part 2 of saul william’s children’s poetry for black history month.

JOHN HENRY-N-ROLL

One day
while sitting
on the john
I read about
John Henry.

He was a man
with 2 first names
who kept a hammer
handy.

He dug a tunnel
through a mountain
faster than
a drill.

And inspired
many legends
including:
The Man Of Steel!

And singers
loved to sing
about the power
of this man.

His hammering
kept a rhythm
any drummer’d
understand.

He’d bang his pick
into the rock
then shake and roll
it out.

And that’s how
Rock N Roll
got its ol’name
so Twist and Shout!

I’m glad we keep
books by the john

my favorite place to read.

I wonder if John Henry
was a man who pooped
and peed?

“Closer” by Floetry

I will refrain my rant of why these hoes need to get back together for another day and time.

However, we should appreciate all the great music that Floetry has given us the years that they were together.  One of my favorite song by them and one that should be added to you love mix is “Closer.” Produced by Jarod Gosselin, this song off of their last studio album “Flo’Ology,” this song is just so sexy!!!  Sensual, licentious, carnal is just some of the words I have to describe this song.  

“I know you know I’m what you were, just never ever looking for….I’m what you call impossible, or you could say a miracle…..”

New music from singer/songwriter Marsha Ambrosius has leaked. I’m definitely feeling this one.

Marsha is working on her solo debut album, scheduled for release later this year.

Put It On Repeat – Marsha Ambrosius

recently, nickelodeon asked saul williams to write some children’s poems for black history month. with the exception of the first one, “in honor of…” they are all meant to be read in a child’s voice. nickelodeon decided not to use them (quelle grande surprise), but i thought they were really fantastic so i’mma post em up. can’t figure out how to make things into columns, so maybe i’ll just post them up one by one so they don’t make up the longest blog post of all time.

IN HONOR OF…

I asked her
to clean up
her room.

She said,
“I’m not a slave.”

“Nuh, duh,” I said
“cause if you were
with that attitude
you’d be dead.”

“No. I would be
like Harriet Tubman
or Sojourner Truth.
And in honor of
Black History Month
I won’t clean up my room!”

“In honor of the maids
who worked long hours
for little pay, who cleaned
and cleaned, and cleaned
and cleaned …
I won’t clean up today!”

“Well, you do know your history”
I said. “Girl, you make me proud

And in honor of your mixed ancestry
you should clean the house.”

i don’t know what it is, but i tend to grimace at the idea of books written by women. i know, i know. it’s terrible. but i can’t help it. aside from practically smothering myself in the things that anaïs nin has written, this is a man’s world © james brown.

that being said, amélie nothomb is on some next next next shit. i read one of her books,  métaphysique des tubes, while i was in france on a friend’s recommendation. it’s a psudo-autobiography of the author’s first 3 years of life and it is by far one of the coolest books  have ever read. for some reason in english it is fucking translated into the character of rain, which tears at me in ways you can’t even imagine. the translation of the first few preview pages on amazon seems to be much truer to the original french, while unfortunately shedding some of those beautiful layers that only the original can wear.

that being said, please excuse my translation of this little gem i came upon in ms. nothomb’s  journal d’hirondelle – “a swallow’s diary.”

(background: a girl is arguing with her father over him having stolen her diary. she is waving a gun at him. she is threatening to shoot if he doesn’t tell her where it is.)

- Ma chérie, laisse-moi aller le chercher. Je te dis que je ne sais plus où…
- Ça veut dire que tu l’as laissé traîner. C’est encore plus grave.
- Je suis ton père. Tu ne vas pas tuer ton père.
- Ça s’appelle un parricide. Si ça porte un nom, c’est que ça existe.
- Tuer son père pour un journal intime !
- Il n’y a pas de mot pour la violation d’un journal. Ça prouve que c’est plus grave. C’est innommable.

- Honey, let me go get it. I’m telling you, I don’t know where…
- That means that you left it laying around. That’s even worse.
- I’m your father. You’re not going to kill your father.
- It’s called parricide. If it has a name, it’s because it exists.
- Killing your father over a diary!
- There is no word for the violation of a diary. That proves that it’s worse. It’s unspeakable*.

* technically translates to unspeakable, but if such a word as unnameable existed, that would be a way better translation.

banger shit. good night & good riddance.

