I’m going to start posting up some songs that I really like. Usually they will be from independent artists that can do with some exposure and I always like turning people on to new music. This first song is by a singer/rapper Big Krizz Kaliko and rapper Tech N9ne. But this isn’t rap music. This is their successful attempt at rock forming a group called Kabosh. If you’ve heard Kaliko in the past, you know he can sing opera, funk, r & b and now rock. He’s an amazing talent, and well, Tech N9ne has been one of my favorite rappers for many years now. This is a really good track. It was included as a bonus track on a Strange Music (record label) Sampler that came with Tech N9ne’s Everready: The Religion.
I’m not really a fan of opera music but I was reading the newspaper today and read an article about a pioneering opera singer passing away. He was Robert K. McFerrin Sr. Many may recognize the last name, as his son, Bobby McFerrin, had success with the hit song Don’t Worry, Be Happy. He was a St. Louis native.
Robert K. McFerrin Sr., an opera singer from St. Louis who performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, died Friday (Nov. 24, 2006) at Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital of a heart attack. He was 85 and lived in Creve Coeur.
Mr. McFerrin was born in Marianna, Ark., the seventh of eight children. He began singing at his father’s church as a boy and continued to pursue music as a student at Sumner High School. Read more
A friend of mine from France has really great taste in music. She listens to a lot of electronic music, something I’ve never really gotten into. One night she introduced me to a song called “Our Dance” by an artist named Wax Tailor featuring a very seductive Charlotte Savary. The beat of this song is hypnotic, and the woman’s voice is just as compelling as the score behind it. I was blown away by this song and wanted to hear more of this French guy Wax Tailor. I hopped on good old iTunes and searched. Luckily, they had his album Tales of the Forgotten Melodies. Think of this album as more than an album of music. It is a story that entwines aspects of film noir throughout its 19 songs. Wax Tailor incorporates various movie clips throughout the album and his production is stellar. He’s been compared to the producers behind Portishead but to compare him to someone I’m more familiar with, he sounds similar to RJD2 or Kno (from CunninLynguists). In fact, I’ve not heard production this good on an entire album since Kno’s awesome work on A Piece of Strange. I really am blown away by this album and urge anyone who is ever looking for something different to check it out. Change is sometimes good. I now like electronic music, all thanks to the wonders of the internet and a friend from France.
As many are aware, I do not like country music. It just doesn’t do anything for me. No, it’s not because it’s all about your girlfriend leaving you and stealing your pick-up truck (though, I do use that stereotype when talking about the music to others, just as they use stereotypes to describe my music of choice, hip hop). I just don’t care for it. I would say there is once exception, and that is Johnny Cash. Now, I never really got into Johnny Cash until college, but I do think the man has put out some excellent music. The other day while subbing a social studies class, a young girl and I debated on his genius. She was a product of the new school of country music, not appreciating the “grittier” country music that came before. It wasn’t until recently that I could say exactly why Johnny Cash was a genius, and this excerpt isn’t the only reason he is, but it explains a lot as to why he is. This is from Chuck Klosterman’s Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto
Here is the easiest way to explain the genius of Johnny Cash: Singing from the perspective of a convicted murderer in the song “Folsom Prison Blues,” Cash is struck by pangs of regret when he sits in his cell and hears a distant train whistle. This is because people on that train are “probably drinkin’ coffee.” And this is also why Cash seems completely credible as a felon: He doesn’t want freedom or friendship or Jesus or a new lawyer. He wants coffee.
Within the mind of a killer, complex feelings are eerily simple.
This is why killers can shoot men in Reno just to watch them die, and the rest of us usually can’t.
Like I said, it’s not the only reason that makes him great, just a simple explanation.
10 years ago Tupac Amaru Shakur died after being shot 6 days earlier in Las Vegas. He is missed by many and forgotten by few.