And Then Again / The Truth  / Elvin! /  Heavy Sounds  / Brother John  / Dear John C 

Imani Perry,  Prophets of the Hood: Politics and Poetics in Hip Hop (2004)

  James Brown and Pavarotti   Naturally Seven

Tim Berens Interviews Jimmy Ponder  Introduction by Amin Sharif  / The Queen Dinah Washington  / Billie Holiday, Strange Fruit

Weldon Irvine Dead at  59       The Edification of Weldon Irvine

Hip-hop is dead--Data from the "Black Youth Project" indicated that while 58 percent of blacks between ages 15 and 25 listen to hip-hop daily, most are dissatisfied with it. They find the subject matter is too violent, and women too often portrayed in offensive ways. Such feelings hint at a dirty little secret of the music business: Blacks are used largely to validate musical themes being marketed to the white mainstream. In other words, while 90 percent of commercial rap artists on TV and radio are black, the target audience lies outside the black community. Paul Porter, a longtime industry veteran and former music programmer at BET and Radio One, is now with the watchdog organization Industry Ears. He says the University of Chicago findings offer proof positive that commercial hip-hop has become the ultimate minstrel show, and rap artists are pushed by the industry to remain perpetual adolescents. As a result, we watch Diddy, Cam'ron, DMX and others brag about wealth and throw bills at a camera while bikini-clad women gyrate in the background. Should these artists attempt to break out of the mold, they'd risk having their work questioned by record and radio executives. DaveyD, “Commerce is killing the true spirit of hip-hop.” Mercury News

 Marley albums: Catch a Fire  /  Rastaman Vibration  /  Uprising  /  Exodus  /  Kaya  /  Survival

I Against I (1986)   /   Quickness (1989)    /     Banned in DC: Bad Brains Greatest Riffs (2003)

The Best of The Staple Singers  / Let's Do It Again / Freedom Highway / Pray On, My Child  /  Be Altitude: Respect Yourself  / Soul Folk in Action