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30 Days of Musical Blackness With VSB, Day 15: Fela Kuti ‘Lady’
I’d heard of Fela Kuti before I heard Fela. But when I finally made the discovery of Nigeria’s Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti aka Fela Anikulapo Kuti aka Fela, I was done for. Actually, that’s a little untrue. After being told to check out his music I went out and bought the Best of the Black…
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30 Days of Musical Blackness With VSB, Day 14: Sister Nancy, 'Bam Bam'
I literally have zero recollection of the first time I heard Sister Nancy’s “Bam Bam.” I don’t remember it at all before college though, so I’ll just go ahead and assume I heard it at the same place I heard so many dope songs during my college tenure: (what we called) “Fashion Fridays” at Spelman…
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30 Days of Musical Blackness With VSB, Day 13: Lysette Titi, 'Young, Sad and Blue'
For years, I knew very little about Lysette. For instance, I had no idea her actual artist name (at the time) was Lysette Titi. I didn’t know she was from the D.C. area. I had no idea she was, at one point, a lead singer for legendary D.C. go-go band Backyard Band. All I knew…
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Queen Sugar's Season 4 Premiered Last Night and Fam—It's Crazy! Let's Recap! In GIFs!
Queen Sugar’s fourth season debuted last night on OWN, and bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh, they came out swinging. The episode, titled “Pleasure Is Back,” takes us back to St. Josephine, La., where our favorite cast of characters are all out here with their eyes on prizes and basking in the glow of love. It seems that everybody took…
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30 Days of Musical Blackness With VSB, Day 12: Luther Vandross, 'So Amazing'
I don’t know what you can say about a song already called “So Amazing” that literally lives up to its title, even though the “amazing” being referenced is love. I mean, it really is so amazing to be loved, even following people to the moon and the sky above. Not much has to be said…
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30 Days of Musical Blackness With VSB, Day 11: Fresh Start Worship, ‘Mention’
I listen to a lot of music, from hip-hop to country to rock ’n roll to even Celtic (seriously, some of that harp work jams … on the one), but when I need to hear something that digs into my soul, I go straight for gospel, and more specifically, praise and worship. Some of this…
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30 Days of Musical Blackness With VSB, Day 10: Geto Boys, 'My Mind's Playing Tricks On Me' x Isaac Hayes, 'Hung Up On My Baby'
Like many of us, I spent various moments yesterday reading mixed reporting on the status of Bushwick Bill, member of pioneering Houston rap group, Geto Boys. A few weeks ago, we were all met with news that Bill, born Richard Shaw, had been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. When the news came last night…
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30 Days of Musical Blackness With VSB, Day 9: Ray J, 'One Wish'
I hear you looking at me right now like, “How did Ray J end up ‘round here?” And to that I say, despite the fact that I have stated very plainly that I’m a fan of one Willie Ray Norwood, I didn’t put Ray J on this list, I put “One Wish” on this list…
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30 Days of Musical Blackness With VSB, Day 8: Teni, 'Party Next Door'
One thing I’ve made it a point to do more in the past few years is dig heavier into current music coming from Africa. So many artists are breaking through (i.e., Davido, etc.) but there is just SO SO much dope music coming from West Africa—Nigeria in particular. Fela Kuti is one of my top…
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Raphael Saadiq Is About to Make Your Summer Better With the August Release of His New Album, Jimmy Lee
Raphael Saadiq, the most underappreciated R&B artist of all time, is about to bring forth the sound and light with his Aug. 23 release, Jimmy Lee. It will be his first solo release in eight years, following up his 2011 release, Stone Rollin’. This album comes fresh off the heels of his amazing performance at…
