Same here... I had no idea the Digables were as deep as that - the cutesy
insect names turned out to be a real smokescreen, eh?
>My heritage is Japanese so I have little to no understanding of what it means
>to grow up black in America. I must say that one aspect of AJ music is that it
>tends to be less "angry" than other genres such as purer forms of rap or rock
>etc. Anger is potent and dangerous and powerful. I do appreciate anger in
>music yet wonder about its impact on society.
I have this various artists sampler CD here from a label called The Right
Stuff (division of Capitol records). The compilation is called
"PsycheFunkaJazzdelic 2nd edition" and there's a cut there from Gil
Scott-Heron recorded in 1970 called "The Revolution Will Not be Televised".
I guess the title gives a clue - i.e. black rage against "the Man", etc. as
Scott-Heron delivers his spoken message in a style that might be called a
precursor to rap. It's as angry as anything out there today. Musically the
track is very "AJ", as a driving funky rhythm section of Bernard "Pretty"
Purdie on drums and Ron Carter on (electric) bass propels the track, with
Hubert Laws improvising on flute on top. No guitar, keyboards or other
chordal instruments, so you can imagine that Carter and Laws have quite a
lot of space and freedom to stretch out.
Interestingly enough, there's a Digable Planets cut on the album "Time and
Space (A Refutation Of)" but as usual, nothing is said in the liner notes
about anything political. Just the usual "hiphop meets jazz" thing. Seems
even the record company didn't have a clue.
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jim ayson [ jra@europa.com ] ... quezon city, metro manila, philippines
The Philippine Cyberspace Review - http://www.europa.com/~jra/ph-cyber.html
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