On “Universal Mind Control,” Common tried out more “futuristic” and otherworldly ideas, beats, and imagery to push himself and take his music to places he hadn’t previously explored. Working with Pharrell Williams of producing duo The Neptunes played a huge part, since Pharrell is no stranger to enthusiasm for outer space themes and ideas. From his music label Star Trak, to his clothing lines, Billionaire Boys Club and Ice Cream featuring an astronaut as its mascot, and even citing scientist Carl Sagan as someone he really admires, Pharrell is often pushing creativity toward an interplanetary future. (Watch Pharrell talk to Current about his creative community ARTST here.) The first single and title track from Common’s “Universal Mind Control” is a perfect example of that.
But Pharrell and Common aren’t the only artists in hip-hop to focus attentions on off-world conquest. It’s been a source of inspiration and a big topic for a lot of emcees and producers in recent years especially. Since the beginning of his mainstream career, Kanye West has talked about escaping in a “Spaceship”, and his entire 2008 Glow In The Dark tour hinged on a plot line where he’d been traveling the unknown to find the meaning and inspiration that Earth had failed to provide.
A 2008 Slate magazine article suggested that the black “Afronaut” has roots all the way in the earlier 1900s. But young music fans and bloggers have suggested that what it makes appealing in most recent history—though even that extends back to Afrika Bambaataaa’s “Planet Rock” in the 1980s—is being able to identify with “the alien Superman.” There’s something relatable in the isolation of outer space existence, and then using that same “otherness” to present ordinary Earth with material that’s both unique and heroic, thanks to the grandness that comes along with huge spacecrafts delivering lifesaving resources that people need.
New artist Kid Cudi fits right into that idea with his debut, “Man on the Moon: End of the Day” (narrated by none other than…Common). The isolation of the space agent is crux of the album, and Cudi says that space as a concept appealed to him even as a child—going from traveling to his own world in his imagination to placing himself there more definitely as an artist.
Anyone who has spent at least five minutes interested in Mos Def probably knows about Black Star. Although independent artists, Mos Def and Talib Kweli have been good friends for years, and in 1998, they teamed up to release the album “Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star” on Rawkus Records. The two emcees postponed the releases of separate solo albums to create a full-length album that drew from jazz, literature, and news at the time to help redefine the word “black” as well as critique and celebrate hip-hop music and culture at the end of the century.
In addition to classic singles like “Definition” or “Respiration” (which gets a little help from Common, another one of Current’s Embedded artists) making the album a must-listen for rap audiences, Mos and Talib also included songs like “Children’s Story.” It’s a re-imagining of Slick Rick’s hit of the same name, but instead of warning spinning a cautionary tale about wayward teens, Black Star warned against musicians forgetting artistry thanks to getting distracted by the materialistic nature of the entertainment industry.
Since the release of the album, Mos Def and Talib Kweli have performed Black Star songs together, and media and outlets alike have asked about a follow-up. They’ve both maintained that anything is possible once the time is right, and for Embedded, Mos Def answers the same question with the same sentiments as always and also shows off a little more of his range in music tastes by referencing The White Stripes’ song “Little Room.”
UPDATE: In his Tour Stop on Embedded, Somali rapper K’naan explains why Black Star’s first album is so influential for him.
Our music programming supervisor Manoj Gopinath represented for Team Current at the Common & Friends Benefit this past weekend in LA. Here’s his recap and some (shaky) YouTube clips we found. —SNK
Hip hop’s finest all came out to flex their performance muscles at a great concert this past Saturday at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, CA. The concert, curated by rapper/actor (and friend of Current Music) Common, and supporting his Common Ground Foundation, brought out a diverse group of performers, including himself. The event was organized by Jodie Blum, the executive director of the Common Ground Foundation, and Common gave all the props to her for getting all the artists to come out and perform. I was lucky enough to have a chance to check out the show, which I would rate as one of the best I’ve seen in a while. That’s saying a lot, as I’ve been to a pretty fair amount in the past two years working at Current.
Hosted by KCRW’s Garth Trinidad, a good friend of Common, the show started off with a bang when he introduced hip hop underground royalty De La Soul, who performed a couple of their hits, including “Buddy,” “Stakes is High,” and “Oooh.” One of the early surprises was when a masked MF Doom showed up to drop his verse on “Roc Co.Kane Flow.” I’m not sure most of the skinny-jean wearing hipster crowd knew who he was, but the true hip hop heads in attendance were definitely bobbing their head ferociously.
The man of the night then appeared, as Common came out and rocked with De La Soul, performing a couple of their collabs. Common then took over the stage and went on to perform one his staples of all his live shows lately, “The People,” shouting out President Obama and the new generation of our diverse population. He then segued into a version of “Come Close” set to the live band’s rendition of D’angelo’s “Brown Sugar,” a definite highlight for the ladies in attendance. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, ?uestlove and Black Thought came to the stage to rock the drums and mic, and launched into an impromptu freestyle session with Common, while DJ Dummy—Common’s DJ and the house DJ for the night—was searching for their collab record to throw on. It was a great moment where three amazing artists went off the top to give the crowd what they expected. Real hip hop!
Next up was an unusual guest in the mostly backpack/conscious line-up, none other then ATL’s own Ludacris. You wouldn’t be able to tell by the crowd though, as the energy was definitely lifted a notch when Trinidad brought him out. Luda took us back with his classic hits “Southern Hospitality” and “Move B#$&%.” But the theme of the night was not forgotten, as he thanked Common, who he mentioned as one of his favorite rappers, and thanked hip hop, then fittingly launched into his current collaboration with Nas, “I do it for hip hop.”
