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Monday, April 03, 2006

Time for some Akshun!......I Mean a Retraction....sort of



I have to admit that I made a mistake and a retraction is due....sort of. Keeping with the prior entry's theme regarding Black Rock, I just rediscovered a great record that I suspect was somewhat panned by the hiphop buying public last year. Mos Def, who has made quite a name for himself in the thespian world, released a long awaited sophomore album some time last year. Now first off, some may perceive me to be somewhat of a music elitist and they would probably be correct. I just can not fall victim to overtly commercial music(Laffy Taffy notwithstanding...jeez) but I have to admit that I didn't quite understand Def's latest effort, The New Danger. But upon researching for the Black Rock entry, I came across a song entitled, Zimzallabim (Jonny Quest fans may be familiar with the term) from the Danger cd and it was simply smokin.' I went throught the album quickly upon its release the first time and just wasn't impressed if not disappointed. This time around I actually listened and that's where the retraction comes in. Danger is definitely an experimental work with it's culmination of funk, rock and blues but it's just what the current state of hiphop music needs at this moment. The weird thing is...I have done this before with another favorite artist of mine...Prince. It was the Around the World in a Day album and I just didn't get it....initially. After being totally immersed in the Purple Rain movie and album, ATWID just didn't cut it. But after numerous listenings, Around the World became an imprint in my mental musical repertoire. The same has happened to me with Danger. Do yourself a favor listen to this album....really listen and I assure you this is a Danger you should seek.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have been lurking at your blog for some time, since you mentioned it at Herotalk
I have been amused by it and as per my usual I prefer to lurk
But with the blog about Mos Def I had to interject
I also was a little unsettled by the creative choices he took on The New Danger,
I love Mos Def the rapper, I am a fan of “Umi Says” like the next guy, but the man is untouchable with the MC skills. At the time I just wanted him to release an album, I was a little
That said, I let the album play in the car once and didn’t take it out for two months. The album is truly a gift of musical synergy and eclectic harmony.
I am glad that someone else has discovered this hidden gem.
You sir run a pretty good blog
Keep up the good work

Anonymous said...

I too find your blog somewhat interesting but I would like to know the reasoning behind the use of corny words such as jeez and heck (which you seem to use quite often). Do you really speak like that? I do not think that the intent of the blog would be lost if you did not sound like the long lost negro cast member of Leave it to Beaver.

Anonymous said...

Ha!
I never noticed that he did that, probably because I use those words myself when I am trying to avoid superfluous cursing. I also do it because I know my mother reads the blog, and some of my younger cousins and I don’t want anyone to be offended by the language. So I think how you talk is okay. The blog is named “Afronerd” after all, which allows you to take liberties with corny phrases

Anonymous said...

Your point is understood. It just seems like overkill. Cursing can be avoided by increasing your vocabulary. And yes it's called Afronerd but that does not mean you take the nerd part literally. If that's the case, I suspect one would wear oversized glasses and pants that are too short. But I dobt that's the case.

afronerd said...

Whoa..(can I say whoa...Black Rob did...lol)..when I'm writing off the top of my head, I guess I do use terms like "jeez"...and my parents and others of a certain standing are also reading my blog...so maybe I'm just being a bit careful....but you know what?..we have to stop with this need to be COOL all the time...just as I don't want to be mistaken for a Jerry Mathers' negro cousin...I don't want to be mistaken for Curtis Jackson's either.....good joke though...my friends will be ribbing me for that one...ha