Passing Strange: The Great Black Boho Rock Musical
By Nelson | march 8, 2008 | 1 comment

Stew and his band, the Negro Problem, had been making the rounds of the rock world for well over a decade. Like most black rock bands they were marginalized, not part of the world of mainstream black music and had found very little love in the rock mainstream. But Stew was a sharp witted, ambitious lyricist with facility in [...]

Baduism circa 2008
By Nelson | march 6, 2008 | 1 comment

Erykah Badu’s New Amerykah:Part One (4th World War) is a complicated mesh of soul, electro sounds and references, simple and obscure. The lady is one of the great eccentric’s in pop music and it’s a pleasure to have her making music again after a six year absence. That much of the album is produced by [...]