Blogcritics Author: Jose Vilson

DVD Review: Classic Albums - Reasonable Doubt

Jose Vilson — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 18:00:35 EST

This documentary gives Jay-Z's greatest album its proper due.
Jay-Z’s story has been told plenty of times, from VH1 and MTV to PBS and CBS. He’s the most popular rapper out now, even if it seems that his career has come to a bit of a denouement. This documentary, though, is a little different in that it chronicles his arguably best and certainly his hungriest album and more properly analyzes every...

Music Review: Common - thisisme then: The Best of Common

Jose Vilson — Sun, 2 Dec 2007 10:52:17 EST

Common's raw rhymes mixed with that earthy backpacker aura still emanate from this pristine set, and yes I do mean pristine as uncorrupted.
Previously, I wrote about Common’s ascendancy into stardom via his million and a half projects (a little hyperbole, I suppose, but close to the truth). Since then, rumors have spread about his retirement from rap and concentrating on his “SAG card.” With the dearth of profits from actual album sales, artists like Common now have...

Music Review: Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds - Playlist

Jose Vilson — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 18:39:02 EST

Babyface's latest album is really two of them - a compilation of covers and a self-contained album.
Babyface's latest effort, Playlist, is a solid compilation of original songs and covers from some of the best artists in the last century. Hence, there are two listening sessions that happen at once when you listen to the album: as a compilation to compare to the original versions of all the songs, and as a self-contained album by Babyface, who...

Music Review: J. Holiday - Back of My 'Lac

Jose Vilson — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 14:22:31 EDT

J. Holiday's album shows an artist with much promise, but can he surpass his thug image?
The latest R&B singing sensation out of Chocolate City (Washington D.C. for the rest of the world) has been all the rage on the charts. J Holiday's single “Bed” peaked at #5 on the Billboard Singles charts, and his latest album Bac of My Lac also peaked at #5 on the Billboard 200 charts. After giving the album a first listen, I...

It's About Black History, Not the Month

Jose Vilson — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 23:53:26 EDT

Everyone has had a stake in this country, and that stake is not fully recognized except in back pats and head nods.
Just because everyone has a sphincter doesn't mean everyone uses it well. In the same spirit, everyone has an opinion, but not everyone thinks thoroughly about what they say. I recently read a blog from a former model and reality show personality that annoyed me. It wasn't so much that she had a different point of view; it was that she...

Announcement: Short-content feeds

Phillip Winn — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT

Sunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding.

Music Review: Talib Kweli - Eardrum

Jose Vilson — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 18:21:32 EDT

Last week, I discussed Common’s ascension into mainstream culture, and how he compared to his fellow “backpackers.” Almost coincidentally, Talib Kweli readied the release of Eardrum, a collection of songs he released through his MySpace page as well as songs that could have / would have / should have but didn’t become singles. Yet, the product of this past year and the constant push-backs show the growth Talib Kweli’s shown since Quality. Unlike other artists, he never missed a step. His last album, Liberation with Madlib, was free and readily available to the public via Internet. He’s kept constant visibility through innovative marketing and appearances in nearly every city in the world, it seems. Eardrum is a growth of sorts for him, as it contains the smooth sound engineering of rap records from mainstream artists, but has the earthy and hard hitting tone of his previous work. He gets in touch with his core fans with an intro from the critically acclaimed poet Sonia Sanchez on “Everything Man,” a Madlib-produced song. The album then jumps into “NY Weather Report,” a Nick Speed-produced song reaffirming his swag and style many of his fans have come to love. Songs like “Say Something” with the lyrically intense Jean Grae (and that’s a compliment) in the beginning set a great tone for the album. These songs serve to reintroduce the world to Talib Kweli and his Blacksmith movement. At his best, he can interweave his personal experiences with any subject he chooses. He delves deeply into the religious with songs like “Hostile Gospel Pt. 1” and “Holy Moly.” He discusses romance and spits something to the ladies on “Hot Thing,” featuring and produced by will.i.am, and “In The Mood,” featuring the legendary Roy Ayers and an impressive verse and beat by Kanye West. He also discusses the state of the world around him in “More or Less” (Hi-Tek produced), “Eat to Live,” and “Hostile Gospel Pt. 2” (DJ Khalil produced with a surprising Sizzla feature).Yet, no album can be immaculate. While the rap verses on “Country Cousins” featuring UGK and Raheem DeVaughn were great and exemplified the diversity of the album, the chorus on the song sounded more like a ploy to reach into his Southern base rather than a genuine effort. (I’m sure that wasn’t the intention, but that’s how it came out.) Also, the chorus for “Give ‘Em Hell” was lacking despite having singers Coi Matteson and Lyfe Jennings on deck. The album ends with “The Nature” featuring and produced by Justin Timberlake; a part of me wishes it hadn’t. It was an awkward and unnecessary ending to an otherwise impressive album. I would have liked to see "Listen," the first of many singles that weren't singles, be his last song, which might have made for a more appropriate ending. Outside of those little bumps, the road down this album is rather scenic and avant-garde. In Talib Kweli’s career, he’s been known to experiment with flows, beats he rhymes on, and artists he works with. This album still incorporates that feeling, yet he also reminds people why his fans regard him so highly; he truly is an artist with his words and his music represents a hope for balance in the hip-hop community. With other features like Norah Jones, Strong Arm Steady, KRS-One, and Sa-Ra, and production from Just Blaze, KWAME, Pete Rock, and Hi-Tek, one could only wonder if this album would be much too overcrowded to have any album continuity. Fortunately, it has that continuity, and then some. Kweli has proven that he can hold down an album all his own, but having this collection of talent makes this album all the more potent. In other words, go get that.

