Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore said, "We did everything we could and should do to put before that grand jury every piece of relevant and admissible evidence" but ultimately did not find evidence to bring forth an indictment upon Officer Anthony Carelli, who had been identified as Chamberlain's shooter.
Carelli, along with other White Plains police, showed up at Chamberlain's home on November 19 responding to a mistaken medical alert after the former marine had accidentally triggered a device used because of a heart condition.
Despite Chamberlain's insistence no help was needed, a standoff occurred in which police claim Chamberlain attacked the officers with a hatchet, and that the subsequent shooting had been in self-defense.
Chamberlain's son condemned the grand jury's decision on Thursday as a "blatant cover up of the murderous tactics" employed by the police department.
In April, Carelli was scheduled to appear in court for a separate police brutality incident stemming from 2008 in which two twin brothers of Jordanian descent claimed Carelli and his cohorts used police batons to beat the brothers and called them "rag heads."
The Westchester District Attorney says no police officers will be charged in the fatal shooting of Kenneth Chamberlain Sr. after a grand jury declined to indict any of the officers involved. Chamberlain, a 68-year-old African American and former Marine, was shot dead in his own home in White Plains, New York, after he mistakenly set off his LifeAid medical alert pendant. We air newly released audio and video of the shooting, as well from his sister’s call to police as she tried to defuse the situation.
Recently, a study in the American Journal of Epidemiology linking hair relaxers to fibroids in Black women was released and made its rounds on the internet, shedding light on the role that common habits can play in our health. Many of you may have read reports about the study but if you have not, here is a summary of the findings: Scientist followed more than 23,000 pre-menopausal Black American women from 1997-2009 and found that the high rates of fibroids among black women could be connected to chemical exposure through scalp lesions and burns from hair relaxers(Blackdoctor.org).
Hair care has always been a sensitive issue among Black women and now we are seeing that this preoccupation can have very serious consequences. The quest for beauty can be contributing to the high rates of fibroids in Black women because many of our skincare and cosmetic products such as lotion, lipstick, shampoos and more, are made with chemicals that can limit our bodies’ natural production of estrogen because they contain environmental estrogen’s such as Parabens, Placental Extracts, Benzophenones and other UV screens. Furthermore, these environmental estrogens can lead to breast cancer and other illnesses. In addition to the chemical exposure, stress and mental health plays a great role in fibroids. Black women tend to strive for a European beauty standard that we were not created to obtain. This can contribute to our stress levels rising and further compound the exposure we already have to fibroids and other conditions.
So you may be wondering if you need to throw your entire beauty regime out the window. No, you don’t have to. There are many natural beauty alternatives; how you beautify yourself is up to you but you have to take into consideration that the scalp and skin are organs and absorb whatever you put on them in a similar way that you digest food after eating it. Whatever you do, make sure you are informed and safe, when getting perms, make sure you do not have lesions and that the beautician does not leave the product in so long that your scalp is burned. Make sure you do your research and also read the ingredient listing on the back of your beauty products to make sure they do not contain the above mentioned environmental estrogens. You can also do a cleanse to rid your body of toxins. Whatever you do, take your health into your own hands. Though certain changes may appear inconvenient or more expensive in the long run, you will be able to accomplish more, live and love longer when you are a good steward of your health.
Holistic Resources
Queen Eshe the Herb Sistah: specializes in helping women heal from fibroids through her: herbal supplements, annual womb wellness conference, free weekly womb calls, cleanses and more!
Angelic Artistry: SoulAngelBeauty is a collection of natural skin and hair care products made to enhance your inner and outer beauty.
Toms of Maine: produces a wide range of natural products from toothpaste to deodorant and more and can be found in most health food stores and online. This company also gives a great deal to charity.
Carol’s Daughter: favored by many for their high quality hair and skin products this product line is widely available in stores and online.
If you are considering going natural visit: Nappturality, an online resource for Black Natural Hair.
Finally, you don’t need a great deal of money to make better choices. You can also make your own lotions using shea butter or use essential oils instead of fragrances with high chemical content. Have fun experimenting and enjoy the journey. Remember: “Life is for living and LOVE is a Choice!”
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — When civil rights activist Ray Robinson arrived at Wounded Knee in April 1973 to stand alongside Native Americans in their fight against social injustice, he excitedly called his wife back home and told her, “This could be the spark that lights the prairie fire.”
The black activist and follower of Martin Luther King Jr. never made it home to Bogue Chitto, Ala. He was declared dead, but his body never was found and little is known about what happened. Not knowing has haunted Buswell-Robinson and the couple’s three children for nearly 40 years.
The United States government handles investigations on reservations. Minneapolis-based FBI spokesman Kyle Loven said the Robinson case is a pending investigation, so federal prosecutors and investigators can’t discuss it.
Buswell-Robinson, 67, flew into Sioux Falls from Detroit on Thursday ahead of a conference commemorating the 40th anniversary of the 1973 American Indian Movement takeover of the Pine Ridge reservation village of Wounded Knee.
She’s not looking for arrests or prosecutions. She just wants to know where her husband’s body is so she can give him a proper burial.
“People have information as to where his body is buried,” she said.
Two Native Americans were confirmed to have died during the 1973 siege, and rumors of other deaths persist. FBI documents that now are public suggest the possibility of people buried at Wounded Knee during the occupation. There’s no mention of Robinson in the FBI correspondence, but two documents reveal the presence of two black people toward the end of the standoff:
- On May 5, 1973, a transcript of an interview with a man who claimed to be at Wounded Knee the week prior stated “he heard that one black man and one black woman had recently arrived.”
- A May 21, 1973, FBI memo reported an Indian woman who left the village on April 20, 1973, counted 200 Indians, 11 whites and two blacks.
Buswell-Robinson said those two were most likely Robinson and a black woman from Alabama who went with him. The woman returned after the standoff; Robinson didn’t.
Buswell-Robinson filed a missing person’s report with the FBI and in October 1974 traveled to Rapid City and the AIM headquarters in St. Paul, Minn., but said she learned nothing about what happened to her husband. In the years after Robinson’s disappearance, she corresponded with writer and political activist Barbara Deming.
