Supernegro

R.I.P. Supernegro.com: We Hardly Knew Ye

admin — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 04:23:00 MST

You may have noticed a new development at Supernegro.com that may have raised an eyebrow: a distinct lack of posting.

The reasons are many, so in an attempt to spare you from the sob stories, I'll just say in a very cliched way, that all (somewhat) good things must come to an end. Running this blog for almost a year was a great experience. I've met some great online personalities (Invisible Woman, the homies at Afronerd, So Bored in the USA, Straight Bangin'), learned what it takes to run a blog that came to get more readers than I dared to dream, and learned what not to do. It was great all around.

But I'm pulling the plug. The domain and site will be up, as will the e-mail address, so feel free to drop me a line from time to time. Our find me on the Facebooks ("Jeffrey Wilson"). But it aint the end.

I'm starting off a new venture with a laserbeam focus that will be a quite the departure from the content here, but with the insight I've given you into my inner geek, you'll understand what the forthcoming MISSILE SWARM.COM will be all about. Oddly enough, it'll probably be up and running by January - the same time that Supernegro launched.

So it's not a closure - more of a remix if you will. I may not have invented the remix, but I'm sure as hell going to redefine it. As Q-Tip once told me over a decade ago, KEEP QUESTIN'.

- Jay Wilson

Supernegro Video Pick: Otha Fish

admin — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 18:02:00 MST

If you were to ask me to name two hop hop acts that, if I had the power to make things perfect within the group, so that they would've never split, A Tribe Called Quest and The Pharcyde would be my top choices. Tight rhymes, catchy hooks, and an all around fun vibe made them my fave rap crews in the 90s.

While Tribe generally gets the props that they deserve for their place in hip hop history, The Pharcyde, generally, gets the snub as the group that "had that song about the bitches and shit", as my homie Abe once remarked. But Pharcyde's catalog ran much deeper than that, so this week's Supernegro Video Pick is "Otha Fish" from the groups debut CD, Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde. Here Slim goes solo over a jazzed out beat, detailing the emotion of a relationship gone awry; I like to think of it as what would've happened if he would've landed the girl in "Passin' Me By". Enjoy. - Jay Wilson

Arrested Development Returns!

admin — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 03:39:00 MDT

Back in the early '90s when Afrocentricity in rap was at its pinnacle, one of my favorite rap crews, along with Digable Planets, was Arrested Development - their breakthrough disc, 3 Years, 5 Months and Two Days in the Life Of... owned my heart, soul, and my CD player-even moreso nowadays with all the aural diarrhea that funks up the airwaves.

With Public Enemy making a solid comeback, and AD on deck, could it be that black is indeed back? All we need is mofo'n X-Clan and I'm breaking out the blowout comb. Mo' info after the jump. - Jay Wilson

ATLANTA - Their breakthrough album was called �3 Years, 5 Months and Two Days in the Life Of ...,� a nod to the
long struggle fledgling rappers Arrested Development faced between the day they formed and the day they signed
a record deal.

Now, it�s been 13 years since their last U.S. release. And the Atlanta group that topped charts and earned a pair of
Grammys with their upbeat, socially conscious brand of rap in the early �90s is back � hoping to again find a place
on a drastically changed musical landscape.

�Since the Last Time,� released Tuesday on the group�s independent Vagabond Records, carries the same funky,
Southern-fried vibe of �90s hits like �Tennessee,� and �Mr. Wendal.�

The question now becomes whether an independent rap album that tackles spirituality and inner-city gentrification
can find an audience in an industry in which party anthems and sexually suggestive rhymes dominate the airwaves
and sales charts.

�I believe in miracles,� said Speech, the group�s lead rapper, quoting �Miracles,� the album�s first single, which
addresses the group�s comeback effort.

