No matter where on the spectrum you lay your musical hat, chances are the name Nneka means something to you.

Since the release of her 2007 debut ‘Victim Of Truth’, Nneka’s songs of freedom have amassed a sizable global following.  Her own biography speaks the truth when it says this popularity has less to do with marketing budgets and a whole lot more to do with the content and delivery of her art. Although ‘Victim Of Truth’ was slept on by many, her sophomore offering ‘No Longer At Ease’ (which joins the Root’s “Things Fall Apart” as another LP title garnered from the mighty Chinua Achebe) refused to let us continue in our slumber with its tough-yet-soulful collection of treatises on the political and humanitarian crises we face in our times – not least in mother Africa.To date she’s shared stages with the Roots, Mos Def, Femi Kuti and Bilal and is now all set to hit the road with Damien Marley and Nas for their Distant Relatives album tour. Basically, this woman is not joking…

To cut a long, but pretty interesting story short, we’ve been given the opportunity to give away two pairs of free tickets to her London show at the Scala on Weds 28th April. Free entry to what is bound to be one of the capital’s hottest live shows this year goes to the two lucky people who can answer the following question:

What is the name of the single which Nneka released at the end of March?

The two winners will be picked at random from the list of entries with the correct answer. Good Luck!

EMAIL US YOUR ANSWERS HERE and see below for details of the show, an interview with the lady herself and a Lauren Hill inspired unplugged studio special.

Easter weekend. Four days off and very few excuses not to record a podcast so here it is. Heavily inspired by the ritual bank holiday dig through the collection, a selection taking in rootikal dubwise, golden age pirate radio anthems, fresh boom-bap and forthcoming 130 BPM sub bass excursions…..enjoy:

Download Duke Etienne Podcast #17

The Observers//Organ Satta
Big Youth//Love Jah Jah Children
Horace Andy//Lets Live In Love
Jah Bunny & Ras Elroy meet Dougie Conscious//Dub 2
King Tubby//Antique Dub
ELUCID//Laser Days
SBTRKT//Inamillion
Blackpocket//U’re a Star (Martyn Remix)
Hem ft. Terrible Shock//On a Mission (Shortstuff Remix)
Ragga Twins//18″ Speaker
Pursuit Grooves//Whisper
U.N.I. ft. H.O.P.E & Shawn Jackson//Cali Soul
Ski Beatz ft. Mos Def//24 Hour Karate School
Bullion//Don’t Talk
Madlib//Floating Soul
Dabrye//Magic Says
Chico Mann//Levanta
Pursuit Grooves//Cosy
Portformat ft. Blaktroniks//It’s On (Swede:art Remix)
Erykah Badu//Turn Me Away (Get MUNNY)
Georgia Ann Muldrow//So Far
Ski Beatz ft. Mos Def & Whosane//Taxi

Gracing our shores after a long break and much work, this is set to be a roadblock.

This New Orleans born rapper has trailblazed his way into a scene that has been somewhat lacking to say the least. Not only did his first percussionless joint, Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge) bring a fresh perspective to hip-hop’s repetitive production templates (that every rapper seems to have exhausted to the core), Jay’s lyrical style has also been validated by many veterans of the game such as Rakim, NaS and Mos Def. To be honest, we should have known that any rapper affiliated with Miss Badu would be no less than dope.

Jay will be filling the Jazz cafe for two days, with the first (17th Feb 2010) being hosted by Benji B of 1Xtra/Deviaion fame and the second (18th) by 1Xtra and Def Jam UK’s DJ Semtex.

I’m sure that Jay’s performances will take no prisoners, so be ready to feel the force. POW!

Jay Electronica’s Myspace.

Jay Electronica’s Twitter.

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* See previous posting for Robert Glasper’s UK tour dates. On the 13th of Feb, Dam Funk will also be performing at Brixton’s Plan B… Event details here.

Reporting back from last November’s post when Mos came over to foggy ol’ Blighty to present his Ecstatic album to fans at Kentish Town’s Forum, he also took it upon himself to do a lil’ venting to the people of the BBC (namely Tim Westwood) about the way hip-hop is currently being mis-represented on the 1Xtra show. Having a respectable figure in the game express his disappointment to the so-called ‘UK hip-hop evangelist’ is certainly not to be taken lightly; especially when there isn’t any other figure as well-known as Westwood that has the opportunity to represent the genre to such a wide demographic in this country.