In a letter dated Dec. 29, 1974, Buswell-Robinson wrote that she had been told Robinson backpacked into Wounded Knee at night and was later shot for not following an order to immediately report to AIM co-founder Dennis Banks.
AIM member Richard Two Elk of Denver told The Associated Press in 2004 that he had seen someone shoot Robinson in the knees, but the reason was because he had refused to pick up a gun and was constantly annoying people in the bunker. Two Elk declined an email request from the AP this week to talk further about the incident.
Banks, in a telephone interview Thursday, said he can’t recall ever meeting Robinson. He said the only recollection of Robinson he has is when his family visited AIM in St. Paul to ask for information.
“Over the years, the Robinson name has popped up and I’m not sure even who would have that information or where it was,” Banks told the AP. “That’s a complete blank to me.”
Banks said there was no formal AIM investigation into the disappearance of Robinson or anyone else during Wounded Knee.
“We never conducted any, like, major search for anybody that was missing, just except by word of mouth, `Did you guys ever see this or that?’ That’s as far as I know and that’s as far as it went,” he said.
Clyde Bellecourt, another AIM co-founder, said he wasn’t in Wounded Knee in April 1973. He left a month or so earlier to form the Wounded Knee Legal Defense-Offense Committee and act as AIM’s spokesman.
“I’ve heard some rumors about this Robinson thing, but supposedly that happened a long time after I was gone, if anything did happen,” he said. “Nobody’s ever talked to me about it implicating anybody or even said it’s happened.”
Perry Ray Robinson Jr. was born Sept. 12, 1937. He was in Washington in 1963 for Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech, and attended the 1964 funeral of three white civil rights workers killed in Mississippi.
In 1968, Robinson was among the protesters who set up Resurrection City, a camp at the Washington Mall.
Robinson likely was at Wounded Knee for just a day, but Buswell-Robinson is surprised so many AIM members don’t remember him. The personable 6-foot-2 black man with a deep baritone voice would have stood out on a Midwest American Indian reservation, she said.
Robinson’s nonviolent approach probably was not well received at what was a violent situation, and it’s possible AIM members incorrectly suspected he was a federal informant, Buswell-Robinson said. It’s also likely he dealt with some racism, she said.
“I’m hoping that AIM people can look in their hearts and realize this was a good man. This is a brother,” Buswell-Robinson said. “This is a man that was willing to give his life for justice for what’s right.”
She said she traveled to the conference from her current home in Detroit because she’d like to talk to AIM leaders, anyone who was at Wounded Knee and the two women who ran the clinic where Robinson may have been taken.
At the least, she wants to get the Wounded Knee record corrected so it acknowledges her husband’s presence.
“Maybe that’s the best I can hope for, that in the official record Ray’s name won’t be excluded,” Buswell-Robinson said. “Because right now, it’s like he never existed.”
He is known universally as "The Godfather Of Soul" but he is also the undisputed "King Of Funk," an American original whose pioneering work has literally helped shape the course of contemporary music. His catalog of classic recordings have made him the most sampled recording artist in history and without any doubt, the rap and hip-hop movement finds its very genesis in his music. He is an American national treasure whose influence on 20th century black culture is inestimable.
A leader who played a key role in the civil rights movement of the '60s and gave voice to a people discovering self-pride, economic freedom and political empowerment in the '70s. He is also a globally-recognized entertainer who has justifiably earned the nickname ‘the hardest working man in show business' just a few years into a momentous recording career that has included no less than 119 charted singles and more than 50 best-selling albums. He has sold literally millions of records since "Please, Please, Please" first dominated the airwaves and the charts in 1956. He was justifiably inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 1986 and was awarded a Lifetime Achievement by The Recording Academy in 1992. But beyond the hundreds of accolades and awards he's received over his six decades as a chartmaker, his is a household name from Lagos, Nigeria to London, England and from his early home of Augusta, Georgia to Accra, Ghana.
Beyond legendary status, Mr. James Brown is simply a worldwide icon.
A James Brown show could last anywhere from ninety minutes to three hours but even at that length it would be virtually impossible for this international superstar to include all of his classic hits. Emotion-filled ballads like "Try Me," "Lost Someone," "Prisoner Of Love" and the enduring "It's A Man's Man's Man's World"; super-groove hits like his first crossover smash "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag," "I Got You (I Feel Good)" and "Cold Sweat"; anthems of pride and empowerment like "Say It Loud, I'm Black And I'm Proud" (which marked a musical turning point in the civil rights struggle, giving voice to a sentiment never previously expressed so potently and profoundly), "I Don't Want Nobody To Give Me Nothing (Open Up The Door, I'll Get It Myself" (a declaration of economic self-determination) and "Talking Loud And Saying Nothing"; and that amazing stream of funk standouts such as "Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose," "Ain't It Funky Now," "Get On The Good Foot" and the timeless "Sex Machine" and "Make It Funky."
Indeed, Mr. Brown may well have been the first hitmaker to bring the word "funk" (a unique fusion of jazz, R&B and soul) into mainstream musical vernacular through his late '60s and early '70s. Certainly his work during that period gave rise to a whole genre that spawned a slew of popular groups (such as The Ohio Players, Confunkshun, Cameo and The Bar-kays) and became the foundational influence for a generation of young artists who brought rap and hip-hop to prominence in the '80s and '90s.
