Crib Notes

SOL BROTHER NO. 1: Bilal performs at Sol Fusion on Thanksgiving eve.

(photos by Shannon McCollum)

Sol Fusion, the international love fest/get-your-back-up-off-the-wall jam helmed by lifestyle aficionados J. Carter and Kenny Burns, hit yet another crescendo last week during its fifth anniversary celebration. Voted Critics’ Pick for Best Club Event by CL in ‘05 (click here to read the review), Sol Fusion is a cool blend of artists, musicians, creative cuties, down-home homies and on-point crowd controllers such as DJ Kemit. With soul maestro Bilal riding shotgun, this was one event everybody and their mama’s mama will tell the grandkids about.

See, Bilal ain’t your average singer. He’s emotive. His live set is a mixed bag of personal narrative and an extreme exercise in sonic freedom digging in the crates of jazz, blues, hip-hop, R&B, alternative and musical expressions yet to be named. And with a distinct voice moving from falsetto wails to baritone-inflected blues, every woman in earshot was wooed. But Bilal is more of a blue-collar soul star than the ego-driven star all too commonplace in the industry. His appeal rests on a marriage between witty lyrics dripping with lived experience and a toe-tapping/head-nodding rhythm section causing body parts to shake. Though he covered classic tracks such as “Love Poems” and “Fast Lane,” his performance of the foot-in-your-ass track “Sometimes” brought down the house (almost literally) as a possessed Bilal slammed mic stands and gave his electric piano a beating only Ike Turner could appreciate. (more…)

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KILLER MIKE SHEDS A TEAR AT JUSTIN’S

(photos by Shannon McCollum)

Oct. 14, 2007, started like any other old Sunday. Me, dreading Monday and feeling slightly guilty about not remembering the last time I went to church (I think it was my cousin’s wedding). But little did I know, one afternoon would make up for a lifetime of spiritual truancy.

With the shadow of the overhyped BET Hip-Hop Awards looming over the city, special invited guests abandoned the red carpets, name dropping, and VIP theatrics to embrace the core values of love, compassion and humanity. A who’s who of hip-hop artists, industry tastemakers and activists huddled into Justin’s on Peachtree seeking spiritual renewal via “The Evolution of Hip-Hop: An Intimate Conversation with the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan,” sponsored by AllHipHop.com and 9196 Management.

As rap gets star billing as the new American scapegoat (T.I.’s arrest certainly didn’t help its public image), the gathering sought to combat attacks on the art form, offering straight-no-chaser strategies to center the global influence and cultural impact of hip-hop through social responsibility, atonement and activism. The star-studded roundtable of guests included Chuck Creekmur (AllHipHop.com), Benjamin Chavis (Hip-Hop Summit Action Network), Chuck D and Professor Griff (Public Enemy), Dee Dee Murray (Murray Music Media Corp.), I’na Saulsberry (the Starfire Group), Organized Noize, Jason Orr (Funk Jazz Kafé), Michael Eric Dyson, director Bryan Barber, Teddy Riley, N’dea Davenport, David Banner, NO I.D., Diamond D, and Atlanta rappers and producers Killer Mike, Cee-lo, DJ Toomp and Bryan-Michael Cox.

Anyone questioning Nation of Islam leader Farrakhan’s effectiveness need only witness a room full of “industry” folk humble themselves enough to plead for direction, as was the case with a teary-eyed Killer Mike, who was so overwhelmed by the rousing speech he not only offered a public apology for his headline-grabbing feud with Big Boi’s Purple Ribbon record label, but also sought guidance in coping with an industry built on capitalism and greed. Mike’s impromptu alter call has already become legendary. (more…)

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