Category: Features
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Tuesday Top 5: Remembering Bob Marley
29 years ago today (11th May 1981) Robert Nesta Marley died aged 36. Still as musically influential as ever, Bob Marley’s legacy still resonates for many. Here are 5 of my favourite records; while I avoid Marley’s most popular cuts (One Love, Sun Is Shining or No Woman, No Cry), these musical gems all convey…
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Hair Myths, False Idols & Battling Complexion: Reflecting On Marsha Ambrosius’ Diary Of A Black Girl
Marsha Ambrosius wrote an interesting blog today [quoted at the bottom of this article] initially explaining that she didn’t appear in Wale’s “Diary” video simply due to “scheduling issues” and – sparked by the song’s subject – goes on to share her thoughts and experiences of “the on-going, deep rooted battle with complexion”.
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On To The Next One(s)? – An Overview of XXL’s Freshmen Class of 2010
As Hip Hop annually welcomes freshers to its Halls of Hard Knocks, there’s always a clutch of talent whose verses, storytelling or swagger pushes them to the forefront of superstars in the making. Fortunately (or unfortunately) the good folk at XXL Magazine annually sift through the masses to choose ten artists who stand a chance…
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SWV: Come Back & Show Them How It’s Done
It could be said that the 1990s was the last golden age of modern R&B music. In fact, it is an idea that is often repeated throughout cyberspace as some lament the parlous state of the present scene. Nevertheless it is not just empty nostalgia that has earned that particular decade a place in the…
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Notorious B.I.G – 13 Thoughts, 13 Years On
It’s been 13 years since Christopher Wallace was cut down in his prime. Those who know me know of my bizarre (yet valid) fascination/connection with the number thirteen and know where I’m going. But because I want to get back to my own musical Biggie tribute, I’m letting the readers off the hook from my…
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10 Years of D’Angelo’s Voodoo: He Done Worked A Root
It’s been exactly 10 years since Voodoo, D’Angelo’s sophomore album, hit the top of the US Billboard 200 on the day of its release (25 January 2000). In some ways, Voodoo is the reason Soul Culture exists. It opened a conversation. Voodoo’s often ambiguous lyrics – when they can be heard at all – and…
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Obituary: Goodbye Teddy Pendergrass (March 26, 1950 – January 13, 2010)
Teddy Pendergrass : March 26, 1950 – January 13, 2010 Theodore DeReese “Teddy” Pendergrass, was born in 1950 – and within a couple of decades was Quiet-ly Storm-ing the air waves and record studios with his deep, refined and raw soulful voice. It was as a drummer that Teddy Pendergrass started his ascent (with The…
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The Hip Hop Highlights of The Decade
Ten years into the 21st Century and Hip Hop is now one of the biggest grossing industries in the world today. Forget the music – the clothing, films and TV deals have all played a part in establishing this way of life as one of the biggest phenomenons. To think it all started off with…
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The 10 Best Films Of The Decade
I was going to begin the following list quite simply by saying that Cinema is dead. However, the declaration of the death of any art form, and/or its generic constituents, has become such a redundant exercise in the past ten years that the assertion might not be worth the effort. So given that Cinema might…
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3 weeks on from World AIDS Day, “A Condom Is [Still] A Girl’s Best Friend”
“A condom is a girl’s best friend”. And a man’s, agreed? This is the [translated] title of the French ad that has appeared on billboards in Paris since the summer 2009. It is part of the yearly renewed Aids campaign, a continual effort to raise awareness and to promote ‘safe sex’. While it seems the…