Nina Simone

It’s safe to say that the staff at M.I.S.S are fans of the fabulous Nina Simone. She embodies the spirit of what this publication represents. An eclectic array of talents, cultural activism, passion, and perseverance. In fact when I asked M.I.S.S Lexx (a huge fan) she told me that

In the 1960’s, no black woman performing artist was more gangsta than Nina Simone. She wrote about stuff that even a man would be a little reluctant to talk about. She said things about white-people that limited her time on TV & Radio but she was always true to herself, her emotions and her passion.

A bit of background on Simone, she was born Eunice Kathleen Waymon in North Carolina, she was one of eight children in a poor family in 1933. She began to play the piano at age three. Her mother was a strict Methodist preacher who also worked as a maid. Her father worked as a handyman. Upon her mother’s employer hearing the young child’s talents they decided to fund her piano lessons. Simone’s continuing education was locally funded by the community due to the interest in her promising talent. At the age of 17 she moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where she encountered blatant racism while applying for a scholarship at a local college. After she passed her test admirably yet didn’t receive the scholarship the examiner told her it was “because you are black,” the rejection thus fueled her enthusiasm for the Civil Rights Movement that was about to erupt in the United States.

As any strong and willful woman would do, Simone decided to use her talents to teach others while funding her studies as a classical pianist at New York City’s highly regarded institution, Juilliard School of Music. Even though her talent was obvious to those around her when she applied once again in Philadelphia at The Curtis Institute she was rejected to which she attributed to her being black and a woman. Random fact: Andy Warhol, Edie Sedgwick, and crew were frowned upon and made to stay in separate rooms designated for men and women while staying at The Barclay, a hotel located adjacent to The Curtis Institute. So much for being the place that The Constitution and Bill of Rights was written and signed!

In order to further fund herself she performed in Atlantic City under the name, Nina Simone. Here she built a small but loyal fan base with her mixture of jazz, blues, and classical piano. Nina was brilliant, but her brilliance was a troubled one. She struggled with bipolar disorder and her music was driven by passion, emotion, and anger. On stage she could be exuberant and suddenly enter a melancholy state and her voice would even go to baritone lows. Her first “protest” song was “Mississippi Goddamn,” a response to the four little girls being burned in a church in Birmingham, Alabama. Her ex-husband said in an interview that she was very upset, “pounding away at her piano for two hours,” a song was born. Simone was and is regarded as the “High Priestess of Soul” because of the attention she commanded when she was on stage. In one night she would give you singing, dancing, monologue, and has been noted for using silence as a musical element. Her performances were not just concerts, but happenings, very much a representation of the Pop movement going on in New York.

High Priestess of Soul

Today many artists attribute Nina Simone as a music, cultural, and style icon. Traces of her jazz/R&B/funk/soul influence can be found in the works of Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Mary J. Blige, Alicia Keys, and Cat Power, among many others. Many have sampled her, and even acts like David Bowie and Marilyn Manson have covered her songs. There are so many independent and socially conscious female performers around today; think Erykah Badu, M.I.A., Santigold, and Jill Scott whom have Nina Simone to credit for setting a high standard of being culturally aware and delivering a performance with lasting impact.

Here are some of our favorite tracks, hope you enjoy!

The track “Funkier Than A Mosquitos Tweeter” is a funky mix of intense tribal sounds and such passion is in her voice. A must listen.

In this video, “Ain’t Got No…I’ve Got A Life,” Nina looks absolutely beautiful with her hair wrapped, giant earrings, and yellow halter dress that compliments her dark skin. Even though she talks about what she doesn’t have, this song addresses appreciating the things you do have, like life and your body, which don’t cost money. The live version comes in clear and the sound is great the combination of the drumming and piano are amazing.

“My Baby Just Cares For Me” a sweet personal favorite.

Funky Expedition: Baltimore Club Music

Funky Expedition = Exploring the creation and development of region-specific genres of music. Take a sonic trip with Randi!

It always stings a little bit when you are on top of something – whether it be a new artist, new designer, or new style – and then a year or two later, everybody’s on the jock of that artist, designer, or style. You just look like a major tool mentioning that you were into it “ages ago,” but then you are also a bit angry because your friends didn’t like it when you told them about it. Once it was on TV, they liked it. Sound familiar?