As you guys know, I am obsessed with YouTube. One of my favorite things to do is watch amateur performers cover their favorite songs. Usually these performances make me feel better about my singing, but occasionally I find one that really blows me away. As YouTube has grown in popularity, more singers and songwriters have started using it as a publicity tool. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference because the normal people are so talented and creative. See if you can tell the difference in these next few clips.

Who are your favorite YouTube superstars? Leave it in the comments!

i let life fall. into place. into time. into existence.

bumps in the road are really just disguised diversions. the universe’s way of gently nudging you in the right direction.

i thought i was going the right way, but really, what do i know?

you only learn after the fact.  who are we to question the way that fate steers us?

sometimes the biggest mistakes are the biggest liberations. sometimes the biggest liberations are the biggest mistakes.

but if there are no mistakes….                     ?

so you let that beautiful woman called destiny take you by the hand and lead you, with the mutual understanding that she will do you no wrong. you explore unchartered territories, places unheard, unseen, unspoken. you believe her when she drifts her lips across your ear and says that every thing works out in the end. you are apologetic for the times you doubted her. you tell her that she’s always right, even if you don’t see it at the time. you will.

but what happens when the day comes that you are certain that that this is not the way that things should be? how do you win the impossible fight?

you want to kick and scream and wave your arms in the air.  you want to shake her, so much that it scares her.

“It was Shawshank Redemption and finally I am pleased to announce, because there’s no gag order or legalities [and] my lawyer said I can speak, I am f*cking free, yes I’m a free agent.”

There seems to be some type of revolving door of employees going on in the offices of Aftermath and the branches under it.

With Bobby Creekwater, Obie Trice, Stat Quo, Rakim, Busta Rhymes and more taking their business elsewhere, the newest addition to artists off Aftermath is West Coast rapper Bishop Lamont who was on the label for five years.

Five years would come to make many fans sit and ponder where and official album was, which seemed to be exactly why Lamont decided to part ways with Dre and the Aftermath family, according to the rapper.

Having a conversation on Shade 45’s The All Out Show, the California native spoke on the blessing of leaving the label and cleared up some past issues that surfaced with DJ Vlad.

“Bless Vlad, we talked about it.  What he was trying to do was have the scoop, but what we was tryna do was take secret, quiet conversations already trying to get the outs and can we go to other labels, already trying to test the waters to see when it’s good to make the move.  So, you overheard a conversation and then tried to confirm the sh*t and I wasn’t free yet so it kinda made it even a little more messy.”

Although not under Dre, he assures the fact that everything is still cool between himself and the producer.  It was just time to leave.

“Dre is my big bro and that’s my family regardless and Imma support Aftermath with whatever he need.  After almost five years of sitting there and working with every producer in the world, it’s kinda unfair to the fans and my family and myself to keep telling people something and the release dates change.”

Representatives, however, seem to be singing a completely different tune in regards to Lamont as a spokesperson unleashed a barrage of statements labeling Lamont as an “idiot” and a disloyal artist that was making his situation worse with every bad move.

“Unlike Joell Ortiz or Stat Quo, Bishop Lamont was released from Aftermath due to disloyalty and the fact that he is an idiot.  It started in early 2008 when he decided to name himself a spokesperson for Detox, Aftermath & Dr. Dre.  Let’s start with his disloyalty.

Bishop’s Single “Grow Up” should have never happened period. The song “Grow Up” was originally intended for Marsha from Floetry and stolen by Bishop. Bishop layed vocals to what the public now knows as “Grow Up” and Dre never liked it.

Knowing that this record wasn’t approved by Dre, Idiot Bishop went ahead and begged a personal friend & Interscope employee to leak the unapproved “Grow Up” record to DJ’s, with full knowledge that this is being done against the will of Dr. Dre. Now that the record is out, Dr. Dre and the Aftermath staff are furious and calling the Interscope offices to have the record Cease & Deceased before the record spreads across the country after Power 106 in LA plays “Grow Up” and threw the record in rotation. The Interscope employee who leaked Grow Up was almost fired after an impromptu meeting was called in the Interscope building about damage control on the “Grow Up” leak. Bishop knew Dr. Dre never liked Grow Up from the beginning and Bishop never made it clear to his friend/Interscope Employee of the risk that was being taken with this record.

