Track Listings (10) - Disc #1| All Artists: Dr. Cornel West Title: Sketches of My Culture Members Wishing: 1 Total Copies: 0 Label: Artemis Records Release Date: 9/25/2001 Genres: International Music, Jazz, Special Interest, Pop Style: Poetry, Spoken Word & Interviews Number of Discs: 1 SwapaCD Credits: 1 UPC: 699675109622 |
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Search - Dr. Cornel West :: Sketches of My Culture
 | Dr. Cornel West Sketches of My Culture Genres: International Music, Jazz, Special Interest, Pop
What happens when an acclaimed 48-year-old professor of Afro-American studies morphs the content of his legendary lectures into hip-hoppish spoken word rhymes? The ivory towers get "jiggy wit' it," that's what. Sketches of... more » |
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Amazon.com What happens when an acclaimed 48-year-old professor of Afro-American studies morphs the content of his legendary lectures into hip-hoppish spoken word rhymes? The ivory towers get "jiggy wit' it," that's what. Sketches of My Culture captures this awkward yet useful synergy in a salvo of funk beats and scholarship-fuelled rhymes. It's easy to overlook the shortcomings in West's lyrical flows, along with some of the pedestrian musical arrangements, because the subject matter is so compelling. After repeated listens of "Stolen King," an exploration of slavery's regrettable legacy recorded over some dusty soul grooves, and "Journey," a discussion of the generational links between spirituals, blues, jazz, and hip-hop, this release (whipping by in 35 minutes) acts as a good audio appendage to West's acclaimed Race Matters. He's not exactly trading dope lyrics with Tricia Rose over some hot rhythm tracks cooked up by DJ Premier, but West's learned flow appeals to all of rap's expanding demo, from shorties on the street corner to elitist intellectuals who enjoy a good dose of 50-cent words, in rhyme. But that said, West shouldn't give up his day job. --Dalton Higgins Similarly Requested CDs
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CD ReviewsShoemaker, stick to your last. 11/16/2001 (1 out of 5 stars) "Lord but this is an embarrassing production. Leonard Nimoy albums manifest more soul than this excruciating vanity project. At its best, the "music" here soars to the level of an uplifting jingle in a pharmaceutical ad. The spoken word content consists of a steady drone of Cornel's nebulous after-school-special pieties, leavened with the odd statistic. I'm giving copies away as stocking stuffers this Christmas to my academic friends." Please, please, please 06/03/2002 (1 out of 5 stars) "On page 87 of The Cornel West Reader, Dr. West explains that he and W.E.B. Dubois "are birds of a very different feather." How so? Well, it seems that West is "much closer (and proudly so) to the funk of a James Brown or George Clinton, the soul of a Curtis Mayfield, Richard Pryor or Aretha Franklin than [Dubois)." This would seem to be an unseemly way of talking about oneself. Surely it is a task to be left to someone other than Cornel West to remark upon his resemblance to James Brown and Aretha Franklin. (This is comparable in its shamelessness to Camille Paglia's habit of blathering about how brilliant she is. That's simply not for you to say, dear. If you demonstrate the trait, then the world will notice. ) A thought experiment: Suppose some white academic offered a parallel explanation of the differences between himself and Richard Hofstader (R.I.P.) "I am much closer to the blistering surf guitar pyrotechnics of Dick Dale, the ethereal harmonies of Brian Wilson, and the rhythmic thunder of Led Zeppelin drummer John 'Bonzo' Bonham than Hofstader." I dare say that the author of such a statement would be written off as a flake, and rightly so. Anyway, West has been flogging these absurd comparisons of himself to musicians for years now. So here we finally have a chance to evaluate directly the validity of his claims to James Brown-like super-soulfulness . Well, Dr. West, I knew James Brown. James Brown was a friend of mine. And you, sir, are no James Brown." Sketchy is as sketchy does. Lord Drywall | Park Ridge, IL | 04/09/2002 (1 out of 5 stars) "This is an utterly inexplicable thing. It will provoke disbelief. Confound your friends with it."
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