Jose Vilson is a teacher, poet, blogger, speaker, graphic designer, and writer. He currently lives in New York, NY. For more information, please visit his website.

Common Isn't So Common

Jose Vilson — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 08:54:58 EDT

The first thing that came to mind upon seeing Common's latest album, Finding Forever, go to the top of the charts was "At last!" With the surplus of negative rappers out there, Common and his latest album promotes a very positive and healthy energy. His album emits a very ethereal and musical effort thrust forth by a team of focused producers (headed by but not dominated by Kanye West) and a lyricist with flows to go. What we do see in Common's rise to fame is a chance for both sides of hip-hop's tale to be told. It proves to so many true hip-hop fans that, with the proper mix of marketing, magic and a belief in the music as a whole, an underground rapper with a non-gangsta message can make it to the top of the charts. However, it also made me wonder if other rappers in his "genre" would also follow suit or would they "flop" in an increasingly fickle music market. After all, if we take a look at Common's latest moves, it seems that he has taken steps to dabble in the mainstream and develop his persona within pop culture rather than waiting for it to come to him. His radio single didn't create buzz for his album amongst the average music fan; he did. Even his association with Kanye West isn't a guarantee he would do well. Yet he did, because he (and his team) have worked hard to develop his name. In the last 3-4 years, he has been name-dropped by Jay-Z on "Moment of Clarity," a song off his acclaimed The Black Album. Just that little mention gave him a much-needed boost. His feature on Kanye's "Get 'Em High" along with his signing to Kanye's G.O.O.D. Music label immediately gave him the association to pop he needed. Through this association, a rather sexy single "Go" featuring John Mayer, and a strong album touching both his neo-soul and rap roots later, we have what many called a revival of real hip-hop, and Common as the embodiment. His promotions include Gap commercials and posters, Converse posters, PETA ads (a connection which has led many to call him "the first vegetarian sex symbol"), a leading track on the soundtrack for the movie Freedom Writers ("I Have A Dream" featuring will-i-am), a substantial role in Smokin' Aces with an all star cast of Ben Affleck, Jeremy Piven, and Alicia Keys, and an appearance on Saturday Night Live with Piven adds up to his substantial visibility. His star will only prove to shine brighter for years to come, with a role in American Gangster with Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington, The Night Watchmen with Keanu Reeves and Forest Whitaker, and Wanted with Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman. In other words, his brand name has become enormous.But then I take it back to an earlier portion of this decade when the underground's "superstars" emerged. The clan of rappers associated with Common i.e. Mos Def, Talib Kweli, The Roots, and Pharoahe Monch among others really started to be typecast for their type of music (usually Afrocentric, edgy, raw, and heavily lyrical). Can we honestly say Common's #1 pole position on the Billboard charts will elevate their movement?Talib Kweli's latest album, Eardrum, is slated to come out on Tuesday, August 21st. Despite a huge Internet presence through MySpace, Facebook, and his own website TalibKweli.com, and an enormous following (which I witnessed at last year's Blacksmith Free Concert in downtown Manhattan, NYC), his album push-backs have caused unease even amongst his most devout fans. Hence, he has yet to break the wall between pop and not. (Interestingly enough, Common's surprise appearance at that concert literally had everyone's jaw on the floor.) Mos Def has quietly disappeared from rap as a whole, mainly focused on hosting Def Poetry Jam and making surprise guest appearances in the Boondocks: The Animated Series and Dave Chappelle's Block Party. He will soon release his own album under a new record label, but there seems to be a large disconnect with Mos the actor and host versus Mos the rapper. Pharoahe Monch hasn't been as quiet as Mos on the rap scene, but his latest recognizable contribution to popular hip-hop music was his writing credentials for Diddy's "The Future" and "Hold Up" on Press Play. And The Roots get signed to Def Jam, the biggest hip-hop label ever, and their latest release The Game Theory doesn't get 1/2 the burn it deserved, even after collaborating with Jay-Z on his Unplugged CD and ?uestlove's absolute visibility. In other words, Common isn't common. Until artists like Immortal Technique, Jean Grey, or Little Brother place anywhere in a substantial pole position, the division of underground and mainstream remains. Common has built up his brand in the mold of a Norah Jones or even a Jill Scott, where people don't even need to know the title of the album to purchase the product, confident that it's just that good.