That James Brown has definitively affected contemporary music across the board was something he could never have foreseen when he first stepped into the basement studio of a radio station in Macon, Georgia in the fall of 1955 with the group The Famous Flames to record a demo of "Please, Please, Please." In the liner notes for the Grammy-award winning, best-selling 1991 box set "Star Time," Mr. Brown states, "When I was very young, my people, the poor community, didn't have the education available to us to be taught music properly. And there were no outlets for playing... So I said, 'There's a need for me to have a place.' "
That James Brown found his place, through the unquestionable challenges of being an African-American entertainer in the late ‘50s and early '60s is indisputable. Indeed, he became one of the first African-American artists to own his master recordings, to create his own production company and to start his own record label (People Records) in the early '70s. But beyond his musical contribution, there is Mr. Brown's ongoing commitments to social causes: he has long been a spokesperson for the importance of education (expressed way back in 1966 through the message in his hit record "Don't Be A Drop-Out," which became the theme for a White House-sponsored stay-in-school campaign); and outspoken on the destruction wreaked by drug use (with 1972's "King Heroin" a stark reminder of the consequences. As the most popular African-American entertainer of the '60s, it was Mr. Brown who helped quell a potentially-devastating riot in Boston in the wake of the April 1968 assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Mr. Brown was scheduled to perform the night after the civil rights leader's tragic murder and then Boston Mayor Kevin White appealed to the entertainer who insisted that his show be televised as a way to keep the streets of the city safe. It was Mr. Brown who performed "Say It Loud I'm Black And I'm Proud" at former President Nixon's inauguration and of his work as a leader in the '60s struggle for justice, freedom and equality, he told "The New Yorker" in 2002, "I was out there with Dr. King, I was out there with Malcolm X, I was out there with Mr. Abernathy, and I knew a lot of people - trying to make it better."
Making an impact with the lyrical message in his music has been a consistent focus but as "Mr. Excitement," Mr. Brown has been instrumental in giving joy and pleasure to people on dance floors the world over since he declared "Ain't That A Groove" in 1966. As he begins his seventh decade of funk, Mr. Brown's music endures, his audiences as eager as ever for his non-stop display of sheer dynamic energy. For James Brown, his unparalleled career is the fulfillment of his lifelong mission. As he stated in the opening statement for the liner notes for "Star Time," the 1991 box set, "God had a special job for me. He gave me a special talent to relate to people of all cultures. I found that the common denominator among people was love. Because regardless of all the obstacles which we fight...it all boils down to the love factor. And I believe I was able to create that in my life." Through his leadership, his tireless contribution to social causes but more than anything else, through his music as the true "King Of Funk" and of course, "Godfather Of Soul."
Originally published in Scratch, March/April 2007.
PREFACE: I originally compiled this list as a companion piece to a James Brown memorial for Scratch magazine not long after the Godfather of Soul’s passing on Christmas Day, 2006. On this, what would have been his 79th birthday, I’ve resurrected the piece and revamped it a little, re-formatting it in similar fashion to how we’ve been doing our sample flips posts. Even though the story’s original title emphasizes the premise that these are the 25 greatest rap records to sample James Brown or James Brown productions, the competitive rankings were honestly less important to me when I wrote it than simply presenting something that celebrated the range of James’ influence on hip-hop over different eras. Frankly, I don’t think there’s any way to reduce the importance of James Brown’s music to hip-hop to 25 examples because without James Brown there is no hip-hop (not to mention any other form of modern club or dance related music). And that applies whether you’re talking hip-hop constructed via samples, or played by keyboard or band, or built from (turntable) scratch. That said, here’s the list. Feel free to suggest your favorites or hit the comments section with miscellaneous feedback/complaints. But just be sure while you’re at it to wish the Godfather a happy birthday. RIP, James Brown – always and forever the star of the show. (In Chronological Order)
1. Boogie Down Productions – “South Bronx” (B-Boy, 1986)
Producer: Boogie Down Productions
Sample Sources/Interpolations: James Brown – “Funky Drummer” (King, 1970)
James Brown – “Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved” (King, 1971)
James Brown – “Get Up Offa That Thing” (Polydor, 1976)
Afrika Bambaataa & James Brown – “Unity (Interlude)” (Tommy Boy, 1984)
KRS-One and Scott La Rock’s seminal hip-hop history lesson/Juice Crew dis remains as succinct a representation of James Brown’s sampled legacy in hip-hop as there is. Its multi-pitched horn stabs, filtered “Funky Drummer” snares, rapid-fire vocal tics, and re-played guitar licks are all cherry-picked from vintage Godfather grooves.
2. Eric B. & Rakim – “Eric B. Is President” (Zakia, 1986)
Producer: Marley Marl
Sample Source: James Brown – “Funky President” (People It’s Bad)” (Polydor, 1974)
Contrary to what the title may have suggested, “Eric B. Is President” left virtually all the main musical elements of James Brown’s “Funky President” untouched. Instead producer Marley Marl repeatedly pillaged the original’s three-beat drum fill intro like a true commander-in-thief, fueling the fire of Rakim Allah’s historic inaugural address.
3. Kool G Rap & DJ Polo – “It’s a Demo” (Cold Chillin’, 1986)
Producer: Marley Marl
Sample Source: James Brown – “Funky Drummer” (King, 1970)
James Brown – “Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine” (King, 1970)
Generally considered the first hip-hop record to heavily utilize “Funky Drummer,” G Rap’s debut provided Marley Marl (get used to reading his name here, kids) another early demo(nstration) of his production wizardry, arranging JB-sampled grunts, spoken intros, guitar riffs, and those infamous snares into a hypnotic, reverb-soaked transmission from the galaxy of Queens.
James Brown – “Papa Don’t Take No Mess” (Polydor, 1974)
“Raw” finds Marley Marl perfecting the James Brown-based musical recipe introduced by “It’s a Demo.” A kinetic Bobby Byrd rhythm track, a sharply truncated sax squeal, and DJ Mister Cee’s itchin’ array of scratch cuts inspire King Asiatic to deliver the defining performance of his career.
5. Eric B. & Rakim – “I Know You Got Soul” (4th & B’way, 1987)
Producer: Eric B. & Rakim
Sample Source: Bobby Byrd – “I Know You Got Soul” (King, 1968)
Abandoning any semblance of subtlety, Eric & Ra boldly borrowed the title, main guitar groove, and hook of the JB-produced Bobby Byrd tune, essentially remaking the former Famous Flame’s solo classic as a Golden Era anthem.
6. Public Enemy – “Public Enemy #1” (Def Jam, 1987)
Producer: The Bomb Squad
Sample Source: Fred Wesley & the JB’s – “Blow Your Head” (People, 1974)
What began innocently enough as a pause tape promo for Chuck D’s Adelphi University radio show would become P.E.’s entrée into Def Jam, and the blueprint for the Bomb Squad’s unprecedented excursions into controlled aural chaos. And a blaring JB’s synthesizer sample is the sonic snippet that started it all.
7. Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud – “Do the James” (Citi-Beat, 1987)
Producer: Paul C
Sample Sources: James Brown – “Blues & Pants” (Polydor, 1971)
James Brown – “Intro” (Revolution of the Mind: Live at the Apollo Vol. 3) (Polydor, 1971)
The first JB-sampled hip-hop track to formally name-check James himself is one of the late, great producer/engineer Paul C.’s most lasting creations. With a monstrously EQ-ed “Impeach the President” holding down the low end, and the voice of James’ trusty show emcee Danny Ray punctuating the choruses, the “Blues & Pants” guitar line is the glue that makes this groove forever grand.
Proof positive that not all two-bar loops are created equal, this timeless party igniter from Orange, New Jersey’s crown royal still exudes maximum sax appeal.
9. Big Daddy Kane – “Set It Off” (Cold Chillin’, 1988)
Producer: Marley Marl
Sample Source: James Brown – “Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved” (King, 1971)
If “Raw” was a runaway victory, “Set It Off” – one of Kane, Marley, and the James Brown catalog’s other finest moments together – almost unfairly sprinted laps around the competition. The stinging guitar from “Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved’s” legendary break (also flipped by Marley for G Rap & Polo’s nearly equally nasty “Poison”) powers this fast rap classic into overdrive.
10. Biz Markie – “The Vapors” (Cold Chillin’, 1988)
Producer: Marley Marl
Sample Source: James Brown – “Papa Don’t Take No Mess” (Polydor, 1974)
James’ ode to a punishment-dispensing patriarch will forever be linked with Biz’s beloved tale of around the way comeuppance. Marley Marl’s simple one-bar loop proves that less sometimes beats the hell out of more.
11. Public Enemy – It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (Def Jam, 1988)
Producer: The Bomb Squad
Sample Sources: Too many to name.
Not just culturally and musically the greatest hip-hop album of all-time, P.E.’s epochal sophomore effort is the godhead of Godfather sample spotting. From the “I Got Ants In My Pants”-based bump of “Don’t Believe the Hype” to the frenzied “It’s My Thing” brass assault of “Bring the Noise” to the rise and fall “Grunt” whistles of “Rebel Without a Pause” and “Terminator X to the Edge of Panic” to the “Soul Power” stabs of “Caught, Can I Get a Witness” (appropriately enough, a defense of sampling as art), rhythm, rhyme, and revolutionary real talk have never coalesced so completely.
12. Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock – “It Takes Two” (Profile, 1988)
Still dare to doubt that James’ extended instrumentals and hip-hop are inexorably linked by the joy of repetition? Revisit this Harlem duo’s summer of ’88 monster, in which JB’s orgasmic “whoop” audaciously stays on loop for a full five minutes of funk.
Sample Source: Dee Felice Trio – “There Was a Time” (King, 1969)
Another masterpiece from Paul C., who somehow isolated the drums off of Dee Felice’s unlikely original (a James-produced jazz trio treatment of one of his funk standards), and smacked the beat up beyond comprehension.
14. Gang Starr – “Words I Manifest (Remix)” (Wild Pitch, 1989)
Producer: DJ Premier
Sample Source: James Brown – “Bring It Up” (King, 1967)
Gang Starr’s first proper single is a musical genius fantasy league triumvirate digitally come to life: James Brown meets Charlie Parker accompanied by DJ Premier on turntables. Three times dope.
15. Brand Nubian – “All For One” (Elektra, 1990)
Producer: Brand Nubian
Sample Sources: James Brown – “Can Mind” (King, 1971)
James Brown – “All For One” (Polydor, 1974)
Buried deep within James’ relatively obscure, all-instrumental Sho Is Funky Down Here LP is the sneaky sample that forms the basis of Brand Nubian’s signature tune – a subtle one-bar loop that appreciates immeasurably with each repetition.
16. Geto Boys – “Mind of a Lunatic” (Def American, 1990)
Producer: Geto Boys
Sample Source: The J.B.’s – “Givin’ Up Food For Funk” (People, 1972)
Though used benignly enough on other important rap recordings (Big Daddy Kane’s “Wrath of Kane”; Ultramagnetic MCs’ “Kool Keith Housing Things”) the J.B.’s “Givin’ Up” took on a far more ominous tone in the hands of H-Town’s GB’s, who exploited the track’s minor key melody as a backdrop for a deranged tale of rape, murder, and – whoa! – Necrophilia. XXXplosive.
Sample Sources: James Brown – “There It Is (Live)” (previously unreleased track; Polydor, 1988)
The J.B.’s – “Introduction to the JB’s” (People, 1973)
Was it shrewd planning or pure luck that this flagship Native Tongue group’s initials matched those of the Godfather’s at the height of the JB sampling craze? Whatever the case the J. Beez’s early ’90s NYC club banger benefits hugely from James’ booming sampled voice tirelessly cheerleading, “The J.B.’s! The J.B.’s! The J.B.’s!”
18. Main Source ft. Nas, Joe Fatal & Akinyele – “Live At the Barbeque” (Wild Pitch, 1991)
Producer: Large Professor
Sample Source: Vicki Anderson – “I Want to Live in the Land of Milk & Honey” (King, 1969)
As sample-able non-James Brown material goes Bob James’ “Nautilus” is virtually always money in the bank. Pair it, as Large Professor does here, with the haunting guitar of JB-produced soul diva Vicki Anderson’s melodramatic late ’60s belter, and the shit is tighter than the locks on Fort Knox.
19. Das EFX – “They Want EFX” (EastWest, 1992)
Producer: Das EFX
Sample Source: James Brown – “Blind Man Can See It” (Polydor, 1973)
Any danger of Das’ tongue-twisting debut single coming off too cutesy was quelled by the track’s brawny beat – a regal guitar and Fender Rhodes loop from King James’ Black Caesar soundtrack.
