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Five Years Ago #OnThisDay: Kendrick Lamar Releases Pulitzer Prize Winning Album DAMN. (LISTEN)

Five Years Ago #OnThisDay: Kendrick Lamar Releases Pulitzer Prize Winning Album DAMN. (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on April 14, 2022

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

Today we drop in on lauded rapper and artist Kendrick Lamar, who five years ago #onthisday dropped his last full studio album project on us — the highly-acclaimed, award-winning DAMN. 

To read about Lamar, read on. To hear about her, press PLAY:

[You can follow or subscribe to the Good Black News Daily Drop Podcast through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, rss.com or create your own RSS Feed. Or just check it out every day here on the main website. Full transcript below]:

Hey, this is Lori Lakin Hutcherson, founder and editor in chief of goodblacknews.org, here to share with you a daily drop of Good Black News for Thursday, April 14th, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing.

Five years ago, on April 14, 2017, hip hop artist and Compton, California native Kendrick Lamarreleased his fourth studio album DAMN. The following year, it became the first work outside of the jazz or classical genre to win the Pulitzer Prize for music. DAMN. also won the Grammy for Best Rap Album in 2018 and was a nominee for Album of the Year.

The two albums Kendrick Lamar released before DAMN., 2012’s good kid, m.A.A.d city and 2015’s To Pimp a Butterfly were already revered within and beyond hip hop circles as sonic and lyrical works of art. DAMN. was the culmination of a magnum opus in three parts, a tapestry of arresting themes explored in songs with one-word titles such as “DNA.”:

[Excerpt of “DNA.”]

“LOYALTY. FEAT. RIHANNA.”:

[Excerpt of “LOYALTY. FEAT. RIHANNA.”]

“LOVE. FEAT. ZACARI.”:

[Excerpt of “LOVE. FEAT. ZACARI.”]

And the song that has over a billion streams on Spotify, “HUMBLE.”:

[Excerpt of “HUMBLE.”]

Side projects and collaborations aside, like “Family Ties,” Lamar’s recent Grammy-winning collaboration with Baby Keem, we can’t wait to hear what Kendrick Lamar drops next. Until then, this June Kendrick Lamar will be headlining one evening of the Glastonbury Festival in the United Kingdom and is currently scheduled to do the same at Miami’s Rolling Loud Festival in July.To learn more about Kendrick Lamar, follow him @kendricklamar on Twitter, read 2020’s The Butterfly Effect: How Kendrick Lamar Ignited the Soul of Black America by Marcus J. Moore, 2021’s Promise That You Will Sing About Me: The Power and Poetry of Kendrick Lamar by Miles Marshall Lewis, and 2021’s Kendrick Lamar and the Making of Black Meaning edited by Lehigh University professors Christopher M. Driscoll, Monica R. Miller and Rice University professor Anthony B. Pinn.

You can also read Lamar’s in-depth Rolling Stone interview from 2017, watch his interview with Zane Lowe about DAMN. on AppleMusic’s YouTube channel, catch his videos and incredible live performances on Lamar’s YouTube channel, listen to the entire 5th season of the Dissect Podcast, which is a track-by-track analysis of DAMN., and, of course, buy or stream his entire catalog of music.

This has been a daily drop of Good Black News, written, produced and hosted by yours truly, Lori Lakin Hutcherson. Intro and outro beats provided by freebeats.io and produced by White Hot.

All excerpts of Kendrick Lamar’s music are included under Fair Use.

If you like these Daily Drops, please consider following us on Apple, Google Podcasts, RSS.com, Amazon, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Leave a rating or review, share links to your favorite episodes, or go old school and tell a friend.

For more Good Black News, check out goodblacknews.org or search and follow @goodblacknews anywhere on social.

Sources:

(amazon links are paid)

Born On This Day in 1973: Producer and Philanthropist Pharrell Williams (LISTEN)

Born On This Day in 1973: Producer and Philanthropist Pharrell Williams (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on April 5, 2022

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

As Pharrell Williams takes his 49th orbit around the sun today, GBN celebrates the music and contributions to the culture and community made by this prolific and inventive force of nature.

To read about him, read on. To hear about him, press PLAY:

(You can follow or subscribe to the Good Black News Daily Drop Podcast through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, rss.com or create your own RSS Feed. Or just check it out every day here on the main website.) Full transcript below:

Hey, this Lori Lakin Hutcherson, founder and editor in chief of goodblacknews.org, here to share with you a daily drop of Good Black News for Tuesday, April 5th, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing.

