Scheme Interview With Karriem Riggins

When an artist has the ability to make music that crosses made up categories and genres of music he or she is exactly that, an artist. Producer, Drummer, beatmaker and quiet as kept emcee Karriem Riggins has ironically lived everywhere except the South which explains his musical diversity. He currently resides in the sunny and inspirational City of Angels (Los Angeles) via the Motor City and the Big Apple. At an early age he played with the likes of Donald Byrd, Oscar Peterson, and has transcended his music and in addition has created time travelling rhythms with the Common who he has created an upcoming EP with and worked on the Smoking Aces Soundtrack, Erykah Badu, Talib Kweli, the late Jay Dee aka J Dilla, Consequence and Madlib who heâ€™s working on an album with which as of now has been dubbed the Supreme Team which will be released off of Stones Throw Records. Heâ€™s also worked with Kanye West on the Mission Impossible Soundtrack and countless other musicians that if you never check the liner notes you may pass on and never hear or realize who Karriem or â€œRiemâ€ as he is referred to is. A true virtuoso who considers himself a student at all times while walking on the shoulders of greats like late Max Roach, has created an avenue in which he can clearly walk to his own drum.
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Greg Tate On Kanye And 50

Kanye West and 50 Cent are the two biggest drama queens to hit pop music since Alice Cooper and Iggy Pop, and that’s not a bad thing. Hiphop, still the voice of Young Black America, is only going to get louder and prouder as it goes along, if only because that demographic’s voice is so hushed elsewhere. Barack Obama’s campaign manager claims his candidate’s currently muted campaign voice is the product of his belief that America isn’t ready for a fire-breathing Black man, and our nation’s prisons and graveyards are full of the proof. But nature abhorring a vacuum, Kanye and 50 have rushed in to fill the void in that last safe space left for such characters. A sister I know once told me she had no respect for a Black man who wasn’t arrogant. Maybe the advent of Mr. West and Mr. Cent warms her heart, maybe not. Regardless, there is, of course, that bothersome question: loud and proud and arrogant in the name of what? Wealth, fame, and gossip? Hmmm. While traveling about the country speaking in the 19th century, Sojourner Truth, our beloved godmother of The Struggle, used to sell postcards of herself, rationalizing this enterprise thus: “I use the shadow to support the substance.”

Prince Loses Mind

*There’s a new sheriff in town, and the digital maverick is on Prince’s payroll. The reclusive rock star has hired Web Sheriff, a british-based company that specializes in policing the Web for pirated content, to launch a legal campaign against YouTube, EBay, and The Pirate Bay, companies that he alleges wrongfully profit from the use of his work, according to John Giacobbi, Web Sheriff’s president.

The artist plans to file suit in both the United States and the U.K., and has hired a top Swedish law firm to take up his cause against the viral internet hotspots. Prince has chosen a legal course because sites like YouTube and eBay have left him no recourse in protecting his copyright on their sites, according to Giacobbi.
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The Rise And Fall Of Debarge By Michael Gonzales

The DeBarge family – El, Marty, Randy, Bunny and James, not to mention Thomas, Bobby, and baby brother Chico – were supposed to be Motown’s follow-up to the Jacksons. But after a trail of dazzling ’80s hits, behind-the-scenes drama threatened to bring the family down. From dating Latoya and Janet Jackson to allegations of sexual abuse and drug addiction – the DeBarge family has dealt with everything from prison time to AIDS. But even now, their music is still sampled by the likes of Diddy and Polow Da Don, and some of the DeBarges are trying resurrect their careers. Is it too late, though, to pick up the pieces? A story in four parts, from our October 2007 issue. Episode 1.

The house lights dimmed on a humid summer evening in 1994, and El DeBarge floated across the cluttered stage of the now-defunct New York City nightclub Tramps.

“Respect to the old school!” screamed a drunk woman from the bar. El, then 33, gently grabbed the microphone and wrapped his feathery falsetto around a songbook of classic material from his family’s R&B-pop group, DeBarge. Though he’d left the group in 1986, El opened with their heartbreaking 1983 hit “Stay with Me” (Gordy), which Sean “Puffy” Combs would soon sample for the Notorious B.I.G.’s 1995 smash remix of “One More Chance” (Bad Boy). As El sang, it seemed he was ready for another chance himself. Despite rumors that he was caught up in a fog of drug addiction, on this night, both El’s voice and his wardrobe were sharp as nails.

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