Jose Vilson is a teacher, poet, blogger, speaker, graphic designer, and writer. He currently lives in New York, NY. For more information, please visit his website.

Rock the Bells Tour: Fight the Power? Really?

Jose Vilson — Wed, 1 Aug 2007 07:47:40 EDT

I recently attended the latest edition of the Rock the Bells tour featuring Rage Against the Machine, Wu Tang Clan, Rakim, and 20 other acts that were worth way more than the ticket price suggested. It was also dedicated to Public Enemy, a rap group who just recently celebrated their 20th anniversary together. I've never seen them perform live, so I was even more excited about the event. What changed everything, however, was when a 6'3" chubby-looking Canadian gentleman came up to my friend and I and had a discussion about his inebriation. It was fine until he said, "You know, you're like the 11th Black person I've seen at this event." It didn't bother me; to the contrary, it made me conscious of what I was witnessing. He continued, "You know, it's funny how at an event like this, where there are Black performers performing Black music, almost the whole audience is White."Wow, that's powerful for him to recognize that. I looked again at the price for the ticket, and for the amount of quality acts we had the opportunity to see, the price seemed rather cheap. Yet, people who haven't been saving up for events like this wouldn't think about it as a ratio of price per performer (which rounds out to about five dollars each), but as a flat price ($100). And it's a price that would (un)intentionally separate the masses by socioeconomic margins. To delve deeper into that, it also made me wonder how many people there really cared about the artists' message on stage. When Chuck D made a roll call and asked the proverbial "Who believes in a revolution? Who wants a revolution? Raise your fists up!", the whole crowd was swept in a mass of white fists. It was unlike anything I had witnessed in my lifetime, and certainly with that many people added to the "rev," this government could be reasonably overthrown.Somehow, though, I don't believe that's the case. Not that I don't believe in a revolution (wink, wink), nor do I believe it will solely come from just one sector of the population. (If something like that did happen, it would require a diverse collective of concerned citizens, but that's besides the point.) Nothing is as Black and White as it seems, which is why I'm careful to make any general accusations. I do question most of the crowd's positions, though. When someone right after Chuck D's diatribe screamed something about justice, political prisoners, and essential rights for all people living in this country, another guy just screamed "Yeah whatever he said!"Thus, it leads me to believe that many of these musicians, while their hearts may be in the right place, do not have the influence we think they do. To the contrary, Public Enemy's music speaks volumes to someone like me, a dude who's experienced the hardships of the ghetto firsthand, but it won't really make someone who doesn't have the same experience as me think "Wow, there are people in this country going through serious hardships. How can I help? (without being completely obnoxious)"And while the myth that white people buy 70% of all rap music in this country persists, a statistic that's never been calculated and cannot be through Soundscan or anything of that nature, events like this often make me wonder how music like Rage Against the Machine's can reach the population that needs it most. Will we continue to see concerts with the faces of people who did not really innovate the music or at least appreciate it for its message and not as some catharsis for their unwarranted anger? I can't say.I will say that this isn't a problem we're facing as far as music goes per se, but a paradox unlike any other. On the one hand, artists like Talib Kweli and Mos Def make music for their constituency, and have made efforts to give back to their communities. Many of the artists on stage came from nothing, and that's something to be commended. On the other hand, in order for their art to get publicized properly and put food on the table, they must put on concerts where people will actually pay at a rate that promotes profit. In a capitalist society, that's how things have gone. But it does beg the question: where does the power lie? And can we fight it? Will it be through the music? The concert was great, and I'd definitely go again (maybe earlier so I can be right in the front). It does make me wonder if or how the performers, promoters, and fans understand the dynamic of how the bottom line squeezes out the original people from whom this art form was birthed. Maybe that's a power we can fight first.