20. Showbiz & AG – “Soul Clap” (Showbiz, 1992)
Producer: Showbiz
Sample Sources: The J.B.’s – “More Peas” (People, 1973)
The J.B.’s – “The Grunt Pt. 1” (King, 1969)
D.I.T.C.’s dynamic duo arrange JB’s-sampled basslines to perfection – and reinvigorate “The Grunt’s” high-end sax shriek to boot – on this enduring South Bronx party groove.
21. Notorious B.I.G. – “Dreams” (Bad Boy promo, 1994)
Producer: Buttnaked Tim Dawg
Sample Source: James Brown – “Blues & Pants” (Polydor, 1971)
Biggie’s infamous assessment of the women of R&B receives much of its party-time push thanks to Bad Boy’s timely resuscitation of the “Blues & Pants” guitar loop. Besides an unreleased Uptown Records demo (“Biggie Got the Hype Shit” – based on James’ “I Got to Move”), and his appearance on Total’s “Can’t You See” (based on “The Payback”) this would be one of B.I.G.’s few opportunities to record over a classic James Brown beat in his lifetime.
22. LL Cool J – “I Shot Ya” (Def Jam, 1995)
Producer: Trackmasters
Sample Source: Lyn Collins – “Put It On the Line” (People, 1975)
James Todd Smith proved that his repertoire hadn’t gone completely Hollywood (or Hallmark) when he dropped the electric “I Shot Ya” in the midst of his second comeback. Still an instrumental favored by angry emcees to rhyme over whenever the beef cooks, the track’s terse string and piano line come courtesy James Brown’s favored ’70s female foil, Lyn Collins.
23. Lil’ Kim ft. Puff Daddy – “No Time” (Undeas, 1996)
Producer: Puff Daddy
Sample Source: Myra Barnes (a/k/a Vicki Anderson) – “The Message From the Soul Sisters” (King, 1970)
While Lil’ Kim’s first solo smash certainly wasn’t the first hip-hop single on which we’d heard the funky piano sample at its core (see YZ & G Rock’s 1989 gem “In Control of Things,” amongst others), it was undoubtedly the biggest. Fortunately, producer Puffy recognized the raw appeal of the main loop from Vicki Anderson’s “The Message From the Soul Sisters,” and largely resisted the temptation to mess up – by overly dressing up – a good thing.
24. Slum Village – “I Don’t Know” (Goodvibe, 2000)
Producer: J Dilla
Sample Sources: James Brown – “Make It Funky” (Polydor, 1971) & a gang of others.
By the new millennium James Brown-related samples in rap were basically dormant. Leave it to Slum Village’s aural architect, the late, great J. Dilla to revive the practice in the most inventive of fashions, flipping a frenetic series of James vocal samples in a witty call-and-response between the Godfather and the SV three.
25. Jay-Z – “U Don’t Know” (Roc-A-Fella, 2001)
Producer: Just Blaze
Sample Source: Bobby Byrd – “I’m Not to Blame” (King, 1970)
Given the dominant musical game plan (sped up soul samples) of Jigga’s Blueprint, it was only right that some James Brown-produced material infiltrate the X’s and O’s. Producer Just Blaze co-opts the dramatic strings and soulful testimonials of Bobby Byrd’s urgent “I’m Not to Blame,” pushes up the pitch to its breaking point, and transforms the elements into a powerful manifesto on the the meaning of ’Hov.
In 2012, ATA will award a grant-in-aid to a student for a literary or sci-tech translation or translation-related project.
The project, which may be derived from any facet of translation studies, should result in a project with post-grant applicability, such as a publication, a conference presentation, or teaching materials. Computerized materials are ineligible, as are dissertations and theses. Translations must be from a foreign language INTO ENGLISH. Previously untranslated works are preferred.
ELIGIBILITY
The award, to be presented at ATA's 53rd Annual Conference in San Diego, CA (October 24-27, 2012), is open to any graduate or undergraduate student, or group of students, attending an accredited college or university in the U.S. Preference will be given to students who have been or are currently enrolled in translator training programs. Students who have already published translations are ineligible. No individual student may submit more than one entry.
APPLICATION
Applicants must complete an entry form and submit a project description not to exceed 500 words. If the project is a translation, the description must present the work in its context and include a substantive statement of the difficulties and innovations involved in the project and the post-competition form the work will take. The application must be accompanied by a statement of support from the faculty member who is supervising the project. This letter should demonstrate the supervisor’s intimate familiarity with the student’s work and include detailed assessments of the project’s significance and of the student’s growth and development in translation.
If the project involves an actual translation, a translation sample of not less than 400 and not more than 500 words, together with the corresponding source-language text, must accompany the application. The translation sample may consist of two or more separate passages from the same work. For poetry, the number of words must total at least 300.
AWARD
$500, a certificate of recognition, and up to $500 toward expenses for attending ATA's 53rd Annual Conference in San Diego, CA (October 24-27, 2012). One or more certificates may also be awarded to runners-up.
Please send the entry form and application materials to:
Student Translation Award Muriel M. Jérôme-O'Keeffe, President American Foundation for Translation and Interpretation, Inc. c/o American Translators Association 225 Reinekers Lane, Suite 590 Alexandria, VA 22314 Phone: +1-703-683-6100 Fax: +1-703-683-6122 Email: ata@atanet.org
(Note: students enrolled in institutions outside the United States should also include in their submission the full address and phone number of the academic department in which they are currently enrolled.)
STUDENT ESSAY CONTEST 2012
Foreign Affairs publishes articles by today's leaders and thinkers that tackle the most pressing issues in international relations. We want to give tomorrow's leaders the opportunity to demonstrate innovative thinking on the issues that shape their world. In the third annual Foreign Affairs Essay Contest, one undergraduate's essay will be chosen by the readers to be published on the Foreign Affairs Web site. The winner will also receive a prize of $500, and five honorable mentions will receive a free year-long subscription to Foreign Affairs.
Entries must be submitted by August 1, 2012.
ESSAY TOPIC
How much did U.S. foreign policy change after the last election and how much will it change after this one?
WRITING GUIDELINES
Submissions should be between 1,200 and 1,500 words. All quotations or uncommon facts should be appropriately cited. Entries must be original, unpublished work written by contestants themselves.
