Saturday, September 19, 2009

The Source February 1997 issue featuring Lil Kim and Foxy Brown






Remember when these two young women were the premier ladies of hip-hop…or rap depending on your personal definition? Their public images seemed to be based solely on their sexual escapades and in the ‘get money’ era of 1997, that’s what sold. Truth be told, I never liked these chicks at all and never bought any their albums. But I did like Lil Kim’s ‘take no shorts’ attitude. She was going to get hers no matter what the cost but sadly, the one thing she really wanted for herself (Biggie) eluded her. Makes you wonder what would have happened if Biggie had married her instead of Faith. And Foxy? I can’t even give her one kind word.

Moving on to the Redman review, does 4 mics really satisfy you? That's a 4.5 mic gem to me. And what about Camp Lo? 3 mics?

Get it

Sunday, September 06, 2009

Malcolm X: The Great Photographs





Since my college days in the early 90’s, I’ve always set aside time on Sundays to read, study and play jazz music and today was no different. After putting my daughter to sleep earlier, with Joe Sample’s Invitation (an essential album for relaxing and helping babies sleep) playing in the background, my eyes turned to my bookshelf and fixed themselves on this book. If you’re a student of history and Malcolm like I am, then this book is definitely for you. It’s full of great pics of his life that you may have never seen before. And it’s kind of funny how I happened to come to ‘own’ this book, too. I think I had just read his autobiography for the 2nd time before the spring semester of ’94 began. During the summer of ’94, I was still living with my aunt and uncle after graduating college and waiting to start my first real gig in August. My aunt worked at Border’s and would come home with boxes of books for ‘free’ that she never bothered to read and I rifled through them weekly searching for something interesting. I think she left this book on the dining room table back in June ’94 and I decided to ‘borrow’ it knowing that Malcolm was the last thing on her mind. Come to think of it, she may have actually gotten it for me but I didn’t even bother to ask her. It was so engaging that, for maybe a week, I couldn’t put it down. From that point on, I began collecting the books and audio of his speeches and so on. I have just about everything ever published with his words in it but this book is a great addition for historians and a good introduction for younger people.



Buy it:

http://www.amazon.com/Malcolm-Great-Photographs-Thulani-Davis/dp/1556703120/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252274547&sr=8-1



See a few pics here

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

The Source January 1997 issue - 1996 Year in Review





After a few months and a few breaks at home, I’ve decided to scan and post this entire issue for the patient ones among you. With a little free time this coming weekend (if my daughter stays asleep), I may get to that February issue but don’t hold your breath. I would like to get to the Biggie and Wu-Tang issues at some point before 2010, though. For those of you who care to answer, what is your opinion of '97 hip-hop vs. '96 hip-hop? Better, worse, or about the same? What about the rise of Bad Boy and No Limit Records in '97? Was that good for hip-hop overall? What about the explosion of underground hip-hop? Is there any underground artist from '97 that you wish had blown up in the mainstream?

Source January 1997