Blind I | The Boutique Music Blog | Quality Over Quantity.

FREE MUMIA – THE SAGA CONTINUES

The Supreme Court is ruling on Mumia Abu-Jamal’s life once again today. Peep John Hurdle’s (Yahoo News) words on the subject…

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court is expected on Tuesday to issue its latest decision on the fate of Mumia Abu-Jamal, arguably America’s most famous death-row inmate, convicted of slaying a Philadelphia policeman, a crime he denies committing.

The court is due to rule on an appeal by the Philadelphia district attorney who is seeking to have Abu-Jamal executed and bring an end to a decades-long legal saga the inmate, a former journalist, wrote about while in prison.

Abu-Jamal, now 55, was convicted in 1982 of killing officer Daniel Faulkner on December 9, 1981. He has become an international cause celebre for the anti-death penalty movement whose supporters argue strenuously he did not receive a fair trial.

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DJ HAYLOW – INFLUENCE N INSPIRATION

D2S‘s own DJ Haylow made this mix of songs to honor Reverend Dr.Martin Luther King Jr. It’s a super dope collection of some of the dopest songs that are full of Empowerment! No more words. Just DL & share with your peoples. Track list & DL after the J…

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FLASHBACK VIDEO OF THE DAY

What ever happened to hard shit like this? What ever happened to Lil’ Jamal? Where is Def Squad now? Can I Have My Hip Hop Back?

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MUSHROOM JAZZ 6

Mark Farina’s been a favorite of mine for a minute now, and his new mix doesn’t disappoint.
Download Mark Farina | Mushroom Jazz 6 (Mediafire)

Tracklisting after the jump.
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What It Feels Like For A Girl

I have a great male friend from college who engages me in long email conversations about men, women and the things in between us. Coming off of the heels of a recent discussion, my dear co-hort hit me with the following email:
Sis: I was recently listening to a good amount of “conscious” Hip Hop stuff, and I was loving it, but then I started thinking that maybe I just related to it because I am a man.  Hip Hop has been almost exclusive to the male mind frame.  Both ignorant and conscious rap speaks of male ideals and lifestyles whether it be sexual conquests, or general aggression and man type issues.  There aren’t many viable female MCs for women to relate to. 
 
I know that you are a “live and die for Hip Hop” kind of female, but, outside of party tracks….
 
What does current Hip Hop have to offer women?
I was taken aback by this one, because while I have pondered the space that Hip-Hop (particularly as it exists today) holds in my life, I have never heard ANY male question what Hip-Hop means to women, or how we reconcile our gender identity and maintain an allegiance to such a hyper masculine art form. It took me off guard, but I did my best to offer an insightful answer:
 I think that Hip-Hop, much like the Black Power Movement, has taken on a very masculine identity while still pretending to be somewhat all inclusive. Whereas the Black power movement leaned primarily towards female abandonment, forcing traditional gender roles in the efforts to “remasuclate the Black man” and ignoring women, the Hip-Hop of today (including the “conscious” stuff) is actually anti-female. Like, hateful. Women are treated at best like 50′s housewives (be pretty, be submissive, be quiet) and at worse, like accessories (be available for my pleasure when I deem you worthy). With the exception of the rare female emcee who gets her probs (usually begrudgingly) or the anthem about the “special ladies” or the “Hot Thang” (which usually features the standard video models: ethnically ambiguous, long-weaved and undynamic), women seem to occupy the same space in Hip-Hop that Stokely Carmichael reserved for women in the Black Power Movement: prone*.
 
Brief interjection: Hip-Hop is, obviously, about a lot more than gender politics. Race and class are huge factors in the genre, and give women a place to understand and connect to the music a bit more. However, sex is married to race and class and it all comes together at the end.
 