Tim Westwood has forever remained the controversial hip-hop ambassador of the UK. His suburban, upper middle class upbringing, yet contrasting stateside Ali G-esque accent and bomb-dropping “ghetto” sound effects, some may say, make him the antithesis of true hip-hop. For many people over the age of 12, Westwood is one of those characters we love to hate. However, despite this, we must respect the fact that he has (for a more than a minute) been responsible for championing both home-grown talent and bringing credible overseas hip-hop artists across the Atlantic to the UK masses.

There are many topical debates we could delve into regarding the nature of hip-hop in relation to the DJs, the UK audience and the powers that be, however I will let the 1Xtra videos speak for themselves.

Its good to see that there are still people around who are prepared to rock the boat and be courageous enough to speak up to challenge the status quo. In saying this, I also sincerely believe that it is moments like these that will continue to push the movement forward. There is hope for the future of hip-hop.

We salute you, Mos Def.

P.S. Fairplay to Westwood for posting this up anyway.

‘Told you we aint dead yet, we been livin’ through your internet. You don’t have to believe everything you think, we’ve been programmed, wake up, we miss you.’

As part of an underground creative network, we take pride in supporting, creating and exporting ‘progressive/forward-thinking/different-from-the-norm’ music. Noble principles. There is a deep value in this….. but when did we decide to dissociate these lofty principles from the rest of our lives?

I’ve been observing the musical blogoshpere for a minute now and it has been a bipolar experience of delight and disappointment. Delight in the amazing creations we are continually blessed with and disappointment that there are virtually zero heads out there (Heads High included) that are willing to talk about much else but the music itself, or its associated media. Breaking bread with industry friends,it seems that any kind of vaguely political or spiritual topics have slim place in certain musical spheres – that people don’t want to be preached to. They’re right. But who are we if as tastemakers and opinion shapers, we’re too afraid to say anything apart from big up or take down the endless stream of product coming through our hands?

Our culture has been structured in a way that allows us to blot out realities in favour of consuming more of the same – in a different package. This particular thought stream was triggered by ‘The Story Of Stuff‘, a 20 minute treatise on the harsh realities of the production process which you’ll have heard of somewhere over the past year or so. Don’t worry, I’m not going to launch into a tirade against the evils of consumerism….I think we all get the picture on that….what does interest me though is the idea that cultures are created, maintained and perpetuated with the goal of neutralizing peoples opinions on things that matter.

I figure 90% of you reading this are music lovers….the word culture is almost holy ground to us.  We all take pride in the (sub)cultures we are part of. More than that, we actively direct and extend these cultures. So in truth, we’re in a curious space where we simultaneously control and are controlled by our cultural ‘norms’.

Back to the Story of Stuff. If you’ve seen it, you’ll agree that one of the most unsettling moments is the quote below:

The Real Meaning of Consumer Demand

‘Our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfactions,our ego satisfactions, in consumption. The measure of social status, of social acceptance, of prestige, is now to be found in our consumptive patterns. The very meaning and significance of our lives today expressed in consumptive terms…. We need things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced, and discarded at an ever increasing pace. We need to have people eat, drink, dress, ride, live, with ever more complicated and, therefore, constantly more expensive consumption.’

Sound like a familiar situation to you? A market analyst named Victor Lebow dropped this in his ‘Journal of Retaling’ which was published way back in 1955. An era which saw the rise of youth culture on both sides of the Atlantic. A generation which prided itself on its autonomous rule and individual identity while in actuality feeding the very same model described by Mr Lebow above. Sadly, in this respect at least, I feel we have progressed little in the past half century.

My basic point is, as Erykah says, we need to wake up. Technology has afforded our generation(s) a ridiculously high level of creative output but we seem to be wielding this potentially world altering weapon like children with toy swords.  Art is exceptionally important, and we celebrate it accordingly, but we are lost in a maze of the next big thing. The exact maze that Mr Lebow describes in his quote. The longer we remain lost, the longer our voices are ineffectual in the reshaping of a world which, in number at least, we should be in control of. When I flick through the new posts on my RSS feed reader, I can’t help but feel a little bit of shame. Shame at the fact that after an evolution on this planet of circa 300,000 years (the official figure), the majority of us appear to have limited our infinite capacities (including our creative vision) to boundaries set by those whose aim is for us to continue to walk in self-perpetuating circles.

