Common – Finding Forever

An esoteric street paradise after 15-years of a solo recording grind. Producers Kanye West and Will.I.am shape rhythmic reveries around Common’ s semi-countrified delivery. His voices flows with an R&B sensuality that can change into b-boy battle mode when Premier gets on the track. He found his forever with this soon-to-be classic.

Rick James – Deeper Still

A grown-up and reflective funkster articulates life after Super Freak. Stone-City band horns are still sassy and syncopated on the one. Howard Hewett guests on the baby-making “Do You Wanna Play.” An excellent swan song for the bad boy that revived Motown, challenged Prince and strengthened his myth by becoming another rock and roll casualty.

Public Enemy- How Do You Sell Soul To A Soulless People That Sold Their Soul

Angular and still angry 20 yrs after the fact Chuck D, Flavor, Griff and the S1ws cast out the media and political warlocks with their aural authority. A collaboration with KRS 1 is a historical meeting of elders that eclipses its own preachiness in the midst of a million rappers who will not address the pathways to soullessness. Another milestone for hip-hop’s most politically consistent group.

Kanye West – Graduation

The third act of Kanye’s education process is another audacious reason to like the man. Daft Punk is sampled, Dwele and Mos Def sing, Lil Wayne guest-raps and Kanye directs the whole thing with little thought towards convention. Purists diss Kanye’s democratic crate-dug production sources (“Flashing Lights”) as an enemy of hip-hop’s true street masculinity. But Graduation is what you get when you mix backpack rap with Diddy the sum of Dead Prez in shiny clothes and there is nothing anti hip-hop about it.

Phil Perry – A Mighty Love

Another collection of classic soul from the St.Louis born singer best known for covering Aretha Fraknlln’s “Call Me.” Perry loves timeless melodies and good stories in a song. Thankfully his voice is one that handles the burden of timeless material by owning its core arrangement and filling each bar with love from his 40-year affair with R&B.

Sly And The Family Stone (reissued box set)

Funk foundations from the second-biggest Black rock star of the ’60’s. Arthur Lee’s was the first multi-cultural and co-gendered rock band but Sly’s was the first sucessful one. A catalog of hits, samples and signposts of an influential era. The box set recounts Sly and the Family’s growth from being a polished band to becoming a new paradigm in American music.

Janet Jackson being questioned about the Superbowl on an interview with Tyler Perry for Why Did I Get Married?

It’s been 4 years since the Superbowl wardrobe malfunction and Janet is still being questioned about it but Justin Timberlake has consistently worked and not received the same reaction from people. The year before the Superbowl Madonna and Britney Spears kissed at the MTV Awards and America shrugged it off as pop performance art. Enough fans of Janet’s complained and Mark S. Allen apologized to her.

Hip-hop being the scapegoat for the Don Imus Incident.

Don Imus used hip-hop as his excuse for the ‘nappy-headed hoes’ comment he made about the Rutgers women’s basketball team. Imus’s career is about as old as hip-hop and he never once made mention of the music before the incident. Don Imus does not listen to hip-hop and never interviewed one hip-hopper but somehow he learned their language and was only trying to be cool and funny when he attacked the team. Imus supporters felt that Black people were being hypocritical and Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton just liked playing the race card for individual gain. Before year’s end Imus went back to work on-air with a Black woman sidekick.

Phil Spector not receiving the same media coverage as OJ Simpson.

Although the murder at his home took place in 2003 since that time Spector has been allowed to have a low-key existence even marrying a woman young enough to be his
granddaughter. Two months before the murder Spector described himself as being insane and all of his closest family have said the same., His children, ex-wife, colleagues and former collaborators have all said the same about him. On the night of the killing his confessed that Spector ran out of his mansion after the gunshot and said “I Think I Killed Someone.” The jury could not agree on a side and the judge declared a mistrial. This blatant act of racism and moneyism gave Spector the confidence to show-up at Ike Turner’s funeral and blast Tina Turner, Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey. Mr.Spector managed to be racist and sexist.

Kanye West not getting top billing at the MTV Video Music Awards.

It’s true Kanye does throw temper tantrums however after one of the biggest hype campaigns in pop and hip-hop music between him and 50 Cent his album came in at the Billboard no. 1 spot. Britney Spears had nothing but fodder for the tabloids all year. Even she knew she was not ready to hit stage and when her soggy performance was over she ran backstage and cried.

Timbaland needing Justin Timberlake’s body to reach higher pinnacles of success.

It wasn’t good enough that Timbaland had produced lots of important music for black artists in the ’90s. In order for him to become truly A-list he had to help the former Mickey Mouse Club traitor to Janet Jackson Justin Timberlake create a creditable sonic identity. After producing “Cry Me A River” and Future Sex Love Sounds he became papparazzi material. But Timbaland always had the funk.

Bill O’Reilly speaking out against Nas performing at Virginia Tech and Nas performs anyway.

Nas’s career has it’s contradictions like going from being a no-frills lyricist to a character named
Nas Escobar but there is nothing conflicted about a rapper wanting to give positive support to
a tragic situation. O’Reilly has a habit of bashing rappers and blaming rap music for America’s problems. We expect to see him on the list every year.

People are getting excited over Janet’s new Rodney Jerkins’ produced single “Feedback.”