�People have been saying they�re tired of this one-dimensional viewpoint of our community, of what our values
are,� he said. �Now, it�s an opportunity to put their money where their mouth is and support music that�s not about
that.�

After �3 Years, 5 Months and Two Days ...,� which sold over 4 million copies and earned the group the Best New
Artist Grammy and a Best Rap Performance award for �Tennessee,� Arrested Development released 1994�s
�Zingalamaduni,� which received some critical acclaim but couldn�t match the popular appeal of their first effort.
The group � which predated the emergence of the Atlanta-based �Dirty South� rap movement by nearly a decade
� split soon after, amid internal dissension and a shift in the kind of rap artists that the mainstream music
industry would promote.

A battle within hip-hop Bill Adler is a hip-hop historian who helped write and produce �And You Don�t Stop: 30 Years of Hip Hop,� a five- part documentary series for VH1. He said Arrested Development was among the �last gasp� of a wave of socially
conscious rappers who also were able to achieve widespread commercial and critical success.

�At that point, conscious hip-hop and so-called gangster rap were kind of at war with each other,� he said. �I think
the so-called gangster rappers emerged on top and they�ve really defined hip-hop pretty exclusively ever since.�

The group pursued solo projects until 2000, when Speech reassembled most of the original members to tour and
record � almost exclusively in Europe and Asia.

�We stayed away from the United States because the atmosphere here was so anti-message,� he said. �We stayed away from the U.S. for 12 years and released music everywhere but here.� Now, he said, the group sees a possible opening closer to home.

�With the Don Imus situation, with the Jena 6, with all the recent sort of awakening that�s happening, where people are at least starting to talk, maybe it�s time for us to start releasing music here again,� said Speech, 38.

He�s reassembled four of the group�s original six members (there are eight band members in all now). He said singer Aerle Taree has had voice problems that caused her to lose most of her vocal range.

Speech said only group co-founder Headliner, who the rapper said was once his closest friend, turned down the reunion after what Speech called bad blood over �business differences� when the group achieved international success.

�From that point on, we had some very bitter disagreements,� he said. �The good news has been, over the time that�s passed, we�ve become cordial again to where, when we see each other, we�re happy to see each other. �We know what buttons not to push and we don�t push those buttons.�

Reality show appearance
In 2005, the group got a mild boost � albeit in the tenuous world of reality television � when they won on an
episode of NBC�s short-lived �Hit Me Baby One More Time,� in which once-popular groups competed for crowd
votes performing their own hits and covering versions of current ones.

The band�s reworking of �Heaven,� by fellow Grammy winners Los Lonely Boys, appears on �Since The Last Time�
and was first performed on that show.

�A lot of the members had become spiritual over the years and that song made a lot more sense to us than some
of the other songs we were offered,� said Speech, who in addition to solo performing has preached sermons at
churches in Atlanta and New York. �The response to it was so overwhelming we decided to include it on the
record.�

Adler, who briefly did publicity work for Arrested Development in the �90s, said it�s unclear how much of a splash
the album will be able to make in the current rap market.
�It�s not like the need for conscious hip-hop has ever gone away � it�s just that it�s very, very rare for a self- described conscious rapper to break through and make a pop hit,� Adler said. �I�m not so sure why that is. You can say the culture at large has become less conscious and more materialistic; it�s not like the rappers have a monopoly on low consciousness and materialism.�

While hoping for his miracle, Speech seems to embrace whatever comes on �Stand,� a track on the new record. �It�s better to write for ourselves and have no public,� he raps, �than write for the public and have no self.�

Supernegro Video Pick: Against All Odds

admin — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 02:49:00 MDT

If you're about my age (early 30s) there are certain cultural aspects that you just can not front on, for those that came up in the decade of decadence: You secretly watched "Jem", thought Philip Michael Thomas was the silkiest brother on TV, and would hum along - if not outright sing - the chorus of "Born in the USA" whenever its chorus made its way to your ear. It was the '80s - nuff said.

