DR. CORNEL WEST IS BLACK AT IT AGAIN!: The too hip intellectual wants healing to begin through music.
By Ricardo Hazell
(April 25, 2007)


*The phenomenon of Hip-Hop music has been the proverbial scapegoat for all things despicable within urban centers across the nation since at least the late 70s.

At the time, block parties were all the rage in cities up and down the east coast from New York City to Philadelphia to Baltimore and all stops in between. Even then community activists felt this form of music was detrimental because its only discernable attribute was the celebration of the party atmosphere.

But the foundation of Hip-Hop was more than just that. It was about peace, unity, love and having fun. Back then there was no talk of guns and drugs. No one can say for certain why, but perhaps it was because Hip-Hop is another form of poor people music like jazz and rock and roll before it.

Fast forward to the 21st century and we find Hip-Hop and R&B are under fire more so than ever. To the uneducated outsider it appears to be only about celebrating our most deplorable and vial instincts. In communities where brotherhood should be celebrated, we have rappers telling the youth to get ahead by stepping on and destroying anyone in their way and R&B artists celebrating sex without consequence. When a rapper is cornered on the question of celebrating death, he whines and cops out with the 'oh, I'm just trying to make a living.' When the label is approached they speak of Constitutional Rights and not wanting to stifle creativity. The video music channels react in the very same manner. Thinking the consumer to be stupid and myopic, the two latter entities want us to believe there is no one out there that is both positive, creative and, dare we say it, dope enough to be played on the radio and video stations to even things out.

The sad truth is that sex sells and has sold since the time of guy whose work you may have read, William Shakespeare. Talk about violent! But unlike some record labels, Hidden Beach Recordings is always ahead of the curve. The label's top artist Jill Scott is successful and is plenty positive and creative in an R&B genre where "take off ya draws" is considered poetic. But can Hidden Beach's Steve McKeever inject the same amount of energy into Hip-Hop?

If Princeton University intellectual Cornel West and his brother Clifton have anything to say about it, yes! The West brothers, along with Nas, Prince, dead prez, the late Gerald Levert, Krs-One, Talib Kweli and others, are trying to plant a seed. A seed of positive creativity that has long been choked by the weeds of big business. Titled "Never Forget: A Journey of Revelations," the work, scheduled to be released this June (Black Music Month), actually delves into R&B as well as Hip-Hop. Since one of the CD's major contributors named his recent album "Hip-Hop Is Dead," we asked Dr. West what he felt the state of the often maligned genre is.

"I believe he (Nas) wanted to spark a substantive discussion about which way Hip-Hop was going." said Dr. West. "It is such a complicated genre with so many tendencies and I think he was saying the dominant stream is betraying the origins of Hip-Hop. So, in a sense, it's dead, but he (Nas) is not part of the worst of Hip-Hop. In fact he represents the very best of Hip-Hop in his mind and in my mind. So, to the degree that he is still going and to the extent that KRS-One and many others are still going it is still alive. But there is a dulling and deadening that has set in and he's very much right about that. Because in the end it's not just about the music. It has always been a way of life for young folks. So if you're talking about Hip-Hop is dead then you're really talking about the dead souls of Black folks. Hopelessness, self-violation, self-destruction, self-flagellation. Is that what we're saying? That's a much stronger claim. Much more is at stake here."

Unlike so many other Black intellectuals, Dr. West refuses to let lazy artists off the hook. He told EUR's Lee Bailey that he is doing this because Black music, the very salt and pepper of American culture, is too important. He feels this work may be just the elixir needed for Black music.

"It is a significant awakening with a number of Black voices across the generations coming together and saying that Black music is too important for us to allow it to be bastardized in this way. I hope that awakening will then generate a whole host of CDs. What I would like to see is like 50 CDs coming out in the next year that are wrestling with these same issues. Taking it to higher levels in their own way. I think this music has a chance of being quite historic."

Within the halls of academia Dr. Cornel West is a somewhat of a polarizing figure. Either people like him, or they simply do not. But in the entertainment industry Dr. West has been getting love from some of the top artists in music for quite some time.

"Prince invited me out to Paisley Park about 4 years ago to give a lecture," said West. "and also he called me when he received a Lifetime Achievement Award (NAACP Image Awards) told me he wanted me to introduce him. I told him I didn't know him very well but I love and respect him, and he said 'no, you're a wonderful person and you have to introduce me'. So, I was in Germany with my little girl and had to fly out here (Los Angeles) and introduce him, then fly back to Princeton to teach my class the next day. Like so many of our great artists, he had a depth to him. He reminds me of Coltrane and Marsalis who were all shaped by not only suffering but creative response to that suffering."

The importance of a musical note, tone or voice placed together to bring joy is what music can be. Dr. West says it can also be used to build bridges between cultures as was the case with Jazz so many years ago. But does modern Hip-Hop build bridges or feed in to predetermined stereotypes?

"I think any time a people is honest enough to examine themselves and there by reaffirm their humanity it serves as a bridge between that group and other people. Brown, Red, Jewish and what have you. And if you're viewing yourself in a White supremacist way, then you're not a good candidate for coalition. But if you're affirming yourself in a deeper way then you're ready for substantive coalition. So I think that it is no accident that Talib Kweli, KRS-One and others are most open to building bridges with Brown on this album rather than taking a mainstream way which often engages in White supremacist stereotypes of Brown and others. We don't have any Brown voices (on this album), but a number of White brothers that have come forward," West added.

Dr. West continued by stating one must love oneself in order to love others fully. So, is that the true reason why the poorest people are often the most bigoted? Dr. West expanded on that idea by stating: "Part of it is about that old Christian view 'Love thy neighbor as thyself' You see, if you miss out on that part then you end up loving things about your neighbor that reflect your own self hatred. When you love yourself you are then a candidate for embracing another group of humanity on the deepest level."

Will "Never Forget: A Journey of Revelations" go platinum? You never know, but hopefully the offering with spark that ethereal flame that lies in wait deep inside some aspiring artist. Perhaps it can set in motion the idea that it is cool to love humanity or perhaps it can be a great addition to an expansive album collection. Popular Black music in general, Hip-Hop in particular, is not dead, but it is on life support. The West brothers and their incredible list of musical collaborators hope to begin the healing. How does one do that?

"The healing is all about remembering. When you're dismembered the body is broken apart and shattered. Remembering means simply to put it all back together to proceed. It is a very concrete aspect, people believe it is abstract but it's not," said Dr. West. "Never give up because you never know who is watching you. You never know where your purpose will lead you if you stay true to your purpose."

You can listen to cuts from "Never Forget: A Journey of Revelations" at Dr. West's MySpace site: www.myspace.com/drcornelwest4bmwmb. Be sure and check out the sensational, funkafied cut from the late Gerald Levert.

I'd buy it if Prince wasn't it but he is!

Gotta get it!Thanx 4 the in4o!

It's Dear Mr. Man.

Papaj said:

How do you know that?

that's an awesome line.

Rhondab said:

yeah, but what's it mean exactly?
i don't see much evidence of that statement in Prince's early recordings
maybe in response to the music industry as a whole
but most every musician has gone through that

booyah said:

http://www.hiddenbeachmed...d=35&id=43

Click on the track "Mr Man".

Jestyr said:

Hmm - very interesting. Disappointing since it features no new input by Prince, but the new overdub by Cornel West is interesting nonetheless.

Jestyr said:

http://www.hiddenbeachmed.../mrman.mp3

http://www.hiddenbeachmed...ornelwest/