Born April 5, 1973 in Virginia Beach, VA, prolific music producer, composer and artist Pharrell Williams (“Drop It Like It’s Hot,” “Get Lucky,” “Hollaback Girl”) has also excelled as a fashion designer (Billionaire Boys Club, G Star Raw, Adidas) as a film and television producer (Dope, Hidden Figures, the Amazon Prime series Harlem) …and, importantly, as a philanthropist.

In 2019 Williams offered “A-List internships” to 114 college-bound high school students to help set them on their career paths.

More recently, Williams co-founded the Black Ambition Initiative to fund Black and Latinx entrepreneurs in tech, design, healthcare and consumer products and services start-ups. So, let’s wish a “Happy” birthday to this “Beautiful” Neptune on his 49th trip around the sun.

To learn more about Pharrell, read his books, Places and Spaces I’ve Been and Pharrell: A Fish Doesn’t Know It’s Wet, as well as his 2016 children’s board book Happy, check out the 2016 documentary Pharrell Williams: Happy Go Lucky on Amazon Prime Video or Free Movies on YouTube, Pharrell’s interview on The Breakfast Club, his 2019 conversation with Rick Rubin on GQ’s YouTube channel, or his 2021 appearance on PBS’s Finding Your Roots.You can also check out the 2020 Netflix series Voices of Fire, Pharrell’s interview with Mark Ronson on The FADER Uncovered podcast, and Pharrell’ own podcast, OTHERtone.

And, it goes without saying, stream or buy any and/or all of the innovative, industry-changing music he’s produced and performed over the decades.

This has been a daily drop of Good Black News, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar for 2022,” published by Workman Publishing.

Intro and outro beats provided by freebeats.io and produced by White Hot.

Excerpts from “Frontin’”, “Happy,” “Beautiful” and “Brand New” by Pharrell Williams permitted under fair use.

If you like these Daily Drops, please consider following us on Apple, Google Podcasts, RSS.com, Amazon, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Leave a rating or review, share links to your favorite episodes, or go old school and tell a friend.

For more Good Black News, you can check out goodblacknews.org or search and follow @goodblacknews anywhere on social.

Sources:

(amazon links are paid)

GBN’s Daily Drop: Groundbreaking Comedy “House Party” Released in Theaters Thirty Two Years Ago #OnThisDay (LISTEN)

GBN’s Daily Drop: Groundbreaking Comedy “House Party” Released in Theaters Thirty Two Years Ago #OnThisDay (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on March 9, 2022

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

Today’s GBN Daily Drop podcast is based on the Wednesday, March 9 entry in the “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day®️ Calendar for 2022 celebrating the groundbreaking 1990 feature film House Party, directed and produced by Reginald Hudlin and Warrington Hudlin, and starring Kid ‘N Play, Full Force, Tisha Campbell, AJ Johnson, Martin Lawrence, Robin Harris and John Witherspoon:

You can follow or subscribe to the Good Black News Daily Drop Podcast through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, rss.com or create your own RSS Feed. Or just check it out every day here on the main website (transcript below):

SHOW TRANSCRIPT:

Hey, this Lori Lakin Hutcherson, founder and editor in chief of goodblacknews.org, here to share with you a daily drop of Good Black News for Wednesday, March 9th, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing.

Shape up your high-top fade because Reginald Hudlin and Warrington Hudlin’s groundbreaking comedy film House Party was released 32 years ago today!

House Party exploded on the scene and ignited the careers of rappers Kid ‘N Play; actors Tisha Campbell, AJ Johnson, and John Witherspoon; comedians Martin Lawrence and Robin Harris; and R&B producers and performers Full Force.

A surprise success at the box office, House Party spawned several sequels and reboots, most recently one produced by LeBron James that will debut on HBO Max this July. Still, the original teen comedy remains a beloved 1990s classic that still manages to kick-step itself across the generations. 

We celebrate House Party not only for the depth of talented actors, comedians and musicians it featured, but also because it was one of the first movies to portray Black teenagers as teenagers out to have a good time, which in 1990, was revolutionary.

