once have a roommate who didnt know who Bob Marley was before I met her- so having encountered this before, its not totally beyond me that someone wouldnt know who Bob Marley is. But look at the factors surrounding this womans story. She says she lives in D.C, she has a son about 12 years old - how in the time shes been going around, raising her son, living life did she not hear of Bob Marley?Even on a tshirt?! Ok, so she has a foreign to America (another movie reinforcing it as apparently the centre of the universe) accent so maybe she migrated to the States before or after the virus broke out, even so,what then is the movie indirectly implying about the awareness of music worldwide? hmmm? And then she does know who Damian Marley is, so its not like shes not up to date with the music scene, this is evidence that she has not been living in a cave where the only music she heard came from the dripping of dewy stalactites onto the cave floor.
And then ok maybe its a genuine scenario that she may have never heard his name, but then he plays her the beginning of 'Stir it up' with the famous Bob Marley 'chum chuka chum chuka' riff?!! And she STILL doesnt recognise it?!! how is this possible?!? I just cant believe it and I think the producers totally blundered going with that angle...I feel that it unfortunately removes from the scene as a whole. Anyway, its really good to hear his music in the movie, and i appreciate the thematic role it plays.
In the past two months Ive watched 'Seven Pounds', 'Hancock' and this...and I must say Will Smith is on point with the saving the world and humanity thing...And I dont think I remember a movie since 'Six Degrees of Separation' when he wasnt doing either...


And then Maxwell finally released the rest of 'Pretty Wings'. Wow....what a song...Like the beginning wasn't good enough, he went and put in an ending that just blew the song into timeless classic zone. He had us salivating over the beginning with the beautiful ting ting tinging chime thingy for two years....then he put in the crescendo..and you know he knows that hes about to just kill it..cause the song goes silent...then paparapapaaa with the trumpets...!! And then through it all the bass is twing twunging away....its just gorgeous!...and the lyrics are great too, hes a very talented lyricist.
Ive gone in and out of Maxwell phases,I was in an out stage until the snippet of this was pre-realeased in 2007, and then I heard 'Lifetime' last year(delayed reaction)and I was drooling over that for a while. But this, this is lush. Eight years after his last release 'Now' from 2001 (that album had classics such as the cover of 'This Woman's Work' and 'Lifetime') July 7th he drops 'Black'-
the first part of the triple album 'Black Summer's Night'...I anticipate pure classicness...

check below the official video for 'Pretty Wings'...

the link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-RfzLnuUDQ

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