Items that were in the news the past few days, primarily drawn from the Washington Post…
A fascinating piece in today’s WaPo by Dan Morse about moleskine enthusiasts. Apparently, these little notebooks (which I’ve seen plenty of times before, but never knew they had a specialized name) have become very popular among tech types and have become characterized as “an analog gadget.” The whole thing seems delightfully retro in today’s digital world, but it’s also a reminder that technology has been with us a long time and doesn’t just mean metal, plastic and bits. The wheel was a new technology, as was the printing press. Here‘s a sampling of some blog postings by moleskine fans. Also, read here and here.
I know there are those of you who love mash-ups as much as I do (hey, girish!) and you may recall this post from last September, which offered “Miss You Mash,” featuring Matisyahu, the so-called “Hasidic reggae singer.” There was a great profile of him on Sunday.
Relatives of Solomon Linda, the original composer of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” have settled a lawsuit against Disney for an undisclosed sum of money. Linda composed the song in 1939. Dave Marsh, in his excellent book The Heart of Rock & Soul, points out that the most famous version of the song (The Token’s 1961 single), which came out of the folk revival of the time, was “the most musically exciting record of the genre for reasons that have everything to do with its inauthenticity and vulgarity.”
Marsh tells the tale of the song’s origins: The Tokens were a white doo-wop group from Brooklyn. They heard the song “Wimoweh” on The Weavers at Carnegie Hall. The Weavers had learned it from Miriam Makeba, who called her version “Mbube” and first recorded it in 1952. The Tokens hired George Weiss, “a Tin Pan Alley gun-for-hire”, to write English lyrics, that whole business about the lion sleeping tonight near the peaceful village. Folk purists sneered, until it turned out that “mbube” means “lion” and the song was about a sleeping lion. Linda and the Evening Birds had a big hit with song, which was based on Solomon Linda’s “memories of chasing the big cats that stalked his father’s cattle on the plains of Ladysmith, in KwaZulu-Natal.” This article has the details, although it gives a different version from Marsh as to how the song made its way into the hands of The Weavers. Linda will now be listed as a co-author of the song and his family will receive royalties.
Rhome Anderson (a.k.a DJ Stylus) offered a primer on hip-hop and suggested some tracks here. I think there are some arguments that can be made about the way he characterizes hip-hop. Right now, I’m finally getting around to reading one of my Christmas presents: Making Beats: The Art of Sample-Based Hip-Hop by Joseph Schloss. It’s really changing my views of the art form and I will post about it soon.
Anderson works for washingtonpost.com and is also one of the hosts of the DeCipher show on WPFW-FM. The online version of the article seems to be missing a sidebar from the print version (“Rhome Anderson’s Mood-Driven Playlist”), so for your edification, I am re-printing it here:
| “It Was a Good Day” | Ice Cube |
| “Love’s Gonna Get’cha (Material Love)” | Boogie Down Productions |
| “Maxine” | Ghostface Killah |
| “The Mission” | Special Ed |
| “Them That’s Not” | J-Live |
| “Mainstream” | Outkast |
| “New World Water” | Mos Def |
| “Retrospect for Life” | Common |
| “Roses” | Kanye West |
| “Trying People” | De La Soul |
| “Beautiful Skin” | Goodie Mob |
| “Electric Relaxation” | A Tribe Called Quest |
| “Honeydips in Gotham” | Boogiemonsters |
| “Mahogany” | Eric B. & Rakim |
| “Passin’ Me By” | The Pharcyde |
| “Ante Up” | M.O.P. |
| “Everybody Rise” | Busta Rhymes |
| “Made You Look” | Nas |
| “Simon Says” | Pharoahe Monch |
| “Welcome to the Terrordome” | Public Enemy |
| “Ladies First” | Queen Latifah & Monie Love |
| “Lost Ones” | Lauryn Hill |
| “Paper Thin” | MC Lyte |
| “P.S.” | Jean Grae |
| “Rugged Ruff” | Bahamadia |
4 Responses
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girish Says:
Thanks for recommending the Schloss book. Just added it to my Amazon cart, along with this book that I chanced upon at the store and found quite interesting.
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The Pop View Says:
The Schloss book is interesting so far, because it seems to focus so much attention on musical theory. Most of the other hip-hop books I have read before are more historical in nature.
Rhome Anderson held an online chat today to discuss his article. He was forced to defend many of his choices, which essentially boiled down to the fact that he had limited space and could only mention so many people. His additional comments in the chat round out his profile of the artform.
Anderson recommended three books on hip-hop: Can’t Stop Won’t Stop : A History of the Hip-Hop Generation by Jeff Chang, Classic Material : The Hip-Hop Album Guide, edited by Oliver Wang and Ego Trip’s Book of Rap Lists . While I don’t own these books yet, they’re on my wish list and I’ve heard good things about them.
My perception of gangsta rap lyrics and how they are consumed by audiences, particularly white suburban listeners, has been influenced by Act Like You Know : African-American Autobiography and White Identity by Crispin Sartwell. The book puts rap lyrics in the context of several hundred years of black autobiography. I haven’t read it in years, but it seems to show how white audiences have responded to black self-portrayals, provided that they support the stereotypes that already exist in the minds of the white audience.
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girish Says:
“…because it seems to focus so much attention on musical theory.”
I wish more books would do that.I have the Jeff Chang and Oliver Wang books you’ve mentioned, and they’re well worth owning.
Off the topic of rap music, but one of my favorite music writers is David Toop, whom you probably already know well. So wide-ranging, and fiercely intelligent.
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The Pop View Says:
When Ladysmith Black Mambazo performed on Tuesday night at Carnegie Hall, Mr. Seeger was among its guests, and he took time to credit Mr. Linda before leading a singalong of “Mbube” (with the correct pronunciation: EEM-boo-bay) alongside Ladysmith Black Mambazo. It was, implicitly, an apology for exploitation.