Otherworldly Videos: Juice Aleem + Sharon Jones and the Dap KIngs

Juice Aleem‘s “Anumals” From Juice Aleem’s press: “After the soaring heights of the MoorKaBa LightBikes… the journey is continued with AnuMal: the dominion of the Flesh. A dance between the sacred and the profane. Watch out for the AnuMals!” Keep in mind the woman with the wolf/fox mask at the end while watching the next […]

Modern Griots Review: Pegasus Warning’s “Woof Ticket”

The songs on Pegasus Warning’s latest EP, Woof Ticket, has a yearning to them. Just like the title of the first track “Acoustic,” his voice and the music desire a sensual, acoustic feel, but the electronic format of the music simultaneously dismembers and distorts singer, Guillermo E. Brown, taking him away from it. Like double […]

Modern Griots Interview: Tunde Olaniran

Tunde Olaniran is a Michigan-based artist who “marches to the beat of his own drum.” The singer, rapper, songwriter and social activist has a background that defies any expectation others may have of him. Growing up in such places as Germany, Nigeria and London, Olaniran was raised by an American social activist mother and a […]

Otherworldly Videos: Adorn

Singer Miguel released a new song, called “Adorn” from his upcoming album Art Dealer Chic: Vol. 1. A beautiful song and video! I love how the video incorporates the painting. Already some are accusing Miguel of being gay because of the video. Seriously! First, stop implying that homosexuality is wrong and implying that there are […]

Rewind: Isaac Hayes’ Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic

Released in 1969, Hayes gives a love anatomy lesson. I think this may have been the soul version of “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” and a precursor to Outkast’s “Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik.”

Gil Scott Heron: A Poetic Revolutionary

Yesterday, I was sad to find out that singer and poet Gil Scott Heron died at the age of 62. Best known for his poem and song, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” Heron was one of the important links between the 60s Beat poets and the Black Arts/Power Movement, and the Hip Hop and […]