Besides the fact that you might just be a trendsetter, or a daring human being, (or a M.I.S.S. girl), it’s frustrating any which way you look at it. Such might be the case for fans of Baltimore Club AKA Bmore Club AKA Gutter music AKA the sound of Bodymore, Murderland (Baltimore, Maryland). It has only been gaining national attention in the past few years, but it has been around – in Baltimore – starting from as early as 1989 or 1990.

The sound of Gutter music is best described by a blend of hip-hop, house, and dance music. Some even call it hip-house. The songs are often dark, but contain an infectious, hyper energy that explodes with each short song. Unlike typical house songs, Bmore club songs alternately build and drop intensity as they play, with bridges and sections of fast-paced, loud crashes that mimic fluttering heartbeats. The songs are like the sprint of the music race: the cuts are specifically crafted by DJs for the club environment, based on a 8/4 beat structure, and include tempos as high as 130 beat per minute. Gutter has often been compared to go-go music, which has its origins in Washington, D.C., but gutter and go-go are very different in terms of how they sound. The main similarities among these two genres are that they both feature “call and response”-type interjections with heavy breakbeats (consisting of snares and bass drums), and each music genre is only popular within a particular region. Many of all of the songs contain a sample of either Gaz’s “Sing Sing” or Lyn Collins’ “Think (About It)” (check these songs out in the playlist). This fact that the genre stems from only two samples seems ridiculous, but Lyn Collins’ song is also the origin for a certain Rob Base song that has been used exhaustively in the hip-hop world already. In this context it is not so hard to believe. Although there are now new beats being created in the Gutter scene, the originals were variations of the above two songs. Many of the songs created in the movement include sped-up riffs of children’s songs, like the theme to “Spongebob Squarepants,” “Blues Clues,” “Dora the Explorer,” “Peanut Butter Jelly Time,” and a song from “South Park,” etc., while the other half of the songs deal with graphic sexual material.

Baltimore club is rumored to have its beginnings in clubs like Club Fantasy, the Paradox, Hammer Jacks, O’dell’s, and Club Choices...

So who created this music, and why? Baltimore club is rumored to have its beginnings in clubs like Club Fantasy, the Paradox, Hammer Jacks, O’dell’s, and Club Choices in the greater Baltimore area. The supposed “father” of the genre is DJ Scottie B, claims that the genre got its start when people started looping songs that they liked in 1990. One of the first known songs within the genre is Frank-Ski’s remix of Luke’s “Doo Doo Brown.” Other early DJs in the genre include Big Tony, DJ Spen, DJ Rod Lee, K.W. Griff, K-Swift (RIP), DJ Booman, and Blaqstarr. Audiences wanted to release energy at that time, and the only positive way to channel their energy was to “Dance the Pain Away” (the name of a track by Rod Lee, see playlist). The Bmore club scene spawned dances such as the “Spongebob,” “the Crazy legs,” and “the sidekick.” The songs contained funny or graphic material because, according to Scottie B, “The DJ was an extension of the crowd, and there was a lot of nonsense going on at these clubs, from fist fights to cheating, so the sound was made as a reflection of that.” (The Wire, 2006).

Although Gutter has a cult following, strangely enough, in the Newark, NJ area and in Boston, MA, the reason most others areas are just hearing about it now is because it never really moved out of the area until recently. Originator Scottie B claims that no one in New York wanted anything to do with the music at first, and that it was actually Philly DJs who started incorporating the music into their sets. The tipping point was when Hollertronix DJs Diplo and Low Budget started amalgamating the very danceable tracks into their “party mixes,” which already consisted of of crunk, 80’s, freestyle, and all other types of dance music. This was when I personally got wind of Gutter – I listened to Spank Rock, who reminded me of 2 Live Crew’s style, and then I started buying mixtapes featuring Amanda Blank and Spank Rock. The mixtapes of Catchdubs, Diplo, Aaron LaCrate (album B-More Club Crack is a gem), and Debonair Samir were among the newest albums at the time incorporating the Bmore sound.

