Little Brother Is Having Free Nationwide Screenings Of Documentary
Little Brother is having free nationwide screenings of their documentary, May The Lord Watch: The Little Brother Story, this month. The film will screen in Washington, D.C., Atlanta, GA, Los Angeles, and New York, New York. The movie is accessible to the public, and those interested are encouraged to register immediately because space is limited. Fans can donate to the film via the Southern Documentary Fund. The group celebrated the 20th anniversary of their debut album, The Listening, with a year-long celebration, a four-city tour, and their Made In Durham: A Little Brother Block Party.
Filmmaker Holland “vacay” Gallagher directs, and “Yoh” Phillips wrote the documentary about the friendship between Phonte and Rapper Big Pooh and their experiences in the music industry. There is commentary from Questlove, DJ Drama, industry executives, cultural critics, and more.
Nas’ Magic 3 is the last in a trilogy and was released on his 50th birthday (September 14th). Magic 2 came out earlier this summer; this is the second year he has two new albums. In 2021, King’s Disease II and the first Magic album came out. M3 is his 17th album, making his discography even more distinct beyond his palpable rhymes due to its unusual length. He confronts his next decade by opening the album with the undauntable energy of “Fever,” which embraces his new status as an official OG. Nas reminisces on his past life as most people do around their birthdays but he has plenty of joie de vivre for the future. The charmed life of a rap prodigy who was named a future rap king as an ’80s teen now rapping about life at half a century is fascinating. Rap music still suffers from ageism and only a few Gen X male rappers are still making interesting music. Magic 3 shares the rare air that Nas breathes with Hit-Boy’s soul-steeped beats that are chopped up dramatically enough to mimic the movement of a film score. Some of the most striking moments are when he remembers being 19 years old with a child on the way in “Sitting In My Thoughts.” There is no longing to return to his youth, and he reflects on how the responsibility of fatherhood drove him in the pursuit of success. Nas’ grown-man rap is new territory for the genre because music company executives, some rappers, and many fans never expected anything outside of youth culture.
However, all of the songs are not about the sober parts of getting older because Nas still enjoys the spoils of being a rap superstar on the romantically fickle “Blue Bentley.” “Japanese Soul Bar” is a direct admission that it is probably time for his first biopic as he wonders who could portray him. Lil Wayne is the only guest on Magic 3, and he drops 24 giddy verses in his unmistakable nasally flow on “Never Die.” Nas is clear that reaching his fifth decade will be approached with the same coolness as his previous ones and he also says that he heard the ’50s are when you get “really rich in all ways.”
The sum of seven consuming albums in the past four years has set a new paradigm for rap as it gets older. It feels symbolic that as Nas has turned 50 so has the genre and he still has something to say. He recently challenged his Gen X peers to follow him by creating music from the heart instead of following trends. LL Cool J, Q-Tip, KRS-One, Mount Westmore, and Shabazz Palaces already agree with him but it remains to be seen who else will add to rap’s 50-plus legacy.
Grandmaster Flash & Tierra Whack To Co-Headline Hip Hop 50 Concert In Conjunction With Keith Haring Exhibit + J. Dilla Tribute
Grandmaster Flash by Grandmaster Flash
Grandmaster Flash and Tierra Whack will co-headline a Hip Hop 50 concert presented by The Broad this Saturday (Aug.26th). The concert is happening in conjunction with the exhibition Keith Haring: Art Is for Everybody and a tribute to J.Dilla by DJs Monalisa and Wyldeflower with an appearance by IIIa J. The concert is the last event of the summer celebrating hip-hop at The Broad that featured monthly screenings of the PBS series “Fight The Power: How Hip hop Changed the World” and a conversation between Chuck D of Public Enemy, Lisane Basquiat, sister of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Gil Vazquez, Director of The Haring Foundation, and Lorrie Boule, writer and producer of Fight The Power: How Hip-Hop Changed the World about Hip-Hop and visual art.
The Keith Haring exhibit shows how hip-hop influenced the late artist with visuals of boomboxes, DJs and breakdancing figures. Grandmaster Flash’s foundational contribution to hip-hop on classics like “The Message” and “White Lines” changed the course of hip-hop. Tierra Whack, who can be currently seen in Netflix’s Ladies First, is a Grammy-nominated rapper known for her slick wordplay. She will perform music from her critically acclaimed Whack World, Whack History Month series and her Rap? EP as well as new material.
DJs Monalisa and Wyldeflower will play a set dedicated to late hip-hop production genius J.Dilla with an appearance from his brother IIIa J.
More Information about the event can be found at www.thebroad.org.
Why hasn’t Atlanta done anything to celebrate Hip Hop 50 especially considering the contributions of Jermaine Dupri, Dallas Austin, Outkast and many others?
Did Paramount reverse course on selling BET after receiving substantial offers from Tyler Perry, Byron Allen and Sean Combs for any other reason than “a sale wouldn’t result in any meaningful deleveraging of its balance sheet.”