What do I, Sister Toldja, get from Hip-Hop in 2008? At times it seems like very little, aside from aural pleasure. See, most of the stuff I listen to came out in the 1990′s.  So some of the slights that I would be sensitive to from a modern rapper, I ignore because of the nostalgia. When I listened to the Digable Planets in 1995, I needed them to tell me how Souter and Thomas threatened a woman’s reproductive rights or about Max Roach and Mumia Abu Jamal. Now, I know those things. In fact, I think I am more intelligent than most rappers. So the educational value has waned. I suppose I’m getting a lot of insight about the male mind, but Hip-Hop contains a bravado and machismo that I would HATE to believe exists inside the average male. Cause if it does, I ain’t NEVER getting married…
 
I love Mos, I love Common, I love Kweli, but even these dudes say some stuff that makes me go “Huh?” Like, when a male emcee personifies another emcee as a woman to offend him. I’m at the show too, I’m in the audience, I’m buying the records. But I don’t feel welcome, I don’t feel like I am a part of what’s going on. Being a female Hip-Hop fan, especially a sista (because I think we tend to want/expect more from the brothers), I feel like I’m watching a pissing contest through a peephole. Any minute, some dude is gonna catch me and remind me that I’m not supposed to be there.
 
Example: Little Brother. I like them, but they are coming at the girls HARD sometimes: “Tell em something funny while they rub on my tummy/three o’clock, have they ass run to Waffle House for me”. WHAT? That’s not cool, cute, sexy or funny in my mind. I guess he’s a “playa”, sending a woman out the house at 3AM for some food. I guess that was the tap on the shoulder, the reminder. “Sister/girl/bitch, you aren’t supposed to be here.”
 
The blame for the relationship between Hip-Hop and women doesn’t go to the men alone.  The women validate the rappers’ masculinity, success and give silent agreement to the notion that it’s okay to talk about us like dogs.  And in our female need to be included, wanted and desired, we play along. We discuss the brilliance of Biggie, and ignore the lyrics about beating his woman’s ass (and the reports that he did just that when married to Faith). We hide behind the shield of “he ain’t talking about me” when the lyrics get foul and hold even the slightest hint of female-praise as evidence that (insert typically-misogynistic male rapper’s name here) is “a good dude”. We show up at the concert, even though we aren’t really welcome until the afterparty, where we can toot our asses up to the latest jams and grind on men who have yet to transcend prepubescent notions of gender and sex.
So what relevance does Hip-Hop have for women today? Some days, I really don’ t know. Evidence that we still have a long damn way to go with gender politics? The view from the other side of the fence? Masochism? Maybe all of that and then some. Don’t get me wrong, I still love Hip-Hop, or perhaps .02 percent of it. But I love me more.
*Prone- serving no real purpose beyond simply being present.

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Beef Murray

Weeble Wobble but it dont fall down. Mr Most Beautifullest has came at you AGAIN with dat DYLAN DYLAN and DYLAN. I put it in hoping that Murray aint fell off and boy did he deliver.. E double on the beats. Blessed by the homies Method Man, Redman, LOD, and yes Eric Sermon rhymes. Remember Lil Jamal from Illegal?

Make It Hap’n Cap’n

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ACOTM: Revolutionary Respect

Listen up people, we have got to stop taking our heroes for granted. When Jay-Z (our Lord and Savior) wore that Che shirt on his MTV Unplugged, he added Che to the ever-growing list of notable people to become tragically “honored” on the bodies of people who know absolutely NOTHING about them! Angela Davis (she’s still alive, y’know) has publicly stated she does not like seeing her face on a million t-shirts for people who have never read her work.

I saw a shirt yesterday that was just way too out of pocket. This dude had the famous image of Che Guevara looking upward, but Che’s face had been replaced with Biggie’s.

Hell and no.

Now, as I am a new Brooklyn resident, I realize the amount of love that man gets from people. And I won’t lie and act like I don’t get hype in the club when they play some Biggie. But I will be damned before I let anyone tell me that shit wasn’t damn near blasphemy. Biggie ain’t do nothing revolutionary. He was a highly-skilled rapper, not a leader. Stop trippin’.