But without question, the one face of the '80s thats continually berated for no apparent reason is my homie Phil Collins. Along with Michael Jackson, Prince, and a handful of others, he pretty much pwned the entire decade well into the early '90s thanks to an infectious string of pop hits. Not too bad for an balding Brit who was a former drummer.

My favorite track of his is "Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)", the title track from the rather assy '80s remake of the definitive film noir, Out of the Past. Some comedian that I can't name describes it as music to "slit your wrist to", and I can see why; its all about being unable to return to the magic of the past. Whenever I hear it, I reminded of my fun days in junior high school and the homies I lost over the years - very bittersweet. Phil blows the track out of the water, with each iteration of the chorus more powerful than the last - true classic. Enjoy. - Jay Wilson

Black Friday: A. Phillip Randolph

admin — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 11:50:00 MDT

Dates: April 15, 1889 - May 16, 1979Occupation: labor and civil rights leaderAlso known as: Prophet of the Civil Rights Movement A. Philip Randolph, a black labor movement leader and the founder of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, believed that the key to black progress rested in the black working class. Beyond this, however, Randolph later found that defeating segregation was also an important cause. Although he was much older by this time, it failed to stop him from implementing his idea for one of the most memorable events during the civil rights movement�the March on Washington.A. Philip Randolph�s Childhood Born and raised in Crescent City, Florida, A. Philip Randolph was the son of a minister. Four years after Randolph graduated as class valedictorian from Cookman Institute, he decided to move to New York City in 1911. At first he attempted to launch an acting career, but he found more success in his academic endeavors at City College. Randolph Finds Solace in Socialism As Randolph developed intellectually, he began to believe that the black working class was crucial to black progress. With this goal in mind, Randolph joined the Socialist party. Among the other socialist that Randolph began associating with was Columbia University student Chandler Owen. Randolph and Owen quickly became close friends. In 1917, Randolph and Owen founded the magazine The Messenger. In it, they covered such issues as calling for more opportunities for blacks in the military and it was also used as a forum to criticize the ideas of President Woodrow Wilson, Booker T. Washington, and W.E.B. Du Bois. Randolph Fights for Black Porters Randolph eventually saw the need for organizing black workers. Because many affiliates of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) barred blacks from membership, in 1925, Randolph founded and served as President of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. The organization represented black porters who worked for the Pullman Company. Through the group, Randolph was able to secure a railroad contract with the Pullman Company in 1937. Randolph Challenges Discrimination Condoned by the Federal Government After the successful negotiation with the Pullman Company, one year later, Randolph put pressure on President Franklin D. Roosevelt to end employment discrimination against blacks in the federal government. Randolph began organizing blacks to march on Washington in protest. On June 25, 1941, President Roosevelt responded by issuing Executive Order 8802, which barred discrimination in defense industries and established the Fair Employment Act. Next, Randolph turned his attention to discrimination in the military. Randolph was successful again after he pushed for the banning of segregation in the military through his organization the League for Nonviolent Civil Disobedience Against Military Segregation. This time Executive Order 9981 was issued by President Harry Truman on July 26, 1948. Randolph Organizes the March on Washington Beyond labor concerns and governmental discrimination, Randolph was passionate about equality for blacks. When Martin Luther King Jr. took the lead in the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955, Randolph immersed himself in the civil rights effort. Randolph�s most notable achievement during the movement was the organization of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The idea for the march, which originated from Randolph�s 1941 idea to march in protest against employment discrimination practices by the federal government, encompassed Randolph�s two passions�labor concerns and civil rights. In 1968, Randolph�s health began to deteriorate, and he became less active. He died on May 16, 1979.

