Amerigo Gazaway releases the Aretha Franklin and Black Star project Young, Gifted & Black on what would have been Franklin’s 77th birthday. Gazaway took the title from Franklin’s 1972 album and the actual single and blended it with Black Star’s “Hip-Hop (Screamixx)” lyrics from The Boondocks official mixtape. Franklin passed in August of 2018. 

Amerigo Gazaway has remixed Miles Davis’ “Rubberband Of Life” with a feature from Ledisi. Davis recorded “Rubberband Of Life” in 1985 and 1986 for Columbia Records and there were plans for Al Jarreau and Chaka Khan to be included but the project was shelved and Davis went on to record Tutu. Davis’ nephew Vince Wilburn worked with original producers Randy Hall and Zane Giles in 2017 to bring the title track into the 21st century. Ledisi was invited to record on the song at Village Studios in Los Angeles and the sessions were released as a 45 rpm 12″ vinyl EP on Record Store Day 2018. The 5-song EP is now available digitally with Gazaway’s new remix. The producer took his love of Davis’ music further with the Miles & More mix that includes samples, songs and remixes inspired by the late trumpeter. 

[youtube id=”FJHi0eborcw”]Amerigo Gazaway commemorates the 20th anniversary of Lauryn Hill’s debut album by imagining a recording session between Hill and Nina Simone. The Miseducation Of Eunice Waymon is almost a flashback to Hill’s performance of Simone’s music earlier this year at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame’s induction ceremony. Gazaway offers a preview of the project with his treatment of Simone’s “Feeling Good.” Watch the video teaser and stream “Feeling Good” which can be downloaded. The Miseducation Of Eunice Waymon will be available November 9th.

Kanye West has been the biggest topic in media because of his outrageous interview with TMZ where he described 400 years of slavery as a “choice.” This comment along with the other admissions about liposuction and being a “free thinker” have a lot of people saying they “Miss the old Kanye.” Amerigo Gazaway is offering his feelings about the subject with a remix of West’s “I Love Kanye” flipped into “I Miss The Old Kanye.” The remix has an R&B band and ends with samples of his West’s admirers giving him past compliments.