I used to think it was better to see cats in Malcolm X and 1968 Olympic shirts than Nike gear or those “Pillsbury Dough-Boy” tees. But it’s just damn disrespectful to be out here wearing the face of somebody who was actually about something and who actually did things to help humanity, if you do not stand for or have knowledge about those things yourself. So leave the John Lennon and Huey Newton gear to the real heads, and go grab your BAPE tees and FUBU shirts, you loser-ass crumbcakes.

PS- Just because your homey is locked up does NOT mean he deserves a “Free Pookie” t-shirt. Catching a drug possesion case does not make one Mumia Abu Jamal. Stop being stupid.

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KANYE

This “These are the samples that made me rich” album shows You just how “original” Kanye is. He aint no Dilla, but regardless of his lack of creativity …he DOES make em bang. So, know the originals to your boy’s success.

Tracklisting:
Original song first, and Kanye song in (parentheses)
1. “Nina Simone – Sinnerman (Get By Intro)”
2. “Al Green – I Wish You Were Here (The Good, The Bad, The Ugly)”
3. “Honey Cone – Innocent Til Proven Guilty (Testify)”
4. “Graham Nash – Chicago (The Truth)”
5. “Bobby Bland – The Heart of City (Ain’t No Love)”
6. “David Ruffin – Common Man (Never Change)”
7. “William Bell – Strung Out (Down and Out)”
8. “Hank Crawford – Wildflower (Drive Slow)”
9. “Ahmad Jamal – Ghetto Child (They Say)”
10. “Mandrill – Peace and Love (Two Words)”
11. “KayGees – Heavenly Dream (Celebration)”
12. “The Whatnauts – I’ll Erase Your Pain (Late)”
13. “Luther Vandross – A House Is Not A Home (Slow Jamz)”
14. “Chaka Khan – Through The Fire (Through The Wire)”
15. “Bill Withers – Rosie (Roses)”
16. “Etta James – My Funny Valentine (Addiction)”
17. “Gil Scott Heron – Is Where My Hatred Is (My Way Home)”
18. “Linda Lewis – Old Smokey (Go)”
19. “The New York Community Choir – Since You Came In My Life (Crack Music)”
20. “Curtis Mayfield – Move On Up (Touch The Sky)”
21. “The New Birth – It’s Impossible (Impossible)”
22. “Marvin Gaye – Distant Lover (Spaceship)”
23. “Lenny Williams – Cause I Wanna Love You (Overnight Celebrity)”

Enjoy!

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A Serious Case Of The Mondays…..On Tuesday

Hi kids. Hope you didn’t think I forgot y’all! It’s been a hectic day for me, as I’m moving out of state this weekend. Nevertheless, I will ALWAYS have time to hate on something.

Today, I am hating on the Supreme Court. Why? Because Souter and Thomas n’nem are some mark ass bitches. Now, most young folks- my “conscious” self included, do NOT follow the news and the political system like they should. Thus, the Bush administration has been able to completely fuck over the planet for the past six years. The bastardly Bush has had the opportunity to appoint two Supreme Court justices: Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts. Needless to say, W did NOT pick some cats who are gonna mess around and free Mumia, aiight?

Rewind back to elementary school Social Studies, when you learned that Supreme Court judges serve LIFE appointments. Would you be trying to die if you had a bomb ass job like that? I think not. So now this relatively new and certainly more diabolical Supreme Court has essentially desconstructed the historic “Brown V. Board of Education” decision. What does this mean? Public schools no longer have to be integrated and thus many Black and Brown children will lose the ability to attend quality schools outside of their neighborhoods. Will the schools in their home areas receive more funding as a result? Hell and no.

The lesson to be learned: it’s time to get political. Turn off Channel Zero and get familiar with National Public Radio and BBC. Remember: if you don’t stand for something, the Right Wing agenda will continue to put it’s foot up the asses of the disenfranchised. A lot of kids got Malcolm X t-shirts and ain’t doing Malcolm X things. Wake up.

DROPPED BY SISTER TOLDJA