Best Music Journalism: March 2015
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What Kendrick Lamar, Drake and Kanye West Say About the Black Experience in America (Judnick Mayard, Complex)
\n\nGod bless Kendrick Lamar, not just for the record he made but for the writing his music has inspired over the last few months. Knowing reviews of To Pimp a Butterfly by masters of hip hop criticism like Greg Tate, Kris Ex, and Jon Caramanica, among others; deeper cultural meditations on its themes by Rawiya Kameir, Clover Hope, and the insightful prescience from Rembert Browne that Jason highlighted last month; even some early pantheon contextualizing by Jay Caspian King. But if there’s one piece I really hope doesn’t get lost in this spectacular flurry, it is “Nikki” Mayard’s examination of modern rap music’s current Holy Trinity and how it reflects America in 2015. Agree, disagree, or a little of both – it almost doesn’t matter. This is what having “ a conversation” is supposed to be all about.
\n\nBirth of a Freedom Anthem (Ethan J. Kytle and Blain Roberts, New York Times)
\n\nOn the 50th anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery marches, among the defining events of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, a pair of Cal State Fresno professors construct the genealogy of a song that’s played a bigger historical role in 20th Century American History than almost any other: “We Shall Overcome.” It will surprise very few that the hymn we know now is a modern remix of a folk-remedy, nurtured in the safety of a church, with enough fierce power in its veins that it travelled from the auction block to the seat of the Presidency.
\n\nSelling Records Will Ruin Your Life (Bethlehem Shoals, Medium)
\n\nStar Tribune Music Critic Jon Bream Parts with His 25,000-piece Record Collection (Andrea Swensson, The Current.org)
\n\nAlmost a point-counterpoint on the art (yes, I said it) of record collecting, in which one critic’s karma points and development of taste, is another person’s job and burden. Except that it’s never that simple. “Shoals” is one of the best basketball bloggers in America; Bream has been a Minneapolis pop music critic for over 40 years. So there are definitely perspectives to consider. But maybe the best thing about reading these two excellent pieces – one, a self-examination, the other, an interview – is how relationships with cultural objects, and the information on them, have been evolving ever since mass reproduction of culture became a thing in the 20th century. Anybody who wants to turn this into a generational divide with digital natives needs some perspective.
\n\nPlagiarize This: A Reasonable Solution to Musical Copyright After “Blurred Lines” (Damon Krukowski, Pitchfork)
\n\nI may have already stated in this column that, of the many musicians addressing the creative class’ economic plight in the digital era, Krukowski, a drummer perhaps best remembered as a co-founder of Galaxie 500 (but don’t sleep on Magic Hour or his work with Naomi Yang in Damon & Naomi) stands head and shoulders above his publically speaking/writing peers. Which is why his take on the ruling that found Pharrell and Robin guilty of pilfering Marvin Gaye’s legacy is worth at least some of your time; especially as, next to the anecdotes, this essay includes a dollop of institutional knowledge, legal precedent, as well as a possible solution to save musicians from future plagiarizing heartache.
\n\nHow Cool C and Steady B Robbed a Bank, Killed a Cop and Lost Their Souls (Michael Gonzales, Medium)
\n\nA real-life crime drama, and a deft, shorthand rundown of the nascent days of Philly hip-hop, this story centers around two neighborhood rap legends convicted of murdering the first female police officer to die on duty in the City of Brotherly Love. It does not answer the question as to why, when faced with the fork in the road, some people make the choices that they do – nor does it explain the fork itself. But, as a narrative, it is absolutely riveting.
\n\nALSO
\n\nBig Bent Ears
\n\nHonestly, I have no idea what to call “Big Bent Ears” besides a “creative project,” and a collaboration between the storied magazine, Paris Review, the North Carolina “Institute of Literature & Materials” called Rock Fish Stew, and the Knoxville-based experimental music festival, Big Ears. But this site – a unique and beautifully designed combination of critical literary writing, documentary filmmaking, and event review – seems like a great reason for the Internet to exist. If this is the future of “content,” then…YES!
\n\nThe Kernel’s Music Issue
\n\nIn mid-March, digital “magazine” The Kernel (a weekly stand-alone published by the good folks of The Daily Dot) devoted an entire “issue” to music, and the compilation of coverage makes for a very interesting 30,000 ft. view of its state through the eyes of Internet media intelligentsia. Including, but not limited to, deep glimpses into YouTube’s MusicKey project and Soundcloud’s remix rights policy, a profile of a Mexico City underground music mogul, and an examination of the “ghosts” that live inside our MP3s.
\n\nMusic REDEF
\n\nThe best new content-filter resource for the Internet’s myriad of music stories, REDEF started out as a newsletter and has graduated to…well, we’re not sure where it’s going. But if you want a daily dose of great music coverage (journalism, takes, larks), this is a crucial tool.
\n\nA Brush With Immortality: Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, and Jackie Mclean (Eric L. Wattree, wattree.blogspot.com)
\n\nSome people’s memories and memoirs are better than others. Writer/poet Eric Wattree has at least a few great ones.