On May 30, I was privileged to attend an intimate performance and “All Things Considered” interview with Meshell Ndegeocello at the legendary Village Studios in Los Angeles. The event was organized to launch her new album,
Comet, Come to Me, but she played songs from each of her previous albums—except
Cookie, The Anthropological Mixtape, for which she said she needed to be in another mental space to deal with. (
Cookie came at the end of her relationship with Maverick, with contentious demands from the label such as trying to select producers by opening up Billboard to see who had the latest hits. However, she teased that a song might make its way into a forthcoming concert.) It was a real treat for fans to hear songs from the early albums: “Dred Loc,” “Outside Your Door,” “I’m Diggin’ You,” “Who Is He and What Is He to You,” and “Ecclesiastes: Free My Mind.” I was so overcome I felt tears well up just hearing these songs brought back to life.
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No surprise that a book that attempts to explain why Prince became an icon would generate so much criticism and controversy. Fans who know virtually every detail of Prince’s life are clearly disappointed because there are no new revelations. But they’re reading it for the wrong reason if that’s what they seek. I actually found Touré‘s analysis illuminating in I Would Die 4 U: Why Prince Became an Icon. It’s an imperfect book, but a worthwhile read because Touré really gets you to think. Continue reading →
Something happened in the 1960s that doesn’t often get discussed. Brotherly love became an increasingly common subject for pop music lyrics. Only rarely was this topic deemed sufficiently interesting in previous decades or centuries. What caused this shift? Several societal factors coincided and likely played a role: the explosive number of Boomer youth and further differentiation of a separate youth culture; the high profile of the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S. and the instantly televised, blatant inequities faced by American blacks; a reaction against the conformist, materialistic 1950s and growing interest in non-material, spiritual consciousness.