Your just showing off with the breadth of your good taste!
If at all useful, below is my review of "Naked".
Dear Ben Zephaniah, the genuine rebel article but so sweet and so loving he's no doubt caught many off guard with the accuracy of his lyrical commentary and the serious intent of his musical collaborations. A regular of the BBC but I wonder how much of his content they would dare to air before the watershed – not that its naughty, but it is adult.
“I’ve fought my neighbours from the axis of evil/ I wanna kill people… I’ve been listening to the rong radio station”
Is he Birmingham's (UK) KRS-ONE? Or more likely Michael Franti of Spearhead?. Just as Birmingham will never be San Francisco so Benjamin Zephaniah is no one but himself. For those who don't know him he is first and foremost a poet performer, a rich sonorous voice bubbling like a full bass line over words tangled up in the pre sprung rhythms they birthed from his mouth with. A vegetarian, a Rasta and human being, being as honest as he can about the world we live in. So he is right on about war, about consumerism about the environment about racism, sexism, celebretism.
“Life is hard for superstars, the roads cannot contain our cars, we can’t control our bodyguards and sometimes we end up behind bars.”
But not boring, not predictable not a lecture to be endured, because his images are fresh and his understanding is through people not ideas, so it’s all very personal and alive.
“I’ve been dancing to music that I can’t stand/reciting commercials to my girlfriend/I´ve been trying to convince my self that what I really need is a sunbed and a mortgage and hairspray, the kind of hair spray that will wash my grey blues away/ I’ve been listening to the rong radio station”
Then the music, here's the unexpected?? Definitely owes a big nod to Linton Kwesi Johnson but he is probably 20 years younger and his music shows it. The sound is UK, its the club scene, its electronic music, with definite tilt to jungle but however frantic the beats the voice is always steady in its proclamation of the poets deeper soul. I am no expert on the musical styles he uses but the beats are strong, the sounds unexpected and the collection of voice, production, tonality and rhythm often engrossing. On the track “Fathers” I heard sounds I have only heard before on “Your Under Arrest” by Miles Davis so you cam understand I am sure, that he used some top UK talent for the sound-scape.
So what do you know?? I recommend and commend this good voice into the world of anyone who enjoys a taste of honesty, humanity and talent.
1 comment :
Your just showing off with the breadth of your good taste!
If at all useful, below is my review of "Naked".
Dear Ben Zephaniah, the genuine rebel article but so sweet and so loving he's no doubt caught many off guard with the accuracy of his lyrical commentary and the serious intent of his musical collaborations. A regular of the BBC but I wonder how much of his content they would dare to air before the watershed – not that its naughty, but it is adult.
“I’ve fought my neighbours from the axis of evil/ I wanna kill people… I’ve been listening to the rong radio station”
Is he Birmingham's (UK) KRS-ONE? Or more likely Michael Franti of Spearhead?. Just as Birmingham will never be San Francisco so Benjamin Zephaniah is no one but himself. For those who don't know him he is first and foremost a poet performer, a rich sonorous voice bubbling like a full bass line over words tangled up in the pre sprung rhythms they birthed from his mouth with. A vegetarian, a Rasta and human being, being as honest as he can about the world we live in. So he is right on about war, about consumerism about the environment about racism, sexism, celebretism.
“Life is hard for superstars, the roads cannot contain our cars, we can’t control our bodyguards and sometimes we end up behind bars.”
But not boring, not predictable not a lecture to be endured, because his images are fresh and his understanding is through people not ideas, so it’s all very personal and alive.
“I’ve been dancing to music that I can’t stand/reciting commercials to my girlfriend/I´ve been trying to convince my self that what I really need is a sunbed and a mortgage and hairspray, the kind of hair spray that will wash my grey blues away/ I’ve been listening to the rong radio station”
Then the music, here's the unexpected?? Definitely owes a big nod to Linton Kwesi Johnson but he is probably 20 years younger and his music shows it. The sound is UK, its the club scene, its electronic music, with definite tilt to jungle but however frantic the beats the voice is always steady in its proclamation of the poets deeper soul. I am no expert on the musical styles he uses but the beats are strong, the sounds unexpected and the collection of voice, production, tonality and rhythm often engrossing. On the track “Fathers” I heard sounds I have only heard before on “Your Under Arrest” by Miles Davis so you cam understand I am sure, that he used some top UK talent for the sound-scape.
So what do you know?? I recommend and commend this good voice into the world of anyone who enjoys a taste of honesty, humanity and talent.
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