Archive for June 1st, 2004

• My Writes - De La Soul, feat. Tha Liks
• Come Clean - Jeru Tha Damaja
• Cha Cha Cha - MC Lyte
• Esoteric Circle - Jan Garbarek
• Ain’t No Sunshine - Roy Ayers

A little story here…I like going to used record stores, but I hate it when the people who work there automatically assume they know more than the customers. I know this song was originally recorded by Bill Withers, but I also know who I’m listening to right now. I’m like, “Do you have Ain’t No Sunshine as recorded by Roy Ayers?? See right there, I’m not acting as if Roy Ayers is the original artist, I said, “as recorded by.” Anyway, the dude is like, “That’s Bill Withers.” I started to come at his neck, but I was just like, “I know, but I’m looking for the Roy Ayers version.” He didn’t have it anyway. I should’ve known better, though. This was the same dude that tried to tell me that Bootsy never played with James Brown. The Rolling Stones or the Beatles or Elvis, he could’a got me on. James Brown? No shot.

• You’re Right Ray Charles - Joe Tex

I’m gonna base a blog on this meta-song.

• Mannish Boy - Muddy Waters
• The Jam - Larry Graham & Graham Central Station

This is exactly what I’m talking about. The HBO film, Something The Lord Made, about a Black carpenter who helped to change medicine, is a much-needed alternative to the foolishness that is Soul Plane. It’s not so much about Soul Plane necessarily being a bad thing…I still believe the potential for a really good satire is there. With the right script to make him “get in where he fit in,” Snoop could be a good character actor. The problem is the lack of diversity. I just wish Something The Lord Made didn’t come on HBO…or that I had HBO so I could watch it.

Also, as an aside, while Stanley Crouch is venerating Bill Cosby and Vivien Jackson, as he should in this column, would it have killed him to mention Mos Def’s rapping with in the context of non-buffoonery? As I have said before, for me, the fact that a person simply does not like hip-hop lessens any critique they may have. If a person can’t admit or doesn’t know when it’s good, then what difference does it make when they say it’s bad?