So is this genre going to catch on? Is it another form of crunk that will hit hard and then fade away? It’s a must to mention crunk, because Lil’ Jon appeared in a lot of the early Bmore tracks. Nothing new to report in terms of his contributions, as the rapper was still asking a lot of “what” questions and “ok”-ing a lot of the replies on the tracks. Author Al Shipley explains that Baltimore Club never caught on before because it is, at its heart, an indie sound that does not please the mainstream masses. He says it has no “channel” (R&B, hip-hop, nor commercial radio), and although “hipsters” have been listening to it for a while (HEY! Who you calling a hipster??!!), if Bmore gets too popular, the indie crowd will be the first ones to claim the genre has lost its cool. Additionally, since most of the tracks contain samples of other songs, Bmore tracks are copyright nightmares and are very difficult to clear. This in turn means, they are very difficult to release as singles.

It’s questionable whether Bmore Club will EVER have lasting potential outside of the DMV (D.C., Maryland, and Virginia) area – and there have already been a lot of attempts. Remember Young Leek and his song “Jiggle It”? That was in 2006 and had a Bmore beat. It’s doubtful Def Jam did anything else with that kid. A lot of these songs showed up on the soundtrack for HBO’s The Wire, but guess what? That took place in Bmore, so the release of the soundtrack doesn’t really prove anything about the reach of the music. The newest Bmore-style single is DJ Class’ “I’m the Ish” (see playlist), released this year, but Al Shipley insists that it is only accessible because Class used the oft-accepted AutoTune vocals (“You’re T-Pain-ing too much”!) and used a beat similar to the 808 that Kanye recently resurrected. A bunch of artists also hopped on remixes of the Class track. Rye Rye is from Bmore. Lil’ Wayne “Told Y’all” samples Blaqstarr’s “Tote It”, and Swizz Beatz recently used Debonair Samir’s “Samir’s Theme.” (Splice Magazine, 2009). Jermaine Dupri is backing the sound (but he also backed New Jack Swing on that So So Def remix album, which I can’t say sounds TOO different). I offer these examples to prove that Bmore may work this time. We are now in an era where someone like Jay-Z will remix an M.I.A. song or a Santigold song before the original singles are even off the Billboard charts, so anything is possible! As a genre, Bmore might have a chance with someone like Jay-Z sampling the beats!

Either which way…….my dancing booty prays Bmore is here to stay.

Check out our Baltimore Club Playlist below! For full-length tracks, please visit the M.I.S.S. Imeem page.

Bodymore, Murderland

Santigold wearing Andrea Crews new "Joggers"

Always something fun and exciting to be expected from Andrea Crews. If you are globally positioned near Paris France August 24th -August 29th and have 1000 euros (that’s around $1400 US), you can join the crew for a fashion workshop that is sure to be an amazing experience. Work along the side the visionaries behind Andrea Crews and learn their techniques in deconstruct the old to create the new. Email contact@andreacrews.com for more information.

Santigold wearing Andrea Crews new "Joggers"

And speaking of “creating the new”, we can soon expect a new series of “joggers” or track suits from Andrea Crews. The lucky Ms. Santigold is the first to get her hands on the joggers but they’ll soon be available to us all! You can expect all the fun details, wild patterns and bright colors that Andrea Crews is known for. Stay posted for more details.

Santigold wearing Andrea Crews new "Joggers"

Major Lazer

Producer/DJ’s Diplo and Switch have put their “post modern songwriting” abilities together to create an exciting new venture with, Major Lazer.

They’ve got a dope track out right now called “Hold the Line”  featuring Mr. Lex and Santigold. If you haven’t heard it yet, check it. The track has an animated video which features an extremely muscular Jamaican commando riding a surfboard through outer space with laser beams coming from one arm to blast blood-thirsty zombies. It’s action-packed and, somehow, the video and song blends to appropriate this alternative dancehall sound.

Major Lazer

Bacardi B-LIVE will present performances and collaborations from some of the hottest musical acts and DJs of today. Major Lazer is on the bill along with A-Trak, MSTRKRFT, Matt and Kim, Drop the Lime, Santigold, Q-Tip, and the list goes on. Head on over to the Bacardi B-LIVE website for your chance to sign up for FREE tickets. Since Bacardi is the main sponsor and promoting new drinks, this will be a 21 + event. Check the Major Lazer page for a complete listing of their show dates. The album, Gun’s Dont Kill People…Lazers Do,  drops June 16th but you can stream it now over on their Myspace page.