50 x 50: 50 Cent In His Own Words

admin — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 23:41:00 MDT

Rapper, shit-talker, and over-muscled freak 50 Cent is ready to give the world the real deal on his early days in the autobiography 50 x 50: 50 Cent in His Own Words. Although the "In His Own Words" tagline is the calling card for every crap celebrity autobio in existence, many will probably be shocked to hear me say that I'm actually looking forward to paging through it. Fiddy always came of as a smart, insightful guy despite churning out sub-standard albums and movies. Granted, I wouldn't pay for it, but if one rapper could pen an engaging tome it would be he. And Chuck D. And KRS. And 2Pac. And possibly Nas. F-it, deets after the jump from the NY Daily News. - Jay Wilson

Sales of 50 Cent's new album have been bested by those of his rap rival, Kanye West, but it's going to take more than marketing to kill this hip-hop king from Queens. Tuesday, he hits town with his latest venture, an intimate, illustrated autobiography that traces his climb from the street to the top of the charts. While his albums are packed with the bluster he says is "just the confidence necessary to exist in hip hop," this memoir sets Fitty apart. Starting with unrepentant tales of his early days in his first business, narcotics, the rapper, born Curtis Jackson, and a writer pal, Noah Callahan-Bever of Complex magazine, paint an unembellished picture of the years he spent pulling himself out of the troubled beginnings that gave him his material. "50 x 50: 50 Cent in His Own Words" is structured as a personal scrapbook that tells his story in photographs - including some seriously cute shots of a chubby-cheeked tyke in Queens. Page-long anecdotes follow the rapper through his mother's murder, his early drug deals, the shooting that left him fighting for his life, his recovery and rise to fame. It was a rough road, but, says 50, it was his. "I was just utilizing the things that were right in front of me," he says of his early drug dealing. "If you're a kid having a hard time in school and they tell you, well you can do this for 12 years and then get a collegedegree, a kid with curiosity is able to find someone who acquired the finances to get the things that he wanted in six months. It seemed like the only option at that point." The book doesn't downplay the financial success 50 Cent enjoyed as a teen-ager on the street, but it offers a vivid look at the sacrifices involved. The first time he was busted by police, after accidentally carrying a stash of cocaine to school in the toe of one of his gym sneakers, provided a rude awakening. His business, he writes, had distanced him from his grandparents, who took him in after his mother's death. "I blamed my grandparents. That was the worst part," he writes. "The moment it sunk in what had happened and what was about to happen, I reacted by being angry, like, 'If I hadn't had to hide this from them, I never would have gotten caught.'" Another bust sent him to drug rehab. The program couldn't change his reliance on drug dealing, but it made him face the people feeding his financial success. "I'm in there with kids my age who are addicted to the same drugs I'm selling," he writes. "It's not hard to tell right from wrong when it's in front of you like that." In the end, family was the force that pulled 50 Cent off the street. His son, Marquise Jackson, appears halfway through the book, flashing his daddy's assured smile. With Marquise's birth in 1997, the future rap star had to choose a profession that didn't limit his life expectancy. It was a day he had known would come ever since he lost his mother. "My mom didn't see welfare or [a job at] Burger King as an option, so she went in the wrong direction, hustling, but she acquired the finances that provided for me," he says. "Then the things that come with that lifestyle - like getting killed or going to jail - ended up coming." His mother died when 50 Cent was 8 years old, after, as he puts it, "someone knocked her out in her apartment and let the gas run." 50 Cent wouldn't let his business catch up with him. "When my son was on the way, I changed direction to write music," he says, "because I knew if I physically wasn't available to take care of him, no one else was."

KRS-ONE Brings Back the Stop the Violence Movement

admin — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 12:47:00 MDT

Remember KRS-ONE's Stop the Violence movement, which produced that classic hip hop posse cut, Self Destruction? The Blastmaster is resurrecting the concept in order to help curb violence amongst the boys in the hood.