And wouldn’t you know it, Mr. Nasir Jones then came out to spit his verse. He then took over the stage, as the band’s keyboard player dropped the inspirational “In the Air Tonight” riff from his hit “One Mic.” Judging from Nas’ performance, his energy level was definitely off the charts, even forgetting some of his lyrics, as the crowd cheered him on. As he performed “The World Is Mine” and “NY State of Mind,” Common played hype man, even helping him out with some of the lyrics, fittingly changing NY to LA on the hook, which the crowd loved. Common even rapped one of Nas’ verses, paying homage to the Queens Bridge legend. The two hip hop icons then joined forces to introduce another surprise guest, one of their personal favorites, none other than the overweight luva himself, Heavy D. Most of the younger crowd probably did not know the history, as the energy digressed a bit, but I myself was taken back to my days in elementary / middle school, a lovely time in my life:), as he performed “The Overweight Lova’s in the House” and “Nuttin’ But Love.” I have to admit, while watching the sound check earlier in the day, and seeing Heavy D run through his set, I was pretty excited, as I’d never seen him live before—so added bonus for me, not so much for the skinny jeans crowd.
Just when you thought the night might be winding down, Common hit the stage again, while DJ Dummy dropped the instrumental for his collaboration with Black Star, “Respiration.” Could it be? Could both Mos Def and Talib Kweli be in the building. Judging from how the night had gone so far, it was pretty much a given. Right on cue, Mos’ melodic voice blared over the PA, launching into his verse… The crowd was at an all time high! When Talib appeared, you knew the night was a special one for hip hop. Mos and Talib each did their respective solo cuts too, “Umi Says” and “Get By,” with the latter getting a crazy response from the crowd. Common even admitted to the crowd that Talib and Mos were last-minute additions, who called him the night before and said they wanted to rock at the show. I was thinking to myself, now that is what hip hop is all about!
This seemed like a perfect avenue to bring another guest in, huh? Common took to the mic to send his apologies from Mr. West, for not being able to make it, as he was trying to stay out of the spotlight, and also took a minute to defend his brother. For a split second, I actually believed him, but as the adrenaline level in the crowd seemed to increase, and Common chanted “the only way to get up from this was to ‘Get em high,’” the instrumental for his collaboration with Kanye and Talib dropped. As Kanye appeared, rapping his verse, the crowd pretty much exploded, and the energy in the Palladium was at an all time high. Kanye might have been taken aback a bit, as he forgot some of his lyrics, but Common and Talib stepped in to back him up.
Kanye then went on to perform “Good Life,” probably the all-time high of the show for the crowd, and “Flashing Lights,” with Mos Def filling in for Dwele’s soulful hook. Common and Talib played his hype men, and did a fine job if I might add. You would think this would be the fitting end to an already amazing show, but just as “Flashing Lights” was coming to a close, a female voice was heard over the speakers—none other than Queen Latifah. Assisting Mos with the hook probably wasn’t a good idea, but in any event, the Queen herself closed out the show, as Common and Kanye backed her up. She ended her set with her classic cut “U.N.I.T.Y.,” a fitting end to an amazing night. Unity was definitely the theme of the whole show, as an eclectic group of performers came out for a great cause. This was definitely 2.5 hours of my life that wasn’t wasted, and I’m sure everyone in attendance would agree with me. Props to Common, Jodie , the Common Ground Foundation, and everyone who supported the show.
Record Store Day is tomorrow! That means tons of indie record stores across the country will be featuring some amazing in store performances, discounts on music and merch, plus some special releases of EP’s and LP’s.
It’s an indisputable fact that the music industry is full of a lot of colostomy bags, but independent record store people have always been the good guys. So go out tomorrow, buy some good music, and support people who support good artists—or at least go to your local record store to meet some cute alt-tail that has good taste in music.
You can find a map of stores participating here, a list of special releases here, and a list of in store performances here.
If you can be at five places at once, here are the five I would recommend:
Goner Records, Memphis, TN Jay Reatard will be playing in-store at his hometown record shop Goner Records tomorrow. Here’s a clip of Jay playing there not so long ago.
Fat Beats, New York, NY Fat Beats has about a dozen artists coming in tomorrow, but Talib Kweli is closing the show. Here’s a clip of him in-store at Fat Beats a few months ago.
Grimey’s, Nashville TN Grimey’s always gets some of the best in-store performances. They’ll have around 10 bands there this Saturday including the Avett Brothers. Here’s a clip of the Avetts doing an in-store at Schoolkids Records in Raleigh (also a very cool store).
Rasputin Music and DVD, Berkeley, CAThe Silversun Pickups are performing and celebrating the release of their new album. Here’s a clip of them playing at Fingerprints in Long Beach at last year’s Record Store Day. Tomorrow you can get a 12” of Pikul before the album is released.
Fingerprints Records, Long Beach, CAThe Bird and the Bee will be performing at Fingerprints in Long Beach. Considering the Silversun Pickups were there last year, and now they have the Bird and the Bee, I’d say this is a pretty badass store. Here’s a clip of the Bird and the Bee doing an in-store at Waterloo Records in Austin at SXSW this year.