ELIGIBILITY
Open to all undergraduate students of accredited colleges and universities graduating no earlier than May 2012.
SUBMISSIONS
Only one essay is allowed per participant. Please send entries to FAEssay@cfr.org. For your essay to be considered, it must be both pasted in the body of the e-mail and attached as a Word document. Your entry should include your name, phone number, e-mail address, institution of enrollment, and a scanned copy of your student identification or other proof of enrollment. Students enrolled in institutions outside the United States should also include in their submission the full address and phone number of the academic department in which they are currently enrolled.
Every person who submits an essay to FAEssay@cfr.org will be entered in the contest. All entries must be received by 11:59 PM on August 1, 2012, and entries must be completed in full to be eligible. Submissions shorter than 1,200 words or longer than 1,500 words will be automatically disqualified.
Submissions sent by mail will not be accepted.
No purchase necessary to enter.
SELECTION OF WINNER
Entries will be evaluated and chosen by the Foreign Affairs editorial staff using the same evaluation methods and quality control standards required of authors. Decisions of the editorial team are final. The editorial staff will choose the top three entries and publish them on ForeignAffairs.com, whereupon readers will be able to vote for their favorite essay. The entry with the most votes will be named the winner of the 2012 Foreign Affairs Essay Contest.
COPYRIGHT
Only essays submitted for the contest that are chosen as finalists by the editorial staff become the property of Foreign Affairs and may appear on www.foreignaffairs.com. By submitting his/her work to FAEssay@cfr.org, the contestant permanently transfers to Foreign Affairs and the Council on Foreign Relations all rights, title, and interests therein, whether or not copyrightable or legally protectable or established as forms of property and whether or not fulfilled or put into practice, together with all rights under copyright and the exclusive rights to print, publish, distribute, and sell the contestant's essay in all editions and formats in any form or medium throughout the world, which contains, but is not limited to, all formats of print, electronic, digital, optical, magnetic, or laser-based media, alone or in combination with other contributions, in whole or in part, in any language, throughout the world, together with the right to make such changes as Foreign Affairs deems appropriate. Foreign Affairs assumes no responsibility for lost, late, delayed, damaged, incomplete, illegible, unintelligible, inaccurate, or misdirected entries.
NOTIFICATION OF A WINNER
All decisions made by Foreign Affairs are final and binding. Foreign Affairs will not be held liable for late, lost, or misdirected notifications. If Foreign Affairs is unable to contact the prospective winner and a prospective honorable mention within ten (10) business days of the first attempt, or if it is found that the prospective winner or a prospective honorable mention has failed to comply with the official rules, that individual's prize will be forfeited. Prizes left unclaimed ninety (90) days after notification will be forfeited, and Foreign Affairs shall not be held responsible for contacting a prospective winner or prospective honorable mention who did not supply an address or provided an incorrect one. Any prospective winner or prospective honorable mention who fails to notify Foreign Affairs with any complaint or problem within ninety (90) days after prize notification, forfeits the right to do so.
The prospective winner and prospective honorable mentions may be required to sign (or the chosen contestant's legal guardian or parent if such a contestant is not of legal age in his/her state/country of residence) a publicity release within thirty (30) days of notification, which will allow Foreign Affairs to use their names, biographical information and/or pictures for the purpose of advertising, trade, or promotion without further compensation or consideration in any and all media throughout the world, unless prohibited by law. If required by Foreign Affairs, the prospective winner and prospective honorable mentions must sign (or the chosen contestant's legal guardian or parent if such a contestant is not of legal age in his/her state/country of residence) and return a release of liability, declaration of eligibility within thirty (30) days of receipt. If a chosen contestant is not of legal age in the state of residence, the prize will be awarded in the name of a parent of legal guardian.
We start the week celebrating the small band music of Charles Mingus. Esperanza Spalding has a new album and we hear both studio and live versions of her contemporary jazz. South African trumpet phenom, Hugh Masekela expertly covers “soul” music and other standards to wrap up our week.
My initial impression as I listened to Spalding’s new album was that she had found a way to utilize all of her musical training and diverse proclivities in the service of producing radio-friendly music that is not dumbed down to a back beat (or boom bap) with cameos by rappers and/or pop vocalists. Indeed, what immediately came to mind was “art” music in the broadest sense of “art.”
You can hear touches of classical chamber music mashed up next to Broadway show tunes, supper club/lounge lyrics followed and/or preceded by conscious protest music, classic R&B co-existing with big band jazz. Spalding’s album is an attractive quilt of musical genres unified by her attempt to use everything that’s part of her musical tastes within the context of creating music that one could possibly hear on the radio in any major metropolitan area worldwide.
Esperanza is on a major label and since winning last year’s Grammy award currently has a major marketing push behind her new album. Undoubtedly there is a tremendous amount of pressure on her to be a commercial success. Fortunately, rather than crumble or stumble and produce trendy pap, Spalding’s response is to shine diamond bright.
I am writing this very quickly while on the side of Interstate 20. I am also struggling mightily to not use my colorful repertoire of insanely rhythmic and appropriate curse words. Thank me later.
Today The Chronicle of Higher Education published a blog entry from Naomi Schaefer Riley entitled “The Most Persuasive Case for Eliminating Black Studies? Just Read the Dissertations.” I refuse to link. They do not deserve the traffic. Google it or take my word for it.
Schaefer Riley is responding to an earlier Chronicle article lauding the first cohort of Northwestern University’s Black Studies program. So bemused is she by the mere titles of the dissertations of these young black scholars that Schaefer Riley can barely contain her glee as she proceeds to viciously, intentionally, and deliberately insult every single one of the scholars listed and everyone within the field of black studies. You can almost hear her giggling as she writes:
“If ever there were a case for eliminating the discipline, the sidebar explaining some of the dissertations being offered by the best and the brightest of black-studies graduate students has made it. What a collection of left-wing victimization claptrap. The best that can be said of these topics is that they’re so irrelevant no one will ever look at them.”
What could be so utterly ridiculous of an academic topic to draw such ire from Schaefer Riley? For one, black midwives. I mean can you just imagine a critical examination of how black women give birth? How RIDICULOUS!