Members of the new group include Lil' Wayne, Ludacris, Pastor Troy, Chingy, Rick Ross, Cassidy, Ludacris, Jalil of Whodini, Hakim of Channel Live and Busta Rhymes - alotta of wack emcees, I know, but when it comes to delivering a good message lyrical skill isn't much of a message - though I suppose content is. The new jacks will participate in PSAs to get the young'uns to leave the guns and the knives alone. KRS is also planning to release a Stop the Violence album that will serve as a soundtrack to an upcoming docudrama about violence. The rap legend stated:

[Hip-Hop] can make a difference. We influence every inner-city in the world...it's like all of us paying attention to a wind that seems to be blowing, a certain attitude about life that we are all kind of feeling. I think everybody wants to see Hip-Hop just balance itself out and grow a little more. It's good for everybody.

[Via All Hip Hop]

Black Friday: Lorraine Hansberry

admin — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 12:38:00 MDT

Dates: May 19, 1930 � January 12, 1965Occupation: playwright

Playwright Lorraine Hansberry�s ability to capture human injustice and pain in her work catapulted her to instant stardom. While her life was short, her play A Raisin in the Sun still lives on as a wonderful story about dreams deferred, family unity, and the agony of poverty and racism that black families commonly faced during the 1950s. Hansberry Witnesses Her Father�s Activism Lorraine Hansberry was born into a middle-class Chicago family on May 19, 1930. Her parents, Nannie Perry Hansberry and Carl A. Hansberry, were active proponents of civil rights. As a child, Hansberry witnessed her father�s participation in challenging segregation through his work with the NAACP and the Urban League. His attempt to break down the barriers of racism continued in the political arena when he ran for Congress.

One of her father�s most aggressive actions occurred when he moved the family into a white neighborhood in Chicago. As a result, the family�s home was vandalized and on one occasion Hansberry was injured. Her father, determined to fight residential segregation, brought legal action with the help of the NAACP. Although he won the case, residential segregation continued in Chicago. Hansberry's Early Writing Career After high school, Hansberry attended the University of Wisconsin for two years. She left early to pursue a career as associate editor in the New York City based newspaper, Freedom. It was a radical black paper founded by Paul Robeson. In 1953, she married Jewish writer Robert Nemiroff and resigned from her position at the newspaper. Hansberry Receives Praise for A Raisin in the Sun Hansberry began pursuing a career in writing. Influenced by her father�s dedication to civil rights, Hansberry wrote the play A Raisin in the Sun (1959), which opened to glowing reviews in New York. Raisin was about a black family in Chicago who struggle against racism and try to achieve their dream of having a better life. Somewhat modeled after her own family�s experience with residential segregation, the family in Raisin also attempts to move into an all-white neighborhood. The play won the New York Drama Critics Circle Best Play of the Year Award, making her the first African American to win the award. For the film version of the play, she won the Screen Writer�s Guild Award and an award from the Cannes Film Festival. Hansberry Battles Cancer In 1963, the same year that she was diagnosed with cancer, Hansberry�s play, The Sign in Sidney Brustein�s Window, about Jews after World War II, opened in the theater. One year later, Hansberry�s marriage ended in divorce. For the next two years, Hansberry battled cancer with chemotherapy and radiation, while at the same time continuing to write. On January 12, 1965, Hansberry died. After her death, Hansberry�s incomplete work was published. Her ex-husband, the executor of her estate, created To Be Young, Gifted and Black from her unfinished plays, poems, and writings. He also published her last three plays in Les Blancs: The Collected Last Plays.[Via About]

Military Photos of the World Trade Center

admin — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 12:36:00 MDT

Another 9/11 and it's tributes, conspiracy theories, and partisan bickering have come and gone, but new photos have found their way onto the web -apparently from a military source-that showcases the unbridled demolition of the World Trade Center. Truly fantastic shots of such a black day. - Jay Wilson

[Via Scribd]

Shout Out!: Is Cosby Dead-On or Full of Shite?

