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In addition to Arrested Development, the 10th Annual Alzheimer’s Music Fest will feature Cracker and Cowboy Mouth, as well as Donna Hopkins, Gurufish, Zangaro and more.
The inherent positive, mildly optimistic tone of the speech is certainly inspiring, but the problem remains. With pressing issues such as police brutality, voter suppression, and unemployment facing the black community, how can we gain support for dementia activism, a problem that many might consider? ?Like a realm of old times far away?
“For me, it’s this mantra matter that I live by,” he says. “Do what you can with what you have, with those around you. [activism] Please come see the concert. That’s why we do these things. In other words, keep it simple. ”
Bringing awareness through music like this is a familiar feat for the long-running collective of hip-hop troubadours that make up Speech and Arrested Development. While the deliberately threatening and aggressively nihilistic gangsta rap world exploded in popularity in the early 1990s, the soulful sound of progressive rap came from Arrested Development, A Tribe Called Quest, De La It emerged as a heartwarming alternative by groups such as Soul.
These groups and others offered a more thoughtful, spiritual and positive perspective on world issues. For Arrested Development, that shift in perspective has been accompanied by a sonic shift into the realm of jazz, soul, reggae and many other laid-back styles.
Alongside Speech’s activism efforts, the latest Arrested Development album pays homage to hip-hop’s glory days and the second part of a planned trilogy beginning with 2020’s Don’t Fight Your Demons. represents. The trilogy concludes with the third album, which is currently in production.
“We love hip-hop music. We fell in love with it in the late 1970s and early 80s and this record is a celebration of how much we love it.” says Speech. A tribute to the early days of rap features guest appearances from Juice Crew’s Big Daddy Kane, the Sugar Hill Gang and many more.
For Speech, the evocation of hip-hop’s origins marks an important return to the artform’s thematically diverse roots, which were gradually consumed by the lowlife chic of the gangsta rap subculture. “Hip-hop was already diverse from the beginning,” explains, citing early innovators such as Mantronix, Planet Patrol, Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force. “What happened in the mid-’90s, unfortunately, was narrower. Subject-wise, it became more street-related, and musically more silly as time went on.”
The rap and hip-hop transition weighs heavily on speech. He describes such corporate pandering as “conforming to his 400-year-old stereotype of violent, promiscuous and simple black life.” These are things that have been perpetuated in the music as well, making them, unfortunately, appealing to those who subconsciously hold this perspective of Black people. ”
A senior politician in the black media and entertainment realm, Speech was quick to point out that a similar assimilation occurred when mainstream Hollywood embraced the once avant-garde realm of blaxploitation cinema. To do. “The first point of the blaxploitation film was the rebellion against ‘man,'” he says. “It was about black people giving the middle finger to being controlled, and it became a caricature that was just an illusion of social change. It’s a fantasy that you don’t.
Sadly, he lamented a similar trend in gangsta rap throughout the 90s. “A lot of this is just an illusion of sticking it on men,” Speech says. “But the reality is that families are being destroyed by people who get murdered all too often, not just in the rap world, but in the actual communities that we come from. And drugs fascinate communities. The other thing they’re promoting, promiscuity, is bringing babies into the world to parents who aren’t ready to have children.”
These observations are the same ones that Arrested Development won a Grammy in the 90s, and are just as relevant today as they were when Speech first brought them to the discussion. He hopes the band will continue to reach younger audiences and get shot in the arm for hip-hop his community, obsessed with negative stereotypes and empty materialism.
Sure, that’s a lofty goal, but Speech seems like someone used to the weight of the world on his shoulders. Far from being gripped by anger, he seems to be aware of the calm peace that underlies the human experience.
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Jordan Owen began writing music professionally at the age of 16 in Oxford, Mississippi. A 2006 graduate of Berklee College of Music, he is a professional guitarist, bandleader and composer. He is currently the lead guitarist for the jazz group Other Strangers, the power metal band Axis of Empires, and the melodic death/thrash metal band Century Spawn.
meet our partners
Arts ATL (www.artsatl.org) is a non-profit organization that plays a key role in educating and informing audiences about the arts and culture of Metro Atlanta. Founded in 2009, ArtsATL’s goal is to help build sustainable arts communities that contribute to the economic and cultural health of cities.
If you have any questions about this partnership or anything else, please contact Nicole Williams, Partnership Senior Manager. nicole.williams@ajc.com.
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