Major Lazer: "Guns Don't Kill People...Lazers Do"

Track list:

1. “HOLD THE LINE” Feat. MR. LEX & SANTIGOLD

2. “When You Hear The Bassline” Feat. MS. THING

3. “Can’t Stop Now” Feat. MR. VEGAS & JOVI ROCKWELL

4. “Lazer Theme” Feat. FUTURE TROUBLE

5. “Anything Goes” Feat. TURBULENCE

6. “Cash Flow” Feat. JAH DAN

7. “Mary Jane” Feat. MR. EVIL & MAPEI

8. “Bruk Out” Feat. T.O.K. & MS. THING

9. “What U Like” Feat. AMANDA BLANK & EINSTEIN

10. “Keep It Goin’ Louder” Feat. NINA SKY & RICKY BLAZE

11. “Pon De Floor” Feat. VYBZ KARTEL (Additional Prpduction By AFRO JACK)

12. “Baby” Feat. PRINCE ZIMBOO

13. “Jump Up” Feat. LEFTSIDE & SUPAHYPE (Co-Produced By CROOKERS)

“Guns Don’t Kill People…Lazers Do” pre-order

M.I.S.S. in the Mix Mapei

Born in Rhode Island, and raised in both Stockholm, Sweden and Bushwick Brooklyn, it’s no wonder why this worldy MC Mapei has found her voice in a combination of Hip-Hop, pop, electronica, and R&B. Recently signed to Downtown Records (Santigold, Amanda Blank,  Kid Sister) Mapei is about to be part of the blossoming one-woman-music revolution. In her bio featured on Downtown Records she says:

-”I’m looking to create a new way of doing soul.”

M.I.S.S. in the Mix Mapei

And from what she has delivered, it’s a twist on soul indeed. Mapei has worked with Philly MC Spank Rock, Paris’s DJ Mehdi, and UK’s Switch. Word is they will be adding their magic to her album, set to drop this fall, but until then you can check out Mapei’s digital EP The Cocoa Butter Diaries now availble on iTunes.

M.I.S.S. in the Mix Mapei

Santigold at the Warfield, San Francisco, 05.21.09

I just got back from seeing the Santigold show at the Warfield and I have to say, Santi has come a long way from the first time I saw her perform in NY, before her album released, at Corio. Rather than playing to a small intimate crowd in a downtown NY restaurant, Santigold packed the Warfield, a place as full of history, as it was with people there to see Santi shine.

Santigold at the Warfield, San Francisco, 05.21.09

True to her name, she and her dancers were decked in metallic gold – and yes, she was wearing the Jeremy Scott x adidas Originals Metro Attitude Highs to match! She played with a band, and not a DJ, which is refreshing. There were no distractions or bells & whistles, just good, solid music with lots of heart and energy. The vibe you get from a live band is irreplaceable – a sound that no DJ could replicate (sorry, but it’s true when it comes to live music).

Santigold at the Warfield, San Francisco, 05.21.09

Santi’s voice has hints of many great ladies that came before her -  a bit of Siouxsie Sioux’s charm, some of Xene’s punk attitude, Tina Turner’s sass and Pauline Black’s strength – all of these combine to form the majesty that is Santigold. Not only is she a ground breaking musician, she’s a positive role model for women – strong independent beautiful “a lady” and so positive – she lights up a room. And her dancers, as she said herself, are “bad ass bitches!” Those ladies have presence like no other, and they can dance! They flank Santi and don’t do anything to detract, rather, they make her shine brighter.

Check out the clip below to get an idea of what the show was like…more clips coming over the weekend!

Amanda Blank Opening for Santigold at the Warfield 05.21.09

Amanda Blank has been on the scene for the past few years but I’ve mostly taken note of her style more than for her sound.  Well, tonight I had a rude awakening and realized I should have been paying less attention to her good taste in clothing and manicures and more attention to what she had to say.

Amanda was a great choice to open for Santigold – both ladies hail from Philly – and Amanda’s raw energy was just what the crowd needed to get ready for Santigold.  She took to the stage, with just a DJ, but she was able to fill the space with her voice and her moves.

I’m glad I had the chance to finally see Amanda perform, and I know it won’t be the last.  I’ll be waiting for her summer release and something tells me she may have a song of the summer.

Check out the clip below for a bit of her performance…