I don’t believe it’s an accident that some of the most enduring icons are those which used their art to speak beyond the surface. Cats like Fela Anikulapo Kuti and Peter Tosh. who composed for human rights, John Lennon, who made noise for peace, and Sun-Ra, who stood out on a limb and opened minds to new realities – if they were ready. We’ve got our share of truth speakers now. Sa Ra, Georgia Ann Muldrow and Dudley Perkins are flying the flag for peaceful spiritual frontiers amongst others.  Heads like Mos Def and Immortal Technique are dropping truth on the lies of the men in suits and even Stones Throw’s James Pants has turned his attention to the esoteric with his latest ‘Seven Seals‘ offering. It would have been easier for any one of these artists not to have broached uncomfortable subjects, just as it is easier, and infinitely more socially acceptable, for us to talk air rather than truth.  I’m not saying that every song or blog post needs to be chanting down Babylon and discussing the nature of multi-dimensional reality, but I really do believe its time for our media educated generation to consider their purpose and objectives in a world which needs direction now more than ever.  We all have truth to tell. I for one would like to look back on what we produced in word, sound and image and know that it actually meant something….

‘We’ve been programmed, wake up, we miss you…..’

Mos Def always seems to be paying homage to his predecessors whilst at the same time, thanking hip hop for giving him a medium of expression as well as a sustainable career. However, I feel that hip hop and its ancestors have a great deal to thank Mos Def for. He amongst a few others have diligently carried the torch of hip hop’s true message and have sought to share it untarnished by the tacky, diluted glitz and glamour of what it has become today. The word ‘inspiration’ is never too far from Mos and artists of his ilk. Staying honest in the game cannot be easy for someone that has obtained such global recognition, the temptations to ’sell-out’ must be immense, yet Mos Def has kept it pure. Thank you.

So tonight, his only London gig is at Kentish Town’s Forum (who are also hosting Mars Volta next month!) Mos will be dropping rhymes off his Ecstatic album and feeding the masses with the good news – being hip hop. Be there.

By the way, if you can’t make it… Check out his Japan tour (by Current Music) – big tings.

Event Details

Mos Def Myspace

The last time I saw Meshell Ndgeocello live, she was involved in a project known as ‘Spirit Music Sextet’ collaborating with Mos Def Big Band in one of New York’s more intimate settings.

As the crowd anticipated a run-of-the-mill set with re-inventions of her handful of hits, Ndgeocello flipped the script beyond recognition. What was apparently going to be a standard jazz/soul/funk/rock live performance turned into a live jammin’ session-cum-experimentation of various psychedelic sounds reminiscent of the cosmic interludes on Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon.

Once I stopped trying to make sense of what was going on, I could sit back and enjoy the band’s hypnotic super-sonic journey.

“Meshell Ndegeocello is so underrated it’s ridiculous. Her shows are some of the best shows that I have ever seen. She is just this beautiful soul. She ain’t pulling no punches. She is telling it like it is.”

—Lenny Kravitz, VH1 Neo-Soul Special, October 25, 2001

She went on for no less than 3 hours to which, at most of the time was with her eyes closed as the accompanying musicians (including an SFX DJ) injected free jazz riffs and electronic AV effects to the performance.

At the abrupt end, which none could have anticipated, she opened her eyes, thanked the crowd for “participating in her journey” and jumped off the stage and out the fire exit for a “smoke.”

Everyone was left stunned and solidly divided on whether what had just been seen was a big con or the work of a genius. I decided to hunt her down and quiz her for myself. I can vividly recall the experience as she spoke about many issues, from not exploiting the medium of music, to being honest with what one’s shares as an artist, to Fela and Miles, the Jazz Cafe’s sound system, London’s record shops and Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart.

In all fairness, despite her intense sense of presence, I could have comfortably been having this casual chat with anyone from the ends. In fact, it was only when the venue manager interrupted us to remind her of her second performance sound check, did she snap out of the convo and get back into professional mode.

In professional mode, she has given birth to 7 top quality, highly diverse studio albums, an uncountable amount of collaborations and side-projects and has earned herself 10 Grammy nominations plus other accolades. In short, Meshell is the envy of her industry peers. As Jill Scott puts it, she really “… is in a realm of her own.”

