Scribbler's Rave & Favorite Five: R&B Bands, #4 Ohio Players

When I think of a band that epitomizes funk, you'd be hard pressed to sell me on many other bands than the Ohio Players.  Probably like most people from the tail end of the Generation X spectrum, my first introduction to the Dayton, Ohio band was "Fire" and, even as a young boy, I realized quickly that the song lived up to its namesake.  However, like everyone else in my "Rave & Favorite Five", I began digging deeper into their catalog, hearing more of their songs and falling more in love with their sound with each new discovery.  Not to mention that as a teenager with a growing penchant for crate digging as well as an eye for anything and everything aesthetically pleasing (or what can also be seen as "raging hormones"), I was convinced that no one was touching their album covers...well, at least "touching" in the sense of being as dope.  Ultimately, although they jammed on their most popular uptempo songs like "Skin Tight" and "Rollercoaster", I gravitated more towards their ballads as you will see in the revelation of my top five favorite songs by the Ohio Players.  Let's roll...

In Heavy Rotation: Black History Month 2016

Since a lot of my Black History Month celebration has been spent tackling some heavy, but necessary subjects, I decided to end this special month on a lighter note: music.  Now as you all might know, it's very easy for me to wax nostalgic about my favorite artists in R&B/soul and hip-hop/rap.  However, what will be commonplace in the "Heavy Rotation" series is that I'll always seek to give my musical palate more of a challenging taste test.  The best way to break down the four albums that I decided to give a spin for Black History Month is to begin each one with an "Honest Moment" to either highlight the ease or the difficulty in giving each album a fair shot.  With that, let's give it a go...

Scribbler's Rave & Favorite Five: R&B Bands, #5 War

Ya know...I'm starting to feel like the old man who always has a story about everything.  However, if you don't have a connection to the people, music and things worth mentioning, then maybe the connection really isn't that deep after all.  So in high school, my homie used to push either his father's Ford Thunderbird or his mother's Lexus ES300, scoop a bunch of us to ride around the city and listen to a bunch of good music.  In between listening to 2Pac, The Notorious B.I.G., Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Maxwell, Aaliyah, Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott and the like, we'd bump the classics from Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, Sade, Santana and, of course, War.  Between some of their most popular hits like "Spill the Wine", "Low Rider" and "Why Can't We Be Friends", I had always known about them but never really got into them.  However, as a teenager who was becoming more musically open and inquisitive, taking these cruises put me on notice even more.  After a while, War not only became a staple in my long rides around the city and up and down the East Coast, but the Long Beach-based band also helped to shape my love for the California funk, R&B and soul sound fused with undeniable Latin influence as well as became one of my favorite groups.  So without further ado, allow me to share my favorite five songs from my No. 5 favorite band of all time...

The Miseducation of America: Exploring Power, Supremacy and the Black Panther Party

If you were to separately interview ten people--whether those ten people are all Black, all White or a mix of different racial backgrounds--no one would probably give you the same answer if you asked about the Black Panther Party.  In the year of the 50th anniversary of the Black Panther Party founded in Oakland, California, we all know by now that Beyoncé particularly honored the women of the Party in the Pepsi Super Bowl 50 Halftime Show...and that absolutely sent so many people in America in a tizzy.  Groups have threatened to protest at the NFL Headquarters, boycotts of the 20-time Grammy-award winning artist have materialized in the form of a Facebook page and several public officials have denounced her performance.  It comes as no surprise that FOX News would air two of the opposing opinions such as that of Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani:

I thought it was really outrageous that she used it as a platform to attack police officers who are the people who protect her and protect us, and keep us alive.  And what we should be doing in the African-American community, and all communities, is build up respect for police officers.  And focus on the fact that when something does go wrong, OK, we'll work on that.  But the vast majority of police officers risk their lives to keep us safe.

It's interesting that Giuliani did two things with his dense commentary: 1) automatically attribute the imagery of the Black Panther Party to attacking police officers, essentially channeling his White privilege as well as his inner Ronald Reagan; and 2) be so defensive considering that he and the New York Police Department were at the center of the highly-controversial Amadou Diallo shooting in 1999.  However, the most disappointing comment came from Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, who happens to be Black: 

Beyonce in those Black Panther-type uniforms, would that be acceptable if a band, a white band came out in hoods and white sheets in the same sort of fashion?  We would be appalled and outraged.  The Black Panthers are a subversive hate group in America.

Okay, so they carried around guns and weren't afraid of the police.  Neither were the militia at the Occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, but I didn't hear Clarke's opinion on that or the distinction "subversive hate group" being tossed around then.  Since it's abundantly clear that these are the only images that so many misinformed people choose to look at when viewing the Black Panther Party through the narrowest scope possible, let's try to set the record straight about the Black Panther Party's importance in Black history as well as American history...

