Archive for April 5th, 2004

Bear in mind that this is just a first approximation. When I really have some time to think about this, I’ll come up with a mathematical way ascertaining perfection, if there really is such a thing. These are just some albums that don’t seem to have any bad songs. Maybe some people will disagree; I probably will in a few days. Also, I should note that there are some albums I don’t have yet, but based on what I have heard of them, they could be strong contenders.

• Walter Hawkins – Love Alive,
• Walter Hawkins - Love Alive II

For those of you unfamiliar with Gospel records, the two Walter Hawkins records are fantastic. I don’t know if they’re available on CD or not; I would imagine that they are, or maybe in some type of compilation. Whatever. Find them and get them. I have a pet theory about Gospel music that I’ll probably kick around at some point, but suffice it to say that for me, these albums represent the last era where Gospel music was pure.

• Michael Jackson – Thriller

Say what you want about Mike now, but back in ‘83…(okay, now I’m feeling old) There is not a bad song on this record.

• Prince – Purple Rain

Prince has a lotta good albums but this one is the best. Maybe one day I’ll print the text of that backwards part at the end of “Darling Nikki.”

• Stevie Wonder – Innervisions
• Stevie Wonder – Songs In the Key of Life

I thought about putting all the albums from Talking Book to SITKOL on here, but among those four, Innervisions and Songs stand out. The wild thing about Songs is that I literally grew up with that record. It came out when I was two and I remember listening to that at some point during every subsequent year of my life. It’s kinda like my mother in that it wasn’t until I got older that I really understood how amazing it really is.

Near-Perfect

• Public Enemy – Nation of Millions : Show ‘em Wha’cha Got
• De La Soul: - De La Soul is Dead: Kicked Out the House
• Mos Def & Talib Kweli – Black Star : B Boys Will B Boys
• Maxwell – Maxwell’s Urban Hang Suite : Suitelady (?)

Maybe

• Ice Cube – Amerikkka’s Most Wanted?
• Marvin Gaye – What’s Goin’ On?
• ATCQ – The Low End Theory?
• Outkast - Stankonia?

Lookin’ through some pictures, I think my mom is just about the only conservative Black woman I know who wears her hair natural. Granted, it’s still not all that common in general, but she’s probably one of a very, very few. Actually I said natural, but I should’ve said a ‘fro. She’s not quite up there at Angela Davis level yet, but it is boomin’. But really, natural is right because she doesn’t wear it puffed out every day. However, she refuses to put any chemical in her hair that would change the nappy texture that God intened. I would expect to see this more frequently. Everybody else wears their hair the way it grows out of their head, why don’t Black women?

I had all these grand plans for what all I was gonna write last weekend, and what happened? Nothin’. First of all, on that Fideles Quaerens Intellectum II post, I lost the main book I was gonna be critiquing. I don’t think I left it in Philly, but I’m hoping it’s there and not somewhere travelling on the Washington-Boston axis on Amtrak.

Anyway, I did manage to sneak a picture of myself up there,although it was more work than it should’ve been. At this point, I’m just trying to make up some excuse to put a picture of my old lady on here. I need to just sneak and do it, though, or else it’ll be 10 years before I come up with a picture that she thinks is suitable. She’s just bein’ modest, though.

Speaking of my better half (or better 3/4, if I’m keepin it real), I got the song “Better Half” by Maceo and All The King’s Men. I’ve said before how much I like finding a bargain, and this is just the type I like. I wanted the song because it’s got a sample use I like, but then I found out that it’s the source for another sample that I’ve liked for a very long time. Then, samples aside, the song is just wicked. No matter what name they recorded under, whether Maceo & the Macks (that’s hot!), The Last Word, Maceo & ATKM, Fred Wesley & the JB’s, or just the JB’s, James Brown had the baddest band(s) in the land. At some point, I’ll smash through the 2nd era, which saw the first permutation of a recording band called the JB’s.

There’s an article at Blackelectorate.com called Americanity that I plan on writing about soon. The basic premise is one that I’ve believed since I was about 14: there’s a weird amalgation of American history and the Bible that has some people thinking that the prophesies in the Bible are actually talking about us. Moreover, I think there’s an unstated opinion that God is American. That is, nobody would actually say it if you asked them, but to listen to them talk about God, what He likes and dislikes, his concerns would be very similar to that of an American. But like I said, I’m on the top rope right now. In a minute, I’m gonna come swooping down from the sky and nail this one with the atomic elbow.

Also, looks like the Sixers are pretty much mathematically eliminated from the ‘offs. All I can say is…well there’s a lot I can say. I would start with AI, but I won’t. We’ll start with how jacked up their salary structure is vis a vis the collection of stiffs they have. The NYK’s have the highest payroll in the league, but at least they have a few people who are, or have been within the life of the contract, ballers, even if their play was never quite commensurate with their pay. The Sixers? They couldn’t even be Maceo and the Macks. AI and the Ain’ts.