That’s what I would say about Ruth Hayes’ dissertation, “‘So I Could Be Easeful’: Black Women’s Authoritative Knowledge on Childbirth.” It began because she “noticed that nonwhite women’s experiences were largely absent from natural-birth literature, which led me to look into historical black midwifery.” How could we overlook the nonwhite experience in “natural birth literature,” whatever the heck that is? It’s scandalous and clearly a sign that racism is alive and well in America, not to mention academia.
Not only is black childbirth beneath her contempt but the very idea of literature about natural birth is also contemptible. It could be argued that is a particularly odd position in an age when public health schools are cropping up at every reputable university imaginable and scholars from across disciplines are attempting to better understand the links between social realities and biological processes. Schaefer Riley will hear none of that! It’s liberal nonsense this whole idea that scholars might want to record the history and experiences of women having babies.
It’s not just childbirth that pisses Schaefer Riley off, though. So, too, does a critical analysis of housing, public policy, and race:
Then there is Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, author of “Race for Profit: Black Housing and the Urban Crisis of the 1970s.” Ms. Taylor believes there was apparently some kind of conspiracy in the federal government’s promotion of single family homes in black neighborhoods after the unrest of the 1960s. Single family homes! The audacity! But Ms. Taylor sees that her issue is still relevant today. (Not much of a surprise since the entirety of black studies today seems to rest on the premise that nothing much has changed in this country in the past half century when it comes to race. Shhhh. Don’t tell them about the black president!) She explains that “The subprime lending crisis, if it did nothing else, highlighted the profitability of racism in the housing market.” The subprime lending crisis was about the profitability of racism? Those millions of white people who went into foreclosure were just collateral damage, I guess.
This as our nation tries to recover from a protracted economic recession caused, in part, by persistent inequality in the housing market. Nope, not relevant. History happened THEN and this is NOW. And what happens to black people can in no way be generalized to any greater white human experience. You know, the only experience that matters.
Schaefer Riley goes on to deride, chide, and condescend to all of black studies through a personal attack on the scholarship of three young scholars who have the audacity to treat the black subject as a human subject worthy of interrogation.
The relevancy of black studies has never been so clearly proven as it is in Schaefer Riley’s gleeful attack.
But that’s not really what I want to talk about.
I want to talk about how Schaefer Riley constructed her argument.
She begins by responding to an innocuous article highlighting the work of doctoral students who just happen to be black and who just happen to be studying issues that impact black people.
Doctoral students.
That’s Schaefer Riley’s target: a group of accomplished, intelligent black doctoral students.
Schaefer Riley went after, arguably, the most powerless group of people in all of academe: doctoral students who lack the political cover of tenure, institutional support, or extensive professional networks. She attacked junior scholars who have done nothing but tried to fulfill the requirements of their degree program and who had the audacity to be recognized for doing so in academia’s largest publication. Their crime is not being fucking* invisible.
For that, for daring to be seen and heard Schaefer Riley eviscerates the hard work of doctoral students.
And she does not even afford them the respect of critiquing their actual scholarship. That is beneath her. She attacks the very veracity of their right to choose what scholarship they will do. In effect, she attacks their right to be agents in their own academic careers.
She eschews their dissertation titles as laughable. She pokes fun at their subject matter. She all but calls them stupid.
And The Chronicle of Higher Education let her.
Maybe it has been awhile since you have been a graduate student. Maybe you have never been a black graduate student. Let me tell you a little about my experience of that.
You are almost always perceived as crazy and different for doing something few in your family or peer groups would ever consider doing. Even if you are among the best and brightest in college you are somewhat of an oddity in graduate school. You are either the voice of all black people or the voice of no one. You can be, in any combination and at any given moment: an affirmative action case, an overachiever, lazy, aggressive, scary, and your University’s poster child for diversity.
You are simultaneously invisible and in the spotlight…all the time. For five plus years. And you pay for the privilege because you care about the scholarship. You do the work. You jump through the hoops. You refine a research agenda, craft a research question that passes muster with your committee members, you spend countless hours reading, writing, collecting data, and learning your craft. Finally, it is time to present your baby to the world. And you do not expect to be coddled but you do expect that professional rules of conduct to which you have been taught to adhere will also apply to your colleagues.
You expect that completing almost all the requirements of your degree program will signal to the greater field that you, at minimum, should be respected as an intellectual peer.
You expect arguments to adhere, however symbolically, to the rules of logic.
You expect critiques to be confined to your ideas, not extended to your person.
You expect that when an academic publication promotes a scholar’s opinion that these very basic rules of engagement will apply.
If you are Ruth Hayes, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, and La TaSha B. Levy you awoke today to find that none of those rules apply when the scholarship is yours.
For that The Chronicle of Higher Education is as much to blame as Naomi Schaefer Riley.
These scholars did not deserve to be publicly attacked in the largest academic news publication for daring to be visible and black with a dissertation title that Schaefer Riley finds hilarious.
It isn’t scholarship when the entire purpose is to ridicule.
I know we’re not using the “r” word after Obama being elected and all but it really is this simple: by elevating Schaefer Riley’s racially tinged attack on three emerging scholars, The Chronicle is legitimizing open season on black scholars for doing black studies. That’s racist racism.
It does go to prove that black studies remain critical to academe but it also begs the question: with colleagues like The Chronicle and Naomi Schaefer Riley who in the hell needs enemies?
*fine, fine, fine: one cuss word slipped through. Sue me. Just don’t write about me in The Chronicle!
ETA: There’s now a petition because every time I think about it I get angry all over again. Public shaming and bullying is never OK. Please sign and share.
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Woman. Friend. Daughter. Scholar. Armchair activist. Hell-raiser. Not particularly in that order.
As a PhD student in sociology I employ mixed methods to examine why students choose for-profit colleges, if for-profit credentials are socially construed as legitimate, and what these interactions means for social mobility and labor outcomes across and within national contexts.
I’m also very fond of Dolly Pardon, fancy coffee, juicing, brunch, 90s hip-hop, bacon, and the Delta blues.