Scribbler's Rave & Favorite Five: R&B Bands, #2 Earth, Wind & Fire

Everybody has a top five list of something.  Sports cars...TV girlfriends...sitcoms...rom-coms...cartoon characters...sneakers...candy bars...you think of it and I guarantee that you have it.  Even if you have to sit around and think of it for hours on end like the madman that you are, you can come up with several lists nevertheless.  Because I am that obsessive madman-slash-nerd, I have been pondering for the past week as many top five lists as I possibly can and I'm nowhere near finished.  My formula is very simple: if I'm stuck on an island for at least the next five years and I'm only stuck with five particular people, artists, albums, songs, movies and the like, then these are the five that I choose pursuant to the subject.  Note that there will be times when I break down the technical quality less often than I will speak on how the subject of my affection makes me feel or transports me to a certain place and time.  Hence, I bring you my new weekly series, "Scribbler's Rave & Favorite Five", and begin with my favorite R&B bands of all time.

In a time when it seems like people in the spotlight and even producers often prefer to be lone rangers, listening to a good band reminds me of the beautiful synergy that can occur between different personalities to make one sweet sound.  There are very few bands in the annals of music history who have made music at the elite level of harmonious fusion as Earth, Wind & Fire.  With legends like Miles Davis, Quincy Jones and Dionne Warwick hailing EWF as their favorite band of all time, it's hard to deny their spirited sound, vivid imagery and cultural influence.  Now, the most astute reader might have noticed their rank and thought two things: 1) why are you doing your No. 2 band before your bottom three and 2) if Earth, Wind & Fire is your No. 2, then who the heck can you possibly have as your No. 1?  First, considering that the late, great Maurice White passed away last Thursday at the age of 74 after a long battle with Parkinson's disease, I had to disrupt the order a bit.  Second, you'll have to wait until the March 10th edition of New Problem Tuesdays to find out who's the top dawg.  Anyways, with a catalog of music that spans over 40 years, there are so many great songs from which to choose, but it was fairly easy to do so.  Without further ado, let's see what songs make my cut...

The Brilliantly Offensive & Polarizing Blackness of Beyoncé

"She can't sing"..."Such-and-such can sing better than her"..."the only reason she's famous is because her father managed the group"..."she wasn't even the best looking one in Destiny's Child"..."her fans are sheep"..."all she does is shake her booty"..."she's a devil worshipper"..."I heard her breath stinks"..."she's whitewashed and wears European hairstyles"..."she's much older than they're saying that she is"..."she's too sexy"...these are just a few of the most asinine reasons that I've heard for people to dislike Beyoncé Knowles-Carter.  It doesn't matter that she's clearly a family-oriented woman who loves her husband of nearly eight years and her four-year-old daughter with all of her heart.  It doesn't impress people that her net worth is somewhere between $250 million and $450 million, earning $54.5 million in and being named Forbes magazine's most powerful female musician of 2015.  It  makes folks no never mind that she has sold over 118 million records worldwide as a solo artist, 60 million records worldwide with Destiny's Child, won 20 Grammy awards and is the most nominated woman since the award's inception.  Heck, it doesn't even matter that she just put out what will end up being the most discussed music video and song of 2016, "Formation", let alone have the unmitigated gall to perform it in the Pepsi Super Bowl 50 Halftime Show with a colorful assortment of sistas in all black rocking berets and afros to honor the 50th anniversary of the Black Panther Party.  Some Beyoncé defector out there is still holding on to their baseless beef by the skin of their teeth--a beef that probably has less to do with Beyoncé and more to do with the fact so many like, love, adore and even idolize her as if she's Jesus Christ in Givenchy.  However, what I appreciate most about Beyoncé's statement is that she's decreeing the beautifully complicated layers of her Blackness loud and clear while telling anyone who has a problem with that to either fall in line with the much bigger plan of unity and empowerment or build a bridge and get over it.  The best way to break down this moment of artistic bravery for an artist of her particular magnitude while exposing a deeper problem within the Black community is through Bey's own lyrics...

Scribbler's 11th Hour Post of the Week: The Cultural and Historical Importance of Cam Newton's Super Bowl Appearance

The easy post would be to talk about the upcoming golden anniversary of the Super Bowl--or at least that's the post that most would expect coming from the unapologetic football enthusiast.  So I could easily ramble on and on about the matchup between two former No. 1 overall picks in Peyton Manning (1998) and Cam Newton (2011).  Building up the drama between the No. 1 scoring offense (Carolina) and the No. 1 overall defense (Denver) is a cakewalk.  Highlighting that this is the third straight time that both of the No. 1 teams from each conference are facing each other in the Super Bowl is child's play.  I could even salivate over the fact that Cam Newton could end up being the third quarterback in NFL history along with Joe Namath and Joe Montana to win a college national championship and a Super Bowl.  However, as we are two days into Black History Month, what is even more interesting to me is that Cam Newton could be the first Black starting quarterback in NFL history to win a college national championship and a Super Bowl.  Let's be clear: I love Peyton Manning as a person, a football genius, an excellent ambassador for the NFL and the epitome of good sportsmanship.  If he were playing anybody else, then maybe I'd be rooting for him.  Nevertheless, I have decided to cheer for the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50 for the following multilayered reason: a victory for Cam Newton would not only be the first Super Bowl win for the Carolina Panthers franchise, but it would also be another triumph in the rich legacy of Black history as well as the American cultural and historical narrative.  As the late, great James Brown once said, "In order for me to get down, I got to get in deep..."