It also literally contains one of the best dance battle scenes in movie history – that scene alone has almost eight million views on YouTube – and it also introduced the world to the iconic Kid ‘N Play kick step:

You can watch the movie in its entirety on HBO Max, but there is a content warning – homophobic language is used in one scene, that even when I saw it in the theatre in 1990 was bothersome and not at all humorous as intended.

For me, it doesn’t ruin the whole movie, but it does, in my opinion, hold it back from being as smart and as undeniably entertaining as it should be.

To learn more about House Party and its significance to cinematic history, check out the links to sources provided in today’s show notes, and in the episode’s full transcript posted on goodblacknews.org

This has been a daily drop of Good Black News, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar for 2022,” published by Workman Publishing.

Intro and outro beats provided by freebeats.io and produced by White Hot.  Additional music included under fair use was “Ain’t My Type of Hype” the House Party mix by Full Force.

If you like these Daily Drops, please consider following us on Apple, Google Podcasts, RSS.com, Amazon, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Leave a rating or review, share links to your favorite episodes, or go old school and tell a friend.

For more Good Black News, check out goodblacknews.org or search and follow @goodblacknews anywhere on social.

Sources:

MUSIC MONDAY: “Cover Me Softly” – Soul-Filled Remakes and Covers Playlist (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Cover Me Softly” – Soul-Filled Remakes and Covers Playlist (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on February 28, 2022

by Lesa Lakin (@lesalakin) and Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

With all that’s going on in the world, we thought we’d offer some comfort this Music Monday in the form of a playlist of remakes and covers called “Cover Me Softly: Soul-Filled Remakes and Covers.”

Sometimes the songs are reimagined, elevated and fully remade, and other times they are faithful covers by the right artist, offering just the right notes and voicing.

We’ve got “Killing Me Softly,” originally by Robert Flack and reimagined by Fugees, Maxwell’s soul stirring take on Kate Bush‘s “This Woman’s Work,” Rihanna’s hauntingly similar yet very much her own gorgeous version of Tame Impala’s “Same Ole Mistakes,” Luther Vandross’ famous redo of Dionne Warwick’s “A House Is Not a Home,” Mariah Carey’s version of Prince’s “Beautiful Ones” with Dru Hill and more.

One song on our list poses the question: Can you successfully remake/cover your own song?   In the case of Lionel Richie, that’s exactly what happened with “Lady.” “Lady” was written and produced by Richie and first recorded by American country music artist Kenny Rogers in 1980.

“Lady” is the first record of the 1980s to chart on all four of Billboard magazine’s singles charts – country, Hot 100, adult contemporary and Top Soul Singles. Almost two decades later, Richie revisited the hit by recording the song himself in 1998.

Rogers and Richie would eventually preform the song as a duet on Richie’s 2012 release Tuskegee. If you’re interested in reading even more about it, here’s a fun story about the history of “Lady”: https://people.com/country/kenny-rogers-lionel-richie-friendship-history/

So, sit back and relax to some old familiar hits and maybe a few reimagined new finds. Have a listen… and always,  always celebrate music!

GBN’s Daily Drop: George Washington, Clap to This: “Eric B. Is President” by Eric B. & Rakim (LISTEN)

GBN’s Daily Drop: George Washington, Clap to This: “Eric B. Is President” by Eric B. & Rakim (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on February 22, 2022

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

Today’s GBN Daily Drop Podcast for Tuesday, February 22, 2022 — aka Washington’s Birthday — based on the  “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day®️ Calendar for 2022.

In it we talk about legendary duo Eric B. & Rakim and the song that became their industry calling card and helped up the game in hip hop – 1986’s “Eric B. Is President.”

You can also follow or subscribe to the Good Black News Daily Drop Podcast through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, rss.com or create your own RSS Feed. Or just check it out every day here on the main website (transcript below):

FULL TRANSCRIPT:

Hey, this Lori Lakin Hutcherson, founder and editor in chief of goodblacknews.org, here to share with you a daily drop of Good Black News for Tuesday, February 22nd, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing.

With the 1986 release of their first single, “Eric. B is President,” Eric. B & Rakim shook up the proverbial hip-hop tree. Deploying complex rhymes, internal musings, and visual storytelling, Rakim revolutionized the MC game, referencing Greek mythology in one bar and Janet Jackson songs in the next.