Jose Vilson is a teacher, poet, blogger, speaker, graphic designer, and writer. He currently lives in New York, NY. For more information, please visit his website.

Thank You Very Much Mr. Roboto

Jose Vilson — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 07:59:30 EDT

As I sat in my literacy graduate class today, I doodled an Apple II with a human body, a Mac shirt, and wheels for feet. After all, it’s my belief that eventually, computers will take over people. Naturally, one’s first reaction is “Oh that’ll never happen. We have all the controls and we’re much more powerful than the computers we have in front of us. Besides, what’s this little thing going to do?” While that argument may be sound for most, I can’t agree. We’re giving much more power to computers than we’re really conscious of. For one, we’re enthralled with having computing devices that do all the thinking power for us. With the latest innovation of the iPhone, it’s become even sexier to give the responsibility of our whole lives to a handheld device. We’re enamored with the capabilities of our Sidekicks, Razrs, and Dell laptops that we take for granted the advantages we have by being computer literate. We like how they flip, flop, turn, and swivel and have no interest in how they’re made, and we “would die” if anything happened to our cell phone, and “couldn’t survive” without it, despite our ability to do so for a couple of millennia or so. Because of this increased pseudo-access across race and age groups, we have this idea that all the social problems we have will suddenly go away with the click of a mouse. We see pictures uploaded on these social networks and think that America as a country has surpassed the problems that afflict us everyday. For instance, I was asked about the digital divide in this country, and how there’s a margin of access along racial, socioeconomic, and age lines. All through the conversation, however, we kept straying away from the discussion of the social stratifications because we were wrapped in the aesthetic of computers. As relevant as the discussion about actual technology is, we can’t lose sight of the fact that technology can become a means of ostracizing rather than unifying people. We’re using technology in our classrooms without proper understanding of how to use the technology to educate the future citizens of this world. In other words, we’d be better off going back to pencil and paper than giving kids laptops when all they’re going to do is hit Alt+Tab to alternate between writing notes and writing messages on MySpace and Bebo. I’m already against extensive use of calculators in my classroom, and last I checked Socrates and the ancient Egyptians did a pretty good job of teaching abstract methods without all these new gadgets. In the end, our future depends on whether our kids can think outside of the box, not in it, and I do mean that as a double entendre. It’s ironic for me to write this because I’m using a fairly new method of tech communication to address this issue, I graduated with a degree in computer science, and I contact my kids through e-mail and a teacher MySpace page. However, this may be the very reason I’m here mulling over the future of the human race. Kids and adults have an easier time remembering URLs than multiplication of positive integers. They’re insanely attached to their devices and have conversations through their Bluetooth earpieces, but can’t write out what they think or are most passionate about. They can do their “research paper” in 5 seconds by looking at sites like Wikipedia and not have a clue as to what they were researching. They may even know how to play with Adobe Photoshop and make their profile pictures look kewt but if they’re asked who their favorite artist is, they’ll always reference “You know, that guy that did that painting …” We’re also seeing great advancements in the field of face and speech recognition, artificial intelligence, and robotics, which only signals just how alike computers and people will start to become in many ways. At one point, every scientist has hoped to use their inventions for the evolution of the human race. Unfortunately, it’s always been used for our destruction. Maybe in time, we’ll actually use the computer we’ve had installed in us all along to reverse this process of dumbification.

Jose Vilson is a teacher, poet, blogger, speaker, graphic designer, and writer. He currently lives in New York, NY. For more information, please visit his website.