admin — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 00:38:00 MDT

From Alternet:
Comedian Bill Cosby is the walking and now writing proof of the ancient adage that good intentions can go terribly awry. That's never been more painfully true than in Cosby's latest tome, Come on People.Cosby and his publisher boast that the book is a big, brash, and provocative challenge to black folk to get their act together. That's got him ga ga raves, and an unprecedented one hour spin job on Meet the Press.In the book, Cosby harangues and lectures, cobbles together a mesh of his trademark anecdotes, homilies, and personal tales of woe and success, juggles and massages facts to bolster his self-designated black morals crusade. Stripped away it's the same stock claim that blacks can't read, write or speak coherent English, and are social and educational cripples and failures.Since Cosby's much touted tirade at the NAACP confab a few years back, and on countless talk shows, and at community gatherings, he has succeeded marvelously in getting the tongues of blacks wagging furiously and their fingers jabbing relentlessly at each other's alleged mountainous defects. They stumble over themselves to hail Cosby as the ultimate truth-giver.He isn't.

While Cosby is entitled to publicly air black America's alleged dirty laundry, there's more myth than dirt in that laundry. Some knuckleheads in black neighborhoods do kill, mug, peddle dope, are jobless untouchables, and educational wastrels. They, and only they, should be the target of wrath. But Cosby makes a Grand Canyon size leap from them to paint a half-truth, skewed, picture of the plight of poor blacks and the reasons and prescriptions for their plight. The cornerstone of Cosby mythmaking is that they are crime prone, educational losers, and teen baby making machines.The heart wrenching and much played up news shots and specials of black-on-black blood letting in Philadelphia, New Orleans, and a handful of other big cities and the admission that blacks do have a much higher kill rate than young whites tell a tale of out-of-control, lawless blacks. The truth: homicides and physical assaults have plunged among black teens to the lowest levels in the past two decades. The rate of drug use among young blacks is no higher than among young whites. Blacks are more likely to be arrested, convicted and imprisoned than young whites who if arrested at all are more likely to get drug rehab, counseling, and treatment referrals, probation or community service. This horribly distorts the racial crime picture.Then there is the black teen girls as baby making machine myth. The truth: The teen pregnancy rate among black girls has sharply dropped during the past decade. And they continue to fall.The biggest myth that young blacks empty out the public schools, fill up the jails and cemeteries, and ridicule learning as acting white has risen to urban legend rank. The truth: The U.S. Dept. of Education found that in the decades since 1975, more blacks had enrolled in school, had improved their SAT scores by nearly 200 points and had lowered their dropout rate significantly. It also found that one in three blacks attended college, and that the number of blacks receiving bachelors and masters degrees had nearly doubled. A survey of student attitudes by the Minority Student Achievement Network, an Illinois-based educational advocacy group in 2002 and confirmed in other surveys, found that black students were as motivated, studied as hard, and were as serious about graduating as whites.Cosby publicly bristles at criticism that he takes the worst of the worst behavior of some blacks and publicly hurls that out as the warped standard of black America. Cosby says that he does not mean to slander all, or even most blacks, as derelict, laggards and slackers. Yet that's precisely the impression he gives and the criticism of him for it is more than justified. Even the book title, Come on People: On the Path from Victims to Victors (a hint they're all losers) conveys that smear.He did not qualify or provide a complete factual context for his blanket indictment of poor blacks. He made the negative behavior of some blacks a racial rather than an endemic social problem. In doing so, he did more than break the alleged taboo against publicly airing racial dirty laundry; he fanned dangerous and destructive stereotypes.This is hardly the call to action that can inspire and motivate underachieving blacks to improve their lives. Instead, it further demoralizes those poor blacks who are doing the best to keep their children and themselves out of harm's way, often against towering odds, while still being hammered for their alleged failures by the Cosby's within and without their communities.Worse, Cosby's blame the victim slam does nothing to encourage government officials and business leaders to provide greater resources and opportunities to aid those blacks that need help. Come on People, intended or not, continues to tar the black communities and the black poor as dysfunctional, chronic whiners, and eternally searching for a government hand-out. Come on Cosby.