Eric B., meanwhile, as the DJ scratched, mixed, and sampled the bassline from Fonda Rae’s 1982 single “Over Like a Fat Rat,” added in drums from James Brown’s “Funky President (People It’s Bad),” threw in bits of “The Champ” by the Mohawks, along with the Honey Drippers’ “Impeach the President,” a few more samples, and one of the all-time classic punch lines ever rapped, “Eric B. Is President” was just the ticket to land them a major record deal at RCA and solidify their place in hip hop history.

To learn more about “Eric B. Is President,” check out the links to sources provided in today’s show notes and in the episode’s full transcript posted on goodblacknews.org.

This has been a daily drop of Good Black News, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar for 2022,” published by Workman Publishing, and available at workman.com, Amazon,Bookshop and other online retailers.

Intro and outro beats provided by freebeats.io and produced by White Hot.

For more Good Black News, check out goodblacknews.org or search and follow @goodblacknews anywhere on social.

Sources:

  1. https://www.okayplayer.com/news/marley-marl-remakes-eric-b-is-president.html
  2. https://www.whosampled.com/sample/35392/Eric-B.-Rakim-Eric-B.-Is-President-(Original-Mix)-James-Brown-Get-Up,-Get-Into-It,-Get-Involved/
  3. https://www.songfacts.com/facts/eric-b-rakim/eric-b-is-president

Songs sampled in episode:

(paid links)

GBN’s Daily Drop: Learn About Designer and Hip Hop Style Icon Daniel “Dapper Dan” Day (LISTEN)

GBN’s Daily Drop: Learn About Designer and Hip Hop Style Icon Daniel “Dapper Dan” Day (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on February 17, 2022

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

Today’s GBN Daily Drop podcast is based on the Thursday, February 17 entry in the “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day®️ Calendar for 2022 about designer and hip-hop style innovator and icon Daniel “Dapper Dan” Day.

You can also follow or subscribe to the Good Black News Daily Drop Podcast through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, rss.com or create your own RSS Feed. Or just check it out every day here on the main website (transcript below):

FULL TRANSCRIPT:

Hey, this Lori Lakin Hutcherson, founder and editor in chief of goodblacknews.org, here to share with you a daily drop of Good Black News for Thursday, February 17th, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing.

In the wake of New York Fashion Week, today we take a look at designer Daniel Day, best known as “Dapper Dan.”

Daniel “Dapper Dan” Day made his mark in the 1980s by reworking luxury label products with a hip-hop aesthetic and a signature style.

Known first for his jackets and coats, the self-taught tailor dressed artists such as LL Cool J, Run-DMC, Eric B. & Rakim and Salt-N-Pepa and athletes such as boxing champions Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather.

After legal trouble with several designer brands, Dan made a comeback in 2017 by partnering with Gucci to create a new menswear line. Dan and Gucci built on that success and in 2018 opened the first luxury fashion house in his home neighborhood called Dapper Dan’s of Harlem.

To learn more about Dapper Dan, you can read his 2019 New York Times Bestseller Dapper Dan Made In Harlem: A Memoir, check out his CBS Sunday Morning interview, his appearance on The Breakfast Club, Dan’s own webpage and a compilation post of some of Dan’s classic, iconic designs.

Links to these and other sources on Dapper Dan are provided in today’s show notes and also in the episode’s full transcript posted on goodblacknews.org.

Sources:

This has been a daily drop of Good Black News, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar for 2022,” published by Workman Publishing, and available at workman.com, Amazon, Bookshop and other online retailers. Beats provided by freebeats.io and produced by White Hot.

For more Good Black News, check out goodblacknews.org or search and follow @goodblacknews anywhere on social.

(paid link)

R.I.P. Jazz and R&B Artist, Musician and Producer James Mtume, 76

R.I.P. Jazz and R&B Artist, Musician and Producer James Mtume, 76

By goodblacknews on January 11, 2022

James Mtume, recording artist, musician and one of the most innovative producers of R&B in the 1970s and 1980s, passed away on January 9. He was 76.

Philadelphia native Mtume is perhaps best known for his 1983 hit single “Juicy Fruit” which became even more well known when sampled in 1994 in Notorious B.I.G.’s signature hip hop single “Juicy.”

Mtume began his professional career playing percussion with Miles Davis’ electric band in the 1970s. Multi-instrumentalist Mtume brought his jazz chops to R&B when he later wrote and produced songs for Roberta Flack, Donny Hathaway, Stephanie Mills and others.