—Jill Scott, VIBe Magazine, May 2002

Being nurtured in the midst of Washington DC’s Go-Go (funk) scene, this bisexual female has never been afraid to do what she wants, regardless. Never wanting to be pigeon-holed, her sounds have ranged from pure beat poetry – as can be heard on ‘The Spirit Music Jamia: Dance of the Infidel’ and ‘Cookie: The Anthropological Mixtape,’ to bass guitar-driven funky jazz vibes (on most of her work) to the folksy, soulful styles she displays on ‘Bitter‘ or more complex hypnotic sounds like in ‘The World has made me the Man of my Dreams.’ She will offend you, if necessary and has no intentions for mass appeal. Meshell strives only to be herself (and Miles Davis reincarnated).

Her realness has even been admired by those who have ‘played the game’ – so to speak. Madonna once told a British paper that:

“Meshell is an incredible talent who never plays by the rules. That’s her strength—and weakness.”

—Madonna, The Sunday Telegraph, August 29, 1999

Whilst Talib Kweli goes as far as to label her with the uttermost kudos stating simply that:

“She is music.”

—Talib Kweli, VIBe Magazine, May 2002

So after a mini hiatus, we gladly welcome her 8th studio effort “Devil’s Halo.” The album will be released on October 6th on ‘Mercer Street‘, a label that she has just joined. Her press release tells us…

“Devil’s Halo harkens back to the way records used to be made: no click track or electronic synthetics, with a focus on musicianship and live band energy. Devil’s Halo represents a return to a place that she truly appreciates, music that is created and performed by people’s hands. It’s said to be influenced by a wide breadth of sounds – from The Human League to Wu Tang to Yes.

The album will be produced by Meshell and guitarist Chris Bruce. Additional musicians on the album are Deantoni Parks (drums), Keefus Ciancia (keys), Lisa Germano (cello), Oren Bloedow and Mark Kelly (background vocals).”

I’ll be damned if I don’t get my hands on this.

1. Slaughter
2. Tie One On
3. Lola
4. Hair Of The Dog
5. Mass Transit
6. White Girl
7. Love You Down
8. Devil’s Halo
9. Bright Shiny Morning
10. Blood On The Curb
11. Die Young
12. Crying In Your Beer

These tracks* have been overheating my system of late. Classics and future classics – all massive sounds:

1. I’ll Stay – Funkadelic

>> Standing on the Verge of Getting it On (Westbound Records, 1974)

2. Black Wonders of the World – Billy Paul

>> Got my Head on Straight (Philadelphia International Records, 1976)

3. Friends from Rio 1 Featuring Celia Vaz (Pressure Drop Remix) – Francisco Cat

>> Brazilika (Far Out Recordings, 2009)

4. Requiem for a DJ – K2

>> Soul Heaven Presents Kenny Dope & Karizma (Soul Heaven Records, 2007)

5. Beyond – Mr Scruff

>> Trouser Jazz (Ninja Tune, 2002)

6. The Three Faces of Balal – Yusef Lateef

>> The Grandfather Paradox (BBE, 2009)

7. Look at California – Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly

>> Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly (Capitol Records, 1977)

8. Aggression – Eric Dolphy

>> Eric Dolphy at the Five Spot Vol. 2 (Prestige, 1961)

9. Look of Love (J-Dilla Remix) – Slum Village

>> Fan-Tas-Tic Vol. 1 (Counterflow Records, 1997)

10. Auditorium – Mos Def Featuring Slick Rick

>> The Ecstatic (Downtown Records, 2009)

*Listed in no particular order.

Our heads are still ringing from Mos’ recent Ecstatic transmission so I was feelin blessed when I heard about this collab with DJ Honda over at BlindIForTheKids. The Hip Hop true school among you will fondly remember the fruits of their last link up so I was ready for big things. Now my taste in hip hop is finicky to say the least so no comment from me. You’re just gonna have to check the link and make your own minds up…

Dj Honda ft. Mos Def – Magnetic Arts

The track is the first cut from Honda’s hIV long player dropping Aug 5th. For more Mos, check exclusive footage of the man all the way live at a recent ‘Pepsi Slam Dunk Classic’ jam courtesy of Frolab.