Bishop also went on Sirius XM Shade 45 on Angela Yee’s & Leah Rose’s Lip Service show and went on to say how he “doesn’t like the Crack A Bottle” record. Live on Eminem’s station here is a supposedly Aftermath artist publicly expressing disapproval of the franchise team player’s first single off a highly anticipated project for your record company???”

This is only the tip of the iceberg as the rep found more reference points to soil his image.  The music business is quite the cut throat business and only the strong can stay afloat.

by arthur gorges

Soul Culture reports that UK songstress Marsha Ambrosius has signed a new deal with Sony/BMG distributed label J Records.

The singer was previously signed to Dr Dre’s Aftermath label.  

Congratulations Marsha.

I hope it works out for her over at J Records and she finally manages to release her long-awaited debut album.

The life of our city is rich in poetic and marvelous subjects. We are enveloped and steeped as though in an atmosphere of the marvelous; but we do not notice it.

Marsha Ambrosius

::~Floetry*::

These are absolutely MY GURLS!   

These two chicks appeared on the scene from England with they own lil style! 

~Floetry, consistin’ of  Marsha Ambrosius (“the Songstress“) -she looks like my baby sis, Aquila, and Natalie Stewart (“the Floacist“),  are two friends who met attending Brits Performing Arts School.   

 In 1997, Marsha  and Nat began writin’ songs and playin’ shows in and around London.   Three years later, they moved to America.    To me they did the dayumm thang!.     

The Talkin’  Headz say that Nat was  replaced with somebody name Amanda Diva,  for tours in 2007, and then ~Floetry  just faded off into the sunset.    :-(    

 Marsha  later signed as a solo artist to Dr. Dre’s  Aftermath Entertainment.     Heard nothin’ new of Nat…but she’s on MySpace with some coo-ass shy.   ”She Luv ♦Like…”   is off the deep end… 

I’m tellin’ U~~~ 

I’m “addin’ as a friend” as we speak!~♦ 

That’s all I know… 

“Floetic” (the CD this song is on!) went Gold,  and is still the  “gol-darn”  shyt, part’ na!~ 

::I dare you to say it isnt!::

Last night I attended an amazing show put together by the ladies of Rivers of Honey at Wow Theater in LES, NYC.  It took me back to the days of Blue Chakra poetry nights at FAMU where finger snaps showed our appreciation instead of clapping.  So here is a flash back of Def Poetry’s glory days.  I loved this show and I wish it was still on TV because there is no balance on TV programming.  Below are a few selections from the hit HBO show.

NYE THE SOUL WAY!! – A New Years Eve Soul Party In London On Thurs Dec 31st 2009:

£FREE ENTRY before 9pm, only £5 after, no glists, queues or tickets required – a PEOPLE’S event! in London N1 …

MUSIC POLICY :
Nu & Old Soul & related roots music
IE: across the board SOUL & Sweet Music inc: Raregroove, Motown, Funk, Disco, 80s Soul, Neo Soul, Credible Hip Hop & R&B, Reggae, Lovers Rock, Soca, Salsa, Afrobeat & Party Jams & other good stuff.

EVENT DESCRIPTION: :
This informal good vibes party with SOUL music as it’s backdrop takes
place in N1 each year taking pride in it’s cosy atmosphere,
friendliness, keeping bar prices usual with no queues, glists, price
hikes etc. Suitable for those wishing to avoid the cattle market of
the bigger clubs found in the West End, Shoreditch etc. Why pay for
ticket-only events with starting prices of £50+ per ticket to still be
queuing to get in to the club or still waiting to be served at the bar
AFTER it’s gone midnight when you can enter free before 9pm at
Hobgoblin in Angel & party til 4am to the whole range of Soul &
related Roots music with live instruments & surprises also lined up.
Keep The Faith & UKSoulJam’s Paul Aaaron heads proceedings migrating
through different era’s, tempo’s, sub genres & regional styles of Soul
IE: from Erykah Badu to Edwin Starr, Bob Marley to Barry White, Fela to
Fania, Sly Stone to Sugarhill Records…

More info via this Facebook event page here:
http://www.facebook….9525200&index=1

NEW YEARS EVE THE SOUL WAY! – FREE ENTRY BEFORE 9pm – with GROOVE LINEAGE ‘SOUL RELATED’ @ HOBGOBLIN, Angel, London, N1 – NO GLISTS, NO TICKET NEEDED

PRICE:
Free entry before 9pm, £5 after 9pm

DRESS CODE:
None – There is no dress code.