To quote from Los Angeles Times:

Described in the artist’s words as “sophistifunk,” Mtume’s sleek yet finely detailed music layered lush, jazz-inspired chord arrangements over uncluttered post-disco grooves that could make slow jams feel like club tracks and make club tracks feel like slow jams.

“Juicy Fruit,” with a stuttering drum-machine beat and a risqué lyric suggesting the pleasures of oral sex, spent eight weeks atop Billboard’s R&B chart (and led, Mtume said, to a legal inquiry from the Wrigley gum company).

Mtume’s survivors include his wife, Kamili; his brother, Jeffrey Forman; two sons, four daughters and six grandchildren.

Read more: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2022-01-10/james-mtume-juicy-notorious-big-dies?_amp=true

https://www.npr.org/2022/01/10/1071812297/percussionist-james-mtume-the-beat-behind-juicy-and-later-miles-davis-dies-at-76

MUSIC MONDAY: “I’m Still Here” – Tracks to Bolster The Heart and Soul (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “I’m Still Here” – Tracks to Bolster The Heart and Soul (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on January 3, 2022

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Twitter: @marlonw IG: stlmarlonwest Spotify: marlonwest)

Happy first Monday of 2022! Hope this young year has been treating you well so far.

Well, this collection is definitely a group effort. Last week I asked the readers of Good Black News and other friends and family to offer songs that have helped sustain them during these mercurial Covid times. Folks did not disappoint.

I have assembled a playlist of old and new music of many genres to enjoy during this fourth wave of The Vid.

I’M STILL HERE takes its title from a track by the immortal Sharon Jones. It was created for the documentary, Miss Sharon Jones!, about her tenacious battle with cancer. This collection contains songs offered by stalwart GBN music contributor, Jeff Meier, our Editor-in-Chief, Lori Lakin Hutcherson, and many readers and pals from all over.

Eighty-one year old Jazz legend Pharaoh Sanders is in the house with a record released during 2021. There are songs by folks like the emerging artist Yola too.

There are tracks considered by most as enduring classics, and others that will be well worth putting in the effort to “get to know.” Do enjoy more than 9 hours of music to fill your heart and soul. I hope this short missive finds you all safe and well.

Thanks for pitching in and enjoy. And as always, stay safe, sane, and kind. See ya soon.

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
MUSIC MONDAY: An Epic, Afroclectic, All-Night-Long Halloween Mix for 2021 (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: An Epic, Afroclectic, All-Night-Long Halloween Mix for 2021 (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on October 25, 2021

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Twitter: @marlonw IG: stlmarlonwest Spotify: marlonwest)

Happy Monday, good people!

Hope this tiny missive finds you all safe and well. Here’s my last October/Halloween Season offering, and it probably comes as no surprise this one is an eclectic mash-up leveraging off the three I have done so far.

I’ve cast a wide net for this playlist. Jazz, Blues, Soul, Rock, Reggae, and film soundtracks are all here in this more than 12 hour dose of music featuring chills, both real and imagined.

Killers, ghosts, vampires, demons, mad scientists, gravediggers, werewolves, and creatures of all ilk are on hand for this musical journey.

Do enjoy. See ya next week with a break from the macabre.

Until then, stay safe, sane, and kind.

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
MUSIC MONDAY: “Phantom of the Panther” – Black Horror Scores and More (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Phantom of the Panther” – Black Horror Scores and More (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on October 18, 2021

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Twitter: @marlonw IG: stlmarlonwest Spotify: marlonwest)

Happy Monday, good listeners!

We’re back with another seasonal playlist, this one just might scare kids off your front porch on the 31st.

“Phantom Of The Panther” is a collection of jazz, classical, and soundtrack music. It features spooky tracks from Blacula by Gene Page and the 2021 remake of Candyman by Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe. There are jazz cuts by Mulatu Astatke and Duke Ellington.

I’ve also included modern classical works by the likes of Pamela Z, Julius Eastman, and others.  And while we usually truck on the works of artists from the African diaspora here at GBN, I’ve included tracks by Phillip Glass from the OG Candyman from 1992 and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ work on HBO’s Watchmen starring Regina King.

And how you gonna not to include a track called “House OF Paincakes” by Marco Beltrami for Wesley Snipes’ Blade II?

Hope you enjoy this stroll through the dark side. Listen with the lights on. Or not.

Until next week, stay safe, sane, and kind.

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)