The Good Musician

Music and politics in the streets–from beat to hip-hop

by csnowden on April 17th, 2008

Image details: Live 8 London - Stage served by picapp.com

Just got a 411 from an associate. Introduced me to Joell Ortiz. The song is A Letter to Obama. An authentic, reasoned plea to the next president, whomever that may be, to listen to the people and address the very real social issue of the survival of a good portion of our population.

Not to put too fine a point on it, there are more voters, and voting musicians this election than ever before. Just as the politics of this time will be remarkable, so will the music. It reminds me a bit of the beats, not because there’s a Kerouac exhibit at the Ransom Center, but the smoky, funky tenor sax, bongos, and impassioned rhetoric as art. Music as soundtrack for cataclysmic change.

Enough of that. I dig hip-hop, it’s a classical form, turned on it’s head. It reminds me of an ancient electronic music class in which I tangled with a Buchla Box. The box won.

POSTED IN: 21st Century