ADDRESS:
The Hobgoblin
73 White Lion St,
Angel, Islington, London,
N1 9PF

TIMES:
8pm – 4am

NEAREST TUBE:
Angel (only 150 metres away)

LANDMARK:
Hobgoblin is opposite Dominoes Pizza

HOBGOBLIN MAP:

_________________________________________________________

CLICK THESE YOUTUBE CLIPS TO HEAR EXAMPLES OF MUSIC YOU’RE LIKELY TO HEAR ON OUR NYE EVENT:

MARY J BLIGE "BE HAPPY":  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvGbmEuV_lA

SLY & THE FAMILY STONE: "FAMILY AFFAIR":  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RmKBFND9SY

ERIC ROBERSON ~ ERRO "CHANGE(FOR ME)":  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z7DPbaFAYY

MAXWELL "ASCENSION":  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRw0eoIk_qM

MARVIN GAYE "COME LIVE WITH ME ANGEL":  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lpz5zrXig0

MARVIN GAYE "GOT TO GIVE IT UP":   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeLjT4nrUTQ

THE VALENTINOS ft BOBBY WOMACK: "SWEETER THAN THE DAY BEFORE":  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umj_d_deGZI

JANET KAY "FEEL NO WAY":  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=banitPdvpTw

SADE "LOVE IS STRONGER THAN PRIDE" (Mad Prof. Lovers Rock Mix):  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt6LhnSVFkY

NAYA GEORGE "TRINIDAD":  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSA6TKpYZtM

FELA KUTI "WATER GET NO ENEMY":  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdV1V4vPPLI

TITO PUENTE "OYE COMO VA":  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFpCALtVUcE

AL HUDSON & THE SOUL PARTNERS "SPREAD LOVE":  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLtH_StWezk

STARVUE "BODY FUSION":  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubvsKR-Gn7A

ARCHIE BELL & THE DRELLS: "DON’T LET LOVE GET YOU DOWN":  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcO9zSzbJhw

CHANGE ft LUTHER VANDROSS "THE GLOW OF LOVE":  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izRKmEgv2kM

ERYKAH BADU "BACK IN THE DAY":  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNYf2f1YCO8

CHAKA KHAN "I FEEL FOR YOU":  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If0bs-jEk8A

PRINCE   & SHEILA E "A LOVE BIZZARE":  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zts26_kyim4

_________________________________________________________

OTHER DIARY DATES:

* WEEKLY – EVERY FRIDAY:: FREE ENTRY @ GROOVE LINEAGE SESSIONS @ HOBGOBLIN, 73 White Lion Street, Angel Islington, N1

* NEOSOUL3rdFRIDAYs: ERYKAH BADU nu album ft Special @ HOBGOBLIN N1, FREE: FRI FEB 19th 2010

_________________________________________________________

Please keep checking the KTF email newsletters for the latest on this new event and all KTF events.
STAY IN TOUCH WITH KEEP THE FAITH Events on FACEBOOK in this KTF FACEBOOK GROUP:
http://www.facebook….gid=20676919433
MORE INFO ALSO @ KEEP THE FAITH EVENTS PAGE @:
http://www.myspace.c…efaithclubnight

GET LONDON SOUL EVENTS & NEWS UPDATES 1st via our KTF e-News direct to your inbox – it’s free – just email us on keepthefaithful@gmail.com to request this.
For all enquiries – please EMAIL: keepthefaithful@gmail.com

.

Who: Lami Phillips, soul singer hogging your TV screens with the videos for ‘Nuttin Do You’, and ‘You Know’, a duet with M.I.; both taken off her debut album ‘Intuition’.

Sounds Like: A neo-soul mash-up of Sade Adu, Floetry, and Jill Scott, with a little more naija jump. “ I’m very Barbara Streisnad meets India Arie, my friends say I’m too deep, but I can’t help it, I’m not going out of my way to be deep its just how God made me and neo-soul always keys into the inner core of things.”