Before that, though, you should read this eloquent response from the graduate students whose work she attacked:
As graduate students in Northwestern University’s department of African-American studies, we were thrilled with the informative and important article by Stacey Patton forThe Chronicle of Higher Education that looked at the state of our discipline through the lens of an important academic conference bringing together the 11 African-American studies doctoral programs together for the first time.
So imagine our surprise when almost two weeks after The Chronicle’s original article appeared, The Chronicle’s Web site published a lazy and vitriolic hit piece by blogger Naomi Schaefer Riley that summarily dismisses our academic work while debasing us as something less than “legitimate scholars.” Riley then holds up our research as the reason African American Studies as a discipline should be “eliminated.”
Instead of taking her own advice given to her readers to “just read the dissertations,” Riley displays breathtaking arrogance and gutless anti-intellectualism by drawing such severe conclusions about our work and African-American studies as a whole based on four or five sentence synopses of our dissertation projects. In fact, Riley has never read our dissertations, as they are in process. Nor has she read a chapter or even an abstract of our work, but that does not stop her from a full throttle attack on our scholarship and credibility.
When Rick Santorum took his failed campaign for the Republican nomination for President to Iowa, he invoked blacks on welfare as a campaign issue—in a state where African-Americans make up only two percent of the population. He said, “I don’t want to make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money. I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money and provide for themselves and their families.”
When Newt Gingrich had trouble drumming up interest in his failed political campaign, he began referring to President Barack Obama as the “food stamp president” and then told the NAACP that he wanted to address their convention to counsel, “why the African-American community should demand paychecks and not be satisfied with food stamps.”
One can only assume that in a bid to not be “out-niggered” by her right-wing cohort, Riley found some black women graduate students to beat up on. Despite her attempts to silence us personally, and indeed the discipline as a whole, her exhortations confirm the need for the vigorous study and investigation of black life in the United States and beyond…
Musings from a budding urban ecology grad student trapped in Portland, OR
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Black Scholarship Matters
***I will warn those about to read this post. I am still INCREDIBLY angry at this so my rage may come through in a typo or three or gratuitous profanity...I'll try to moderate it, but this is your warning.
I was working peacefully earlier today on a paper for my urban sociology course, trying to draw some links between sustainable development policies (specifically smart growth and new urbanist policies) and gentrification. I took a break to grab a burrito and logged on to twitter in order to catch up on the variety of news, commentary, and ratchetness that is my timeline. One of my followers, @tressiemcphd (a good follow, btw, if you're into issues of education) was up in arms over a recent article in the "Chronicle of Higher Education" and wrote a blog post in response. Like her, I refuse to link to chronicle article because I don't want to give this person any more views than is necessary. The blog post gives a good rundown.You can check my timeline if you're interested in exactly what I said. This post is to talk about something that the author of that offending post at the chronicle refuses to see or just ignores. Black scholarship matters. I mean Black scholarship as in research performed by Black academics and research that focuses upon the experiences of Black people, not only in the US, but around the globe.On the first observation, the importance of having Black, and by extensions any minority or marginalized, scholars. While many of us give lip-service to the notion of diversity, I can honestly say that my intellectual development would have been severely limited had it not been for the myriad scholars and commentators I have been forced and voluntarily decided to read. I am a planner and a scholar of cities. I cannot better understand how our cities organize themselves, the complex interplay of politics, space, and place, or the nature of work and economic development if I am not willing to listen to and come to a basic understanding of how other people, groups, etc view and live the city. My knowledge and understanding of the city is more rich because I have read feminist critiques of our economic system and how patriarchy manifests and reproduces itself through labor practices and space. I become a smarter thinker and can ask more thoughtful questions because I have read the writings of farmworkers and Latino activists. I cannot grasp the more subtle attributes of urban form if I do not read about the ways in which planners and political institutions encouraged and reinforced racial and income segregation throughout American history. And frankly, many of these topics, questions, and ideas would not have been pursued if it were not for the fact that there were scholars of all different types with different experiences and concerns that asked these questions. You do not have the development of feminism without women, you do not have the rise of varied forms of ethnic and racial studies without scholars and activists of color, and you do not have serious examinations of sustainability without the hard work of environmental justice advocates and scholars and attorneys of color that have represented the interests of poor and marginalized communities that bear the disproportionate brunt of environmental costs. In other words, our understanding of the world and the myriad processes that exist within it is much richer BECAUSE we have scholars that are incredibly different.On my second point, the legitimacy of studying the lived experiences and history of Black peoples. In case you were unaware, I'm a Black man. That means any variety of things, but one thing it certainly means is that I am aware that the lived experiences of Black people in America are unique and deserve study. The first reason why Black life deserves study is because Black people exist and our existence, in the US and around the world, has been defined by a constant struggle for freedom and justice. We are the descendants of slaves, and from the first moment an African was captured and set loose on the US, our struggle has mirrored the struggle that of this country's halting steps towards liberty.The history of Black people is largely the history of America. From the colonial and early national dependence upon slavery for economic strength (including the construction of some of our most prized monuments and cities, to the bloodshed of the Civil War, both World Wars, the industrialization of America, to the Civil Rights movement, the great dramatic periods of American history are intimately connected to the lives of Black people. Our modern understandings of justice and civil rights are entirely due to the struggles of Black americans. In other words, Black people matter! But we matter not only because we have played integral parts in the creation and evolution of this country. We matter because we are human, and our experiences have been and continue to be largely shaped and influenced by our Blackness. History and our own lived experience, chronicled in books, music, film etc show that our stories matter and our important, not just for us, but for everyone else. To have this essential piece of our humanity, the idea that we matter because we exist, and that we matter because history, rejected by this woman is not simply an attack on Black studies or 5 grad students, but it is an attack on Black people. It seems that no matter how often it is shown that Black people are treated differently (almost ALWAYS to our detriment) as reflected in study after study after study our experiences still don't matter. This is an outright rejection of not only Black studies, but of the black lived experience.It is a rejection of me and my life. It is a rejection of the experiences of my parents, who suffered through the traumas of segregation and desegregation. It is a rejection of all Black people. And it hurts so much because I'm not surprised.I'm out.
Posted: 05/ 3/2012