First Shots: Lami released her debut album ‘Intuition’, which was, for most parts, an insular burp, in but her new videos have shined the spotlights on the LP, showing it as the work of art it actually is. ‘Intuition’ boasts six tracks that flit between neo, soul, hip-hop and R and B, to create a very listenable album, shame on you if you haven’t listened to it.

She Gets Around: Her debut album testifies to her genre-jumping tendencies; ‘Intuition’ is a pot-pourri of sounds: a mish-mash of R and B, Pop, Soul, Neo, Naija, and a dash of hip-hop; a veritable heady mix. This is a result of her many influences.  “My musical influences are global, I don’t listen to a certain type or genre or artiste, from Jay Z to MusiqSoulchild to Tracy Chapman; so when I’m writing all those sounds and influences are fused together and it comes out however it does”

No More No Vernacular: When I was recording, I had a lot of pressure to do with language; some people said ‘if the song doesn’t have pidgin in it, it wont sell, if its not done in vernacular, it wont sell; but I just made feel-good music and left it at that, letting the situation dictate the feel of the songs.  so there are some  songs with no Nigerian influence, but I’m Nigerian and I’m proud to be one.

Come As You Are: By her own admission, she doesn’t have any laid out formula for deciding what to write, record or put out. A lot of the time, she works by ear, and likes to wing it, letting the creative juices flow as they may. “My music doesn’t have any calculation or formula to what I’m doing, I do, or more appropriately, I sing what I feel. Like the song ‘Know’, off the first album, MI asked me what I would say in Yoruba to my husband or lover and I said, “erm…my mum always says olowo ori m”i and that’s how that part of the song  came about, but I won’t have sat done there thinking or calculating what to put in, it has to flow at its own pace.”

Greatest Album Never Heard (yet): Lami plans to release a live album sometime in the future, which according to her will best showcase her talents; she plans to release the live effort because, as we know, its one thing to release, its another thing entirely for the market to receive it. “I actually wanted to do my whole album live but it occurred to me that in Nigeria, one might need a whole year to put it together. It is possible to do the live album, but too many things have to come into play for that to work, like the musicians I worked with before, they  don’t live here in Nigeria, so when its live, you need people who can read your mind, musically, and know where you’re going. I was trained to perform live but the people I trained with are all outside the country, so when I do my live album, I’ll have to do it outside the country, or I have to bring them here ‘cos they read my mind and u need that to kick it off.”

Lami’s debut album, ‘Intuition’ , is in stores now.

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Soul Of Sydney Podcast#2

DJ Terry A – Christmas Funk & Summer Soul Mixup Live @ K Life Sydney

Style: Funk, Soul & House

Download Here

Click Here to Listen:

Track listing:

1. JT Donaldson – Trust Me
2. Mtume – Juicy Fruit
3. Gwen Mcrae – Funky Sensation (MAW mix)
4. Yarbrough & Peoples – Don’t stop the music
5. Jocelyn Brown – Somebody Else’s Guy (dub)
6. Vernon Burch – Do it to me
7. Tom Browne – Funkin’ for Jamaica
8. Barna Soundmachine & Der Beat – Jump up let’s go
9. Julien Jabre – And you don’t stop
10. Brick – Ain’t gonna hurt nobody
11. Gwen Mcrae – All this love that im giving
12. Crazy P – Stop Space Return
13. Gaelle – Give it back
14. Raydio – You can’t fight what you feel
15. Goldie Alexander – I want to show you my love
16. Tracey Weber – Sure Shot
17. Change – A Lover’s Holiday
18. Faze Action – I wanna dancer
19. Floetry – Say Yes (David Harness)
20. Seal – People Asking why (Timmy Regisford)
21. Black Coffee – Turn Me on
22. Monique Bingham – Little W 12th St
23. Peven Everett – Music
24. Robin Thicke – Would that make you love me

Download Here

Click Here to Listen:

Please & Many Blessings to your and the family over Christmas

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Here are just a few faces of the women that inspire me as an artist. There all so full off culture it beams off their faces don’t you think? I would like to have a place like theirs in the music industry promoting my ethnicity, culture and beliefs through music and my identity.

What do you think about the way they promote their identity?

Time…just need time.

a big middle finger to wordpress for somehow making this blurry.